Their debate concerned how to judge what is historically true, especially what is factually reliable about Bible stories. Their text to debate was Mark 5:11-13, Mark's account of the story we just read from Luke.

It is one of the most fascinating and perplexing stories in the gospels. The lesson to learn has little to do with whether it is a literal account of an actual event, or whether it is a metaphor.

Martin Luther said the pigs did not really drown. He claimed they swam and swam until they finally reached shore - in Rome! I guess it was another of his digs at the papacy!

Huxley claimed, as do many Bible scholars today, that the story presents a significant problem for literalists. If we take it as an actual event, did Jesus irresponsibly and wantonly destroy the property of others? If we remember that this was likely a Gentile community, the people had every right to keep pigs.

Huxley did not deny the possibility of a miracle. But he denied that a good person like Jesus would have violated the universal right to own property. Bible stories are true, of course, whether they really happened or not! Truth does not necessarily depend on historicity nor on factuality. So I am not concerned with whether or not evil spirits actually went into pigs.

What do you suppose the Gospel writers were trying to teach us? What is there about this saga that we need to learn?

The story is set on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in present-day Syria. It is tho't to be about a mile south of modern Kersa, where there is a steep bank some 40 yards back from the shore.

As they climbed out of their boat in Gentile country, Jesus and the disciples saw a man peeping out at them from behind the tombs. The disciples must have really been scared when suddenly this wild, naked, filthy, demon-possessed man came screaming toward them. They were in new territory anyway, and this was some introduction to the country of non-Jews! They knew Gentiles were unclean, but this was more than they were ready for.

They had agreed to follow Jesus, and they had already learned that it was quite a trip - but this? Of course, this fellow was rejected by his own people, so surely they should not be expected to feel any compassion for him. It was a case of violent insanity.

The disciples must have felt something like the quaint Scottish prayer: "From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!"

Jesus did have compassion for the man, as usual. He was concerned. Jesus was always concerned for people in trouble. Whatever demons possessed the poor fellow, Jesus knew what to do, and was willing to do it.

When the man cried out, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God?" it was really the voice of the demons within. It was probably somewhat akin to the kind of voices heard by so many schizophrenics, voices which torture and confuse. Unless you have been close to mental illness you can't begin to imagine the stress and agony they feel.

According to Time magazine there are about a million people in the mental hospitals in America; another 7 million at large, but who are still suffering from mental dysfunction.

Still more widespread are the rest of society who constantly battle private demons of restlessness, confusion, despondency, insensitivity, depression . . . any or all of which can lead to mental breakdown. Is there help, deliverance for us? Some sort of exorcism? Is there a lake in which we can dunk and drown our demons?

The idea of demon-possession, even the idea of demons, may bother many of us, what with our scientific mindset which leads us to react against superstition. No matter how cautious we are, we all come into contact with people and events which can best be described as demonic.

In fact, it almost seems the more cautious you are, the more likely you are to have a rendezvous with demons. Evil is ubiquitous. It never crosses your threshold announcing, "Hi, I'm a demon!" It often comes disguised as reasonable, good. At least it comes disguised as a just, righteous and necessary reaction to other evil. Evildoers can devise the most illogical logic imaginable!

A 19-year-old was arrested for a brutal murder. During the questioning he said, "I just wanted to know what it feels like to slit someone's throat." Is that demon possession, or what?

We just killed Timothy McVeigh, who was about as demonic as anyone we have seen for a long time. His mind was apparently so filled with resentment and hate that he actually felt no remorse for what he did. He considered himself a soldier, at war with an enemy - us!

You need to read the story of his life in a recent Reader's Digest. Read how the government first trained him to kill, sent him to kill, then disillusioned him, so he in turn killed in retaliation. Then, of course, we killed him in retaliation. His reasoning didn't make a bit of sense, but neither does our reasoning make any sense, certainly not in any application of the principles of Jesus.

Scott Peck wrote People of the Lie. He started on the subject because the Pentagon asked him to investigate the My Lai incident in Vietnam. His conclusion focused on the systemic evil in the military, which is not what the Pentagon wanted to hear, so they refused his report.

As a psychiatrist and as a Christian, Peck concluded that evil is a real force. Human beings are mistaken, misguided, misled, possessed by evil spirits, if you please, possessed by demons!

A minister friend complained that his cousin, a fundamentalist preacher, focuses more on evil than on good. He talks more about sin and sinners than about God and love and joy. He says it's almost as if his cousin worships evil!

Then he turned and said, "Are we liberal Christians making the opposite mistake, not talking about evil enough?" Something for us preachers to think about!

A Scottish preacher who went by the name Gossip (His real name was Arthur John) preached a famous sermon, "But When Life Tumbles in, What Then?" It was his first sermon after the sudden death of his wife.

He described his descent into the depths, and the demons he encountered. He likened his descent into the depths of despair and despondency to the experiences of the Old Testament characters Job and Jeremiah.

Like the Bible characters, he felt the demons attack him in times of his vulnerability. Also like the characters of the Bible, he rose from the depths to conquer the demons. His faith prevailed. He arose from the abyss, which he likened to the waters of the Jordan.

