![]() ![]() In that setting, however, pigs were considered an unclean animal. Today’s listeners, attuned to animal rights and the SPCA, will be bothered by the fact that “a large herd of swine” was drowned after the demons entered them. We need God’s help, and we need the help of other people. Becoming free from our demons is seldom a “do-it-yourself” project. For the healing of demons today, the fellowship of family, congregation and community is a key to restoration. In almost all of Jesus’ stores of healing, there is restoration to families and townspeople. Members of AA also realize they not only need God’s help but the support of people around them. The Americans refused, stating that those three steps are basic to their program. However, because the Soviet Union was officially atheistic, they asked that these first three steps be omitted in adapting AA to them. Before the collapse of the USSR, Soviet officials appealed to American AA members to help them set up AA groups. Īlcoholism is a terrible problem in the former Soviet Union. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.ģ. We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.Ģ. This is the key to the success of Alcoholic Anonymous, whose “twelve steps” to healing” begin with these three:ġ. The seventy persons sent out by Jesus soon afterward came back and reported, no doubt with astonishment, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” (Luke 10:17) The point of this story, as well as all the demon-healing stories in the Gospels is that the power of God can cast out demons. Thirdly, in Mark’s version “no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain.” Fourthly, and most sadly, he was so totally possessed that though the demons recognized Jesus as “Son of the Most High God,” but the man could not free himself. In Mark’s version he was “bruising himself with stones” (Mark 5:1-20). He was also “driven by the demon into the wilds.” In other words, he was already in a “living death,” separated from normal people and normal living.įurthermore, the demons were harming him. ![]() ![]() He didn’t live as people, but “in the tombs,” probably in caves that were used as burying places. He was totally cut off from family and society. Note the similarities between this demon-possessed man and the demons that possess us. Our demons can be of many kinds: mental illnesses, schizophrenia, paranoia, addictions, obsessions, destructive habits, and so on. If we define “demons” as those forces which have captured us and prevented us from becoming what God intends us to be, we are as surrounded by - yes, possessed by - as many demons as those whom Jesus encountered. Sound familiar? Don’t many of us suffer from the same kind of snares and burdens? However, all the “demons” Jesus confronts have three things in common: they cause self-destructive behavior in the victim, the victim feels trapped in that condition, and they separate the victim from normal living in the family circle. ![]() Gospel stories of demon possession are difficult to preach, because we don’t experience demons as described in the Bible. ![]()
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