The Gadarenes, Where Jesus Cast Out Demons (Not The WCW Wrestler Called The Demon)

Among our most excellent adventures in the lands of the Bible, this photo features me & my wife April in the region of the Gadarenes (aka Gerasenes or Gergesenes), along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, where there were two extremely violent demon possessed men who lived among the tombs. In the Holy Bible, Mark 5 and Luke 8 record that there was one screaming demon possessed man (with the demons inside of him imploring Jesus Christ not to send them into the abyss but into a herd of pigs), while Matthew 8 records that there were two demon possessed men. I presume that one was more vocal than the other, similar to the mischievous 1930s stage and movie duo Clark & McCullough (go ahead and search that reference...I have a knack for knowing forgotten or obscure celebrities). Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself cast these demons out of the two men and into a herd of pigs, with the whole herd of pigs rushing down the steep bank into the sea and perishing in the waters, setting these tortured men free. 

When you accept Jesus Christ into your life as Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit indwells in you as the ultimate security system against demon possession (Colossians 1:13, 1 John 4:4). While in this region where these demon possessed men lived among the tombs, April & I, along with our fine Christian Jordanian tour guide Raed Haddad, ate a meal on a hilltop at the Umm Qais Resthouse, which has a patio and a magnificent view of this Biblical territory. I'm sure it was a scary sight to see these scary demon possessed men breaking apart chains and shackles with no one able to subdue them, but the only thing that scared me that day in the Gadarenes was the amount of delicious food I ate and how much would be on the tab! But seriously, thank God that all of us who trust in Yeshua/Jesus are safeguarded against truly scary demons.

As a side note, this reminds me of reports I heard about the wrestler in WCW (World Championship Wrestling, owned by Ted Turner) called The Demon, modeled after the "demon" image of Gene Simmons from the rock band KISS. At some of the Urban Wrestling Alliance TV tapings that I did play-by-play announcing for, we had a wrestler named Apache (David Maria with a Native American gimmick), who was a WCW Power Plant trainee (a nice, enthusiastic kid who asked me for feedback regarding his work), and according to Apache, Gene Simmons called the WCW Power Plant, saying that he didn't want this wrestler playing The Demon or that wrestler playing The Demon, as a part of a casting process, with the role of The Demon eventually going to WCW Power Plant trainee Dale Torborg. Several years later, within a podcast interview, I recently heard former WCW executive Eric Bischoff talking about how much Gene Simmons really was involved in this WCW-KISS cross-promotion situation. This is a reflection of how the old school professional wrestling I grew up watching has changed more and more into Hollywood-like "sports-entertainment" (with an emphasis on entertainment).

While we're on the subject of tombs, I thought I'd get this message across within a public forum in advance. I am not saying this because I am feeling ill...in fact, praise God that I am healthy in body and strong in spirit (3 John 1:2). If I must go to heaven before our Lord Jesus returns (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52), I do not want a public wake, funeral, memorial service, tombstone or grave. I am an admirer of the great man of God named Moses, and since nobody knows where Moses is buried to this day (Deuteronomy 34:6), nobody needs to know where I'm buried, either. I'd like to have it done ala the late pro wrestler Randy Savage...just simply bury my ashes by a tree (or some other nondescript location). I realize that for some Christians, these ceremonial things can be used as a witnessing tool, to point people to Jesus...the memorial service/graduation to heaven ceremony for my friend Jolene Henry from Calvary Chapel Barstow is a profound example...but I simply think of my life on God's earth as a time to be a witness for Christ now, before my graduation to heaven, where there will be no more need for witnessing for Christ (when I will be in the presence of Christ Himself forever). And by the way, even though we read much about burials and tombs in the Bible, they are not required for salvation/in order to go to heaven, and cremation is not a sin. EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13), and that includes the believer who dies in a fire or an explosion, the believer who drowns in the ocean, and the believer who is cremated.

Again, however, especially since we are seeing things that reveal that His return is very near (Matthew 24:32-33), I do hope that April & I and many other Christ followers will be alive to see the Lord descending from heaven with a shout, when we will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)! Maranatha! Lord, come quickly (Revelation 22:20)!