08222026 – Luke 8. 26-39
People say they “CANNOT RELATE to this stuff!”
“This is “THE STUFF” of HOLLYWOOD,” they say! Remember the movie, “THE EXORCIST?” It caused, fear, terror, horror, alarm, and sleepless nights, … AND, it made MONEY at the box office besides. There is even a whole Hollywood Horror GENRE.
Demons ARE NOT real, we say! They DO NOT exist, except IN Hollywood!
Demons reflect an era, a time, a period, a generation, when humankind was paranoid about “anything and everything” they DID NOT UNDERSTAND or could NOT COMPREHEND. A time of myths and legends…and superstitions.
We OBVIOUSLY live in a “much more highly enlightened era and time.”
TODAY, we can G00gle anything. So, I did WHAT any 21st century person would do, I G00gled it. Here’s what I discovered:
The Original Greek word for “demon” does not carry with it ANY “negative connotations” whatsoever! Originally, a demon was neither good nor bad. It simply was.
A demon – according to the Greek language was a spirit, “any spirit,” or it might even be a “DIVINE POWER.”
The morphing of demons, the demonic, with devils, goes back to around the year 825 CE.
Today, IF we think of demons, we think of A SOURCE of EVIL, HARM, DISTRESS, or RUIN.
The literature speaks of “evil SPIRITS,” a “supernatural ENTITY” or a “spiritual ENTITY.”
If we look at “the Biblical mention of demons”…the Biblical record speaks of WHAT demons DO. It attempts to be DESCRIPTIVE of them.
Typically they DO three things…
Demons (Biblically speaking) cause self-destructive NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR in the person they are possessing.
Demons cause the person to be TRAPPED by their “demonic condition.”
Demons actually CAUSE THE SEPARATION of the person from their family, friends, and community.
In the Early Christian Writings demons APPEAR in the writings “a surprising 55 times.”
Mostly demons are mentioned in relation to “demonic POSSESSION” or to“EXORCISMS.”
The King James Bible (also called the King James Version) was first commissioned in the year 1604 and was published seven years later in 1611 and NEVER USES or MAKES MENTION the word DEMON even once, preferring to use the word “DEVIL” throughout.
As “ADVERSARIES of Jesus,” and that’s what they ARE – they are ADVERSARIES. They are OPPONENTS, RIVALS, ENEMIES, and FOES. Demons ARE NOT “morally ambivalent spirits.” They are EVIL, through and through. They cause MISERY, SUFFERING, ANGST, and DEATH.
Demons are never seen as being TEMPTERS, but instead THEY cause PAIN and SUFFERING, both MENTAL and PHYSICAL anguish.
Again, Biblically speaking “TEMPTATIONS ARE RESERVED” only for “the chief of demons – himself”, SATAN, the DEVIL, BEELZEBUL.
The words “demon and demonic” are still tossed, scattered, and thrown around today. There is some talk of “systemic evil.” Our “suffering world.” The “powers of darkness.” “The Forces of evil”…and even “demonic-controlled nations,” NOR is it UNCOMMON for us to say that “we ALL have our demons…”
So although many DENY the existence of demons and the demonic, the LANGUAGE is still with us and bantered freely about.
“OUR DEMONS” can be of many kinds: mental illnesses, schizophrenia, paranoia, addictions, obsessions, all kinds of DESTRUCTIVE habits and BEHAVIORS.
The demons of our world TODAY may even CONTINUE to be LEGION, because there are so many!
The point of THIS STORY, as well as ALL the “demonic-healing stories” in the Gospels is that THE POWER OF GOD can cast out ALL DEMONS.
God is bigger than our biggest fear.
Our problems may be big, sometimes even bigger than we know. But our God is bigger, and his promises to us are stronger and surer.
God, our God, is bigger than any mountain we might face.
Bigger than any problem.
Bigger than the boogie man…
Bigger than any surgery…
Bigger than all the drama of this life…
Bigger than any storm…
Bigger than cancer…
Bigger than our past…
Bigger than our present…
Bigger than our isolation and feelings of alone-ness….
Bigger than our pain…
Bigger than our anxiety…
Bigger than our sadness…
Bigger than our depression
Bigger than our anger…
Bigger than all the fears and the phobias of our world. Bigger than all the demons of this world…Bigger than death itself!
A demon is nothing.
(Although it may really seem like something!)
Our God is bigger…
Our God is always bigger. God was, is, and always will be, bigger than anything that we might experience. So, look to YOUR SOURCE of strength. And depend upon him, the maker of the heavens and earth and everything that exists.
Trust in him!
Amen.