Facing Issues And Questions

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Facing Issues and Questions 


There are some things about demons and deliverance 
that one would be unwise to be dogmatic about. There 
are some questions for which no complete answers can 
be found. There are honest differences of opinion 
between persons who are recognized authorities in the 
field. Rather than completely ignore these issues and 
questions I will mention several that are prominent in 
my own thinking, and make a few comments. 

1. Aren’t we less effective than fesus? 

It may be argued, and I believe rightly so, that the New 
Testament evidence is that Jesus delivered persons 
from demon spirits with greater authority and dispatch 
than we are witnessing today. Let us not shrink away 
from this ministry because we cannot do it perfectly, 
and wait until we can match the example of Jesus. This 
is like a person who does not know how to swim 
deciding not to enter the water until he can do so as an 
Olympic champion! 

I have seen what I believe to be a serious mistake in this 
area. When results are not immediate some have 
declared knowingly that it is all a matter of faith. 
Consequently, they make a practice of commanding all 
demons to leave a person and rest on “faith” that it is 
accomplished. But presumption is not faith. When the 



person is not delivered as a consequence of this so- 
called faith, then it should be admitted that something 
went awry. 

Some who were supposedly delivered in that fashion 
have come to my attention. They were suffering from 
delusion and disappointment. They had been told that 
they were delivered, but nothing had changed. Was the 
deliverance minister really honest? Was he unwilling to 
take the necessary time to see an effective ministry? 
Was he seeking a short-cut to effectiveness? How can 
we judge? 

One day another minister and I were discussing this 
thorny question. While we were talking, the Holy Spirit 
spoke to my heart and said that the church would 
eventually come into greater power in deliverance. The 
Spirit said He would give me a preview of what lay 
ahead. 

The other minister’s wife was in the room with us and 
had requested deliverance ministry. I was directed by 
the Spirit to give one command for the troubling 
demons to leave her. None of us moved from our seats. 

I pointed my finger at the woman across the room and 
commanded the demons to leave her. There was a 
minute of silence and then she exploded into coughing. 
When she realized that she had been delivered, she 
stood up and lifted her hands in praise to God. She 
immediately fell to the floor under the power of the 
anointing that was upon her. 



I am not satisfied with the anointing that I have 
experienced or witnessed generally in the ministry of 
others. I am believing God for a better day. 

Nevertheless, I have definitely experienced some 
growth in authority. Where spiritual battles formerly 
required hours, they now require minutes. The demons 
definitely recognize increased authority and respond 
more readily and with fewer and less prolonged 
demonstrations. In a few instances demons in persons 
in the same room with us have cried out from simply 
recognizing we were a danger and a threat to them. 

This seems to parallel the experience of Jesus when He 
went into the synagogue and an unclean spirit in a man 
cried out. (See Mark 1:23,26). Let us remain open to the 
Spirit’s teaching. Undoubtedly the problem lies with 
man and not with God! 

2. How can a Christian have demons? 

How can a demon spirit indwell the same body at the 
same time as the Holy Spirit does? It seems logical to 
assume that this cannot be possible, but all logic is not 
truth, and some logic is based on a false premise. 

We have taken the position in this writing that 
Christians can be and are indwelt by demons. The 
explanation of how this is possible is based primarily, 
so far as I have determine, on a clear understanding of 
the difference between soul and spirit. The New 
Testament word for “spirit’ is “pneuma”. In 
contradistinction from the natural or “soulish’ the spirit 



is that part of man which has the ability to grasp and 
perceive things. 

But the natural (i.e. soulish) man receiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto 
him: neither can he know them, because they are 
spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. 2:14 

The word for “soul’ is “psyche”. This world defines the 
self life - the emotions, the intellect and the w ill. Paul 
shows us hows us that man is a three-fold being 

And the very God of peace sanctify wholly; and I pray 
God your whole SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be 
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. I Thess. 5:23 

The scripture teaches that prior to salvation a man is 
“dead in trespasses and sins” (See Eph. 2:1). Such a man 
is not dead physically - his heart is still beating. He is 
dead spiritually he has no communication with God; he 
has no perception of divine mysteries. The new birth 
(salvation) remedies the condition of a man’s spirit- His 
spirit is quickened - made alive. It is quickened by the 
Divine presence coming in. Jesus comes into the human 
spirit and brings in His life 

And this is the record, that God hath given us eternal 
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath 
life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I 
John 5:11,12 



From this we see that the Divine Spirit indwells the 
human spirit at the time of salvation. Demon spirits are 
confined to the soul and body of a believer. Demons 
afflict the emotions, the mind, and the will and the 
physical body not the spirit of a Christian. 

