Dealing with ‘impure spirits’!?

Reflecting on Mark 5:1-20

“A man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.” (Mark 5:1)
As a Jesus follower, I have encountered ‘impure spirits’ before.
This man had become deranged and violent, out of and beyond control.
I have been with people experiencing different, yet similar, ‘spirits’.
People screaming, writhing, foaming, harming themselves, violent and uncontrollable.

People then did not know what they were dealing with.
They saw it only as a spiritual health issue.
We might see it only as a mental or physical health issue.
It was likely a mix of all of them, each situation unique and different.

Whatever the cause, we still see people out of control like this.
And we are helpless to help them; we try to chain them with drugs.
They live tomb-like lives, a shell of the humans they were made to be.

I believe that spirits (or angels) are voices in the air, invisible but real.
I hear ‘voices’ all time; some are encouraging, many are discouraging.
If we choose to heed the wrong voices, their negative messages take over our lives.
Some people are possessed by these delusional and destructive voices.
I am oppressed by them sometimes, but others are possessed by them.
Whether we call it ‘mental’ or ‘spiritual’, it controls their minds and lives.

I don’t pretend to know how to deal with these situations.
Often medication or an institution, like chains, are necessary.
But I also believe that divine help is needed, and divine truth.
By this I don’t mean bible study, or sermons; I mean Jesus.
They need to sense the love of Jesus, present with those near them.
They do not need judgment, nor do they need to be ignored or shunned.
They need people to incarnate the truth of God’s love, despite their condition.
They need to hear the Name of Jesus, who represents the Love of God.
The negative messages need to be countered by true messages.

One time I was with a youth possessed by an ‘impure spirit’.
He was screaming, writhing in a fetal position, out of his mind.
The parents called me in desperation, but what could I do?
I knelt beside him and weakly said the Name of Jesus, over and over again.
I talked with the youth, urging him to say the Name ‘Jesus’.
He resisted, writhed, tried, failed, but eventually hoarsely said ‘Jesus’.
And again, and again, until after what seemed forever, he calmed.
I don’t know if it was spiritual, mental or physical – a mix of them all I suppose.
But in that situation I know what helped: being with them in Jesus’s Name!

Another youth was not out of their mind, but their mind was troubled.
They were possessed by negative thoughts: ‘I’m ugly, God doesn’t love me’.
They were allowing those negative voices to discourage and defeat them.
I gently said to them, ‘you are a beautiful, much-loved child of God!’
‘No I am not’, they replied, and resisted for a long time.
Day after day I repeated this truth in Jesus’s Name.
Eventually they reluctantly admitted it, or at least repeated it back to me.
Did they believe it; no, not yet, but they at least said the words.
In time they came to believe that positive voice over the negative voices.
They have since become possessed by the good spirit of God’s love.
I don’t know if it was spiritual, mental or physical – a mix of them all I suppose.
But in that situation I know what helped: being with them in Jesus’s Name!

I believe that ‘impure spirits’ are real, whatever they are.
I also believe in the Spirit of Jesus, Whose voice is love, life and hope.
I will keep on repeating the Name of Jesus.
And I will keep on speaking positive messages of love in Jesus’s Name.
The people we meet each day are being bombarded by negative voices.
I choose to add my voice to the Jesus chorus, to echo His voice of love.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, negative voices are often slipping into my own mind, and speaking through my own voice. Help me to not feed the darkness and despair by criticizing, complaining, despairing or whining out loud. Possess my mind and my mouth with Your pure Spirit, that I may help those oppressed or possessed by impure spirits.

I am no exorcist. But I choose to repeat the Name and Love of Jesus, again and again and again, until Your Voice takes charge of their hearts and minds.