Weird Stuff in the Bible

Demonology: What Demons Can Do?
Mark 5

Introduction
I remember being a younger Christian and sharing a meal with a couple of older pastors, who got to talking about a Bible story of demon possession. It may have been the one we’re in today, actually.
And one of them just mentioned, quite offhandedly, that of course, demon-possessed people in the Bible were actually just dealing with sickness and mental issues. And the other quickly agreed.
And I was like, a teenager at the time, and these were two longtime pastors, older men- I think they were Lutherans- so I didn’t say anything. I figured I must have misunderstood them, I didn’t want to look like an idiot, so I kept my mouth shut.
But I had been raised Pentecostal. And I had no idea back then that some Christians didn’t really believe in the existence of demons. That they had alternative interpretations of all these passages where demons manifest, possess people, speak to Jesus or the apostles, inflict physical problems and sickness on people- and I had no idea that some Christians denied what the Bible clearly taught about evil spiritual beings.
So I’m not going to let you remain ignorant today. The Bible says that demons are real, and they’re capable of doing things in the physical world, and the things they can do…are weird.
And I’d like to explore what the Bible has to say about them.
Turn to Mark 5, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

The Study of Demons
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about the capabilities of demons.
I’m calling today’s lesson Demonology. Just like theology is the study of God, angelology is the study of angels, and demonology is the study of demons.
The best chapter to begin in demonology, in my opinion, is Mark 5. You’re going to get a pretty broad range of demonic capabilities in this chapter. I will say that I have personally engaged with some individuals who were demon-possessed in my lifetime, and there were times I was in the room when demons manifested in a person, and I can personally relate to some of the things this chapter will have to say.
So again, turn to chapter 5. This is the chapter that takes place in a region called the Gerasenes. The location is important because this is outside of traditional Israel. You could call it Israel, because it’s the region that was settled by the tribe of Gad. But if you remember from the Old Testament, Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh settled on the east side of the Jordan River because they didn’t want to live in the Promised Land in the books of Numbers and Joshua. So that’s why I say this is outside of traditional Israel. By the time of Jesus and the New Testament, this region seems to be more distant from God than the typical Jews were, which is why there will be a herd of pigs in the region show up later in this story.
We’ll probably talk more about that next time, but I’m just wanting to make a note that the location of this story is important. This is a spiritually dark area. We’ve talked before on the podcast about how spiritual beings are assigned to certain territories. That idea is going to come up again in this chapter, but this area is under a spiritual dark zone. The disciples are probably wondering why Jesus has brought them here.
Mark 5:1-2
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.
Now let’s talk for a minute about this phrase “unclean spirit.” In episode 25, which is called The Origin of Demons, I discussed what the Book of Enoch tells us about where demons come from. That they are not technically fallen angels, but that they are spirits of the Nephilim. Now, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’ll need to go back to the very beginning of this podcast and start listening to the episodes about the Nephilim and the Sons of God.
But long story short, Enoch describes the spirits of the Nephilim as “unclean spirits” probably because they originated in the union of two different types of beings. An impure mixture. In the Levitical Law, the word “unclean or impure” could be used to refer to an unnatural mixture or touching a dead body. And if you take the view that demons originated as spirits of the Nephilim, which is what the book of Enoch teaches, then that makes perfect sense as to why the New Testament uses this phrase to refer to them.
“Unclean or impure spirits” is the most common name for them in the Gospels, followed by evil spirits, followed by demons. However, when you lay out the synoptic gospels side by side, you can prove that these are all synonyms for the same thing.
The Jewish literature of those times, which is called the Second Temple period, used the phrase “unclean spirits” to refer to the spirits of the dead Nephilim, so this is further evidence that the New Testament writers took that view as well and gives more evidence to the book of Enoch being reliable.
As I always say, not that it’s a book of the Bible, just that it’s reliable history.
Alright, we’re up to verse 3. I’ll go ahead and tell you now, we won’t try to get through the whole chapter today. We’ll just get to wherever we get to.

