No one ever told me that “Thriller” was a music video.

I remember being terrified the first time I watched it. At five or six years old, the first thought after “Ahhh!” was “This is a very intense movie.” Can you imagine going out on a date with someone and halfway through that person is chasing you around because he or she is now a zombie?

The Christian life is kind of similar. We are all dead without Christ, walking around like zombies. Before you know Christ there’s a hollowness, which cannot really be explained. It’s just a feeling that something is wrong; it’s the zombie effect of sin.

You can’t escape from sin without a Savior.

Sin is a zombie slurping up your brain like a milkshake.

Do you remember the story of the mad man from Gerasenes? He was a zombie! He lived in the cemetery! This guy was full of demons, running around naked, and uncontrollable. The Gospel of Mark says that “night and day he roamed through the graves and the hills, screaming and slashing himself with sharp stones” (Mark 5:5). Jesus came to town and threw out the demons. 

The mad man was saved!

The townspeople found the former mad man, now sane, talking with Jesus and his disciples. Naturally they were freaked out. They asked Jesus to leave. This miracle was too much to handle. So Jesus got in his boat to leave. The newly sane man begged to come along. I can imagine it was the first time he had a true sense of purpose. Jesus told him, “Go home to your own people. Tell them your story—what the Master did, how he had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19).

The end of the story is my favorite part. The former mad man of Gerasenes started sharing his testimony. Eventually, Jesus came back and the people in and around Gerasenes were receptive. This guy was instrumental in leading his region to Christ. How awesome!

I hope you see the parallel.

When you accept the gift of salvation, the old you is dead—gone forever! Here recently I heard a pastor say that God doesn’t want to make you better; he wants to make you new. That’s what believers should be telling people. It’s one of the greatest truths of the gospel.

Christ died so you could be new.

What if the mad man would’ve stayed in the cemetery after Jesus left? What if he said, “I don’t know what to do next…guess I’ll just hang out here”? Old and new cannot hang out together. That’s why Jesus said that you can’t put new wine in an old wine skin.

It’s impossible to walk in newness of life and keep doing the same old things.

Did you notice that the mad man was ineffective as the demon possessed, looney tune who lived in the cemetery?

Get out of the cemetery!

Share your story.

Live out your faith.

Quit acting like a zombie!