Raining Down The Fires of Heaven…in Jesus’ Name?

Was it hyperbole (were the boys just talking a big talk?) or were the Sons of Thunder prepared to invoke God-level destruction?  (See Luke 9:54).

I found myself wondering about why the term ‘hellfire’ seemed to resonate in my knowledge-base while ‘heaven fire’ seems excessive and contradictive.  It is not to do with the infamous ‘Hellfire’ club of the X-men comics (and also, apparently, of British and Irish origins).  No, in my knowledge base, the Hellfire missile is a mainstay of US military forces (making appearances in military-based video games as well). 

Hellfire carries a 'Sodom and Gomorrah' connection too, the bringing of fire and brimstone (but a mixed connection, fires of hell sent from heaven...that is another post...).

Fire from heaven as a thing occurs as well (but it’s ‘branding’ is not as pervasive as ‘hellfire’).  Maybe the best known example is the fire of heaven descending to consume the sacrifice of Elijah when he was engaged in worship battles with the 400 priests of Baal. 

Its not always a good thing.  In Leviticus 10, the two eldest sons of Aaron, newly minted high priest, are consumed by heavenly fire when they offered something translated as “unholy fire” before the Lord. 

Heaven fire was certainly on the mind of John.  This Son of Thunder we believe wrote significant portions of the New Testament, the gospel, the three letters, and the book of Revelation.  In a couple of places in Revelation, specifically 13:13 and 20:9, he talks about the fires of heaven coming down to consume the evil.

If there is any consistency in these expressions of heaven fire, it seems to be in how it purifies.  It burns away the evil to leave what is good.  Directly, as in the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, or indirectly, as in the slaughter of the priests of Baal that follow the fire coming down to show God’s acceptance of Elijah’s sacrifice.  But it is violent, elemental, and consuming.

Given their Biblical understanding (their bible being our Old Testament), given John’s return to this theme in the Book of the Apocalypse of John (another name for Revelation), I do not think the Sons of Thunder were just talking in exaggeration.  Especially in light of Jesus claiming that anything asked for in faith would be granted to the disciples. 

And Jesus rebuked them.  That’s an interesting word choice.  Did a quick concordance check of the word rebuke.  When Jesus uses it elsewhere, it is almost exclusively when he rebukes evil spirits-demons-before casting them out. 

Sidebar-when it came to Legion in last week’s Scripture, ‘rebuke’ is not recorded.

For Jesus to rebuke is for Jesus to invoke God-level interjection to say, in less polite terms, “Shut up and knock it off!”

I believe Jesus did it because what the Sons of Thunder were offering to do was exactly what Jesus had come to put an end to.  Jesus came to put an end to heavenly punishment for our sins.  Jesus came to take the punishment for sins upon himself.  Heaven fire would NOT fall upon Jesus because heaven fire is purifying, and Jesus is the Pure, Perfect one to be sacrificed on our behalf.  In other words, no need for fire.

He is without sin, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.  In fact, in our passage, Jesus is beginning His journey to Jerusalem, to do exactly that, to take on our punishment that would relegate the fires of heaven to punish and purify to the divine dustbin of history of how God works to bring us to obedience of God's will.    

Peace,

pastor pete

Then the Disciples said TO JESUS, and I quote, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

And these are not just any disciples.  This isn’t Judas Iscariot, the traitor and betrayer of the Lord.  He is biding his time to do his damage.  It isn’t Thomas the Doubter, misplacing his doubt about what to do with unbelievers.  It isn’t Simon the Zealot, who we know only from the disciple lists in the gospels.  Calling him a “Zealot” is to indicate he is part of a terrorist faction operating at the time of Jesus.  These folks were known to hide blades on their persons and assassinate fellow Jews they judged were collaborating with the enemies.  If there is a person of violence in the disciples, it would be him.

No, these two are James and John, brothers who were among the first Jesus called as disciples.  They, along with Peter, were called from their fishing boats along the Sea of Galilee.  And, along with Peter,  form something of an inner circle in the midst of the larger crew of Twelve disciples.  For example, it was only these three present at the Transfiguration.  

We know a couple more things about them.  We know their mom sought to get Jesus to do her a favor without explaining what it was.  This was for her boys to sit at the right and left of Jesus in the Hall of the King in heaven.  That caused a stir.  They were also called “Boanerges”, the “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus himself.  As the Google brain tries to put it politely, “(it)…likely reflects their passionate, sometimes fiery personalities.”  Or it could be because they did stuff like this, threatening heaven-fire?  

