Why Couldn’t We Cast Out The Demon?
[image error]When I started ministering healing, it soon led to ministering deliverance. I tried to learn as much about healing and deliverance as I could in order to be more effective. I initially accepted several popular teachings, but I couldn’t get away from the questions that came to me as I read scripture. I eventually concluded that these popular teachings had hindered me rather than helping me.
Please don’t be offended at this post. I know from experience that this topic has the potential to spark angry reactions. I do have friends who think differently! If you have questions about the implications of my view, please ask. I’m not discounting all counseling or the importance of dealing with heart issues, but I am examining common beliefs about what it takes to cast out a demon.
These are the taboo questions I began to ask myself as a young believer reading scripture, but I hardly dared to ask anybody else. Even as I half-accepted many of the popular teachings I read, I couldn’t shake these questions from the back of my mind. Join me on my thought-journey, and you’re welcome to share your own thoughts in the comments.
How Did Jesus Cast Out Demons?
How did Jesus cast out demons?
Matthew 8:16 (NIV) When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
All it took for Jesus was “a word?” He didn’t even need two words? Surely, out of all the demon-possessed people that they brought to Jesus, there must have been a few demons that required a little more work to expel! Surely, some of those demons must have had a “legal right” to afflict the person. After all, how did they ever enter in the first place? Can you imagine Jesus saying “It’s not working. The demon is holding on because we still haven’t found how it entered or dealt with the generational curse it’s holding on to. “
And how could Jesus do all that in only one evening? When you have so many deep-rooted issues to work through, it takes a lot of time!
I’ll be honest. With some of the methods I learned about for ministering, an evening would only be enough time to get the demon go. That is, if it wasn’t a really deeply rooted issue that would take several ministry sessions to deal with. But Jesus cast out many demons in one evening, and he did it “with a word!”
When Jesus Couldn’t Cast Out A Demon
Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit? Since Jesus is our model, we should look at the life of Jesus to answer this question. There’s one problem. Scripture doesn’t record any instances of Jesus being unable to cast out a demon.
It does, however, record an event in which the disciples were unable to cast out a demon. The story is found in Matthew 17:14-21 (NIV):
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Notice what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t say:
“You couldn’t cast out that demon because it had a legal right to the boy’s life.”
“You couldn’t cast out that demon because you find and close the door that allowed it to enter.”
“You couldn’t cast out that demon because you didn’t deal with a generational curse affecting the boy.”
“You couldn’t cast out that demon because you didn’t know its name.”
Jesus said “You couldn’t cast it out because of your little faith.”
Wait! What an offensive statement! Jesus’ disciples had already cast out many demons and healed many sick people, going through all the towns and villages to declare the gospel! They were experienced! Wasn’t something more complicated than that going on?
I guess not. I have to admit that Jesus must have been right!
What did Jesus do? He cast out the demon with a rebuke. “Go!” That was all it took for Jesus. Notice what he didn’t do:
He didn’t have a counseling session.
He didn’t ask if anybody else in the family had similar problems.
He didn’t ask “When did this problem start and were there any significant events around that time?
He didn’t lead the father and son through prayers of repentance.
He didn’t have a drawn-out interview with the demon.
Since Jesus said that those who believe in him would do the same works as he did and greater, there has to be a place of walking in communion with God where we do what Jesus did and it’s just as simple for us as it was for Jesus. If Jesus cast out demons with a word or with a touch, it must be possible for us too. When Jesus so much as got near evil spirits, they knew their time was up.
Mark 3:11 (NIV) Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
The Gadarene Demoniac
Mark 5:1-10 (NIV) They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
If anybody needed to go through a process of dealing with heart issues before he could be free, it was the Gerasene demoniac. He was messed up!
But he wanted to get free. And all he needed was to encounter Jesus.
Notice that Jesus addressed one evil spirit, in the singular. Yet every single evil spirit knew they had to leave when Jesus spoke. They immediately began to beg Jesus not to send them out of the area.
How many deliverance sessions did it take for Jesus to set this man free? How long did it take to get rid of all those demons? It took only a command. They knew Jesus had authority, and they knew that they couldn’t convince Jesus that they had a right to stay.
Unfortunately, all too often evil spirits have been able to convince Christians today that they have a right to stay. Instead of inventing reasons why we were unable to do what Jesus did, let’s let scripture challenge us to grow in Christ.
Next week we’ll look at how the book of Acts confirms the observations in this post. Then we’ll go on to examine the notion that evil spirits have “legal rights” to oppress people.
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