Dear brothers and sisters, peace be to everyone. Today, we are going to discuss part 7 of Ancient Teachings for Modern Man, the victorious Gospel. Let us refer to Mark 5:1-20. It recorded the story of Jesus driving out evil spirits in Gerasenes.

Mark 5: 1-20 in the ESV Bible says, “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marvelled.”

One of the common Chinese beliefs is the belief of ghosts, the existence of the supernatural or spiritual world. Most people believe that the spirits, whom they offer sacrifices to, will determine whether they are blessed or not. Therefore, the ‘ghost festival’ is one of the important occasions in Chinese folk belief. During the seventh month in the lunar calendar, it is believed that ‘the gates of hell are opened and the ghosts are released.’ Once these evil demons leave the gates and enter the human world, they are in control of bringing either blessing or misfortune to people. Thus, people offer them food to send them away. In other words, many Chinese think that these spirits will affect them and their descendants. The Chinese are a pragmatic civilization. If we can prevent disasters by offering the evil anything or food to drive it away, why not? Why should we allow trouble be upon ourselves?

Another prevalent Chinese belief is that people think that if a person jumps into a river and commits suicide, another person will end up doing likewise in the same place for the subsequent years. It is because they believe that the dead person has to find a substitution within three years so that he can enter his next life. However, the Chinese are clever. They overcome this by putting a very big stone called ‘Taishan Stone’ at such places where car accidents or other unfortunate incidents occur. What is that for? It is a stone to subdue the ghost. ‘Taishan’ is a place where a cluster of ghosts gathers. The greatest ghost is ‘Taishan’. Therefore, they use the ‘Taishan Stone’ to subdue the ghost there, prohibiting it from finding a substitution. This is what Chinese folk belief is about. Today, we want to mention about Jesus Christ, the Lord who has created heaven and earth. He is also the incarnated God. While He was on earth, He had the ability to conquer these spirits and set us free. If we trust in Him whole-heartedly, we can face such occurrences with peace.

Are there ghosts? Do supernatural events occur?

Let us look at Mark 5:1-20. Firstly, have you had such a similar supernatural experience? If your answer is yes, when you encounter it, what is your reaction? Some people said that they had seen ghosts before. A brother in my church claimed that he could see ghosts especially in the cemeteries. He was used to seeing a lot of ghosts and was afraid. One day, he asked me, “Pastor, what should I do?” I told him, “I will say a prayer of blessing for you, is that alright? You only need to trust Jesus Christ whole-heartedly.” And he prayed after me. From then on, he did not see ghosts again.

Are ghosts real? Some people have truly experienced it while others think that it is an illusion. When I was in secondary school, I played ‘ouija board’. What was it? My two classmates and I bought it from a bookstore. The game set came with a big card board with many printed Chinese characters and a saucer. Before we started the game, we had to offer burned incense. Then we placed our middle fingers on the saucer and we started asking questions. The saucer would move around on its own and look for the answer.

Dear brothers, sisters and friends, this was my true experience. When I was playing the game, I told myself “Don’t push or move the saucer,” but it strangely moved automatically. I remember I asked the first question, “What is the surname of the house owner?” I was then lodging with a family and my two classmates did not know the family at all. The house owner was a Hainanese with a rare surname. The three of us placed our middle fingers on the dish and it started moving. I kept telling myself “Don’t push it.” However, it continued moving and stopped at the Chinese character ‘Hu’. The house owner’s surname was indeed ‘Hu’. I was baffled as the saucer really knew the answer. The second question was which country would win the World Cup? The saucer again moved around and then stopped at the Chinese character ‘De’. It was the character of Germany! At that point in time, a few strong teams were West Germany, Holland and Spain. Then, I asked “What about the runner up?” It moved to ‘He’, which meant Holland. However, from what I knew, the results for the winner and runner up of World Cup were reversed. It meant that the ghost was not all-knowing. Dear brothers and sisters, this was my supernatural experience. What about yours? The Bible showed us that Paul once had a supernatural encounter from God, the revelation of Jesus Christ to him on the road of Damascus. Have you experienced God? Does it help you to know God better?

