He was a wild man. Not the first i've seen, nor the last, but he was insane, but not just mentally. There was something about him. He was in torment. You could see it in his eyes, as wide open as i could imagine eyes could be. He was dashing around in the crowd beside the street, a few feet from where i buy bread every week. He was leaping at people, and they were dodging him. He bore a long knife which he was rapidly thrusting in and out of his mouth like the bolt on a machine gun. I would of thought he would surely kill himself or had already done enough damage to do so except for one thing. He wasn't bleeding, just salivating like an exhausted dog. The spit dripped from the knife and chin and his chest, and the his vigorous motions slung it for several feet in every direction.
He lunged at me, still stabbing himself. As my adrenaline raced my heart rate up, my perception of the events around me eased to slow motion. I considered that the local population is probably about 10% HIV positive. I considered that the knife, though not having in visible blood, might indeed have some bodily fluids that i don't want on me. So, i ran away. I ran for my life.
It was only later that i took the time to process those strange events. That's when it hit me. This man was not clinically ill (or not merely clinically ill). He was possessed by a demon.
Now, most of you folks reading this grew up in North America or Europe. If so, you probably are probably having some sort of worldview clash with my last statement. If you are not a Christian or religious person, you've probably just dismissed everything i've ever said and ever will say. Alas, i don't intend to persuade you in the lines of this impersonal blog. If you are a Christian (not just an adherent or cultural-Christian, but one who is born again), on the surface you are probably feeling much like the non-religious variety. But, at your core, you are probably not willing to dismiss this notion of demon-possession (along with a few other sorts of paranormal activity) because you know such events are written in the pages of Scripture and to deny that such events are real would be to deny the validity of the Bible. Or perhaps you have a hybrid theology on the subject: such events happened in Biblical times, but not in 2013.
I'm not going to hang my faith on it, but i'd like to attempt to explain why such manifestations of demons seem abundant in Scripture but are relatively completely absent from your present experience. Since the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment, and more recently the postmodern age, North Americans and Europeans alike have reached stage in cultural evolution that often dismisses spiritual or supernatural phenomenons and chalks them up to unexplained scientific events. Fair enough, some unexplained events can and should be attributed with a scientific explanation. Not all, but some.
But, consider that in the developing world, which is largely animistic in worldview, most people are not and could not be convinced that there is no such thing as a spiritual realm. As such, demons (if they do in fact exist) are more than delighted to torment people through a wide gamut of manifestations that are terrifying and undeniably demon-caused. Such demons would be content to inflict harm on people in such a way that keeps them in state of fear and submission to said demons.
To the contrary, the same demonic realm that is just as active in the North America and Europe, but this time the demons know fewer and fewer people are embracing the God Who saves, and turning to behavior and a mentality that is godless. To remind humans that there is a spiritual realm by manifesting demon power in such a way that is undeniably supernatural, would be folly. No, they are much craftier than that. If their primary goal is to prevent people from embracing the God Who saves, what could be more strategic in a post-modern society than to tempt and torment people behind the scenes in such a way that they don't realize demons are behind it.
That's why you read about demons in Scripture, but probably have not encountered them face-to-face in your life today. Marinate on that.
Click here for part two.
0 comments:
Post a Comment