My Name is Legion!

"And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes which is over against (means "opposite") Galilee (means "heathen circle"). And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him coming out of the tombs two possessed with devils, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass that way; one of whom was a certain man, which had devils long time, and wore no clothes, neither abode in any house but 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 was driven of the devil into the wilderness, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high G-d? We adjure thee by G-d, that thou torment us not, before the time. For he said unto them, Come out of them, thou unclean spirit. Go. And Jesus asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many; for many devils were entered into him. And they besought Him much that he would not command them to go into the deep or that He would send them away out of the country. And there was a good way off from them, nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And then the devils, the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked and perished in the waters of the sea. When they that fed the swine saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city, and in the country. Then they went out to see what it was that was done to the possessed of the devils. And they come to Jesus, and found the certain man, out of whom the devils were departed and had the legion, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell them that were possessed of the devils were healed, and also concerning the swine. Then the whole multityde of the country of the Gadarenes round about began to pray and besought Him to depart to depart from them and to depart out of their coasts; for they were taken with great fear. And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him (at first he was afraid of Jesus' arrival now he is afraid of his leaving). Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. And Jesus went up into the ship and returned back again." (Matthew 8:28-9:1;Mark 5:1-21 and Luke:26-40)

Jesus Christ's mission on earth, as we see in I John 3:8 was "...for this purpose the Son of G-d was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil". The subject of demons and demon possession has always been a subject of religious debate by modern day denominational Christians who believe demons may have been present in Jesus' time, or today only in pagan lands. And these religious "leaders" tell their congregations that a believer can not have a demon - so many are afflicted by evil spirits. When Jesus and His weary band disembarked from the ship early morning of the day following the storm on the lake - they were met by what appeared to be two madman. The Gospel writers inform us that they were demon-possessed. What are some of the symptoms? Those possessed by demons obviously do not have the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22) The ‘before’ and ‘after’ descriptions of the demoniac reveal a totally personality under demonic influence. It is somewhat like when someone is totally intoxicated. Each demon has its own distinct personality and the individual possessed begins to manifest the distinct personality of the demon by which he is possessed. When you see the opposite fruit in someone's life - you can suspect they are being exercised by a demon. Pray for them regularly in tongues. When you are having a heated argument and the phone rings and your entire personality changes when you pleasantly say "hello" know that you have resisted the demon of anger and he fled from you momentarily.

Heavy demonic possession usually involves anti-social behavior, super-human strength (Acts 19:16), torment and self-mutilation and eventually suicide (Mark 9:17-29). The final destructive suicidal desires of the demons are here dramatically carried out in the drowning of the swine. This word "possession" suggests that Satan or his demon(s) have gained control of the personality of a human being. One of the worst examples was Charles Manson (real last name Maddox -- he took this name in irreverence to the Son of Man ... Man-son). Total possession is still very rare. In Luke 8:2 we read: "And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils." Evil spirits can tempt us and they can work on and aggravate our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 10:5). When you read the Gospels, you can see that many of Jesus' healings were done by first casting out evil spirits, showing that demons can physically attack our health. Luke 9:42 reads: "And as He was yet a-coming, the devil threw him down and tare him; and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father." (Mark 5:1-16; Matthew 8:16; and Matthew 12:22). In our fast-paced world, where our "leaders" have thrown out prayer in schools and virtually everywhere, with ever-increasing problems after problems, stress, etc., many human psychological factors can produce "natural" depression and emotional outbreaks. But evil spirits can also oppress our emotions, and cause jealousy, fear, worry, anger, unforgiveness, selfishness and depression, for no apparent reason. This culminates in an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, thoughts of suicide, insanity, etc. Even today, many denominational churches have children being sexually abused and their congregations being lied to, confused and financially exploited! That is why the love of many has waxed cold.

