EXORCISM: All That Jesus Does Has Purpose, by Don Dickerman

From When Pigs Move In

What wonderful information is provided to us in Mark chapter 5 concerning demons.  Jesus had made a special trip to see a man tormented with demons.  We don’t know what prompted the journey across the Sea of Galilee.  As the scripture reads, it seems unplanned and without prior arrangements.  Jesus had been teaching in parables on the west side of the sea when he spoke, “Let us pass over unto the other side.”  It was seven miles to the “other side.”

It was evening, and he doubtless and tired and weary from the day.  The disciples “took him even as he was in the ship.”  It seems that almost immediately he retreated to the back part of the ship to sleep.  I have often wondered if Jesus was going to the “other side” in response to someone’s prayer.  All that Jesus does has purpose!  Unfortunately, we are not always privy to that.

I believe Jesus was responding to the prayers of someone in Gadarenes.  In this country, he would encounter a man so desperate for help that he lived in hopelessness among the tombs.  We have no background information on this fellow except that he had an unclean spirit, he lived among the tombs, and all efforts to help him had failed.

The work of the demon spirit is partially revealed in the bits and pieces of information that we do have.  The account in Luke 8 tells us that the man had been possessed a long time.  It tells us that he wore no clothes and had no home.  We also learn that the demons had driven him into the wilderness.  There was no rest for him.  Night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones.

Let’s look at some of the characteristics of people who have demons revealed in this one account:

1. The person is “driven.”  I have found this to be a consistent mark of demons, especially in the
area of compulsion and obsession.  There are certain areas in the life of the oppressed in which
no victory can be found.

2. There was no peace or rest.  Always, night and day, he was roaming, controlled by restlessness.
He searched for peace and found none.  The pain of the tormentor is so great, only those who
have experienced it can relate.

3. There was self-hatred and self-mutilation.  Often, those so tormented tell me that the pain of
hurting themselves actually relieved the greater pain they felt.

4. There was no help available from mankind.  No man could bind him and no man could tame
him.  Man did not have the answer then and does not have the answer now.  Spiritual problems
must have spiritual solutions.

5. There was confusion and mental anguish.  “Tormentors” is one description of demon powers
given by Jesus in Matthew 18:34-35.

6. He wore no clothes.  He was not able to function as a normal human being.  His godly instincts
were suppressed.  He intimidated others with his uncouth actions.  People could not be
comfortable in his presence.  Others avoided him.

7. He had physical strength beyond his normal abilities.  I believe this often indicates rebellion.

8. He was rejected by society.  He did not fit in.  He did not measure up.  Most likely, he had been
“run out of town.”

9. People had given up on him, and he was banished to suffer alone.  He had his own prison, his
own asylum.

10. He knew that Jesus was God’s son and deserved to be worshiped, but the demons would not
allow it.  He knew there was a better way but did not know how to obtain it.

There is always a kingdom

There was a demonic kingdom in this man’s life.  Scripture declares in Mark 5:2, “And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.”  “An unclean spirit” seems to indicate there was only one devil (demon) present.  But we find it was a demonic kingdom of many spirits, and the prince demon of that kingdom identified himself as Legion.  There is, virtually, always a kingdom, and sometimes more than one kingdom, in those who experience demonic oppression.

Let’s back up and try to understand why Jesus made this journey to the other side.  And why was there such opposition to him getting there?  Why was this “castaway” such a priority to Jesus?  We can only guess.  And why was the man in such a bad state?  My experience has shown that the man’s condition could have been caused by parents who did not care.  Maybe he was born under a generational curse.  Maybe he was conceived out of wedlock.  Perhaps his ancestors had been idolaters.  Maybe his mother and father fought and argued while he was in the womb.  Maybe his dad left his mom and had affairs with other women.

Could it be that his mom gave him up at birth?  Were his parents killed in some tragedy?  Maybe he was abused sexually and physically.  Possibly, they told him he was unwanted, and demons were given permission to his life through no fault of his own.  I have encountered all of these things to be consent for demons to enter someone.

I would guess that this man was eventually expelled from school and had a criminal record.  Probably, at best, he would have been a “latchkey” kid in today’s world.  He was troubled for a “long time” and was eventually banished to live among the tombs.

Now it could be that his parents were good people and loved him dearly.  They may have tried their best to control him but did not know how to deal with the demons.  More likely, they did not even believe that it could be demons.  Maybe they were praying for him.  I want to believe that his mom cried out each day and night, “God, help my son!”  The father, too, asking for God’s mercy, must have cried out to God, “God, help my son.”

