For some followers of Jesus, the influence of demonic spirits is neglected and not addressed. It can be too uncomfortable for some in this modern age when we think that, under the influence of our logic, we have no place for such a consideration. As a result, a passive faith is created that does little to advance God’s Kingdom.
After Jesus was anointed with oil from an alabaster jar by a woman labeled by the Pharisees as an immoral woman, He left the Pharisee’s home and began to initiate a tour through the surrounding towns. Jesus did not leave the Pharisee’s home without challenging his limited understanding of God and His Kingdom.
“Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples” (Luke 8:1-3).
This group of three women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, was among those following Jesus. These women “had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.”
Demons can manifest in many ways. They can cause a person to act with unhinged demonstrations of demonic habitation, affect others by harmful attitudes and lifestyles, or be crippled by a disease.
It has become too easy for some to neglect these demonstrations and their manifestations and let them slide. Jesus didn’t. He challenged them to set people free who had previously been held under hell’s demonic influence, turning those previously afflicted into His followers. Scripture lists the names of three women in Luke 8, but there were “many others” who were similarly set free and chose to follow the Lord.
If our understanding of God’s Kingdom does not include an acceptance of demonic power and its influence in the world today, we will preach a crippled message. Even some diseases that we think are just an illness are the result of demonic influence. We cannot medicate or engage in enough therapy to rid our lives of the influence of a disease empowered by a demonic presence. Only by discovering and casting out the hidden demonic influencer can a person be truly set free.
Jesus loved and fully accepted all those He set free from demons and diseases. Jesus looks to the heart of the oppressed, not their sin. It is from His heart of mercy that deliverance comes. We need to have that same heart of mercy when we see things happening around us that a demonic influence creates. It’s something we cannot neglect, hoping it will go away. That kind of deliverance happens when we preach and announce the “Good News about the Kingdom of God.”
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
Featured Image by Zsolt Tóth from Pixabay
