29. EXORCISM & SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS
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And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name they shall cast out devils (Mk.16:17).
1. People with spiritual proclivities or tendencies--what you might almost call psychic sensitivities--are susceptible to spiritual influences, & if they don't stay mighty close to God & His Holy Spirit, they're very susceptible to evil spirits.
2. Don't hit the Devil head-on unless you're prepared to go all the way & really have it out & really get rid of him or the person who's harbouring him, one or the other! When you have driven the Devil out in the open & exposed him, you have precipitated a crisis & you have started something that you had better finish!
3. I don't believe a child of God can be totally possessed by the Devil, but if you believe his lies, he sometimes seems to be able to take over temporary control, & he can certainly give you Hell from the outside!
4. You don't just beat around the bush with spiritual problem cases or try to save their feelings by not talking about it. If they have any pride about it, that's as bad as the rest of the problem. The Devil never likes to be exposed, he likes to do his dirtywork in the dark & behind the scenes so you won't really know who is doing the damage. He'd like to make you think it's some disease or mental problem, blah, blah, blah!
5. With incorrigibly insane people you have to humour them, not confront them or precipitate a crisis. If you see they're obviously not receiving counsel & not contrite & not breaking down & not wanting to be genuinely delivered, it's better just to pacify them & keep them as a friend, as you ease them out!
6. In initial exorcism you don't necessarily always have the cooperation of the individual, but for them to remain clean afterward, then they must put their will on yours & the Lord's side. They must desire to remain clean, & be repentant & want Jesus & the Holy Spirit to protect them. Then you've got the cooperation of their spirit, too, on your side, to get rid of the evil spirit. Otherwise, as the Lord Himself showed about the one out of whom the evil spirit was cast, that spirit went & got seven more spirits worse than he was & came back & entered in, & the last estate was worse than the first! (Mt.12:45.)
7. It may be a stubborn situation, a stubborn spirit, but it doesn't matter how stubborn it is, you've got the authority & the power to cast it out! Now you either have or you haven't! If Jesus Christ is real, you have! If you haven't got the power to throw out that spirit, then you haven't got Jesus Christ & Jesus Christ isn't real, He never rose from the dead & we are of all men most miserable & our faith is in vain! (1Cor.15:19,2)
8. "One can chase a thousand, two can put ten thousand to flight!" (Deut.32:30.) What do you think He's talking about?--Some kind of soldiers in an army or something?--No doubt evil spirits!
9. We can by the authority of God's Word, & in His Name, according to His commandments, cast out demons, whatever they are, & deliver the possessed--at least long enough for them to be in their right mind & under the control of their own spirit to make their own decision to serve the Devil or to serve the Lord, & then whatever decision they make is their responsibility.
10. As long as that devil's in control, in a way the possessed is not really responsible, even though it is their sins that have allowed it. So it's our responsibility to give the Lord a chance to totally deliver them.
11. If you deliver someone from the Devil's control, & then they still by their own spirit make their own free choice to serve the Devil, then there's nothing more you can do! The devils'll be right back in again & probably more also, & the possessed is worse off! But if out from under the influence of that spirit, they of their own free will & choice want to serve the Lord & be delivered, then the Lord will deliver them!
12. The evil spirits are subject to us: They can't do as they please, they have to do what we tell'm! If we say depart, they have to depart in the name of Jesus! But we can't yet tell our own spirit to depart! It still has free will & makes its own choices, & if it's not the Lord's choice, & if through disobedience or compromise or laziness or whatever it is, we're not close to Him & under the control of His Spirit, our spirits can still make mistakes, if they're not yielded to His spirit.
13. The discerning of spirits is not only the discerning of good & evil spirits, but the discerning of human spirits as well. You've got to be able to tell when people are sincere or not, their attitude of heart & mind.
14. It's not the problems that bother us so much as the problem people who create the problems!
15. Little namby-pamby prayers aren't going to do a bit of good in a case where you're dealing with evil spirits! You've got to address the Old Boy himself & rebuke him, call him by name if you can!
16. The most effective way to exorcise any evil spirit is to call them by name & rebuke them by name, cast them out by name & resist them by name!
17. If we can't get rid of the devil, we have to get rid of the demoniac!
18. If they want to be Hell-raisers & raise Hell, let'm go to Hell!
19. It's a lot easier for the Devil to hide in a crowd.
20. Mary Magdalene was a harlot filled with seven devils! But the Lord cast them all out of her, cleansed her, forgave her, & she became one of His favourite lovers, perhaps even the King's favourite!
21. Find out the name of the demon who is attacking, & then command him by name with authority in the name of Jesus Christ, & he has to obey!
22. When people came to my mother wanting her to come & do miracles & pray for the sick & heal them, she first sat them down & dealt with them about their souls, their spirit & their problems & what was really wrong with them that caused them to be sick in the first place--whether it was demons or diet or whatever it was--she tried to find out whether it was the chastening of the Lord or the curse of the Devil. She determined to find out the cause, not just treat the illness, which is nothing but a symptom of something spiritual or natural.
23. Don't hesitate to use the Name of Jesus. Make the subject pray in the Name of Jesus & say the Name of Jesus & ask to be delivered in the Name of Jesus, again & again.
