If you are of a certain age, you will remember a fictional hero based on the real life of Elliot Ness.  Ness was a law follower and enforcer during the times of prohibition.  He was a driven agent of a team of men determined to rid the city of Al Capone and his Mob, one gangster at a time or in groups. The highly organized Mob terrorized law-abiding citizens and inflicted their power over small business leaders by making them pay for protection from the Mob.  Anyone who got in their way or became a snitch against the Mob were made to walk off a short pier in cement shoes.  You get the picture.  It was a war between good and evil played out with intense drama.

The Mob, if left unattended and unbridled, wreaks havoc among those who are weaker.  The Mob is organized with an arsenal of lies, manipulations, harassment, greed, pride, and selfishness as they persecute, torment, and kill for the sake of power and control.  The Mob is led by evil.

But this is not a new story.  Jesus deals with a Mob with greater power and efficiency than Elliot Ness and his agents all put together!  Jesus sends a Mob of demons, who wreaked daily torment of a man, willingly, (the demon’s idea) into herd of pigs.  In the Mob’s final act, they possess the pigs who go crazy and jump to their death.  When pigs fly… (Too soon?)

Luke 8, The Message

The Madman and the Pigs

^26-29 They sailed on to the country of the Gerasenes, directly opposite Galilee. As he stepped out onto land, a madman from town met him; he was a victim of demons. He hadn’t worn clothes for a long time, nor lived at home; he lived in the cemetery. When he saw Jesus he screamed, fell before him, and howled, “What business do you have messing with me? You’re Jesus, Son of the High God, but don’t give me a hard time!” (The man said this because Jesus had started to order the unclean spirit out of him.) Time after time the demon threw the man into convulsions. He had been placed under constant guard and tied with chains and shackles, but crazed and driven wild by the demon, he would shatter the bonds.

^30-31 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Mob. My name is Mob,” he said, because many demons afflicted him. And they begged Jesus desperately not to order them to the bottomless pit.

^32-33 A large herd of pigs was grazing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons begged Jesus to order them into the pigs. He gave the order. It was even worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over a cliff into the lake and drowned.

^34-36 Those tending the pigs, scared to death, bolted and told their story in town and country. People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had been sent, sitting there at Jesus’ feet, wearing decent clothes and making sense. It was a holy moment, and for a short time they were more reverent than curious. Then those who had seen it happen told how the demoniac had been saved.

^37-39 Later, a great many people from the Gerasene countryside got together and asked Jesus to leave—too much change, too fast, and they were scared. So Jesus got back in the boat and set off. The man whom he had delivered from the demons asked to go with him, but he sent him back, saying, “Go home and tell everything God did in you.” So he went back and preached all over town everything Jesus had done in him.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The demons knew Jesus.  They knew who He was and what He could do.  They believed but did not bow down to Him.  They hate Jesus.  The Mob of demons was repulsed by and feared Jesus.  Their leader, Satan, was kicked out of heaven for developing traits not of God and for wanting to take God’s place.  Sounds unlikely, doesn’t it, but evil thought he could overcome.  Since that time, the devil’s intent is to pull our attention from God who sent him to the lowest places of darkness. 

Satan cannot make us do anything we do not want to do.  What he can do is present us with all the desires of the human hearts before us as if he had those things to give us for the purpose of turning us from God.  God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is the enemy of Satan.  Satan has power with a strong pull—but it is limited.

We have power given to us as believers to overcome the lusts for evil.  Satan is a liar.  In fact, as believers in Jesus, we have greater chance of survival from the lies because of Jesus who lives in us.  (Remember, the “secret” from yesterday’s writing?)  John, Jesus’ beloved disciple, reminds believers of Jesus, who is Truth.  John teaches and explains this power to followers.  He tells us how to know Truth when lies of Satan are presented in an attempt to overcome Truth.  Satan’s power is limited by God who holds all power.  Read and fill your soul with this Truth:

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 1 John 4:1-6

We all have attacks from the demons who want to control our minds so our behaviors reflect the character of the “prince of this world” such as pride, envy, selfishness, greed, stinginess, arrogance, hate, with other deviant behaviors not of God that breed fear and anxieties of all kinds.  However, we can overcome!  Jesus made us “more than conquerors” as we hold to what is Truth.  (Roman 8) 

When we do what the enemy hates most, falling to our knees, crying out for help to combat the demons in Jesus Name, we are given more power than Satan the Tempter and Tormentor to overcome!  I know!  Read that again or better still read what God’s Word tells us…

“Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:34-39

Live redeemed, restored, and grateful for nothing can separate us from the love of God!

One last warning…Gone unchecked, demons can form a Mob within us that penetrates our thinking and ultimate behaviors.  The Mob’s desire is to distract us from God, deceive what we know about God, with intentions to destroy our walk with God. 

Distract, deceive, and destroy—The Mob’s mission. 

Jesus came not to condemn but to seek and to save us.

Remember, “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”  Read and pray this truth as many times as needed! The One greater is Jesus!  Always has, always is, and always will be…greater.

Don’t wait ‘til pigs fly to believe!  Believe and be saved.  Believe and be greater then evil with power to rise above evil’s schemes.  Trust Jesus.  Then go tell others what Jesus has done in you!

Lord,

Thank you for reminding us of the power you provide to avoid the attempts of evil and evil’s schemes to distract, deceive and destroy the Truth in us.We are overcomers in you!  Daily cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your new mercies, and restore the joy of your salvation at work with us.  We’re still under construction to be all you created us to be!  Thank you for loving us the way you do. Thank you for the power to overcome the demons.  Victory is ours all because of You.

In Jesus Name, Amen