Yes, and Jesus kept them on. 

This has me reflecting on powerful feelings I see in the church today.  On the one hand, calling down the fires of heaven to consume someone, this sentiment of punishment and exclusion is all too common.  Why don’t people come to church?  One big reason is that this vengeful anger has become associated with the entire church, not only in one moment when they were rejected.

The reality is that Jesus took punishment for sins upon himself for our forgiveness, not for us to threaten people about what will happen if they do not accept Him.

On the other hand, someone who speaks out with what is considered extreme passion and vehemence garners backlash.  Can you picture James or John coming before a church board and trying to explain why, in the course of their ministry, they sought to misuse the destructive powers of heaven for their own purposes?  Cancel culture is a real thing, their ministry, in today’s terms, could have been buried for this.

The reality is that Jesus forgives us our sins and gives us a second chance and more.  He said something about forgiving seven times seventy times.

Of course, there is the cliché that "it is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission."  I am very glad they asked permission.

In terms of understanding the gospel, this appears to be an outlier when it comes to the behavior of the disciples.  And, given that the parable of the Good Samaritan is coming in the next chapter of Luke, their threat could be a reflection not so much of their faith perspective as it is a biased perspective against Samaritans in general.  Which would mean that even those closest to Jesus had a few things to learn about what it means that God is love.

Peace

pastor pete

When Jesus is Not on a Winning Streak?

 It feels too heavy to suggest Jesus was ever on a losing streak.

First impression of Sunday’s text, Luke 9: 51-62: it feels like a string of losses for the Lord (feels like Canadian Hockey teams and the Stanley Cup…its been awhile…1993, Montreal Canadiens, not that I am keeping track or anything).

Context:  Jesus is beginning a journey to Jerusalem, well, his final journey to Jerusalem.  “When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem…” vs. 51.  He is in Galilee, vs. 10 reports Him at Bethsaida.  Apparently, Jesus is not taking the usual way to Jerusalem.  That is to follow the Jordon River south to Jericho, then uphill and west to Jerusalem.  No, he is headed through the hill country of Samaria. 

He begins by sending messengers into a village in Samaria to ‘prepare the way’.  But the Samaritans did not receive him, apparently because Jesus was headed through to Jerusalem.  I do not know exactly what that means, but the result is Jesus ends up in another village.  But Jesus' disciples take this rejection personally.  James and John offer to torch the place, literally.  For this, Jesus rebukes them and they move on.

Sidebar:  In the middle of chapter 10, we have the story of the Good Samaritan.  Did Jesus have these events with His fire-happy disciples, ready to destroy Samaritans, in mind? 

So, strike one, Samaritans are like “thanks but no thanks” to Jesus on His way through.

Then Jesus gets a volunteer!  Vs. 57.  “I will go with you wherever you go.”  While Jesus does not come out and tell the individual ‘thanks but no thanks’, He is firm that to make this commitment means that there is no nest, no base, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  This is generally interpreted as a rejection.

Then Jesus calls someone else, “Follow me!”  This individual has a compelling reason to ask for a delay.  He needs to bury his father.  Again, Jesus’ response is curiously mixed.  On the one hand, “let the dead bury their own dead”, seems a strong reaction against a legitimate concern?  But then Jesus tells him, “Go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  Maybe this one becomes one of the Seventy in the next chapter that Jesus will send ahead.  Again, interpreted as a rejection generally, but the language is not so definitive.

Then we have the volunteer who steps up, asking only for the opportunity to bid his family ‘farewell’.  Not an unreasonable request, at least not to my ears.  But Jesus’ response again is heavy.  “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Again, apparent rejection, but there is still some wiggle room in the language.  The volunteer has not yet put his hand to the plow.

If Luke were sending this to his publishers with a note that ‘in this section, we have church recruitment techniques as taught by the Savior himself’, I can see the publishers pausing, considering, maybe gently pushing back with ‘what else you got to show us’?

But if this is, rather, a litany of ‘typical’ human response to church recruitment, we have something very different.  We have what I think is an amazing insight into human nature.  So, maybe not a discourse on recruitment, but rather an introduction to the nature of human response when we reach out in the Name of the Lord?

Peace,

pastor pete

“From Hell’s Sway to Celebrating The Day" Sermon for the Lord's Day, Sunday, June 22, 2025

 Our Scripture for Sunday's Sermon is Luke 8:26-29

            Who will celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more than a man who has been liberated from not just one but from an entire legion of demons?   

