The Truth About Exorcisms, Demons, and Spiritual Warfare

Apologia Utah

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We've all experienced the odd occurrence of the Bible and was left with fringe questions.

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Watch and listen as we leave no question unanswered.

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Greetings everyone. Today we will talk about a subject that has a plethora of books, articles, personal testimonies, ministries, and videos about it.

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But what we will do is truly dig into what the Bible says. And that's the key when we're talking about any subject, but especially when we're talking about spiritual warfare, demons, the devil, demonic possession, and exorcism.

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I will ask you ahead of time, will you believe the scriptures? Will you agree with the

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Word of God or will personal experience or that fantastical video of an ex -Satanist be your standard?

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Because ultimately the question we will ask in this episode of unanswered is, are biblical exorcisms still happening today?

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This is gonna be a long one guys. Hang with me to the end and you will be rewarded with answers.

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Now as we begin discussing that, first, let's answer what are demons and where do they come from?

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Well, the Old Testament refers to beings called demons three times, evil spirits eight times, and then references to a chief demon named

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Satan who is also called a serpent in Genesis or Prince in Daniel.

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By the time the New Testament era came, the concept of demon existence was much more prevalent.

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In fact, it appears their activity was such as well. Daemonion is transliterated in the

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Greek to give us the word demons. And altogether with the inclusion of evil spirits, the

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New Testament references them over 80 times. While again, this chief demon Satan is mentioned in some way about four dozen times.

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From what we can tell in Scripture, these beings were first created by God as benevolent angels.

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Satan is described in Ezekiel 28 through a judgment on the king of Tyre as a cherub angel, who was even once in the

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Garden of Eden covered by magnificent gems, created blameless by God. But one day unrighteousness was found in him.

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Lucifer was filled internally with violence, it reads, and he was sinning greatly.

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He wanted to usurp the position of the Lord God Almighty. He wanted to overthrow the Lord. Isaiah 14, 13 through 15 says,

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And God says, And Jesus affirms that.

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And of course, there are differing opinions on when these angels were made, when they fell, but that's a topic for another time.

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The point is, Satan and his demons did fall from grace. They did in fact rebel against God.

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The lake of fire is reserved for them according to Jesus in Matthew 25. But before then, they have been active since their falling, which seems to have taken place sometime after these fallen angels observed

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God create man in his own image. There we see the first angel rebel, the devil.

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These creatures appear to be powerful in some sense. They can transcend ordinary experience as well as the space -time physical nature of humanity.

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They are incorporeal beings. They are observant, intelligent. They've been around and observed humanity for 6 ,000 years.

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They know man's sinful propensities and bends. They know scripture well and how to twist it to their benefit.

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Satan and his demons cannot be in more than one place at a time. As far as how fast they can travel, it is unknown, but they are indeed limited creatures.

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So it is essential to note that the devil nor his demons are independent, omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent.

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Their power and influence in time and extent is limited by the permissive will of God who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

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And yet, they're not to be underestimated, even by a believer. Demons are involved in every part of Satan's program.

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Opposing God, preventing people from understanding the gospel, opposing God's people, attacking the church, tempting people to sin, and thwarting the spread of the gospel.

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Especially in the Gospels, we see Satan had disabled a woman with one of his spirits for 18 years.

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They can cause sickness. They can impact a human's physical body. Job knows that too well.

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They can cause muteness, lunacy, self -mutilation, blindness, deafness, aggression, and some epilepsy.

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It's important to note that much of these ailments today are also due to natural calamity, not just demonic activity.

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And that activity was definitely in the upswing in the first century. In the Old Testament, one can read ad nauseum on the demonic things humans did, but not what percentage of their deeds were of the flesh or of the devil.

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There appears to be an angelic battle in the book of Daniel, and an unclean spirit that afflicted

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King Saul, and one demon given permission by God to put a false prophecy in a man's mouth.

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But all of a sudden, there is so much demonic activity in the New Testament, and one way that demons work, a way that I did not mention previously, is possession.

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Most of their antics are demonic oppression, but in some situations there is demonic possession.

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In cases of demon possession, the personality of the person concerned is eclipsed by the demon, so that the demonic personality is what is revealed.

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It's like the person is a host for this entity. The Scripture does not detail how this is even possible, only that it is.

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And with the principles we see in Scripture, possession doesn't just happen. Typically, this is someone very engrossed in sin, someone who gives themselves over to evil.

