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I have a brother from church who is suffering from schizophrenia. He claims that he is possessed by the devil and that it makes him do all these aweful things. He just recently tried to commit suicide (still alive by God's grace) because he couldn't stand it anymore.

He prays every day when he gets chance too. He plead with God that the "devil" would leave him alone. He reads the bible when he is able too, but recently before the attempted suicide, he said the devil made him destroyed his bibles and notes.

I know that light cannot exist with darkness. A Christian's body is the temple of the holy spirit therefore darkness cannot dwell within it.

His past involved a lot ... a lot of serious drugs.

I'm planning on praying with him weekly, but can anyone shed some light? How can he be a Christian and still the devil continually torment him? I've talked to him and I can see that his heart is aching for Christ to deliever him (this situation has be going on for years, just now recently gotten worst).

Do pray for him, but has he seen a psychiatrist? He really needs to see one...

If it is a spiritual problem as it seems to be
psychiatry will be of little help

Alain

_________________
Live...
To the Glory of God, the Father
For the Love of God, the Son
By the Power of God, the Holy Spirit
_______________________________
All Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless otherwise stated

he's currently under lockdown at a hospital. I believe his family is to poor to see a shrink. But like the last sandersann said, it might be a spiritual problem?

The Scriptures say that the only way a demon can be cast out of someone is by prayer and fasting. You have to have faith that God can do this, if it truly is a demon, and you need to pray for him!

ninhsavestheday,

It is hard to know from a distance what is really going on.

I do believe that the issues has something to do with the spiritual side
We know that a believer cannot be possessed , but can be oppressed
First, you need to be sure that he is a believer as opposed to merely religious (the two could be somewhat hard to tell apart in some cases)
If he is a believer, it is probably demonic oppression rooting in some unconfessed sin that is giving access to the Devil.

If he is not a believer, it could be oppression or possession; the solution being for him to come to Christ by a total surrender of his life.

Find a group of dedicated believers to fast and pray for him. asking God for discernment and his deliverance no matter what the problem is.

We have our beginning of the year fast at our church, I will certainly pray for him, this is not an enviable situation for anyone.

As Smiley said, we need to have faith that God can deliver him

Alain

_________________
Live...
To the Glory of God, the Father
For the Love of God, the Son
By the Power of God, the Holy Spirit
_______________________________
All Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless otherwise stated

I do not know whether he is a true believer or not, but from the outside it seems like he is.

But can oppression be this serious? Satan will tell him to do things and he'll do it. He told me the different names of the devil and also described to be an angel that looks after him.

How would you fast?

Please continue to shine some light upon this situation.

It is common in serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia to have religious ideas or theological themes to be part of the psychosis. It is dangerous for this person, and possible to the family, to have someone with such a diagnosis not following their medication regime. To truly get a sense of what is going on in a person with such a diagnosis they often need to be a rational state of mind in order to be able to describe what the are experiencing. Perhaps there are spiritual issues to be addressed, but most often these are done when a client has been stabilized. Talking with a social worker or chaplain on staff can often be helpful in such circumstances.

ninhsavestheday,

The beauty with fasting in the New Covenant is that it is not about following a set of rules but about an inner disposition.

Below are general principles that take into account various circumstances (I do not claim to be exhaustive)

Depending on the participants' health and availability, a partial or total fast could be observed.

The first thing is to determine how long will the fast be. This needs to include how much time of undivided attention you can give to prayer and fasting at the same time (it is less helpful if you are able to fast but cannot find time to pray because of work and other tasks)

It is recommended not to fast for too long if it is the first time, unless one is healthy enough to do so (as in more than a week).

Of course partial fast could last for weeks, or one could choose a total fast (with or without liquids) for a day or a few days.

Some could skip a meal or more, unnecessary activities and entertainment and devote this time to prayer and bible reading. (I have sometimes fasted by not eating before 6 pm). However, what we are doing at church this week is not to eat after 3 pm since most of the prayers and other spiritual activities take places in the afternoon and in the evening

Others could only consume liquids or water during the fast or go without.

The idea is to have a plan and maybe even prepare the fast by praying about it (to be spared distractions and other things that the enemy or life might put your way during this crucial time).

A plan would include having an idea of exactly what you will fast about and a set schedule of prayer and bible reading.

Let us suppose that you are doing a partial fast for a week.

