The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Mark 5:9-17, “And He was asking him, ‘What is your name?’ “And he said to Him, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’”

10 And he began to entreat Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

11 Now there was a big herd of swine feeding there on the mountain.

12 And the demons entreated Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.”

13 And He gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

14 And their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened.

15 And they came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”; and they became frightened.

16 And those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine.

17 And they began to entreat Him to depart from their region.”

I’ve met some people who could have been defined much like the wild man in the verses above. In fact, the verses printed above tell only part of the story. Let me urge you to go back and read verses 1 to 5 of the same chapter.

It is the nature of a demon to indwell another body. We give psychological and psychiatric names to wild people today, but truth be known, they’re not mentally impaired, their demon-possessed.

When Jesus encountered this demoniac, He asked him his name. The answer the man gave Jesus was “Legion,” meaning many. A Roman Legion of that day numbered 6,000 men! We have strayed so far from Scripture today that our culture demands a modern, scientific definition of everything. But clearly, this man was demon-possessed –and by many!

It seems clear that the demoniac and the demon spirits both knew that Jesus had ultimate power and control over them. The man did not want the demons to leave the area; and the demons begged to be sent into the hogs grazing on the hillside. They were fearful of being sent to Hell!

When the man was freed from his demonic captors, he put on some clothes and was sane.

(It speaks by implication of those who parade with little-to-no clothing in our world today.)

It’s also notable that the man now freed from his demonic captors wanted to go with Jesus, while the men who owned the hogs, now infested with demons, wanted Him to leave the area! In other words, the hog-owners were more concerned to be defined as for their hog profits than for the poor man, who had been terrified by them for so long!

The big question is: How do you want to be defined? Do you want to walk with Jesus? Or

do you want to be defined by your sin? The shootings that occur almost daily in our country clearly define those who do the killing. Those who risk (and sometimes lose) their lives in the effort to curtail the killerrs, define themselves as well. What is your definition? How do honest people define you? It’s important, both to man and to God. So, define yourself as a bondservant of the LORD Jesus Christ! After all, He is the One ultimately in control.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”