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Some even ask for it. They seek it, like in the New Age, asking for a spirit guide or spirit companion.

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They can be acquired by necromancy, seeking to speak to dead relatives, or in medium work, trying to find revelation by speaking to a spirit.

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This is all demon work, and it can lead to possession. And so the demons knew the prophecies of the

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Messiah. They knew what God planned to do, and God had told the people through the major and minor prophets that those who live in a dark land, those who live in death's shadow, one day light is coming, and He will come as a child born to us, a son will be given.

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The devil sought to stop the seed of the woman from coming at every turn, but he could not thwart

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God's plans. By the time Jesus Christ was baptized, inaugurated for His earthly ministry, and claimed victory over the devil in the wilderness in Matthew 4, the demons were in an all -out frenzy.

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Creatures who knew their demise was near were more reckless and aggressive than ever before.

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With nothing to lose, these fallen angels banded together in a unified assault to destroy the works of the

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Lord with the coming of the Messiah. That was their intent. What God actually used them for was to demonstrate the power, deity, and validity of Jesus to be the

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Christ. Think about it. Matthew chapter 8 reveals, Do you see that?

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Jesus casting out demons with a word fulfilled what was spoken in divine prophecy by Isaiah.

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This shows His power, His deity, and rights to Messiahship. Listen to this,

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Matthew 12, 22 through 23, Do you see that?

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Amazement, and not to mention, Son of David was a messianic title. These exorcisms performed by Jesus caused people to think

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He was the Messiah. Do you get it now? The demons wanted to thwart God's plans, but the

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Lord sovereignly used them to enforce His plans, and the gospel was never divorced from Jesus's healings and exorcisms.

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In Matthew 4, Jesus was proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. The news was spreading about Him.

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And He healed demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics. It's all related.

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The account of the Gadarene demoniac that showed the demons go into the swine, rush off the cliff, ended with the man who was healed proclaiming to the entire city what great things

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Jesus had done for him. Mark 1 39, And He went into their synagogues throughout all

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Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons. In Luke 4, it says, But Jesus rebuked the demon, saying,

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Be quiet, and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm.

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And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, What is this message?

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For with what authority and power does he command the unclean spirits, and they come out?

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In the end, Jesus says, When he casts out demons by the power of the Spirit, the kingdom has come upon this world.

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The demon frenzy occurred because Christ's advent occurred. The incarnation happened.

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The kingdom came down to earth, and the exorcisms performed by Jesus resulted in the people wanting to know about His message, believing

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He is the one who was prophesied to set the captives free. I'll say it again.

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The gospel exorcisms, although were a great benefit to the people who were delivered from them, but ultimately they demonstrated the power, deity, and validity of Jesus to be the

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Christ. Now besides Jesus, who else performed exorcisms? The twelve apostles.

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Matthew chapter 10 verses 5 through 8. These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them,

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Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and as you go preach, saying,

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The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.

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Freely you received, freely give. They were to preach the gospel of Christ and back it up by healing people, cleansing lepers, and casting out demons.

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Besides the twelve, we also see the 70 disciples in Luke's gospel, an unknown disciple, and Philip in Acts perform exorcisms.

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For the 70 disciples, it was also likely that they didn't have that power indiscriminately or in perpetuity, but Jesus equipped them for this specific mission.

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Kind of like when the Old Testament saints were equipped by the Spirit to do amazing things for a time.

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And so what this demonstrates is that along with healing and raising the dead, exorcism was a sign or miraculous wonder.

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You may think, yeah, that's a no -brainer, but I'm telling you, that is an essential designation.

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I'll prove to you with more scripture that demon removal was a sign and wonder.

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Acts 5 verses 12 through 16 states, At the hands of the Apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when

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Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. Also, the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

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We see here, removing demons is always a miracle. It is not a natural function, but a supernatural one.

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With Luke's parenthetical commentary removed, we see exorcism is a sign and a wonder, a healing miracle.

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Acts chapter 8 verses 6 through 7, The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.

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For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

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We see the same description of the exorcisms here for Philip. Luke puts emphasis on the fact that as Philip was performing these miraculous signs, the crowds were giving attention to his words.

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What were his words? The gospel. Removing demons and healing the paralyzed were signs for the spread of the gospel.

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You see, with exorcisms being a sign and wonder in the New Testament, they are miracles of God.

