The recent Las Vegas shooting by Stephen Paddock has expectedly sparked discussion on gun control. We can have that conversation on gun control and the 2nd Amendment. But what frustrates me is I never hear anything about what I think very well may be the root cause – demon possession! I think Arizona shooter Jared Loughner1, Colorado shooter James Holmes2, and Connecticut shooter Adam Lanza3 may all have been demon possessed as well. Just look their pictures!
Jesus healed a lot of people of their infirmities. But the Bible repeatedly reports that Jesus cast out demons. Matthew 8:18 states: “That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.”4 Jesus would engage the demons directly. Mathew 8:31-32 states: “So the demons begged, ‘If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.’ ‘All right, go!’ Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.”4
Now do psychiatrists and psychologists know something today that Jesus did not know then? I do not think so, given that Jesus is the creator of this universe.5 So if there was demon possession in the first century, there is demon possession now.
Terry Read