The greatest cure for mental illness is the Word of God. And I believe much of what the world refers to mental illness is demonic oppression or possession. I also believe that most deliverance will come by renewing the soul (the mind and the emotions) with God’s healing Word. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
Do you need this perfect peace operating in your life today? If so, you’re not alone; many of God’s people are suffering from attacks on their mind and emotions. But I am a firm believer in the power of God’s Word. If we will keep our thoughts focused on God and His promises, this perfect peace will belong to us.
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No matter the unwelcoming situation you have found yourself in, there is hope for deliverance and healing in God’s Word. But you have to choose to be free and make quality decisions on a daily basis to get free. If you are standing in proxy for a loved one, you have to fight for the freedom of this person by prayer and fasting and standing on the promises of God.
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I believe that most deliverance will simply come by staying in the Word of God: living a lifestyle of reading and studying, meditating on the promises of God, speaking these promises aloud over yourself and doing what it says to do. If you will do what I just wrote here, most of you will find your freedom. And the others who are further into the bondage of Satan will need others to fight for them.
— Becky Dvorak, Charisma News, Prophetic Healing Evangelist: Here’s the Greatest Cure for Your Mental Illness, February 23, 2020
Bullshit.
Take a look at your beloved word Becky Dvorak and you will find so much in there that only makes those who suffer sicker.
This could be fatal advice for someone who is mentally ill. People with mental illness need professional care, not reading ancient texts from people who didn’t even know germ theory, or that the earth is spherical, or that earth isn’t the center of the universe.
Wow, this person clearly feels so strongly that her feelings have completely shut down her critical brain. She wheeely-feelies that anybody who can fast and pray will find release from illness and that those who are so badly possessed or whatever will need others to pray for them. And though I did not read further I can assure you that this ripoff yack-face will lead you along right to her offering plate. Don’t you care for the lost, the possessed, those suffering the Devil’s indwelling? Send a few dollars and they will be delivered by prayer! People like this should be ‘making licence plates’.
Apparently she hasn’t heard of gaslighting. Or maybe she has and doesn’t care since she makes money doing it.
Another asshole bullying in the name of Gawd.
Damn. One reason I left my church was because I couldn’t become mentally healthy while I was a member. Turned out it was largely physically based, but still.
my impression is that “christianity” CAUSES mental illness. ?
Allow me to suggest Christianity may not CAUSE mental illness but may BE a sign of mental illness.
In 8 years of being involved with it, it sure made my bipolar disorder worse! Thank Odin, or whomever that I was at least SOMEHOW able to maintain my sobriety throughout all the years of being judged, and eventually ignored. I’ll never forget the time I showed up for evening service,(ONE OF THE LAST, BTW!!) and started to approach my friend who was standing in the lobby of the very large church, talking with some of his Evan G. Ellikal buddies. About 30 ft. or so away, I plain as day heard one of these guys say, ‘Awwww geeeez, you still hangin’ out with that screwball’?….OBVIOUSLY referring to me. I approached my friend, told him I’d call him later, gave this clown a glare that I swear I thought would make him piss his little panties, and headed for the exit. My buddy felt really bad, and apologized profusely on behalf of this dude, and I told him it was OK, I’m kinda ‘used to it’, and don’t blame him for the actions of his mouthy, asshole friend.. I’m actually still friends with this guy, even though he knows I’ve left Christianity. We still talk, and get dinner here and there;He is apparently one of the very few ‘good ones’ who seems to have compassion for, even if he can’t possibly even begin to understand my ‘demons’. Organized, institutionalized religion = POISON in my estimation. It’s a dang shame indeed, smh.
I wish that this so-called prophetess would develop a heart of loving-kindness, compassion, tender mercy and understanding of the struggles that mentally ill people are going through and realize that mental illness is very complex and required help from a fully qualified and understanding psychiatrist.
This “prophetess” is so obsessed with mythical demons and believes such imaginary beings to be real. Maybe she is mentally ill and should seek out a good psychiatrist to have her mental well-being assessed. She is either pretty ignorant of the damage she is doing to those Christians who are mentally ill, or she knows that she is doing damage but doesn’t care so long as she makes plenty of money from her shenanigans.
