The Gospel and Demonic Possession

"And when He had come out of the boat, 

immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him." 

Mark 5:2

"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 

and do not give the devil an opportunity (or foothold)." 

Ephesians 4: 26-27

Today marks my 100 blog post since I began in early May.  This represents quite a few pages of writing!  I have debated on what topic to write about for my 100th.  Late last week, I started on an idea, but it just did not flow.  I cannot put off writing any longer.  Today, I thought I would continue with the theme of spiritual warfare, and offer a remake of an earlier post concerning demonic possession.

I do not wish to over-emphasize this topic.  I also know I cannot under-emphasize it if I wish to follow the Lord's leading.  Many of us have seen the Hollywood sensationalism of possession in the movies like The Exorcist or The Exorcism of Emily Rose.  Most of the time we pacify our fear by saying that it is just a movie that does not mirror real life.  I agree that much of the sensationalism is overdrawn.  I also know that when confronted with possession or severe demonic oppression, I hope I do not hear scary music in the background!  

The primary problem with these movies and their portrayals of the demonic is there starting premise.  Both of the above flicks begin with the premise that there is an epic battle between good and evil with the outcome always in doubt.  In fact, most of the time evil is stronger!  In each, a doubting and struggling priest confronts his own doubts and the reality of evil.  It ends up being an individual against the demonic.

Such a portrayal falls into a variety of errors, but the most clear is that of dualism, which we have discussed before.  Furthermore, most of these movies do not proclaim the true winner in the spiritual battle: the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we encounter the Evil one and his servants we are  powerless apart from Christ.  If we know and live the gospel, we also see how powerful we are with Christ for He has already won the victory (Eph. 1: 20-22).

I want to introduce the topic of demonic possession with a story from my life.  I do so with a bit of concern that some will take me to be a quack! I know for some this will be hard to believe because many of us in the West have not witnessed easily recognizable demonic activity.  I know that even with the spiritual gift of discernment, I have not seen much open demonization in the West.  I did see it in Thailand often, but not here.  

I believe the reason for this has to deal with the spiritual climate of America as opposed to Thailand.  In America, apathy and secularism rule.  The demonic controls the world system, so there is no need for open demonization, which could scare people toward embracing Christ.  In Thailand, worship of false gods opens hearts and minds to possession, both through ancestor worship and direct demonization.  I know I am giving many categories that I need to explain, but I wanted to begin with a brief explanation as to why many of my readers have not seen what I am going to discuss.  

For many of us, we read the stories in the bible about Jesus casting out demons, and we wonder what this is all about.  We do not experience the same occurrences, so we treat Jesus' interactions with the demonic as representing His healing of psychological illness.  If this is your take on the demonic, I beg you to hang with me to see if what I have to say matches with the teaching of scripture.

Now for the story and some background for the story.  I spent the summer of 1990 in Thailand on a mission trip with Campus Crusade for Christ.  It was a great time to experience another culture, and to learn how to share the gospel in a different culture.  We witnessed many people coming to faith, opened several new college campuses in Bangkok to the gospel, and witnessed a spiritual world very different than America.  In many places throughout the city are places to offer incense and to pray to the local god (demons).  I met people who affirmed that their family had been granted success for hundreds of years because the oldest son had inherited the help of a spirit (again a demon), who blessed them with success.  It was a strange spiritual world.

When I returned, it was life back to normal.  That is until about six weeks after I returned.  I was practicing with the worship band of our college ministry one warm fall evening.  We were practicing, but also praising the name of Jesus.  When we would stop practice, through the open windows, we would hear someone cursing Jesus and telling us to stop.  The first time, we thought it was a prank by guys in the dorm next door.  It was in bad taste, so we ignored it.  The next time, it was louder, and I went to see what was going on.  I went to the front door of the church, and I could see through the glass a man with two Elders from the church behind him.  I opened the door, and I was immediately stuck by a feeling of evil I had not experienced since Thailand.  I cannot explain it, but to say that my spirit immediately declared watch out and pray.  I back up, and the man came charging through the church door and headed to the front of the church.  There he looked upon the lighted cross, and he cursed Jesus' name.  One of the two Elders said in a low voice, "Greg we were afraid someone would open this door.  We believe this man is under the influence of a demon.  Get your worship team together and pray.  Please stay out of his way, as he is really dangerous."  I did not have to be told twice!  The four or five members of our worship team gathered in the back of the church and prayed.

