Demonic Activity and Exorcism

Excerpts from Power Encounters by David Powlison

Where do demons come from?

Rebelled with Satan before the creation of earth.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.Revelation 12:4

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.Ezekiel 28:12-17

Demons are described in the New Testament mostly as unclean spirits or evil spirits.

Demons are created beings, personal, immortal, and incapable of reconciliation with God. They have great power as compared with humans, but little power as compared with God.

How do demons operate?

Demons work by lying, deceit, and oppression, and when the opportunity arises they enter the body of a person, in order to control the individual’s thoughts and actions.

Demonic possession

And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.Mark 5:7-9

Demonic oppression

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.2 Corinthians 12:7

Saved people cannot be possessed by demons, but can be oppressed.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.1 John 4:4

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:Colossians 1:13-14

Most demonic activity is undetected. Often demons prefer to hide rather than to make their presence known, for then they can exercise control without hindrance.

Our enemy’s supreme goal is to exert moral lordship. He sabotages both truth and love if he can conform us to his image. Our Lord’s goal is also moral lordship, making us like Christ himself by the power of the Spirit and the truth of the Word.

Jesus heals the demonized, just as he does the other sick. The result of His deliverance is relief, peace, and the restoration of mental and physical capabilities.

Demonization is in fact recognized and identified by its expression through miserable conditions, such as blindness, deafness, paralysis, dementia, and seizures. Sins, such as unbelief, fear, anger, lust, and other addictions, point to Satan’s moral lordship, but never to demonization calling for deliverance. People are victims of demonic sufferings, just as they are victims of lameness, blindness, or purely physiological seizures.

For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.Mark 3:10-11

Can demons cause sickness?

And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.Luke 13:11

Is all sickness demonic?

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.John 9:2-3

Are demons the cause of our sin?

Clearly in the gospels a person “has” an unclean spirit the same way he or she “has” a fever, convulsions, or a paralyzed limb. Unclean spirits are never implicated as holding people in bondage to unbelief and sin. They are never portrayed as inhabiting and enslaving sinful parts of the human personality.

The New Testament never links demonization to moral evil in the person who has a demon. Not a single example in the Bible shows Jesus or the apostles using demonic deliverance to deal with moral evil.

Sin is not identified as the cause of demonization; neither is demonization linked to perpetuating sin.

Why don’t we cast out demons like Jesus did?

The casting out of demons was done by Jesus and the apostles and those He had given specific authority to. After Acts, we see no discussion of casting out demons or instructions in the epistles for demonic deliverance.

We experience deliverance from the power of Satan when we turn consciously from darkness to the light.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.Mark 16:15-18

Jesus also paid taxes from fish, caught fish supernaturally, walked on water, multiplied food, spoke on behalf of the Father, forgave sin, raised the dead, controlled the weather, healed the sick. He did these things as the Son of God, not as a pattern to follow.

Does demonic activity open one up to the occult?

occult: supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena:

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.Acts 16:16-18

Those involved in the occult have engaged in profound iniquity that may have lingering consequences. Residual patterns of evil, evil behaviors, false beliefs, self-serving motives, chaotic emotions, bizarre fantasies, may be strong.

Are there such things as ghosts?

A “familiar spirit” is a demon who masquerades as the spirit of a person who is dead. Spirits cannot return from their eternal destinations.

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.Luke 16:26

Does Satan use people to accomplish his plans?

His people include false prophets, murderers, unbelievers, cowards, fornicators, drunks, enemies, oppressors, and all whom Scripture says will not inherit the kingdom of God. They include lovers of money, pleasure, human approval, and self. Such people oppose God’s rule and God’s people. And Satan’s demons oppose all people, even his own, because his kingdom is a kingdom of slavery and tyranny, tortures and betrayed promises.

What is exorcism?

Exorcism is the Catholic practice of expelling unwanted spiritual entities (demons) from a person or place, typically through prayer or ritual. Catholics established the rite of exorcism in 1614. It included 21 detailed directives for the priest to follow which included issuing commands to the demons, use of relics, use of holy water, the crucifix, the sign of the cross and reciting specified prayers and creeds, while wearing specified vestments.

The Greek root word occurs in only one place in the New Testament, Acts 19:13. It does not describe Christian ministry, but Jewish magic practice that undergoes a humiliating defeat. In addition, the word has overtones of paganism, sensationalism, or empty ritualism.

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.Acts 19:13

What is deliverance ministry?

Deliverance ministry views certain persistent sins or spiritual struggles as stemming from demonic influence or oppression. Demons of sin must be cast out or bound to give freedom from sin.

Repentance, renunciation, faith, and putting on a new lifestyle are not deemed sufficient to clean out the interior strongholds.

Repeated sin puts people in moral bondage, but not in bondage to indwelling spirits. Christians fight spiritual warfare by repentance, faith, and obedience.

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.2 Corinthians 11:13-14

And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.Mark 5:2-5

Could mental illness be considered demonic possession/oppression?

Could drug use open one up to Satanic and/or demonic oppression?

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.Galatians 5:19-21

witchcraft or sorcery: “φαρμακεία” pharmakeia

Drug-induced psychosis refers to psychotic symptoms that are triggered by the use of drugs or substances.

God uses wickedness: Satan, evil spirits, false prophets, the evil of Joseph’s brothers, Chaldean oppressors, Judas. What the wicked means for evil, God works for good. God uses the evil of the evil to demonstrate his justice and purify the righteous. God is always in control.

Science, technology, and medicine reinforce this dominant ideology that only the “natural” world exists. Can a modern believe that God controls lightning and thunder if a meteorologist can use satellite pictures and computer modeling to predict the storm a week ahead of time? Can a modern believe that demons could cause paralysis, seizures, or deafness if an EEG and electromyogram can map patterns of electrical impulse in the nervous system? Can a modern believe that a personal tempter engages our wills in a contest between good and evil if particular configurations of DNA or one’s family history seem to correlate to a higher incidence of drunkenness or sexual perversion? A devil of the gaps becomes as irrelevant as a God of the gaps when the perceived gaps in human competency shrink.

While we do not minimize Satanic or demonic opposition, we also do not fear it, as we have been given the weapons to make war and be victorious.