I am looking to understand something in a spiritual light that is occuring in my life right now.
Please, just opinions -- no bickering back and forth. If you don't agree with another's opinions, I ask that you simply state that and go on to explain your position.
So here are my questions: Is all mental illness caused by demons? Is only some mental illness caused by demons? If any of it is caused by demons, what makes a person susceptible? Can a born again Christian be plagued by demons even?
I'll give a quick explanation as to why I'm curious. My husband has always had some mental difficulties even from when he was young. I'm not sure of his exact diagnosis from back then....but when he was saved at age 33, it seemed that he was delivered from those difficulties. He was absolutely on fire for God. At one point, he was some sort of an assisting minister for the church he went to (he gave sermons, but I don't know as though he had any other duties).
When I met him, he was recovering from the loss of his wife whom he loved dearly. He was doing things he shouldn't have to cover the pain, some drinking, taking extra pain medication for his back problems, etc. Over the next few years, he didn't really repent of this stuff, he continued in it, and coincidentally or not, that's when he started suffering major depressive disorder. It only went downhill from there -- he was hospitalized numerous times for major depressive disorder with psychotic features, PTSD (he was abused as a child), schizoid personality tendencies.
This past week he completely detached from reality and is currently being hospitalized.
Writing this timeline out, I can see that his problems began when he jumped back into a life of sin which would open the door for whatever it is that plagued him. So the question remains - did he open the door for demons (is that even possible for a christian)? Or did he just open the door for mental illness to strike.
I want to clarify that he never turned away from God through all this in that he never stopped believing. Obviously he turned away to a degree through his sinning, but he always believed God would deliver him.
Please be gentle with your answers and consider my feelings in your answers. I have basically lost a husband, it's like he has died to us. And please, if you feel the need to say that my husband is going to hell, refrain yourself. I don't need that at this point (I don't believe it anyways, but I still don't need to see it).
This is a very difficult time for you and your family. I won't wast your time by trying to pretend that I might know what exactly you and your family are suffering, let alone attempt to diagnose all the different things that might be suffering your husband.
I can relate b/c in my own family there are a lot of these "stories". I also have personal experience. My first suicide attempt was in the fourth grade. Later in life I also wound up completely detached from reality. I'll spare you the story of my journey.
However, I do want to let you know that this too is an opportunity to suffer well. That is to say, you now have the very real opportunity to suffer through a trial and at the end of this trial, in whatever form it may come, there is a very real chance that you and your husband might be rewarded or find yourself much closer to Him. But with all trials also comes the dangers of failure. I am not saying that you must endure this test perfectly or all is lost. God is merciful and extends His grace to us despite our weaknesses.
We are always to be moving toward God through obstacles that, of our own strength, we can not endure. He is faithful and though we might not perceive a victory because of any given "undesirable" outcome, it all depends on how you define victory and also the concept of "outcome".
He IS risen. There's a saying that goes like this: I am neither an optimist or a pessimist for Christ is risen.
When God told Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice, Abraham obeyed in a way that illustrates the synergy of faith and works in a way that wound up pointing to the resurrection. Abraham knew that God is good and yet God asked Abraham to do something that perplexes our limited sense of what is good. The way we humans define good is by examining character. Character is action. We perceive the character of a thing or a person by what that thing or person "does". If a person is greedy it is because their actions point toward our limited understanding of greed. We see a well-fed hand that reaches for more. After we see this, we see greed.
Abraham was given the task to offer his son as a sacrifice. He knew the character of God IS good and yet God has asked him to sacrifice what to our simple mind is also, "good". Knowing God to be source of all that is good, Abraham didn't believe that Isaac would not be sacrificed. In other words, it's not that Abraham thought that a good God wouldn't actually ask him to sacrifice his son and so it must be a test and therefore in order to pass the test, he will simply go through the motions and wait for Him to rescue him from the sacrifice. No, Abraham looked past death, knowing full well that even death could be conquered by God and despite the temporary undesirable "outcome" of his son's death, he didn't have to count his son's death as final. So, in Abraham's heart (and mind) even if Isaac had been sacrificed, this temporary "defeat" could still be counted a truer victory that he would remain hopeful for.
