Posted on 01/23/2022 9:16:11 PM PST by lightman
Is there something to COVID-19 that is beyond physical? Is there an additional assault on the mind and emotions, producing an inordinate fear of death?
There is no question that many people with COVID have struggled with fears of dying, even if their symptoms were mild. That has been documented by the medical profession as well as confirmed anecdotally.
That’s why I asked on Instagram, “Did you personally get COVID? If so, was it entirely physical, or did you experience any emotional or spiritual attacks (such as, ‘You're going to die’ or ‘You'll never get back to normal’)?”
Responses included:
Physical, emotional, and spiritual. Unlike any flu I've ever had.
Physical and spiritual. The dreams I had were evil.
Suffer some physical but definitely there was a lot of emotional/spiritual attack!
Very spiritual. Our family felt an assault of darkness attached to the virus.
It may only be a small minority of COVID-sufferers who experienced this (as suggested by my Twitter survey) But the question remains, why?
Looking at natural rather than supernatural explanations, the first and most obvious consideration is this: We hear about COVID-related deaths day and night. We read and see the constant flood of bad news and are exposed to gut-wrenching, painful stories. And many of us have lost friends or family members or colleagues to COVID.
How can all of this not affect some of us emotionally?
Surely, in this environment, it is not surprising that many people who get COVID get hit with thoughts of, “You’re next! You’ll be in the hospital soon, and you’ll die there.”
The second non-supernatural explanation is provided by the medical profession.
People who are hospitalized with COVID are often separated from loved ones by quarantine rules, removing them from their lifelong system of support and encouragement and hope. They are hooked up to machines. They are visited by doctors and nurses wearing strange outfits, impersonally covered from head to toe. And many of those who are hospitalized are suffering terribly.
As noted in Vox, “The ordeal is so taxing that many wish for death. ‘You hear the patients say, “I just want to die because this is so excruciating,”’ [critical care professor Kenneth] Remy says. ‘That’s what this virus does.’”
“Others feel that death is coming no matter what they do. [Todd Rice, a critical care and pulmonology specialist] notes that is much more so for his Covid-19 patients than others he has treated. There seems to be something about Covid-19, he says, ‘that makes people prone to having a feeling of, “I really believe I’m going to die.”’”
In settings like this, left alone in a foreign environment with nothing but your own thoughts, the fear of death can be very real. And with the fear of death comes a host of other, tormenting thoughts, including feelings of abandonment and despair.
Again, this can all be explained in a totally natural way, without recourse to demonic forces of any kind.
And this may have been some of what I experienced on January 9, two weeks into my bout with COVID. I thought I was getting better, only to lose all my strength and find myself virtually confined to bed. It was then that I got the devastating news that a dear, decades-old friend in his mid-50’s died of COVID, despite thousands of people praying for him.
As the night wore on, in a way that is totally foreign to me (being an extreme optimist with deep confidence in God’s goodness), those tormenting thoughts began to hit me: “This is how it ends. You’ll never make it out of your 60s. All your dreams and goals end here. You will leave your precious wife and family behind.”
Where on earth was this coming from?
Again, there could be a perfectly natural explanation to this. And it’s even possible that COVID affects the body in such a way that one’s emotions are impacted as well. After all, the brain is part of the body.
I can’t comment on that possibility at all because of my lack of medical knowledge.
But I can say this. I do know my relationship with the Lord. I do know the reality of my faith. And I do have some understanding of the spiritual realm.
That’s why I don’t discount for a moment the demonic nature of some of these fears and emotional assaults. (By demonic, I mean originating with the devil, who is as real as you and I are, and actualized by demons, who are also quite real.)
After all, one of Satan’s greatest tools is fear. And the greatest fear of all is the fear of death (and, in some cases, fear of what is coming beyond death).
As the Letter to the Hebrews states with reference to why the Son of God became a human being, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” (Hebrews 2:14-15, NLT).
That’s why it doesn’t surprise me that many COVID sufferers have spoken of the tormenting fears they dealt with when suffering with COVID.
There are natural explanations for this. But there are supernatural explanations as well.
Let’s not rule any of them out.
I am of sufficient vintage to have weathered the Hong Kong Flu, the AIDS "epidemic", the Avian Flu, SARS, and MERSA.
And in every case the pathogen was accompanied by a FEAR epidemic which, in every case, proved more destructive emotionally, spiritually, and societally than the disease itself.
God did not give us a spirit of fear.
THAT comes from another source.
Recall when it first started 2 years ago that officials were reporting that it was HIGHLY contagious and EXTREMELY deadly to those who contracted it. They reported of people literally falling dead in the streets. They warned that people were contracting it just by momentarily being the in vicinity of someone who had it.
That was were the ‘fear’ and ‘panic’ originated.
