The Brokenhearted
By Doug Riggs
I have been the pastor of Morning Star Testimony Church for 15 years. The people that make up this local fellowship have been brought here by God out of a desire that He might have His purpose realized in a representative way as set forth in Paul’s prayers (Eph. 1:17-23; 3:16-19; 4:12-16; Phil. 1:9-11; 3:7-17; Col. 1:9-12; I Th. 3:12-13; 5:23; II Th. 1:10-12; 2:16-17; Heb. 13:20-21), in conjunction with our Lord’s prayer in John 17:21-26. In Ephesians 4:13 it is stated that it is God’s purpose for the universal Church to finally arrive at the goal which is summed up in the phrase “one mature man”, i.e., the corporate Church coming to the “measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
As I continued to teach the Word, a number of families and individuals began to manifest symptoms that pointed to a possible background of severe abuse. Through the process of counseling these people, it became apparent that some were survivors of multi-generational Satanic ritual abuse. I had worked and counseled with these people using the conventional Biblical procedures that, under normal circumstances, should lead a person to freedom in Christ. However, I did not see final resolution to many of the problems that were emerging in these peoples’ lives, resulting in frustration in their walks with God. It was not until I began reading about the phenomenon of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in the context of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) that I began to understand that I needed more than conventional counseling methods to lead these people to freedom through Jesus Christ. The terror and horrors that these people have reported are beyond what most people could ever believe. I have read extensively from both secular and Christian literature, as well as clinical textbooks on DID and other dissociative disorders. I have also attended numerous seminars over the past eight years to become better equipped to deal with this emerging phenomenon effecting many of God’s people. I have worked with over 100 people from various parts of the U.S., England and Germany and have learned most of what I know from working with those people who are extremely complex, poly- fragmented multiples.
Theological Issues
As I began working with the reality of DID and ritual abuse, I had to come to grips with the theological issues around this controversial subject. I firmly believe that, in the original languages of both the Old and the New Testaments, the Bible fully substantiates and describes the present day phenomena of shattered and broken personalities, which has come to be designated as DID. The issues of SRA, child abuse, human sacrifice, are well documented in the Old Testament scriptures, especially in the context of the practices of the Canaanites, as well as the Israelites when they went into apostasy, cf., the reign of Manasseh. I want to present from the Old and New Testaments some representative passages that are descriptive of what has been labeled by the mental health profession as DID.
I begin with Isaiah 61:1-3 compared with Luke 4:18. I’m not attempting a complete exposition of these passages, but merely intend to highlight some words and phrases that bear upon the subject at hand. In Isaiah. 61, Isaiah prophesies concerning the future mission and purpose of Messiah’s advent and ministry. Verse 1: “He has sent me to preach good news to the afflicted.” The term ‘afflicted’ includes the idea of the poor, wretched, weak and helpless members of society. They usually were overwhelmed by a sense of need and inability to deal with their situation. The passage goes on to say that God sent Jesus Christ to “bind up the brokenhearted.” The qal infinitive construct of the word ‘chabash’ is used as a medical term to describe the dressing or bandaging of a wound. Please compare Ezekiel 34:4 with Zechariah 11:16, where the term is used in the same manner.
The phrase “brokenhearted” is the main focus of the passage in relation to the present day phenomena of DID. I believe the language is broad and extensive, covering a wide range of effects of emotional and mental distress, or psychological abuse. As we shall see, the language clearly allows and is descriptive of a fragmented personality, known by clinicians as DID. The niphal passive participle of ‘shabar’ means “to break or to crush in pieces.” The term occurs, in its root form, 147 times in the Old Testament. The niphal passive represents a state and condition of those who have been the recipients of the action, i.e., they are shattered victims! The participle is a masculine plural of extension denoting that the human heart can be shattered into many pieces. The literal use of this word refers to the shattering of pottery (Jud. 7:20; Lev. 11:33; Jer. 19:11; 34:18; 51:17), but is used in a variety of other ways as well. It is used figuratively in this passage, as well as in Psalm 69:20, Ezekiel 6:9 (describing God’s broken heart) and Jeremiah 8:21. These references all describe a broken or shattered heart.
According to Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 3, pg. 58, the heart, in the language of Scripture, refers to the inner man, the function of the mind where man remembers and thinks; the fountain and seat of man’s thoughts; the desires, affections, purposes, etc. Its nearest equivalent is ‘ego’ which represents the I, self, the person. If a person’s very self, i.e., his mind, emotions and will, are shattered repeatedly through extensive and chronic abuse in early childhood, this commonly results in DID as a coping mechanism, a natural way of self-defense for the defenseless in an unnatural situation.