The aim of deliverance is to remove the trespassing 
demon spirits from the soul and body in ordered that 
Jesus can reign over these areas as well. Jesus has made 
adequate provision for the whole man, but part of the 
responsibility now rests upon us as is shown in the 
following scripture: 

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to 
do of his good pleasure. Phil. 2:12b,13 

Of the believer it is said that God is at work “in you,” 
but the salvation spoken of is not completed. It needs to 
be “worked out”. The word for “salvation” in this 
passage is soteria. Thayers Lexicon gives as the primary 
meaning of this word “deliverance from the 
molestation of enemies”. The picture becomes clear. 
Jesus has delivered our SPIRIT from the power of Satan; 
now He says to us, “Work out your own deliverance 
from the molestation of enemies until you have freed 
both SOUL and BODY.” 

3. Can a non-Christian be delivered? 

The obvious answer to this question is yes. Demons 
must obey those who exercise the authority of the 



name of Jesus. I have never ministered deliverance in 
behalf of an unbeliever, but I do not doubt that demons 
would respond and obey. Nevertheless, I doubt 
seriously the wisdom of such a deliverance for two 
reasons. First, what hope would there be of keeping the 
demons out? Would they not soon return? One must 
personally resist the devil, and he has no ground for 
doing this unless he is submitted unto the Lord. Sin 
opens the door for the demons to come in, and an 
unconverted sinner who has not repented of his sins is 
open prey for the devil. Second, according to scripture, 
you could do him more harm than good. According to 
Matthew 12:43-45, when an unclean spirit is cast out he 
will seek to return. If nothing of God replaces the void 
the unclean spirit can come back and bring other and 
more wicked spirits than himself so that “the last state 
of the man is worse than the first”. 

I see no ground for administering deliverance to an 
unbeliever other than a direct word from the Lord. 

Only God knows the future and whether he would 
accept Christ as his Saviour. Besides, what motive 
would an unbeliever have for wanting deliverance? As 
long as he remained in his unbelief his motive could 
not be for the glory of God. His motive would be 
completely selfish. Deliverance is not a game. It is 
serious business. It is for those who mean business 
with God. The question, then, is not CAN a non- 
Christian be delivered, but SHOULD he be delivered? 
Normally, his spirit should be delivered first, and that is 
by the new birth. 



4. What happens to demons that are cast out? 


The Bible does not have an abundance to say on this 
subject. Our primary reference is Matt. 12:43. We read: 
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he 
walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth 
none. 

Our problem is in knowing how literal an 
interpretation to give to this verse. Since demons are 
spirit beings, how would they be affected by a literal 
wilderness or desert country. Perhaps the words are 
intended as figurative. Thus, it pictures the demons 
walking or roaming in a place apart from human 
habitation. The demon is restless and discontent 
outside of a human body, for it is only by indwelling 
and controlling the human life that a demon is able to 
perpetrate his evil desires. 

There is an interesting passage in Job which is most 
descriptive of those who wander in dry places. Since 
the book of Job is about a man who was under the 
attack of Satan, the description is made more 
meaningful. During deliverances I have used this 
passage against the demons. I reminded them that they 
are about to go into dry places. Demons have definitely 
been tormented by hearing the passage read. They 
seem to understand better than we that it describes 
what they are facing. The reader should examine the 
entire thirtieth chapter of Job from which we quote a 
few verses. 



