14. Authority Over Demons
Chapter 14 Authority Over Demons And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons… (Mark 16:17).
Notice that the only condition for casting out demons is to be a true believer. Once again, this verse was not spoken of the first disciples but of those that would believe their word, including us. Probably a third of Jesus’ ministry was casting out demons. The disciples were to carry on this ministry; they also were commanded of the Lord to make sure that their disciples did likewise, until the end of the world. (Matthew 28:19-20) Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations… (20) teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
It is a great joy to see people in bondage delivered. (Luke 10:17) And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name. The seventy were the second group in an ever-increasing multitude of disciples to receive dominion over demons. In our day, ignorant religious leaders have condemned many to bondage, institutions, and death because they have not obeyed the Lord in this. (Luke 10:19-20) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. (20) Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Having authority over the power of enemy spirits makes them completely subject to us, and they cannot harm us if we believe it. Familiarity with the Word and being filled with the Spirit will empower us and defend us against these deceivers. The Lord divides these demons into two categories: “serpents and scorpions.” Serpents, whose venom is in their heads, are mind-deceiving demons. It was the serpent that deceived Eve by offering the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:5-6). There are forbidden knowledge gifts that Satan bestows on his deceivers that sometimes mimic true gifts. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) There shall not be found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination (fortune telling, false prophecy), one that practiceth augury (a soothsayer–interpreter of times and omens), or an enchanter (magician), or a sorcerer (witch), (11) or a charmer (hypnotist or caster of spells), or a consulter with a familiar spirit (a medium possessed with a spirit guide), or a wizard (psychic or clairvoyant), or a necromancer (a medium or spiritualist who feigns consulting the dead). (12) For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the Lord.... These false ministries have been given modern day names and in some cases are passing themselves off as Christian ministries. In Acts 16:16, there was “a certain maid having a spirit of divination” (Greek: “a spirit, a python”). This serpent, python spirit gifted the maid with divination, or false prophecy. The pastor of a church that I spoke in had this false gift of prophecy. I prayed for the congregation that God would reveal him. After this, one man had a dream of this pastor being a serpent speaking through a microphone, putting the congregation to sleep. Another woman saw him in a dream as a dragon, which is called in Revelation 12:9“the old serpent.” She looked up this pastor’s last name and found it meant “dragon.”
Some of these serpent false ministries are like Pharaoh’s wise men and sorcerers who counterfeited the signs and wonders given to Moses (Exodus 7:11, Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:7). It is interesting that they could counterfeit some of the judgments (turning a staff into a serpent, the waters into blood, and multiplying the plague of frogs), but they could not remove them. Moses removed them, meaning God allowed them to magnify the curse, but not to deliver from it. It is still true today.
I have a friend who was mixed up in a ministry that was seeing many signs and wonders. As I watched, I noticed that these supernatural occurrences were not the gifts of provision as in the book of Acts or in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. These signs and wonders seemed to be placebos to pacify a desire for the supernatural. They were flesh-pleasing signs that brought no practical, lasting deliverance from the curse. I perceived deceiving spirits involved and even saw some through the gift of discerning of spirits. When some tried to constrain them to stick to the Word, they would merely pass it off saying that God was doing a new thing.
Even though there may be new things to our own experience, Solomon said, “There is no new thing under the sun.” We should find precedent in the Word for our signs and wonders. Paul warned of lying signs and wonders that come through Satan and his minions but are sent by God to deceive those who do not love truth (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). In concern for my friend whom I knew was gifted with dreams and visions, I prayed that the Lord would give her some to warn her of what was going on. The next time I saw her she related to me that she saw a vision in her church assembly. The ceiling disappeared, and she saw a great red dragon (“the old serpent”) stretched over the whole building. God was obviously saying that Satan was exercising dominion through deception there. Then she saw another vision: a Trojan horse was being wheeled through the back door. A voice told her, “Christians brought that in here.” This symbolized a false gift in which the enemy was hidden in order to conquer them.
