Recently I have written a couple of teachings addressing the fallacies of those who think Christians should go around casting demons out of one another. Why do some Christians think there’s a demon behind every bush? Why do they think any struggle in life or a constant temptation is a demon that needs to be rebuked or cast out?

I think the answer to that question is twofold.

First, I think there are Christians who are zealous and want to see the power of God but they lack real spiritual knowledge and maturity and they need to be taught the Word of God. They need to be grounded and built up in Christ with wholesome, sound doctrine. The second reason is people like to blame their problems on someone else rather than taking responsibility. It’s real easy to pass the blame for things like pornography, nicotine, alcohol, uncontrolled anger, etc., rather than taking responsibility.

You might find it interesting that there is not one example in all of the New Testament where a demon was cast out of anyone because of sin or sinful additions. Demons were only cast out of people who had either physical infirmities (diseases, blindness, deafness, etc.), or mental insanity (like the man in the country of the Gadarenes, see Mark 5) or those involved in some form of occultism. And never was a demon ever cast out of a Christian anywhere in the New Testament.

You will not find one example of Jesus, the apostles, or any  New Testament believer casting out spirits of adultery, homosexuality, lust, anger, rage, gluttony, lying, stealing, etc. The idea of casting out spirits related to such sins is foreign to the New Testament. These are individual sins and deliverance from these come through repentance and faith in Christ.

Jesus did not cast demons out of anyone who needed to repent. Neither did the apostles and neither did any believer in the New Testament. Yet there are those who teach that even though a person has been saved they still need deliverance, i.e., demons cast out. Such teachings are false doctrine.

Jesus is Lord and when God saves us from our sins, he does so with the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. God purifies us with the precious blood of Christ, delivering us from the power of darkness and translating us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.

As we grow in our faith we learn how to overcome temptation in our flesh (every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed ~ James 1:14). We learn to yield our members (our mind and bodies) to God as instruments of righteousness rather than sin. As we grow in Christ by yielding to the Holy Spirit, we become stronger in our faith by the grace of God.

There is a beautiful expression that Peter gives at the close of his first epistle, and arriving at this point in our lives should be our aim. After instructing us to to be humble, and to cast all our care on the Lord, and to resist the devil steadfast in the faith, he says the following:

But the God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ~ 1 Peter 5:10

It is God’s desire to settle you. Trust the Lord with those areas in your life that your find hard to overcome. He will give you the strength and grace you need, and if you will only trust him you will get stronger and stronger in in due time it won’t be a weakness anymore!

The Lord be with you.

Recently I came across someone teaching that Christians need to be casting demons out of other Christians. Before I address this I want to make it clear that I am not a novice in this area. I know the playbook of deliverance ministries quite well, and here is what you need to know about those who teach such things.

Generally speaking those who go around teaching that Christians can have demons that need to be cast out do not have a good understanding of the scriptures. Often they will downplay real knowledge of scripture to elevate their claims of spiritual experience, and when they do cite scripture they often spin the texts to validate their claims.

For instance, one minister cited three texts to justify his claims that demons were cast out of Christians in the Bible. He referenced Mark 1:39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. He then made this statement regarding the text: “Remember these were religious people Jesus was delivering and these people, and I want to tell you this, had a much higher standard than you and I. They had a much higher living standard than you and I…”

It is remarkable the extend people will go to to make the scripture say what they want it to say. They do this because there is no truth in what they claim to be so. There is absolutely nothing in the text or the whole counsel of scripture that supports the notion that Jesus went around casting out devils from righteous, God fearing Jews who were living holy before God.

Rather than speaking as a responsible minister and handling the Word of God with the utmost integrity, he was careless and dangerous with his interpretation of scripture because rather than building up vulnerable Christians in the word of truth, he is actually confusing people with destructive doctrine.

Christians need to have faith in God! They need to be rooted and build up in the truth of Christ. As Christians we are not to be seeking deliverance from demons, but to live as crucified with Christ, putting off the old man with the affections and lusts. Faith in Jesus is victory over the devil and the world!

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. ~ 1 John 4:4

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? ~ 1 John 5:4-5

When Jesus died and rose again, he spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15). The believer’s victory over Satan and demons is in the power of the cross, through the blood of Jesus, and because this so, the least member of the body of Christ has as much authority over the devil as anyone else. You do not need another Christian to cast the devil out of you if you are a Christian. You simply need to stand in faith against the wiles of the devil. Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Making Christians dependent and on other Christians for deliverance from demons is not Biblical. It is spiritual manipulation, actually its a form of witchcraft. When the New Testament is surveyed, there is much instruction given regarding Christian interaction, but casting out demons is not one of them. We are instructed to care for one another, love one another, pray for one another, help one another and so on, but we are never instructed to cast the devil out of one another.

The minister mentioned above proceeded to give two more examples to support his claims that Christians should cast out demons from other Christians. He referenced Peter being rebuked by Jesus, and he referenced Judas.

