Sermon from March 19, 2000
From 1988-1991, I spent a week each January as the Bible teacher at CBI Missions headquarters in Wheaton, IL. During those four visits, Carole and I got to know several hundred missionaries and had the privilege of ministering the Word of God to them. We also had the opportunity to hear other speakers the mission had invited to participate. Several opened up a new world for me.

One of them, Dr. Timothy Warner, was at the time a professor in the School of World Mission and Evangelism at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Trinity is a school where the Bible is believed and taught faithfully. Dr. Warner lectured on spiritual warfare. I sat down expecting to hear one sort of lecture; I got up having heard a lecture different from anything I had expected. Let me give you a sampling of what I heard. The following is a missionary report from Brazil that Dr. Warner shared.

"His eyes were glassy, his clothes ragged, his hair matted, and he was desperate. 'I'm going to kill this animal,' he repeated three times. I thought he was talking about me. The lady of the house gave us all some strong coffee, but he didn't want it. Suddenly he fell on the floor, knocking the dishes off the table. As we dragged him out of the house, he looked up at me and said, 'Have mercy on me.' Then I recognized his problem. He was demon-possessed. These spells began after he stopped attending an evangelical church and turned to spiritism.

"I remembered the words of Jesus, 'Behold, I give you [authority] over all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you.' I felt I should rebuke the demon in the name of Jesus, but what if nothing happened? All the peopler gathered would ridicule me....

"There I was – a defeated missionary in the interior of Brazil, ready to pack up and go home. When face to face with the enemy, I was afraid," (Spiritual Warfare, 10).

I am deeply grateful to the CBI missionary community for the courage to raise issues that are not always well received in evangelical circles. Traditional evangelicals like me would say the devil existed, but it was nothing but book learning. Missionaries coming home from sub-Saharan Africa, the interior of South America, and central Europe brought experiences of the demonic home with them. Responsible mission boards did not dare look the other way, even though at the same time they were reluctant to talk about those experiences in supporting churches.

My own education in these things continued when I read Scott Peck's 1983 book, People of the Lie. Dr. Peck is a psychiatrist and was not yet a Christian at the time of writing that book. He wrote this (182): "In common with 99 percent of psycharists and the majority of clergy, I did not think the devil existed." Dr. Peck later changed his mind and said, "I do believe there is some relationship between satanic activity and human evil. This book would not be complete without offering the little we do seem to know about 'The Father of lies,'" (183).

Let me clarify my place in this discussion. First, I have had no firsthand involvement in demonic possession, and I do not seek it. Second, if I were to face it, I would try to get help from people who, like Dr. Warner and Dr. Peck, have had experience with it. Third, when I minister to people who are looking for causes of their personal problems, demonic causes are the last causes I look for. I think it is unwise and unbiblical to look for demonic action behind every human evil.

I have broached this topic with you for two reasons. First, the widespread documentation of demonic activity confirms its reality and further undermines the secular mindset that says nothing is real unless you can demonstrate it scientifically. I have a vested interest in undermining that mindset. Second, the presence of demonic activity in our world causes us to read New Testament accounts of the demonic with new seriousness. We meet one of those accounts today in Mark 1:21-28. Let's put it in context.

Jesus was a preacher as well as a healer and teacher. Verse 15 says that His message was, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near." The word in His message that put the fat in the fire was the word near. If someone tells you that God's power to exercise authority over a nation's life is about to show itself in the public arena, the next thought in your mind should be, "Show me! Prove it!" As we read Mark 1:16ff., we should remember that the functions of each story is to demonstrate the presence of the kingdom in the daily affairs of Israel.

The first proof in Jesus' pudding was a display of authority in the lives of four men. He persuaded four fishermen, Andrew, Peter, James, and John, to abandon their source of livelihood and attach themselves to Him. He promised He would teach them to fish for people as successfully as they fished the waters of Galilee. What do you say about a man who can get other men to do that? We might say he was winsome and persuasive. But you and I are not interested in the psychology of leadership. We are interested in the kingdom of God. Whenever we hear about the kingdom of God, two words need to come at once to mind: authority and love. The kingdom of God means the exercise of God's authority over ever increasing circles of human life in love. We have not yet come to the part about love.

We have definitely come to the part about authority. A man who can get other men to abandon their source of livelihood and follow him is a man who has authority where it counts – with people. As I said last Sunday, the scale is still small, but the action of those fishermen bears witness to the kind of authority you need, if you are going to start a national revolution.

Verses 21-22 present us with another display of Jesus' authority. They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

Not only did Jesus exercise remarkable authority over other men's lives, but also his teaching exercised authority over their consciences. In these two verses Mark simply states that as a fact. He does not tell us one thing Jesus taught that day in the Capernaum synagogue. The Gospel of Mark has only two relatively long examples of Jesus' teaching. Together they are shorter than the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus is the master of the one-liner. In a world like ours that swims in excess verbiage the brevity and power of Jesus' one-liners bear eloquent witness to the authority of His teaching. No wonder the Book of Revelation says of Him, Out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword (Rev. 1:16). He spoke and made His point as unmistakably as the blade of a sword makes its point.

