I can see them now-the people standing on the perimeter of the sanctuary; their arms folded over their chests, mouths tight, eyes challenging as they probe and pick apart the service. You can feel their attitude the minute they walk into the building (camp meeting), and it brings a spiritual chill to the air. They act like the Holy Spirit police, lending their opinions to whatever God does and squelching any move of the Spirit.
One of the most shocking things about the kingdom is this: Not everybody wants it! You might think that the fresh outpouring of mercy and love and power would thrill every Christian to the tips of his toes, but it does not. During times of blessing some people hunker down in their churches like soldiers in foxholes, hoping to weather the storm, and when revival subsides, they emerge happy from their holes. Others leave their churches altogether where the Kingdom cannot touch them.
The story of the demonized man in Luke 8 is a picture of where some of us are today in the Body of Christ. Jesus .has come down to help us. God is showing us the things in us that do not belong and banishing the darkness from our lives. The Holy Spirit is preparing us for our wedding day. I believe we are in the middle of a time of, refreshing. Yet even as great miracles are happening, the doubts of the past run strong. Fear grips those on the verge of meeting the master. A crowd mentality overtakes us, and we panic and rush back to what we think is a normal life-the familiar, the lifeless and the dead.
The story of the Gerasene demonic shows the spirit of liberty at war with the spirit of fear, providing a perfect parallel for what we are seeing taking place today.
The Story
The story begins with Jesus getting into a boat and sailing to the region of the Gerasenes. A demonized man from the town met him on the shore, as if on cue. The description in Luke 8 shows that the Gerasene was very demonized: (Verses 27, 29)
Now the demonized man fell at Jesus' feet and shouted at the top of his voice, (Verse 28) Demons try to be disruptive because in chaos and confusion they assert some control over a situation. Demons try to bring an unholy fear into the Body of Christ. The demoniac declared Jesus "Son of the Most High God" to throw Him off stride, but it did no good; Jesus kept coming at him. Jesus threw a question back into the demons face: "what is your name?" The answer was Legion, "Because many demons had gone into him" (verse 30). Then Jesus gave the demons permission to enter the large herd of pigs, which thundered down the hillside into the lake and were drowned.
People came from all around to see this formally demonized man "sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind." But their response is shocking: "They were afraid" (verse 35). What they should have feared was a man, who lived in the tombs, wore no clothes and could break chains off his arms and legs! That would have scarred me. But apparently they could live with that. It was a man at the feet of Jesus in his right mind who scared them.
Afraid of Whom?
Now here is the parallel. A naked man, demonized and in chains, does not scare us, but the power of God does. Have we, like Gerasenes, drifted and adapted ourselves to demons to the point of comfort? This man was put in his right mind, and then they were afraid. What is wrong with this picture?
Many troubled people like the demonized man, come to revivals where the power of God is operating (Kelly sitting here last Sunday). There they encounter God and their lives are changed. No longer living among the tombs, they are clothed and put into their right minds, happy and spiritually alive for the first time. But when their friends and neighbors see them in church, sitting at the feet of Jesus, worshipping and adoring Him, raising their hands and shouting praises, they are afraid.
Even when the person testifies, "I was messed up, but Jesus came and saved me, threw the darkness out of my life, and now I want to serve Him, and nothing else matters as much as He does", people shake their heads and say, "Boy, that guy's crazy," or, "she's swung too far the other way."
Behind the disgust is fear. I see visitors coming to our meetings, and as soon as the music starts, the visitors' faces take on a tortured look, as if someone is twisting their arms behind them. I almost wonder why they do not walk out. They remind me of the demonized man when he begged Jesus not to torture him. We know that it was demons speaking through him, but think of the words coming out of his mouth. Who was torturing whom?
People bound in the darkness of today's world also approach Jesus with fear. Why? Like the Gerasene demoniac, they are already living tormented mental and emotional hell on earth. How much worse can go wrong? People who come into services with that pained look on their faces have lost their sense of Spiritual direction, and so they get it backward, "Is Jesus here to torture me?"
The Body of Christ is tortured and tormented more than we know, not by Jesus but by evil spirits-from pastors to laypersons to deacons to elders to nursery workers to bus drivers to greeters to worship leaders to altar workers. We are incapable of fighting the powers of darkness on our own. We desperately need the power of God.
What do you fear?
I have seen the side of ministry that most people do not want to see, the side that most pastors do not talk about in public. More than once Cathryn and I have been swept into the backwaters of conflict within the church-disloyalty, distrust, pride, destroyed relationships. Our roots became intertwined with other people's roots, and when then enemy came in and those people tore themselves away, everyone was hurt.
More than once demonic forces stole in as gossip. Talk was easy and razor sharp. People carelessly said what they wanted, and rumours circulated. Some of the Church, like those in the gospel account, are adapted to the work of demons. We are so far from the true God that when he comes to scatter the darkness from our hearts, we grasp fearfully onto the chains of bondage that have held us.