How do we know that a person is demon possessed or mentally ill?

Next, let us examine the demon possessed man in Gerasenes. From his symptoms, we believe that he was demon possessed. A lot of people do not believe in demon possession. They think that it is a neuropathy or a mental illness. I tell you, mental illness and demon possession are entirely different. However, after a long time of demon possession, a person may develop mental illness. Also, a person with mental illness is easily demon possessed but they are two different things. Are you clear about it?

In the past, the west was under the control of rationalism for 200 years. They thought that there was no such thing as demon possession as they did not believe in the existence of ghosts. They said that it was mental illness. As a result, there were few occurrences of demon possession in the west. However, an overseas missionary who had travelled from China to South East Asia claimed that he has driven out evil spirits more than a hundred times in China. How do we explain it? A person who believes in God or spirits will tell you that there are a lot of ghosts. On the contrary, a person, who does not believe in God or spirits, will say that there are no ghosts, but rather it is manifestation of mental illness. Ghosts are very cunning. They use different tactics to confuse different people so that they fall into superstition or unbelief. It is very scary.

From the above Bible passage, how do you know that the man was truly demon possessed? Firstly, let us look at verses 3 to 5 that says: “He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.” You see, he was surely not a normal person. Neither was he a mental illness case. Why? The man could wrench the chains apart and broke the shackles in pieces. If a girl is demon possessed and seven guys cannot subdue her, such supernatural strength must have come from the demon. This guy from Gerasenes had insurmountable strength to overcome the chains and shackles as he was simply demon possessed. He would not be hurt at all despite cutting himself with stones. This was a very strange phenomenon. If you stab or cut yourself with a knife, you will bleed but he was not hurt in spite of cutting himself with stones. He was indeed demon possessed! Dear brothers and sister, we can see that this cannot be explained in terms of mental illness.

For the second phenomenon, verses 6 and 7 says, “And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before Him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” It depicted here that he ran and fell down before Jesus when he saw Him. According to the research by Bible scholars, Jesus had never been to Gerasenes. However, this person “saw Jesus from a distance and ran to worship Him”. It was because he knew who Jesus was but not a person with mental illness. Why did a demon possessed person know who Jesus was? He had some knowledge about Jesus so he could recognise Jesus from afar. He even called out to Jesus, “Son of Most High God, what have you to do with me?” However, a lot of people do not know who Jesus is. They cannot be compared to ghosts!

When a person was demon possessed, he knew who Jesus was. My uncle was a medium. Even though he was not a professional medium, he had numerous experiences of being possessed by the spirits. Once, I asked him, “Do you know who Jesus is?” He knew that Jesus was a great God but this was not the answer in the Bible for He is the greatest God and Son of the Most High God! Therefore, a demon possessed person knew in his spirit who Jesus was. One day, a pastor wanted to visit a demon possessed man but did not inform him or his family before it. Suddenly, that man said to his family, “The pastor is coming!” and immediately shut himself in the room. How did he know that? He could see from a remote distance in his spirit that the pastor was coming. Dear brothers and sisters, this was a phenomenon of being possessed by the spirits.

How do we know it was demon possession from verses 7 and 8? He shouted loudly, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For He was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” He shuddered at the name of Jesus. A person with mental illness will remain indifferent when you mention ‘Jesus’. However, if you attempt to drive out the spirits in a demon possessed man, it will struggle and even shout. Therefore, it was very obvious that this person was demon possessed as he was sensitive to Jesus and scared of Him.

We thank God that we can overcome the devil and the evil forces in the name of Jesus Christ. Thus, we must be composed and rely on God to triumph over the demons. Amen.

Let us pray together.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you that we believe in the triumphant Gospel as Jesus Christ has won the victory and accomplished the grace of salvation on the cross. He was resurrected on the third day and overcame death and the devil. When we trust in you, we are not afraid of demons and can rely on you to overcome everything. By doing so, we bring glory to you and are able to witness for you. May you bless us with peace in our inner being for there are some among us who are harassed by demons and disturbed by evil forces. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we drive them far away so that our brothers and sisters can trust and rely on you whole-heartedly to live stable and peaceful lives. In the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.