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Many of the same people who recognize they don't have the sign gift of healing, prophecy, or tongues, somehow believe they possess the miraculous gift of exorcising demons, but it's not true.

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More examples abound. At Philippi in Acts 16, the Apostle Paul removed a demon from a slave girl with a single word.

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It happened instantly. Acts 19, God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out.

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Once again, an apostle who by the power of God was, quote, performing extraordinary miracles.

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No formulaic prayers, or incantations, or special rebukes. Miracles. Straight miracles from God.

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This time, simply using handkerchiefs and aprons from Paul. Three out of four exorcisms in Acts call them specifically signs, wonders, and miracles.

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All four were done by apostles, with the exception of Philip, an apostolic associate.

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Apostles could heal the sick, raise the dead. We see that with Peter, and Paul, and Acts, and they could exorcise demons.

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What Christian today can do these indiscriminately with a single word?

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With a garment that's touched their body. None, no one. There is not a single record in the

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New Testament of the average Christian with the ability to exorcise demons. If you're starting to get offended, stick with me a little longer, okay?

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Now get this, we see in Acts that the exorcisms were done in Jerusalem, Samaria, Philippi, and Ephesus.

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What did Jesus promise the apostles in Acts chapter 1 verse 8? But you will receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all

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Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. These signs in these places,

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Jerusalem, Samaria, Philippi, Ephesus, these took place over the 30 to 40 years of Acts.

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It was already a fulfillment of what Jesus had said in chapter 1. The gospel was spreading and God was using this special power in the apostles along with preaching the truth to do so.

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This was the goal. The gospel would become unstoppable. Now did anyone else try to exorcise demons?

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There were Jewish men who weren't preaching the truth, and they tried exorcising some demons in Jesus's name, but God assaulted from them.

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They were beat up and stripped down to their birthday suits. You see, Jesus's name doesn't become an incantation, or a magical word, or something where we can instantly access divine power.

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All these exorcisms were done by the power of God, not by anything inside of these men.

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These were miracles, supernatural, not natural. And so the New Testament teaches the ability to perform signs and wonders was given to the apostles for the purpose of authenticating apostolic ministry and authority.

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Acts chapter 2 verse 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place through the

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Apostles. Acts 14 3 Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the

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Lord who was testifying to the word of his grace granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands whose hands the apostles

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God used the signs and wonders including the exorcisms to validate the

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Apostles words What were their words? Jesus Christ crucified

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Resurrected and exalted. We simply don't find any prescriptive language on exorcisms in the

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New Testament only descriptive Only narrating what Jesus and the

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Apostles did There are no Bible verses in all of Scripture that prescribe instructions on how we all other

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Christians ought to perform them When you look up the commandments of God in the

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Old and New Testaments You just won't see a command prescribed to all other believers to perform exorcisms

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If we have to perform exorcisms just like how Jesus and the Apostles did today

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Then we have to admit the Bible is insufficient and Jesus left us without instruction lost to what we need to do

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You'll see no commands in Scripture on what to say how to say it where to send the demons how to bind them if You should touch the possessed person or not

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If you should hold up a crucifix if you need a formulaic prayer If you need holy water or what to do if they attack you while performing the exorcism

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Someone will say well Mark Bubeck and Neal T. Anderson have books with answers to those things.

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I'm sorry you guys those aren't Scripture and They only came out in the last few decades

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What did the Christian Church do for multiple millennia? Now you might be thinking Wade.

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Are you saying there are no demons today? No, I'm not saying that Wade are you saying there are no demon possessions today?

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No, I'm not saying that either I will get to those things shortly. We have to understand what modern exorcisms typically are

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You see true miracles often take place today But most modern exorcisms are demonic deceptions crafted by the enemy to get people away from the true

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Battleground the battle of truth and lies. I mean think about it

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Hindus perform exorcisms and are apparently successful, but do they have the truth?

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No way Those of you who came out of the New Age will remember there are types of successful exorcisms there, too

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They did spiritual companion cleansing once your spirit guide became too hostile.

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They remove it and they give you a new one It's all deception people in 2005 there were about 12

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Catholic priests in the United States who were trained as exorcists by 2022 that number had grown to around 150 in Roman Catholicism.

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You have idols Idolatry of man icons speaking to the dead works based salvation

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Indulgences and merits human meteors between God and man. Is this really a religion of truth?

