The way when Judy was in MD Anderson she had been medicated heavily as you know. And she had this fluid tree which she named Gertrude and Gertrude went with her everywhere. That thing had a total of 21 bags on it at one time. And the first night after her stem cell transplant that I spent away from her. She said I'm fine. The nurse said she's doing great. The first night I spent away from her Judy woke up during the night and came out to the nurses and said, where's the father? And they said, what do you mean? She said, where's the father? He's been in there with me, he's gone. Well, she thought that the priest had been with her. It had to do with the form of this tree and some kind of hanging that was on it that she associated with the prayer. She was hallucinating from meditation. She came out of that pretty quickly. That's comical. I tell you what's not comical is when you have a mental or emotional breakdown. They do happen and they do happen to Christian people. In fact, Dr. Hendricks, the name of the book, do you recall which you lent me years ago and which I faithfully return to you? It's a wonderful book and it chronicles the depression of C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, one or two other Christian leaders. It's been a while since we both read it. But Spurgeon referred to depression as, quote, the prophet in dark clothing, unquote. Oh no, the prophet in rough clothing. Spurgeon apparently, C-O-P-I-N-G is the name of the author. Isn't that interesting? Oh, it's the name of the book, but Copan. Okay, okay. The prophet in rough clothing. Spurgeon suffered from depression as did C.S. Lewis. And I don't know whether or not you know this but up until 50 years ago there was not really treatment for mental illness. Generally the meds that we use for mental illness are what we call psychotropics and though there are other drugs and Cindy can tell you a lot more about that than I can. But those are just invented in the 1950s so that people who are mentally or emotionally suffering Asylum as they were called in. Couldn't be medicated. All institutions were controlled just by the biggest patient who would obey the security guard. Dangerous, dangerous situations. One of the most important experiences of my life was between 1981 and 1984. I don't want to get too diverted into that. But I taught as an educational therapist in what was at that time Texas only maximum security mental hospital at Rust State Texas up on the hill. You've heard me talk about that before. And my teaching assignment was to teach on the history and theory of mental illness. So I taught the patients. The patients I had were fifth grade level up including some earned doctorates and others very intelligent people that came through my class including some people who But I learned a tremendous amount there not only by what I read and taught but by what I observed. I don't claim to be anywhere close to an expert on psychology or psychiatry. I'm not. That's a medical field and I'm not qualified for that. But I do have some practical experience in that. But the point I want to make about that is that I was a 30-year-old preacher when I started teaching there and going into that setting my perception of mental and emotional illnesses was probably that the majority of it was demon possession or demon influence. And let me hasten to say that I do believe that all problems are rooted in the power of Satan and sin. I believe that. But working in that environment convinced me that most mental illness or emotional illness, whatever you want to call it, was derivative of one of three things. The fourth being demon possession. And by the way, have any of you ever encountered someone whom you thought to be demon possessed? Really. I have three or four individuals. So let me just remind you, as I've said before, Satan isn't too interested in you knowing he's around. He desires to transform himself into an angel of light. He's not too interested in black Sabbath. and the Rolling Stones. He's not too interested in Alistair Crowley. He's more interested in being undetected. Unseen. A seductive counterfeit appearing to be real. That is who Lucifer is. And that is how Lucifer operates. And by the way, the best book I've ever read on demonology is Dr. Merrill F. Unger's doctoral dissertation, which is very readable, and it's published under the title, Biblical Demonology. It's the best I've read, A to Z, on demonology. Though Unger's later work, Can a Christian Be Possessed?, I wouldn't open it. Because, first of all, it was not a scholarly work. Secondly, it was an errant work. But his first book is a scholarly masterpiece. And it's the first book I ever read when I started preaching. Let me say this also. I would discourage any of you from getting very interested in demons. I don't want you to do it. In fact, I have seen preachers get in deep trouble psychologically, Don is nodding his