            But before we even get to this man and his situation, the whole set up for this gospel story is rather unique.  Were Jesus and company were washed ashore here by “accident”?  In the verses leading up to this, verses 22-25, Jesus silences a windstorm that had the disciples in fear for their lives.  The storm was quieted by the Lord, and perhaps they landed here to check for damage?  

            In addition, the crowds are absent.  Elsewhere, the gospel records Jesus getting into a boat to escape the crowds and the crowds walking around the lakeshore to follow him.  And after this encounter, the gospel records “Now when Jesus returned, the crowds welcomed him…”

This time, it’s a naked man who lives among the tombs came out to meet him, a man possessed of demons.  And he is not welcoming, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”  Sounds like Legion is talking through the man’s voice. 

            That makes this man a highly dangerous individual, as Luke goes on to record that, when Legion took control, his strength became preternatural, that he was able to break chains and shackles, that he would flee into the wild. 

            We are also not in Jewish territory anymore.  The swineherd is the most obvious clue.  Pigs are forbidden in the law of Moses.  What we know is that the land of the Gerasenes is part of the Decapolis, a Greek region known as the ‘ten cities’ that existed in what is now the border region between Israel and Syria, focused in the area of we now call the Golan Heights.

            So, it’s a Greek region, where the only one who seems to be able to identify Jesus on sight is the demon, and, what does this Holy Guy from the other side of the lake do?  He does not banish demons into the abyss but allows them to transfer residence into the pigs.  Then the entire herd destroys itself, running headlong into the lake.  And if this were modern times, the owner of the herd would probably have insurance.  But would this not invoke the ‘act of God’ clause to invalidate the claim?    

            Is it any wonder that the people of the region reacted with fear?  At best, they might have heard of this Holy Guy surrounded by crowds on the other side of the lake.  But they have no history with Jesus or his ministry, they have no history with Jesus’ bible, no common religious and educational links to place Jesus into the context of redemptive history.  And the evidence of their own senses?

1.     The demon reacted with anguish and torment at the appearance of this Holy Guy.  The supernatural tormentor is now being tormented!

2.     The demon named this Holy Guy who is NOT connected to any of the gods that are worshipped by the Greeks in the time of Christ.

3.     The demon names the Most High God, naming this God as more powerful than theirs.

4.     The Holy Guy demonstrates some pretty specific powers:

a.     He can order the demonic beings back to the abyss.

b.     He can be bargained with by demonic beings.

                                               i.     That’s a flip from the typical bargain a human makes with a demon at the cost of their soul.

c.     He can apparently destroy their sources of food and livelihood in this exchange.

5.     There is the crazy guy, the dangerous guy, the demon possessed guy, the guy they could not tie down, the guy who’d once been just like them (so who might be possessed next?)

So all the people gather together, bound by their fear of this unknown Holy Guy, so afraid of Jesus as some new God-level force outside their experience, that their panicked response to His miracle is a meek, “Please go.”  Which Jesus does.

 And this man, despite his pleas, is given his marching orders by Jesus.  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”  Which, according to verse 39, is precisely what he did.

He’s got his marching orders, we have ours.  We call it our Sending Statement.  It’s on the bulletin.  A Statement of Sending is an interpretation from Jesus’ words in John, “Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me so I send you.”  This Sending statement, that we have been calling the Mission Statement, also often called a Vision Statement, it is the product of the work that a congregation does between pastors.  Who knows this community better than its residents?  Who are those working and worshipping in Christ in this place? 

A Sending Statement essentially fulfills the command from Jesus.  “Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me so I send you…so we, as FPC Merchantville, establish that this is how we shape our ministry in this time and in this place as those sent by Jesus. 

The opening words of our Sending Statement are “We are a people who encourage one another to celebrate our life in Christ.”  And in today’s Scripture, it is illustrated in the life of a formerly demon possessed man who “happened”-and I put that in quotes, because nothing ever just happens with God-he just “happened” to see boat blown off course arrive on his side of the Sea of Galilee.   

            In the end, the man celebrates.  There is a deep truth to understand that celebration is the appropriate response to our Lord Jesus when He sends us out into the world.  What we see in the renewed life of this man freed from the legion of demons is only an illustration of the whole plan of God set in motion for the renewal of all creation.  We have come through the seasons of celebrating all that Jesus has done for us.  The cornerstone event is that Jesus died for us and rose again for us, our sins forgiven and a new life in salvation there, literally, for the asking.  It is eternal life, offered freely.  What greater celebration might we seek?

