In the war there were some two million Vietnamese killed and another three million wounded. Tens of thousands of foreign soldiers lost their lives as well.
Two major factors led to the continuing emotional trauma faced by quite a number of VietNam veterans. One was the lack of recognition back at home for what they were endeavouring to do - they were not welcomed back as heroes, but returned to a country divided by bitter controversy. The other was the grim reality of fighting an unknown enemy. They had no idea who or where the enemy was and it was inevitable that many innocent civilians would be killed. That is in the nature of guerrilla warfare.
The Bible also speaks of a hidden enemy who carries on guerrilla warfare throughout the world. Headed up by the devil and his army of demons, the war is kept fairly secret, though the visible evidence that it causes is reported in the public media, leading thinking people to ask, "Whatever is going on here?"
Writing to the Ephesian Christians Paul urges us to put on the whole armour of God "so that you will be able to stand up against the devil's evil tricks. For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. So put on God's armour now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground" (Eph.6.11-13). The King James Version says that the fight is "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
There is a battle on, and we need to understand our adversary and his "evil tricks" - what the King James Version calls "the wiles of the devil". He is certainly a trickster, described by Jesus as an inveterate liar. His power is real but limited - it is not a case of an omnipotent God versus an omnipotent devil! One Bible passage describes him as a princely angel, Lucifer, who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven, gathering to himself an army of rebel spirits - the demons. The name "devil" describes him as a "slanderer". He is also named "Satan" meaning "adversary". Rev. 12.10 describes Satan as the one who "accused our brothers day and night".
His aim in the world at large is to spread effective rebellion against God - sowing seeds of unbelief, promoting a shift in public morality so that what God says is evil seems not so bad, perhaps even good… The devil doesn't go around with horns and a pointed tail! He just drops the thought into the mind to do its dirty work. There may indeed be times when there seems to be a much more open confrontation. Such is our first meeting of this wily trickster in the Garden of Eden. Mostly the adversary remains hidden, but we see the results in our society.
His aim towards the Church and Christian believers is to spread dissension, disobedience and discouragement. Love for one another is the mark of Christians. Outsiders observed, "See how these Christians love one another!" But the devil would delight to turn that into a cynical sneer! Dissension! So a Christian is a person saved by grace? Let's find a point of weakness where we can get him back into some old sin! Disobedience! Yes, you are a sinner! Not much chop, really! You can't live the Christian life! You're not all you say you are! You can't do anything worthwhile, or make any difference for good after all! Discouragement! Do you ever hear the little whisperings of dissension, disobedience or discouragement?
But the devil is described as a defeated foe! Jesus came to overcome the works of the devil (1 Jn.3.8). He is attempting a rear-guard action, but his destiny is already sealed - "the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels", as Jesus calls it (Mt.25.41).
So, as Christians, we should avoid giving the devil too much "press". We need to be aware of his evil tricks, but, even more, we need, as James writes, to "submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you" (Jas 4.7-8).
On several occasions in the gospels we read of Jesus healing people who are described as being "demon-possessed" - the Greek word literally means "demonised". In today's reading it was two men with demons, who seemed to have unusual strength and terrorised the locals. Mark (5.1-20) and Luke (8.26-39) refer with somewhat more detail to only one of these men. In 9.32-34 we read of the healing of a man who could not talk because he had a demon. On this occasion the Pharisees allege, "It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive out demons." They make the same assertion in 12.22ff after the healing of a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon. Jesus tells them plainly that "it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you" and goes on to warn them about saying evil things against the Holy Spirit. Chapter 17.14-20 records the healing of a boy described as epileptic because of demonic activity.
Sometimes it is assumed that demon possession was simply an old-fashioned way of explaining what we might call "mental illness". But this is not so. The gospel writers - and especially Luke, who was a physician, were always careful to distinguish demon possession from sickness caused by disease or injury. This is evident in Mt.4.23-24, "The news about [Jesus] spread through the whole country of Syria, so that people brought to him all those who were sick, suffering from all kinds of diseases and disorders: people with demons, and epileptics, and paralytics - and Jesus healed them all."
One writer has commented, "Whereas demon possession is everywhere distinguished from illness and madness, it is nevertheless identified as one of several separate causes of both. Disease or injury (organic problems), sin, and demon possession are viewed Biblically as the three discrete causes of madness and illness. The symptoms of demon possession are closely related to those maladies that result from various convulsive and perceptual disorders" (Jay E. Adams).
Demon-possession is not a very good advertisement for Satan. I tend to think of it as Satan's work gone wrong. Far better to have control of a fully functioning individual! In a whole variety of ways individuals may open themselves to the devil's control. It may be through the mind via the kinds of literature and false ideas absorbed into one's thinking and being. It may be through the emotions, including the kinds of music which impact and move the depths of the personality. It may be through the will, through choices of rebellious acts or involvement in religious practices that are not expressions of trust and worship of the true and living God. We need to be aware that involvement in the occult, witchcraft and the New Age movement of the present time is not a harmless activity. From time to time news is given of a ritualistic murder here in Australia - its occult connections mentioned then usually hushed up fairly quickly. Such things are done by functioning individuals. The "possessed" are the damaged ones whom I have described as "Satan's work gone wrong."
In today's story we note the demonic recognition of who Jesus is - "What do you want with us, you Son of God? Have you come to punish us before the right time?" (v.29). We may well compare this with the experience of Paul and Silas at Philippi when the fortune-telling slave-girl followed them calling out, "These men are servants of the Most High God! They announce to you how you may be saved!" (Acts 16.17).
Jesus had not revealed himself as the Son of God. There was a supernatural recognition of his identity and an acknowledgement that they were destined for punishment.
"If you are going to drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs" (v.31). The demons requested that they might not remain disembodied, but be reincarnated in the herd of pigs grazing nearby. How that could be is not clear to us. That it was so is, however, clear. But, as one writer comments, "The favour was granted, but it proved to be the demons' undoing, for the swine stampeded and rushing down the cliff were drowned in the sea" (R.V.G. Tasker).
That the men were healed there is no doubt, but the locals came and begged Jesus to leave. They feared the power that had healed these men who had been such a threat to their security. But they were also motivated by the financial cost of their healing.
We are sophisticated people of the scientific and technological era. But we need to be aware of the devil and his evil tricks - not obsessed about him, but aware that he is here. Did you know that there are over 200,000 registered witches in the U.S. and many more who are not registered? In fact, one famous witch, Sybil Leek, who lives in Florida said in the New York Times that there are over 8 million witches in the world today. Did you know that there are more registered fortune-tellers than pastors in Germany? People who worship Satan pray specifically that he would destroy the marriages of pastors.
"Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you." We need not live in fear, but put our confident trust in the one who has overcome the works of the devil!
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