DELIVER US FROM EVIL:
THE MINISTRY OF EXORCISM (Mark 1:21-28)
(Sermon of The Rev.
Canon Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, St. James Episcopal Church, Elmhurst, NY 11373.
2/1/2015)
Jesus’ three-fold ministry can be described as a PHD-
Preaching, Healing and Deliverance. Jesus preached the Good News, healed the sick
and delivered the oppressed from the devil. The gospel this morning is about
this ministry of deliverance or exorcism.
In this gospel, Jesus was at the synagogue. A Jewish
synagogue is the equivalent of the church. Sabbath (which is Saturday and a day
of rest) is equivalent to Sunday, then “Lord’s Day.” So Sabbath in the synagogues
is like Sunday in a church.
It is interesting to note that the man who was demon-possessed
was inside the synagogue. It is therefore possible for demons to enter a church
building. In this synagogue, the demons or evil spirits were alarmed by the
coming of Jesus and through the man, they spoke, “What do you want to do with
us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?”
The demons recognized and called Jesus as “the Holy One of
God” but Jesus rebuked them to be quiet. Then He commanded to come out of the
man. The man experienced convulsion as the evil spirits came out. He exorcised
the demons and delivered the person free!
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| Jesus casting out demons in the synagogue |
Personal Experience:
I had a few
experiences of exorcisms or deliverance ministry. In Philippines, I participated
in an exorcism rite in one barrio in Pangasinan. An extended family built their
house on a former abortion clinic and they would hear infants crying by the
wall. After the exorcism, we conducted a requiem mass which eventually healed
the family of demonic oppression.
In Singapore, I served as assistant to an Australian exorcist
named Bill Subritzky. He claimed he was able to see the demons and he described
them as “beings without body” (and that was why they seek to inhabit other
people’s bodies.) I have never seen the
demons myself but I’ve seen strange manifestations when persons are exorcised.
Four years ago, when
In was serving as Supply Priest at St. Michael & All Angels in Seaford,
Long Island I was called to minister to a family in the neighboring town of Amityville . Amityville is the location of the
1970’s scary movie, Amityville Horror. It
seems that the father of the family, had virtually invited the evil spirits to
come. He bought the house close to the
sea and remodeled it to look like the house in the movie and then exclaimed,
“We’re going to be the next Amityville Horror House.”
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| House in "Amityville Horror" |
From that time on, the wife
and children had experienced some paranormal incidents, quite similar to some scenes in the movie. I do not have time to describe what happened
during and after the exorcism, but this and many other experiences of
encounters with evil spirits, I get a glimpse of the purposes of the devil. (By
the way, the family were safe but the house was destroyed during the Hurricane
Sandy. They decided to relocate to Pennsylvania).
What are the purposes
of the devil?
In the Bible, Jesus gave us a glimpse of the purposes of the
devil. In John 10:10, he likened the devil to a thief and he said, “The thief
comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy.”
- So the first purpose of the devil is to steal.
The devil comes to steal away your joy. The will of God is
that we may live in peace and quietness, and to enjoy the blessings of life. If
these are not present in your life, if there is no peace in your mind, no love
in your heart and no joy on your face, then the devil has a hold on you.
So many people go through life without experiencing the good
life that God has willed for all of God’s children. They dwell in pains and
misery, in heart aches and heartbreaks, in hopelessness and despair because the
devil has robbed them of God’s grace.
Now those people who seem to glorify poverty, I believe, are
those who have not really experienced it.
Those who have experience poverty, as I have and some of you have, will
never testify that it is good to be poor. No! Never! Poverty is a denial of
God’s will. To be born poor and remain poor and to have your children and
children’s children inherit the same hopelessness and despair is a curse and
not a blessing. Even Steve Jobs once said that “when you are born poor, it is
not your fault; but if you continue to be poor until you die, it is your fault.”
Now it does not mean that a person who is poor is not
blessed by God. As a matter of fact, as Pope Francis recently affirmed, God
loves the poor---and we too must love the poor and extend our hand to them. But
when we say “God loves and blesses the poor,” it does not mean that God wants
them to be poor always. God loves them and wants to set them free from poverty!
In the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the universal
declaration of human rights, freedom from poverty is implied in the
“unalienable right” of every human being “to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Governments are expected to honor and
promote these rights. Government officials who deny their citizenry of
opportunities to improve their lives should be voted out of office. Oppressors
who enriched themselves with greed are agents of demonic institutions. Corrupt politicians should have no place in public service. They would only divert resources from tax payers' money that could improve the plight of the poor.
In biblical history, God set the Hebrew slaves in Egypt free---and
provided for their needs---even in the wilderness of Sinai. And in John 10:10
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I come to give you life and have it abundantly.”
The eradication of poverty remains to be a major part of the vision of shalom,
the reign of God on earth.