24. You don't have to confess your sins to everybody. If it's just between you & the Lord, you just confess it to Him. If it's between you & somebody else, you confess it to that person, but if you have offended the whole congregation, then you need to confess to the whole congregation.
25. People who are filled with the Devil, even if they are supposedly Christians, self-righteous Christians who think they know the Lord & even think maybe they're saved, they can curse someone, thinking they're doing it in the Spirit of God, while actually they're of their father the Devil!
26. Those in tune with the Devil can literally pray to the Devil that he'll send his angels or his hindering spirits to bother people.
27. When people pray for deliverance, they not only need to pray for deliverance from the Devil & his evil spirits & his demons, but against some of the people who are behind them, backing them & sending their curses by means of these little devils--get at the root of the trouble!
28. Christians can curse people too if they don't behave or if they get in the Lord's way!
29. If people don't receive us, they're not receiving the Lord. "He that is not for Me is against Me." (Mt.12:30) And if they're against us, you know they're serving the Devil.
30. Even the evil spirits are subject to us, but we have to be positive & definite about it & recognise the opposition & contradict them & oppose them & curse them & send them away, command them to depart!
31. Devils can't do anything but what you allow them to do. They are subject unto us, but sometimes they are also subject to those who send them.
32. God has His talismans too! Spiritually mature adults should not need objects. But like kids need pictures & illustrations, simple folks need signs & good talismans, like crosses, crucifixes, pix & images of Mary & saints & miraculous manifestations to inspire their faith. The problem is, where does the representation stop & the worship begin? And fear is a form of worship!--Watch out!
33. You'd better not try to tackle the Devil unless you know how to tackle him & you've got the strength & the spiritual power to do it.
34. A person is not possessed until he can no longer control himself, until his own spirit is no longer dominant & he's under the complete or total control of another spirit.
35. What I'd call full demon possession is when a person no longer has any self-control but the demon can just come & go at will & do whatever it wants or make them do whatever it wants.
36. It's possible for a person to be both pestered by evil spirits & also helped by good spirits at the same time.
37. You can even have the wrong spirit speak through your mouth sometimes & inspire you to say the wrong things.--But not necessarily be possessed. The difference is to what degree you allow the Enemy to control & rule over your life.
38. People with mental problems get very easily upset, very easily aggravated, annoyed, inclined to a tantrum or a rage very easily, & are often very nervous largely because they are rather weak in the spirit & susceptible to spiritual influences, so the only way they can avoid being influenced by the wrong spirit is to stay very close to the Lord & very full of His Spirit. Let the Light in so brightly that the darkness finds no place to hide & will flee away!
39. "Neither give place to the Devil" (Eph.4:27) is a good Scripture because it shows you can sometimes give the Devil place & room to operate & get in, without necessarily being completely taken over or possessed. But believe you me, whatever territory you give him, he'll sure use it, whatever he can get ahold of, including your tongue & your sharp critical spirit & violent abuse of others etc.!
40. The best way to get along with mental patients is to humour them as much as you can, without letting them go too far. There always comes a place where you have to call a halt & put a stop to something just like with a little child, & usually if you put your foot down firmly & they know you mean business, then they'll simmer down. But you have to be definite & firm about it & very clear about it, what you will put up with & what you won't stand, set down very clear lines of limitation & requirements of obedience. Warn them in advance what you won't put up with & how far they can go, & tolerate no further, let them know you really mean business & you're going to enforce it, just like you would with a little child.
41. If you allow the Enemy to continue to operate in any area of your life it could develop into complete demonism. Those bad spirits want more & more control, like the camel's nose, & the quicker you nip it in the bud & get rid of it, not only the nose but the camel behind it, the better.
42. A nervous breakdown begins with physical exhaustion, then nervous exhaustion which results in mental exhaustion & eventually almost spiritual exhaustion.
43. You've got to be pretty strong spiritually to get rid of devils! You've got to attack the thing head on. You can't just deal with it in generalities, "Lord bless this dear brother, blah, blah." You have to speak personally, directly to the devil or the demon, & rebuke him, with anger, almost with violence!--And command him to depart, because that's the only hope there is. You have to deal with the Devil in the kind of terms that he understands & it's pretty much force & forceful!
(See also No.K, 33, 66, 99, 168, 171, 287, 291, 303, 334A, 602, 603, 664, 666, 678, 710, 719, 720, 727, 764, 856, 857, 947, 952, 954, 980, 1008, 1023, 1041, 1090, 1379, 1399, 1408, 1409, 1420, 1432, 1436, 1438, 1442, 1443, 1444, 1448, 1452, 1454, 1459, 1464, 1467, 1527.)
44. MAT.8:16,17 When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils; and He cast out the spirits with His Word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
45. MAT.10:1 And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
46. MAT.12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
47. MAR.1:34 And He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him.
48. MAR.9:29 And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
49. MAR.16:17,18 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.
50. LUK.9:1 Then He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
51. LUK.10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy Name.
52. LUK.11:24-26 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
53. ACT.5:16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
54. JAM.2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
55. 1JO.3:8b For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the Devil.
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