            I believe it is especially appropriate that we are sharing the installation and ordination of our members of Session and the Board of Deacons today.  This is a celebration in the life of the church, looking forward to the gifts and stories and love that the new classes of elders and deacons are bringing to the leadership of the church. 

            But while we have reason to celebrate as we live into the whole Plan of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ, while we have reason to celebrate in the raising up of leaders to help us set the path and reach forward to do the Lord’s work as a congregation, there is another, more personal, level that is our cause to celebrate.  It is what Jesus has done for each of us, in our own lives.  Our bible story is illustrative of that.

            This is one event that happened in the life of this man.  Just one.  For him, it was a huge display of Jesus’ power.  But for Jesus, it is almost an afterthought that Luke tells us Jesus was in the process of evicting Legion.  It is an act of creation, Jesus speaks and it happens.  Such is the power of Jesus at any level, in any moment of our lives.  This loving power overcomes everything.  When we are attentive, we can see Jesus’ loving power intervening for us again and again and again all through our lives.  In our eyes, it can be as big as a demon hoard being exorcised.  But it can be as “small”, and I put that word in quotes, as a new insight into God’s Holy Word.  It can be as small as the right word spoken in a moment of despair. 

            Here’s an example from disaster response.  A Chaplain moves through emergency housing for disaster victims, shocked and barely able to function.  They have words, but they also have bottles of water.  Put a bottle of water into somebody’s hands.  Seems tiny, maybe insignificant.  But accepting a bottle of water may be the first decision in the power of the victim since the disaster.  Maybe it’s a tiny sign that ‘normal’ actually exists.  It can be the first in the chain of decisions that need to be made to move from victim to survivor, from survivor to someone who can thrive once again, someone who can even celebrate once again?

            The language of encouraging one another to celebrate our life in Christ is inspired.  Because how soon do we forget?  Or how easy is it to miss the active hand of God in our daily lives?  Or how often do we find out that the cogs of life out of our sight and beyond our capacity have somehow come together (somehow…yah, Jesus) to accomplish something we were convinced was impossible (despite that Scripture teaches otherwise).      

I opened this sermon with the question, “Who will celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more than a man who has been liberated from not just one but from an entire legion of demons?”  But if we are encouraging one another to celebrate.  If the place where our heart is set to touch the lives of people in this community is in celebration.  If we have responded to Jesus when he says, “I am sending you” by turning our eyes to the light of Christ in joyful celebration, maybe the question should be asked, “Who won’t celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more?”

Amen

Rev. Peter Hofstra

What Bugs Me: The Strategy of Distraction, as demonic in origin as Legion

In Luke 8:26-38, Jesus lays down a Sending Statement for the man freed of the demons collectively named Legion.  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”  The terminology of a Sending Statement is drawn from John 21:8, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  It is a deliberate shift in vocabulary from “Mission” to “Sending”. 

To me, this shift takes our eyes back to Jesus.  Because distraction is a power tool of the devil.  Take our passage for Sunday.  It is easy (for me anyway) to get distracted, to go down the rabbit hole, of trying to figure out what scared Legion into bargaining with Jesus (something no other demon has done) about not returning to the Abyss.  It is not a stretch to sideline the magnificent power of Jesus expressed here to chase down these apparent ‘ethics of hell'.

Distraction, it speaks to another question bopping around this pastor’s skull.  Why is it such a big deal to change the phrasing from “Our Mission” to “Our Sending”?  Because of distraction.  “Missions” is a Christian technical term that is encumbered with so many meanings that a new term,  “Missional”, has been coined to try and recapture its focus. 

Consider our own church.  We have our Mission Statement (our Sending Statement) and we have a Mission Committee.  However, the Mission Committee’s responsibility is not the oversight and implementation of our Mission Statement.  Rather, it is the focal point for our church missions, whether they be ‘hands on’, in partnership, or through financial support.  Which in turn links us to our Presbytery Mission Committee, where we are exploring the possibility of ‘mission micro-communities’, churches that together work with the same mission partners.  This is NOT to imply that there is 'error' in either the Statement or the Committee.  There is not, but distraction and confusion from trying to parse the meaning of the over-burdened term "missions" dampens our energy or, even worse, has us dismissing it as a vague notion that this is 'just something churches do'.   

We are not dumping the word 'mission', we are simply going to clarify what it means FOR US (follow here for more details).

