For my fellow seminary students…

If only it was actually that simple…

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Well as promised, here is my update on discerning whether a person is experiencing demonism or or mental illness. This is a hot topic in both the psychological community and within the church, but I think it is extremely important for Christian clinicians. I am by no means an expert but I do believe it is important to educate ourselves on this topic. My Cognitive Behavioral Therapy professor, Dr. Siang Yang Tan, is a God-fearing man with sound theology and a passion for the Lord. These notes are derived from what I learned during his lecture yesterday.

The current, predominant view in the field of psychology is that there are a number of factors that affect our behaviors. There is the mental realm which includes thoughts, cognitions, and feelings. For instance, if you feel depressed, you are likely to stay in bed all day - your feeling is affecting your behavior. Then there is the biological realm. This includes things like genetics, diet, chemical imbalances, etc. For example, a person born with an extra 23rd chromosome will display the symptoms of Down’s Syndrome - your genes are affecting your behavior.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” There are spiritual forces in our world. So then when we have a client who is presenting schizophrenic symptoms, let’s say visual and auditory hallucinations, how do we know whether it is mental, biological, or spiritual? Do they just believe these things are real? Do they have a chemical imbalance in their brain? Are they possessed by a demon? Or is it some combination of the three? 

Dr. Tan presented us with 4-step process on discerning whether or not demonism is at play. When a demon-possessed client comes into your office…

1. “You will feel or sense an overwhelming, foreboding sense of evil because the evil spirit is in the person or is affecting the person.” If there is an evil presence in the room, you will be able to feel it. Agreed. 
2. “There will be a strong and sometimes violent reaction to the name of Jesus.” Many psychotic patients think they are Jesus, but they are rarely fearful toward Him or His name. However, if your client has an extremely adverse reaction to the name of Jesus, this is cause for concern.
3. “There may be history of involvement with the occult, false religion, or satanism.” When a person opens themselves up to these things, they are letting Satan and his demons have a foothold in their life. This can lead to demon possession, which is why it is essential to ask about a person’s spirituality during the intake session.
4. “There may be an olfactory smell like rotten eggs in the presence of a demon-possessed person.” OK I am not entirely sure about this one, but apparently it is well documented. I have yet to see scriptural evidence for it though. 

Just because a client comes in claiming to be Jesus or has a glazed over look in their eyes does not mean they are demon possessed. However it is a possibility and we as clinicians should be aware of how to discern this. But be careful. This is why it is absolutely essential to stay close to the spirit of God through reading the scriptures, praying, and communing with fellow believers. 

Another caveat…C.S. Lewis wrote that there are two mistake a Christian can make about demons. One is not to believe in them at all. That way, when a demon attacks, the Christian will not be able to understand why he is having whatever problem. The other mistake is to believe in them and have an unhealthy, that is to say, too much, interest in them. A person who makes demons the focus of his thinking is likely to come under demonic influence without being aware that it is happening; at least not until disastrous happens as the result of his error.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO GIVE UNDUE ATTENTION TO SATAN AND HIS DEMONS. He does not rule you - Jesus does. You don’t need to go looking for demons. They are there, and God knows where they are. But if you do suspect demon possession or encounter one in a patient, pray for God’s peace and protection, ask Godly, spiritual leaders with experience in this, and do not fear. You have the power of God inside of you and at the name of Jesus, the devil must flee. If your patient is truly demon possessed, say, “In the name of Jesus, be gone. Satan you are not welcome here, and never come back.” 

So in conclusion, demon possession is real. But not not every person with a mental illness is demon possessed. In fact, most of them aren’t. But if you do encounter a demon, there is no need to fear. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is inside of you, and Satan and his demons have to leave in its presence. Rest assured in this. 

Psychotherapy involves spiritual warfare, whether you like or not. So it’s better to be educated and aware. Demons are like rats - they feed on emotional garbage. So when you as a therapist are helping a client get rid of their garbage, the demons no longer have anything to feed on. Integrating theology with psychology is not a choice for us a Christian psychologists. If we really follow Jesus, we will walk everyday in spiritual warfare, which is why we need to take Paul seriously when he says to “pray without ceasing.” 

Our culture often sends out the message that you need to have it all together. But looking at our lives from a Biblical perspective, I think we can see that broken is not necessarily a bad place to be. It is often when people are most broken that God’s power is on display.

• The broken jars symbolize God breaking down earthly strongholds of evil so that His light can shine: “Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.” - Judges 7:19-21
• God will not look down on a broken heart: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” - Psalm 51:17
• Having what is costly to us broken reflects sacrifice unto God: “While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known asSimon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of ver epensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured out the perfume on his head.” - Mark 14:3
• Jesus’ broken body saved the world: “…The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in rememberance of me.” - 1 Corinthians 11:24

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” -Psalm 34:18

“I’m pinned down. When I survey this gigantic intricate world, I cannot believe that it just came about. I don’t mean that I have some good arguments for its being made and that I believe in the arguments. I mean that this conviction wells up irresistibly within me when I contemplate the world. The experiment of trying to abolish it does not work. Wen looking at the heavens, I cannot manage to believe that they do not declare the glory of God. When looking at the earth, I cannot bring off the attempt to believe that it does not display his handiwork.

And when I read the New Testament and look into the material surrounding it, I am convinced that the man Jesus if Nazareth was raised from the dead. In that, I see the sign that he was more than a prophet. He was the Son of God.

Faith is the footbridge that you don’t know will hold you up over the chasm until you’re forced to walk out onto it.”

-Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament For A Son

“Our identity as Christians is deeply rooted in a growing sense of our place in the march of redemptive history, nurtured in the context of Christian community. We feel strongly that it is a decided risk in Gestalt therapy that one can be so “fully alive to the moment” that one loses all senses of a proper respect for the past or appropriate concern about the future. The potential distrust of ‘right thinking’ (i.e., orthodoxy) can result in such extreme detachment from external reality and transcendent absolutes that there is little engagement in the demands of everyday living beyond the personal realm. Although it may be argued that we exaggerate the risks involved, from an eternal perspective, we should not take these concerns lightly. We fear that tone of the main virtues of Gestalt therapy, self-understanding, might potentially lead to the pride inherent in a growing sense of self-sufficiency rather than self-support.” -Jones and Butman, Modern Psychotherapies: A Comprehensive Christian Appraisal