Dr. James Torkildson (known by many as "Dr. T") is a Clinical Psychologist, Speaker, Author, Professor, Podcast Host and Faith Leader with over 40 years of experience serving various behavioral health organizations, and faith communities.

He is a seasoned Behavioral Health Professional and a cultural voice rooted in Scripture with decades of clinical and spiritual leadership. His work weaves human behavior, faith, and cultural awareness into tools that help people live anchored, intentional, and spiritually awake lives.

The journey for Dr. T began on a cold winter evening in Mannheim Germany with a life changing encounter with the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings! You can read about this in 'AWAKEN' by Dr. James Torkildson.

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Welcome to 12 Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you Dr. T.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I'm in the Midwest United States in a state called Indiana just north of Indianapolis.

I had the opportunity to look into the work that you do rather extensively and my first question is, is there a difference between asking a question starting with what versus why?

Yeah, that's a good question and there certainly is a distinction.

You know, when we ask the question with a what, it's just trying to kind of understand what it is that's going to take place, what it is that's going to unfold, how will it play out.

But the why goes much deeper.

We can ask, you know, what did the Lord create?

What did our Creator, the Father create?

And we can look at what it was all done and we can see it before our very eyes and we see it today.

But if we ask why, that goes much deeper.

That goes into motivation.

That goes into purpose.

That goes into really helping us understand the value of ourself, the value of the Creator.

And so it's a much more internal, deeper, complex question, a much richer question than just looking at the fundamentally makeup.

How important is it to understand the power of these questions that you're asking?

If someone comes into my office and I can say, so what's been going on?

What's been happening?

And they can answer that.

Again, that's that surface question.

That's that tangible explanation.

That's that visual we get.

But if I was to ask them, why do you think this is happening?

All of a sudden, their mind opens up to multiple, multiple possibilities.

Anywhere from I failed, or I'm not a good person, or someone's after me.

So understanding both those is important.

And I generally do start with the what, just simply because that's an easier foot in the door.

It's a way to let people begin to open up and talk about something that might be less threatening.

It's an explanation of events that are occurring.

Whereas you get into the why, all of a sudden you're looking again at motivation, and you're looking at purpose, and you're looking at things that can tie closely to our identity and threaten our self-preservation mechanisms that we utilize to hold ourselves together.

What is an example of a situation where you're working with someone in a place that doesn't permit you to speak as you can today, and there's something that you would want to say to that person, but you couldn't?

Basically, anything that works in psychology has a biblical root, okay?

And so it really, I was allowed to integrate a lot of it, just using the terminology that's acceptable to the secular world.

You know, for example, forgiveness, right?

You know, we know that we're supposed to forgive, and Jesus says we have to forgive, and the Bible teaches that if we don't forgive, we won't be forgiven.

But we also know forgiveness can cause emotional harm in individuals, even from a secular standpoint.

And so one of the things we teach in psychology is people have to forgive and let it go.

I just maybe can't identify the original source of truth from it, but I can say, you know, we know that unforgiveness builds up stress within us.

It creates emotional mishap and distress.

It impacts emotional behavioral regulation, because we're focusing on revenge, and things like this, and ways we can get even.

So forgiveness is a healthy thing discovered by science, but it's biblically rooted.

Another one, one more example would be, for example, what do we think on?

Well, the Bible tells us in Philippians, think on whatsoever good and positive and virtuous.

And so we know positive thinking has positive impact on our emotional status.

Well, we teach people in psychology to not dwell on the negative, but to dwell on the positive, because our emotions tend to begin to shape them, obviously, the way we feel and experience, and ultimately the way we behave.

So the more positively we think, the more apt we are to engage in positive behaviors, and the more apt we are to experience a positive emotional regulation.

And so those are just a couple of examples.

But I would propose to you that all truth that works in the secular psychology field is rooted in biblical truth.

We just can't identify the source, because that for some reason that's seen as an offense.

Tell me the story of when you found Jesus, please.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, I'd love to.

So at 10 years old, I experienced something where I had a God visit.

I was freezing in the winter in Minnesota in the back of the car.

And I write about this in my book Awaken.

If you haven't seen my book Awaken, you can go to my website, drtconsulting.org for those out there.

And I write about it in my first chapter called My Story.

Long story short, as I was freezing and having trouble and crying and weeping and talking to God as a 10-year-old, He showed up.

I heard angels sing.

I saw a light.

My body became warm.

Heat entered the car.

And I don't remember anything after that other than I was fully content and okay.

Now I fast forward 10 years as a person that didn't follow that early intervention, but grew up on the streets and fighting, dropped out of high school, was basically doing everything you shouldn't do, and joined the army to avoid further trouble.

I got sent to Europe.

My other two brothers were in Vietnam, and doing all the things that GIs do that they shouldn't do, walking back and forth from town, Vernheim and other cities.

I was stationed in Mannheim.

There was this chapel, army chapel.

I didn't know it then, but I know it now.

A revival had broken out.

GIs were getting saved.

People were getting delivered.

Miracles were taking place.

But I had walked by this place, and the place glowed.

And I could hear the singing.

And I could see something going on there that wasn't natural.

One night back from town, my body stopped on my way to the barracks right in front of that chapel.

It turned, and my legs started walking towards that little chapel.

I had no control over it.

I walk up those steps, and a brother in the Lord opens the door, whom I know to be a brother now.

And he looks at me, and he asked me one question.

Do you know Jesus?

And I said, no, but I want to.

And I went in.

He prayed.

I accepted the Lord.

I was freed.

I was delivered.

My life changed forever.

Now, and you'll understand, of course, we all have trials and tribulations through life.

I'm not saying I didn't have those and don't still have those.

I do.

But that transformation took place.

I was now a child of the living God.

I was saved through grace, through faith, through grace by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He came into my life, and His reality has done nothing but grow for 40 years.

And I serve the Lord to this day more so than ever, full-heartedly.

And I understand His reality more so than at any time.

And He walks, He dwells, He lives with me and within me.

And He is my best friend that sticks closer than a brother.

And that happened then.

So then the journey from that transformation, of course, there's been the growth period and all the things that I've done in between, to the now, where I'm in full-time ministry for our Lord.

Absolutely amazing.

Five years from today, you're listening to this conversation, all 12 minutes of it.

What's a message you'd leave for future you?

The message I'd leave for a future or for people listening or...

For future you listening, like this is the message in the bottle that you get to receive on the seashore, yeah?

Yeah.

People need to know that God is real, that He loves them, that He sent His Son for them.

Regardless of what they've heard, regardless of what they think they know, regardless of what they've been told, regardless of what they've been sold, the reality and history speaks it out all through the Old Testament into the new, all the geographical realities and the historical finds and all the things that...

God is real.

He has an eternal plan and He has an eternal purpose for you.

So I would ask you this, take the God challenge, okay?

If you haven't, just simply come before Him and say, God, I don't know if you're real or not, but I need you to show me.

I'm willing to put aside my pride for a moment and invite you into my life and acknowledge Jesus as your Son.

And if someone would take the God challenge and give that a try and give the Father an opportunity to come into their life, He will prove Himself to you.

Jesus will become a reality in your life.

He is real.

He does care.

He is that purpose.

He is that direction.

He is that lamp unto your feet that you've been missing.

And if you're already there, then I encourage you to continue on the journey, my brothers and sisters, because God is good.

And for such a time as this, we need to be activating our soul and spirit for the kingdom of God, and our voice needs to be spoken.

Dr. Titus, it's been a great pleasure, one I treasure.

Thank you for being what has inspired like 1200 other boys.