Shalom everyone! Have you lost your mind? Why would someone ask that question? Typically, it is because the person’s behavior or perception is markedly different compared to what is expected to be “normal” based on cultural norms or a familiar pattern for that individual. One may be thought to be “going mad” or “crazy” due to that change in behavior or perception. Evidence of this might be how one communicates. For example, confusing speech and disorientation could be a sign of delirium which has many physiologic causes including severe systemic infection, uncontrolled diabetes, stroke, electrolyte disturbances, overdose of medications or illegal drugs etc. Sudden or gradual changes in cognitive abilities can be a sign of dementia. Outbursts of anger, or sadness can be signs of depression. Anxiety, worry or frustration can be due to stress. Mental illness; diagnoses such as schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) etc. are related to the brain; and how stress is managed is influenced by many variables including learning, knowledge, culture, experience and more. Our minds are an invisible, mysterious wonder hosted by the brain.
From the book of Genesis to Revelation the word mind is mentioned ninety-two times. So the mind is very important. The apostle Paul, who is one of the persons who recorded his experiences with God in the holy Bible said,
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men”
(Phil 2:5-7).
The word servant means prophet. So God speaks to prophets; His mind, His thoughts, His understanding. So it is very important to understand the mind of God. Paul, when he was going through his trial; was brought before the authorities, specifically Festus, and in explaining to Festus his faith and the transformation in his thinking Festus says,
“Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”.
Paul says no I’m not mad. I just have a different understanding now. And Peter when he was learning about Christ, getting a new understanding in his mind, Jesus asked His disciples,
“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am”.
Peter said
“some say you’re a prophet, some say you are John the Baptist now resurrected.”
Again, Jesus asks,
“Who do you say I AM”?
Peter answered and said,
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”.
Then Jesus replied to him
“Simon BarJona, flesh and blood did not reveal that to you but My Father in heaven…”
(Matt 16:13-17).
So how did God reveal something to the mind of Peter that he did not study? It was by a revelation. This is how the Bible works. This is how the mind of God must come into us. Why? So we can be transformed to be like Christ; because we are made in the image of God according to Genesis and He wants us to have His mind (Gen 1:26). So, Paul says our minds must be “renewed”.
He says,
“don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
(Rom 12:2).
Something has to be renewed in our mind.
We see that there is a physical brain; neuroscientists and neuroanatomists study incredible things we can now see inside of the brain with MRIs. We can understand the electrical activity of the brain with EEGs, that doesn’t mean we truly understand how it works; it is still quite mysterious. That is because God is a mystery.
Jesus said this,
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth”
(John 4:24).
Paul says we can see God, “clearly” see Him. How can we do that? Being “understood”: by understanding the things God made we begin to understand His mind (Rom 1:20). The things that He made are parabolic. They are all around us. Through our senses; our eyes, our ears, our nose, what we taste and what we touch; how we feel, through our culture etc. , these are informational things that give us a worldview; how we perceive and understand the world all around us. It’s quite mysterious. There are so many cultures, so many ways of seeing and yet we are under the same sun, we breathe the same air, and for the most part have the same physiologies, but so many things affect our minds and perception.
God wants us to lose our minds for His mind. Unless we lose the natural way of thinking what the Scriptures call carnal (Rom 8:7), we don’t get to be where He is. And that is really a choice. But it comes by revelation. We can’t figure that out until someone teaches us that; it is by the Holy Spirit through God’s apostles and prophets (Deut 29:29, Amos 3:7, Eph 3:5). Prominent neuroscientists are still trying to figure out how the brain works and things that affect it that are mental and physical. Most science today doesn’t speak to the spiritual nature of our being because that is so complex; it’s not as empiric and objective as the physical, but yet it is very real. There is a spiritual component to how we see and that is what the Word of God says. So, who will one believe? How will you perceive it? Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ. Jesus wants us to have His mind. There is a process by which that happens. That’s through the process of revelation, unveiling what I did not understand before. There is a process of changing from natural understanding to His understanding. That’s through tribulations, He says, or trials and testings (Luke 8:13). God will reveal Himself to those who want Truth, which will cause a battle in the mind (Gen. 3:15, Rom. 8:7). Jesus says,
“I am the Way, I am the Truth and I am the Life”, (John 14:6)
and He wants us to come back to that image through His mind.
The Scriptures record many examples of mental dysfunction healed by Christ. Here are a few examples: in Matt. 17:15-17, what could be described today as epilepsy, Jesus cured by casting out the demon. In Luke 8:27-29, Luke was a Greek physician and a follower of Christ. He records in the third gospel,
“And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils for a long time, and wear no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs”.
This could easily describe a homeless man with paranoid schizophrenia sleeping under bridges and eating out of trash cans so common in our cities. How was he healed? Jesus cast out the illness by the power of God because He has the mind of God. Here at the Voice of Healing under the leadership of Apostle Michael Petro, we see these kinds of miracles through true apostolic teaching that is transforming the souls of broken people despite the present fear climate of COVID, masks, lockdowns, economic threats, communism and globalism. We see the power of Christ heal major depression, PTSD, dyslexia, drug addiction including methamphetamine and narcotic prescriptions, marjuana, sexual addictions and many other “mental” and physical diseases. The Mind of Christ is the power of the revealed WORD.
If we have proper interpretation of the Bible, the way the Early Church (before 325AD) understood, we’ll discover the Mind of Christ, as taught by the Holy Spirit to the church through His
“holy apostles and prophets” (Eph. 3:5).
The Bible is a revelatory book full of mystery and symbolisms.
So, have you lost your mind? There are many things about us we don’t understand yet, but God is the answer for all of our questions. He invites us to get them answered. So until next time, I’m inviting you to lose your mind; God’s way. Blessings,
Dr Roni Burton, MD
References:
All scripture references New King James Version of the Bible