I had an incident recently where I went to the hospital to get checked out for some severe chest pains I was having. (All tests came back negative, praise God!) It was the day of a final exam, and to be sure I could get to school that evening without further incident, I walked over to the hospital with books and laptop in tow, figuring I’d be there a while. Because I rattled off a list of stressing factors that I believed contributed to the pains, the young attending physician thought I was a prime candidate for a consult with the psychiatrist. I explained to him that I am a Christian and pray through my issues, so I don’t need nor do I believe in their services. This made him very angry. Imagine that! I prefer prayer and he gets mad. (I suppose if he went to Catholic school, he didn’t have a nice experience with religious leaders there!) Long story short, he soon sent over a young, bug-eyed intern who asked me a barrage of questions. It was her game face, I suppose. I made the mistake of being too chatty and offered information she decided to use against me. Worse yet, scanning papers and textbooks spread out on the gurney – as I was studying while waiting, she eyed an article I had on POWs, which was the subject of my paper that evening. She gets excited and says, “Guns! Have you ever thought of using a gun…?” She then refers me on to her boss who essentially declares she was not going to let me check out unless I talked to her. She asked many of the same questions and some other insulting things. It was a nightmare and in the end they declared some falsehoods in my medical report. I won’t give any other details because I’ve made a formal complaint, but that is the gist of the matter.
No Jesus, no prayer, no Christian-anything was allowed. Mind you, I was not depressed when I went to the hospital, just over-stressed but still my usual happy self. However, in the minds of some in the medical and pseudo-medical community, if you have any stress or any degree of depression, psychiatry is the answer. God/Jesus Christ is not an option, only their “treatment” of confinement, tests and drugs.
While searching out venues to make my complaint, I came across an advocacy site called Citizens Commission on Human Rights (www.cchr.org). They do nothing else but expose the fallacies of the field of psychiatry and report some disturbing statistics on their cure rate: which is zero. Their kill rate? CCHR calls psychiatry “an industry of death” citing that they have killed more persons than in all the wars since 1776. Let that sink in, please. Yet, the general public does not realize this. Before this experience, I only had an innate distrust for anyone who elevates themselves above all other human beings, even above the power of God, which works just fine for those of us who believe. Many psychiatrists are truly Hitler-ish in their ways and they’re training up young students who have yet to experience life fully who are contributing to life-altering decisions against other human beings.
Worse yet, many people – and, shamefully, too many Christians – are wide open to the popular notion of an “analyst”, “shrink” – whatever you want to call them. The most dangerously popular notion spread by this “profession” is that of the “chemical imbalance”. I have, perhaps now had, a friend who believed that. This childhood friend has what I call a “Type Triple A” personality versus my often “Type A” personality. Not everyone understood her, but she certainly did not need psychiatric drugs to regulate her thinking or personality. The last time I spoke with her and one of her parents, she had been taking the psychiatrist’s prescribed drugs for years and behaving very irrationally. (They don’t believe a person can be cured, it seems of “mental illness”.) I lost touch with the whole family. I don’t know whether she is dead or alive today. Further, a senior citizen friend of mine who made the mistake of sharing a depression issue with a medical doctor was prescribed medication that made him black out, and his visiting nurse kept offering him more medications. This is a serious problem that affects not only persons going to the hospital for non-psychiatric visits, but especially our children. Most know that a primary target for psychiatric drugs are African-American kids, regularly labeled as mentally retarded. This blot lasts for life on their records and severely limits their possibilities.
Biblical Profiles of Persons Handling their Depressions & Oppressions
Spiritual warfare, for any committed Christian, is the name of the game. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all”[1]! The scripture deals honestly with people’s natures and tendencies. Father God is not one to “sweep (things) under the rug”, but puts them out there for our learning and examples of what not to do, as well as what we can do. We’ll take a quick look at Hannah (book of I Samuel), Nehemiah (book of Nehemiah), and Jonah (book of Jonah).
Hannah had a years-long depression over her barrenness. Worse yet, the other woman in their lives was popping out babies left and right, and parading her pregnant belly in front of Hannah, who by then had had all she could take of this situation and went into the temple to pray and pour out all her hurt and bitterness to the Lord. A study of those scriptures reveal how well it all turned out with Hannah’s first child becoming the prophet Samuel, but her path out of that road was seeking God and getting a right, prophetic word from her spiritual leader. (The right word in season has delivered many!) Everything fell into place after that and she was quite a happy woman from then on.