head. Psychologically and morally becoming preoccupied with the study of demons. So, don't get overindulged in that. Besides, if you think about it, I don't often quote Josh McDowell, but he says, truth out of balance is untruth. And when you get over-involved in a topic like demonology, which at best, though an important topic, is a secondary topic in scripture and that becomes consumptive to your mind and energies, you have to be doing something wrong. Now reiterate, I have seen people get in trouble over-concentrating in that area. Yeah. The Bible gives clear evidence, one of which we're about to examine, of demons adversely affecting human behavior through possession. And that can include irrationality. But working in that mental hospital and reading and learning convinced me that there are three more predominant reasons why people have mental illness. One, And Dr. Sessions, I don't know the statistics on this, but I tell you, it's got to be high. It's what I might call self-induced mental illness. Now, ladies, let me just talk real frankly to you. What kind of pills do you take? You better be careful. Christian women, can become mentally and emotionally injured by an appropriate dependence upon medication. Children, don't take drugs. Supposedly now you can shoot meth one time and be hooked. A deacon in a church I formerly pastored had a brilliant, handsome, young son, great. He was about your age. When I was his pastor, we used to play tennis together. And he went out one night when he was about 21, smoke crack. His father is a multimillionaire. And he cannot get off of it. This is 20 years ago. He cannot get off. He's now a dad, he has two little babies. He's been in and out of treatment centers, in and out of treatment centers. Cannot get off. Crack, they say, will get you the first time. Meth, crack, by the way, meth is the new epidemic drug. Alcohol, you need to be careful. If you can't handle it without overdoing it, don't handle it at all. You've got two choices in the Bible, moderation or abstinence. Drunkenness is not an option. And if you can't be moderate, don't touch it. You know, Nina and Leah, some children sniff paint to get high. The worst cases I saw in the mental hospital where I work were paint sniffers. They're the ones that messed up their brains the most. Paint sniffers, glue sniffers, very bad. Gasoline sniffers, very bad. People will do anything to get high. And you know, kiddos, that in your junior high school or even in your elementary school now, kids will buy certain kinds of paint, particularly metallic paint, and put it in a cloth and inhale it, and what it does is destroy brain cells. Kills brain cells. See, if I get a scratch on my skin, my cells will come back. My skin will heal. But if you destroy a brain cell, a brain cell won't come back. Your brain doesn't grow back. Self-induced psychosis. I don't want to be Incompassionate or uncompassionate to street people, but a lot of people you see on the street are there because they put themselves there. Do dope. High percentage, I don't know the exact statistic, but a high percentage of people who have mental and emotional problems, it's self-induced. Many of them irrecoverably. The other two, after demon possession, which I think is the least, and self-induced, which may be the most, I don't know, but the other two are physiologically caused and neurologically caused. And again, if you have more questions, Cindy, you can talk to her later and she can tell you more than I. A brain tumor can cause horrific apparently psychotic symptoms. Changes in behavior, changes in perception. Fourth cause is, I call it genetic slash neurological. If your baby needed insulin, because he or she was a diabetes, how many of you would get insulin for it? All of you. All of you. And a person who is genetically, neurologically predisposed to paranoid schizophrenia or manic depression or bipolarity has no more power over their chemical imbalance than does a diabetic over his insulin. Cindy, if my analogy is crude, tell me a better one. And the reason I'm talking about this is I want you as a church, and I think we have a very mature mind as a church on issues like that, but I want you as a church just to be reminded that while the devil is the wreaker of havoc upon humanity in all of our ills and woes, that the cause for someone's mental burden or emotional burden Might not be a demon. Might be a sickness. Might be a sickness that is treatable medically. And as a pastor, I don't care if you know, I'm pro-medication. I'm pro-psychiatry. I'm pro-psychology. And I'm pro-therapy. Because I have seen it work. Now you may disagree with that and that's fine. That's fine. But if you do, I think you probably have some reading to do, some learning to do. I want you to look at Mark chapter 5, which is one of my favorite texts in the Bible. People have asked me before, how, why is this one of your favorite texts? I'll just be