He closed his sermon with these triumphant words: "Standing in the roaring of the Jordan, cold to the heart with its dreadful chill, and very conscious of the terror of its rushing, I can call back to you who one day in your own turn will have to cross it, 'Be of good cheer, for I feel the bottom, and it is sound.'"

When Jesus asked the demon his name the man said "My name is legion." A Roman legion was a contingent of 3-6000 foot soldiers and cavalry. The poor man felt he was possessed by a whole regiment of evil spirits, demons. His use of hyperbole reinforces the terrible feeling of pain and anguish in his heart, his soul.

I think Huxley had a good point when he said a good person like Jesus would not deliberately destroy someone's herd of animals. William Barclay explains that what likely happened was that the demented man's screams frightened a heard of swine which were grazing in a nearby field. As animals often do when they are frightened, they panicked and stampeded, in this case down the mountain into the sea. Jesus then used that as a way of illustrating to the man that his demons had left him.

As usual, the healing by Jesus soon got the attention of the whole town. They flocked out to see the miracle. There sat the poor, homeless man they had known for years as the town lunatic, sitting at the feet of Jesus - fully clothed, fully restored, in his right mind.

You would think the community would be happy to see the man healed of the demons. But they were not happy at all. Maybe they were ashamed that they had treated a mentally ill man as they had. Maybe they were scared by the story of the pigs. Maybe they just didn't like their routine disturbed! People don't care much for anyone or anything that drives them from their comfort zone. No one wants to be challenged by change.

What about us? Do we resent the demons in our midst being challenged by Jesus? There are many homeless people around us, mentally ill people, people who are "demon" possessed. So long as they stay out of sight, our lives are not disrupted much. So long as they stay down town where we can't see them, we don't have to worry about them.

There are other demons in our midst, the demons of social inequities. Thousands of people are poor, not because they are lazy, but because they have never had the social and educational opportunities we have had. Thousands have no health insurance. A friend asked, "Is that a social demon?"

Then there are demons in our own souls, our own minds, our own hearts - demons of materialism, demons of poor habits, demons of addiction, demons of inappropriate, misguided priorities.

When Jesus comes along, we are challenged. We tend to cry out, as did the poor man from the Gerasene countryside, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God?"

One of the commentators said materialism is a sly demon. For example:

Marc Peperzak is president of Aurora Dairy Group in Colorado. He says, "It seems to me you need three things if you want to make lots of money and achieve commercial success: greed, selfishness and a competitive spirit. But you need something more if you want to become truly wealthy - the perspective and spirituality to savor life's experiences.

Then he added, "There's more to life than making money . . . I'd rather be wealthy than have lots of money." I would say Jesus has cast out any demon that man may have had.

An Amish woman, Mary Lambright, was killed in Minnesota when a truck hit her horse-drawn buggy. Modern society which she and her people shunned had taken her life.

Her husband, 43-year-old Mahlon, was offered $212,000 from an insurance company as a wrongful-death settlement. He rejected it, saying the money would likely threaten his family's way of life. Praise God the demon of money apparently never got into his soul!

What can we do when demons get into our lives? We don't call them demons any more, of course. Today we talk about chemical imbalance, childhood trauma, domestic violence, emotional distress. That sounds so much better than demon-possession, doesn't it?

A pastor from Australia talked about his work for the gambling-addicted. One of the other ministers asked naively, "Can't something be done to restrict the gambling industry?"

He tho't for awhile, then said: "I doubt it. The government is as addicted to gambling as those gamblers who are addicted to gambling." I wonder of the same is true here in Michigan. Yes, it is true. We are already seeing tragic results in terms of crime and illness here in the Detroit area.

Today, people are challenged with more and more stimulants, from gambling to high-adrenaline video games. By the way, my friend Don Stevens sent me a newspaper report of scientific studies showing that the brain-waves when people are gambling and when people are snorting cocaine are identical! It's the excitement, getting high on adventure.

Watch kids play video games, or watch their parents watch football or baseball, or go to the movies. We all seem to need more and more excitement!

We humans do need excitement. Nothing wrong with excitement. But we need to be aware that excitement is an open door for demons to come in.

Just remember there are different kinds of excitement - positive excitement and negative excitement.

Our Gospel story closes as Jesus and the disciples were asked to leave town. The people couldn't handle all this kind of excitement. The man Jesus had healed asked to go with them. Jesus said, "No, go back home and tell everyone what God has done in your life. Share the excitement of your healing. Let the world know how much fun life can be when you are free of demons." Go home and be a missionary.

So the man went away and told all over the town how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus offers us today a demon-free life, an exciting life of witnessing to others what God has done for us. And it is exciting, dear saints. It is exciting to be active in sharing the demon-free life.

Let us pray . . .

O Jesus, healer of sick and troubled souls, come into our hearts and into our midst with your love, your compassion, your healing. Heal us of anything and everything that detracts from your purpose for us. Receive today our praises.

May whatever demons possess us be cast into the depths of the sea. We want to serve you. We want to witness to the world that you are Light and Life.