Biography of Author

Rich Thomson is a native of Whittier, California, where he was raised in a Christian home, the oldest of three sons. Each year, his grandparents would send him to Forest Home Christian Camp, and there at the age of twelve, he received the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins. Not long after this, he sensed a call to the Gospel ministry – a conviction which grew as the years passed.

     After he graduated from the University of Redlands in 1963, Rich attended Talbot Theological Seminary, where he received his Master of Divinity degree under the sound biblical teaching of such men as Dr. Charles Feinberg, Dr. Robert Thomas, and Dr. Jim Rosscup. Soon after graduation, while on part time staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, he met Bonnie Johnson, his future wife, at Arrowhead Springs during a six-week Institute for Biblical Studies conference. They were married in 1970. It was around this time that he also became familiar with the work of Dr. Henry Brandt and became convinced of the sufficiency of Scripture in addressing the inner problems of the human heart.

     For his first five years of pastoral ministry, Rich served as an associate pastor in West Virginia and as a pastor in California, where he experienced a deep depression. As he recovered, the Lord enabled him to understand from the Scripture alone a Biblical Framework of the inner workings of the human heart which could diagnose and treat the root cause of not only his own depression, but also of nearly all the human mental disorders.

     For the next 23 years, he studied, thought through, and taught this Biblical Framework and began to write the first edition of the textbook/reference work The Heart of Man and the Mental Disorders – How the Word of God is Sufficient, the 1300 page Second Expanded Edition of which is currently being used in the Biblical Counseling minor and major programs at the College of Biblical Studies – Houston and the Carolina College of Biblical Studies in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Because of its biblical soundness, depth, and comprehensiveness, this work is also finding favor in other Christian colleges, churches, and organizations throughout the nation.

     During his 40+ years in ministry, Rich taught on the Bible church, Bible institute, Bible college, and seminary levels and is currently discipling those who teach in these areas. He and his wife Bonnie have three committed Christian children, Jon, Nathan, and Esther, who with their spouses are also raising their children for the Lord. They celebrate 50 years of marriage this next year and have 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. They live near their families in Parker, Colorado.