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Crosswords: Trouble Minds
If we looked in the mirror for longer than it takes to fix our hair or apply some makeup, most of us would admit we’re only 2 signatures away from a mandatory 30 day stint in the nearest mental health facility. Who hasn’t felt that at some point life has had them by the short hairs and that their circumstances are strangling the sanity out of them? At some time or another everyone loses their sense of purpose, questions their very existence, and wonders if what they have been taught and what they have experienced is really true.
While most of us keep our crazy thoughts to ourselves, or stay in denial and remain on the outside, many in our society find themselves confined to padded rooms and prescription drugs. They can no longer cope with the “real” world nor do they have the desire to do so. They have either voluntarily or involuntarily checked themselves out of what most of us would call normal life and transplanted themselves into a world of uncertainty and confusion.
Are those who have been “certified” (it’s fortunate you and I didn’t get tested) under some sort of a curse?  Is God punishing them for something in their past? Is Satan being allowed to have his way with them for a time? Just where does mental health and the Bible intersect?
Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, thought himself to be the smartest, most sane, and most powerful man on earth. The cost of his pride was a vacation in the wild dining on grass like livestock. He had simply lost it, and God was the initiator of his insanity (Daniel 4).
While Jesus was making his way across an area known as Gerasenes, He encountered a man who suffered from delusions, suicidal tendencies, and paranoia. According to the Bible his mind had been taken captive by demonic forces. Satan, not God, was the one responsible for this man’s mental instability (Luke  8).
Does this mean that every individual who struggles with mental health is under some spell by God or by Satan? Absolutely not. Certainly there are many cases where genetics, environmental issues, upbringing, etc. factor into a person’s strength of mind or lack thereof. Yet we still must realize that spiritual forces are at work in the institutions that house those who have lost touch with reality. The battle for the minds and souls of men knows no barriers.
We certainly shouldn’t be ready to storm the halls of our mental health facilities armed with bibles, rosary beads, and holy water. We could find ourselves behind one of those glass petitions. But we shouldn’t be ready to write off that part of the human race. They are souls whom God has created and loves. They are our friends and our loved ones to whom we have been given responsibility over. They are individuals who may find their way back by the grace and power of God.

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