Hebrews 11:17-19 (New International Version)
17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
It was Abraham's faith (which is a knowledge of the heart) that prompted him
to do God's will and to look (with his reason) PAST the death of his own son toward a good god, Our Lord, despite the trying circumstances.
The reason I'm telling you this is because you must look past what you might define as victory in this situation. Don't count loss for loss or believe that whatever losses might come your way are punishments for you or your husband's actions. God's will is a mysterious thing. Did Abraham know that God would allow Isaac to live? No. But if to answer this in a more comprehensive and truer way,
yes. The reason the answer is not
truly "no", is because Abraham looked past his son's death and relied not on his own sense of life and death. He did, in a truer sense, believe that Isaac would "live".
So, I encourage you to be prepared for what you might consider to be the worst so that if it does occur, you might still see victory in such a loss. And properly prepare yourself for long-suffering that you might take refuge in Him during such a hard time. It's for your benefit, as backwards as that might sound to the world.
Read the book of James.
In regards to demons and mental illness. Who is an authority? God. And let it be said that there is a distinction. Is there demon possession? Yes. Can a "Christian" be possessed? Yes. A demon can attack from within as well as from the outside. Is there mental "corruption" or disease or illness? Yes. Can a demon exploit our mental illness even though we are Christian? Yes. Is there such thing as sanity? Yes. Have any of us achieved the truest sense of the word, sanity? No. For now we see dimly. There is no man who is not, when measured against the clarity of what is to come, sane.
In regards to exorcism, do be careful. I should let you know that every Orthodox person is exorcised at their Chrismation. Don't take it upon yourself to try and "exorcise" him or yourself by using certain formulas that have been given to you by persons of whatever type of "church" you might go to. I won't go into it but I can't in good conscience not warn you.
Chrismation* - having been expelled from within, will the demons return to attack from the outside? Most likely, yes. Can the demons be granted re-entry into the person? Yes. But I would focus less on the demons and more on love, humility and prayer. You don't want to convince yourself of something that might actually be something else. This too would be a deception and counter to your journey toward God and the healing that your husband needs.
The reason the mentally "ill" (schizophrenia) in Africa have a faster recovery rate than in more "civilized" countries is because the community doesn't have such stigmas against those who suffer from these realities. They recognize that it happens and when it happens, they don't further heap stones upon the suffering in order to lift themselves up. This afflicted person needs loved more than anything else. The community should offer to such a person, love, care, selfless devotion to their healing, humility, kindness and time. When we who consider ourselves, "sane" look at such a person, we should see two things.
One, ourselves. Are we not, when compared to the perfection of Christ's mind, mentally defected? Are we not ourselves, insofar as we are not in communion with God, insane?
Two, Christ Himself. The afflicted human is still an icon of Christ. That is to say, we are all made in His image. Not one human being has not been made in His image. To turn our backs on a fellow human being who is suffering is to turn our back on the one who created this fellow being. If God's extending his love to this person then we too, like our Father, if we are truly sons, will extend our love to this person.
I will try to keep you and your husband in my daily prayers and ask others too for their prayers for your husband for as long as I hear that he's in this condition.
Here is a podcast that might give you better insight into the issue of, demons and (or) mental illness (from an Orthodox perspective).
Insanity Or Demonic Possession?
Posted June 19, 2009 After years of questions from concerned friends and loved ones about whether someone suffered from insanity or demonic posession (and how to discern the difference between the two), the sisters of St Barbara Monastery (OCA; Santa Paula, CA) turned to the patristic Church Fathers for answers. In this episode of The Illumined Heart, Mother Melania (Salem) tells host Kevin Allen what they discovered.
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* From Ancient Faith Radio.
God bless