Demonic possession is real and ruins the lives of millions.
Demons are invisible forces which aim to annihilate those who are possessed by them. Today we fail to diagnose demonic forces, sweeping them under broad categories of mental health crises or addiction.
In misunderstanding these invisible forces, society fails to identify the remedy to overcome them. This is a terrible oversight on our part.
Demons aim to destroy humanity and spread wickedness onto those who are friends or family of the possessed. This wickedness can be in the form of addictions, lust, gambling and anger that can utterly consume someone until they are plummeting into self-annihilation.
This annihilation is not just mental, but can physically destroy someone. Stress is a byproduct of demonic possession and can kill. Anyone who has been close to someone who suffers from spiritual warfare whether through addictions, anger or lust can testify to the destructive nature of these invisible demonic forces.
The most frightening of all biblical narratives concerns a man who is possessed by thousands of demons. This gospel account illustrates not only the all-consuming nature of demonic possession, but the fear of those who are possessed when a remedy comes to save them.
Mark 5:3–5
This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
This victim was locked in the depths of caverns on a distant island. He was initially bound by chains because the local population feared his demons, but the strength of the evil forces inhabiting this man ripped those chains apart.
Night and day he lived amongst the tombs, howling and slicing himself on stones. This man’s strength was magnified because a literal legion of demons nested within him, but these demons were killing him like parasites thriving off the destruction of its host.
Jesus knew of this powerful nest of demons and sailed to the island to save the poor man. When he landed, the demons sensed his approach and emerged from their cave to stand before him. The poor man under their fearsome power, contorted and broken, rushed towards Jesus and gave him the name of the army living within him.
Mark 5:9
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”
This name of legion is significant. Up to six thousand soldiers manned a Roman legion. This gives us an idea of just how many demons inhabited the soul of this single man.
Jesus has the power of exorcism which is healing, but the demons found this prospect to be painful. They even equate it to torture. In a sense, these thousands of demons describe the feeling of liberty as akin to deadly pain. This is actually what many addicts and demonic possessed people also say at the prospect of expelling the evil within them.
Mark 5:6–9
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
The possessed man yelled against the prospect of freedom as Jesus raises his hands and expels the legion, transferring them into a herd of pigs that run off a cliff and plummet to their doom.
Mark 5:13
The impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
After the man has been freed, Jesus orders him to return back to his town so that the inhabitants who once tried to bind him could see this healed man as a living testimony of God’s power.
Mark 5:15
When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
Only one force can overcome demons and this force is God.
I always consider the Gerasene demoniac narrative of Mark’s Gospel as one of the most frightening episodes in all of the gospels. Many miracles in Mark’s Gospel are actually centered on expelling demons from the possessed.
Even though demonic forces are highly potent and dangerous, they cannot be properly medicalised. They are invisible and show up only with secondary effects though addictions or mental consumption until leaving someone dead if unresolved. Broken bones can be cured by doctors, but maladies of the soul cannot be easily tamed by material remedies.
Demons convince those who let them into their soul that everything will be magnificent so long as they obey them. Demons do not present themselves as ugly or vile, but as the most benevolent of all forces. This is why we allow these extremely vicious and hideous parasites into our souls. Satan was once an Angel of Light, but now he only masquerades as such.
2 Corinthians 11:14
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
Masquerading is the entryway for demonic possession. We would never willingly permit the reality of narcotic addiction into our lives if we saw its vile endpoint, but after consuming false advertising, admiring branded bottles and enjoying the sensation of intoxication, we bring this despicable evil much closer to us.
Demons present themselves as exciting or righteous with the aim of devouring those who succumb to them. Reimagine demons as viruses of the soul. They are parasites which thrive by consuming their host from within. This is why so many who suffer from addictions have their personalities hollowed out and destroyed. In the place of their self, a demon ensnares their soul.
There can be no compromising with any of these demonic forces. Satan always lays ten steps ahead with his snares, lies and nets. Whenever someone tries to compromise with a demonic force, they stride into its trap like a fish biting a tasty bait and being reeled in for destruction.
Demons present themselves as the most wonderful of all forces. This is why they are so difficult to dislodge. Many demons enter into the lives of people who are bored, lonely or emotionally fragile and feel as if these evil forces give them comfort and meaning.
Anyone who has struggled with an addiction or speaks with those who have gone through it understands how they begin to gravitate their lives around the demon. Every second is refashioned in its image. The mind cannot think of anything except the addiction as the person who suffers becomes extremely sick.
In the frightening story of the man possessed by up to six thousand demons, he pleads with Jesus not to expel them from him. He equates the removal of these demons with literal torture. Now imagine someone who is addicted to alcohol, gambling or lust being asked to expel them and you will begin to understand the false homeliness and deception of these demonic forces.
Demons can only be overcome by removing them. This process is daunting and troubling because a force which has convinced us that it provides purpose and comfort to our lives must be expelled. Once it is removed, the emptiness threatens to be filled by another demon unless we centre ourselves on God. This is the same God who goes into the caverns of darkness, resurrects the dead and preaches to the spirits of hell.
1 Peter 3:18–20
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.
Atheism is incapable of responding to demonic possession and denies its reality, but large parts of society are ruled by demonic forces. Mass media is driven by anger and negativity. Consumers of this media become possessed by negative news that seeks to divide and spew hatred instead of spreading forgiveness and mercy.
Other demonic forces include large parts of the financial system, gambling, illicit images, human trafficking and the military machine. All of these forces are under the control of evil forces and their terrible consequences seep over the world.
I think everyone at some point in their life has encountered a demon whether they realise it or not. Some of us are lucky to identify the problem early enough to resolve it, but others end up with a legion infesting them.
Please seek medical and spiritual advice for any addiction. Understand that spiritual maladies are extremely dangerous and threaten immense destruction. The ultimate remedy for any demonic force is Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:10–11
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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