The Powers of Demons
Mark 5:3-5
3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 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. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
There are three characteristics of a demon-possessed person that we see right here. I’m going to chat about them in no particular order.
The first thing I want to draw our attention to is the massive strength of this demon-possessed man. It says he could literally break chains. They would try to tie him down, not with ropes, but with actual chains, and he would snap them. It adds that nobody was strong enough to subdue this guy. There is a little more going on right here than a guy who ate his Wheaties for breakfast.
Guys, this is not a fantasy book. This really happened. This can still happen. These spirits are still alive and enter people today. The Bible is not a book of myths. It is not just a book about things that just happened in the past. It’s about things that still happen and always happen. And you either believe the Bible or you don’t, but this is what it says.
If you are a Christian who believes the Bible, you don’t get to reject what it’s saying right here on the basis that it’s too weird. You don’t get to dismiss demons as mental illness or a sickness. There may be some mental illness or sickness involved, but the demons are real and they are there.
You don’t get to say that demon-possessed people just have mental problems. He could literally break chains. He could not be subdued.
So one thing to be aware of and a warning not to be too cavalier if you encounter a demon-possessed person is that they can literally be super-strong. And you need to be careful about how you approach them.
Acts 19:13-16
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
So one man who was demon-possessed right here was able to overpower seven men who tried to cast the demon out. Now, this may confuse some people as to how the demon was so powerful, because they tried to cast the demon out in Jesus’ name, right?
They did, but they did not have a personal relationship with Jesus, so they had no authority over demons. Notice that it says they said, “Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” They tried to use Jesus’ name like magic words or something, but our power as a Christian doesn’t come from saying the right words, it comes from knowing the right guy. Which is the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
Remember last week’s lesson, our introduction to spiritual warfare: you. Can’t. Do it. You can’t do it on your own. If you want to fight the devil, it’s not a fight you can win on your own. You need God’s help. You need to rely on God.
Just like I need coffee’s help if I’m gonna make it past 10 o’clock in the morning. (That’s a joke). Just like I need the power of coffee, I need the power of God even more.
I have to make these pro-coffee statements because I upset my wife the other day because I said I overcoffeed myself. I drink too much coffee and I didn’t have any food on my stomach, so I got a little jittery. I said I was overcoffeed. And she said, “Don’t blame coffee just because you underrate.” So she takes coffee very seriously. That’s how I know I married the right person.
Anyway, back to this lesson today. So we need the power of God if we want to stand up against Satan or demons or demon-possessed people, and that power can only be accessed by a personal relationship with God. You can’t say “Jesus whom Paul preaches” or “Jesus that I heard the pastor talking about at church” or “My grandma talked to Jesus a lot,” you can’t ride someone else’s coattails when it comes to your personal relationship with God.
That’s why the demons said back to the sons of Sceva through the man, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And then beat the underwear off them and they took of running. They knew Paul because of Paul’s relationship with Jesus. But they didn’t know the sons of Sceva because the sons of Sceva had no relationship with Christ. They had no authority. They had no power.
So the first thing, the first characteristic of demons and demon-possessed people I want you to notice today, is that they can make someone super strong.

Surrounded by Death
Let me read our verses again and I want to draw our attention to a couple more things.
Mark 5:3-5
3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 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. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Second, I just want to point out that this guy would often cut himself. A lot of people, especially teenagers, are driven to cut themselves nowadays. It’s not a temptation I’ve ever had, so I can’t speak to exactly why someone would want to do it. But I do believe there’s a demonic spirit behind it.
And that is not to say that anybody who has ever cut themselves is demon-possessed. But I’d say there is some kind of unclean spirits prompting someone to do it.
There’s another place I can recall in scripture where people cut themselves. When Elijah had his epic encounter with the prophets of Baal in
I Kings 18:27-29
27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
So these guys were cutting themselves to try and summon their false gods. Well, their false gods were either fallen angels or demonic spirits. I’m not sure why they cut themselves unless it was part of a demonic ritual they had partaken of before to summon evil spirits.
And we also see it right here as the demoniac of Mark 5 is cutting themselves. Those who mess around with demons and dark powers will be driven to self-destructive behavior.
And then a third thing I want to point out from Mark 5 is his setting, among the tombs. A graveyard, a cemetery. Let’s talk about that and then we’ll wrap up for today.
So this man lived in a location that was the abode of the dead. It was almost like he was desiring to dwell as close to hell as he could without being there himself.
Remember what I said at the beginning today, this story takes place in a spiritually dark area. I always imagine it as a cemetery. So this man lived in a culture of death. And I think people who are obsessed with death and the imagery of death are walking too close to the darkness. Honestly, they may be opening themselves up to the influence of evil spirits.
I think as Christians and people who want to reflect Christ with our lives, we shouldn’t walk around with skulls and vampires and blood and skeletons and gory stuff as how we dress and decorate our homes and make our identity those things.
You see, these are images of death and they’re going to make our minds go darker places. And that could open our minds and our souls up to demonic influences. I call it death culture. I think that’s how this demoniac in Mark 5 lived, and why he liked hanging out in a graveyard at night.
Now, we can debate about whether the death culture draws us toward the demons, or whether the demons draw us toward the death culture, and it’s probably both; so it would be wise to avoid getting on that spiral.
When people are teens, some of them really get drawn toward this gothic look. Dark clothes, pale skin, black fingernail polish, skulls all over their clothes. And you notice, none of them ever look very happy about it. They have depression. Many of them get into drug problems.
We used to call them “goths” or punks. I don’t know if those expressions are still used anymore, but it’s not uncommon to see people dressing in this particular style.
And even if you say, “I want to dress that way, I like it, I’m not gonna do drugs,” just please take that before the Lord. Pray about it. Because I notice that when people who do use drugs and dress that way get saved and come to the Lord, they change their wardrobe. They don’t dress like that anymore. I’m not saying it’s necessarily a sin by itself to dress like you’re a member of the Addams Family, but I do notice that what we surround ourselves with has an effect on us. Psychologically, and perhaps even spiritually.
Call me weird if you want. I am a weird Christian. I do this podcast because I believe a lot of weird things that normal Christians don’t want to talk about. But I do draw the line somewhere; I don’t think that Christians should dress like Beetlejuice characters. It gives off a vibe that doesn’t reflect the life and the beauty of Christ.
And hey, Halloween is coming up. I’m not going to tell you that you can’t celebrate Halloween. Personally, I don’t. It’s not a holiday that’s ever appealed to me. But if you want to dress your kids up like a superhero and go get candy, I have no judgment. Whatever you want to do, pray about it and go with what gives you peace. I mean that.
But don’t go throwing skeletons and things that look demonic all over your house. Just consider what you could be opening your home up to when you do that. We call these things “open doors” sometimes. You want to shut every door in your life that could be open to give the devil a foothold. That’s why we’re to practice self-control and purify our minds and take every thought captive. Because we can let a lot of darkness in and create a lot of problems for ourselves.
And we have to stay so vigilant as Christians just to live a sanctified life and shut all those doors and avoid sin and control our flesh. So don’t go to all that trouble to live a clean life and then dress or decorate your house in such a way that you’re inviting darkness into it. I’m not saying you’re a bad person. I’m sure I’ve not always been wise in the past in these areas myself.
But as I read Mark 5 and how this guy hung out in a graveyard, I think we should take this as big HELLO about where demons want to congregate. They are drawn toward a culture of death. So as you think of breaking out the decorations for this year’s Halloween, just ask yourself, am I making my house look like the kind of environment a demon or demon-possessed person would want to hang out.

