Freedom from self-inflicted pains | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: April 24, 2024 | Series: Youth for Jesus | Number: Vol. 6, No. 50

“Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” (Mark 5:5NIV)

Who was crying out among the tombs and in the hills and cutting himself with stones? It was a mad man living in a region called Gadarenes in bible days. And why was he doing these things to himself? Why was he destroying himself and his body in this manner?

Well, as the account goes, this mad man was inflicting himself with pains in this manner because he was possessed by a number of demons. And no one in that place really knew what he was dealing with until Jesus came to the place and confronted the evil spirits in his life. But as Jesus began to deal with them, it became clear that he was possessed by several of them. Actually, their chief said that their name was ‘Legion’.

Now a legion in the Roman army was a division of about 3000 to 6000 soldiers. That means the demons that occupied this man’s life were nothing less than 3000, judging by human calculation. What made that happen? No one could really tell. But our Lord Jesus shows us through His teachings that demons have a culture of inviting more and more of themselves into people’s lives once there is room in there for them (Matt 12:43-45).

So, all you need is to give just one demon a place in your life. And before you know what is happening, you may end up having 3000 of them in your life, as in the case of this man. The demons in his life came in one after the other until they were numbering over 3000. And while they themselves were invisible to the human eyes, the things they were doing to him and through him were not invisible at all to the people around. Everyone could see how utterly lonely and miserable they made his life, as they tormented him day and night. He could not think well. He could not dress well. He could not eat or live well. He could not dream of any nice or great future. All that his mind could handle was to cry and hurt himself. And if hurting himself was nothing to him, would hurting other people mean anything to him? Not at all! No wonder he became a terror to everyone in that region.

But when Jesus met him, all that became history. He was delivered from his self-inflicted pains. The Lord drove out all the demons in his life, whatever their number was, with just one word ‘Go’. And he became so free and sane that those who knew him before could hardly recognise him again. Then to show how wicked those evil spirits hurting him were, when they entered a large herd of pigs that was feeding near the place, all of them, about two thousand in number, rushed into the Lake there and drowned. Frightening, right? (Cf. Mark 5:6-17)

Well, what is the point of this? First, it is that there are such things as demonic possession and oppression. And among the manifestations of these are self-inflicted pains. In other words, apart from the fact that those who are possessed and being oppressed of the devil will think of hurting others as nothing, they will also not see hurting themselves and ruining their own lives as nothing.

Think of the way people mess their own lives up in prostitution, money rituals, consumption of hard drugs, homosexuality, lesbianism and so forth and still act as though everything was fine. Also, think of how people freely destroy their homes through adultery, drunkenness and different forms of violent and abusive activities and still move on as though everything was fine. Yet, while everyone is looking at them as fine and on top of the world, you will hear that they have committed suicide or run mad.

Sadly, some people will say such things are merely psychological problems. But the word of God shows us that they are not. Instead, for the most part, they are results of demonic manifestations in people’s lives. And unless such people come in contact with God’s great and saving power, they will not be free until they have completely destroyed themselves.

That, of course, is the second thing we learn from the story of that mad man. If the Lord had not found him and saved him, he would have been completely destroyed by those merciless demons in his life. But thankfully, the Lord found him and saved him, even though he did not know Him and was not even in the right state of mind to look for Him.

Now if you are reading this and are being tormented in any way by demons, then, your case is better than that man’s. That is because your own mind is still sound enough to be able to read. So, your case is not hopeless at all. Jesus is able to set you too free so that your life can be meaningful again. All you need to do, then, is to say, “Lord Jesus, save me by your divine power from these demons that are oppressing and afflicting my life and making me to hurt myself and all the people that come close to me.” And you will experience His salvation right away, for His power will come upon you where you are.

Then perhaps you have someone close to you whose pains and sorrow are self-inflicted and you are concerned about their salvation and freedom. Just begin to rebuke the demons in the person’s life in the name of Jesus, asking them, however many they may be, to leave them alone and never return again. And they will surely leave, for they cannot say ‘No’ to Jesus. Then the person’s life will become normal and peaceful again.

Cheers!

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