They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the 
dry and barren ground, or flee into the wilderness, into 
the gloom of wasteness and desolation. They pluck 
saltwort and mallows among the bushes, and roots of 
the broom for their food or to warm them. They are 
driven from among men, who shout after them as after 
a thief. They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys 
[gullies made by torrents], and in holes of the earth and 
of the rocks. Among the bushes they bray and howl 
[like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling 
themselves and huddle together. Sons of the worthless 
and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed 
out of the land. Job 30:3-8 (Amplified) 

5. Can we tell demons where to go? 

This question is related to the previous one. Outside of 
telling us that expelled demons “walk through dry 
places” there is no suggestion as to what happens to 
them. It is never reported that Jesus or the disciples 
ever imposed any judgment on demons by sending 
them to hell, the pit, or any such place. The demons 
evidently understand that their final judgment is yet 
future. They indicated this when they spoke through 
the Gadarene demoniac. 

What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? 
art thou come hither to torment us BEFORE THE TIME? 
Matt. 8:29 


The scripture does not authorize us to impose 
premature torment upon the demons. That time is fixed 



by the counsel of God. 


Then, can we send them to another country or locality? 
The demon that identified himself as “Legion” pleaded 
with Jesus that He not send them to another place. 

And he (Legion) besought him much that he would not 
send them away out of the country. Mark 5:10 

From this it appears that demons can be sent to other 
parts of the world. Should this be done in every 
instance or only in certain instances? 

There have been times when I was directed of the Holy 
Spirit to command demons to go to specific countries of 
the world. In such instances I have heard the demons 
speak in violent protest. One demon begged not to be 
sent to Africa, complaining it was too hot there. For 
some reason they obviously prefer to stay in one 
locality. 

Why did the demons in the Gadarene ask to go into the 
swine, and why did Jesus grant such permission? Surely 
Jesus was not in any kind of sympathy with the demons. 
His reason must have been based on the welfare of the 
demonized man. It is my own theory that the man 
would have been severely torn by a legion of spirits 
resisting being cast out. (Jesus never prevented demons 
from tearing a person as they came out). Since the 
demons were allowed a sure place to go they would not 
put up resistance. As it turned out, the swine soon met 
with destruction and the demons were again without a 



“home”. 


Demons prefer to indwell humans. Their second choice 
is an animal. It does not do much for my pride to 
realize that if a demon cannot indwell me his second 
choice is a pig! Demons can and do indwell animals. 

6. Can we forbid demons to re-enter a person? 

On only one occasion are we told that Jesus forbade a 
demon to return. This was the case of a boy possessed 
by a dumb and deaf spirit who was brought to Jesus by 
his father. 

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, 
he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb 
and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and 
ENTER NO MORE INTO HIM. Mark 9:25 

This seems to be an exceptional procedure. As we have 
seen from Matt. 12: 43-45, a demon will attempt to 
return and will succeed in doing so unless the delivered 
person does what is necessary to keep him out. In the 
case of children, parents are the spiritual guardians. 
The father in the case in question showed a weakness 
in faith, saying, “I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” 
Jesus was encouraging the man’s faith when they were 
interrupted by a crowd gathering. It may have been 
that Jesus acted sovereignly in behalf of a child who did 
not have adequate spiritual protection from his father. 

In this case, one example does not seem sufficient 



evidence upon which to build a precedent. If we had 
the authority in all cases to forbid the demons to 
return, it would simplify deliverance, but it would 
eliminate the effort to stay free which serves to 
strengthen the believer. Surely the Lord will give us 
direction in any situation where He purposes to limit 
the activity of a demon by denying it further access to a 
person. God IS able to limit Satan’s power against a 
person. Satan had to get permission from God before he 
could come against Job. 

And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine 
hand; but save his life. Job 2:6 

If God, through a word of knowledge, shows that a 
demon is prohibited from ever indwelling a person 
again, one can say to the demon, “Upon the authority of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, enter no more into him.” 

7. Should houses be cleansed of evil spirits? 

Due to my involvement with demons through 
deliverance I have heard many reports of unusual 
demon activities in connection with houses and objects. 
Frequently I am requested to drive demons out of 
houses. Books and objects identified with anything 
related to Satan’s kingdom have been known to attract 
demons. Sinful activities on the part of former residents 
account for some houses needing to be cleansed. Many 
have told of hearing voices or sounds in their houses. 
Such manifestations are sometimes called “poltergeist’, 
a German word meaning “knocking or noisy ghosts”. 