The Gerasene towns people had Jesus in their midst. They could have asked him anything-to pray for them, to drive away all the demons in their vicinity, to stay awhile and teach them. But they were afraid of the wrong things; they walked up to the Messiah and asked Him to leave. It seems to me that we should rejoice when people get free of the control of darkness- but many in the modern Church scowl. Like those in Jesus' day, we have grown accustomed to the powers that bind us. We are used to the feel of Spiritual chains around our ankles and wrists. We wake up and go to sleep with darkness coiled around our hearts. We are accustomed to our bondage and want others to be bound, too.
Imagine what Peter's face must have looked like as the scene unfolded. We were excited because the demonized man was free and able to hold cogent conversation. As the townspeople streamed over the hill to see what was going on with those pigs, he probably expected a great reception, with hundreds of new disciples. At least they would hold a feast or invite the disciples to dinner. Peter probably stepped in front of the eleven, chest out eyes sparkling. Then he got a shock of a lifetime. The townspeople were upset at the sight of the demonized man, now restored, sitting at Jesus' feet, and they said, "Jesus, we want you to leave town-now!"
Loose talk scares me now as never before. Gossip scares me. Backbiting and betrayal scare me. Selfishness in the face of the Holy Spirit scares me. These are common features in the Church today that ought to scare all Christians. In fact panic, panic ought to set in: "Hypocrisy is wrong! Hypocrites don't go to heaven. Instead Bible-carrying people are afraid of revival. And we like to blame the world from everything until it makes us feel righteous. We are willing to point the finger at anyone-drunk drivers, homosexuals, abortionists, politicians, filmmakers-as long as our own faults stay under the cloak of night.
The Gerasene people should have repented and said to themselves, "Here is a man with a legion of demons in him, and we were used to him. In fact, we didn't like it when he changed. Something must be wrong with us. We have got this thing backwards." But they were controlled by fear. Fear makes you reject the Saviour. Fear is never more prevalent than in times of revival, because that is when the enemy, who is in danger of losing ground, works most strenuously against us. He reawakens the human fears:
Fear of losing control
Fear of losing friends
Fear of alienating family members
Fear of seeing what is really in our hearts
Fear of being free
If we are afraid, let us be afraid of the right things. Everything that could possibly go wrong in the Church already has: suicide, drugs, adultery, fornication, lying, stealing, lukewarmness. There is literally nothing left to fear. Nor have we anything to lose when the old system crumbles-yet because of fear we cling to it. Instead let us fear the right things, and not sit in judgement on someone who truly gets free, proclaiming that it cannot be God. Let us be a people who prefer light over darkness.
Jesus' Response to Rejection
What is the end result when we are so afraid of light and so adapted to demons that we will not let Jesus work among us? Let's look at the end of this story:
"[Jesus] got into the boat and left" Luke 8:37
He did not argue or give them a sermon or try to persuade them that the demonized man was better off. He did not say, "Let Me do one more miracle, and I am sure you will change your mind." He simply left.
Many people may have gone their whole lives to churches that have pushed away the power of God because it scared them. Long ago Jesus walked out the front doors of some of those Churches without performing a single miracle, and the people continued as if they did not even know He had left. The pastors kept whitewashing the tombs instead of opening them up and exposing the darkness inside. You can judge you own adaptation to demons by the response of your heart when Jesus comes to help you. Ask yourself:
Are you afraid of Jesus?
Do you judge Him according to your own emotions rather than by the fruit His work produces?
Are people you know being set free? If so, how does that make you feel? Threatened? Insecure?
Listening to God's Word
John 1:5, 10-11
What does it say about us when our reaction is to push Jesus away? Can it be that we are more adapted to demons than to God? We need to ask God to transform our minds, open our spirits and make us hungry and thirsty, so we adapt ourselves to God, not demons. Take authority over any demonic powers in the name of Jesus. We cannot let years of acculturation to a dark world blind us when the kingdom is breaking in. That mistake was made countless times throughout the Bible with God's prophets, apostles and His very own Son. They were simply not recognized for who they were. People were driven by demonic forces to kill God's greatest representatives, often in the name of established religion. If we reject what God is doing in the current outpouring, ignoring the fruit and embracing the fear, we will fall into the same tragic pattern.
As you adapt yourself to God, you will radiate more of His presence-perhaps to such a degree that even strangers will notice the difference! Instead of the general darkness that engulfs mankind, people will see light in your eyes. Instead of insecurity, you will exude confidence. Instead of a halfhearted approach to life, you will be full of zest. People may come up to you and initiate conversations-at the bank, at the super market, at your kid's school functions-not because they like your clothes or your hairstyle, but because they want to be around Jesus. You will become a window through which they see the Kingdom of light, and that Kingdom will break in on them-through you. Much love.