I once worked on an evangelistic series that was designed for modern, mostly non-religious people.

It was based on Mark's Gospel, and that was a deliberate choice because Mark was writing to Gentile converts,

so he goes to the trouble of explaining Jewish culture, exactly the kind of thing that many 21st century non-religious Westerners would

struggle to understand. In many ways, then Mark is the perfect starter gospel for those who

are coming to the Bible for the first time. But the more we studied Mark, the more we

noticed that he keeps insisting on something that seems at odds with this

user-friendly approach, something that even many religious people, let alone non-religious

people, struggle to accept. And he makes it a central part of his narrative. Again and again, Mark insists on the reality of demons.

Embarrassingly enough, it's right there in Mark's very first chapter. That evening at

sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or oppressed by demons, and he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him.

So, this is all a bit awkward.

According to the gospel writers, Jesus clearly recognized the reality of demons that people could be oppressed by them.

And Jesus spends a lot of time in Mark's gospel casting them out.

As we saw in another episode of Simply Put, the one about Satan, it can be tempting to discard

Jesus' view as being merely a product of its time.

But it's salutary to remember that Jesus was never one to go with the cultural flow.

And if we do see Jesus' talk of demons as being merely a product of its

time, isn't it possible that our disbelief in them is merely a product of our time? Certainly,

the biblical testimony about demons is clear and unapologetic.

Demons are angels who fell with Satan, who was, of course, an angel himself.

They were those who had taken sides with Satan in his rebellion against God.

Talk about being on the wrong side of history.

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