In the beginning, G-d saw that all His creation was good (read Genesis 1:1-25). Throughout the Bible we see the existence of demons (fallen angels). G-d created a place called Hell not for the human race, but He created it for Satan (the devil) and all the evil spirits/demons, which rebelled against Him. They all had previously served G-d, until Lucifer decided to rebel against G-d and became unholy, after he rebelled, G-d changed his name to Satan, meaning "adversary or enemy". Satan managed to get one-third of all the holy angels to also rebel against G-d, and they became unholy (or fallen) angels, demons, evil spirits, etc. They know they are judges and will eventually be tormented - but, they do not want to be alone - misery loves company - so the demons are trying to take all of mankind to destruction with them.

In Jewish thinking, demons were assigned to certain geographical territories and were highly organized (Daniel 10:13; Ephesians 6:12), their leader and prince is Satan (Matthew 12:24). The passage in Daniel especially suggests specific geographical boundaries within which spirit beings must abide. For these demons to be sent out of the country would have meant that they would then be confined along with other fallen angels (Jude 1:6; 2 Peter 2:4,9; Revelation 20:1) no longer to afflict men or resist G-d. Today most denominational churches do not believe a Christian can be possessed and because of this - Babylon and her harlot daughters (denominational churches) are full of them. (Revelation 18:2) Satan’s most effective tool is not the naked demoniac wandering about the desolate places. Satan’s most useful instrument is the outstanding, outwardly moral and upright religious leader, whose good deeds are done independently of G-d. “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). So, dear one, look for Satan’s man behind your pulpit - where he can negatively influence scores of people, blinding minds and hearts to the truths of the Word of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). (See Jeremiah 23 and Matthew 23)

Demonic spirits are ‘unclean spirits,’ who can ‘possess’ both men and animals. In Ephesians 2:1-2 we read: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. " Demons have great spiritual insight and reluctantly submit to Jesus as Lord of all. They look forward to their future with great dread. They greatly desire to enter and control a physical body, whereby they may reflect their character and attributes. .Legion, aka the Gadarene demon, is a demon named both in Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30. A parallel version of the story can be found in Matthew 8:28-34, but this version does not contain the name "Legion" and tells of two men, not just one, possessed by demons. A Roman Legion had over 6,000 men. In Hebrew "baal" is derived from the Akkadian "belu" or "lord". Baal's primary meaning is "possessor or master or husband" - the KJV renders the word as "man, owner, husband or master". To possess does not mean "to own" - it means to exercise or manipulate". Remember dear one "The earth is the Lord''s and all who dwell therein!" Look closely, these demons could kill about 2,000 pigs but they all could not collectively kill one man - they could only torment him and make him harm himself - but as in Job - even Lucifer can not do more to anyone than G-d allows. Here the tormentor pleads with Jesus not to be tormented before the time! Jesus has 12 legions of angels (hosts = army) to call on - (see Matthew 26:53 and then compare 2 Kings 6:17 and Daniel 7:10).

The world has always been afraid of anyone in their right mind dear one, (Romans 8:7; 12:2; 14:5; 1 Corinthians 2:16.) The demons are all afraid of Jesus and they have to obey Him. But, the world is not afraid when the hordes of demons drive a person totally insane - they are only afraid when Jesus delivers and heals them! It has been about 2,000 years since this happened and about 2,000 pigs drowned one right after another (1, 2, 3, etc.) dear one, are you ready for His "return back again"? In Ephesians 6:12 we read: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Decapolis means the "ten cities". After Solomon there was a "civil war" and ten tribes revolted and in the North they became known as Israel - they had 19 Kings and all of whom were wicked and did evil in the sight of the Lord. The other tribes were in the South and were known as Judah - half of her Kings were evil and half were good. In the Ten Virgin parable we see the same half that were not right with the Lord! These people are raising pigs no wonder they did not want Jesus in their country! They feared the Savior who could save them and not a legion of demons that wanted to destroy them!

Into the "deep" is from the Greek word "abussos" is also rendered 'deep" in Romans 10:7 but in Revelations 9:1 it is rendered into "bottomless pit".

Well dear one, have you repented and asked Jesus to deliver and heal you? Or are you afraid?