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by no means Roman Catholic priests wear a special tunic. They recite the

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Hail Mary. They command the demon They think a wooden cross repels it they use holy water blessed by who man and if a

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Roman Catholic priest seeks hidden information from a demon if a deliverance minister tries to bind a demon to tell the truth and Asks for revelation

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They are performing medium work or divination things that got the death penalty in God's law

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Plus who says a demon has to tell the truth. They're liars Hindu exorcists recite wicked mantras and give offerings to deities during their exorcism ceremonies

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They perform things for demons to remove a demon Can you see it?

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It is my sincere belief that many of these exorcisms are real phenomenon

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They are genuine experiences, but not because Roman Catholics or Hindus or New Agers have the truth

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They work because they are false teachers of false religions You see

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Satan is the deceiver and he orders one of his demons to leave a person So that those involved would continue to be deceived and have further faith in what is false and that more would join his deception

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It is the devil's sign and wonder to spread his false gospel exorcisms in fact

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Jesus says in Matthew 7 that there will be people who actually cast out demons in his name and will say

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Lord Lord on the Final day, but he will say depart from me You who practice lawlessness.

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I never knew you These are tricks. These are Trojan horses Possible real demon removal to gain more people to falsehood the same thing happens in so -called

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Christian deliverance ministries in The prosperity gospel and the little God movement in the

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Benny Hinn type figures Keeping people bound by making it appear as if a demon -possessed person was freed

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What does Jesus say? Having one devil leave so that seven more will move in Remember the truth of the gospel of Christ always accompanied exorcisms demon deliverance without the truth is

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No real deliverance at all. And so know The specific

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New Testament era sign and wonder miracle of exorcism is not being performed today not even among those in the church as the

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Reformer Martin Luther said Quote, we cannot expel demons with certain ceremonies and words as Jesus Christ the prophets and the

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Apostles did all we can do is in the name of Jesus Christ to pray the

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Lord God of his infinite mercy to deliver the Possessed persons and if our prayer is offered up in full faith

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We are assured by Christ himself that it will be efficacious and overcome all the devil's resistance

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I might mention many instances of this but we cannot of ourselves expel the evil spirits

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Nor must we even attempt it You see there was never a promise in the

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Bible that regular Christians would receive this supernatural gift This sign did what

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God sought for it to do it Confirmed Jesus was the Christ and it confirmed the

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Apostles to be divinely authorized Also, Jesus his words and teachings from his own lips and from the lips of the

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Apostles would be shown to be of God Paul gives no instructions on it in his letters

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It is not presupposed to be passed among the churches by any of the apostolic writers

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So can people be demon -possessed today? Yes Can believers be possessed today?

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No They cannot both have a demon and the Holy Spirit Those who teach believers can be possessed have such a low view of regeneration and a low view of the ministry of the paraclete

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Only the unbelieving can acquire a demon today. So how do we help a demon -possessed person?

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Like how we help everyone else Jesus paved the way for how demons are removed prayer fasting gospel sharing

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We don't reach and do a power within us. We beseech the one who has all power

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When demons truly flee someone for good, it's because God did it Therefore we ask

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God Almighty to do a work in this person to deliver them Lord free them Make them come from spiritual death to life from darkness to light

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What takes someone to the light what takes someone from being captive to Satan and into the arms of God?

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What is the power of God unto salvation? What truly delivers the gospel of Christ?

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No one needs to be exercised first to hear the gospel That's like saying someone needs to be saved first before they hear the gospel

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If you can take spiritually dead people you can take demon -possessed people and you offer them the only

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God -given remedy there is Friends is the gospel so powerless it can't remove a demon

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The modern church hates that it's this basic though. Humans want the hidden knowledge.

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They want the power in themselves This gives glory back to God this demonstrates God does the work not us

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But man wants the glory The Corinthian church was blasted by Paul for using their spiritual giftings for their own glory and name.

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God won't be mocked He's the creator. He commands the creature the demon We are not commanded to speak to demons or even to rebuke them

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We are commanded to petition God always the one who has all authority over these spirits

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And if you think after this what tools do I have now if I encounter someone with a demon pastor

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Wade Well, if you think I just disarmed you opposed to arming you Then all

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I can say is you think so little of the power of the gospel So little of the power of beseeching

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God in prayer and so little of asserting the divine rights of Christ as believers Friends ignore the creature

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Give the gospel to the demon -possessed person and ask God for help and deliverance and see a real miracle occur as James chapter 4 verse 7 says therefore

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Submit to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you