A Generation In Its Right Mind
April 2023
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“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him …. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.” —Mark 5:1-6, 15
OUT OF MY MIND
Years ago, before I became a Christian, I received a scholarship to play baseball at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. There, I started drinking much more than I had in high school. I was drinking nearly every night, unless we had practice the next day. Midway through my first season as a college baseball player, I took over a starting position hitting leadoff and playing center field. I had a fairly good freshman season, but when I came back for my sophomore year, my baseball career started on a downward trajectory. I started drinking more heavily. Other situations in my life began to spiral out of control, and again, the drinking increased. At that point in my life, I wasn’t drinking for fun, I was drinking to numb the pain and to forget why I had that pain in the first place. I was losing my mind. My drinking took me so deep that, on numerous occasions, I contemplated taking my own life. I started fights with people I didn’t even know, and, on several occasions, I even tried to fight some of my best friends. This resulted in them kicking me out of our apartment. Essentially, I was much like the demon possessed man in Mark 5—I was losing my mind, living among the tombs, and wanting to hurt myself. Sin had taken me to a place that I didn’t think I could come back from.
I started visiting churches in the hope of them having something to offer me. But at most of these churches, I found nothing.
One night, while back home on a break, I was on the couch weeping over what my life was becoming. My mom looked at me and said, “You need to go back to the church we last attended.” That church was Day Star Ministries in Bassett, Virginia. The moment I walked through the doors, I felt something different. I felt the presence of God. I wept, from the moment I walked into that church until the moment I returned home.
I grabbed my mom in a hug and told her that she needed to make things right with God, and she did. Her life changed, but I went right back to the “tombs.” She urged me to stop drinking and allow Jesus to change my heart. But I continued to resist, and my life sank deeper into sin and darkness.
One day, Mom texted to tell me to read Proverbs 20:1 and that I need to quit drinking. I ignored her text. Days later, as I was about to start another night of drinking, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. My phone had a lock code, but it was unlocked and a Bible app was opened to Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Then I read the next verse, “The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.”
That night, Jesus spoke to me very clearly and said, “Your drinking is a sin that makes the king angry.” But again, I ignored the pull of the Spirit.
Several weeks later, I was at a party, talking with my friend and his girlfriend. I started talking about Jesus. The girl told me she was Catholic, and listed all the things that she believed about God. I told her, “No sinful man can absolve me of my sins. There is only one mediator between God and man and His name is Jesus.” She left the room crying, and my friend’s fist started to ball up, ready to fight. I looked down at the beer bottle in my hand that I was drinking from, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “What are you doing here?”
The next day, at Rivers of Living Water Ministries in Elkins, I asked the Lord to deliver me from alcohol and tobacco, and I said that He could have the remainder of my life. That day Jesus saved me, and He healed my mind. People began to notice that I was clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, and in my right mind.
A GENERATION OUT OF ITS MIND
There is a generation today that appears to be completely out of its mind. We have watched the deconstruction of the concept of absolute truth. This generation has been trained to think that truth is subjective, meaning that truth depends on what the individual feels rather than what the individual knows to be true. Gender has been brought into question. This generation has been taught, through various media outlets, to doubt the gender they were assigned at birth. They have been taught to consider that their gender is unfixed, fluid, and dependent on how they feel about themselves rather than what they can observe to be true. The same has happened with sexuality.
This deconstruction of absolute truth is the work of Satan—to demoralize and create a depraved society with no moral compass; a false promise that you will be happier with yourself if you live according to your truth.
We see depression rising among teenagers and young adults. We find them less happy and more isolated than ever before. They are unhappy with themselves and hurting themselves. Many are just like I was, just like that demon possessed man—they are out of their minds. The truth is, the darkness that has fallen on this generation is great darkness, and the picture is very bleak.
JESUS CAN TURN IT ALL AROUND
However, I do have some good news—Jesus can turn it all around. Jesus set the demoniac free; Jesus set me free; and Jesus can set this generation free from the chains of sin.
Jesus showed up for me in Elkins, West Virginia, just like he showed up on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee for a man living among the tombs. I believe this generation is about to watch Jesus show up again. And just like the people who saw my life changed by Christ, and the people by the seaside saw the maniac of Gadara set free, I believe we are going to soon see this generation clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, and in their right mind.
I hear the sound of chains falling as another person bound by sin walks free!
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