As we prayed, the man cursed the name of Jesus.  He swore often.  He threatened these two men.  The Elders continued to claim the protection of Jesus.  The man would get up quickly and violently, and the men would tell him in the name of Jesus to be seated.  In response he would immediately sit.  Slowly he became more subdued.  After about fifteen minutes, the man said he did not know why he was here, he cursed, and he got up to leave the building.  The Elders went with him praying.  When he left, they asked me to lock the door.  Eventually, the man got in his car and drove away.  I can say, that our worship team was visibly shaken as we had never seen anything like it.  We had felt incredible evil.  We had seen the power of Jesus' name.  We finished prayer and honestly did not know what to do.  Several folks on the worship team left.

After just a short while, the pastor of the church and the Elders returned.  They apologized to us for having to have seen this and for being short with me.  Truly, no apology was needed!  The Elders affirmed they had never seen anything like this.  Now that it was over for the evening, they were shaking and bewildered.  Then the pastor told us this man's story.

This fellow had been special forces of some sort in Vietnam.  He had been captured and then tortured by his enemies.  Somehow he had escaped captivity, and when we returned home he was a different man.  His wife had recently come to faith, and she had told the pastor that she feared her husband was possessed.  He was an angry, but quiet alcoholic.  Almost every night, particularly around a full moon, he could not sleep because of horrific nightmares.  He also was openly hostile to the person and name of Jesus.  He had a history of violence, and the military training to make violence deadly.  She wanted to bring him to church, but she did not know what would happen.  It appears that he had been in church for several Sundays without incidence, but the pastor was concerned.  He had shared what he knew of his history with his Elders, and introduced him to several of these men.  That evening, one of the Elders had felt led to drive by the church that evening "just to check it out."  He heard us practicing through the open windows, and he noticed a car in the parking lot.  As he looked closer, he saw it was this man.  He approached him to ask if he was O.K., and the entire event began with him jumping out of his car and screaming his hatred of Jesus.  The Elder had not experienced anything like it, but he knew this was demonic.  Providentially, the other Elder was driving by, saw the man, pulled in, and began to pray for the first elder as he also could tell this was evil and different.  With this information, we all prayed for him, and the rest of the worship team left for our dorms.  The pastor and elders were going to handle it.

Now for the rest of the story.  That evening, the man drank heavily and did not return home.  Within a week or so, he was broken before the Lord and He called out to Jesus for help.  The pastor and elder prayed with him, and was set free.  Then they learned the rest of the story. While in captivity in Vietnam, he grew increasingly angry and bitter toward his captures.  He wanted them dead!  One night, he heard a voice in his head telling him that he could help him get revenge and get out.  He noticed the cage was unlocked.  He crept out, killed his captors, and escaped.  Unfortunately, the voice did not leave.  He began to have horrible nightmares.  He began to drink to self-medicate.  He had married, but he could not escape his internal issues (as some say, his personal demons!).  Finally, his wife had come to faith.  He had heard the voice saying, he would never come to faith because he belonged to him.  He had helped him escape.  He was beyond help.  The man witnessed his wife change.  He had gone to church, but he could not hear anything but condemnation on how God could not love a murderer like him.  He did not remember the night at the church.  He was finally set free when he called out to Jesus for help.  "The voice" left him at that time.

I tell this story not to cause fear nor to sensationalize demonic power, but to explain what it could look like.  I experienced these events, and I have tried to explain them as clearly and accurately as possible even though 21 years of past since I lived them.  I have not seen anything like this before or since!

Looking back, I ask what happened?  Through anger, this man had opened himself up to demonic influence and control.  Anger and bitterness is a great doorway into our soul, thus Paul's warning in Ephesians 4.  He had struggled and suffered under this demonic influence for almost 20 years.  The demon did not come out of the man on the evening at the church because he did not want the demon to leave at that time.  He clung to the demon he knew, instead of asking the God he did not know for help.  When he sincerely called out for Jesus' help, the demon left.  As far as I know, it never returned.

As this week goes on, I will offer more thoughts on demonic possession, demonic oppression, and how this relates to Christians and non-believers.  This is an important topic even if we do not see much open demonization in the West.  I know some of you will not buy into what I am saying.  All I know is that Jesus and the apostles cast out demons.  Jesus treated this topic as important and real.  As we move to see the Kingdom of God advance, we most likely will encounter demonic resistance.  We need to know what to expect, and how to appropriate the power of Jesus in the midst of this conflict.