I can see him sitting up against a tomb

Maybe it was their prayer that Jesus heard.  We don’t know, but something happened that caused Jesus to decide to go to the other side.  Perhaps it was the young man himself.  Maybe in a moment of sanity, he looked at the cuts and the dried blood on his body and cried out, “My God, look at me.  Look at my life.  God,help me!”  I can see him sitting up against a tomb with tears streaming down his bearded, dirty face.  Maybe he tugged at his long, matted hair and cried, “God, help me.”  His cry is the one I think Jesus heard.  The pain of the heaviness and depression and the horrible feelings of rejection and abandonment oppressed him and everyone whom he touched.  Maybe it was a combination of all of their prayers.  Perhaps it was just God’s sovereign mercy!

The man needed help and could not find it in this world.  He had no medicine for his migraine headaches and for his tormenting thoughts of worthlessness that weighed upon him continually.  He could not take an antidepressant.  He suffered alone, and I believe the merciful Lord Jesus was moved with compassion to go to this one man.

What believer has not heard this story?  Which of us has not had hope rise up in us when we read about the One who speaks peace to wind and waves?  It seems to me there was a concerted effort on the part of demon powers to prevent Jesus from reaching this man.  We know from Job chapter 1 that Satan’s kingdom of darkness can cause storms of destruction.  Lightening was used by demon powers to destroy Job’s sheep and servants.  Job 1:16 says, “The fire of God is fallen from Heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them.”  It was a great wind from the wilderness, perhaps a tornado, that he used to destroy Job’s children.  Job 1:19 says, “And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead.”

Storms of opposition

After Jesus had declared that they were going to the other side of the sea, something began to take place in the heavenlies.  A scheme, it seems, was devised to destroy the ship or at least to cause them to turn back.  I have found that demons are always scheming, always trying to hinder the work of the Lord Jesus.  Opposition often comes in the form of “storms.”  They come to instill fear and hopelessness.  They come with attempts to discourage and to defeat.  They make the way seem so difficult that it appears it would be best to give up.  This seemed to be working with the disciples.

But Jesus had spoken.  The Word had been declared.  If Jesus says it, then we may stand upon what he has spoken.  He had declared, “Let us pass over to the other side.”  He was on a mission!  Evidently, the disciples did not know about the mission; they did not know the purpose of the trip.  They did not know it was urgent!  They had not seen the affliction or heard the cry as Jesus had.  They reacted as most of us would have.  They did not yet understand that fear and faith cannot peacefully coexist.  They did not know that fear is a spirit and that God does not give that spirit to us.  It seems from Jesus’s words that he was telling them, “With faith you could have rebuked the storm also, simply by placing faith in that which had already been spoken.”

I have a visual picture of the blackness of that night, the howling winds and the waves that tossed the boat and beat against it.  Great splashes of water covered the disciples.  The wind was threatening, and they felt helpless to change it.  It’s like the words of the songwriter who said, “Master, the tempest is raging.”  This was without a doubt a raging storm.  The disciples feared they would die.  They probably did what they should have done in the midst of the storm – call on Jesus!

Jesus, with sleep in his eyes, looked the storm in the eye and commanded, “Peace, be still!”  I see the waves drop immediately and lay flat on the waters.  I see the wind gently blow the dark clouds away, and then great calm.  The stars and moon that were hidden in the darkness now shine upon the glistening sea.  Oh, what a moment that must have been!  The disciples could only say, “Wow!  What manner of man is this, that even the wind and waves obey him?”  The once-troubled boat now glides on the calm waters directly toward a desperate man filled with hopelessness and despair.  It seems the Navigator knew exactly where to land the boat.

Jesus gets his feet wet

The boat eases up to the shore, and I hear Jesus say to Peter or John to get him an extra change of clothes.  He throws the clothes over his shoulder and hops from the boat into the shallow waters.  Probably he told them that he would be back shortly.  Personally, I believe he was answering the demoniac’s prayer.  Isn’t it something that Jesus makes so many special trips throughout the Gospels?  Here it was for someone whom society had thrown away just as we toss an empty soft drink container.  Thank God Jesus has been in the reclamation business for a long time.  He salvaged me!

As he came out of the ship, the man from the tombs met him immediately.  There is an interesting exchange of words.  “When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him.” (Marks 5:6)  It was the demons in the man that recognized Jesus; they knew who he was.  Apparently, the demons communicated that to the man, for he wanted to worship Jesus.  Just the presence of the Lord Jesus demands worship.  Jesus commanded the demonic kingdom to come out of him.  And amazingly, the demon spokesman responded with, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of the most high God?  I adjure [command] thee by God, that thou torment me not.” (v. 7)

This is one for the books.  The demon was giving a command to Jesus!  The demons were afraid.  They always are.  They knew it was about over for them.  In Luke’s account, the demons begged Jesus that he would not command them to go into the deep (the abyss).  (See Luke 8:31.)  The tormentors were pleading to not be tormented.  Those who instilled fear are now overcome by it.  It seemed to be understood that if demons are cast out, it would be into the abyss.

