Day 138: Luke 4:31–37

In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, “Leave us alone! What do You have to do with us, Jesus—Nazarene” (vv. 33–34).

Christ’s earthly ministry had hardly been launched before the demonic world confronted Him—in a synagogue, no less. Thank goodness, Christ isn’t spooked by the demonic world. No matter what authority Satan and his subjects have been temporarily allowed in this world system, Christ can pull rank any time He wants. On that day in Capernaum, He wasted no time. A demon-possessed man shouted loudly and declared Jesus to be the Holy One of God.

The demon appeared to desire attention. We can assume the demon was loud because Christ adamantly told him to “Be quiet!” I’m certainly not suggesting that all demonic activity is loud. I am asking you to consider that when allowed to penetrate a place meant for practices of devotion to God, one of the chief tactics of demons is to divert attention.

I’ve seen this tactic. At a recent conference a woman began to shriek right after someone prayed and before I was to speak. The wise and godly woman leading the conference immediately went to the microphone and dealt graciously but firmly with the outburst. Although I’ve not often observed that type of behavior, the few times I’ve experienced it, I discerned a tactic of the demonic world to divert attention.

Note that the demon seemed to be telling some semblance of the truth, but we see a distortion or misuse of the truth in the demonic testimony. He was acting as a counterfeit preacher of sorts. He could not stop the truth so he hoped to disqualify the message by the instability or insanity of the apparent messenger.

Some years ago, a strange thing happened at our church. Each Sunday, for six or seven weeks, a man who appeared to be mentally ill would stand outside the main doors and “preach” to us using a megaphone as we left the building after worship. Some of the statements he made were technically scriptural, but his appearance and his approach demonstrated such instability that he did more to distract people from the truth than attract. The typical listener’s tendency would be to disbelieve anything he said simply because he was the one saying it.

Noise and distraction. These remain some of the enemy’s stock-in-trade.