Spiritual Beings
The first 11 chapters of the Bible describe what is called by biblical scholars, primeval history, the stories of the creation of the world, and how it came to be the way it is today. The details of Genesis 1 and 2 deal with God creating a good world, order out of chaos, and God proclaims everything in creation to be good. Genesis chapters 3-11 describe various stories of what is called the fall or the rebellion. How people made choices that brought evil and sin into the absolute goodness in God’s world. Parallel into the stories of the origins of humanity's rebellion are references to a spiritual rebellion, spiritual beings that were created in God’s goodness, yet are working against God to take for themselves.
Through the bible there are many references to other spiritual beings that affect the earth, there are many references to a single spiritual adversary, the evil one, the devil (from the Greek for slanderer), or the satan (Hebrew for enemy or opposer). As well there are references to other spiritual beings, many to honor god like angels, hosts of heaven, or cherubs, and some who oppose God, like the unclean spirits and demons that Jesus casts out of people during his ministry.
Below is a summary from Tim Mackie and Jon Collins on what the bible says about spiritual beings, especially the satan and demons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CamYtVpoTNk&list=PLH0Szn1yYNeef2AIszbltRK15dgoxA_57&index=6
Deliverance Ministry in Soul Care
The final chapter of Rob Reimer’s book Soul Care deals with these spiritual beings who are in opposition to God and attack the spirits of human beings. He gives information on and instruction for freeing someone from demonization, or demonic influence. He doesn’t not call this demonic possession, as the spirit of a Christian cannot be processed because it belongs in whole to Christ. Yet he asserts that demons can and will attack the souls of those that belong to Christ, leaving them in spiritual bondage that can only be resolved through deliverance.
He cites scripture passages supporting this, of course there is the fact that Jesus himself cast out many demons in his ministry. He also mentions that Paul in 1 Corinthians, and John in 1 John, tell the followers in their church to test the spirits but ensuring they declare the truth about Jesus. It is followers of Jesus who need deliverance ministry, and part of the evidence of this is that Jesus and his disciples cast demons out of people separate from converting them to be followers of Christ. If converting was enough to free people from demonic influence there would be no need to also cast out demons. Jesus tells a parable that tells of a person who a demon is cast out of, but the demon returns to that person and finding their soul like a house unoccupied, enters again with seven other demons, according to Reimer this means that if a person is not a Christian, casting out a demon will leave them worse off, as the Holy Spirit is not in their soul to prevent the demons from re-entering.
According to Reimer, demons can enter a person through a variety of pathways, through addiction, sexual promiscuity or prostitution, perpetrating some kind of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or being a victim of these abuses, or some kind of occult or religious activity or worship other than Christian worship. Demons can also be inherited through families. Signs of these demons range consistent emotional distress, physical pain, blasphemous thoughts or speaking blasphemy, thought patterns of self-hatred, suicidal ideation, and self-harm.
These demons cannot be cast out if they have the ground to stay, and that ground must be discovered and broken before a person can be delivered from spiritual bondage. If that person has sins they have not confessed, is harbouring secrets, or has had a curse placed on them that needs to be broken, the demon has the right to stay in them until the matter is resolved.
For the actual deliverance, Reimer notes that he always does it with a team of other spiritual leaders that he trusts, and he prepares with prayer. Then he states that there is no need to yell or push around the person afflicted with the demon, but simply to command with the authority of the name or Jesus. For larger demons, more prayer and fasting in preparation grants more authority. He would first pray safety over the person, then do a test, asking a variety of questions on the nature of Christ (i.e. Is Jesus Lord, did Jesus come in the flesh, does the Scripture say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father? ect.) If the person does not answer these questions with the truth of God, they have a demon.
If a demon is present, you first need its name and function, then to know if it has valid ground to stay, and if so break that ground. Reimer notes that demons work within hierarchical structures, and so the leader of the demons is the one that must be cast out. Interrogate the demon to see if it has others under its command, or if it has a leader until you have the command structure. Sometimes a person might have a window, gate, portal, or some kind of curse keeping their soul open so that a demon once cast out could return. Ask the demon if this is the case, and if it is, close or break it in the name of Jesus. Then you can cast out the demon by name, ordering it to do where Jesus would send it. Now repeat the test to ensure that no more demons remain in the person. If their spirit is clear and only the Holy Spirit remains, then as the Holy Spirit what it would like to tell this person. Then conclude with prayer.
Other Perspectives on Evil Spirits and Deliverance
The scriptures are quite clear that outside of the reality that we can understand, there are invisible, spiritual realities that are beyond our understanding. Although all Christian traditions affirm the workings of the Spirit and of other spiritual beings, there is no shortage of differing opinions on how that reality links to the world in which we live, and how we as followers of God ought to respond to it. The Catholic Church requires that you renounce the devil at baptism and accept Christ, considering this a simple form of exorcism, but also in select cases priests may do “a major exorcism, only with the permission of the bishop. The Catchecims notes that this should not be done on people who are mentally ill, as mental illness is not the same as demon possession.
