- Are demons behind mental illness?
If my child has a mental illness does it mean that my child
has a demon and my child needs deliverance?
It's a common question that is asked almost every single time
we do deliverance or we have our deliverance services
or deliverance conferences.
With the huge rise of mental illnesses,
all kinds of learning disorders,
and all kinds of mental deficiencies that are happening
in our generation, many people are seeking for hope,
for help and for healing.
And because we see in certain occasions where deliverance
takes place and mental illnesses are gone,
people run to deliverance
hoping that that could solve the problem.
I want to look at it from the Scriptural perspective
and also share some practical differences
between demons and disorders
and also leave you with some encouragement at the end
and we will pray.
Number one, mental illness can be demonic.
It's obvious. It's in the Bible. For example, Mark 5:15.
So the fact that he had a right mind after his deliverance
indicates he didn't have a right mind before his deliverance
and it was obvious. If you look at what he was doing
this wasn't just the signs of demonic possession,
these were also signs of a mental disorder.
And these two were so connected that when Jesus delivered
this man, his mind was restored, his mind came back to him.
There are instances when demons are cast out
and the person's mind is restored.
There are instances where demons are cast out
and then the person's mind can be healed
with the help of medicine and healing prayer.
But it doesn't happen automatically
meaning the demons being removed doesn't automatically cause
the mind, the chemicals and deformities and disorders
to be cured.
And so, that's first indication we see in the Bible
is that demons can be behind mental disorders.
Number two is, mental illness can be a direct result of sin.
We see that also in the Bible. For example, Daniel 4:33.
So, it was obvious that Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind.
We would put a person like that today in the asylum
in mental institution because he was pretty much
living like an animal.
God allowed through the sin of pride for Nebuchadnezzar
to lose his mind and he became what we would call mental.
Now, we don't see signs of demonic possession
and we don't see actually deliverance taking place
when his mind was restored to him
even though it could be but we don't see that.
We see a direct result of pride and sin.
Now again, this doesn't mean that every case is like that.
That every case of mental disorder is directly connected
to a specific sin.
Now we know that every sin, illness, death, curse
is a direct result of the sin of Adam but the specific sins
that we or our ancestors committed could result
in a particular illness including mental disorder.
But it's not a rule and it's not specifically a formula
by which you can discern the source of that particular
problem in your life.
Number three, mental illness can be a physical illness
without a specific connection to some kind of a sin or a demon.
We see Luke 10:34 says:
We see that this man that the Samaritan picked up
who was wounded, he healed him and then he brought him
to an inn.
The world we live in today is so broken.
We can come under different attacks of missing chemicals,
we can be born with certain deformities and certain disorders
that will require the healing touch of God
or the compassionate care of our family members.
We see that God uses different elements on the earth
such as leaves and figs to assist in the healing process
from physical problems.
Ezekiel 47:12, 1 Timothy 5:23 and Isaiah 38:21.
Paul was telling Timothy to begin to take wine not just water
for his constant infirmities in his stomach.
Taking medicine is not a weakness of faith.
Actually, it was the churches that invented
the idea of hospitals.
There are people who go on medication because of
their disorders and these medications help them
to function as responsible and good citizens in their society
and in their community and that's not a weakness of faith.
That's normal. We see that even in the Bible.
Now can God supernaturally heal? Yes
but we also see instances where people through medicine
they got better.
We also know that there are cases where healing doesn't happen
especially in the area of autism, learning disorder
or maybe somebody who went through trauma
or somebody who had an accident that caused them to have
seizures or caused them to have epilepsy
or caused them to have schizophrenia or some other things.
Certain trauma happened that threw their chemicals
in their brain off and now they are not able to function
as a normal human being. And in cases like these,
the compassionate care of the family members,
medical professionals, come in play to continue to care
for these image bearers of God who are facing honestly
a very very difficult path in their life concerning their health.
It's easy to begin to take one testimony
and I've seen some, not a lot though
and say, "Hey, this is what I want to happen to me."
And we all believe for that. Like I remember one young man
who had four mental disorders. He came for deliverance.
His mom was convinced it was spiritual.
We prayed for him; he vomited, puked and he got better.
in fact, one of these disorders kind of stopped.
And then six months later he came completely delivered,
clean bill of health. He finished school,
he was dismissed from mental institution and
they moved to a different state and he became a youth leader
and the last I heard he became a youth pastor.
And so, I wish every case was like that.
And I'm going to be very honest. We haven't seen as much
breakthrough as we know the Lord wants to do
in the area of mental illnesses.
What I would encourage though is to be very careful to treat
every mental illness as purely demonic.
It also could be physical.
I know people who have done drugs and because of
abuse of drugs, they have destroyed certain chemicals
in their brains.And though God set them free from drugs
they are still not healed. Like the man who was
at the Gentile territory, he was delivered and healed.
But I've seen cases where people were delivered,
powerfully delivered from demons
but their mind wasn't fully restored. And in some cases
their mind was restored but it's still very vulnerable
if they go back and smoke or drink,
it throws their whole chemicals into imbalance.
We've seen cases where people have certain phobias
of certain things where they can't drive
or they can't perform this task or that task
and we prayed and we fasted and we delivered,
took them through everything and some people manifested
some people didn't manifest and then we took them to the doctor.
And a Christian doctor who works with people's brains
helped to put them on the proper medicine
and then wind them off from that medicine
and they were fully restored and they are continuing
to live fully functioning without the help of the medication
and they are serving God.
If you are a deliverance minister
and you pray for deliverance for somebody and they get set free
but they have prior mental disorders,
I would really want to encourage you, never ever tell them
to get off of that medicine without the consultation
and the help of their doctor because being delivered
doesn't necessarily always mean you are healed.
