I recently read a couple of posts online about certain Christian communities telling people with mental illness that it is caused by sin.  I was aghast.  In my mind, blaming people for their suffering shows very little understanding of the message of Christ.

In the book of Job, the upright and righteous man Job, who obeyed all of God’s commandments, was met with grievous losses.  Everything is taken away from him: his family, his home, his possessions, and eventually his health.  His ignorant, and yet well-intention-ed friends, try to tell him that it was because he did not walk with God.  “Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?” (Job 22:5 NIV).  They don’t understand his experience, because they haven’t been through it.  At the end, God answers Job and says:  “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2 ESV).  Eventually Job gets his life back.

When the religious Jews are questioning and rebuking the man who was blind since birth that Jesus healed (people used to think that illness was caused by our own sin), the religious Jews said “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” (John 9:24 ESV).  When, “his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.'” (John 9:3 ESV).

Mental illness is not caused by our own sin.  It is not our fault.  Most people I’ve met with chronic illness are the kindest, most compassionate, most spiritually evolved people ever.  There are real reasons why people are sick.  There are physical causes that we did not create, and that we are not responsible for.  Industries created the pathogens and toxins that are making us sick (yes, the devil plays dirty).  Hiding our head in the sand, having medical denial, pretending that medical science and research have it all sowed up (even though people are sicker than ever), and clinging to false, dogmatic beliefs won’t change anything.  Christians are not immune to chronic illness.

The truth is, God gave us free will.  Some people have chosen to use their free will to harm others, and that’s not the victim’s fault!  Maybe it’s happened so that “the works of God might be displayed”.  Millions of people who’ve suffered for decades without answers have found the truth about health in the Medical Medium information and are sharing their healing testimonies, as I am doing now.  You can’t deny my testimony of healing anymore than you can deny my experience of being saved by Christ.  We can object, like my ancient religious Jewish relatives did, or we can accept that it came from God.  The truth will stand either way.  Eventually, we or someone we love may even need it ourselves.

I’m sorry to say, but as Christians, we can do better.  Telling people that their suffering is caused by their own sin is hardly walking in the path of Jesus.  We don’t want to be like the people of Jesus’s time who deny the workings of God right in front of our own faces.

I pray that people suffering with chronic illness find the truth about health.  I pray that they have the openness of mind and heart to see it when they do.

If you’re someone who is suffering, I’m so sorry for what you’ve had to go through.  I’m sorry that you’ve been blamed by others who don’t understand.  Know that it’s not your fault, there are real answers, and that healing is possible.  You deserve abundant health and happiness!  It is your God-given right to have the freedom to heal.  God bless you.

” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11 NIV