In our passage, contemplating Legion and the Abyss took my eyes off the Lord.  In our church life, wrapping our head around what ‘mission’ means invests our energies elsewhere than into our Lord.  I think that is why Jesus offers us Peace first, before He Sends us.  There is peace when things are clear.  Jesus said, "I send you" and our Sending Statement is a clear declaration of how FPC Merchantville responds.   

To begin, we encourage one another to celebrate our life in Christ.  As our example this week, we look to our Scripture and follow the example of a man freed of a legion of demons.  

Peace,

pastor pete

 

PS-As someone who loves language and enjoys playing with it, I offer the following. We have A Sending Statement that speaks of who we are as we carry Christ forward, that will lead to our Ascending Statement when Jesus calls us home.  : )

To Celebrate Our Lives In Christ: How When Life…Well…Is Tough?*

*Other language suggested itself in this title, but we seek to be a family-friendly blog…

            “We are a people who encourage one another to celebrate our life in Christ.”  So begins our Mission Statement.  And so begins a sermon series over the summer to explore our Mission Statement.  And, if you have read the ‘official report’ in yesterday’s post, you have seen that our Sunday passage connects ‘celebrating’ with a man possessed of a legion of demons.  Like an entire division of forces in modern military parlance.

            At first glance, my thought was what had I just done?  How do these two things fit together?  Demon possession and celebration of our life in Christ?

            They don’t, quite simply.  Because ***SPOILER ALERT*** Christ overcomes Demon.  Overcomes demons.  The images of Linda Blair and the pea soup (mostly the pea soup) and the spinning head in “the Exorcist” trigger when I think about demon possession.  Yes, I watch too much television.  But that was one.  Not a legion.  But in the gospel, one demon or a legion of demons have nothing on the power of Jesus Christ.  Consider the aftermath from Luke 8:

            “Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from who the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.  And they were afraid.”  Vs. 38

            “They” were afraid, the people of the land of the Gerasenes.  They asked Jesus to leave.  They could not deal with what had happened.  Because as scary as it was to have a man of apparent superstrength wandering in their midst, possessed of a demon, it was scarier to realize that there was a Man who could simply order it to leave.  A Man who, in some strange way, seemed to take pity on the demons, ‘allowing’ them to possess pigs instead of returning to the abyss (Where they belonged?  Where they were punished?  From where they’d escaped?  Now THAT is the movie that would be interesting to see Hollywood imagine: why are demons trying to escape the abyss?)

            According to the Gospel, one man in the whole region of the Gerasenes was not filled with fear because of what Jesus did.  That would be “Mr. L”, the fictional designation from yesterday’s post of the man who was possessed. 

            He literally got his life back.  He was not sent to hell for his unbelief.  Hell was literally in him, until Jesus liberated him.

            We celebrate our lives in Christ not because our lives are tough but because Jesus carries us through the tough times, the hard times, the tragic times, the ‘bs’ times, whatever time threatens us.  There is a reason we call a funeral service a celebration of life.  Because life in Christ extends beyond what we call death.  Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

            And this passage, with all the elements of a horror movie woven into it, takes us to celebration as certainly as everything else that Jesus does for us.

Peace

pastor pete

Symptomology of a Demoniac

 So what if we took a different analysis of our Gospel Passage?  

How would Luke 8: 26-39 read as a observational report by a 'neutral' third party of the man's condition, our Lord Jesus, and their interactions?  I wrote 'neutral' in this fashion, because I have no neutral stance about Jesus.  For the purposes of this 'analysis', I call him the Messiah, because He is!

REPORT BEGINS

Initial Observation:  

The patient, Mr. L, was observed approaching the Messiah after we and his disciples arrived in the country of the Gerasenes.  We were ascending toward the city beyond, when he was spotted moving in an extensive graveyard of caves and tombs dug into the hillside.  When Mr. L appeared to notice the Messiah, he approached quickly.  From a distance, it appeared he wore brown clothing, but it became rapidly apparent that this was dirt, encrusting his entire body.  His approach was heralded by an impressive odor.

Background Information:  

On further interviews, it was determined that Mr. L had previously been a resident of the city.  However, he was presently diagnosed with ‘possession by an evil spirit’¹ (subsequently referred to as ‘demonic possession’).  Between moments of apparent lucidity, the ‘demon’ would take over and drive Mr. L into the wilds surrounding the city.  Local law enforcement and health officials who were interviewed indicated that Mr. L had been captured and taken into custody on a number of occasions.  For his own safety and the safety of those around him, he was kept under guard and restrained.  Restraint levels were continually increased as none were able to adequately bind Mr. L when he was ‘possessed’.  Local officials showed iron shackles and chains² that had been broken by Mr. L when ‘possession’ overtook him.  The iron was twisted and stained with dried blood where Mr. L had broken free.  At length, it was deemed impossible to keep Mr. L contained safely within the city and attempts at capture and restraint were discontinued.  Since then, Mr. L, has taken up residence among the tombs of the graveyard.

