I guess I thought about my history with this because I was in a church recently when a man who was a prophet was telling different people about things they needed to hear about their lives. Evidently, he was on point because many people cried and agreed in disbelief. Then he called all the people who had illnesses to the altar for prayer. And, at one point he said that he was not against medicine but people should get off of those psych meds. I want to point out that he was a guest minister in this church and I later joined the church because I like it there. The Spirit is there.
But, I think that this minister's behavior in regards to mental health was wreckless. Anyone who knows anything about mental illness realizes that it is a chemical imbalance in the brain. And that the right chemical or combination of chemicals, medicines, will revive the person from the angst associated with the symptoms of a mental illness which can range from suicidal ideations and other delusional and psychotic thoughts to mood swings and anything else we may be subjected to endure without the right meds.
Through my journey in mental illness of about 29 years (25 years in psychosis), I came in contact with a pastor who told me point blank that I should stop the meds and pray. I'm glad that I'm a strong person. I didn't believe that God would give researchers and some doctors the intricate insight to deal with illness in a psychopharmocological way if he didn't intend for us to sometimes get better. To me, it was like saying pray to God to preserve your life and then jumping in front of a Mac truck and expecting not to get hurt. It just doesn't make sense to me. Needless to say, I didn't buy into that. And, I quit going to Church and only believed in God in the Universal sense and not in organized religion for a long time.
You can see how so many people can be driven away from the church; this is only one of my pet peeves with organized religion. But, I have made my peace with God and religion knowing that a pastor is only a person and I don't pray to him. As a Christian, I can speak to God anytime I like through Jesus Christ and I go to church for fellowship and because I believe God meant for His church to assemble.
To be fair, I have had some precious ministers over the years, especially one who I could tell when I was having a bad time and he would give me scripture to read. He watched over my entire family (who went to another church) as if he was our personal angel. When my grandmother died in my mother's house he was right there. And there were other ministers who helped my parents through this difficult journey when I was too sick to know what was going on.
I long for all ministers and people for that matter to be educated about mental illness so that we don't have to live with the lies or the stigma.
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