If the demons cannot keep you out of Christianity entirely, they have another strategy. There are religious spirits that specialize in keeping people in bondage to false, so-called “Christian” religions that do not teach the Word that sets free. There are many serpent spirits at work in the church today deceiving many with “doctrines of demons,” as Paul shared in 1 Timothy 4:1-3. Serpent spirits are manifest as false directions, doctrines, prophecies, and leadership to name a few. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)For such men are false apostles (Greek: “one sent forth”), deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. (14) And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel (Greek: “messenger”) of light (truth). (15) It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. The word “angel” in Greek is angelos, and is sometimes translated “messenger” when describing ministers who are sent by God or other ministers (Luke 7:24, Luke 7:27; Luke 9:52). It is obvious that there are men who have infiltrated the ranks of ministers who are sent by Satan through their own ego and religious organizations. Both Jesus and Paul taught that these ministers were in the majority (John 10:8; 2 Corinthians 2:17).
Serpent spirits can also be mind-corrupting such as lust, greed, anger, bitterness, lying, sexual perversion, alcoholism, idolatry, and uncleanness. Luke 8:35 shows insanity in various forms to be demonic. I was ministering to a group of elderly once when I was impressed to command a spirit out of a very sullen-looking woman with Alzheimer’s. After I commanded the spirit to come out, her countenance changed and she smiled and said very intelligibly, “Thank you very much, I needed that.” Most were shocked because they had never heard her speak. I knew then that Alzheimer’s can be a demon.
There is indication that “spirits of infirmity” (Luke 13:11) are serpent spirits. When the Israelites sinned, God sent fiery serpents to bite them, and they were dying. The serpent bite clearly inflicted physical sickness through poison. When Moses prayed to the Lord for them, He had them make a brass serpent on a pole, and when they looked on it they were healed (Numbers 21:4-9). The serpent on the pole was said to be Christ (John 3:14) who became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and bore the curse of the serpent (Galatians 3:13) so we could be healed (1 Peter 2:24). The serpent on the pole has been hijacked by the medical establishment to symbolize their healing business.
Some sicknesses proven from the text of the New Testament to be caused by demons are crippled (Luke 13:11); dumb (Matthew 12:22); blind and dumb (Matthew 9:32-33; Luke 11:14); dumb and deaf (Mark 9:25); vexed with sickness (Matthew 15:22, Matthew 15:28); epileptic (Matthew 17:15, Matthew 17:18); and healed of evil spirits (Luke 8:2, Luke 8:36, Luke 8:42; Acts 10:38). There are other healings in the New Testament that appear to be deliverances, which I did not list here. Beside these, I have seen cancers, coughs, rashes, diabetes, arthritis, allergies, insomnia, chronic pains, AIDS, restlessness, and many I do not recall that responded to deliverance. I am sure in the combined experience of Christians the list is longer. Some say these have natural causes. Almost all demons manifest natural causes. The second category Jesus gave was scorpion spirits. The Greek word for “scorpion” is scorpios which means “scatter” or “to penetrate and put to flight.” Scorpion spirits of fear, depression, manic depression, paranoia, worry, anxiety, suicide, guilt, condemnation, and dementia to name a few, penetrate the mind and cause one to flee from an enemy that they should be chasing. A scorpion’s venom is in its tail just as a hornet. The hornet can put a large man to flight through fear. God sent the “hornet” to drive out the enemy from before the Israelites through fear (Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12; Exodus 23:27-28). Jesus taught that he had already bound the strong man (Satan and his demons) and divided the spoils of his house (Luke 11:20-23). Concerning these spoils, Jesus said, “He that gathereth not with me scattereth.” The Greek word for “scattereth” here is scorpizo. If we are not gathering the spoils of Satan’s house, the lost, for God’s kingdom, we will be running from scorpion spirits. We must be vessels of God’s sovereignty to conquer them and set the captives free. A commonly taught false doctrine is that Christians cannot have demons. When Jesus sent His disciples to “cast out demons,” He told them, “…Go not into [any] way of the Gentiles (lost), and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6). He did not send them to those who did not have a covenant with God, but rather only to those that did. In the New Testament, it is the Christians that have covenant promises of deliverance, healing, and provision, not the world. (Colossians 1:13) Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.
Since we have the promises of deliverance, we can use them for ourselves and those coming to Christ. (2 Corinthians 7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Believers are to cleanse self which is synonymous with soul (compare Matthew 16:26 with Luke 9:25) of both flesh and spirit, meaning evil spirits. Paul warned Christians not to “receive a different spirit” (2 Corinthians 11:4). Also we are told, “neither give place (Greek: “region”) to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). Simply, we are not to give any territory in ourselves to the devil or his minions.
