ABSTRACT
After reading Alicia's account of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband, and the obvious spiritual overtones of Doug's abuse, you may wonder what causes people to become so rigid and overbearing in their supposed Christianity. One of the most pervasive reasons why spiritual abuse occurs may be attributed to demonic activity. Several Scriptures give us insight into this spiritual aspect. One such Scripture is found in Mark 5, in which we read the account of Jesus' interaction with a demon-possessed man. This possessed man was evidently given a supernatural physical strength, was self-mutilating, and not in his “right mind” (Mark 5:3–5, Mark 5:15). The poor fellow was possessed by a legion of demons! When Jesus ordered the demons out of the man, they went into a herd of 2,000 pigs, which, in turn, ran into a lake and drowned themselves. This is evidence that demonic activity occurs with violence, and that demons have suicidal impulses, whether they possess men or animals. The account of this same story in Matthew reveals that the demon-possessed men “wereso violent that no one could pass that way” (Matthew 8:28). Also, these Scriptures reveal that demon possession may include some form of mental derangement. People with mental disorders are not always demon possessed, but demon-possessed people almost al-ways have some form of mental disorder. Demonic possession has symptoms of mental disorders, and also physical disorders.
