Two weeks ago a film called Kony 2012 came out that rocked the world. The controversy behind it was incredible. People began calling it a scam and many people reacted negatively to the film. Under harsh scrutiny, Jason Russell entire family was put under the microscope of the public eye. When I first watched the film I thought oh man people are gonna love this! Social justice is the easiest train to ride especially if it does not have the name of Jesus on it. But something very different happened, the YouTube community of trolls and conspiracy theorists began flinging dirt at the project. Making stabs at Jason as well as the entire project as a way to get rich off of ignorant young people who blindly follow causes. I watched a response video from a girl who’s parents are from Uganda, she said that the Kony 2012 film blew the problem out of proportion and that it was making the problem worse.
Last night I saw a report from TMZ that Jason Russell had a meltdown and was ranting in the streets of San Diego naked. When I read this I thought it was a joke but a video proved otherwise. Jason was ranting like a mad man and every word coming out of his mouth was filth, he was slamming his fists on the ground and grabbing himself. I have seen this kind of behavior before. I live in San Francisco and if you were to take a quick stroll down market street you would soon find multiple druggies doing the same exact thing. But here is the catch with Jason, he does not do drugs and has no known past history with any psychological problems. While his wife and friends say it is from stress, I thing there is something far more spiritual going on here that we need to take into account.
Demons…yup. Spiritual attack is as real today as it was when Jesus was driving them out of small children. In India there are ministries who’s entire purpose is to go and drive out evil spirits. I have seen possession and it is very scary and real. I once visited a church in India and while the church was praying one of the women got possessed and began crawling on the ground. The pastors and the rest of the church immediately tackled her and began praying in the name of Jesus. It was almost like I could see whatever was inside her leave as her body relaxed and she came back to her senses. The Bible speaks of these spirits.
Mark 5
1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.[a]2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
Acts 16:16-18
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
Mark 9:14-29
14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,”he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.[a]”
Sean Trank 
Liked this post. Good writing, plenty of info and makes you think. Personally, I think this video will go down as not what the video is about, but what the video created–the response.
The idea that this ‘humanitarian’ went insane outside CA is just enhancing the story with negativity.
As for the actual cause, I hope people do realize there are problems outside of their own struggles, and that sometimes it deserves attention.
I am just glad Jason and nobody else was physically harmed during his episode. I have met Jason while I was at Point Loma, this was so far out of character I almost did not believe it was him.
Same here. It was self-destruction (caused by what I don’t know). Hopefully, he is alright as no one wants to see anyone in that state. I just moved down to San Diego and was shocked to see the event on the local news. My friends explained that the event took place close to where I am staying. I would love to find out exactly what is going on…how the organization is reacting and what their plans are going forward. Maybe I’ll get lucky and bump into one of them for an interview…
I saw the news article the day it happened and I couldn’t believe it. I thought of demon possession right away and my belief was confirmed as soon as I saw the video (the day it was released). I have traveled to Africa and Mexico myself and have seen the same behavior both out on the streets and the churches. The world/culture/media always makes up it’s own terms for things like this which it does not understand and it makes me sick. It makes perfect sense for the enemy to attack Jason for the reasons you have realized yourself. I have been praying for him and I hope every Christian will. The criticism for Invisible Children got me questioning them but that was obviously an attack as well, now I support them all the way. You know you’re doing something right when you get the devil’s attention! Thanks for this article, I searched “Jason Russell possessed” hoping that I wasn’t the only one! Let’s continue to pray.
In Love,
Mitch
[…] I have never gone viral before… well mostly just medically but not socially. On Monday, 4/21/14, it finally happened. A film I have worked on, prayed over, spent a year strategizing has hit 1 million views+ and I am so excited. The things I have seen go viral in my career were always something so shallow or ridiculous that people of the interwebs see it and say “Oh that is fun” and they share. Few things really strike up a meaningful conversation and often the message of such videos get caught up and lost in the mass of free thinkers online. For example, Kony 2012, was very thoughtful and well-meaning but soon became under attack by every side and the filmmaker literally had a breakdown and went temporarily insane. You can read more about that here. […]