Last week we asked if you love God’s word. We asked if you like reading God’s word more than eating your favorite meal – even the tough to read passages about the law. In the passage above Paul links these two concepts together in an elegant way. Regardless of the number of laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy there is one simple way to obey them all – Love your neighbor. It is a simple, life-giving formula: Loving God leads you to love God’s word, loving God’s word leads you to love others, loving others leads you fulfilling God’s law. Is there a better reason to study God’s word?
Demon possession takes many forms and results from a myriad of practices. The danger is that the practice may not have been with the permission of the one who is afflicted (as is the case in Luke 9, where the “child” was under his father’s authority). If the demonization occurs at an early age, the victim may not ever recall the events that brought them this spiritual inhabitant. The Luke 9 incident strikes a parallel in an account related by Dr. Koch:
Does he lurk in the shadows? Does he reside in basements and cellars and sewers, staying far away from the light of day? Are leaky pipes and fungi his only company? Is the Prince of Darkness to be likened to a Stephen King antithesis of good; an evil force subject to the night, ensnaring the lonely, the curious, the naïve whenever they cross his liar? Quite the contrary.
I hear from a lot of readers about the struggles they are going through. Some have inoperable illnesses like cancer, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. Others have a series of health issues that are crippling half the time and merely painful the rest of the time. Some suffer from spousal abuse or children making bad decisions with their life. Some suffer the loss of a loved one. The list is long and disconcerting. The common questions I hear are "Why? Why is there so much suffering?” and the second question is like it: "Can't God do something about it?"
I was 15-years old and at a Christian camp, sitting around the campfire with others from our church youth group and paying more attention to the girl I was crushing on than to the discussion leader. That is until he read a Bible passage and wanted to go around the circle with each student answering the question, “what does this mean to you?” Yes, red flags went full sail in my Bible-geek mind. I was about half-way around the circle, so my challenge to this exercise should have been delivered tactfully. It wasn’t.
Matthew, Mark and Luke record a great many instances of demonic possession, and is a veritable harvest field of information regarding these spirit entities. John, on the other hand, contains no stories of demons at all. No study of demons could be considered complete, however, unless it contained a study of the demoniac of Garasenes. Doctor and respected author Kurt Koch relates eight symptoms of demon possession as discovered from the passages on this particular case:
Just about a year ago Think-Biblically ran a series on demonic activity in the modern world. We discussed demonic familiars and their “Strong Man” superiors, demonic oppression and demonic possession. Since then readers have asked for a more scholarly series on the topic of demonism. While every culture has a way to participate with or repel demons, there is no better guide to this unseen realm than the Bible itself. The passage quoted above reveals nine foundational occult practices that are abominable to God (and should be to us as well). These include:
The popular view of Jesus is that of a poor Rabi, a peaceful man who reminded people that religion wasn’t about rules but about learning how to love God and your fellow man. There is nothing wrong with this particular view, except it is incomplete. Jesus did everything he needed to do at that time --and more -- as the suffering servant, but he did not restore Israel at that time, reward the faithful or fully conquer the devil. One might say that Jesus’ mission was as incomplete as our view of him. If you want to know Jesus you need to know all of him, not just the comfortable parts.
If you read Think-Biblically.com regularly, you have an interest in reading and studying the Bible but would you say you love the Scriptures? Do they bring greater delight than your favorite food? Maybe our favorite passages such as those that inspire or comfort us, but how about the law? Does reading Leviticus make you joyful? King David thought it should. He thought so because God’s word is a lot like God himself: reliable, wise, fair, pure eternally enduring, trustworthy and just. If spending time with God brings us comfort and joy, shouldn’t his word do the same?
I am not suggesting some miraculous conspiracy theory about how these cultures developed such similarities around the same time period. There were no “space-men” to assist these cultures; only demons, who wanted to be worshiped by the children of God and to build their own earthly empires. Nor is this a new philosophy; Daniel was given a glimpse of this kind of demonic influence in culture by the angel who appeared in Daniel 10.10-.14. Evidently, demons are considered “princes,” if you will, over major cities, and adhere to a military rank and authority.
Most people know the Bible is full of great historic narratives, and the story of how God tends to his people is often miraculous. What often goes unnoticed is the backdrop, the characters that add color to the story. Today’s example comes from Genesis 24, where Abraham gives his servant one final mission: Find a wife for his son Isaac. The servant chose to accept the mission and set off from the Promised Land to Ur, the birthplace of Abraham and home to a people with a long and vicious memory.
You have probably heard it almost as often as I have, that the God of the Old Testament seems all vengeful and harsh while the God of the New Testament is all about love. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Old Testament is full of mercy and grace extended not just to his people but to the Gentile world also. Sure, there is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Noah’s flood but there is also the salvation of Nineveh, the rescue of the people of Israel on multiple occasions, and the relationships God has with real people.