“He said to them, “‘Go!”’ So they came out and went into pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.”
~ Matthew 8:32
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like pigs? Have you ever touched a pig? How would you like to have a pig for a pet? Do you think that your dad and/or ma would let you have a pet pig? Your dad’s grandpa raised pigs on the farm where your grandpaa grew up as a kid. Your dad’s grandpa had your grandpaa feed the pigs that were on your dad’s grandpa’s farm. Your dad’s grandpa had your grandpaa make up the slop which the pigs ate out of troughs. Your grandpaa would make the slop in a fifty-five gallon barrel. Your grandpaa’s dad had a neighbor come once a year to the farm where your grandpaa grew up as a kid to shell the corn that your dad’s grandpa was storing in a corncrib. Your grandpaa’s dad would have another guy come to his farm to grind the shelled corn. When your grandpaa made slop, your grandpaa would put the number of five gallon pails of ground corn that your grandpaa’s dad had told your grandpaa to put in the fifty-five gallon barrel. After your grandpaa put the five gallon pails of ground corn in the barrel, your grandpaa would then fill the barrel almost to the top with pails of water and skim milk. Your grandpaa would then mix the water and skim milk in with the ground corn – which your grandpaa would leave to soak. This mix was called slop. Your grandpaa would feed this slop to the pigs that your dad’s grandpaa had on his farm. Your grandpaa would use the five gallon pails that your grandpaa had used to fill the fifty-five gallon barrel to carry the slop to where your dad’s grandpa kept his pigs. When pigs see food coming, pigs do not have any patience. Each pig will try and push the other pigs away from the troughs to be the first pig to get the slop. Do you eat like a pig? Pigs are supposed to be a clean animal but . . . a pig likes to lie in mud. When God gave the Israelite people group – His specially chosen guys, gals and kids, rules and regulations to obey, God included rules and regulations about the food that His specially chosen guys and gals were to eat. God told His specially chosen guys and gals – through Moses, that they were not to eat pig meat. God only wanted His specially chosen guys and gals to eat the meat of certain animals, birds and fish. When God the Father sent His Son Jesus to planet Earth to live, God’s specially chosen guys and gals still did not eat pig meat. There were other guys and gals who were living in the same land where God’s specially chosen guys and gals lived. These guys and gals were referred to as Gentiles. The guys and gals who were referred to as Gentiles and God’s specially chosen guys and gals – who were called Jews at the time that Jesus was born on planet Earth and where Jesus would live for 32 to 35 years, did not get along very well. Gentile guys and gals ate whatever they wanted to eat. Gentile guys raised pigs to eat.
Have you ever seen a guy or gal acting loco? A guy or gal who acts crazy may have a chemical imbalance. Your grandpaa knows that he does crazy things at times but . . . there are guys and gals who do more than crazy things; these guys and gals are demented. When your grandpaa uses the word crazy at this time about a guy or gal, your grandpaa is talking about a guy or gal whose mind does not let him or her reason rationally resulting in the guy or gal to act out in an abnormal way. Your grandpaa believes that there is a world which your grandpaa cannot see which has living in it good spirits and bad spirits. The bad spirits are spirits who are gofers for the enemy – Satan, as Satan tries to destroy the good which is on planet Earth and in the universe. God sometimes allows Satan to assign evil spirits to live in the life of guy or gal who is living on planet Earth. When an evil spirit is permitted by God to live in a guy or gal on planet Earth, the evil spirit will often control how the guy or gal acts and what the guy or gal says. A guy or gal who is acting very differently than how a guy or gal would act normally may have an evil spirit residing inside him or her. An evil spirit will make a guy or gal act as if they have lost their mind.
Do you know what Jesus did when Jesus lived on planet Earth? Jesus walked from one place to another place in the land area where the guys and gals who were Jews were living. Jesus taught and talked about His Father God with the guys and gals who were Jews. Matthew 8 is a day in the life of Jesus. This chapter actually probably covers a number of days but . . . it still illustrates what Jesus did day after day during the time that He lived on planet Earth. When Matthew wrote the missive that was given his name, Matthew wrote about Jesus as being King. Mathew had been a Levite tax collector. When Matthew recorded what he did about Jesus, Matthew wanted every guy and gal who read his letter – both the Jew and Gentile guys and gals, to know who Jesus was. Matthew wrote as if he was an eyewitness to what Jesus did each day. Matthew witnessed Jesus healing a leper. Matthew knew that because of a centurion’s faith, Jesus healed the centurion’s servant. Matthew saw Jesus heal the sick mother-in-law of a fellow disciple – Peter. Matthew heard a teacher of the law – which God had given to Moses, say to Jesus that just as soon as his dad dies that he would follow Jesus as a disciple of His. Matthew heard Jesus tell the guy to forget it – that if the guy really wanted to follow Him, the guy would gladly let other guys bury his dad. Matthew was in a boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee crossing over to the Gadarenes region when the wind came up and the water got really rough. Matthew heard Jesus tell the winds to calm down. Matthew saw two crazy guys who had evil spirits living in them recognize Jesus. Matthew saw Jesus send the evil spirits into a herd of pigs. Verse 32 reports “He said to them, “‘Go!”’ So they came out and went into pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.” Christ-follower guys and gals are not to ever, ever hesitate to claim the power that is in Jesus’ name.
Matthew 8 (138)