EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/16/2026 7:57 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-2
“His Preaching”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
4:31-34a
Message
of the verses: “And He came down to Capernaum, a
city of Galilee, and He was teaching
them on the Sabbath; and they were amazed at Hs teaching, for His message was
with authority. In the synagogue there
was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a
loud voice, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of
Nazareth?”
Now in the New Testament, the unique and bizarre
behavior associated with demon possession was never confused with insanity,
however I don’t think that can be said of in today’s world. The demons were always rational when they
spoke; they understood who Jesus was and that He was going to destroy them,
which will happen, I think at the end of the millennial kingdom or perhaps at
the end of the tribulation period when the Lord returns and sends Satan, the
anti-Christ, and the false prophet into the pit, so that is when the demons
will go with them to the pit as they are not active during the millennial
kingdom. Now even when a demon addressed
unbelievers he spoke rationally, saying to some would-be exorcists, “I
recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” (Acts 19: 15). Let me continue to go on with this story as I
look at several more verses from Acts 19 “16
And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of
them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and
wounded. 17 And this became known to all
the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all,
and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.”
MacArthur then writes “Demon
possession was a widespread phenomenon during the earthly ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ and, to a lesser extent, during the ministries of the apostles
(cf. Acts 16:16-18).”
(cf. Acts 16:16-18)
“16 ¶ As we were going to the place of prayer, we
were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners
much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She
followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God,
who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18
And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly
annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.”
“During
the future time of tribulation, demonic activity will again increase
dramatically. Some of the demons now
bound in the bottomless pit will be released to join those already operating on
earth and they will wreak havoc (Rev. 9:1ff.).
“Four New Testament phrases describe
demon possession. First, sixteen time such
people are said to have a demon or evil spirit (v. 22; 7:33; 8:27; 13:11; Matt.
11:18; Mark 3:22; 30; 9:17; John 7:20; 8:48, 49, 52; 10:20; Acts 8:7; 16:16),
indicating that a demon-possessed individual was indwelt, controlled, and
tormented by the demon. The repeated
phrases ‘entered him’ (Luke 8:30), ‘cast out’ (Matt. 8:16; 9:33; 12:24, 28;
Mark 1:34), ‘came out’ (Matt. 8:32), ‘come out’ (Mark 5:8), and ‘coming out’
(Mark 5:13) also indicate that demons indwell their victims. Demon possession is a supernatural
phenomenon, not explicable in psychological or physical terms (though there can
be physical symptoms associated with it; cf. Matt. 9:32; 12:22; 17:14-15; Mark
1:26; 5:5; Luke 8:27; 9:42). It should
be noted too that on no occasion when Jesus delivered an individual from demon
possession was there a reference to forgiveness of sins. Nor did all those delivered repent and
believe. The demon-possessed individuals
whom Jesus delivered were not necessarily any more wicked than other
sinners. The emphasis is on Jesus’ power
over the demons, not on the individuals being delivered. But after Jesus and the apostles passed from
the scene, the only way to be delivered from demons is through saving faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now when I was a very young believer
I read many of Hal Lindsey’s books, and one of the was entitled “Satan Is Alive
and well on Planet Earth.” I also use to
listen to tapes of his sermons on the different books that he wrote, and one of
them was on this book about Satan being alive and well on planet earth. He said that he felt that he would have to
deal with someone who was possessed by a demon before he would write this book. According to him he did run into a woman who
was possessed by a demon and as the story goes he was able to cast the demon
out of her.
Another story that I heard was from
a former youth pastor, who then became a Pastor later on. He told the story of a young woman who had
demons in her and some men went to try and cast the demon out of this woman and
she beat all of them up.
I have heard stories about demon
possession and have also heard that this does not happen now in the church age,
which I don’t believe. Another story I
heard from a friend of ours who was a missionary on one of the Islands in the
far east. He said that he watched hail
come down on a tin roof in the middle of a sunny day, and the only way that
they got it to stop was to go out in a boat and cut the head off of a chicken,
and then it stopped. I have no reason to
believe that this did not happen.
I will stop here and pick up
tomorrow morning, Lord willing where I left off this evening.
5/16/2026
8:29 PM
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