Casting Out Demons

I’ve been listening to the Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare Conference from Morning Star Ministries and found the session on “Casting Out Demons” by Jack Deere to be particularly useful. I’ve typed up some basic notes from the session in order to share what I’m learning about spiritual warfare. At the end are some of my reflections.

CASTING OUT DEMONS
Morning Star Conference – Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare April 2006
Jack Deere

First of all, there are three things we must know about Satan before we can move forward.

1) Never fear Satan or the demons
-One of Satan’s #1 tools is fear
-We should fear only God
-Fear is meant to defile us
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control.”

2) Never allow yourself to be fascinated with the devil
-Blessed are the ones who do not know the deep things of Satan
-We should only be fascinated with God
-Being fascinated with Satan and evil gives glory to Satan, don’t give glory to him but only to God
-It is tempting to read or hear all about the most vile things during under Satan’s power but this creates a fascination with evil and defiles our minds

3) Never mock the devil or demons
Jude 1:8-10 “8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.”
-Even Jesus treated the devil with respect, he did not mock him but used the Word of God to counter Satan’s attacks
-If you mock the devil you’ll lose some protection

Now that we know these three principles we can go on:

I. How do you know someone is under demonic influence?
(We will skip the discussion of whether the demon is in, on or around the person. In all cases the person is under the influence of a demon.)

A) Something supernatural happens
B) Spiritual gift of discernment (more commonly)

How do we get the gift of discernment?
- pray for it
- practice it! Hebrews 5:14 “14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
- Ask God’s opinion about something at least once a day, you’ll grow in discernment

II. What do you do if someone is demonized?
A) Ask the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus
B) If it doesn’t leave, get a team together (minimum of three people)
- Do not do this alone!
- Have one person leading, one person constantly praying, and one person taking notes
- You need the extra discernment and protection
- Evil can capitalize on weakness
- Demonized people should be expected to act in a disciplined and responsible way
- Recognize that you are not their saviors
- The devil will make you think you are their saviors and tire you out
- You can lose your life to someone else’s sickness
C) Don’t do the following:
- stay up all night
- demons love to wear you out!
- After an hour make another appointment
- Restrain anyone physically
- The demon’s trap is to manifest as long as possible in order to tire you out
- Get into discussions with demons
- The devil is a liar!
D) Do an interview with the person
- ask about sexual abuse/trauma/bondage
- alcohol/drug addiction
- promise them confidentiality
E) Ask the person to repent of sin (an area of agreement with evil)
F) Continue in prayer and fasting if the demon(s) are not yet cast out
*Warning – some people are sent to “steal the children’s bread.” Spend the majority of your time with your best people in order to train up leaders. Don’t allow demonized people to monopolize your time, effort, and energy.

III. After an hour of prayer/manifestation
A) Send the person away
B) Debrief your team
C) Come clean – talk about what you felt during the prayer
D) Don’t leave with a secret
E) Pray over each person on the team


Reflections from OneThing274:

I’ve had several encounters with evil or with people under demonic influence and I’ve never really been confident about what to do. I knew that I should use the name of Jesus and that I had authority in Christ, but my attempts at seeing people set free usually involved me laying hands and speaking in tongues. I didn’t even know how to pray! Going through the verses in this session and hearing Jack Deere’s practical advice and experience is really helping me to understand how to interact with demons.

His warnings are good ones as I realized in listening to the session that I have feared demons and could easily be prone to fascination with evil. Something inside of us wants to hear that horrific story of ritual abuse just to prove the evil that lurks in men’s hearts, but God wants our hearts and minds to be undefiled. Unless it’s necessary for someone else’s salvation there should be no need to know about the grotesque activities of evil.

I also realized that every time I encountered a demon possessed person I was tricked into exerting all my energy to the point of exhaustion. Even though the demons may have been there for years, I would always have the idea that the demons MUST be cast out on that very day or night. Demons would manifest for long periods of time where I would be praying loudly (as if demons are scared off by my booming voice) and become exhausted easily. Instead of seeing the manifestation of evil as a rare, supernatural occurrence I should treat it as passé and focus on recognizing my authority as a follower of Jesus. I should not be impressed or intimidated by Satan’s power or the strange things that he does. Instead I should focus on the greatness of God and the fact the HE is above all power, all dominion and all authority. Everything is under His feet! Amen.

The session also helped me to realize that demonized people should be expected to act in a disciplined way. We should not just allow them to do whatever because they “have a demon.” In the name of Jesus we should ask them to behave appropriately. The person needs to realize that he or she is in control and that the demon only has power when the person grants it control of his or her body.

Deere said that a demonized person should never be restrained. I wonder, if a person is about to cause harm to himself or others around him, should that person be restrained? What can we do? I have seen people rolling through flames or thrashing violently. In Mark 9 we see a demon that has tried to kill the boy it is possessing:
20So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. 22"It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
In cases like this I would think that the parents or whoever was around would try to save the boy when he is thrown into the fire or the water. Can our strength match the strength of a demon? What should we do in cases like this where the person is about to cause harm (or even death) to himself or others?

I’d love to hear what you thought about the notes from Jack Deere’s talk. If you’ve had experiences involving demonic powers and can offer any practical advice OR have questions, please post on the blog!