Shortly after completing His ‘time of testing’ in the wilderness where He confronted Satan, we are told Jesus returned ‘in the power of the Spirit’ (Luke 4:14) and began teaching in various synagogues. He then returned to Nazareth where He had grown up, and as was His custom, He went to the synagogue there on the Sabbath day and used a reading from the scrolls of Isaiah to make a rather bold announcement.

This is when Jesus announced to the world (for the most part) that God’s Spirit was upon Him and that He had been 'anointed to proclaim liberty to the captives…and to set at liberty those who were oppressed’, among other things (Luke 4:18).

Stop. Right. There.

We might want to address a glaring question or two here before continuing on…like ‘who are the captives', who is the 'captor'…and who are they being ‘oppressed’ by?

Can I just tell you up front that despite the popular opinion of the day and the deeply seeded and resentful feelings that many Jews felt at the time…it was NOT…the Roman Empire who was the ‘captor’ or ‘oppressor’ that Jesus is referring to here.

This would be a good time to revisit a statement that Peter would later make when sharing with some of the very first Gentiles (non-Jews) to be ushered in to the kingdom of God as the Holy Spirit came upon them, in Acts 10:44-48. Peter stated:

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (38). You might want to underline that last part that plainly states who the people were oppressed by – ‘the devil’.

I know, I know…here we go again with this talk of the ‘devil’. That’s fine if folks back in those ‘dark ages’ wanted to view their dismal world through 'that lens’…but we ‘born again Americans’ who live in the 21st century are ‘educated and enlightened’, right? Surely this ancient and archaic scapegoat-bogeyman (the devil) could not possibly be a legitimate ‘entity’ today that we contend with now…could it? Interesting how in another exchange with Jesus and those 70 disciples, the topic of ‘demon spirits’ came in to play, and Jesus mentioned something about how the Father was ‘hiding these things from the wise and the intellectuals…while revealing these truths to ‘babes’ (Luke 10:17-21)

Well…if you want to bury your head in the sand and live in ‘denial’…have at it; but you would not be the first folks to ever do that. Denial can be a funny thing that quickly shuts down conversation when it comes to matters of the ‘spirit’ and God’s kingdom. There’s an exchange of dialogue found in John 8 where Jesus was addressing some Jews, and He was telling them how they can ‘know the truth and the truth will set them free’ (31-32)… which promptly led to them denying having ever been in ‘bondage to anyone’ (33). Clearly…they must had never seen the movie, The Ten Commandments, or were not in class that day when the Book of Exodus was being taught.

(Yes, there is a good reason why I tend to circle back and review/repeat some of these same concepts and scriptures on a regular basis, especially if you are a ‘regular’ here.)

We first have to come to terms with ‘truth’…before we can begin to receive, process, and then walk in this ‘freedom’ that Jesus came to proclaim and grant (Luke 4:18). And this is the truth which makes it known that we live in a world that is heavily influenced, if not ‘controlled’ by dark forces of spiritual evil and wickedness (Eph. 6:12). To those who do ‘walk in the light’…they ‘know this whole world is under the power or grip of the wicked one’ (1 John 5:19). In fact, anyone who is not a ‘believer’ or follower of Jesus…remains under a ‘curse’ known as the ‘wrath of God’ (John 3:36). And dare I say it again…that Jesus came to ‘save us from the wrath of God’? (Rom. 5:9).

You have to admit…just because you might choose not to believe in such forces of darkness that actively work today…does not mean that nullifies their existence. We are admonished in scripture to ‘resist the devil’…as opposed to ‘ignoring’ him (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9).

As we discussed in the past few days, there really is a probable explanation as to why many people do and say things today…that astound us, grieve us, if not anger us to no end; and those are the same people whom Jesus implied did ‘not know what they were doing’ (Luke 23:34). You might even say they were ‘not in their right mind’ or ‘out of their mind’…at the time they said or did the things they did.

Are you familiar with the story found in Mark 5, where Jesus and His disciples came ashore in the land of Gadarenes (1), and were promptly met by some crazed man who had some serious ‘issues’ at work in him? We are told that he ran naked in the wild, cut himself with stones…could not be bound with chains and cried aloud among the tombs (2-4). We are also informed that he had an ‘unclean spirit’ working in him which we later learn there were more than a few (demons) actually controlling him. The one thing those demon spirits were unable to do however…was to keep him from running to Jesus and falling at His feet to worship (5). This is no small detail, either!

Now here’s one of the more insightful details we learn, and that is the fact that after his exchange with Jesus, in which all those demon spirits ‘came out’ of this tormented man, there was a remarkable and immediate transformation that took place. In fact, when word got out as to what happened, many in the neighboring city came out to see and investigate. Please note what they found, according to vs. 15: “They saw the man whom had been demon possessed…sitting up fully clothed…and ‘in his right mind’”.

Sounds like to me…that these ‘spiritual forces of evil and darkness’…might be able to ‘influence’…the way people think and even behave; what say you? And exactly what is it that the ‘god of this age…blinds’…according to 2 Cor. 4:4? Does your Bible say their ‘minds’?  Maybe that is why Paul points out that one of the key 'defenses' when it comes to 'spiritual warfare'...is the need to 'bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ' (2 Cor. 10:3-5)

Interesting. Join me tomorrow?