The Gerasene Demoniac – a Sermon

Text: Luke 8:26-39  [See here for the Bible Study Notes on this passage]

What a day this is turning out to be! That really was the mother of all storms, a hurricane from hell.

The sheer violence of that storm…the way the Master spoke to it…the fact that it completely subsided as soon he did so…It was almost as if something (or someone) didn’t want us to get to the other side of that lake.

Anyway, it’s over now. I just hope the Master lets us turn the boat around, sail back the way we came, and change into some fresh dry clothes. That’s quite enough excitement for one day. After all, we’ve got a lot to think about. Who is this man who can command the winds and the waves, and they obey him?

But no: the Master has other ideas. He’s determined to complete the voyage and get to the other side of the lake. We reach the shore. Jesus steps out of the boat. Immediately, a man rushes up. Well, I say ‘a man’, but this is none other than the ‘wild man of the Gerasenes’. He’s completely out of his mind. All day he wanders around, exposing himself, shouting abuse at the top of his voice. At night he sleeps in the tombs, among all those dead bodies. He’s really violent, and so strong. They used to be able to restrain him, but not any more.

He’s making a bee-line for Jesus.

Marxism, Fascism, and the Occult

It’s a chilling thought, and one to which secular historians would be unlikely to give much credence.  But it is probable that Marxism, and certain that Fascism, were deeply involved in occult practices.

Take Marx.  In his early teens he was a keen Christian.  Although it cannot be proven that he became involved in a Satanist cult, there was certainly one operating near his home, and his early writings give some indication that he was involved with them.  By the age of eighteen he had already renounced his Christian faith and became filled with hate.  At this time he wrote a drama called ‘Oulanem’ – this name is an inversion of the name ‘Emmanuel’ (God with us – such inversions are common in Satanist practices).  In this drama he pictures a dark abyss designed for the devil and his angels, and into which he himself seeks to draw all mankind.  In ‘The Fiddler’ he wrote

The hellish vapours rise and fill the brain

Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed

See this sword? The prince of darkness

Sold it to me.

Our Daily Warfare

We ought not to think that [the Devil's] activity is primarily, or even mainly, to be seen in dramatic, extraordinary “power” encounters, where people are exorcised or delivered of demons. His warfare against us – and make no mistake it is real – takes place primarily at a far more frightening level: at the level of ordinary, everyday life.

We see this illustrated repeatedly in the Epistles when our battle with the Devil is mentioned. We keep him at bay when we deal promptly with anger and do not allow it to fracture relationships. {Eph 4:28} We elude his ravenous jaws when we bear up under suffering, and cast our cares on God. {1Pe 5:6-11} We resist his advances and cause him to flee, when we stop compromising ourselves with the world, and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to God. {Jas 4:4-8}

(Source Unknown)

Calvin on Spiritual Warfare

Calvin took the activities of Satan and his demons very seriously, without falling into the superstitions which sometimes appear in Luther’s writings.  Calvin’s teaching was, above all else, scriptural, as the following extract shows.

All that Scripture teaches concerning devils aims at arousing us to take precaution against their stratagems and contrivances, and also to make us equip ourselves with those weapons which are strong and powerful enough to vanquish these most powerful foes. For when Satan is called the god [2 Corinthians 4:4] and prince [John 12:31] of this world, when he is spoken of as a strong armed man [Luke 11:21; cf. Matthew 12:29], the spirit who holds power over the air [Ephesians 2:2], a roaring lion [1 Peter 5:8], these descriptions serve only to make us more cautious and watchful, and thus more prepared to take up the struggle. This also sometimes is noted explicitly: for Peter, after he has said that the devil “prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” [1 Peter 5:8], immediately subjoins the exhortation that with faith we steadfastly resist him [1 Peter 5:9]. And Paul, after he has warned us that our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with the princes of the air, with the powers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness [Ephesians 6:12], forthwith bids us put on that armor capable of sustaining so great and dangerous a contest [Ephesians 6:13 ff.]. We have been forewarned that an enemy relentlessly threatens us, an enemy who is the very embodiment of rash boldness, of military prowess, of crafty wiles, of untiring zeal and haste, of every conceivable weapon and of skill in the science of warfare.  We must, then, bend our every effort to this goal: that we should not let ourselves be overwhelmed by carelessness or faintheartedness, but on the contrary, with courage rekindled stand our ground in combat. Since this military service ends only at death, let us urge ourselves to perseverance.  Indeed, conscious of our weakness and ignorance, let us especially call upon God’s help, relying upon him alone in whatever we attempt, since it is he alone who can supply us with counsel and strength, courage and armor.

Institutes, Book I, Ch. 14:13.

The Triumph of the Cross

The New Testament (writes John Stott) sounds a note of victory that is sadly muted in many parts of the church today.  The victory is God’s and he has achieved it through Jesus Christ; more specifically, through the cross of Christ (1 Cor 15:57; 2 Cor 2:14; Col 2:15; Rom 8:37; Rev 3:21; 5:5; 12:11).

What seemed like the defeat of goodness by evil was, in fact, the defeat of evil by goodness.  The victim is the victor.  The cross secured the conquest of evil.

Is there a Devil?

Even to pose the question would lead to incredulity, or scorn, in many quarters today.

But Michael Green reminds us that there are several lines of evidence that agree in affirming the reality of the Devil, or Satan:-

Revival 14 – Demonic Activity

The present world is the arena for an uncompromising, bitter struggle – the struggle between good and evil, of God and his armies against the Devil and his.  We believe that the victory belongs to God in Christ.  But we know too that the Devil, although defeated, is not yet banished, and continues to war against all that is good and true and right with such malice and resourcefulness as we can scarcely conceive of.  Now, when ‘God comes’ in revival, and God’s people are stirred up to to repentance, prayer, evangelism and good works, it is certain that Satan will do all within his power to destroy the work, and if not destroy it, to damage and discredit it in whatever ways he can.  In the words of Dora Greenwell, ‘We shall scarcely find a deep spiritual awakening in a community or in any heart which is not attended and sometimes warped by counteracting developments, also spiritual, in which we may trace signs that look like the dark and terrible irony of a being whose hatred to the human race is so deadly that he will, if possible, work man’s woe through his very blessedness.’ (Quoted by Wood, Baptised with Fire, 154).