Jesus commanded the demon spokesman, the prince of the kingdom, to identify himself.  “And he [demon] answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.” (Mark 5:9)  “And he besought him much. . . .” (v. 10)  Demon powers are such sorry creatures and such enemies of mankind.  Their hatred for Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus is vented toward God’s special creation – man.  Here, the merciless creatures beg for mercy.  Incredible.

Now, I have tried to get a mental picture of the country of the Gadarenes, because there is a strange encounter next.  “Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.” (v. 11)  The demons wanted to go into the swine on the way into the abyss.  Think of these lying, ugly spirits who claim to have such power.  They are begging to go into swine!

There are some in deliverance ministry who believe that deliverance should be done by discernment only.  They teach that it is wrong to confront and command truth from demon powers.  Jesus asked this demon to identify himself.  I would say the reality is that no anointed deliverance minister is going to carry on a conversation with demon powers.  It is not conversation, but rather it is confrontation.  Why did the demons request permission to go into the swine?  Why did Jesus allow it?  What can we learn from this?

They knew their time was up.  It is clear that demons would prefer the body of a pig to nothingness.  There seems to be some truth here concerning the abilities of an evil spirit to enter into animals.  I think this was one last attempt at destruction, to rob life, even the life of the swine.  Remember, the demons have the same functions as Satan.  He is a liar and the father of lies.  He was a murderer from the beginning.  He has come to steal, kill, and destroy.  All demons are thieves.  I have yet to encounter one that did not fall in the category of steal, kill, and destroy.

Near the scene of this miraculous deliverance, there was an unusual number of pigs.  A very large herd of about two thousand pigs.  They were being fed.  Picture this in your mind.  I recall my grandparents talking about “slopping the hogs.”  Many of you have heard that term.  Well, that’s what was happening.  I imagine there was a lot of snorting and grunting as the pigs pushed and shoved to get their share of the food.

What we can know is that the owners of the swine were not Jewish.  But they likely were wealthy; that’s a lot of bacon.  This pig farm was on a mountainside that must have overlooked the Sea of Galilee.  I’m not sure the smell was very good, but it seems somewhat picturesque.

As the Legion of demons was cast from the man, the swine began to screech.  The pigs were experiencing the same torment that the man had known.  The noise from the swine must have been disconcerting, perhaps frightening to those who fed the pigs.  Perhaps the soul God has breathed into man was strong enough to resist the suicidal demons.  The pigs immediately plunged to their death because of the torment.  The men feeding the swine could not control the herd.  The pigs hurt each other.  They trampled upon one another and bit each other as the demons entered into them.  They ignored the commands of their keepers.  Not only were they out of control, but the tormented swine also committed suicide.  They ran headlong down the mountainside and into the sea.  I’m sure the swine were knocked over by others, and many of them tumbled over the rocky mountainside and over a cliff into the “deep.”

Suicide was doubtless a plan for the young man

Demons have come to kill, steal, and destroy.  I could only speculate as to why Jesus allowed this mass suicide of the pigs.  Perhaps because the swine themselves had been declared unclean.  Regardless, the demons not only destroyed the swine, but they also brought hardship to the community that raised the swine.  It had an economic impact on many people.  The pigs went into the deep, committing suicide, and the demons went into the abyss.  Doubtless, suicide was a plan the demons had for the young man who had just been freed.

Look what happened when genuine freedom came to this man.  This was the man that no man could tame.  This was the man who had no social skills and could not be taught.  This man was made a missionary on the spot.  Jesus anointed him and ordained him.  He commissioned the man to go home and tell his friends what great things the Lord had done for him.  Remember, this man was previously not “in his right mind.”  He wore no clothes and had no control over his life.  Now they find him “sitting,” not wandering, and clothes, maybe in the extra set of Jesus’s clothes.  Maybe Jesus took an extra robe with him because he knew what he was about to do.  More so, he was clothed now in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  His mind had been restored!

I feel certain the demons understood that they had to put things back in order when Jesus spoke.  They had stolen the man’s peace and joy.  They robbed his self-image and worthiness.  They created disorder in his mind and were planning to kill him.  Then Jesus came!

You know, I see the same things happen on a regular basis.  I see demons putting back things they have stolen at the command of the name of Jesus Christ.

The church needs to get ready because a new anointing is coming – a new and fresh understanding of spiritual warfare and of the believer’s authority.  Pastor, get ready.  Get your deliverance team ready.  God wants his people free, and he has commissioned us to act in the name of Jesus Christ.  Demons still bow and retreat in his mighty name.

Jesus is still speaking peace to the storms!