Casting Out Demons

“Casting out demons – How can Christians do this?” I don’t think this is a good question, for today it is a great one. I would really answer two important questions, this one and the more important one, “Can Christians cast out devils?” I like to answer questions like this from the scripture then it isn’t my opinion. Let’s attack the basic question by reading what Jesus said. Please understand this is part of the last words that he said before leaving so it must be important.

Mark 16:14-19 MKJV

14) Afterward He appeared to the Eleven as they reclined. And He reproached their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Jesus made it clear, we are to cast out devils. The question should not be “Can Christians?” but “Why don’t Christians?” I think in exploring that question we will get to the “How”.

Let’s look at the basic question, “Why don’t Christians cast out devils?” Someone is going to say it isn’t for today. There are also those who say there is no such thing as a devil or a demon. To our discredit, some of these are in the church.

(15) And He said to them, Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation.

(16) He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

(17) And miraculous signs will follow to those believing these things: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak new tongues;

(18) they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.

(19) Then indeed, after speaking to them, the Lord was taken up into Heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

Someone will say, “What is he talking about, I do.” Actually, there are some who do but let me simply state this, few do. So I’ll rephrase the question, “Why don’t more Christians cast out devils?”

Let me ask another couple of other questions based on what Jesus directed. “Why don’t more Christians speak new tongues?” “Why don’t more Christians lay hands on the sick?” “Why don’t more Christians walk in Godly protection and overcome?” The latter is my paraphrase of taking up serpents and drinking deadly things – I don’t believe we are to purposefully handle snakes or drink poison to tempt God or give an opportunity to the devil.

Why? Let me give you answers. For one, Jesus said:

Mark 9:29 MKJV

(29) And He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer and fasting.

I might note that this verse appears in Matthew in some translations but not in others because it is not in the oldest manuscripts available. And in most newer translations the word fasting does not appear.

Mark 9:29 ASV

And he said unto them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer.

I will not belittle the value of fasting or depreciate it in any way but I will simply submit that the only thing that we are sure Jesus said is that prayer is needed. But Christians pray. Or at least they say they do. I’ll drop that one for now. So if we are to cast out devils, why not?

Jesus did it. The people who walked with Him did it. Let’s not reinvent the wheel. Let’s see how Jesus and the people who walked with Him did it.

Luke 8:29 ASV

(29) For he was commanding the unclean spirit to come out from the man. For oftentimes it had seized him: and he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters; and breaking the bands asunder, he was driven of the demon into the deserts.

Let us first see that Jesus COMMANDED the devils to come out. He didn’t ask them to come out. He didn’t say “pretty please.” He COMMANDED them to come out.

I believe this is the first reason that Christians don’t see devils cast out. They don’t take the authority over them and tell them to get out. Look at how Jesus healed the sick for an example.

Mat 8:9 For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

Mat 8:10 And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

The Centurion made this statement of faith and his servant was healed. We have that same authority. Let’s use it. Look back at the scripture we started with. “in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak new tongues;” Jesus said that we would do it in His name. If we aren’t, why not? We are not living in the best God has.

Let me give you a glimpse of the reason.

Hosea 4:6 ASV

(6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

We are destroyed at least partially (not living in the best) because of a lack of knowledge. And where we have that knowledge we sin because we do not live in it.

James 4:17 ASV

(17) To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Someone is going to say that casting out devils is “only for the elite. Is speaking in tongues for only the elite? Is walking in His protection for only the elite? Is laying hands on the sick for only the elite? Is spreading the gospel for only the elite? (That is mentioned just a verse before.) Is being a king and priest to God for only the elite?

Isaiah 35:8 KJVA

(8) And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

This implies that all of us will be able to know the way. Since I cannot find anything to contradict that, none of the writers of the new testament make any indications that some will do these things and others will not I believe this is for all. Peter supports this in the first sermon of the Church.

Acts 2:39 KJVA

(39) For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Let me lay it on the line. If you think SOME of these things are not for you, why do you think any of them are for you? If you believe Jesus was wrong about one or two of them, why isn’t he wrong about all of them. Let’s quit straddling the fence or as the scripture says, halting between two opinions. If you are going to be like a Muslim, why do you think you can have any of God’s best? The Muslim calls Jesus a liar because they call Him a prophet and He said he was the Son of God. When you say anything He said is not for you that is calling him a liar. Let me ask this, “Does calling Jesus a liar put you in a good position to receive anything?”

So. If you deny the reality of anything He promised, don’t look for any of it but by grace.

Let’s take the second portion of this. If you are not totally under His authority, totally submitted to Him, how do you expect to be able to use that authority?

Mar 1:27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.

So let’s come under his authority and command the evil spirits to go in His name.

But what is being under His authority?

It is being submitted to His will and His way. Our way, our ideas, our thoughts, our opinions don’t matter. Our denomination’s teachings don’t matter unless they line up with the word. The Grand, Right Reverend, Prophet, Apostle, Overseer, Doctor’s opinion doesn’t matter. It is His word, His will, His authority that is important.

We need to take what Jesus said, what Jesus taught and what Jesus did and walk in it.

Now let me pass on a couple of practical things on casting out devils.

1) If there is no devil before you cast it out, there will be no devil there after you cast it out.

I know this sounds stupid but bear with me. The exorcism crowd brags about how many devils they cast out. Of course they set the number of devils there before the exorcism. The higher they set it the bigger the exorcism. The more demon possessed people they diagnose the bigger the ministry. The more demons the bigger the ministry. Please don’t get me wrong. Not everyone involved in deliverance ministry does this, many of are good, honest, people. But there are charlatans out there. There are those who count the notches in their guns.

2) Don’t go out hunting for people with demons. If you are following God, they will come. I get concerned about pride when I see people hunting for demons to cast out. I have seen more than a few of them come into problems.

3) If you do cast out demons, don’t advertise you are going to do it on the internet to get people to pray for you. This comes out only by prayer. You need to be the one praying. I don’t put down having others praying for you but let me give you a pattern to look at, one that worked. When Dee and I were actively doing deliverance we had one or two people who prayed for us. They were never told who we were ministering to or when in the process we would be doing the deliverance. They were only told that we were ministering and needed prayer. This cuts down the gossip. It cuts down the time spent thinking if they know what is wrong with the person. It was interesting that Jeannie and Lynn came to us at times and said, “In prayer I am sensing….” We would thank them. Many times this was the area we were dealing with. We knew they were reaching the throne.

4) Most of what you do in deliverance ministry you can’t talk about, ever. Other than the oblique information I am posting here, little of what happened in that time are known to anyone but the person we were ministering to and the two of us. We ministered to members of our pastor’s family. The pastors were not privy to what happened in those sessions.

5) Have a covering and stay under it. We quit because the pastors who were our covering expressed lack of confidence in us. Without that there can be no covering. A covering is a leaky umbrella if there is not trust both ways. Without a covering you are not under authority and do not have the authority to cast out demons. Without a covering you are not protected. The devil can have a field day.

Hope this helps someone….