First, when Peter spoke errantly in his zeal telling Jesus he would not have to die on the cross, Jesus did not turn around and cast the devil out of Peter. Instead, Jesus rebuked Peter for speaking and voicing the will of the devil, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. ~ Matthew 16:23

If we were truthful, we’d all admit that we have yielded to the devil at one time or another and said things that were contrary to God’s will. Does this mean we need the devil cast out of us? Certainly not! Instead, we needed correction or rebuke, coupled with repentance.

Secondly, Judas was not a Christian. Judas was the son of perdition and Jesus knew ahead of time that Judas would betray him. In fact Judas betraying Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament. Judas was not a Christians and never had a faithful heart towards Jesus. Judas was set to betray Jesus from the beginning.

Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. John 6:70-71

Dear Christian, you have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. The Spirit of the Living God is in you and God is your Father. Trust in the truth of God and not the fallacies of man. Deliverance ministries and ministers come and go but the truth of God’s word stands forever, and it is God’s Word that will establish your faith in truth!

Can a Christian have a demonic spirit in them that needs to be cast out?

According to the Bible, a Christian can be carnal (unspiritual in their behavior and thinking), a Christian can harden their heart, a Christian can commit sin, a Christian can be tempted and yield to Satan, a Christian can yield to the lusts of their flesh, but there is no example, instruction, or any hint anywhere in the New Testament of a Christian having a demonic spirit cast out of them – not a single text.

Christians have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son (Colossians 1:13-14), and have been given authority over demons.

The authors of the New Testament epistles (the letters written to believers) address demonic influence in the lives of believers from the vantage point of repentance, instruction in righteousness, correction, sound doctrine, and submitting to God in obedience and faith. There is not a single time in which the authors of the New Testament epistles articulate the need for deliverance by having a demon cast out. The language is always that of articulating what God has done in Christ, and the Christian’s call to the obedience of the faith.

For example, Paul writes to the Corinthians describing them as carnal because of the envy, strife, and divisions among them. The Corinthians had all sorts of issues that modern day deliverance ministries would quantify as demonic activity in need of deliverance.

In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul gives a laundry list of sins prevalent among the Corinthians: quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder (2 Corinthians 12:20). Paul also addresses their indifference to sexual sin, irreverence for the Lord’s supper, and misuse of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Paul says the following regarding the Lord’s Supper:

But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. ~ 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 ESV

Paul later tells them the following:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. ~ 1 Corinthians 11:27-34

Paul never addresses the issues among the Corinthians from the position of deliverance from demons. Instead Paul addresses their sin, their carnality, their idolatry, and in his rebuke reminds them that they are the temple of God and that God will judge them if they do not judge themselves

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:16-16

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:15-20

The Corinthians needed correction and spiritual discipline. They had already been delivered from the power of darkness but now needed to learn how to live holy and godly lives because God would judge them if they did not serve him with reverence and godly fear. In fact Paul does not speak of casting devils out of any of the Corinthians. On the contrary, Paul expressed that he had delivered one of them over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh so that their spirit could be saved in the day of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:3-5).

Paul had spiritual oversight of the Corinthians, and rather than casting the devil out of a believer living in unrepentant fornication, he turned them over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so they would call on God in repentance. The deliverance that a Christian needs is not that of having a demon cast out. It is that of repentance, renewing their commitment to God, renewing their minds, believing the truth, growing in faith, growing in grace, and growing in the knowledge of Christ.

With regards to any kind of oppression, depression, loneliness, fear, etc., among our fellow Christians, we are called to comfort the feeble minded and support the weak (1 Thessalonians 5:14) not cast devils out of them.

In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are God’s temple and not the devil’s.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. ~ 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Paul then tells the Corinthians this – Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 7:1

The Corinthians needed to understand that if they did not live for God in a manner that was reverent, God himself would judge them. Consider that Paul actually has to tell them that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Throughout the New Testament we are given instructions regarding how we are to confront the devil. Never are Christians called on to cast out demons from other Christians. Instead, we are called to give no place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27), submit to God and resist the devil (James 4:7) and resist the devil steadfast in the faith (1 Peter 5:7).

Those who go around doing deliverance on Christians are not promoting sound doctrine, nor are they promoting the truth in Christ according to the gospel.

Dear Christian, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit because you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. God is your Father and you have been delivered from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. If you are struggling with sin, fear, or any other form of oppression, you do not need a demon cast out of you. You need time with God. You need to grow in your faith, grow in his grace, grow in the knowledge of his word, and seek to live a godly and pure life before God, and God will help you.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. ~ James 4: 7-10

Recently I came across an article in which the author claimed that all Christians believe in the doctrine of the Trinity and anyone who doesn’t isn’t a Christian, but a heretic instead.

Consider the plight of the person who had just cried out to God for forgiveness and has no idea about any doctrine regarding the Trinity. All he knows is his lost condition without Jesus and thus he cries out to the Lord for forgiveness and salvation. Is he not saved because he has no knowledge about the doctrine of the Trinity?

In the book of Acts we read about a group of believers who had no knowledge about the Holy Spirit until Paul ministered to them.

