Background on Scripture production. The method God uses to speak to man through His written Word is as follows: The spirit God (Yehweh) spoke to His co-God (Adonai–the Word–Jn. 1:1-4,14) through the Holy Spirit.  Read The God of the Old Testament.  Key word–Old.  The Word spoke God’s Words to the prophets by way of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21).  The prophets spoke to the Israelites what they had heard from the Word through the Holy Spirit.  Their scribes recorded what they spoke.  The Word came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth and spoke to His apostles face-to-face what He heard from the Father through the Holy Spirit.  The apostles recorded what He said to them.  The Apostle John gathered what the apostles and prophets had written and codified it into a book known world-wide as the Holy Bible (Eph. 2:20).  For this reason Jesus could proclaim that man must live by every Word spoken by God the Father, and that man will be judged by what He (Jesus) said because THEY ARE THE SAME WORDS (Mat. 4:4/ Jn. 12:44-50).  With that in mind, let us compare the Godhead’s view of the Holy Bible (God’s Rules of Engagement) to the church’s view.  As this website has continually proven, they are not the same.  This undeniable fact prompts the question: Who’s is right?  Who determines right and wrong?  Whose word must we believe and obey in order to receive eternal life?  Unfortunately, it depends on whom you ask.  Can a deranged, demon-possessed maniac teach the rest of us a lesson relative to the “Who’s the boss” question?  Let us “Study to show ourselves approved of God” in order to find out (2 Tim. 2:15).

In the fifth chapter of Mark’s gospel beginning with verse 1 we find Jesus and His disciples, having crossed the Sea of Galilee, have landed on the shore of Gadara where they are confronted by a deranged, naked man who lives in the tombs of the local cemetery.  He is totally insane, wild and bent on self-destruction.  In past encounters with the local people he has demonstrated inhuman strength–the power of Satan’s fallen angels inhabiting him.  Nothing the people used, not even ropes and chains, can restrain him.  Night and day he roams the mountains and tombs, crying and cutting himself.  He is the perfect example of what has come to be known as “demon possession.”  He is totally controlled by the evil spirits within him.  Verse 5 tells us that he has been in this condition throughout most, if not all of his life.

Seeing a group of men coming in his direction the demoniac rushes toward them with mayhem in mind.  But then something happens.  As he approaches Jesus his attitude and actions suddenly change.  His rage disappears and he begins to worship the Lord, crying out to Him, “What have I to do with You, JESUS, YOU SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD?  I BEG YOU IN GOD’S NAME NOT TO TORMENT ME.”  Everything has changed.  Worship has replaced rage.  A stranger is identified, His name and the name of His Father are proclaimed.  A physical attack has evolved into an expression of fear.  Let us examine this incredible occurrence with an eye to God’s “fine print.”

Incredibly, a demon within the crazed man has recognized Jesus as the Son of God Who has total control over him.  How did he know the Lord’s name?  How did he know about God?  How did he know that Jesus had the power to cast him and his fellow devils out of the man and into a herd of pigs?  An incredible reception and pronouncement of divine knowledge has just taken place.  A DEMOM PROCLAIMED BIBLICAL TRUTHS THAT MOST CHURCH PEOPLE DO NOT BELIEVE.  A DEMONIAC HAS TOTAL FAITH IN CHRIST.   AMONG GOD’S SAINTS, NOTHING HAS CHANGED.  HIS POWER IS STILL BEING DEMONSTRATED BY HIS OBEDIENT SERVANTS.  THE WORLD, INCLUDING THE CHURCH WORLD, STILL DOESN’T BELIEVE WHAT THE DEMON-RIDDLED MAN SAID.  THOUGH DEMONS PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THEIR LIVES, MOST CHURCH PEOPLE DO NOT BELIEVE THEY EVEN EXIST.  

It is necessary at this point to explain the man-demon relationship that exists within the vast majority of human beings.  Jesus said that people who sin are the servants of sin, meaning Satan, the father of sin (Jn. 8:34).  God uses the words “sin” and “Satan” interchangeably.  In verse 44 Jesus says that sinners have the devil as their spiritual father.  Many religious people do not even believe in Satan.

Note that when Jesus speaks to the deranged man He is in fact speaking to a demon within the man.  The man and the demons have become basically one with the demons in charge.  Note that in every instance in which Jesus or an apostle cast a demon out of a person, they spoke directly to the demon within the person, not to the person himself.  THIS IS BECAUSE THE DEMON TOTALLY CONTROLS ITS HOST.  This truth can be recognized and dealt with properly only by those operating under the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  As was true of the original disciples, God’s Spirit can be WITH someone and not be INSIDE that person.  Recall that the unconverted disciples proclaimed that “… even the devils are subject unto us” (Lk. 10:17).  Jesus said to Peter just before His death, “When you become converted, help your brethren (to be converted)” (Lk. 22:32).  Recall that Jesus told them that they had to be converted and become as little children in order to be saved (Mat. 18:3).  Conversion was possible only after Christ’s death, resurrection and return to heaven.  True salvation and rebirth will be available only after His return to earth.  Through God’s Spirit I cast out many devils and healed many people before I was converted.  I had God’s Spirit WITH me due to my faith, but His Spirit was not IN me.  I was not one of those in whom dwelt the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 1:14).  That changed upon my true conversion years later when the Spirit came to abide in me.  This is what happened on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D.  Concerning an unconverted man casting out demons and healing the sick as the disciples did during Christ’s lifetime, a twisted electrical cord works like a straight one–power can still flow through it.  Now back to Mark 5.

