Nefarious is a Christian movie with a twist: It’s being called a horror flick as it revolves around the story of a demon-possessed man on death row called Nefarious, played by Christian actor Patrick Flanery.

In his review of the movie for Digital Journal, Markos Papadatos described the movie as riveting and gave it a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

“Most importantly, ‘Nefarious’ is a movie that will certainly spark serious conversations with viewers once it’s over,” Papadatos pointed out.

The movie script was written by Christian filmmakers Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman who also wrote God is not Dead and Unplanned.

The movie centers around the interaction between an atheist psychiatrist, Dr. James Martin, played by Christian actor Jordan Belfi, and Nefarious.

Though he doesn’t believe in demons or demon possession, Martin has been called in to evaluate Nefarious’ mental health as he is scheduled to be executed for murdering 11 people. If found insane, Nefarious would avoid execution.

During the interview, Nefarious reveals itself as a demon and Martin is forced to come to grips with his beliefs about evil and the demonic.

In a column for the Christian Post, Robin Shumacher noted the similarity the movie had with the experiences of New York psychiatrist, M. Scott Peck, who had been called in to work with a woman struggling with mental health issues.

In his book, Glimpses of the Devil, Peck wrote, “I did not believe there was such a thing as possession” and expected his meetings with ‘Jersey’, a pseudonym, to follow the typical mental health evaluation.

But things changed when he challenged the woman that she was faking her psychosis, and an evil spirit manifested itself.

In his book, Peck also cited other examples of demon possession that he has since encountered.

Throughout the Gospels, we read of Jesus’ delivering people who were possessed by evil spirits.

One of the more controversial ones involves the man from the Gerasenes recorded in Mark 5 said to be possessed by an unclean spirit (v 2). He confronted Jesus and the disciples as they landed their boat on the shore after crossing the Sea of Galilee.

The people in the nearby village had driven the man away forcing him to live in the tombs of a nearby graveyard, where he could be heard screaming and cutting himself.

During the man’s confrontation with Jesus, we are told that he was possessed by multiple evil spirits and demons, with the leading evil spirit identifying itself as Legion.

I am not going to be dogmatic on this, but I believe evil spirits are higher-level demonic angels that are capable of possessing people under limited circumstances. Demons are a lower order, who can’t possess a person without the help of an evil spirit but are capable of oppressing people.

In the deliverance that followed, the legion of evil spirits and demons fled into a group of nearby pigs who hurled themselves over a cliff into an ocean.

Mark then describes what happened next to the man:

¹⁵ And then they *came to Jesus and *saw the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had previously had the “legion”; and they became frightened. (Mark 5:15 NASV)

He was of sound mind.

According to Thayer’s, the Greek word, sōphroneō, means “to be of sound mind”, “to be in one’s right mind” and “to exercise self-control.”

The man’s irrational and violent behavior had been sparked by the evil spirit that controlled him.

I believe that full demonic possession is rare, and there are more instances of demons oppressing people, which Jesus dealt with numerous times in the gospels.

It is important to understand, that the vast majority of people experience mental health issues due to physical issues such as brain injury, chemical imbalances, drug/alcohol use and even a lack of sleep and require medical attention.

READ: ‘Nefarious’ gets demons right AND ‘Nefarious’ Actor Who Plays Demon-Possessed Inmate Delivers Powerful Response to Skeptics Who ‘Don’t Believe’ Because They Can’t ‘Explain It’ AND Review: ‘Nefarious,’ starring Sean Patrick Flanery, is a riveting film