Unravelling the Value System of Kingdom Citizens and Non-Citizens
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.(Matthew 19:26 KJV)
We were in the boat, and from afar before reaching shore we could see a man who was hard at work, carrying big stones and heaping them upon each other but was bound in chains. For a moment, we thought soldiers might be around somewhere keeping his company while he carries out the labour duty assigned to him. Eventually, we arrived at the shore and as Master stepped on the ground with his right foot to alight the boat — suddenly a shout ‘Why are you here, we know who thou art, what have I to do with you Jesus son of the most high God?’. Lo and behold, it was the man hard at work. Drama of Exorcism unprepared for commenced —
Jesus: ‘Come forth out of him’
Demon: ‘I adjure thee by God, torment me not’
Jesus: ‘What is thy name?’
Demon: ‘My name is Legion, for we are many’
Demon: ‘I beg you send us anywhere, but do not send us out of this country’
Demon: ‘Please send us into the Swine nearby’
I beg you send us anywhere, but do not send us out of this country.
We arrived at the conclusion of the exorcism; Master sent them into the swine nearby. Immediately, the herd of swine about two thousand, thoughts of suicide possessed their minds and all rushed down the steep and choked themselves in the sea.
After the suicide, I saw strange beings in spirit form come out of the water and stood at the shore. It is strange that I alone saw this amongst the twelve, it must be the laying on of Master’s hand during the sending out of the seventy that is still having an effect on me. However, I look forward to an opportune moment alone with the master to talk about the scene.
Preparing to proclaim our popular message; ‘REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND’ as we drew near the entrance of the city of Gadara — we were approached by some people of the country, their countenance was not welcoming but rather anguish — we were called aside and after inquiry behind their anguish— we discovered it was because of the death of the herd of swine. Rational thoughts flowed within me, thoughts that should have emerged at the completion of the exorcism: ‘ Master again with his unrealistic approach to life, why should he cast demons into the swine, these serve as the livelihood of some people and now they are all dead. How are we going to repay for all that when they come looking for them?’. Well, it turns out that the herd of swine serves as the city’s means of livelihood and because we had nothing of such, as monetary value to replace them — the gingering of the message and hope we brought was silenced and we were implored to leave the city, lest we enter and cause even greater damage than before. They did not want to hear words, all their minds were focused on was their livelihood, even the restoration of the Man at the shore was minute to them. However, *we left a disciple there *; the man who was restored, Master shook his hand, sealed his partnership with us and asked him to declare our message to the whole country.
As we board the boat to depart the shore of the country, I saw the strange beings in the spirit form standing by the shore again, descend into the country like the motion of the wind. This time I got the message and it calls to mind the lesson from one of the discipleship meetings on exorcism: ‘The Last State of the Man[Country] is worse than the First’( see Matthew 12:43–45).
