Prior Events

Question from a Facebook friend:

I have been afflicted with seizures that started after hearing “that I did not help.” I was not sure what that meant. One day while walking around a voice quietly and firmly said “I will rip your muscles from your bones.” Later in the middle of a two lane street I was knocked out with a seizure. When I woke up going to the hospital I could not raise my arms, and suffered with excruciating pain. To this day they hurt and I know I need some kind of surgery. Any idea who or what did that to me?

I have no idea what “that I did not help” means. Was that also a “voice” or mental thought, or did he hear that statement from another person? Had he done something that was not helpful? We should always determine the context of certain events and find out what was happening just prior to the experience when helping people like this get clarity. There is always a cause-and-effect connection. The precipitating cause could be spiritual deception. If someone was paying attention to a deceiving spirit and acted it out, how could secular doctors or counselors arrive at the correct diagnosis? The man who asked the above question would likely be seen as schizophrenic by the secular world.

There are several accounts in Scripture of demons afflicting people resulting in symptoms similar to seizures (see Lu. 9:37 for one account), but don’t rush to judgment. It could also be a neurological problem. Good physicians don’t prescribe medicine or recommend procedures without doing necessary tests to arrive at the right diagnosis. Some procedures require written permission by the patients. If someone came to me with such a story I would seek more clarification about the man’s history and events leading up to his first seizure. I would also like to know what his health habits were, or lack thereof. Then I would ask his permission to lead him through “The Steps to Freedom in Christ,” which couldn’t possibly hurt him. If that didn’t resolve his issues, then I would recommend he see a doctor.

Finally, his muscles were not ripped from his bones, unless the seizures were so violent that tendons were ruptured in his arms (unlikely). Satan is the father of lies. Questions like this reveal how necessary it is to seek a wholistic answer, and why the Lord told us to seek first the kingdom of God.

Dr. Neil

For Spanish, see http://www.ficmm.org/blog

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