“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!’” (Mark 5:6-8)
Many people make fun of spirits and witches because they don’t really believe there is a spiritual reality beyond the three dimensions we can observe with our five senses. But the Bible makes clear there is! Besides humans and animals, there is a God we can’t see with our natural eyes and there are also angels (good spirits that serve the Lord God) and evil spirits, often called demons. These evil spirits are servants of the devil, also called Satan, who is God’s ultimate enemy.
The story from Mark 5 makes clear that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has authority over evil spirits. But this story, along with many other examples in the Bible, also makes clear that demons can have a strong influence on people. Mark 5 offers an ‘extreme’ example, where a person was completely possessed. Often, Satan works more subtly. See for example 2 Corinthians 4:4 where Paul writes that he “has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4). His goal is to keep people away from God, the only Source of true life.
Do you take the existence and influence of spiritual powers seriously?