Do You Know Enough To Deny A Demon?
In our study today, we return to Mark chapter 5 and Jesus’ encounter with the maniac of Gadara. This man’s problem was demon possession, a condition Jesus healed him of, set him free, and changed his life from the darkness of Satan to the light of the gospel. It is an incident recorded in the gospel style to show Jesus’ power over all things visible and invisible. The submission of demons to Jesus’ authority proved His superiority over the spiritual dimension.
A scripture that stands out in my mind is 2 Corinthians 11:14-15. The apostle says Satan transforms himself into an angel of light and his ministers do the same. They work the way Satan works. They do not show themselves as manipulators of evil but as ministers of righteousness. In last week’s message, I told you to look for demons in places you would never expect them to be. And truly in this country, there are more demons in church than anywhere we can look. Satan is not busy making atheists and agnostics. We do not confront Islamic proselytization, but there are certainly multiple false evangelists. The worst harm happens in the steepled church or in the one that rents warehouse space with blacked out ceilings and stage lights illuminating gyrating false worship and bad bands on the platform.
The messenger misses the gospel and inaccurately interprets (or ignores) biblical doctrines. He twists truth to be a near likeness but not close enough. Usually, the devil does not work with outlandish extremes. He hovers near what seems reasonable and has imagined support from the scriptures. We may think we can easily refute Satan’s ministers. We think the Bible is clear enough in the doctrines we know, but if we are not familiar with Satan’s abilities, we will be stuck in arguments we cannot win and potentially sucked in by lies ourselves. Jesus warned of this when He said if it were possible these false ministers could deceive the elect. He does not imply it is possible for saved people to be deceived to the destruction of their souls, but warns false prophets are good enough at what they do to cause doubts and mislead believers into losing their influence for truth.
Interestingly, in this verse of Matthew 24:24, Jesus said the deception will come through signs and wonders. Is not Jesus,’ John’s, and Paul’s warnings for the present-day church? Who practices signs and wonders? Who claims unknown tongues are evidence of salvation? Who claims a second work of the Holy Spirit to secure salvation or to reach a level of higher spirituality? Who claims extrabiblical revelation? And importantly, who claims to have greater ability to deal with Satan? On this point, I agree. Satan’s ministers know Satan better than all of us. Only Jesus stands above in the spiritual world. Only He knows more about Satan than them. Jesus said Satan does not cast out Satan or else his kingdom divides and cannot stand.
Whenever you hear and see the false prophets of signs and wonders rebuke Satan, be confident Satan has not gone anywhere. He only increases his deception and control of his own. Satan is a constant nightmare for those without Christ and a continual nuisance for those with Him. Christ will come again to end this. Until He does, be sure you know enough about the way Satan works that you can defend the truth against his wily deceivers.
Pastor V. Mark Smith