While ministering to a nine year old girl, the mother 
told us that the girl awakened every night in the middle 
of the night. She would be very frightened. They could 
not account for this. 

The ministry for the girl turned up nothing that was 
suspect. We asked that we might inspect the girl’s 
bedroom. Three things were found in the room which 
we had discovered could attract evil spirits. There was 
a book about a witch - secured through the public 
school. Then there was a big, stuffed toy frog, and over 
the girl’s bed was a mobile from which dangled half a 
dozen little owl images that glowed in the dark. 

The family agreed to remove these objects and destroy 
them. We commanded all demons hiding in the room 
to leave immediately in the name of Jesus, and pled the 
covering of the blood of Jesus over the girl. The girl has 
slept peacefully ever since. 

What about the owls and frogs? These are classified 
among the creatures mentioned in Deut. 14:7-19 as 
being unclean and abominable. They are types of 
demon spirits. My ministry has taken me into many 
homes, and I have become aware of how many of these 
unclean creatures are being made into art objects and 
used for decorations. 

This is especially true of owls and frogs. It is more than 
coincidence that both of these are creatures of 
darkness. They come out at night and hunt their prey. 



Demons are also creatures of darkness. They cannot 
operate in the light! 

In another home we found a twelve year old boy who 
was having trouble sleeping. He was very nervous and 
fearful. The home was filled with many objects that had 
been brought from the mission fields of Africa. There 
was a witch’s mask, and fetishes used by witch doctors 
and in heathen worship. Sometimes the economic or 
sentimental value of such objects mean more to persons 
than the welfare of the family. Hear what God told His 
people, Israel, about such things: 

The graven images of their gods you shall burn with 
fire; you shall not desire the silver or gold that is on 
them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by 
it; for IT IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD YOUR 
GOD. Neither shall you bring an abomination (an idol) 
into your house, lest you be ensnared by it; FOR IT IS 
AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD YOUR GOD. Deut. 
7:25,26 (Amplified) 

Demons are definitely attracted to houses by objects 
and literature that pertain to false religions, cults, the 
occult and spiritism. All such materials should be 
burned or otherwise destroyed. Houses or buildings 
which are suspect of demon infestation should be 
cleansed by the authority of the name of Jesus. Those 
who live in such places should stand on the provisions 
of the blood of Christ. 



8. Is it necessary to call demons out by specific 
names? 

Some interesting things arise in the course of 
deliverance ministry in regard to names or 
designations for demons. There are times when 
demons will come out without being designated. Such a 
deliverance can continue for an hour without any 
specific spirits being called for. In other situations the 
very opposite is true. No demon will come out until it is 
called by name. 

In one deliverance I had called out a demon of 
rejection. Later on a fear of rejection was discerned. I 
asked, “Why are you still there? Why didn't you come 
out when I called for rejection?” The demon responded, 
“Because you didn’t call for me by my name. I am not 
‘rejection” I' am fear of rejection’.” 

Demons will usually respond to a description of what 
they are causing. For example, “You demon that is 
causing this person to have those bad dreams at night.” 
Most demons will accept this approach in lieu of a 
specific title, and will come out. 

I am personally of the opinion that a demon’s insistence 
upon being called by a particular designation is a 
delaying tactic. I have had demons balk at coming out 
by declaring, “But that’s not my name.” In such cases I 
usually say, “Well, you have to come out anyhow.” And 
they come out. 



The main value in knowing the names or designations 
of the demons is in enabling the one delivered to know 
what was accomplished. When any of the demons try to 
come back, it is important to know which ones were 
cast out. In this way the person can be on the alert and 
can also deal with that area in the flesh so as to close 
the door against demons re-entering. 

Some demons are very boastful. They seem to enjoy 
telling their names. One such demon spoke loftily, “I be 
only he left,” thus claiming he was the last demon to be 
cast out. He continued, “I be the pride. All pride come 
through me.”