The adjective ‘sheber’ is used literally to describe a breaking, fracturing, crushing or breach, like the breaking of pottery (Is. 30:14); or the breaking of a limb (Lev. 21:9; 24:20). It is also used figuratively in a psychological sense in Isaiah 65:14 and Proverbs 15:4.
The masculine noun ‘shibbaron’ in conjunction with the term ‘loins’ is used in Ezekiel 21:6 to describe the breaking or the shattering of the loins. The loins in the Old Testament are viewed as the center of physical strength as well as the seat of the emotions. Consequently, when they are broken or shattered, the strength is gone and the personal is helpless. The breaking or shattering of the loins therefore denotes deep emotional distress and bitter anguish. When such events occur systematically in the context of cult indoctrination perpetrated against little children, it results in the most chronic form of dissociation, namely, DID.
The remainder of the paragraph in Isaiah 61 further describes those who are afflicted as those taken captive. The Hebrew word for “taken captive” is a qal passive participle of ‘shabah’ which describes those taken captive as prisoners of war. Chronic child abuse and/or ritual abuse opens the door for little children to be taken captive as prisoners of war by Satan and his hosts. The phrase “and those who are bound” is the qal passive participle of ‘asar’ which means to be bound with cords and fetters. The passive voice again emphasizes that these afflicted people are the recipients of the action, victims and helpless to defend themselves, at least externally.
We will now notice the New Testament reference to this passage in Luke 4:18 where Jesus begins His public ministry at Nazareth on a Sabbath day reading in the synagogue. Most of our modern versions do not quote the complete text which is found in the majority text, as well as in the King James version. The phrase “to heal the brokenhearted” in the Greek is the articular perfect passive participle of ‘suntribo’ which basically means to grind, rub or crush together. The term was used in secular Greek for the breaking of bones, the smashing of limbs, skulls, or the entire bodies of man or animals in battle. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, pg. 606, defines ‘suntribo’ as “to break in pieces, to shiver.” Arndt and Gingrich, pg. 793, defines the term in a similar way as “to shatter, smash, crush. In the figurative sense it describes the results of severe abuse resulting in extreme sorrow and distress, emotionally and mentally.” The word is used in its literal sense in the New Testament in Matthew 12:20; Mark 5:4; 14:3; John 19:36 and Revelation 2:27. Of particular note ‘suntribo’ is used to describe the apparent internal crushing and bruising that a demon inflicted upon a person when being expelled during an exorcism by the Lord Jesus Christ (Lk. 9:39). The demon was probably very angry at being expelled and was retaliating against his hopeless victim for having to depart. The word is used in Romans 16:20 for God’s final crushing judgment which He will inflict upon Satan through the Church at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The next relevant term in Luke 4:18 is “to set at liberty those who are downtrodden” or bruised. This is a perfect passive participle of ‘thrauo’ which means ‘to break, to break in pieces, to smite through.’ According to Schmidt quoted by Thayer in his Greek Lexicon, pg. 562, “thrauo, to shatter, is suggestive of many fragments and minute dispersion.” Anyone working with survivors of multi- generational SRA with resultant DID should have some understanding of the effects of severe childhood trauma upon its victims. Schmidt’s reference to “many fragments and minute dispersion” is quite descriptive of a person who is poly-fragmented DID.
How encouraging to realize that at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry He proclaimed that He came to heal the very ones whom Satan had so desperately shattered through sinful man. We have a multitude of such shattered people in this generation who are waiting for the Church to be available to her risen Head to be His healing instrument.
Acts 10:38 is highly significant in the above context: “You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Please notice what the passage states: “Jesus healed ALL who were oppressed by the devil”!! The articular present passive participle of the word ‘katadunasteuo’ describes those people who have been under the tyrannical rule of a vicious potentate who has been habitually exercising his power over those under his control in a hurtful and oppressive manner. From such passages as John 5:1-9 it is obvious that
Jesus didn’t heal all who were physically sick or handicapped, but in Acts 10:38 the passage clearly states that Jesus healed ALL who were mentally, emotionally and spiritually oppressed by the devil.
How many of our churches have multitudes of people who are severely “depressed” or “dysfunctional” and need to be delivered, or healed, by the same Jesus Christ in and through the members of His Body, the Church?
In my next article [Pulverized Saints] I will take a look into the Old Testament again and notice other passages that use similar terminology that I believe is descriptive of and applicable to those who have been severely abused, resulting in DID.
Douglas W. Riggs
Pastor, Morning Star Testimony Church Dec. ‘93/Revised Sept. ‘98
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