Such dangerous talk. I know of a woman who has 3 schizophrenic people in her family who will NEVER get help because of this mentality. It makes me sad and angry. I’m so thankful for the three psychiatric medications that give me a happy and normal life. I am one of those women that would have been institutionalized back in the day for mental illness. Yet I live a happy, productive life and give to others daily. And that is WITHOUT a “god” that requires something of me. I’m sure grateful. I owe a lot to Bruce because he was the first person in my life who deigned to utter that the Bible was just a book and no more. That was the paradigm shift that changed everything and the religious house of cards tumbled from there. If it’s a “relationship” and not a religion then I guess that means I divorced god. Lolol
Congratulations on your remarkable progress, Heather.
The 16th Century. Ahh, those were the days. Thank you for bringing us back, Becky!
One of the craziest legacies of Christian Fundamentalism and Conservative Evangelicalism in the United States is the profound belief that every word in the Bible was written as a U.S. Postal Service-delivered personal letter from God to each individual person and their current life situation in the United States—all 340,000,000 Americans. I got news for you——It ain’t. Speaking as a long-time mental health patient, like Bruce and so many other people, this Becky Dvorak person is out of her freaking mind and delivering really bad advice to people with mental health issues—-incredibly bad advice.
One thing I learned long ago—at least to my own personal satisfaction—is that the books of the Holy Bible were written with the assumption that its reading audience would be the everyday man—meaning the average individual with no really difficult “special problems” like mental illness. So, when I see a Bible verse like:
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26:3), I automatically see an invisible footnote attached that says:
“Now wait just one danged minute. If you have some extra special problem that the average guy does not have like manic depressive psychosis, paranoid schizophrenia, chronic clinical depression, or you just embezzled $240,000,000 from your company and the FBI seems to be getting uncomfortably close, this verse was not written for you. You are a statistical outlier in need of very special and highly focused help far beyond what I am providing here in these few Bible words to the average guy for which life is pretty much still okay all around.”
Just sayin.
I’d take it a step beyond even that and deduce that the ‘babble’ doesn’t give a rat’s ass about us statistical outliers, except to inform us that we will make great never to be consumed, FIREWOOD for hell’s flames!
This asshole needs to Shut Up, before she drives folks to suicide or further mental health issues.
I tried to pray away my alcohol abuse when I was a devout Catholic. Tried AA and prayed to my “higher power”. I became an atheist and finally realized my alcohol abuse was going to kill me and possibly take others with me if I didn’t get medical help.
I finally found a psychiatric practice that deals in addiction medicine that has excellent PAs and counselors on staff.
Finally getting diagnosed and treated for clinical depression and not a “moral failing” was a relief.
These jackbutts Can all go to their self-prescribed hell.
BJW: Your case defines the problem exactly!! How else would you have learned the physical cause of your mental illness if you had taken her advice to read, pray, fast, etc.? Many people’s mental illness is rooted in a physical disorder.
And Science has totally debunked this reverse logic: ” I believe much of what the world refers to mental illness is demonic oppression or possession.” We now know that “much (it not all) of what the world refers to as demonic oppressor possession” is actually mental illness.
I know I’m not saying things much differently than the folks that commented before me…but I must comment.
My first thought was, “wouldn’t it be nice if there was some kind of magic that could cure mental illness?”. But it doesn’t! I sure as hell looked for it. I went through a three year, severe depression as a Christian and was given the same bullshit advice that the “prophetess” gives. i read and prayed and believed I received, and nothing helped. Of course, that just added to the depression! It wasn’t until I found a good doctor that knew which medicine would help me that I began to come out of that dark place. Then I had to learn life coping skills because there are no magic pills, either. But man, those pills sure helped me get to a place where I could apply some coping skills. Oh, and as we all know, I didn’t learn any of these skills in religion. Nope. Mostly in secular Buddhism and good ole’ psychology. And I had a complete physical to make sure there weren’t any factors there. And there were. So I got on some meds to get some levels where they should be. Now, I have sad moments and down days like anyone, but if I had continued on with the “read and pray” advice, there is a good chance I’d be dead.
Great comments from everyone and some sound thoughts and advice for people suffering mental illness.
I have to give credit to the commentators at charisma who all universally agree that the article is dangerous and needs to be taken down. That being said, bless her heart, she may believe the bible cures illness but in reality it causes people to literally let jesus take the wheel, justify killing their kids and themselves to avoid the apocalypse and die from accidents involving homemade rockets while trying to prove the earth is flat. Christianity is its own brand of crazy, please seek professional help if you need it.
Hi Bruce I am just thanking you for your blog. I believe in God and am not a atheist but I believe God created atheists to set us all free from abusive religions headed by a false deity. So keep up the good work and keep fighting the good fight.