Episode 8 "Demon Hunting"
Humans have a deep longing to believe in something. We are spiritual beings “made a little lower than the angels” and we seek to put that longing somewhere, but sometimes we want to believe so bad that we choose to overlook red flags.
Enter Mark Driscoll saying, “I see things, people committing sins, people being abused, people being raped, I have visions, I had prophetic vision, God told me, the Spirit told me, I had a prophetic dream”. How do you deal with someone who leverages this type of language to back their ideas, the path they want to take, and the path they want you to take with them, when you feel like the things they are saying are not Godly and you are seeing and sensing a lot of red flags. Where do you draw the line?
"Demon Trials” or deliverance ministry are approaches to spiritual warfare where a minister would try to confront demons in people's lives that caused various issues. Putting the people and the demons on trial and trying to confront them with confession and truth.
Most of the stories Mark would share about demonic possession were about women and he even went so far as to say, "Paul says women are the weaker vessel. Maybe that’s the case. He says women are more easily deceived. I know most feminists don’t like those verses… and if they are true it means those women are deceived haha, which is kinda funny(laughter). Satan didn’t even show up to attack Adam until he was married…” I think if we did a deep dive on the passage from Peter, the original language, the historical and cultural context, and in light of Jesus breaking the curse of sin and death, the power dynamic between men and women, it would show that this assertion is really a stretch, a low blow, and a really convenient mistreatment of scripture that just happens to work in Mark’s favor. Are most of the demonic possession stories in scripture about females? What is the male/female ratio in scripture?
Demonic possession verse medical care and medication? Should we find the answer in repenting, prayer, and pastors or meds and therapists? Is all suffering a result of sin?
The hierarchy at Mars Hill was children, women, husbands, pastors, Mark, God. there’s always someone between a person and God and I am depending on them to cure me and talk to God for me.
Jesus warned about demanding signs but that didn’t stop him from doing them but it did challenge us to find satisfaction in something other than signs and miracles.