Matthew 8:16

And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick.

Demon possession is a problem for some. The sophisticated mind of this scientific age, as a usual thing, simply does not believe in such things as demon possession. It seems quite obvious that Christ did. It is the view here that Christ is divine, that his judgments were altogether true and accurate, and that, whether any such things exist today or not, they certainly EXISTED THEN. The fair and ordinary interpretation of many New Testament passages on this question leaves absolutely no alternative except to believe it. It is possible that Satan may have ceased this type of activity for the specific purpose of casting doubt upon the New Testament. However, if Satan has ceased such activity, a far more plausible reason is that there is sufficient knowledge of Christ among people today to make it impossible for Satan to operate unhampered. If one may believe the testimony of returning missionaries from the darker corners of the planet, even now there is much evidence that the same phenomena still exist. Until medical knowledge is much more complete than it is at present, it is far too early to write off the plain words of the New Testament and the overwhelming traditions of the whole human race reaching back to the dawn of history. John Pitt, in a remarkably perceptive book, Faith Healing, Fact or Fiction, quotes an eminent British scholar, R. J. Campbell, as follows: "If there is one thing almost beyond question to those who know the evidence in these days, it is that demon possession is not only a fact, but a fact of our times, as well as New Testament times."[5] Pitt also said, "The evidence is thus clear; our Lord did believe in demons as causative agents in some forms of sickness; he did not believe in a devil-infested world."[6]

The verse before us inspired the following lines whose author is unknown:

At even, when the sun was set, The sick, O Lord, around thee lay. O, in what divers pains they met, O, in what joy they went away!

[5] Ibid., p. 37.

[6] John Pitt, Faith Healing, Fact or Fiction (Westwood, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1961), p. 38.