Mark 05 : 01 - 19 Man of the tombs

[Mark]

I used to think I was a pretty good guy. If I compare my life and my conduct (what others around me see), I'm a pretty respectable fella. I don't have a criminal record. I get good marks in the workplace. I don't cuss, drink or smoke. Ask anybody, I'm downright responsible!

Yet, I know myself a little better than any of the rest of you. Messiah Yeshua said in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." My math skills aren't really that awesome, but it seems pretty clear to me that if you remove THE way, THE truth, and THE life, all that remains is confusion, lies and death.

When I look and my own existance, outside of the Messiah, I know this to be true.

And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had [his] dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any [man] tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
(Mark 5:1-5)

My carnal man is more comfortable with death than with life- that's why violent movies have such an appeal, and there are still times when I'll tell my wife, "I just want to watch people killing each other (in the context of movies)." I'd prefer to be alone among the dead, who don't bother me, who don't judge me, who don't care what I do, than among people who love me and are concerned for my well-being. Restraint is absolutely caustic to me- the idea of someone telling me something I can't do or withholding from me something I want sends me into emotional convulsions- just like the man of the tombs who would rather break his own hands than remain in chains. I know this man. I am this man, without the Spirit of Messiah dwelling in me.

I'm really not such a good person. There was a point in my professional history that I used to beat up college students for a living. I liked it, not the abusiveness, I was never abusive; but the power of being able to subdue and suppress anyone I wanted- the control which translated in my mind as freedom. It's really chaos; and outside of Messiah, the one relationship that is truly centered on direction, truth and live, there is nothing but chaos and manipulation.

[zionlion]

I can't say that I ever enjoyed watching people kill each other in movies.
My violent nature was satisfied by doing and viewing athletics.

The man in the tombs was demon possessed.
Looking back, in my pre-salvation life, I can see that I had my own non-violent demons; those common to men.
And even after 30 years in the Lord, I find that they don't go away.

Which brings us to the question: Can demons influence or possess believers?
Why do so many (wrongly, I think) dismiss demonic activity and the need for casting them out?

How's that for a can of worms?