And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost… ~ Acts 19:1-2

Notice that these disciples had not even heard about the Holy Spirit, so obviously they had no doctrine of the Trinity.

And he (Paul) said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. ~ Acts 19:3-6

Notice that these were disciples but they had yet to hear about the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul in no way discredits their faith in Jesus, nor does he attempt to persuade them to believe in Jesus. They had already believed the gospel John the Baptist preached concerning Jesus, and they had been baptized by John. If these disciples had died before Paul had gotten to them, they would have gone into the presence of the Lord because they had believed the gospel preached by John the Baptist – they had believed in Jesus!

Salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not through any doctrine of man.

I wholeheartedly affirm and believe in the divine attributes of God as revealed in the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, but I find many evangelicals have, at best, a very flawed understanding of scripture regarding the Godhead.

There is only one God, and he has a Son who is the Savior of the world, and he gives his Spirit to all who trust in him.

Lord willing, there will be more to come on this topic.

According to the Bible there is only one God and he has a Son, Jesus Christ.

In John 17, Jesus prayed the following words:

Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. ~ v.1-5

When the New Testament is surveyed, the overarching truth which comes up again and again is that the One true God is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ is his Son in the fullest sense of the word, having the same divine and eternal nature as the Father. In the text above, Jesus prays to the Father to be glorified with the Father’s own self which is the glory he had before the world was. Christ came from God and has always existed with God and in God. The apostle Paul refers to the deity of Christ as the mystery of godliness.

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. ~1 Timothy 3:16 

Christ is one with the Father in spirit, being divine, and in his eternal existence having always been with the Father. Jesus came into the world from the Father, who is God.

In 1 Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul declares, For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. ~ 1 Corinthians 8:5-6

Notice the language Paul uses: One God, the Father of whom are all things… and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. This is consistent with Paul’s words elsewhere, that God created all things by Jesus Christ.

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ… ~ Ephesians 3:8-9

According to Paul, the unsearchable riches of Christ were hidden in God from the beginning of the world. Christ is indeed the revelation of God’s person who dwells in unapproachable light and whom no man has seen (1 Timothy 6:16). Christ is the revelation of God’s person to fallen humanity. 

The writer of Hebrews describes Jesus as the Son by whom God has spoken to us, by whom also God made the worlds. He then declares that Jesus is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. ~ Hebrews 1:3

In creation we see God’s outward handiwork, In Christ we see his inward glory and beauty – his love, his grace, his kindness, and his mercy. Christ brings us into fellowship with God and reveals to us his glory by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the One true God who gave his only begotten Son.

But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. ~ Matthew 10:19-20

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance… But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy… ~Acts 2:1-4; 14-18

In the texts above Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of your Father (God), and Peter interprets the Holy Spirit coming on the Day of Pentecost as God pouring out his Spirit. Over and over again, the Holy Spirit is referred to as God’s Spirit.

For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8

He is also referred to as the Spirit of Christ.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ~ Romans 8:9

Consider Paul’s words to the Ephesians: 

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. ~Ephesians 3:14-19

Paul bows in prayer before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is the Father to whom we pray through Christ. Paul says the whole family in Heaven and in earth are named from the Father. He then refers to the Holy Spirit as the Father’s Spirit: that he (the Father)  would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man…

Notice Paul’s expectation of the Father granting strength in our inner man by his Spirit is to this end – that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, that we be rooted and grounded in love, that we comprehend the love of Christ in all its vastness, and thus be filled with all the fullness of God.

In Christ the fullness of God is revealed. Through the Spirit Christ dwells in our hearts drawing us close to the glorious God who sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. In Christ, God is revealed to us. Through the Holy Spirit Christ lives in us. This is the fellowship of the mystery we are called into, and thus we come to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. 

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural 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. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ. ~ 1 Corinthians 2:9-16

In 1 Corinthians 13:14 Paul writes, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.

These words of Paul are often used to help make a case in support of trinitarian doctrine, but I don’t think this is Paul’s intent here. Instead, the communion of the Holy Spirit seems to be a reference to fellowship among believers because of the love of God and grace of Christ. Only two short verses prior to this statement Paul writes, “greet one another with a holy kiss.”

Paul’s teachings are filled with exhortations of unity among believers as the household of God.

In Ephesians 4, Paul tells the church at Ephesus to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ~ Ephesians 4:1-3

Paul then says, There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling… ~ v. 4.

Paul’s doctrine regarding the Holy Spirit has far more to do with Christ in us, and the unity of the saints than attempting to prove the triune nature of the Godhead. Consider for example, Paul’s words in Ephesians 2.

For through him (through Jesus) we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access by one Spirit unto the Father.  Now therefore ye (Gentiles) are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. ~ Ephesians 2: 18-22

Paul is the only writer in all of scripture that gives us the concept that believers are corporately the body of Christ and the temple of God’s Holy Spirit. There are references to unity elsewhere in the New Testament but only Paul expounds on the church as the body of Christ in-dwelt by the Spirit of God.