real frank with you. You didn't know me when I was 21. One Sunday afternoon, several years ago, I sort of almost gave my testimony to the church. The Lord brought me a prodigal home when I was 22 years old. My life was in deep trouble. In fact, my life stayed in trouble from the time I was 14 until I was 22. Big trouble. Dangerous trouble. And in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the Lord just did that to me. Listening to Dr. Billy Graham, whether you like it or not, I relate to this center. That's why I love this text. Now, what I want to show you are various symptoms, which can be of demon possession, but they can also be of mental illness. Look, I'm not denigrating the truth of this text. This is an example of demon possession, and it is horrible. It is terrifying. And I believe the text as it stands. But there are behavioral issues pertinent to this man that are also demonstrative in mental illness. Not all of them, but some of them. The first of which is an interest in religion. And they came over to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes, and when he, that is Jesus, was coming out of the ship, immediately there met him a man. When I was in the insane asylum, that's when I taught there, okay? 1981 to 19, I was never there before. I've been in numerous psychiatric wards, but not for my own hospitalization, just to visit people. One of the things the staff believe and one of the things that some psychiatrists also believe is that religion is a contributor to mental illness. Edward agrees too apparently. I understand what you're saying Edward. That religion is a contributor to mental illness. And you've heard me tell the story I think that most of all the students whom I taught were religious. In fact, they were all Christians, except one who was very interested in Hinduism. And you've also heard me say that I've had some famous students right out of the Bible. I had John the Baptist. I had the Virgin Mary. A lady walked through my class one day like this and said, What's your name, Ann?" She said, I'm the Virgin Mary. You've heard me tell, I know. Had Jesus in my class twice, in different bodies though. And you know when they got saved? Every one of them when they got in trouble. And seeing the eccentric expression of religious belief in moments of crisis among the mentally ill made me much more suspect of those who are in crisis as they contest their repentance and faith. You know, there's a difference between being in the crux of the Holy Spirit and being in the crux of my own messing around. A lot of people get jailhouse religion whether they're in the jailhouse or not. So it made me much more skeptical. But the staff said, you know what's wrong with that person? He's too religious. Preoccupied with religion. Some of the psychiatrists thought that as well. And it's really scary to me that sometimes people who are in psychological crisis do cry out for faith. And in their bizarre behavior begin to invoke the name of Jesus or religion. And so it makes me wonder, well where is the intersection between psychological disorder and demonism? If it's not demonically caused, then is there a moment of, is there a demonic dynamic? that occurs in the midst of a psychological, emotional crisis? I don't know. Or is it just the predisposition of the Christian cultural mind to go towards religion when you're in a crisis? I don't know. But preoccupation with religion, I would say inappropriate preoccupation with religion can be a sign of mental disease. And when Jesus comes off this shiv, this fellow won't see him. It can also be a sign of demonic activity. And let me make a point here. Our church in the last few weeks and months is either Under some kind of attack, I'm not saying anybody's possessed, I'm not saying that, but look at the families with burdens. It's terrible. Or some kind of providential test. Maybe the Lord's preparing us for something, maybe He's just refining us, maybe He's strengthening us, maybe He's warning us. Or both. But it's got to be one or the other, and that was exactly the case with Job. When there is a prevalent adversity, a circle of sorrow, if you will, God is at work. And usually with special purpose. If you look at the history of providence and the mystery of providence, adversity is the arena of the is special purpose of God. And Satan is often concentric to the purpose. So church, I want you to take heart that God is at work in the lives of these families and these individuals and He's at work in our church as well. This fellow lived in a graveyard. The application of this is that mental and emotional illness can lead to death. Mental and emotional illness is a deadly, deadly serious issue. The deeper truth here is that in a way we have all lived among the tombs. spiritually dead. I suppose the demonic application is that Satan is Abaddon Apollyon, the destroyer, as the power of death which was destroyed