Wednesday 30 March 2011

Which is the demon that has possessed you and does not leave you free? Will you attempt to get rid of that demon today?

The onlookers respond to the exorcism of a demon that made a man mute, in different ways. While there are some who are amazed, others attribute Jesus’ power to cast out demons to Beelzebul and still others ask for a sign from heaven. This is an indication that no one doubted Jesus’ power to exorcise and heal. They attributed it to different sources. In his response to this charge and test, Jesus says that since exorcisms represented a direct assault on Satan’ power and kingdom, it is clear that he cannot be on Satan’s side. Also, if Jesus’ exorcisms’ were performed by the power of Satan, the same would have to be said of other exorcists belonging to their community. Instead Jesus’ works indicate that the kingdom of God has indeed arrived. Through his exorcisms, Satan’s power is broken. In the simile of the strong man and his castle, Jesus explicates that he is the stronger one who overpowers Satan who had guarded his kingdom well till this time. Finally Jesus invites his listeners to take a stand for him. The saying here is strong. If one does not positively opt for Jesus, one has opted against him. The time now is for decision and choice.
Once he has answered his critics (11:17-23), Jesus moves on to exhort his listeners to fill their lives with the kingdom of God, because it is possible that despite the exorcism, if a person persists in his old ways, he will be possessed once again and this will be ever worse than before.

While there is no doubt that Jesus did exorcise people who were possessed by demons, we must avoid getting caught up with exorcisms ourselves. Rather, today there are many subtle forms of “possession” which are more dangerous than “external possession”. Some of these are consumerism, selfishness, ignorance and a better than thou attitude. We need to ask the Lord to exorcise these demons from our lives.

1 comment:

  1. Jesus said to cast OUT demons (Mark 16:17) (Mathew 10:8). He did not say to go to someone else to have your demons cast OUT. Nor did He say to cast OUT everyone else's demons and leave yours IN.

    Know this - EVERYONE has demons, ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS. There is no Scripture that says this. It is just a matter of FACT. There is no Scripture that says you do NOT have demons. Jesus said the demons are living INSIDE of you, not OUTSIDE. Jesus also said the demons call your body their house . Do you live OUTSIDE of your house? Neither do your demons!

    ReplyDelete

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