Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Thursday September 10
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Mark 5:1-20-Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” 8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. 14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. 18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
Some in the religious and secular worlds argue that demons are not real, and that they are simply mental illnesses (or perhaps other similar physical diseases). They may even point out from the account in Mark 5 that after Jesus “healed” this man by casting out the demons that he was found to be “in his right mind, suggesting that demons do not truly exist but are simply mental illnesses.
What to make of all this?
Let’s study.
The first thing to notice is that the Bible itself is clear that demons exist. This is seen in numerous ways, one of them being that demons are referenced in the canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) more than 111 times! Indeed, there are references to them all through the rest of the New Testament as well.
It is also significant that the existence of demons is said by the Bible to be such that they are separate from physical ailments (cf. Matthew 4:23-24; 8:16-17; 10:7-8; Mark 1:32-34; Luke 4:40-41).
Furthermore, there are many evidences from the Bible which show that demons are separate entities from the persons that they inhabit and influence, and that they are not identifiable as physical or mental illnesses.
In Luke 8:26-33, 38, 39 we find the story of the possessed Gadarene. If we examine the account to discover if there are any characteristics istics which are typical of possession, we find eight marks or symptoms which distinguish demon possession from mental and nervous diseases. A. The first fact we are faced with is that in demon possession demons are actually resident in the parson concerned. Mark describes them as evil spirits. The phenomenon is the counterpart of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a believer….The second sign of possession is the unusual strength exhibited by the possessed person….The third sign is the visible conflict within the possessed person. One meets a similar phenomenon in psychiatry, where doctors talk of split personalities or disintegration. In the case of the Gadarene, on the one hand we see him coming to Jesus apparently for help, and on the other hand he suddenly reacts in fear and begs him not to torment him. D. Next we have the phenomenon of resistance, ance, an opposition to the things of God. “What have you to do with me,” the Gadarene cried out. This resistance is exhibited by every person who is demon possessed….The fifth sign is clairvoyance. The Gadarene knew who Jesus was immediately as he saw him, although they had never met before. He recognized too, that Jesus had the power to deliver him and to drive the demons out. I have found in counselling such people that they sometimes have the ability even to name the sins of the people present….The next mark of possession is the ability of the person to speak with voices not his own….It is not sufficient to explain this phenomenon by describing it as a case of schizophrenia, for in many instances the voices actually use foreign languages which the victim does not even know. This is in fact one of the strongest arguments against the explanations of modern science and theology. No mentally ill or hysterical person can suddenly start speaking in a foreign language which he has never learned….The seventh mark or sign that a person is demon possessed is the sudden deliverance which is possible….The last characteristic I intend to mention is that of transference. When the Gadarene demoniac was delivered, some 2,000 pigs went berserk and rushed headlong into the sea. Events like this don’t occur in medicine. (Kurt E. Koch, Demonology Past and Present: Identifying and Overcoming Demonic Strongholds, 136-140 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications)
Many modern day medical practitioners have also confirmed these facts from a scientific and clinical point of view. One researcher (drawing on his own experience over decades of time and the research and findings of other professionals) had this to say regarding the subject before us.
The belief that man’s experiences, behavior, and thought processes are influenced by entities that are apart from man, with an agenda contrary to his free will, has existed for eons. Some of the most common phrases in our language originate from these ancient concepts, such as, “I don’t know what got into me,” and “The devil made me do it,” and “I don’t know what I was thinking.” Dr. Wilson Van Dusen was the first clinical psychologist to break from traditional academic programming to report his first-hand experiences with schizophrenic patients and reveal their voices to be separate and independent entities. These experiences were contrary to his academic training and that of the establishment. The decades I spent working on the front lines with schizophrenics, and what I’ve learned about their voices completely supports Van Dusen’s findings. These discoveries validate what schizophrenics, shamans, Emanuel Swedenborg, the Bible, and ancient citizens have been telling us all along: the voices are real.…Jerry: Are we saying we have scientifically proven that evil spirits are the cause of paranoid schizophrenia? No. What we are saying is twofold: (1) it is the voices that drive and maintain paranoid schizophrenia, and (2) when the voices are gotten rid of by any means, the patient returns to normal functioning, and psychotic symptomology vanishes. If we listen, schizophrenic patients have pivotal information they could teach us about ourselves and how our minds operate and malfunction. The fact is that neither the academic nor the medical establishments have listened, nor have they done any research into the voices before arbitrarily proclaiming them to be hallucinations. Those able to temporarily suspend their belief system and take the time to talk to these patients about what their voices are telling them will see the many patterns and correlations we’ve brought to light. This includes the question of why the content of these so-called auditory hallucinations isn’t random, as is the case in all other hallucinations. What force holds them to a consistent and unswervingly negative trajectory? What accounts for the fact that the voices are giving patients the same negative and self-destructive messages across time and space? Throughout our investigation, the guiding principle was that whatever we did had to work. It had to have some positive impact on weakening the voices that were consuming the patient. The tactics we present are simple and straightforward. You don’t have to be a clinician or have any advanced academic training to understand and apply the information contained here, but you must break free of previous erroneous programming. In the physical world, we believe we are at the top of the food chain. Our findings reveal this is not true. One of the most important things we can learn from studying the voices is that we are all surrounded by a world of spirits that contains predators that are feeding on all of us to different degrees. Acknowledging the reality of alien spirits instead of dismissing them as hallucinations is necessary for helping schizophrenics and the rest of us to heal. (Jerry Marzinsky BA M. Ed., Sherry Swiney, BBA., An Amazing Journey into the Psychotic Mind- Breaking the Spell of the Ivory Tower:Discovering The True Nature Of The Voices Schizophrenics Hear And How To Eliminate, 157-160 (Kindle Edition): Columbia, KY: Engineering Sanity)
The Bible and scientific research testify that demons exist as personal entities and are not the same as mental illnesses.
However, we also see from both sources that demons can affect a person’s mental state (cf. John 13:2; Acts 5:1-4), which is perhaps one reason why exercising mental discipline is connected in Scripture with spiritual warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4-6).
There is Bible precedent in working with any and all individuals to minister to both spiritual and physical ailments. Physical and mental illnesses are real, and so are demonic afflictions.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
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