The Gospel reading for Sunday, October 28th, was the story of the Gadarene demoniac from the 8th Chapter of Luke’s Gospel. I’m not sure I am going to use a good or even proper adjective to describe it here, but I found the reading ironic in light of the tragic news of yesterday, when the early morning news informed us of yet another act of violence perpetrated upon innocent people by a deranged man.
In the Squirrel Hill District of Pittsburgh, another madman, filled with rage and hatred, entered into a Jewish synagogue and mercilessly killed the innocent people gathered there to celebrate Sabbath. From the information we have so far, the shooter is a man who is obsessed with the idea that “Jews are the source of all the evils in the world.” He is just one of many who in the last decade have felt that killing and violence would solve the problems we face.
I couldn’t help but think of the parallels between what we are experiencing in this country and the account of demon possession found in Mark 8 and also in Mark 5.
Luke 8: 26 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
Mark 5: 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
Notice the statement here about this man’s condition. He was a man of violent actions. The Bible shows us a number of instances in which those who are afflicted by or possessed of demons are treated with violence. The seven sons of Sceva learned this lesson the hard way when they attempted to do an exorcism in the name of Jesus, but without either His authority or power.
Acts 9: 13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Acts 9: 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Acts 9: 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
The devil is not only the father of lies, he is filled with a raging hatred against mankind, a hatred that his demon minions share. There is not the single iota of any desire for good to us at all – only a hatred that would gladly see us not only destroyed forever, but enduring suffering of the most wretched sort here on earth. They exist to feed on hatred and do everything they can to keep us from becoming the beings of love we were created to be. To this end, we are barraged with a constant stream of evil thoughts. If we act upon them, we bring the evil to live within us and control our actions.
It is my opinion (and you are well-entitled to disagree with me on this) that a great deal of the acts of violence we are seeing are being carried out by people who are demonically possessed. Their actions are in line with the violent actions of the demon-possessed we see in the Bible. The kind of rage we see in these mass shootings is not normal for human beings. So abnormal is it to desire to kill other human beings that when countries declare war on each other, they must use “boot camps” to strip away every vestige of humanity from men and turn them into killing machines. And yet, even this doesn’t work, as attested to by the suicide of twenty-two veterans every day. Normal people do not respond well mentally to having killed another human being. Something made this man, and the other remorseless mass shooters, go off the rails.
Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God, which is to say they were created to become creatures of divine love, in the same manner that God is love. It is only after the fall of man in the Garden that we quickly see the entrance of actions which are outside of love.
Genesis 4: 23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
Genesis 6: 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
When did the shooter first get the idea that Jews are evil as a race? What did he read? Who talked to him to plant that seed which was so carefully watered and nurtured by the Evil One into a full-blown plant of human destruction? Who planted the idea in the minds of many of the other mass shooters that somehow, killing a bunch of people would achieve something for them, either civilly, emotionally, or in simple revenge? Such ideas are planted in our minds if we are receptive to them. Somewhere along the line, each of the people who have committed mass shootings has opened himself up in some way to the lies of the Evil One and allowed those thoughts to fester and grow.
The true and living God of the Bible is a God of covenant, that is, of a relationship of love. That is what covenant is – a relationship. In such relationships (covenants) the more powerful (the greater) is the one who initiates the covenant, offering it to the weaker (the lesser). As such, the greater takes responsibility for the well-being and safety of those who are in covenant with him
The promise that God made to the Jewish people was that if they kept His covenant, He would protect them. This is both a personal and national promise. When the nation of Israel turned to idols, breaking their covenant promises, God gave them space to repent and sent prophets to warn them of the coming destruction if they did not.
The same promises apply to the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood, which not limited to a specific race, but offered to all. The moral laws of the covenant, such as “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” are given for us as a protection from evil. Once this shooter in some way opened himself to evil thoughts, violating God’s moral and covenant law, it was open season on his soul, just as it was open season on my soul when I began to look at pornography. Once I gave in to this evil, it was slow downward slide into complete possession. I found myself powerless to resist the draw of pornography and unable to avoid the many sorrowful effects it had upon me and my relationships to others. Any addict will tell you the same story. We wind up wondering how we fell so far and how we got there. Even if the moral alarm bells were faintly going off in Robert Bowers head as he strode into that temple in Pittsburgh, he had reached a point that he was no longer in control of his actions.
As long as a person or a nation keeps God’s moral law – the law of love – God will protect us from being so owned by the Evil One. But if we refuse Him, if we turn from Him and His way to follow the lies we hear in our heads, our Father can no more protect us than the father of the Prodigal Son could have fed his wayward child who was starving in a pigsty. Some people who are outside of relationship with God never do turn completely to such evil. Others, as we are seeing more and more lately, come to a point where the bizarre thoughts, the temptations, the crazy ideas, reach critical mass and they explode in the violence of hatred. It is a mystery as to why some people fall into evil as far as they do while others merely circle the edges. But this much I believe in my heart – turn from the teachings of Christ on loving your neighbor, turn from a relationship with Him which will give you the power to find that love in your heart, and you enter the rabbit hole. How far down you will fall may come as a dreadful surprise to you and those who know you.
It is my belief that our national and personal turning from God has brought us to this point. When did we turn from God as a nation? I have my own ideas, but they are rather too long to post in what I want to keep as a short piece. When did Robert Bowers begin to listen to the voices tempting him to regard all Jewish people as the enemy? Only he knows.
Many people will see this heinous act as a call for political action of some sort. I see it as a deeper problem – a problem of the heart which is caused by living in a world of spiritual darkness. We have, both as individuals and as a nation, turned from the One Who is Light and embraced the lies of darkness. For the next several weeks I have no doubt that a plethora of media talking heads will suggest one remedy after another without ever broaching the real cause of the decades of violence and mass shootings we have seen. We have told our Father in heaven to buzz off – and He has graciously accepted our offer, leaving us in the darkness and confusion of the devil’s lies.
What the Gadarene demoniac was to his countryside in his day, Robert Bowers is to us today – a sign that something is desperately wrong with us, both spiritually and morally.
Muddling Through Life 