Since then, those same officials have moved the goal post around so many times that we are still trying to figure out which were lies and misinformation.
My own personal “mantra” the last 2 years: Faith is the antidote to fear.
Something I heard from one of the speakers at the Defeat the Mandates event today: Inhale God, exhale fear.
My own thoughts on how do you “inhale” God? Spending time outdoors in His wonderful creation is what I find gives me peace & where I “find” God in everything I see. Others “inhale” God by reading the Bible, some by praying - there’s no one way as each person is unique.
Got test result back today. To my surprise it was positive! Yet I feel no different than many cases of sinusitis from years past. If things continue as I expect I have to consider a false positive.
I say the press, social media and health professionals have a lot of blame for pushing the fear. I just saw a Steve Hilton segment where a reporter interviewed a Virginia mom about the governor canceling mask mandates. The interview was outside and both were wearing masks. The mom said she feared for her and her kids. She looked fairly young, so I would assume her kids in are K-8 age range. If they are healthy, statistically they have a zero chance of dying.
"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." (Hebrews 2:14-15)
exactly. the spiritual component as portrayed by the culture and secular society comes directly from the devil. what is the last enemy? the devil’s greatest weapon? that is death. or more exactly it is the fear of death that allows the devil his greatest manipulation of humanity as a blind but unsuspecting mob.
a non-believer just has no defense against the fear porn. they can’t see the CCP virus rationally. they are just blind to it. they think it’s going to kill them because they’ve been told to think that. and they’ve been told everything they are to think their entire lives from their “social media.”
most people are as the Bible says, already slaves to self interest. they almost don’t have a real choice about anything, and funny thing is that if you ask, many of them don’t even believe in freewill. they just don’t realize it. it takes the Lord Jesus Christ to lift the yoke of slavery and set the captives free. and when He sets you free. you are free indeed. when He does it it is a metanoia—a transformation of mind, body and soul though the gift of the Holy Spirit. it is a real metamorphosis which is symbolized by the transformation of the worm into a butterfly.
Covid is gonna cost me my dog.
He freaks out at the vets if I’m not there but they’re not letting anyone in except for euthanasia, because apparently you are immune to covid if you’re killing your pet.
The demon skinwalkers are killing my dog by delaying and ultimately denying whatever chance he has.
If he dies, I have nothing left to lose.
I speak from personal experience. Covid gives vivid and disturbing dreams. Both my wife and I have discovered this first hand. Checking with others, it seems common. There very well could be something to this.
Hines' realization that he'd erred as soon as his fingertips left the railing is similar to what I've heard people say after committing a grave mortal sin. That is, the Devil tempts you to think there isn't anything wrong with what you're about to do...and then you do it, and you're immediately filled with the Light of Truth. And possibly terror, over what you've just done.
At it's core, this is all about temptation to give into hopelessness. The pandemic has disrupted EVERYONE's life. Nobody is unimpacted. We were subjected to incredible, sensational stories of Ebola-like contagion. Livelihoods were destroyed, the service sector was vaporized, we couldn't go to religious "super spreader" services. elderly people were killed, and so on.
And they GOT AWAY WITH IT!!!
Thus, when a simple individual gets this bug, despite the knowledge of the 98.7% survival rate, how it can be nasty but you'll recover....it's easy to see why even the most hardened Deplorable can lose hope. And a loss of hope can be akin to a loss of Faith.
But just like Mr Hines realized that there IS hope right after he jumped (and his miraculous survival story is worth reading), it is vital for ALL of us, infected or not, to not lose hope...to not lose Faith.
Yes, it can be a downer when you read about everything going on....the mandates, lost income, and so on. But we needn't put ourselves in grave jeopardy like Mr Hines to have an epiphany. God wins...WE win. It may not seem like it, but we will win. Don't. Give. Up.
I have no doubt that Satan is using Covid to divide us.
Perhaps the dreams are spiritual as well - but I’m guessing they have more to do with the fever and poor sleep. I’ve had some really odd dreams when I’ve had a fever with the flu or other infections.
Around here, not all vets are the same. Maybe you can find one with some sense. I have a mobile vet who comes to my house.
Maybe you could check in on me every so often.
Kinda out on the ledge right now and it’s getting a might windy up here.
My really good vet, who could’ve fixed all this stupidity, has not been able to get an xray tech out to calibrate his machine for 6 months.
Why?
Yeah, you guessed it.
Coof.
Stories like this make me glad I live in rural GA where sanity is still to be found. But it’s even here too, it ended up causing my husband and I to find a new church home.
Sorry you are dealing with this 😡 I’d definitely be looking for a new vet.
People are really FED UP.
“Be not afraid.”
Could Kamala Harris be a Super Spreader?
Out here in the Arizona suburbs, people are chill. Heck, the radiologist didn’t even require masks.
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