A demon/devil/fallen angel residing within a man has just received revelation from God.  THIS DEVIL HAD RECEIVED SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE THAT MOST PEOPLE, INCLUDING CHURCH PEOPLE, DO NOT HAVE.  AND UNLIKE MOST CHURCH PEOPLE, HE BELIEVED WHAT HE RECEIVGED AND PROCLAIMED IT FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD TO HEAR.  Everyone in the entire world, with the exception of God’s Very Elect, are controlled by demonic spirits like those who lived in and controlled the wild man of Gadara.

Prior to the demon’s statement to and about Jesus, the Lord had commanded him to come out of the man.  Jesus then asked the demon his name.  The evil spirit replied that his name was Legion.  He was the leader of many demons living within and controlling the man.  When multiple demons reside within a person, one demon does the talking for the group.  The most demons I have ever cast out of a person was 33.  I dealt personally and vocally with only one of them.  I had commanded the demon to come out of a church woman.  Using her voice, he replied that “they” were not coming out.  Remembering the story of the man of Gadara, I asked the devil how many demons were inside the woman.  He replied “33.”  Sometimes demons use their host’s voice; at other times they use their own voice.  Sometimes they argue and refuse to come out.  When a man has God’s Holy Spirit power, demons have no choice.  Which is what I told the demon.  He and his companions left immediately.

With the exception of God’s true saints, the entirety of the world’s population are controlled by Satan through his fallen angels who inhabit them.  It is those spirits that cause the unchurched to defy God’s Law, meaning to sin.  Evil spirits within church people cause them to defy God’s Law, meaning to sin.  First John 3:4 tells us that sin is the transgression (breaking) of His Law.  The Apostle Paul wrote that he would not have known what sin was if not for the Law.  He noted that the Law identifies sin (Rom. 3:20; 7:7).  For convenience, the Lord condensed His Genesis-to-Revelation Law into the Ten Commandments.  The unchurched world ignores His Law, which is God in written form.  Church people also ignore His Law (Lk. 10:17).  However, the churched add insult to injury BY ACCUSING GOD OF NAILING HIS LAW TO CHRIST’S CROSS.  Satan has convinced the whole of Catholicism/Protestantism of this heresy.  There was a killing of a law–the law that God added to the Ten Commandments because of sin (Gal. 3:19).  Now read Deuteronomy 5:22.  Note the word “added” in both verses.  God nailed Moses’ “handwriting of ordinances” (the sacrificial law) to Christ’s stake.  Read Did Jesus Die on a Cross?  Key word–Cross.  Those who call themselves God’s people reject His eternal, “holy, just and good” Law (Rom. 7:12).  By removing God’s Law from their lives, church people have rejected His definition of sin (1 Jn. 3:4).  Their god–Satan–allows them to create their own version of right and wrong, which is the same power he supposedly gave to  Adam and Eve.  The Serpent (Satan) convinced them that they had the power and the right to determine good and evil for themselves.  By believing and obeying him, they took him as their god.  With the exception of God’s tiny “remnant,” their descendants continue to worship the same god.

This brings us to the subject of this posting and a question each of us must answer:  WHO IS RIGHT, GOD OR MAN?  Whose Word must be believed and obeyed in order to receive eternal life?  God says He is right and man must obey Him.  Man says that he (man) is right and therefore directs his own life.  In this way, churchman agrees with nonchurch man.  Relative to the Bible, the only difference between the churched and the unchurched is that the churched use God’s Word as a prop in order to create good religious optics as they worship their god on his Sunday sabbath.  The truth of the matter is that God and His Very Elect stand alone in the midst of a world totally controlled by Satan.  His saints number only a few thousand globally.  Those who rebel against His Word–the church–outnumber Him and His people millions to one.

Beginning with Adam and Eve, man has consistently believed that his definition of good and evil supercedes the Lord’s definition.  In the Introduction to this website I list a number of church lies that form the foundation of Institutional Church theology, most of which came from the Mystery Religions of Babylon–the mother of most heathen beliefs and customs.  The church has concocted some of them herself.

Between Jesus Christ and the Institutional Church, who is right relative to salvation-producing Truth?  The demons within the wild man from Gadara knew.  Their spiritual brethren know today.  If in doubt, go to church, and listen.  You will hear Satan’s lies coming forth with gusto.  L.J.