Next time
And on this subject of open open doors, there’s a whole lot more that could be said about it. And we will…but not today. So next week, we’ll finish up the story of the demoniac of Mark 5. And as we do, we’re going to focus on the weird way that this story ends: with Jesus casting the demons into a herd of pigs.
Why did Jesus do that? Why did Jesus listen to a request from the demons? Come back next week and you’ll find out.
And then come back in two weeks and I’m going to be sharing an interview with Bill Scott, author of the book The Day Satan Called. Bill has an amazing story. A personal story of a girl he took care of who was demon-possessed, and he’s going to explain about this concept open doors. How if you have items in your home related to witchcraft and the demonic realm, how this can open your home up to evil spirits. He dealt with this first-hand, he talks about it in his book, and he’ll be sharing about it on this program in two weeks.
So much of Bill’s story is mind-blowing, the things he had to deal with in spiritual warfare. But also, so much of it is exactly the kind of stuff the Bible warns us about Satan and demons and what demons can do. For example, in the verses we studied today, it talked about the demoniac having superhuman strength. Bill Scott dealt with that as well; let me play a brief moment about that from our upcoming interview.
[play segment]
So that’s coming in two weeks. First, we’re going to finish up Mark 5 next week. Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
What weird stuff in the Bible do you want to know more about? weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
A few mailbag responses I want to mention today. Just some shoutouts to some loyal listeners. I don’t read these kind comments to glorify myself at all, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge these people who were kind enough to take a moment and write me a note.
Brent says, “A great podcast. Can’t wait for new episodes to come out.” Thank you for saying that, Brent, glad to have you aboard as a listener!
Jendor4 on Youtube: Your enthusiasm is a blessing for the weary in their dull days of life! I said: Thank you, I try my best to bring energy to it, which is not hard because I love studying the Bible!
Longtime listener Joe from North Carolina says about my recent episode on praying for our political leaders, Well spoken young man, God bless you!
Again, thank you for those notes. If anyone ever wants to send me hate mail, I’d be happy to read that as well. Well, probably not happy, but if it’s respectfully written, I have read peoples’ pushback with me as well, and if you are decent about how you communicate it, I’ll include it on the show. Or questions if you want more info on something. But to Brent, Jendor and Joe, thanks for taking the time to say that. Bless you all as well, and I hereby do decree you all to be official weirdos.
And to everybody listening, I hope you’re all a little more weird today, too. It’s OK to be a weird Christian, just as long as you know where to draw the line. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.