Behind the Scene: The Homeless Man

Today I’m taking you behind the scene of the demon possessed homeless man from the prologue of Transgression, book one in The Kingdom Come Series. I’ll be sharing my thought process and some of the underlying motivations I had behind what all really happens in that moment.

But first, the scene!

Shael ran back to the car. He noticed the open car door casting a faint glow along the pavement from the interior light. He ran around to the front of the ATM and found Anna standing white faced. She wasn’t alone. The man behind her looked to be about forty, and perhaps homeless. He had a ragged beard and, from the looks of it, hadn’t showered in weeks. He held a gun in his hand; shiny, black, and against Anna’s head. “What is your name?” Shael asked, with more anger than fear. His reaction frightened Anna. She stood rigid, her eyes widening in disbelief.

The man’s eyes, once a pale blue, turned black and his face contorted. Suddenly his teeth were tripled in number and grew razor sharp. The throat beyond appeared endless, like a black pit. His veins burst through his skin, dying his flesh purple, blue, and black. “We are Legion.” The man spoke, but instead of the man’s voice, it was the voice of a hundred speaking in unison in low raspy tones, dry and crackling.

Anna stiffened and made a move to get away, but was yanked back. The man buried his face into her, sniffing her neck and her hair, his nose formed from two slits in his face. Anna cried now, trembling with fear. Legion’s vast mouth twitched up in a sadistic smile.

Shael lifted his dagger. Anna began to weep, tears pouring down her cheeks. She looked deep into her husband’s eyes, pleading with him, confused. She didn’t understand, that this is what God built him to do, that this is who he was. At that moment the man’s face was his own again- he looked scared, panicked.

“Gi-give me the money, lady,” he said. His voice broke, confusion written clearly on his face.

Anna reached up her hand, horror taking hold of her. The man snatched the money from her. Once the money reached his hand his face contorted once more. Shael threw the dagger. It flew through the air with a whistle and dug itself into the man’s neck. The gun fired.

The man’s body went limp and fell. The face, now that of the demons’, laughed as the body plunged toward the ground. Blood poured profusely from the man’s neck. Then, the demonic face vanished, and the frightened face of the man was there screaming out in pain.

….

Shael, with a knot in his heart, leaped over her to the man. He lay shaking all over, genuine tears streaming down his face. “Stay still,” Shael said, placing a hand over the man’s heart. “In the name of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, I command you- free this man!” Shael’s voice, full of aggressive finality, penetrated the night, drowning out the man’s cries.

The man screamed and his chest flew upward as what seemed like a mixture of black smoke and ash flew from his body into the air. The man’s body slumped back down to the ground. A flock of nearby birds pecking on the ground was smothered by the ashes and flew straight up into the air and then into the windshield of an on-coming semi.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry,” The man cried over and over again, his voice beginning to gurgle in his blood.

“Shh,” Shael said, holding the man close, hugging him. He felt the soreness growing in his own throat. “Shh, I forgive you. You’re forgiven.”

Shael held the man until his weeping ceased and his body grew still. Shael lay the man’s body down on the ground, and his own tears began to wet his cheeks.

Excerpt from: “Transgression”, book one of the Kingdom Come Series by Brandy Ange, Copyright Brandy Ange 2017

There’s a lot I could unpack here, but I think first I’d like to address why I chose a homeless man.

Though in this scene, he is the one instigating violence, I really wanted it to not be lost that he was also a victim. I think it is too easy for us to forget that villains were often victims first. And those stuck in a victim mentality run the risk of forgetting that at some point we have each been a villain to someone else.

Shael is acutely aware of this, as we get to learn (the more we get into his full backstory), that is how he is able to meet this man with compassion, in the midst of desperation and tragedy.

I chose a homeless man because there’s safety in numbers (generally speaking), not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. As an outlier and marginalized member of society, this man lacked community, he lacked a support system and relationships, and that made him easy prey to his demons (figuratively, metaphorically, and literally).