Yet some people feel that they are cursed into chronic and
perpetual poverty. No matter how hard they try, it seems that they cannot get
out from the quagmire of poverty. Even if they work so hard, and work doubly
hard, it seems that they cannot rise from the quicksand. They continue to slide
down. Now when these things are happening in your life, you need a deliverance
from the demons of poverty.
2.The second purpose
of the devil is to kill.
Today, there are many happenings that make us believe that
the devil is active in today’s world. The recent terrorist activities in France and
other parts of the world , the ISIS cruelly beheading their hostages, the
lawless elements in Nigeria kidnapping and killing children, the brutal
killings of policemen in Mindanao and many other events of murders and
massacres are works not of human beings but of evil.
Many of you know that I am under treatment from prostate
cancer. I am beginning to think, ironically, that there is a purpose for my
affliction. As a healing priest, it
gives me a motivation to study about cancer. I have come to believe now that cancer
is not just a problem that calls for healing but also of deliverance. In Mark
5:9, Jesus asked the devil inside of a man “Who are you?” And the demons said,
“My name is legion, for we are many.” In the Roman Army, which was the context
of this text, a legion is composed of 6,000 fighting men.
Cancer is not one disease but many diseases. There are more
than 100 different types of cancer. They are named from the organ in which they
start. For example, cancer that begins in the colon is called colon cancer;
cancer that begins in the skin is called melanoma; cancer that begins in the
breast is breast cancer; cancer that begins in the prostate is prostate cancer,
cancer that begins in the blood is leukemia and so forth and so on. Cancer is a
growth of destructive cells.
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| Lymphoma cancer cells |
3.The third purpose
of the devil is to destroy.
The devil’s ultimate purpose is to destroy the image of God
that was imprinted in the human being. When God created Adam, he was formed
from clay and he had no life. Then God breathe into the clay and Adam sprung up
with life. That was the meaning---we are created in the image of God--in the
image of God, we are created. The breath of God, the ruach of God, the spiritus of
God, gives us life and the image of God was imprinted in every human being.
It means that a human being has innate godly or divine
elements: the capacity to love, to give, to forgive, to experience peace, joy,
forgiveness, and all positive aspects of life. But when the devil has come into
the person and steals that joy, steals that compassion, steals that mercy and
grace, then the person becomes the devil’s possession. He becomes a different personality. Suddenly
he turns 180 degrees: from a loving, compassionate, merciful, forgiving,
peaceful person, he becomes a hateful, wicked, unloving, unforgiving,
cruel---the personification of the devil himself.
Recently, not far from our community, there was a man who
murdered his wife, his mother in law and his children and then committed
suicide. The only one who survived was a 12 year old daughter who , despite
being hit by a bullet on the head, miraculously survived and was able to call
911 and named her father as the culprit. When other family members and
neighbors were asked about the man, they could hardly believe, because they
knew him as “good and kind man.” What has happened to that “good and kind man”
that he turned into a beast?
When the devil has possessed that person, the ultimate
purpose is to destroy his personality that he would totally be unrecognizable
from the human being created in God’s image. But possession does not happen instantly. The
devil’s scheme has a progression: from temptation to depression; from depression to oppression; from oppression to addiction and finally to possession. The devil may first appear as an “angel of
light” to tempt and later on proceed to make a stranglehold. The addiction to
alcohol, drugs, violence, etc. has all the makings of a devil’s scheme.
How do we resist the
devil?
Our patron saint, St. James wrote:,”Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:7)
The antidote to the devil’s poisonous attack is closeness to
God. When there is a flood and you are being carried away by the raging waters,
what do you do? Cling to a rock, or to a strong tree. Those who were saved from
the tsunami were those who were able to cling to something stronger than the
floods. When you are under spiritual
attack by the devil, cling to God. The power and strength of God are far more
superior than those of the evil one.
St. Paul says in Ephesians 6:12. “Put on the full armor of
God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against
the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will
be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.”
In this image of combat, St. Paul said “Stand firm therefore, HAVING
GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING
PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and
having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF
THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;
addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.And take THE
HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With
all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:14-18)
Belt of
truth; breastplate of righteousness, gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet
of salvation, sword of the spirit which is the word of God; and prayer at all
times.
This is
why we come together as a community of faith on Sundays. Jesus said, “where two
or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).
When we
gather as a community in the name and in the presence of Christ, there is
safety and power. We hear the Word of God, we practice our faith, we pray for
one another and for the world. We can bind and cast out the devil in the name
of Christ and the in the power of the Holy Spirit. So have no fear of the evil
one. The power of our God is far more superior than that of the devil. With
Christ as our deliverer, we are set free!
Yes, Lord.
Deliver us from all evil and grant peace in our time. For thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.
Well done Fred
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