 Behavioral Observations:

1.     When first approaching the Messiah, Mr. L, apparently by means of his ‘demonic entity’, his possessing entity, identified the Person (it called him Jesus by name), and the Divinity (it called him Son of the Most High God specifically) of the Messiah. 

2.     The ‘demonic entity’ expressed fear and submission to the exorcism³ performed by the Messiah.

3.     The ‘demon entity’ challenged the Messiah that He was bringing torment upon the ‘demonic entity’ by these actions.

4.     Upon direct command of the Messiah, the ‘demonic entity’ would self-identify as Legion, further self-identifying as a plurality of ‘demonic entities’⁴. 

5.     The ‘demonic entities’ known as Legion demonstrated a phobic-level fear response of being ordered into ‘the abyss’⁵.

6.     Legion begged the Messiah instead to ‘transfer’ possession to a herd of pigs that were grazing nearby. 

7.     Apparently upon being possessed by the ‘demonic entities’, the pigs reacted by racing en masse into the Sea of Galilee, destroying themselves in the process⁶.

After action report:

In regard to Mr. L:  He was restored to full coherence.  He returned to his home in the city, returned to wearing clothes, all symptoms of the ‘demonic possession’ removed.  He requested to become an active follower of the Messiah in the aftermath but was refused.  Rather, the Messiah requested he remain a witness 'in place'.  It has been reported that Mr. L has become an outspoken champion of the Messiah.

In regard to the local witnesses:  Based on the attestation of the eyewitnesses, Mr. L was accepted back into the community, returning to his home and livelihood in the Gerasenes.  However, the destruction of the pig herd caused a fear response in the wider community.  It became so widespread that the Messiah was asked to remove himself from their midst as a result of the incident (the curing of Mr. L notwithstanding).

NOTES:

¹ Often, ‘evil spirit’ and ‘demon’ are being treated as synonymous.  However, in the gospel literature, it is possible to argue that a distinction is made at the time of the Messiah between these as separate conditions.  In this case, the evidence points to the more precise designation of 'demonic possession'.

² The physical evidence of the ‘demonic possession’ is consistent with a condition in which the pain receptors in Mr. L were either disconnected or ignored due to the possession.  There are several other conditions, including the ingestion of PCP, which result in similar ‘disconnections’ which permit the individual to exhibit ‘supernatural’ strength or endurance.  It is more likely that these displays are simply the extremes of human capacity when natural safeguards to protect the body from excess are not functional. 

³ In this case ‘exorcism’ should not be confused with media presentations of church-type rituals for the removal of demons.  Rather, there is the recognition of the ‘demonic entity’ of the Messiah, a recognition of the Messiah’s divine purview and power.  There was no ritual involved as we might recognize it.  Rather, the Messiah ordered the ‘demonic entity’ and it was compelled-although with the capacity to bargain-to obey by the simple authority of the Messiah.

⁴ It was impossible to establish an actual number of ‘demonic entities’ in this instance, however, Legion, as a Roman military unit, could indicate between 5000 and 6000.

⁵ ‘The abyss’ is common terminology to refer to the abode of demons, including Satan and the other named demonic beings.  In Roman mythology, it primarily represents ‘Tartarus’, the pit and prison for the wicked and those who ‘offend’ the Roman deities.  It is also differentiated from ‘Hades’ which is more broadly the realm of the dead in Roman mythology.

⁶ It is impossible to conclude whether these pigs, in the throes of possession, became uncontrolled to the point of blindly rushing into destruction; or Legion took some kind of control and intentionally drove the pigs to their destruction.  If the fear of ‘the abyss’ is to be accounted into the situation, is it possible that killing their host entity allowed Legion to avoids ‘returning’ to ‘the abyss’?

REPORT CONCLUDES

We are a culture that is obsessed with the supernatural.  The supernatural exists in the Gospel.  I hope moving our focus a little at how we read the Biblical passage might bring some new perspective to us.  Even more, an even deeper appreciation of the simple, total power of our Lord Jesus.

Peace,
Pastor Pete