Wrap-Up
“Of course we would recognize the demonic!” we snap, “Who could miss “Legion”?
Who would get to see him in our society? He’d be hidden away in the maximum-security section of a mental institution. Even more perplexing, he would most likely be pumped so full of drugs that he could be seen lying peacefully – or at least his drugged body and mind seem at peace – in a psychiatric hospital bed, with some fancy name for his condition.
“But what about the boy, thrown into the fire and into water?”
No matter how many evil spirits were involved, he wouldn’t be afflicted by demons in our society. He’d be receiving medical care for some sort of seizures. Renaming an affliction does not remove the demonic element, but it removes it from our awareness, and to our great shame a condition that Christ died to set people free from is ignored by Christians and handed over to secular people.
“But what about all those demons who manifested in the presence of Jesus and the apostles?”
Would they act that way in our presence? Could it be that they don’t feel threatened or intrigued by us, not because we lack power over them but because their supernatural perception empowers them to realize that we are barely aware of our authority?
Could we miss some cases of the demonic because our spiritual giftings do not include the ability to discern evil spirits? Could we be further hindered by dismissing anything not highly dramatic? Have we been bamboozled by using poor logic and blindly assumed that everything that can be influenced by medical or psychiatric or psychological treatment must be entirely natural in origin?
Some reports of ghosts, psychic ability, alien encounters and angelic appearances not from God are trickery or misunderstood natural occurrences. A portion, however, are likely to be demonic. But could the demonic be far more common than that?
If, at the death of the early apostles, demons didn’t become so upset that they left the planet; if we still, as Scripture says, wrestle with principalities and powers; if Jesus still expects us to follow his example – and the example of those he personally trained – by evicting demons, let’s rise to our calling.
I’ll close with a prayer. Would you like to join me?
Lord, my longing is to see you, not demons, and for you, not evil, to be magnified. If, however, demons could somehow be hindering me – or anyone you want me to help – from glorifying you as much as you deserve, then I ask you to open my eyes to this fact. May nothing – not pride, a know-it-all attitude, prejudice, ignorance, or anything else – blind me to anything that needs to be exposed in order for me to better serve you.
You urge us to seek and promised that your Spirit would lead us into all truth. So may I be moved to seek the truth about demons with whatever passion you deem appropriate, so that I will not be guilty of leaving people in bondage whom Christ died to set free.