Congregational Question: Why, after the demon is cast out, do seven more come to take its place? (Matthew 12:43-45)

When a vacuum is created it will be filled. The eastern bloc nations lived in relative peace while under control of the old Soviet Union. That peace may have had more to do with power and control than contentment but the result was still a relatively peaceful society. It was only after the old demon of totalitarianism was lifted that even older demons racism and ethnic hatred, along with new lusts for power that destroyed so many communities and killed so many people raised its ugly head
Whether your view of some of the difficulties we face is based on demon possession, human frailties or bad habits, the principle remains, to simply resist the presence of evil in our lives is to give it power and eventually succumb to it. One of the true strengths of AA or any other 12-step program is the process in step one of acknowledging, of naming, the problem. Once the evil has been named, the life long process begins of finding the pathways through which evil entered and filling them with positive changes.
I use the example of a 12 step program to emphasize the point that it is not a once in a lifetime thing, but rather a life long process. It is also not just a process for “those who obviously have a problem” but rather a process for all of us. Our walk as a child of God is a process of daily self examination and confession. Not in a morbid, “woe is me, I am an evil person” sort of way, but rather as a way of nurturing one’s self and growing as a child of God. You know the process is working when you stop looking at what others are doing wrong and start looking at what you can do right.