A Spirit of Rest

And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils

Matthew 8:28-33

Problem: A spirit of violence has possessed these men. Notice they came together hinting at the fact that violent spirits run with the like. This is usually due to demonic hierarchy more than anything else. In simpler terms, that is the ranking system much as an army has generals, commanders, privates, and lieutenants. You won't for example catch an officer or a commanding general hanging out with his crew unless something really is wrong.

Symptoms: The presentations of violence were so bad that none could pass that way. The text doesn't say exactly what these men did. However, it is clear the spirits were exceedingly strong, taking over the persons will either by permission or deceit. Once access had been granted, the spirit had room to do whatever it wanted aided and abetted by the person themselves. So too these had violence that affected not only them but also some others. When Jesus was come to help, they turned even on him accusing him of violence before the judgment was come.

Treatment: Jesus sent the spirits wherever they would, namely into the herd of swine. Basically, he granted them their liberty between him and leaving. With this then, they chose the leaving and of course immediately destroyed the lesser beings of pigs.

Prognosis: Personal recovery may be affected due to the strained relationships with the people around. With Jesus help though and their personal following him, they were bound to have almost complete recovery.