Left to fall further and further into stress, loneliness, despair, need, and vulnerability, this man was left wide open to give in to his demons. And who was around to notice, or care? No one.

If misery loves company, then darkness breeds evil. This man could very well have been in his position as a natural consequence to his own actions. However, does that make it right for society to show no compassion? If we turn our backs on all those who struggle, even if “they made their own bed”, then we are allowing the problem to grow and multiply. When we refuse aid to victims, we could be creating the villains we’ll face tomorrow. If we could change the trajectory of a life with an act of kindness and compassion, we could essentially (to over simplify for the sake of brevity) change our society.

Our culture is so self focused that it makes outliers and marginalization too easy. If we were to focus more outward, if we were to seek restoration over restitution, then over time we could cultivate a culture of true community.

We need community. We need compassion. We need safe places to share our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, to share thoughts and ideas, to disagree with one another and still love each other.

When we isolate ourselves, or sentence others to social exile (cancel culture as well as us vs them), we only condemn our culture to a downward spiral of bitterness, self-indulged victim mentality, and loneliness.

I don’t know about you, but I want better for us!

Shael’s ability to step over himself and his own pain, to show this man forgiveness, compassion, gentleness, and to try and offer him peace, is a tragically beautiful picture that comes just a little too late. This is what I don’t want for our culture.

I believe that humanity has an inherent goodness. We feel good when we do kind things for one another. It warms our hearts when we witness it. It is written on our hearts to love one another. I remember being so encouraged during COVID seeing all of the acts of kindness cropping up as people banded together during crisis. It brought me to tears, and I’m not usually a crier!

But why wait for a crisis? Why is it so easy for us to forget that side of ourselves when things are normal, or good? We need that mentality in the everyday. I fall in love with humanity and love people when we remember to look outside of ourselves. But the more self focused our culture becomes the more I am tempted to lose faith in humanity, and despair over where the world is heading.

This homeless man represents what we as a society create when we allow, ignore, or push out those who struggle. Rather, I wish we were a culture who embraced people and prevented the downward spiral.

Its hardest to forgive and to step over those barriers when they are personal. But, I think it feels good and is just as healing for us, as it is for those who are brought back into the fold. How much more productive could we be if we spent more time building trust over walls. If we opened doors for communication rather than shut down conversations. What would happen if we loved people first, and talked second?

Who is it in our society that you shy away from most? It might not be homeless people, it might be those who hold different political leanings, or religious beliefs, or look different than you… but I challenge you to consider who it is you instinctively avoid or push away. This is a convicting question for me as well.

The second thing I wanted to point out and mention is the demons possessing the birds that fly into the semi. You may notice this as a nod to scripture when Jesus expels the demons out of the man and sends them into the pigs, which then run off the cliff. (Matthew ch 8, Luke ch 8)

There’s a couple of interesting takeaways I want to mention here.

1. Note how nature naturally avoids evil and demonic activity. The pigs, and the birds would rather die than be possessed by demons.
2. In the Matthew and Luke narratives, this story takes place in the Decapolis. Jews would NEVER go there willingly, because it was not only a gentile area, but one that was particularly despicable to them. That is where this man was. This man was an outlier of even THAT society- pretty bad. But Jesus went where no other Jewish Rabbi was willing to go, and he met that man where he was. In healing him, Jesus not only changed the trajectory of that man’s life but it avalanched into his society.

See that demon possessed man wanted to leave and go with Jesus, but Jesus told him to stay. The people were mad about the pigs (and rightfully as that was probably someone’s entire life income right there…) and asked Jesus to leave. However when Jesus comes back to that area, not only has that guy been welcomed back into society, but now there’s 4,000 people waiting to hear Jesus teach because this guy went back into that society and spread the news of hope and healing he received.

See, one act of kindness, toward one person, can change an entire community. This is what could happen if we don’t wait until it’s too late. If we are proactive in meeting people where they are, who knows what our tomorrow could look like!

If you liked this post, and want more behind the scene info, check out last month’s Behind the Cloud Scene.