Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 3/13/2009

Question
Our pastor recently gave a sermon on fasting the last in his series and used the passage from Mark with the desciples inability to cast the demon out of the boy as the scriptual reference. He said that all believers today have the ability to cast out demons using the formula of prayer and fasting.
I believe that teaching this can harm more people than it could ever help.He said that by prayer and fasting he can determine if God wants him to cast the demon out or not.
Is this a Baptist teaching or is this more of a charsmatic teaching?

Answer
The biggest problem is the formula.  God doesn't have a lot of formulas.  He doesn't do anything contrary to His character but He does use differnt methods to accomplish the same thing.  Jesus healed people by speaking the word, with people present or far away, with bit of dirt and spit and yet told the man to wash in a certain pool. Many He healed instanteously and yet He did a two part thing on one blind man.  

To say that if you pray and fast and do whatever else he included in the formula and God will cast out a demon is a stretch.  That is along the same line as using the Prayer of Jabez as an evangelical rosary when Christ clearly states to avoid repetitive praying. Using a formula for casting out demons may come close to an incantation and you never see that type of thing in Scripture used by His people.

I am curious about what explanation is given for God wanting some demons to stay and some to go. The only other ones who were not successful in casting out a demon were the seven sons of Sceva in Acts who tried using a formula of using Paul and Christ's names and all they got out of it was a torn wardrobe and butt kicking.  ;-)  

I do not see Jesus or any of the Apostles checking in to see if this was a demon who got to stay. That sounds like a convenient excuse for why he might fail in his exorcism kind of like faith healers blaming the sick person for not having the faith when James says it is the prayer of the healer not the prayer of the sick that is heard.  The guy Peter healed was looking for a hand out not a healing.  Your preacher giving himself an out if it doesn't work turns my red lights on.

Charismatic teaching is more about the sign gifts versus demon inhabitation or exorcisms.  There is also demon oppression, self-induced actions due to guilt over sin or fear of some kind of retribution and true mental illness cause by celluar damage or some other form of injury or biological deficiency so we must be carful about whom we declare to be demonized.

The Jews were casting out demons because when Jesus was accused of doing that by the power of the devil He asked the Pharisees if that is true then by what power do your children cast them out?  (Matt 12:27) This clearly indicates that exorcisms were already a practice before Christ.  The difference being is that He was 100% successful and we don't know the track record of the others.  Since there were plenty of demonized folks about we can speculate that there were not enough exorcists to go around or like the disciples in Mark they did not know what was needed to be done for certain ranks or strengths of demons whereas that did not matter to Christ.

The Charimstics do not have a corner on this teaching.  The Scriptures belong to the saved and by rightly dividing it we can benefit from every Word of God.

I have had Baptist brethren who are in no way leaning towards the Charismatic movement speak of dealing with people who are demonized. As we get closer to the end we will most likely see more and more of that happening in the Western world.  

I have had many missionaries also speak of having to deal with witch doctors and others demonized but with the drug use, increasing interest in the occult and eastern religions we shall see more than we would like.

We have more than we know because not all demons are ride, crude and do wild things.  Some are quite refined and religious and even appear to be great saints.  The Anti-Christ will be inhabited by satan and yet in the beginning he will seem wonderful and Messianic deceiving many people. There are surely some on TV with wide coverage and big audiences.  (2 Cor 11:13-15)

You may live next door to one, go to school with one or work with one or more. Were the recent shootings in Illinois, Alabama and Germany the work of demonized people?  Well, they sure weren't inspired by God.  Even if they were mentally ill, they were more vulnerable and could have been influenced if not inhabited by demons. We will not know until the Last Judgment. (2 Cor 11:13-15)     

Bottom line is yes we can go before the throne and ask Christ to cast out a demon but we need be sure that we are in complete submission to Christ, filled with the Spirit, with no unconfessed sins, and well versed in the Word before we attempt it.  We must also be sure that we are the one God is leading to enter into this hand-to-hand combat or it will end badly. You may know about it, but God has someone else in mind to do it and you may be asked to help but if you jump up and charge in with great zeal you may be thrown out just as zealousy and possibly injured.

I would never take a doubter with me either or the demon will play on that weakness and use that person against you. As much as you can be sure all people present are saved and right with the Lord. You don't need to deal with more than one demonized person or one easily influenced by a demon.

Other than that type of preparation you will need to be prepared for anything to happen.  That is why a formula will not cut it.  Even in in the military though we had wonderful manuals and SOPs there were times the book and SOP just did not work and we had to practice what we called field expediency and improvise an alternative means of accomplishing the mission.  

You have the absolute best war book and weapons, but in that kind of combat you will need to in constant communications with HQ to get the right directive to handle the situation and definitely be able to call in an air strike or special forces when needed.  The Word and the Spirit are the real warriors fighting on the basis of the Blood.  You are there to assist and to bring their power to bear upon the enemy.  When you start to think it is your battle or you are gaining some ground you are defeated and better get out of range or the direct fire from Hell will burn you.       

This is not novice work or for the Sunday Morning Only crowd or wishy-washy or fleshly Christians.  

To summarize, casting out demons is not Charaismatic but it must be handled biblically by mature, spirit filled saints.  I am not comfortable with the formula concept or needing to know if the demon is supposed to be cast out or not.  I would have to have a conversation with your pastor to really understand his rationale.

Study, study, study and get as close to God as possible so that you will be able to stand in the days ahead.  

Blessings to you.  Maranatha!