I'm always amazed and impressed that God has entrusted His kingdom to goobers like us. In Luke 9, for example, Jesus sends out the 12 disciples with the authority to cast out demons and cure diseases. Not too long after that three of them are caught up in a cloud with Jesus, where Moses and Elijah appeared. Peter said, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters -- one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Luke even put in a parenthetical statement that Peter "did not know what he was saying." It's so funny how we can be so off the mark, yet it is so wonderful that we are the exact people God has chosen. He knows about our weaknesses, our "character flaws," and yet He chooses us. He loves us. It's a great love story, and it's true about every one of us. Someone knows the real us, and yet still chooses to be in a close, intimate love relationship with us.
It's interesting how the Gospels repeat an instruction several times. It's the "don't tell anyone about this" instruction. Sometimes when Jesus healed someone, He told them that. It was repeated when Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do the crowds say I am?" They replied with the popular answers, "John the Baptist, Elijah, and still others." And Jesus asked, "But what about you? Who do you say I am?" And Peter affirmed that He was "the Christ of God." In Luke 9 we see Jesus "strictly wanring them not to tell this to anyone." Then He told them about His impending suffering and death, and even resurrection. It's obvious in hindsight that His instructions weren't permanent. It's not like they weren't ever to tell anyone, but for a time period.
The most common theory that "explains" this is a practical one -- that Jesus wanted His popularity to remain at a minimum, so that He could minister freely and travel from one place to another without gut-squishing crowds that would be nearly impossible to penetrate and travel through. The more people that knew about Him, the harder it would be to move around. If I heard a rumor that the Son of God was on the earth, I would gladly consider travelling from Holland to Israel to see for myself, and many others would probably do the same.
There may be other reasons for this as well. One lepor who was healed was instructed to go to his priest (who, as the Tourniquet song testifies, practiced a function where he administered the "Test for Leprosy."). This would also serve as a testimony to the priests, who had probably only heard about lepors being healed (as there were very few in Old Testament times), and there was a lot of it happening now. Every time a lepor came to the priests healed, it was another sign that God was up to something. I guess it's not a total shame that these priests didn't catch on, because if they would've they never would have crucified their King. A greater purpose was served (for all mankind) and this three year period of "ministry" that Jesus spent on earth is fascinating to look at.
After the "Mount of Transfiguration" happening, the disciples who saw it kept it to themselves. This may have been for the practical reason that others would mock them and think them insane if they told anyone.
The day that I "came back to the Lord" (as my life story is like a "Prodigal Son" story), I experienced an incident that involved demons and the power of God. My friend, who was apparently attacked by demons in a painful/sickness way, was later healed when we prayed to Jesus to help him. Shortly after my friend was seemingly "filled with the Spirit" and able to answer any questions. He didn't "speak for God" at any great length. In fact, one of the only things he said was "not to tell anyone about these events." That seemed kind of reasonable at the time, but later after we got home he had me read a chapter out of Phillipians. I'd read it, and he'd say, "keep reading it," implying that I'd keep reading until I "got it." After reading it twice, my mind began to wander and I thought to myself, 'I really can't tell anyone about this.' At that exact moment, my friend jumped with joy. "You got it!" It felt like he was reading my mind or something. I'm not sure when the time period of keeping it to myself was to wear off; but sure enough, about as reliable as old Goober Peter himself, I was eagerly telling my old pot-smoking party friend Bill back in Austin a couple months later all about my experience with the demons attacking my friend. 'Surely this will have an impact on him and he'll get saved,' was my naive thought. Instead, I got a smirk, a chuckle, and a complete dismissal.
I don't know. I'm not really responsible to "lead people to Christ," but just be His "witness." All a witness does is tell the "court" what they saw. Some witnesses are "torn apart" on the witness stand and some are discredited. The metaphor should probably only be taken so far, but we probably can assume that sharpening our "witnessing skills" is a good idea. And we can safely conclude that saving someone is God's job, and we are enlisted as an active part of the process, but only so far. We cannot choose for someone else. We cannot force anyone to repent.
I've often felt kind of guilty over "spilling the beans" about this demonic attack story. I've felt like I let God down. However, I never really "beat myself up" over it, because apologizing to God and asking for forgiveness brings forgivness; plus I never really understood the purpose of the whole "keep it quiet" thing. Maybe it was so I'd forget about the details leading up to my repentance and focus instead on making the repentance genuine and life-encompassing. That was surely far more important than any theatrical surroundings or experiences. Emotions and experience are powerful, but they do only get you so far... Another thing that helps me feel "off the hook" is realizing that an instruction to keep quiet" isn't necessarily a life-long instruction. It might be for one day, one week, one month, one year, one decade...
Maybe for me it was so that my walk with Christ wouldn't be founded or based upon an experience that could later be discredited. How do I know if it was really demons attacking my friend? I didn't see anything spiritual. I didn't smell any sulfer. Maybe setting my feet on the Word instead of an experience has given me a more solid foundation? I don't know. I certainly feel a lot more comfortable and "free" to talk about my relationship with Christ and the challenges God's Word gave my soul the night I "came back to the Lord" than I do talking about some invisible spiritual warfare. Maybe it's because I've seen or heard about so-called frauds like Rebecca Brown, who's apparently lied about her involvement in witchcraft and a baby-harvesting racket to sacrifice babes to Satan. Then there's Mike Warnke, who confessed to "stretching the truth" a little to make his testimony more exciting. Irregardless of all the sensationalism and outright lies spoken in the name of evil and spiritual warfare, I believe that evil exists and there are demons that are active in the world today. While I don't think "there's a demon under every bush," as the laughable cliche states, but I do think there's a lot of demons under a lot of bushes, so to speak. I don't go out of my way to seek them, or spend hardly any time at all even considering them, but I do have a serious belief that "I'll know what to do if I ever do encounter them (and that is to stand in the power and Name of Jesus, knowing that my identity is in Him and there is nothing to fear).
When it comes to the dramatic and theatrical side of spirituality, I get turned off by the sensationalism of the spirit world, as well as the innaccurate portrayal of this realm via Hollywood. How many times have you seen a scary movie where a priest gets pushed around by a demon? I've often wanted to see a movie about a couple of college or high school aged boys who were filled with the Holy Spirit encounter demons and have them dismissed matter-of-factly with the unquestionable authority of the Name of Jesus. This is one reason why I was tickled to see the movie Constantine. Even though this guy was like a rock star exorcist that didn't exactly exhibit a deeply surrendered life to Christ, he nevertheless dismissed demon spirits with an authority greater than them both. This, I believe, is a far more accurate portrayal of spiritual conflict. The believer trusting in Christ and the power of His Name has dominate authority and power at his/her disposal; which will take care of evils spirits.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at October 24, 2005 09:19 AM