“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26 NKJV)
Growing up, many of us heard stories of old haunted houses. Tales around campfires used to consist of old creaking houses, moaning voices, rattling chains and eerie noises. Story after story was told by children to other children to try and scare them. As generations have passed, it seems that the tradition of telling such stories has continued. Only, now, we’re no longer kids, but adults, adults that should know better to believe childhood tales of spooks–right?
I can tell you emphatically that there are no such things as haunted houses, ghosts, and so on, but at the same time I must warn you, there is another force of darkness out there; a force so evil, so sinister, so manipulative that the very Word of God itself warns us about it; and that is demons. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God is full of scriptures of unseen warfare against these evil forces of darkness. Their main purpose? To either (a) oppress or possess a human being so as to control their life, or (b) to destroy that soul immediately so as to send it to a devil’s hell.
Sadly, there are literally millions of spiritual haunted houses–houses made from flesh and blood that have given control of their life to some dark sinister force of darkness. Their house is literally haunted. The Scripture says, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV). We are made to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not evil spirits. We are to be God’s holy temple, with our body, soul and spirit in wholehearted service to the Most High God. In Luke 11, though, we see a vastly different picture than what God had intended. We see a house (human body) that becomes haunted (possessed).
Beautiful, well-built homes are very seldom, if ever, called haunted houses. The reason homes are labeled as haunted houses is because of the outward appearance they give. There are certain signs or characteristics they give. As well, there are, also, certain signs and characteristics that will be evident when a person is either oppressed or possessed by evil spirits or influenced by them. In the story of the demon possessed man in Mark 5, it shows us signs of a haunted house. From this Scripture, we see that there are three signs of a haunted house.
First, he made his home around dead things. Just as the maniac in Mark, people with haunted houses like to hang around dead things. Many never come to Spirit-filled church services because they're afraid of Holy Ghost conviction. They'll go to dead, dried-up services so they won't have to feel conviction. They’ll want to be around the deadest services they can find, the deadest preaching, the deadest singing, because the spirits that control them hate spirituality.
Second, he was violent. No man could tame him. Notice the word tame here. You tame animals, but you train humans. He was considered an animal. He had become violent. Violence has swept across America like wildfire. Not an hour goes by that violence doesn't affect someone, somewhere. Reports tell us that a violent crime takes place every 8 minutes. The devil has unleashed the forces of darkness upon this planet like never before. Evil spirits are running rampant, and they must be stopped. How do we stop them? By using the name of Jesus! The only thing that could tame that maniac was when Jesus spoke to him and cast the devils out. Those spirits had found a warm, comfortable house in which they could do their evil deeds. But Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, swept that house clean.
Third, he was destructive. He was crying out as a wolf and cutting himself with stones. Any normal person would never do such a thing. He was possessed and did not realize or even care about the harm he was doing to himself. Sadly, in the day that we're living in, countless scores of people are bound by satan, tormented by evil spirits, and are destroying themselves and don't even care. There is an epidemic of young people self-cutting themselves, harming themselves. We are living in a time where human beings are human time bombs just waiting to self-destruct. They are bound by alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, sex, money and countless other filthy habits.
Jesus brought delivering power to the maniac here in Mark 5. When Christ commanded the demons to go, they went. This man was a new creature now in Christ Jesus. That's what deliverance is. It is when God gets back the old house and it becomes his possession again. Now, this man had been delivered and set free by the power of God. Verse 15 even says that he was sitting there “clothed and in his right mind.” When God delivers a person, He does it right. He makes changes for the better. That old house won't be haunted anymore. It's been set free. The old man has been saved.