Check this out.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.  —  ‭‭Mark‬ ‭5:11-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Don’t let familiarity with that story detract from its high level of weirdness. That story is loco. And mark what these demons did:

1. They called Jesus “son of the most high God” – sounds a lot like worship
2. They asked Jesus for permission
3. They did what Jesus told them to do

Now we should probably aim to live and do better than these demons. But can we at least be this good?

From the archives:

Some Christians talk a lot about the “wages of sin” being “death” but what they don’t often say is that the sin of one often results in the death of another. Likewise, the other side of that coin, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” is taken to mean some form of spiritual magic, when what it should mean is that the followers of Jesus can never again look on violence as a logical consequence or as just desserts. How can we worship a God beaten by the police and not have empathy, not stand in solidarity, with all other victims of violence by those in authority? Our heroes are too often purveyors of violence, but our Lord stands with those who receive violence. We should too.
Read the rest here.