He could persuade men to leave their gainful employment and follow Him, and He combined that with a persuasive power to teach and enlighten. That is not a bad combination, if you are going to start a revolution. Something else altogether emerges in the next episode. I think it may be good to read verses 23-26 and then reflect on them.

Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!" "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

Mark's style requires rereading, because Mark tells a story the way we live. Important moments happen fast; we blink and it's over. He also tells his story in a terse manner in which every word works. We cannot begin to get it all in one reading. I cannot prove it, but I think Mark expected readers and listeners to stop after each episode and try to recreate the scene in their imaginations, and especially to reflect on what few words people say.

For example, did you notice how the demon-possessed man addressed Jesus? He called Him Jesus of Nazareth and said, "I know who you are – the Holy One of God!" "It is as the divine Son of God ... that the demoniacs address Jesus," (Mark, Cranfield, 77). It must have sounded like a pistol shot in the synagogue of Capernaum.

And what was Jesus' first response? "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. You will be amazed at the number of times Jesus asks people to be quiet about Himself or something He has done. Mark has peppered his gospel with evidence but little explanation of Jesus' reticence.

Here is another example of how clsoe attention to Mark's style pays off. Did you notice the confusion in the words that the demon-possessed man spoke? "What do you want with us ...? Have you come to destroy us ...? I know who you are." On one hand he said "I" the way normal people do. On the other hand, he said "us," which is not at all a normal way of speaking about yourself.

Is it possible that Mark has presented us here with what we call Multiple Personality Disorder? Or let me put the question the other way round. Is Multiple Personality Disorder evidence of demonic possession? It might be, but it might also not be. I come back to a guiding principle. Make demonic causes the last causes you look for, when you try to understand human problems. Assume the problem has physical, emotional, or spiritual causes, and rule those out before considering the demonic. It is neither wise nor biblical to look for demonic action behind every human evil. Also, few of us have the experience of recognizing the demonic, much less dealing with it. If we dabble in it, people may get hurt.

Now, let's go back to the other question. Is it possible that Mark has presented us here with what we call Multiple Personality Disorder? Plenty of theologians and pastors think that when the Bible talks about demons, it is just a first-century way of talking about psychological disorder. Pre-scientific people did not label abnormal behavior as schizophrenic. Instead they attributed that behavior to demons.

Now, people who say that do so as an act of faith just as much as do people who believe that demon-possession may account for such behavior. There is simple, anecdotal evidence from religious and secular experience that something can happen to human beings that looks like an outside force has invaded human personality. I hope it is clear to you that I believe that demon-possession takes place.

But let's take the skeptic's perspective. Let's assume the man Jesus confronted in the Capernaum synagogue had Multiple Personality Disorder. How did Jesus treat the condition? "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. How many psychiatrists do you know that have even once said to a patient's multiple personalities, "Be silent and be gone!" and been immediately and unquestionably successful? If anyone had that kind of success, word would get around. Jesus had that kind of success, and word got around like wildfire, as verses 27-28 tell us.

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole reagion of Galilee.

And with authority. With that we come back to what Mark is trying to hammer into our heads in all the opening episodes of Jesus' ministry. The kingdom is here. You can see it in Jesus' actions and words. Those synagogue worshipers were saying, "We had better listen to what He says, because we cannot deny the fact of what He does." Jesus Himself will make the same connection in chapter two.

A man who can get other men to abandon their source of livelihood and follow him is a man who has authority where it counts – with people. A man who can persuade and illuminate the consciences of the masses is a man who has authority where it counts – with people. A man who can break the power of irrational evil over a human personality by virture of his command has authority where it counts – with people.

Jesus was telling the truth when He said, "The kingdom of God is near." "God's authority over humans has broken into the daily affairs of Israel. Watch me and you will see it working in what I do and what I say."

Finally, I would like to go back to the topic of demon possession. First, if you are afraid you or someone near you is demon-possessed, would you talk to me? I have said enough today for you to know I would work with you in a cautious way. If, after a lot of exploratory conversation with you and conversation with other pastors and health care workers, I concluded there was cause for concern, my next step would be to send you or accompany you to other Christians, pastors or lay people, who have experience in such matters. If anyone comes to me, I will not be shocked, paralyzed, or hasty.

Second, I want you to think well of missionaries who in a rare moment might tell you of their encounter with the demonic. They do not talk carelessly about such things, so do not be surprised if you don't hear anything. I don't think it would be good to ask them about that in a public setting. Someone in that audience, who did not hear a sermon like this, might respond to their experience by opposing them and causing them trouble.

Third, I believe the icy hostility of our scientific age toward the supernatural has begun to melt. People are more and more willing to be open to all reality, not just what you measure in a laboratory. As a result, we can read the New Testament through a cleaner lens. Our path and the path of our Lord intersect again in an unexpected way.