It is quite a common view in some denominations that although the satan and demons exist, they do not attach themselves to specific people, and no special ceremony is required to cast them out. Often in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, demons are directly linked to the rulers and power structures over a land, such as the victory of God over the Pharaoh in Egypt was also a victory over the gods or lesser rebellious spiritual beings the ruled Egypt, or defeat of the King of Babylon was also the defeat of the Spiritual Principality that ruled Babylon. Man Christian believe that rather than a personal demonic attack, the spiritual forces of evil are at work alongside large scale power structures that create oppression, destruction, hatred, and disregard for the love and compassion that we ought to pour out on others through the Spirit. These powers can and should be resisted, but are not cast out with a special word or knowledge of spiritual laws, but rather with the coming of the Kingdom of God through the coming of Christ.
Bob DeWaay, a American minister, cautions away from a mindset that focuses on a concept of warfare rather than the providence of God. He had been involved in deliverance ministry in his career but cautions that his own mindset and that of his colleagues become overly rooted in the idea that they were powerful warriors in the fight against spiritual evil, that this knowledge and spiritual authority of the minister performing the deliverance was the thing that cast out God, rather than the will and grace of God.
Akin to physical healing through the spirit, this healing is real, but does not happen according to the ability of the one praying over the ill or injured person or the amount or quality of the faith of the ill person, but by the grace of God. If the power of Christ could be wielded according to the prayers of the faithful and spiritual people and ministers, believers would never grow ill, get injured, or die. This is not the case. Likewise God heals spiritual evil and hears the prayers of those who pray against spiritual evil, but the divine mystery of God does not operate like a vending machine; the requisite code, or quantity of prayer, or fasting in an allotted amount does not cause require God to follow the commands of the person who prays. DeWaay quotes from 2 Timothy 2:24-26 “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God will grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” DeWaay notes that he was struck by the phrasing, that perhaps God may grant them repentance and freedom, but perhaps not and there is no responsibility placed on the knowledge or ability of the Lord correcting them with gentleness.
There is a subtle but concerning connection between this kind of thinking and the ancient heresy of gnosticism, the idea that a secret knowledge not revealed by God in Scripture or through general revelation, often regarding the nature of structures of spiritual beings, is the key to true Spiritual salvation. The teachings are different of course, but information on the secret laws that bind demons is not found in scriptures, and the implication that the grace of God and the power of the sacrifice made by Christ at the cross is not enough unless you also have an exorcist or deliverance minister say the correct words to break the curses and evils that otherwise will keep a person from wholeness and healing in Christ. This is not to say that all deliverance ministries or ministries against spiritual evil are heretical, but that there is a danger that the pursuit of a good thing could be twisted into something that is no longer good. There is a responsibility that Christians have to faithfully and vigilantly consider and evaluate teaching that they are receiving, to discern truth from lies, where truth has been twisted into something that no longer points toward Christ.
* This author would like to acknowledge any possible bias she may have. Personally I believe in demonic and unclean spirits, but not that one specific procedure can cast them out with certainty or infallibility. The laws that govern spirituality are not made to be known by human minds, but a mystery of God. I have no desire to discount the experiences described by deliverance ministers who describe demonization or the casting out of demons, and have attempted to present a variety of perspectives that are held. However, it is likely that I have elevated the beliefs that I personally hold in this discussion. I once again encourage the reader to evaluate these perspectives for themselves, with reason, considering the words of scripture, the histories and tradition or the Holy Church, and through prayer requesting the discerning power of the Holy Spirit. I accept that I, and every human mind that has written on this subject, have a deeply limited understanding of Spiritual matters. While I hold through faith to the beliefs that I have, I also accept that my knowledge is deeply limited by the imperfections of fallen humanity, and it is likely that many of my beliefs are incorrect.
DeWaay, Bob. “How Deliverance Ministries Lead People into Bondage: A Warning Against the Warfare Worldview.” Critical Issues Commentary no. 78: (September/October 2003). https://cicministry.org/commentary/issue78.htm
Harold, Godfey. “Metaphysical Dualism and Spiritual Warfare.” https://www.academia.edu/5157589/Metaphysical_Dualism_and_Spiritual_Warfare
Hurtado, Larry. “Early Christian Monotheism.” https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/early-christian-monotheism/
Mackie, Tim and Collins, Jon. “The Satan and Demons.” The Bible Project May 23, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CamYtVpoTNk&list=PLH0Szn1yYNeef2AIszbltRK15dgoxA_57&index=6
https://d1bsmz3sdihplr.cloudfront.net/media/Study%20Notes/SBS_06_VN_Final_1.pdf
Mackie, Tim and Collins, Jon. “Spiritual Warfare.” The Bible Project Podcast. July 30, 2018. https://thebibleproject.com/podcast/theme-god-e3-spiritual-warfare/transcript/
Quash, Ben, and Ward, Michael. Heresies and How to Avoid Them. Baker Academic Publishing Group: Grand Rapids, MI. 2012.
Reimer, Rob. Soul Care. Carpenter’s Son’s Publishing: 2016
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