There once was a man who wanted to teach himself how to sky dive? He bought a parachute at a garage sale, leased a plane and when the time came, literally jumped into his new adventure.

As the man was free-falling toward earth on his very first attempt, he pulled the ripcord only to discover it was not attached to the parachute. Looking down at his fate, he was surprised to see a woman shooting up from below with a burned-out match held between her thumb and fore-finger.

As they rushed by one another, the man yelled, Whadayaknow about parachutes? The woman replied back, Nothing. Whadayaknow about gas stoves?

The fable above illustrates how many Christians act when faced with life-threatening illness. They ignorantly turn to man for relief rather then to God.

That we seek counsel from man and not God in such times speaks volumes of how ignorant we are as God's children. We lack teaching to recognize chronic illness for what it often is, a spiritual attack against our body.

Medical science acknowledges that 80% of all diseases, both psychological and biological, are psychosomatically induced. In other words, the source of most disease begins within our minds or spirits as thoughta perfect place for Satan to do his bidding.

But, what the world calls psychosomatic, God knows as an unloving spirit from the kingdom of darkness. Behind every psychosomatic disease lies an unloving spirit, planting thoughts of fear, despair, rejection, anxiety, worry, and whatever else Satan can get us to accept as true.

Yes, evil can and does exist simultaneously within our spirit, right along with the Spirit of God, if we allow it. The deception begins as the unloving spirit whispers a thought promoting unrest, I do not like myself. If we listen to its voice, if we accept the lie, our soul becomes polluted with the same mind-set (I do not like myself).

Our body, operating through the limbic system, then begins to conform itself into that spiritual image, re-enforcing it both biologically and psychologically.

Examples of psychosomatically-induced disease can include high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, infertility, irritable bowel syndrome, angina, fibromyalgia, Graves disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, Crohn's disease, obesity, multiple sclerosis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and many, many more.

God created us perfectly, but sin changes us. Every thought we have, be it good or bad, produces a chemical and neurological response within.

So long as our thoughts have their origin in a loving spirit, the response in our body helps to maintain homeostasis (balance). When the origin of our beliefs originates from an unloving spirit, the response creates imbalance in our body, and we become sickly if we accept and live the lie.

All of us have our spiritual strengths and weaknesses. It is part of our humanity. Temptation is a part of our daily lives as the forces of good and evil do battle for our soul. Satan knows our weaknesses and wastes little time in attacking us at those points.

If your weakness lies in feelings of low self-esteem, Satan knows how to capitalize on it to cause you suffering. If you have difficulty in forgiving others, Satan knows how to use that defect to make your body rack with pain. If you struggle with worry and fear, Satan knows how to use these emotions to create tumors in your stomach and colon. He is a master at doing this.

Drug manufacturers promote drugs by saying they offer temporary relief of disease symptoms, but they do not and cannot deal with the spiritual roots of the disease. Satan knows this. His plan is called disease management, not healing.

Satan knows that by keeping you in agony, your faith in God could waiver or break. But even if you do not wavier in faith, Satans greatest weapon against God is taking you to an early grave.

This is what makes Christianity so excitng, so very much a living faith, because it is God who heals spiritually rooted disease through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.