Expert: Tom Smith - 2/13/2011

Question
I have a friend on facebook who claims she coughs when someone is getting healed under her anointing. I have searched and can not find anything in reference to such a thing. Altho I did find some demonic activity that produced such coughing. She also claims to do what is called a Jirah Dance as done by Miriam in the O.T. She calls it a victory dance. She has a video on you tube which shows her rebuking what she calls a demon in a young lady. She gets very frantic, lots of screaming and carring on.  I personally question the spirit involved, but I would like some clarification on the matter before I pursue it. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your time.
God Bless!

Answer
There are many people who make similar claims and come up with all sorts of manifestations, and want some dramatic evidence of what they claim is happening as a personal endorsement of what they are doing. The problem is that there is nothing scriptural about what they are doing. And scripture is what we need to seek when validating such claims.

As for the dance that Miriam did, that is completely out of context. It was a dance of celebration when God drowned the Egyptians who were following them (Exodus 15:20-21). It has nothing to do with demonic activity or casting out demons, nor is there any indication that is something that we should also do. Evidence of that is we don't find anyone else in scripture doing a "miriam dance".

I would suggest that you are right to question the spirit involved or whether there even was a spirit involved. In scripture, we don't find that type of process in casting out a demon. When the demon was commended to leave, it left. But we also need to consider something else. If a person is unsaved, what does casting out a demon accomplish? The Holy Spirit is not in that person to prevent it from happening again. And if the person is saved, the Holy Spirit is already indwelling the person and a demon is unable to possess the person. That is not to say that there not times when it is appropriate (there are times), but I find that most people involved in what is commonly called the spiritual warfare movement have not established what they do based upon scripture but rather based upon what some book says or upon what their "experience"is.

A good book on the topic is by Pentecostal Pastor Bill Randles titled "Making War in the Heavenlies"

http://www.believersingrace.com/catalog/item/5840987/5708794.htm

I hope that this helps.

Tom Smith
http://discern.ca