(Luke 13:11) And behold, a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. (Luke 13:16) And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, [these] eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath? The condition for deliverance was a child of Abraham, and such are the Christians. (Galatians 3:7) Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham.
Jesus said that He was only sent to the house of Israel. When asked by a Canaanite woman to cast a spirit of infirmity out of her daughter, Jesus said, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:22-28). From this we can see that the children of God have a covenant right to their Father’s bread of deliverance and healing, not the lost. Since Jesus was beginning a New Testament and because of this woman’s faith, He accounted her as righteous (Galatians 3:6), granting her request. I have been casting out demons since around 1976, and almost all of the subjects were Christians. Most of this time, I have had a gift of discerning of spirits in which I see the demons in people’s eyes. I know of no one with this gift, in one of its various forms, who does not believe that Christians can have demons.
We should never cast demons out of lost people without the direction of God because their house is not filled with Christ to defend them against the seven worse demons that will come. (Matthew 12:43-45) But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. (44) Then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. (45) Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this evil generation. We see here that the generation of God’s people who received deliverance from Jesus and the disciples later lost it when they did not continue as disciples. The same thing happens to New Testament people who are delivered today. They must continue to walk in the covenant and be filled with the Word and Spirit of God in order to give no place to the devil. If the Lord does direct us to deliver a lost person, it can mean that He plans salvation for this person. Also, deliverance can be used to stop some demon-possessed person from hindering the work of God, just as Paul cast the spirit of divination out of a lost soothsaying maid because she was hindering his ministry (Acts 16:16-18).
Some years ago, my mother, who had never become a Christian, came to stay with us. She had been tormented by what the psychiatrists call dementia, paranoia, manic-depression, etc., for many years. She began to torment our household with things such as running up the phone bill, threatening to keep us awake all night, leaving the refrigerator open all night, seeing things happening in the area when she was not there, claiming ailments that were not there, and falsely accusing; she had general self-will. Though we would bind the demons in her, the results were temporary. I went to God in prayer about this. I reasoned with the Lord that though she had no right to covenant deliverance, she was tormenting our house and we were not under the curse, but the blessings. (Galatians 3:13-14) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (14) that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus…. In light of this, I asked the Lord for permission to cast the demons out of her to deliver us. That night Jennifer, my youngest daughter, had a dream. She saw my mother’s house in the middle of our house; however, her house was three stories tall going up through our roof. Out of the second story was a plank leading out to the street. On the plank were five chickens marching out to the street. I thanked the Lord for His clear direction and permission. The interpretation is that the three stories were the spirit, soul, and body of my mother’s spiritual house. The five chickens were five demons. According to Revelation 18:2, demons are unclean birds. These chickens were leaving her soul, the second story, meaning we had authority to evict them. The revelation is this: Whenever someone else’s spiritual house is under the authority of our house, we have authority over the demons. Jesus used Jairus’ faith for his daughter, the centurion’s, for his servant, the Canaanite woman’s for her daughter, and Peter’s for his mother as examples of the rights we have to exercise faith for those under our authority. My mother was also hindering our ministry, which is why Paul delivered the soothsaying maid. That night my mother, threatening to keep us awake all night, banged on our bedroom door, and I replied, “You will not.” Mary and I went to her room and commanded the demons out as their names came to our minds. As I recall the names were dementia, paranoia, manic-depression, self-will or stubbornness, and one more that I cannot remember. Although demons can have individual names, they also answer to the name of the infirmity that they cause. We did not wait around to see any results but went to bed and had a good night’s sleep. The next morning we noticed that it was quiet in her room, so we peeked in. We did not see her but noticed the room was in a mess. There were sheets, covers, pillows, and other things all over the floor, like someone had wrestled there all night. We walked into the room, and she came crawling out from under the bed. We immediately saw that this woman was a different woman than the one that I had known for most of my life. She was sweet and submissive and humble. She stayed this way for a while, during which time we preached the Gospel to her. We knew that the house needed to be filled with the things of God or the demons may come back. She always fell back on her religion as an excuse rather than accept the Gospel, so the demons started coming back, although not nearly as bad as before. At this time, she decided to move to an assisted-living facility. Just before she died, she steadfastly told me that she knew Jesus and He was her Savior. The Old Testament tabernacle or temple symbolizes us. We are the temple of God. We have an outer court (flesh), a holy place (soul), and a holy of holies (spirit). Evil men entered into the outer court and even into the holy place to take hold of the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28), but only the high priest could enter the holy of holies, anyone else would die. According to this type, demons can enter the flesh and even possess the soul; but only our High Priest Jesus may enter our spirit, unless we have become reprobate (2 Corinthians 13:5). Demons can oppress the soul (mind, will, and emotions) from without or from within the flesh. They can also possess the soul from without the flesh one moment and recede into the flesh the next, allowing that person to appear normal. This is called by the world schizophrenia.
