Jesus Heals a Man with Demons
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. (5:1-5)
In this simple description, you see key elements of what unclean spirits do to men. They break their relationships with others, to isolate them, and can give phenomenal strength that can break chains. They have one purpose, death and destruction. Therefore, they try to lead people toward death, like this man living among the tombs. They try to push people to death as quickly as they can, as you see them forcing this man to cut himself.
Sadly, this is not only a problem of the past. Today you still see many persons influenced by demons and pushed toward isolation and destruction. Sometimes, the demons manage to kill even others through a single person.
And when he saw Jesus farm afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” (5:6-9)
The key for releasing people from demons, these impure spirits, is for you to be full of the pure spirit of the living God, the Holy Spirit. Don’t expect either to discern the presence of demons or to cast them out when you don’t have received authority from me or the Father. This authority flows in you through the Holy Spirit, when you welcome Him and let Him lead you in all you do.
When I arrived, the demon or rather demons could not avoid me. They tried to find an agreement with me, by placating me. They begged me, supposedly not to torment them. Here, you need to be aware that the talk of demons is mostly a mix of truth and lies. The truth here was that I was Jesus, the Son of the Most High God. Yet, it was almost flattery, in the hope that I would swallow their following lies. They continued by begging that I would not torment them. Here you see both the lies of demons and their hate for humans. I did not torment them, they were the ones tormenting this poor man. Yet, they dared to lie, hoping that this lie would be hidden behind their flattery. They even used pious language (“I adjure you by God”). They were not clearly aware of my ministry, that by listening to the Father I could discern behind their lies, although they had rightly guessed about me more than my disciples at this point. I asked their name with the authority of the Spirit in me, and they had to answer. Legion is not only a huge number (about 6000), but it also reveals that they are fighting like an army (a legion was a roman group of soldiers). They were fighting in this man, trying to destroy the will of this man and to lead him to total destruction. You realize here that although demons do have some powers, they are very limited. Their power works mostly through deception. It is only when humans accept their lies that they gain power in a person. It is only through a lie that the serpent could seduce and deceive Eve and Adam.
Still today, it is through deception that impure spirits can enter into a person. The key is to learn to recognize their presence and how to cast them out. Don’t discuss with impure spirits, just let the Holy Spirit in you lead and command them in my name to go away.
And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now, a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs, let us enter them.” so he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. (5:10-13)
Here, you see clearly the deception of demons. Since I was training my disciples, I let the demons manifest clearly their lie so that they could learn. They pretended that they needed not to be sent out of the country, and that they needed to be in ‘physical bodies’ like pigs. Yet, this is both foolish and a lie, they have never needed any body or anybody. They have always rejected others, and are united only with the single purpose of destruction. As soon as I gave them permission, their lie became evident. They entered into all the pigs, overpowering their will, a task which proved much easier and quicker than overpowering the will of the man. Then they did what they really wanted, which is to destroy: they pushed all these pigs to rush down the steep bank and to drown. The argument of ‘not leaving the region’ was their lie, and they then destroyed all they could, and the faster they could.
It was possible for me to forbid them to enter into the pigs, yet this helped my disciples to clearly see the true intentions of these impure spirits - to destroy. Learn from this story that demons are always bent on destruction, and that if they delay their attempts to destroy it is only temporary and often with the greedy desire to destroy more people.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. (5:14-17)
Demons were not only present in the demon-possessed man, but they could also influence the people in the city. If not, why would they be afraid and beg me to leave the region?
People are often naive, thinking that if someone does not shout and cut himself, he is not influenced by demons. Impure spirits can come and make damages in silence. What is key here is not to become terrified by what could happen, but to invite always more the Holy Spirit to rule in you. Spiritual warfare, learning to get rid of impure spirits, is best done in the peace of the Holy Spirit and not in the agitation of fear. If someone is concerned about the possible presence of a demon in them or in someone they love, they should first of all welcome my Holy Spirit, consecrate their lives to me and learn to listen to my voice. Then we will lead the person both in discernment and how to cast out impure spirits when they are there. If they struggle or fail to do this, it is important they come to a Christian they believe who can help to manifest my love and authority over any impure spirit in their lives. There is no technique to learn, except to welcome fully my sacrifice for your sins, to welcome fully my Holy Spirit in you, and when you discern in my presence what is happening to command any impure spirit in my name to go away.
As for the request of the demons to go into the pigs, I also accepted the request to go away, because the Father knew what He was doing through me. On the surface, it was like if I bent to the will of demons or to the request of unholy persons, but that was not the case.
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. (5:18-20)
In some cases, I forbade persons healed to speak openly about what happened, like in when I healed a leper. In this case I did the opposite, I asked this person to openly share what the Lord had done for him. This was not a very Jewish area, and they needed to find hope in front of all their frustrations, in front of the fact that impure spirits were making them suffer. Through this man’s testimony, they found hope. If he had left, they would not have received this so important hope of deliverance from evil.
You can notice that although I let the demons go in the pigs and the persons of the region to send me away, I did not allow the freed man to come with me. I needed, in each case, to be attentive to the voice of the Father, to His direction. Then, what appears illogical on the surface is wise before the Father. By allowing the demons to go into the pigs, the Father could show without a doubt two things: first, that the demons’ first goal is to destroy, and second that they are liars - pretending to need to remain in pigs but instead killing all of them once allowed to come in these pigs.
By allowing the persons to send me away and by asking the man to witness about the grace of the Lord toward him, he witnessed both of the possibility of deliverance and that he considered I was the one through whom God showed him mercy. His witness prepared this whole region to receive the Gospel that my disciples would bring there shortly after my death. Most of this region came to me and became Christian. By the testimony of a single man a whole region was going to welcome me as their Lord and Savior.
Do not let your reason become a God, learn to speak with me as I learned as a human to speak with the Father in each circumstances. My disciples first did not understand why I would send this delivered man back in his region, but later they did. Human wisdom and divine wisdom sometimes match, but they often don’t. Come and learn from me to manifest the love of the Father into your circumstances, to see people delivered from impure spirits and finding hope again. Follow my direction, I am your good shepherd, and rejoice of the fruits of love, faith and hope that will flow out of you. The impure spirits are no match for the Holy Spirit, who will blow away anything that opposes the love of the Father. Welcome the folly of the cross in your life, a love that surpasses by far any human wisdom. Let my words richly dwell in you, guide you and lead you. Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men. As I said, the harvest in plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest send workers into His harvest.
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