Luke 8:28 NIV

When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!”

The Spooky Naked Guy Chronicles: Part Two

Previously: The demon possessed, spooky naked guy was divinely led to the beach and met Jesus upon His arrival with His disciples. Even the spooky naked guy was sought out by Jesus. He wants to reach all of His kids!

The Story Continues:

Spooky naked guy saw Jesus.

There he was basically haunting the beach scaring people and doing spooky stuff, when He was confronted by his Creator.

Though he had never seen Jesus before, he knew who He was.

Instead of saying “Boo!” or whatever spooky demon possessed guys do while haunting places and scaring people, he throws himself at the feet of Jesus. This man who has terrorized his region of the world for so long, sees Jesus and immediately hits the dirt in submission.

Nothing and no one had been able to get him to do that! Chains couldn’t even hold him! Now, he is laying in the dirt at the feet of the Messiah.

He didn’t just lay there, either. He shouts at the top of his voice! He wants to know what Jesus wants with him, and begs Jesus not to torture him.

He, also, without ever having laid eyes on Jesus, knew Jesus was the Son of God.

Somewhere in the midst of his personal living nightmare is this poor guy. His body filled full of creatures from Hell and he is in control of nothing, yet being used by satanic beings to terrorize the country and destroy his life.

Let’s take a little break in the story and “sit a little closer to the court” so you can get a close up view and coach’s perspective….

Often, I’ve noticed many of the pro tennis players and high performance juniors I have coached tend to have some seemingly pretty poor attitudes on the tennis court, particularly when stuff isn’t going their way. I can see most of you parents and tennis coaches nodding.

Sometimes the player seems to take on an entirely new, and unwelcome, personality during tennis practice or a tennis match! Back in the day, I used to get upset with the player when this happened. Time and experience has changed my view. Now, I look for the root cause of the player’s pain and see if I can help.

Today’s youth have a lot of pressure. There are many distractions, such as parents who don’t know how to stay married. Daily, terrorism is the theme of the news. The internet fills kids with information to a point I couldn’t even imagine having to deal with when I was their age. Little is being taught in the churches about Satan or the Great Commission or Sin, and God is being reinvented to look like a jolly Santa. Talk about pressure kids are under!

Parents… here’s some loving advice from a Christian guy with 20+ years experience in tennis as a coach, and 10 years in ministry as the founder of a sports ministry…

Let the kids be kids and have fun. If they have fun, they will focus better as they age. A player who loves tennis gives a coach more to work with. Then, great coaching combines with a happy, focused player. From there genetics and opportunity take over to determine pro potential. Your job is to model and teach them about Jesus….

Ok, now back to our story…. Remember, spooky naked guy is currently in the dirt shouting at Jesus not to torture him.

You know what? We really don’t even know who this guy is! We know he’s spooky and naked and now covered in beach sand, but we don’t know him. We haven’t even met the real him!

We’ve only met the demonic groupies hanging out with (in!) him.

What we know is the demons have taken him over. This may come as a shock to today’s trendy Christian, but Satan wants to destroy us all and he is loaded with demons who can inhabit and influence and oppress people.

The demons have turned the guy, who we’ll call Normal Guy from now on, into a monster. They entered his body and took him over. Normal Guy turned into Spooky Naked Guy. I wonder if Normal Guy even noticed the transition.

Yet, the Spooky Naked Guy demons noticed a transition coming! It walked onto the shore from the boat. They saw Jesus and knew the end of their kidnapping and murder plot was near. Sin and oppression came face to face with reality.

In a small way I understand this because the anger taking hold in my players during a tennis match knows its in serious trouble when I stand up to walk onto the tennis court. You can also see the player himself have an awakening as he is freed of the bondage.

Just as Normal Guy wasn’t seen by the disciples because of the control of Spooky Naked Guy, athletes need to be aware of their actions during competition. Your anger can hide the real you from being a positive example. In fact, people may only see you as the anger you showed on center court at the US Open, or in the finals of your junior tournament.

What kind of person do you want to be? Normal Guy or Spooky Naked Guy? How do we know when satanic influences have rooted themselves in our life story? It’s a big question.

Start seeking the answer. Look at your life habits. Look honestly and look deeply. Ask people who know you. Are you obsessed or find your happiness with drugs, pornography, alcohol, food… or even cooking, winning, cleaning, working, pastoring, coaching.

Seek to discern if something has taken over your life and taken you away from a singular focus on Christ.

Go places and be near Godly people who love Jesus with all their hearts. Read your Bible. Pray. Your sin will be exposed! Just as the demon recognized Jesus and fell at his feet begging for mercy, your sin will be revealed as sin when near God.

Then, finally, comes the battle! The battle you desperately need. The battle Jesus is “rowing” to so He can help you succeed in sharing His amazing grace with the world!

Sin when revealed by God claims God will torture it!

It will grab its victim and throw her around while using her to manipulate circumstances in its favor. Maybe she will find herself angry at the one God sent to help her. Maybe she will yell and scream and shout as the sin seeks control!

That is what happened to me when I was far from God and sin controlled my life.

I’ve have also coached players who have gone through this situation. Some made it through, some didn’t. Some thank God for their new life in Him. Some curse me for having been used by God to reach them. Being confronted with God and seeing the sin which controls is difficult for anyone.

Know God is always in control. Nothing can withstand His love and fury. He will come to you on your turf in your sin and He is willing to throw out all oppression and possession to save His special child made in His image.

No matter what sin tries to convince you is true and real, it will always grovel at the feet of Jesus.

And, as we will soon see, must obey every command of Jesus… as Spooky Naked Guy will soon learn!

Scott Paschal

International Christian Tennis Association