We've seen a lot of times where deliverance brings healing
but sometimes deliverance simply brings deliverance.
And then also, I would be very careful unless you have
discernment of spirits, not to judge every case as
every mental case is demonic.
And not every epilepsy or seizures is demonic.
Some people have physical..if they have problems in their brain
they will have a seizure and that's not demonic.
That's just a physical reaction to certain things that are
taking place in their brain.
I read this book and I want to share with you
the six differences between disorders and demons.
It's according to Dr. Steven Waterhouse.
In his book, 'Strength for His People,' he shares
six differences between demons and disorders.
Number one, demons speak in rational dialogue,
people with mental illnesses speak in irrational dialogue.
Untreated people with schizophrenia will often speak
in nonsense and jump rapidly from unrelated topics.
Demons are sharp and they speak clearly.
People who have mental disorders many times
they don't speak clearly. They jump from one thing to another
especially people who have schizophrenia.
The second difference between demons and disorders is
demons want nothing to do with Christ,
people with mental illnesses are often devotedly religiously
committed to God.
They actually obsessively read the Scriptures.
They love to pray.
And it's important to differentiate between that.
but a person with mental illness only knows facts
acquired through normal learning.
The fourth difference, demons want to be secretive.
They want to hide. They do not want to manifest.
People with mental illness claim to be demon-possessed.
A lot of people with mental illness will claim to be demonized.
But you must understand that demons love to hide.
They carry the nature of a thief
and the thief is only successful if he is anonymous,
if he is hidden, if he is secretive.
And so, not every person who claims that they are demonized
are demonized even though I see that in the claims of the Gospels
where fathers and mothers will come to Jesus and claim that
their child was demonized. And Jesus did not doubt those claims.
Yet when people themselves come especially based on the fact
that they have a disorder or they have some kind of a thing
on their mind and they claim, that means I have a demon.
It's not always the case.
That sometimes could be an underlying generational curse
that's operating behind the scenes.
But it's important not treat every disorder
as demon-possession case because it's not fair
and it's not right.
Number five, demonic phenomena at times is scary and spooky
but a person does not exhibit supernatural behavior
who has mental disorder.
Like if you've done or you've seen deliverances,
they could be spooky. They could be crazy.
They could-- A person can exhibit supernatural strength
can have supernatural knowledge,
can do things that are really really scary.
When it comes to a person who has a disorder,
they don't exhibit those supernatural strengths.
They don't have that supernatural phenomenon.
It's just a person who has something broken or something wrong
in a particular part of their brain.
Number six is demons cannot be cured by medicine
they need to be cast out.
Mental illness can't be cured with exorcism.
If prayer solved the problem then it's probably not physical.
It was spiritual. But if medicine helps to alleviate
relieve the person of that problem,
it's probably not demonic-possession.
Sometimes it could be both.
And that's why it takes careful study
I'm not an expert in this area. I'm still learning and studying
other people who are very knowledgeable in the area
of the brain. We also have certain doctors that we
a lot of times consult or send our people
to receive proper treatment in the area of their brain.
And I believe in praying for healing.
I believe in praying for deliverance and I also believe that
if you prayed for deliverance, you prayed for healing
and there is no cure and you are entrusted to take care of
this precious child of God, that you care with compassion
that you care with gentleness of Christ for that human being.
I know a few pastors who are very dear friends of mine
who have children with disabilities especially mental disabilities
and yes, it's hard. It's extremely honestly tiresome
but these people that they take care of are children of God.
They are God's precious kids.
And to care for them with compassion, the long-suffering
that the Holy Spirit provides is the mark
of a Spirit-filled believer.
Now you may accuse me and say, "Vlad, you just simply
don't have enough faith. You don't have enough.."
Maybe, I don't know. But I do know one thing
that God loves everyone. And God wants to help us
to take care of the poor, to take care of people with disabilities
and God also wants us at the same time to believe
for the impossible to happen. For mental illnesses to bow
their knees to Jesus Christ.
I will always pray for those who have mental illness.
But I also believe that God has given us the grace
to care for people as well in churches, in families
and just in our society.
We've seen people be delivered from the spirit behind
the mental illness, curses broken.
But we also have seen where people were delivered
but the mental illness was not changed
and medicine was required and through medicine
people were able to be fully functioning.
And then in some cases where compassion, care and love
is what we would do to that person.
I want to finish with this: It is God who heals and delivers
but it is us who love and care.
If you have a child with special needs or a family member,
I want to pray with you. I want to pray for God's strength
I also want to agree with you for the miracle.
But as you are waiting for that miracle,
whether it will come through deliverance, healing or medicine,
I pray that God will give you strength to continue to persevere
to care and to love.
Father, I thank You for Your grace.
Father, I thank You for the Holy Spirit. He is the comforter
in the most afflicted, tiresome, difficult journeys of life.
I pray for that mother, I pray for that father
I pray for that brother or sister or the child that believes
for their parent who is dealing with that right now
in their family and who's maybe trying to find
the source, the solution.
Lord, I pray that You will come with Your peace right now.
Lord, I agree for healing. I agree for healing for that child
I agree for recovery. Lord, I stand in agreement
if there are demonic forces behind that, we stand against that
We speak Your Word.
We speak the authority of the Name of Jesus
over that precious child of Yours. Bring deliverance
bring healing and restoration in Jesus' Name.
Bring strength and courage to that person facing that, Lord
who's going through that right now. Help them to care and love
and to also conquer anything that's not of You in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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