Exorcism

I recently had some questions posed to me on exorcism. Should it be done?, and if so, how frequently? Should only men perform exorcisms as spiritual leaders? Is it a good thing to do, or does it cause more problems than it solves? Well, here are my answers. I would invite feetback!

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Issue #1: Frequencey

Exorcism isn’t very much of an activity in the normal sense of the term. An activity is something you do on your own decision, by your own will, as often as you choose to do it. Being that Exorcism is a battle and authority claim in the spiritual realm, I would say that it is only done (frequency-wise) upon the leading of the Holy Spirit. With that as a starting point, you would do it ONLY as often or as little as the Holy Spirit prompted you to do so. Case in point, you don’t see a situation and say to yourself, “Self, I think you should perform an exorcism right now because it seems like the thing to do. Then we’ll go have lunch.” It doesn’t work that way. It happens in specific cases [e.g. the Geserene demoniac = 1 isolated case where Jesus cast out Legion-Mat. 8:28-34, Mk. 5:1-20, Lk. 8:26-39], and it works in broad case [e.g. the bible records that Jesus went to a town and spent all day casting out evil spirits and healing the sick among the many other activities He did while He got down with His God self - Mat. 10:1,8; Luke 6:18-9:11]. So it’s not governed by frequency, but by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Note: Jesus is God, and so is the Holy Spirit so His choosing to spend all day casting out demons is no big deal on principle, it also gives him the perfect ability and right to give that authority to the disciples who later did the same exact thing. Conclusion: If the Holy Spirit of God can give Jesus (Himself…it’s that whole Trinity thing) and the disciples the same ability to cast out demons en masse or 1 by 1, then He can do the same thing today (and probably does and would more if more Christians didn’t treat the Holy Spirit as something that only worked in power 2000 years ago…..but I digress…).



Issue #2: Male or Female or Both

We must always keep in mind the context of the world-through-the-eyes-of-God. In reality, anytime someone is possessed, they have a family, friends, or church that could in fact be called upon by the Holy Spirit to be an instrument of God for the freeing of that person from that demon. With that in mind, we have the issue of headship. Many would argue that if a spiritual battle is going to take place within the life of a person, then FIRST ( not only) it would fall to the God-given head of that family to lead the effort of prayer and war against the evil spirit. That would be part of his duties as the spiritual head of the family. It is assumed by those who support this view that the leading of the Holy Spirit would by necessity go to this person because his role of head-of-family is God-established, and God doesn’t contradict Himself. If the possessed person was also a member of a local church, it would then fall to the “heads” of the church (biblically instructed to be men – aka elders, presbyters, shepherds, etc.) to assist the head of the family or to take the lead if no head of the family is available, for the same reasons as listed above. Both of these situations assume present, available, God-led men are a part of the situation. But what if there are only women available? What if a man is not willing to fulfill his role? Can we say that the Holy Spirit would never lead a woman to take on the role of authority over an evil spirit? I don’t believe that we can. When the bible mentions Jesus and His “disciples” we automatically think of “the 12”, but this is not always an accurate picture. For instance, Jesus sent out 70 of His disciples on one occasion, and the gender is not specified, it is only said that the disciples traveled 2 by 2 – Luke 10:1-24. According to Luke 24:33 and Acts 1:12-15, there were those who stayed in company with “the 12” who were women and were disciples. Could any of these women have been capable of casting out of a demon. Well, back to the headship issue. In the above contexts of headship, we would say that the leadership would fall to the men, but with no men available, the leadership would fall to God Himself. Why? Because in an exorcism, the “headship” that is being established is not between man or women, but between God and Satan. In said context, full authority and ability is at the disposal of God to call whom He wishes, and that person would not be committing the sin of setting up female headship where it should not be so, but would rather be establishing the headship of God in the possessed person’s circumstances over the powers of Satan. Also the exOrcism of a demon is in very simple terms the exErcising of the power of God over the power of not-God himself, Satan. NEVER in scripture is that ability given only to men, in fact many examples are given where women speak and act in the power and authority of God. Also, exorcism is never listed as being an issue of male/female instruction, which stands in contrast to topics such as Pastoring, or being head of household, where the position is given to be exclusively male. There is also the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. Christ claims that ALL authority has been given to Him, and then, BECAUSE of that, he sends the disciples out with HIS authority at their disposal through the Holy Spirit. Exercising spiritual authority of God over the powers of Satan was considered to be a primary action of Jesus disciples while He was on Earth, and was limited only by their faith. Being that He again begins the great commission with the issue of authority, there is no reason to assume that any of Christ’s disciples should downplay that same primacy in their own lives. That would simply be the error that many Christians have fallen into in assuming that Spiritual warfare is something you only read about that would only happen to someone else. It should also be considered that women would be considered disciples under the great commission, as that commission is considered a mandate to ALL who follow Christ. Conclusion: It can be seen that not only is the exorcising of a demon a Holy Spirit-led activity occurring with the frequency of His leadership, but that the authority being established is that of God over Satan, and can therefore not be limited to men only. Women would be just as capable and probable to be asked to fill this duty.



Issue #3: Is Exorcism a good or bad thing?

Considering that a) God is never bad, wrong, evil, incorrect, misplaced, etc. in His leadership, b) retaining a demon within one’s life is never seen to be a blessing or good thing in any way physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually in scripture, c) exorcising of a demon is a living example of the freedom from sin found in Christ, and d) every establishing of God’s power and authority (based on issues answered above) is an opportunity for God to be glorified through the actions of His people acting in the power of His Holy Spirit, it can with all reason be assumed that exorcism is a very good thing.



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Athos