by Jesus at the cross who took the keys. This man was living among tombstones. I drove by this little graveyard in East Texas not too long ago, it had this hand scribbled sign. It said, no one in cemetery after dark. Well, I bet they didn't need a sign here, because this guy not only lived in the tombstone, skip down to verse 5, Night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying. So if you can get an image of the Palestinian hillside and there's a cemetery there for a location of tombs and you see this guy, he's naked and he may have leather or perhaps even iron shackles and certainly the scars from them if nothing else and he's been picking up rocks And with the rocks, he's been cutting himself, slashing himself, bruising himself. Maybe he's covered in blood, maybe he's covered in bruises. And no doubt his hair is like this and his beard is like this. He probably has dried spittle and Charles Manson eyes. You don't need a sign on that graveyard. Self-mutilation is a sign of mental illness and emotional illness. I'm not denying the demon possession status of this man, but I am applying it in a different way, telling you that self-mutilation, hurting yourself, means you're sick. And kids, let me tell you something right now about tattoos and piercing. I don't like them. I had a great conversation with a psychiatrist about this one time. I asked him if it was a signal of self-mutilation. He said no. Brilliant, I thought. It's more ego expression. What I don't like about tattoos and piercing is because it is an association with a certain culture. The tattoos represent something. Whether it's NBA bad boys or a rock group or whatever. I don't like it. You say well I don't care if you don't like it. Well you should. You should. It's association with the culture. It's an ego expression. If you want to look like Axl Rose or Allen Iverson or some mindless rapper get a tattoo. Get a piercing. I don't like it. It is more ego expression, but self-mutilation is different. Listen to me. We can talk about self-mutilation as an evidence of demon possession in Mark 5 or of mental illness in situations that we observe in people who are mentally or emotionally sick. By the way, when I worked in the mental hospital, I remember seeing one boy, an ex-marine, Very handsome. You heard me tell him. He had just circle scars. Circle scars, circle scars, circle scars. Here, up, as far back as he could reach on his back, all his arms circle scars everywhere where he was taking cigarettes. And any number of patients who came across with scars on their wrists where they tried to kill themselves, I've gotten this piece of paper out several times in the history of my ministry here. It says, Bob, I plucked my eye out. I eliminated that piece of paper about 1982 and he had plucked his eye out. I reached right up there and got it, pulled it out. I had two of those patients who had healed from that, one who hadn't had the patch. You say that's gross. Okay, listen. Meddle with sin, friend. Listen to me. All sin is a kind of self-mutilation. You want to hurt yourself? You say, I would never pluck my eye out. I'd never burn myself with a cigarette. Well, let me ask you this. Would you meddle with sin? Sigmund Freud, early in his career, said Eros, sexual drive, was the preeminent human motivator. But not late in his career. Late in his career, not Eros, but Thanatos. You have a death wish. That's what Ford believed. And you know what? Over and over again I find Ford my friend. Because I believe we do have a death wish. And the death wish is our desire to want to grab a rattlesnake. We want to put our head in a lion's mouth. You would pluck your eye out? Well, would you put your hand on a rattlesnake or your head in a lion's mouth? You say, no. Yes, you would. Just meddle with sin, Frank. It's a kind of self-destructive behavior. That's why teenagers drive fast, do dope, engage in unbridled sexual activity, they want to die, they just don't know it. Crying and cutting himself with stones. And maybe the most potent word in this text is not cutting himself with stones, but crying. A few weeks ago, Trey and Matt out of the lake house about 2 o'clock in the morning they heard this horrible sound across the lake it was a man screaming and they both explained it to me like dad it was like someone screaming from hell and he was indeed up in the trees on his heel motioning up and down they couldn't see him but they could hear him they said it was blood chitling and blood curdling So they called the police and the police came out and the police called the boat to investigate. And when the guy saw the boat approaching with the light he disappeared. We think he was on something. But he was in a horrible state of torment. And by the way, let me try to scare you young people. I'm not playing any games with you. I will try to scare you. If you see someone who has gotten bad dope, Or too much dope. Or taking