Daily Bible Reading 15th July 2026 // Luke 8:26-39
26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”, for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
The need, in this whole realm, according to the Scriptures, is: know your enemy. Paul says, 'We are not ignorant of his devices'. But the trouble is, we often are. This is a much neglected element in theology, and far too little time and thought have been given to it. We may learn much of the evil one from Scripture and from the experience of godly men of the past, such as Bunyan, whose 'Pilgrim's Progress' and 'Grace Abounding' are full of deep and illuminating suggestion. Experience and judgment are needed to 'discern the spirits'. It is true that the evidences of demon-possession may be similar to those caused by mental disorder itself, and that sometimes there may even be a working of the devil in a mind that is constitutionally prone to such mental disorder, so that it may be extremely difficult to say what is illness and what is demonic influence. But it should be possible from experience and from a certain judgment in these matters to discern which is which and seek to deal with it accordingly. 'Recognising the signs', even if it be with a 'sixth sense', is a possibility.
The answer to the question 'How does a demon-possession come about?' may be found in Paul's words in Ephesians 4:27: 'Neither give place to the devil'. Concerning this, two things may be said: one is that possession can come about through trafficking with evil and sin - not merely in terms of, e.g. dabbling with spiritualism, although this is one specific and very dangerous example, but dabbling with any kind of sin, for it is this that allows the author of sin into the life. There are two notable examples from Scripture that come readily to mind - King Saul, whose unwillingness to obey the will of God, and whose constant and repeated allowing of unhallowed emotions 'gave place' to the Devil, and he became a disordered soul without hope of recovery or remedy; and Judas Iscariot, who dabbled with forbidden things, until finally Satan entered into him. The second point will have to wait until tomorrow's Note.