Triumphant Life Church

By Apostle Isidore Agoha

Another clearly emergent and important aspect of Jesus’ encounter with the man possessed with demons is the plurality of persons in at least two respects.

First, the man himself was a different entity from the demons in him. In Mark 1:23, he is described as a "man with an unclean spirit." In other words, there was a clear separation between the man (a person) and the unclean spirit (another person). Both entities were persons; neither of them was less than a personality. This fact is underscored by the way Jesus dealt with them. He said, "Be quiet and come out of him. ," addressing the demon in the man. When the demon was thus dealt with, the man regained his freedom. This is another level of discernment demonstrated by Jesus, which is alien ti much of the present materialistic mindset in today’s church. As far as Jesus is concerned, demons are real persons with real identities and intelligible activities. Demons and other spiritual entities are not imaginary and nebulous figures.

In dealing with people in need, Christian ministers will not be challenged to seek the discerning power of the Holy Spirit in order to be able to precisely identify the real spiritual enemy at work. Also, in our relationships, this discernment will be of tremendous value in assisting us to separate human persons and the forces at work in them - both of the Holy Spirit or evil spirits.

The second aspect of this plurality of persons is that within the identity of the demon, there is a change from the single to the plural. At one stage of the conversation, the demon interchangeably uses the pronouns we and us to describe itself and its nature, suggesting the influence of more than one. At another stage within the verse, it switches to the pronoun I - Mark 1:24. The following conclusions may be drawn from these observations.

• The use of personal pronouns underscores the personalities of demons
• Demons operate in groups ranging up to thousands or more. It is indeed scary but true that one individual can accommodate of demons
• The human personality and body has a capacity to accommodate spirits. Apart from the human spirit, which is an indigenous part of the human body, the human body is a receptacle of spirits.

Apostle Isidore Agoha is the Senior Pastor at Triumphant Life Church in the Bronx, N.Y.

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