dope too long. You will see someone who will not only be crazy, but they may be yelling and screaming and mad, berserk individuals. Dope will do that to you. So will life. You don't have to do dope. You know what? You don't even have to sin. Sometimes you can just break. Life will do that to you. You just break. And this word crying, crying out, wailing, moaning. How horribly sad that someone's life could be in such sad state. Back to verse Four. Unnatural physical strength. Because he had been off and down with fetters and chains and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken to pieces neither could he maintain them. When I worked in the mental hospital I saw all kinds of fights. Two threats against my life. Two of the first three days I was there. Numerous physical approaches by patients. Once or twice I thought I was about to be physically assaulted. Never was. But usually the fights ended up between the patients or the patients and the security guards. Now I remember one little guy named Rocco. Nothing to do with time. He weighed about 120 pounds and he looked like a walking skeleton. He had an unusually compressed cranium. And was there some retardation? Not technically, though I'm sure he was not quite right. which was the cause of his problems, not anything self-induced in his case. He was not only skeletal in his appearance, but he was more than uncoordinated, he was discoordinated, very strange, gay. By the way, strange, unusual facial expressions or Awkward or strange gaits, g-a-i-t-s, the way people walk can be indicative of mental illness. And you can see it in people. You can see it in their face, you can see it in their walk if you know what to look for. And I saw Rocco go wild one day. And Michael, you couldn't have handled him. Lou and Mike, together, you couldn't have handled him. In fact, I saw two men as big as you and five others. Actually, I think it was six others. I think it was eight altogether. Whom it took to bring this 120 pound skeleton under control. This tells us something about the power of Satan in this text. No man can tame it. Here, I'm very skeptical of the claims of exorcists. Now, if somebody can't exorcise, there's only one way. And that is by the power of God's Spirit. And the power of God's Word. But I tell you, the devil, no man can tame. No man can tame the devil. But I'm getting at a point beyond this pertinent to mental and emotional illness, beyond or besides demon possession. And that is the propensity for violence. Let me just say it. It is extremely dangerous. If you're ever around someone and they're talking to someone you can't see, you need to change seats. If you're ever near someone, they're carrying on a conversation, walking along, and you need to cross the street. And they are everywhere. You don't believe it. They are everywhere. They're all in this society. The potency of violence from people who are hearing voices is extremely high. The potency of violence from people who are paranoid, If you've seen a beautiful mind, it's extremely high. And if you don't treat it, they're going to hurt themselves or they're going to hurt somebody else. And what psychotropic medication can do is provide the insulin people need. It takes some time and some experimentation and some balance, A wise doctor determines medically what will help someone who's not being possessed, who has a mental issue. It can radically change them into a productive, balanced, self-respecting, other-respecting citizen. When Jesus is finished with this man, he's sitting and clothed in his right mind. In a way, you and I were both like this scattering maniac, to lesser or greater degree. We were in the tomb of spiritual death. We were killing ourselves, one way or the other, or would have. We were mutilating ourselves one way or the other, or would have. We were crying out. Maybe we didn't know it, but we were crying out. And you know what? Nobody contained us. Now some of you old boys here know really what I'm talking about, don't you? I'm sorry to say. I'm sorry to say what I'm saying. You know really what I'm talking about. Aren't you thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ who can take an old boy like this? Wow, how great is the mercy and power of the Lord. He can take the worst of the worst, even those under the complete dominion of Satan to the point of possession, and touch their lives. Well, the Lord can also use doctors, and medicine. Listen to me. The Lord can also use doctors, medicine, hospitals, therapy, to help people who have similar symptoms, not demonically caused. And you need to remember that. And you need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, by the way, some of whom you may not know about. Maybe some fellow worker you have or some neighbor down the street. Pray for them. And thank God for doctors, medicine, who in this generation can help people in ways that 50 years ago we could not.