My Name Ain't Legion (Mark 5:9). Got That?

Unlike Andrew Bartlett, I haven't exactly been open about having depression over the past few years, except to friends, family and my personal brain-care specialist. On the other hand, I have thrown out enough hints here and there, so I might as well step all the way out of the closet and admit that I have a yappy little black terrier of my very own. I share Senator Bartlett's interest in the way depression is perceived, portrayed and dealt with - and this page on the Hillsong web-site - written by American evangelical crap-artist Marilyn Hickey - makes me bloody angry.

According to Hickey who has been "Covering the Earth with the Word" (Isaiah 11:9) for over 30 years as an anointed Bible teacher:

... depression is a supernatural spirit of destruction straight from the devil, and as such, needs to be treated like an enemy.

From there, Hickey goes on to outline her plan for dealing with depression in an evangelically Christian way, emphasising the importance of taking one's "faith pills" - daily doses of the Word - to keep the dark spirit at bay. But it's this paragraph that really caught my attention:

Depression has many causes - both in the spiritual and in the natural realms. Spiritually speaking, generational curses in a bloodline can predispose members of certain families to suffer from depression. In the physical realm, medical treatments, chemical or hormonal imbalances, fatigue, and just plain stress can be the culprits. Unresolved emotional issues or abuse can bring overwhelming sadness, anger, and the inability to function normally.

That's a damned fine piece of crap-artistry. There are plenty of longitudinal studies which show that if you have one or more depressed parents, you're more likely to suffer from depression in later life - although there's still controversy over how much of this should be attributed to genetic predisposition and how much to family tradition. Enough studies, in fact, for the results to get out into the mainstream media and hence become common knowledge.

It's got me gobsmacked, the way this "anointed Bible teacher" - either the anointing was self-inflicted or someone was irresponsibly stupid - takes these empirical facts and concludes that some cases of depression are caused by God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him (Exodus 20:5). I suppose that's a comforting thought if you're certain that you're in the fourth generation - at least your kids might be spared the generational curse. And of course it wasn't your sins that brought on your own case of depression - it was those of your grandfather or great-grandfather.

I've already spent more time on this post than my brain-care guy would approve - wasting time on fools like Hickey and whichever Biblically versed, secularly ignorant Hillsonger decided that the Hickey page would be a good resource for the depressives in the flock - so enough, already. This stupid web-page is just vanity and a vexation of the spirit (Ecclesiastes 1:17).

Cross-snarked at Larvatus Prodeo.