Too Close To Home

 

     As I said in my last newsletter, some of the teachings that I send will not be “sermons.”  Many of them will involve things that are close to my heart.  Topics that I have personally dealt with in my own life.  One of them, oddly enough, involves the demon-possessed man who lived in an area called the Gerasenes.  This story is told in several of the Gospels.  But for our purposes, I’m using the one from the Gospel of Mark.  And why is that?  For me, it involves one detail that Mark points out that the other Gospels do not.  1 “They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him.3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”  It’s the last few words of this verse that I am referring to.  Specifically where it says that  . . . “he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”      This has nothing to do with the subject of demon-possession.  Do I believe that it is real?  I do.  If you want to have a “theological rumble” about it, you’re reading the wrong study.  But if you are a Christian and you are reading this please understand something.  The world is full of non demon-possessed people who live in as lonely and empty a world as this man did.  And many of them, lost in their loneliness and emptiness, resort to the same actions as this man.  They spend most of their lives, “cutting themselves and crying out.”  I personally know and understand this kind of pain.  Now, does that mean that I, along with others spend our time literally “cutting ourselves>“  No.  But they do, as I did, spend much of their time punishing themselves, and blaming themselves for their own “failures” as people, and even as Christians.   When you see them, you might never be able to detect that pain.  Because, God forbid, they should reveal that pain to you.  Especially if they are Christians.  After all, when you get saved, all that goes away.  Uh-huh.       Now, does that mean that there are those cutting themselves with stones?  No.  But there are many people out there, perhaps in YOUR church, that go home at night, and when the lights are out, they weep, and emotionally fall apart.  And my Lord, they are lonely.  Just like the man in the Gerasenes, they feel desperately and completely alone.  And they feel the extra weight of the guilt from being told that they could “handle it” if they wanted to.  But they can’t.  But God knows they want to.  The Scripture tells us that he “cried out.”  And there are many doing that today.  I know, I used to be one of them.  And did you notice what he did when he saw Jesus?  He  “ran and fell on his knees in front of him.”  Yes, I know, he also asked Him, in effect, to go away, and leave him alone.  But is that what he “really wanted?”  I don’t think so.  And why do I think that?  Because the Scripture tells us that he didn’t run away or hide, but rather he, “fell on his knees in front of him.”Yes, I know, he also asked Him, in effect, to go away, and leave him alone.  But is that what he “really wanted?”  I don’t think so.  And why do I think that?  Because the Scripture tells us that he didn’t run away or hide, but rather he, “fell on his knees in front of him.”           In closing, let me ask you this.  Have you run into any “demon-possessed” folks lately?  Probably not.  But the next time you’re in church, or at the job, or perhaps even at home, take a look around.  There may be someone smiling, and at the same time hiding behind a rock that needs you.  Just some food for thought.  God Bless.  Pastor Edd    

-Pastor Edd, Our Ministry friend and guest writer offering food for thought and growth.      Pastor Edd Bernard, 1728 State Rd., Plymouth, MA 508-224-3841 therevv@verizon.net

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