How Many Demons Can A Person Have?
For
over a year, we had read the Bible, fasted, prayed, sang praises to
God, cast out demons in Jesus' name, and the demons continued to
come out, but many questions remained. How many more were there? Were the demons that had been cast out
re-entering Kristin and being cast out again? If not, just how many demons can a
person have?
Mark 5:9-13 records a demon answering Jesus:
And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.
How many demons were in that person? A Roman legion had 6,000 soldiers at full strength, so were there 6,000 demons, and did three of them enter each of the "two thousand" pigs? Or were there 2,000 demons, each of whom entered each of those two thousand pigs? Or were there only a few hundred, or even a few dozen demons who entered just some of the pigs, who started a stampede that led the herd into the sea? The Bible doesn't specify, but the name "Legion" implies that up to 6,000 demons could have been in the person.
And was the solution to casting out the remaining demons just finding someone who has been gifted with the faith to cast them out? Or should I fast longer and/or more often? If not, what were we doing wrong, and what should we be doing?
Also, when the demons were being cast out of Kristin a year earlier, the reaction emanating from within her had seemed uniformly evil. As time passed, that uniformity wavered. Demons still came out of her and their guttural noise still emanated from within her. But sometimes, the noise she made sounded a bit different and was accompanied by a sense of profound sadness and grief than evil. What was causing this shift?