Driving 6000 Demons Dippy

Have you ever heard of a Rent-a-Sister program? Like a Rent-a-Car business, Rent-a-Sister is where you can rent a female person who accompanies you like a sister. The program was created in Japan to address the growing issue of men withdrawing from society and refusing to leave their rooms. They are known as Hikikomori (引きこもり). It translates to “pulling inward, being confined,” also known as “Acute Social Withdrawal” syndrome.

About a million young men have this condition in Japan. They don’t leave home. Many of them still live with their parents, but they don’t leave their bedrooms. Some of them haven’t left home for a decade. Some were violent against their parents when they persuaded them to go out. The parents in this situation would go to the Rent-a-Sister company to hire a sister for their son.

These sisters for hire are not social workers or psychologists. All they do is talk to their client like a sister for a few hours a week. They are not cheap. It costs the parents about $1,000 a month. Since they don’t see it as a mental illness, Rent-a-Sister is a great alternative to seeing a psychologist. In America, we might treat it as a mental health problem. That’s a different topic.

I discovered this on BBC News. As of 2019, this program has helped about 3,000 young men come out of their hiding places. When asked, they revealed they have social anxiety caused by shame, failure, confusion, rejection, fear, bullying, not fitting in, and many other reasons.

Most of us are not in such extreme conditions, but I believe we all are on the spectrum of social anxiety and a tendency to isolate ourselves. In America, we live in comparatively big houses with big yards. We can isolate ourselves in the name of privacy.

Each one is different in terms of social anxiety. Some people don’t want to attend school alumni gatherings because they don’t want to see their old classmates doing better than them. Do you have a specific social group that you avoid?

Our quality of life depends on relationships. Last week, I discussed God as the author of love and healthy relationship. The Trinity reveals that God is not a lone ranger but a fellowship of love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God’s present mission is to restore broken relationships in this fallen world.

Today I want to talk about the opposite spirits known as “demons.” I have never seen demons, but I have discovered that the Hebrew word Satan (sataan) is a verb made noun (gerund) meaning “to oppose,” “to entice,” or “to be in adversarial.” It’s more of behavior rather than a creature.

Since God is love and healthy relationships, Satan is to create broken relationships. This force or spirit is also called the “unclean spirit,” as opposed to the “Holy Spirit,” which is the “Clean Spirit.” Sometimes they are called “demons,” “devils,” or “evil spirits.”

No matter how you call it, their job is to make you unable to relate with others. The demons instill excuses in people, giving them reasons to stay away from one another. You won’t see demons as creatures with horns and fangs, but you see them everywhere where broken relationships exist.

There is a man in the Bible who had 6000 demons or 6000 excuses to stay away from people. In fact, he lived in the tombs instead of a house. Even though this is an extreme case, it teaches us some important lessons about how we can fall into the opposite side of love and relationships.

Mencius, the great philosopher, said that relationship is the fundamental requirement for success. If you want to succeed in life, you cannot let demons possess you. Demons are everywhere in this fallen world. If you don’t pay attention, you can easily fall into their traps and unconsciously become a recluse.

On the other hand, if you have healthy relationships, God has a mission for you to be a peacemaker, restore broken relationships, and bear witness to the joy of love and harmony. Today, we will study the story of Jesus driving out 6000 demons from a man who lost his ability to relate. So, let’s begin!