Demons may enter the flesh because the flesh is the enemy of God, Who dwells in your spirit (Romans 8:7; Galatians 5:17). I have heard some use the supposed verse, “My spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple,” to say that Christians cannot have demons: There is no such verse! Our flesh is so corrupt that it cannot enter the kingdom. (1 Corinthians 15:50) Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Since the flesh is not in the kingdom, demon spirits may enter it. From this stronghold they may enter the soul.
Demons may enter the soul because the part of the soul that is not sanctified by the Word is of the flesh. (Leviticus 17:11) For the life (Hebrew: “soul”) of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life (soul). Notice in type the flesh has to die for the soul to be free. In any part of the soul (mind, will, emotions) that we have not overcome temptation we are not yet sanctified or made holy. We all have overcome some things that no longer have any influence or temptation in our lives. However, there are other areas we still feel this. It is here that we are open to be used by demons. Every Christian knows this by experience. If we walk in willful disobedience, we invite oppression or possession in that area.
Demons can be passed on from generation to generation just like the nature of sin. (Exodus 34:7) Keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. We have a friend who adopted three babies, all siblings. H.R.S. would not tell her who the biological parents were. The children all had sweet dispositions and forgiving natures. As these children grew through puberty they became constantly tormented by lying, stealing, fornication, alcohol, and drugs. These were not just temptations of the fallen nature but were compulsive and irresistible, a sure sign of demons. This greatly troubled the adoptive mother because she had done her best to raise them with the Bible as Christians. Although we had cast demons out of them several times, the effects were not lasting. She decided to try to find out who the biological parents were. She went to the H.R.S. office seeking this information and finally was permitted to look in their files. In this way, she found the mother and invited her and the grandmother for a visit. She was astounded to find that, though she had raised the children from babies, they were manifesting the spirits that were in their biological parents. The grandmother related that they were blood descendants of Jesse James. What we become is not all environmental. We inherit much through blood nature, and demons sometimes come along for the ride. (Leviticus 17:11) For the life (Hebrew: “soul”) of the flesh is in the blood…. Thank God through repentance and faith in the Gospel we can have a spiritual transfusion of the blood of Jesus. When I wrote this, I contacted our friend who related to me that she has received assurances from the Lord that these children, now grown and gone, will be saved. She knows these troubles have done much to humble her and the children, and she sees signs of repentance in them.
I am not necessarily speaking of this case, but we can prematurely try to deliver someone. God through Paul delivered a rebellious Christian to Satan to bring him to repentance. (1 Corinthians 5:5) To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. For anyone to try to deliver this man from a curse that was ordained of God to crucify his flesh and bring him to repentance would be detrimental. God will for a short time honor the faith of the minister, and the cursed man may get a temporary deliverance. When God has put a curse on someone to teach him or her a lesson, you cannot prematurely, permanently remove it. It will come back, unless they repent. (1 Timothy 1:20) Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I delivered unto Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme (Greek: “to speak against”). For anyone to deliver these two before they repented would have been counterproductive. They first needed someone wise enough to tell them that their problems stemmed from speaking against the kingdom. That is why we need to hear the voice of the Spirit. I have even heard of demons speaking from people saying, “I have a right to be here” or “They want me here.” Sometimes this is a lie, but sometimes it is true. You can cast them out, but the demons will go right back if there is a good purpose for them to be there, as in the above verses.
