FLANNELGRAPH FOUNDATIONS Week 9: “Can You Spot the Difference” Mark 5-6

Have you ever seen this little game: Can You Spot the Difference? I love that game!

Today’s flannelgraph foundation story is all about Spotting the Difference in a couple of ways. I want you to do some detective work as I tell the story on our flannelgraph, and see if you can spot the differences in TWO SEPARATE PICTURES we see in the story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man. 

Now for those who doubt the existence of demons, or the dark spiritual realm and how it can influence us; for those who think demon-possession is just stuff for hollywood fiction - let me tell you that the Bible is clear that demons do exist. We are told that our struggle isn’t really against flesh and blood; when you get into a long-term bitter feud with a relative, or when you are up against an addiction that you just can’t seem to kick, or when your emotions seem to drive you to lose control - Paul tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the forces of this dark world.

The spiritual realm is reality. And we must be aware of that so that we can focus on the real problem, rather than spend all our time and effort putting bandages on the problem when deep surgery is what is needed. It was CS Lewis that said that the greatest trick the devil played on mankind was to make us believe that he wasn’t real. What a great strategy! Now we are constantly distracted from the REAL issue, which allows many people to never be able to find true healing.