The Church And The Mentally Ill

We know in the last days, satan has come with great wrath towards the saints. Recall Jesus said in Matthew 24: 22 "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." These are days of famine, earthquakes, and catastrophes. And in the last couple of decades, we see an increase of people suffering from mental illness.

I find myself dismayed at the callous attitude some Christians display toward the mentally ill. Making fun of these people, making them the topics of jokes. Do you not realize that such people are tortured? That inside of them, their in tact minds see what is happening to them, see people making fun of them, and they feel totally and utterly helpless. Tortured and tormented. Do you get offended because they do something you cannot understand? How about putting it in perspective, considering they are influenced by spiritual forces?

I have a friend diagnosed with bipolar. She literally ended up in a mental ward, and even at that time she was a born again Christian. As she lay in the mental ward, unable to function and interact with people, she told me she realized her mind was being attacked, but she could not rise herself out of it to fight it. She felt as if she was in chains. She was helpless, yet, she knew who she was, a mother, a wife, a Christian...a woman with a rather ordinary life otherwise, except now there was a fight in the spirit realm over her mind. Her husband, a rather lack-luster back-slidden Christian arose himself in the Word and went out on the battlefield for her.

Is she loony? Crazy? A nut? Only by some people's definition. Should these people be cast away, because we think a magic pill from some shrink will cure them, make them not hear devils, or voices, or see things? These manifestations are from the enemy.

Recall the account of the mentally ill man in Mark 5, the demoniac at Gadarenes. Notice, if he was so out of it, if he was so inhuman, no longer aware of anything, why would he run up to Jesus and worship him? He knew the Son of God, a lot of "sane" people don't know Him. Despite this man torment, he-this mans' true self was there in the mire with all of those demons:

MARK 5
1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

It does not matter what kind of mental illness a person has been diagnosed with, Jesus Christ can heal them. And when we see these people, should our hearts be so hardened we discount them? Say, get some meds, and you wont be tortured anymore? I have yet to see it myself. All I know on meds are so out of it, they can barely function. And they all still have their diagnosis too. The people I have heard of set totally free from mental illness were set free by the power of God, not the power of Prozac. But I do want to say, if such pills are helpful to a person, then maybe they should take it temporarily, but believe above all, that Jesus can set you free.

Where is compassion? Why is this funny to some Christians? Look at the tenderness, the compassion Jesus had for the demoniac. Today, the majority of the Church would look at him, and say "Go on Dr. Phil. He can help you". And to themselves in their thoughts "Run along nut, just get away from me". Granted, some can be a danger to others, but we can always and should always pray for them, because God can and will set them free. We are His hands and feet on the earth.

1Corinthians 2:16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

II Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

*For more on the topic of healing visit:
What The Word Of God Says On Healing
Healing Miracle's In God's Word
Healing Miracle's In God's Word--Part Two