I cast demons out of a woman who was in and out of a mental institution. She was totally delivered and no longer needed medicine. Later, the demons came back, so she came to us and was again delivered. A second time, the demons came back. I began to question her more carefully and found that she could not stop complaining about the way her relatives had treated her. I pointed out to her that Jesus taught that if we do not forgive our fellow servants, the Father will deliver us “to the tormentors” or demons until we pay our own debt of sin (Matthew 18:34-35). She claimed that she was not unforgiving and that her actions were justified. She was offended that I was blaming her for the problem instead of her relatives. She was obviously defiled by a root of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15). I told her that the demons would stay until she repented, and as far as I know, they are still there. In the mission church that I previously mentioned, we cast out many demons from homeless people, drunks, harlots, and drug addicts who had come to the Lord. One drunk by the name of Jim came in during the teaching and was miraculously saved and sobered up at the same time. He began to stay in the mission. About this time, one of the deacons began to discuss demonology with me. I perceived that he was not fully given over to the Lord. I advised him to get filled with the Holy Spirit before attempting to cast out demons because there was much more power and discernment available to him for this. The very next day the pastor called me and told me that the deacon had gone to the mission to exorcise Jim, who had inexplicably been filled with demons and was exhibiting supernatural strength. The demons in Jim had chased the deacon through the mission and literally put him through the thick plate glass front door, totally shattering it. This left the deacon lying on the front lawn bleeding and screaming for someone to get the demons off him. A newborn Christian happened by and not sure of what to do commanded them to come out in Jesus’ Name. The demons came out and an ambulance hauled the deacon to the hospital. This could not have happened if he was right with God. The pastor then told me that he and his secretary had gone in to see what they could do with Jim and were chased out, too. He asked if I could do something. I told him something to the effect that I could not, but the Lord could. I met them out front, and together we walked through the shattered front door and down the hall to Jim’s room. At this point, I walked straight through the open doorway but noticed that the pastor and his secretary stopped just short of the doorway. Just as if I had good sense, I marched toward Jim, who was seated in the other end of a long room. Before I got to him, he jumped up with his hands in the air like claws and a fierce countenance, growling just like a big old bear. Before I had time to think about it, I very loudly and sharply said, “SIT!” Jim’s countenance immediately changed as he sat down just like an obedient puppy. I looked around to see two heads looking through the doorway. I do not normally do this, but I commanded the demons to tell me their names. As they told me their names in different voices, I commanded them to come out in Jesus’ Name. Some argued, reasoned, or lied as usual, but I stood my ground. One asked if it could enter into the dog. I looked around and saw no dog in the room but later found out there was one in the next room. I told the demon, “No, but you may enter into the nearest cockroach.” (There is an insane cockroach out there somewhere!)
One of the demons asked if it could enter into the secretary, who was still standing in the doorway. I again forbade it but later questioned her lifestyle, which proved to be a well-founded doubt. The pastor had come next to me by this time and was also commanding demons. When they spoke to him, they seemed to like him, which again made me suspicious, and again it was well founded. Unknown to others, the pastor and secretary had been intimate. The Lord then spoke to me and said, “The demons entered through the TV set.” I asked, “Jim, what were you watching on this set?” By this time, he was able to respond in his own voice and he showed me a video skin flick that he had watched. Men, pornography will destroy your eternal soul. Jim would have ended up in an asylum, if it were left up to the leadership of this church. After casting out nine or ten demons, the Lord said, “There are two more. Leave them.” I thought this was strange until the next service when Jim came forward for more deliverance. I had been asking the Lord to give me wisdom concerning this pastor’s habit of slaying everyone in the Spirit, although he had no effect on Mary and me. The pastor put his hand on Jim’s forehead, and he started to fall. Before I thought about it, I put my hand behind him and stood him back up. I then commanded the demons out, and they obeyed. Later, as I thought on this, I had discernment that the devil wanted Jim unconscious on the floor to hinder his deliverance.
I have seen some slain in the Spirit in my own ministry, but I do not exercise faith for this to happen. Paul was possibly slain in the Spirit on the road to Damascus, but neither Paul nor anyone else was exercising faith to do this. This emphasis is not in Scripture, and we should “learn not to go beyond the things that are written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
I suspect anything that becomes a habitual show brings glory to such men. This pastor was the serpent I spoke of earlier. He had been a performer in a famous rock band when he “came to the Lord” toting a lot of excess baggage. I asked the Lord to reveal his demons. The next day, two ladies, unknown to each other, from different towns, called me. The Lord told them to tell me that this man had the same spirits as Jim Jones.