Apparent Demonization
The Bible distinguishes between healing the sick and casting out evil spirits. Making this distinction is vital. If you mistakenly tell someone who is suffering from psychiatric illness, such as depression or schizophrenia, that they need to be exorcised, it will only make things worse. If a depressed or confused Christian who feels that his spiritual life has been paralysed, is told that he is demonized, this may drive him deeper into despair, and strengthen his feeling that he is lost forever. It is even worse if there are failed attempts at casting out imagined demons. On the other hand, genuine demonization needs to be recognised in order to help the victim. In these cases, the demons need to be exorcised in the name of Jesus.
The German psychiatrist, Alfred Lechler, has tried to outline some differences between demonization and psychiatric illness.39 He writes, that among Christians, schizophrenic disorders usually appear in a religious guise. The sick person’s restlessness may make him believe that Satan has done some harm to his Christian life. He feels that the Holy Spirit has left him, and he may even feel it is difficult to speak the name of Jesus. Hearing or seeing hallucinations with a religious content is common. Some may even see demons glaring menacingly at them. They may hear a voice telling them that they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, or committed the unpardonable sin, and some may have difficulty praying or reading the Bible. However, a person who is constantly talking about being possessed is more likely to suffer from a psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia than actually to be demonized.
Likewise, a depressed Christian may believe that he has become possessed. He may be tormented by blasphemous thoughts, which will disappear when he is healed of his depression. It is typical of a depressed Christian to be saddened by his blasphemous thoughts, whereas a demonized person would not be feeling particularly sad on account of having those evil thoughts.
Pseudo-possession is described by Lechler as a neurosis, where a person out of fear of being demonized, begins to behave as though that were the case. It is purely a psychiatric condition and has nothing to do with actual demonization. Thus, there are no occult supernatural abilities connected with this condition.
In circles where there is a lot of talk about demons and possession, this type of behaviour can sometimes spread until it becomes an epidemic. The best way to help such people is to get them to realise the true dynamics that caused the condition in the first place. Then, when they are free from the pressure of panic, they are able to recover.
Ex-members of the Swedish Faith movement often exhibit symptoms that are similar to Lechler’s description of pseudo-possession. As it has been pointed out above, this is an imagined possession. Furthermore, a number of these ex-members have manifested characteristics similar to Lechler’s descriptions of Christians suffering from schizophrenia or depression. In many cases, the ex-members’ symptoms have been temporary, indicating that they have been caused by an acute crisis rather than an emergence of chronic schizophrenia. The crisis may be severe, but it has a much greater tendency to heal over time than does true schizophrenia.
In my opinion, a number of ex-members with these symptoms have been diagnosed as either demon possessed or schizophrenic on the wrong grounds. A wrong diagnosis will not help the person. Before making the serious diagnosis of either demonization or schizophrenia in an ex-member of any cult, it is wise to rule out the possibility of a crisis caused by mind control and spiritual abuse. How the latter may be treated is described in another chapter.
Repentance and Demonization
Some of the people I have consulted regarding their experience in pastoral care, maintain that repentance is the most important step towards deliverance even in real cases of demonization. Repentance involves confessing your faults and sins to God, and surrendering your life to Him. Without this, it is really not possible to successfully command the evil spirits to leave the person. When a deep and sincere repentance and surrender to God has taken place, then it is possible to get the authority from Jesus to command the evil powers to leave.
Often, it may not even be necessary to command, in cases where there has been a deep and genuine repentance. Things like vomiting, coughing, roaring, screaming and convulsions have no positive effect in this regard. It is turning to Jesus that is the vital matter.
Some people have had traumatic experiences in connection with coarse and vulgar attempts to cast demons out of them; e.g., in the Faith movement. Such experiences can be very strong hindrances so that it is impossible to help them by exorcising them, even in cases where there is a genuine need of exorcism. In such cases, it is usually best to start by trying to focus the person’s mind on something totally divorced from any thought of demonization. Several people have experienced this.
It may be possible to begin to help such a person by conversations where they get explanations of how mind control is operating. Then, they may be receptive to learning about the grace of God by Bible readings and simple prayers, and by a warm, understanding fellowship. It is also a great help to partake in fellowship on an everyday basis.
Footnotes
39. Kurt Koch, Occult Bondage and Deliverance, in the second part of the book.