Jonah was called to go preach in Nineveh to a race of people he could not stand and would have been gratified to see perish. Jonah tried to run the other way but he was intercepted by a “great fish” (whale). God allowed this, and after Jonah had a change of heart, he was spewed up on dry land. Jonah was more than happy to go to Nineveh even though he was quite ticked off with God’s mercy toward these people! (Jonah 4:1) He sulked and whined a good while. Father God was merciful to him, and Jonah eventually got it together.
Nehemiah, upon finding out that his hometown had been destroyed fell into a deep sadness and depression, so much so that it was apparent to his employer, the king. Fortunately, because of Nehemiah’s relationship with Father God, he had the favor, permission and support of the king to rectify it. Without that close and right relationship with God, that sadness could have driven him to suicide. But, quite the opposite was true! A careful reading of Nehemiah will show how strong and bold he became as he carried out his mission, and how many others he inspired in the work of restoring the city, even with active opposition.
What Your Ears Hear
To demonstrate how important the right, spiritual sound or music is, king Saul would have David play his harp for him (I Samuel 16), and it was played in such a way that the evil spirits resting on Saul would be driven out. Saul had many confidence issues and excuses, but his main trouble was not being one with God the Father, and as a result out of His will. Saul later made it his unsuccessful mission to assassinate David.
David had many issues – beyond Saul! A study of his life in the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and the Psalms will be an eye opener. His deep love for the Lord and his gifts as a writer/psalmist with music helped him through time and time again.
[1] All those unfamiliar with the bible who want to locate these and other scriptures, please do a key word search at www.blb.org.
It’s not just an old testament thing, it is a new testament instruction to “speak to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to the Lord”. (Colossians 3:16)
Many scriptures speak of training our minds to thing and depend on the Lord. Philippians 4:8 says, “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.” If we follow these instructions, then there’s no time to be caught up in worry or anxiety of any sort. We’re also told “cast your care upon Him, for He careth for you”. Actually, worrying is sin and demonstrates faithlessness. That’s one thing that caused Jesus to rebuke his disciples on occasion. We are encouraged to be mentally strong and not fearful. (Look up how many times you will find “fear not” in the bible!) As a matter of fact, the fearful are promised a place in hell…. (Revelation 21:8) On and on the scriptures go with the potential for the believer to strengthen his or her resolve with every round! Our bible is filled with direction for every situation! We just need to spend time in it regularly, commit scripture to memory and speak it forth!
Back in the old cassette days, I would read favorite scriptures and record the most blessed songs of the day, often two or three times in a row, to play back. At other times, I’d put scriptures on index cards to memorize and would tape some up in the medicine cabinet or on the fridge door, or write them into my datebook as the theme for the month. While waiting for a bus outside one day, I starting typing in scriptures on my mind into the memo section of my cell phone so that I could be re-inspired any time I ran across them. (Do this while waiting on line in the supermarket! It’s something else to do instead of fretting about prices!) For those who love to read books – in addition to the scripture – there are many titles that deal with the stresses of the mind and spirit, and the battles we have to fight. Some rave reviews have been given on books such as “The Rewards of Simplicity, The: A Practical and Spiritual Approach” by Pam Pierce and Chuck Pierce; also there’s “Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer. The direction you take is in your hands!
For those who have truly had some form of mental illness, which many teach is simply demonic oppression, deliverance is available also by the power of God. I have seen at least two have their minds restored by that power. I know what my Lord can do!
Let’s face facts: we all can get depressed at one time or another. We live in stressful times, but psychiatric drugs are NEVER the answer. The suburban “sedative” or “drink to calm your nerves” is a bit of an “escapist mentality”. Usually, a conversation with a mature friend, wise pastor or senior citizen who’s truly lived and learned can give us the counsel we sometimes need. For me, I often go to the scripture and will immediately begin to recite or sing something to separate and distance myself from the irritant. I will fill my atmosphere with godly sound – and I make sure I keep instrumentals and praise music on my laptop and computer. If that is not enough for the moment, I tune in to a favorite internet Christian radio station with a wide variety of Christian music and sermon snippets (www.GOZradio.net ). If the situation is very serious and so distracting that I know can’t focus enough to pray for myself, or simply need more prayer power, I send off an email to people who I know will raise intercession for me. Then, I simply wait it out, having prayed about it and recommitted my trust and confidence to the Lord. There have been times it was not quite so simple, but I always turned to the Lord God and have ALWAYS been delivered by Him!