Monday, April 16, 2007

Demons

It is truly terrible to hear about the latest news coming out of Virginia. With all the shootings that have happened over the last decade, I've occasionally wondered if demons have been at work in any or all of the individuals responsible for these heinous crimes. I know we in the Church use that explanation sometimes, especially in the wake of our own terrible tragedy. But having only heard ministers discuss this topic from time to time about some weird happenings at a dorm in Big Sandy, or a haunted house, or some deranged person at some Feast site, I haven't really figured out how we know when it's a demon and when it's just a weird person or a strange coincidence that our mind tries to comprehend. How many mentally insane people out there are demon possessed? How many are epileptics like the one Jesus healed? Are we chalking up demon possession to "abnormal psychology" too much? How can we possibly "test the spirits" as we are instructed to do in Scripture? As the end times come closer and closer, we're told that demons will be running rampant more and more and it's something I don't know hardly anything about. I know it's difficult to answer these questions, and it may be God's inspiration that we are even able to discern spirits. Thoughts or comments?

5 comments:

Michael said...

This is a topic I haven't thought about much, but events like yesterday's massacre bring demons to mind (especially the Brookfield shootings). I can't imagine any way of knowing when a person is actually possessed by a demon, unless it's by spiritual discernment or a visible manifestation like spinning one's head in a 360 degree arc.

Mikeesee said...

I don't think much about it either since today's society has given us so many "explanations" for the awful things that are going in people's heads. "Oh, his seratonin levels are higher thus contributing to his multiple-personality disorder." "Yes, it's due to this specific brain wave pattern that he has paranoid schizophrenia..." Could it be that those are just the physical manifestations of a spiritual power at work?

Michael said...

Could be, hombre.

Mikeesee said...

BTW, I'm not trying to downplay the awesome power of bitterness, grudges, greed and such that go along with a murderous spirit in humans. I'm just trying to figure out if/when an individual gives (or loses) control to something else. So many of these killers have the same characteristics at the time of the crime (premeditation; straight, uncaring faces; etc). I just wonder if these are qualities of extreme hatred and loss of hope (as Mr. Ames put so well in his commentary) or a quality of pure evil. Oh well, I'm more sharing my questions than I am expecting an answer.

Paul said...

I don't discount the possibilities of demon possession yet societal culture is such that it is enough to twist one's mind without possession just by letting nature take its course.