Day 1 could be repentance and praise focusing on presenting oneself before God without unconfessed sins and ushered in His presence with praise reading Psalms for example provides biblical references for repentance and praise. This could also include reading examples of people fasting in the bible

Day 2 could include presenting the person to God asking for spiritual discernment and reading appropriate passages in the NT

Day 3 could include praying for the family in this time of trouble

Day 4 could include praying for his spiritual deliverance if God gives you to discern the problem as being spiritual

Day 5 could include praying for his health both physical and mental

and so on.

One of course must be attentive to the Spirit and adapt accordingly


The good thing with prayer and fasting is that it addresses all aspects of the issue, God could lead you to discern that the problem is not spiritual and that he needs medical treatment (or he could take care of the mental aspect by healing him Himself)

Or He could lead you to discern that it is spiritual and take care of it or indicate that it needs more fasting and prayer (maybe the whole church)

I will keep you and the situation in my prayers

Alain

_________________
Live...
To the Glory of God, the Father
For the Love of God, the Son
By the Power of God, the Holy Spirit
_______________________________
All Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless otherwise stated

I am a little concerned that you refer to a psychiatrist as a "shrink". Some of the things such as that that people say can actually be quite hurtful to the ill person or his family using such a term really carries quite a negative connotation, if you want to help your brother, I would suggest changing your vocabulary. Use psychiatrist, doctor, counselor, whatever is appropriate and correct. Shrink seems to have gotten it's start as a shortened version of headshrinker. It seems to me to be a bit of a contradiction if you are saying your brother is demon possessed he should see a headshrinker! Just a comment on vocabulary, and I don't mean it to be that you say it to be hurtful, but how it is meant and received can be very different and families struggling with these problems can be very sensistive and I wouldn't want your sincere desire to help be turned into hurt just by your use of slang terms.

Your friend says he is demon possessed and you seem to just accept that. What if he said you were a demon or demon possessed too? Would you just accept that as well? The point is, don't take what comes out of his mouth as the truth, it is not trustworthy.

I would encourage you to talk to your pastor about the situation, its really something best faced by the whole congregation as a family together. Maybe his blood family needs some financial aid. Certainly prayer is needed. Maybe this is an opportunity to reach out to others in the congregation also suffering from mental illness yet afraid to let it be known because of what they think people will think. Often, people are quite afraid to talk about any mental problems. There has been and in many cases still is quite a stigma connected with mental illness. That shouldn't be because it increases the damage the illness causes.

Hi Earl,

Thanks for the comment regarding the shrink. I had no idea the connotation was bad. Don't worry, I wouldn't offend him or the family because they don't speak english that well. We have another term used for psychiatrist and it is respectful.

And also, don't worry I dont accept that he is demon possessed. I already explained to him that light can not exist with light and that the Christian's body is a temple for the holy spirit and satan cannot possess it. AMEN!

We currently don't have a pastor, but our whole youth group does go visit and pray for him.

Thank you Alain for your comment on fasting, you have definately blessed me. And also, thank you for your prayers.

It seems God may choose to lead certain of His followers to a dark place so that they may dwell in the land of the lost, return to the light, lead others darkened back to the light and as a flock help educate others.

A cause of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic, OCD, PMS, personality disorder and much more has been found by one of God's children: .
link removed by admin 21-Oct-08 MikeC1956 Link removed because it only lead to site for sales of books, no articles, no info, just book sales. Site stated that it was currently being updated. I will check the site in 3 days to see if it has been updated and if any useful information, non-sales related, exists. If it does, I'll reinstate the link, otherwise it will remain removed. Mental health is not something the person off the street can be flip about or offer simplistic answers for. There are many causes. It may be purely physical, it may have spiritual roots, it may be a combination of causes. In any event, unless one has a background in such things, it is best gain what knowledge one can from legitimate sources. Psychiatry, psychology, medicine, psychiatric social work, education. We all have opinions regarding these areas, some more informed than others. But let's refrain from the simplistic "the devil made me do it" and "it's a disease, I can't help it" for what are clearly personal spiritual and moral choices. As well as chalking up legitimate mental illness to causes that one assumes to be spiritual or moral choices made by those so afflicted.
Bless your health,
Magee

I suppose there is really nothing to say other than drink decaf.

Is that the sort of advice you give to someone struggling with this sort of pyschological disorder?