Place faith in Christ to deliver you from your demons

FRIDAY, FEB. 17: As I write this column, it has been a slow day in the island of Bermuda for me as I have basically been home for most of the day and have not been exposed to the normal road experiences.

I am probably no different from the average person reading this column today.

Each day as I drive along our roads I average about four nips per day, meaning that bikes overtake cars and miss hitting the front right bumper by mere inches.

Oh, and these days I am equally blessed that the bikes nipping on the inside of the car miss hitting the left bumper or mirror.

I know I am not the only grateful driver out there.

How about you? Do you sigh and shake your head too?

Do you thank God that you do not have to give a police statement about a road accident you were unwittingly involved in?

Matthew 8:28:
And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

Recently, I ministered from Matthew 8:18-34, and God showed me something I had never seen before in the text. Let’s take a look at that now.

Trapped

In the text, the two demon-possessed men were ostracized because of their condition and disposition.

They lived in tombs dug out in the hills, which were actually excavated limestone rocks.

They lived away from the normal society and as you can imagine they lived a lonely and tormented lifestyle.

Not only that, but also according to scripture they had taken over control of their area, so that no one wanted to even go near them.

As I looked at this text I saw traps.

The two possessed men were trapped in the rocks.

The society was trapped in the city and could not freely go past the area where those men lived.

The minds of the men were trapped because they had been given over to an evil spirit.

The city itself was trapped because it was fortified with walls to protect it from the outside world.

The people of the city were tormented because they were limited as to where they could go. 

The demon-possessed men were limited because they were under the control of a spirit that did not give them life, love and liberty.

Any time you have a people or a sector of society that really have no future they will behave in a tormented and terrible way. When people feel out of control they look to cause other things to be out of control.

The enemy of your soul desires to have one outcome and that outcome is death.

It was not enough that those men were kept away from their families and the people of their city; the enemy wanted to kill them.

How can you know that?  All you have to do is look at what happened to the spirits after they were cast out of those two men.

Follow their journey’s end and you will see the end that the enemy had for those men.

That is the end the enemy wants for our youth.

Matthew 8:32:
And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

In the previous story, Jesus had calmed the sea and the wind.

Now Jesus was about to calm these two men. The only way to calm violent behaviour is to have Jesus enter into the situation. 

Jesus cast out those evil spirits, which then went into swine, and the swine went into the water and drowned.

That is what you must understand: once the swine had their full sway, they ‘killed themselves’ or committed suicide.

Of themselves the swine were just fine; the regular people of the city were caring for them.

However, when those demonic spirits took over the body of the swine, the result was death.

That was what the demon spirit had wanted to do with those men.

Demons will cause you to desire death for yourself, or desire for you to give over your authority and power, which results in being controlled and doing things that would and will cause death.

Those two men saw that they had a future when they connected with Jesus.

They cried out for help and Jesus delivered them. Until they saw Jesus, everything that they did had been leading to the death of their future.

This is a major issue in Bermuda today.

There is a suicidal spirit lingering over this island.

Many do not have a vision for their future. Many are not being educated to be responsible citizens. The way that many people live today will only lead to death.

Until this generation sees a future they will not stop risking their existence.

Until they are encouraged from birth to think success and to dream of a better life, they will live a bitter life and risk their lives daily.

Many are trapped in a negative lifestyle in Bermuda, and until they see life in Jesus they will continue to head towards destruction of their own lives.

All of the anti-social ways you see are really an indicator that there is a group of people who are tormented and who do not feel a part of the ‘normal’ society.

They have created their own world that will only result in death.

My prayer is that all will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Jesus still has the power to deliver you from tormenting situations, you just have to cry out to Jesus and run to Him in order to experience the better life.

Dr Maria A Seaman is the pastor of Shekinah Worship Centre, Hamilton Parish.