Exorcism - A Christian Manual (3 page)

This man was a total monster-evil walking on this earth.  Yet, I am sure he was totally unaware of any evil forces working in his life.  In fact, there are some people that do great evil and do not believe that they are doing anything wrong.  For example, John Jamelske would kidnap women and keep them locked in a special concrete dungeon that he built underground.  In some cases he kept them chained there for years while he raped them continuously.  He kept them in the dark, in cramped spaces, with no bathroom and no sunlight.  Yet after he was finally caught he truly believed that he did nothing wrong.  He thought that he was taking care of the girls and believed that they benefitted from being with him.  He committed great acts of evil but in his mind he was in a loving relationship with the women he abused.  It is hard to combat evil personally if you cannot see it or understand it.

There are many ways that demons gain entrance into our lives.  They usually do not possess people instantly.  In most cases it is gradual process that may take years.  There are instant and violent possessions, but these are rare.  Usually a sudden possession is the result of a perverse sexual act or practicing witchcraft.  In general, here are the levels of possession:

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Oppression
: Here, the demons are on the outside, but hover over and continually stay near the person.  The person may feel like something is weighing down upon them.  The demons may cause accidents, like placing objects in front of the person or tripping them.  In addition, a goal is to entice the person into greater sin. They usually do not have power to control the mind or the senses. 

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Foothold
: The demon is now on the inside.  Yet, it is not in complete control.  It usually has great power over one part of a person’s life, like an addiction or a disease.  The demon usually cannot speak through the person and cannot block out their conscious thoughts.  The demon may insert a thought but the person can still reject it.  

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Partial Possession
: More control is gained here.  There are usually multiple demons at this point.  Thoughts and emotions can be controlled at times but the person can fight back and gain some control.  However, the person may have blackouts and uncontrollable emotions.  They may be fully into an addiction and spend hours fulfilling the addiction each day.  The demons insert thoughts and can occupy the mind fully at times.  They can control the senses, like speaking through the victim’s mouth, and the person may not want to do something but feel that they cannot stop themselves.  For example, the victim may feel that their body is doing something while their mind is watching from a distance.

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Full Possession
: Demons can manipulate the person at will.  The demons can speak through the person, and they can move through them with great strength.  The demons may also try to kill the person, and can be violent towards others.  The demons can throw the person to the ground, block their thoughts, and cut off their emotions.

It is important to assess the severity of the victim’s condition, to determine how long and difficult the exorcism will be.  The more control that the demons have the more difficult the battle.  The specific ways that demons use to enter consist of the following:

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Committing sin
: We break through God’s protection that surrounds us by breaking God’s commands, “Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake,” (Ecclesiastes 10:8).  Also, Job 1:10…”Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” 

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Occult activity
: Dabbling in the occult is absolutely forbidden, no exceptions: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.  Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you,” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). 

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Alcohol/drug abuse
: “Nor did they did not repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts,” (Revelation 9:21).  The Greek word for magic arts is “pharmakia,” and this is where we get the word pharmacy.  When under the influence of a drug, the mind and the will are hindered.  For example, when drunk you may say things to people you would never say when sober.  Self-restraint is deadened and we are more open to outside influences.  We are more likely to listen to a demon giving advice and not even know where the idea came from.  When the will is compromised the demon may move in.  

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Unforgiveness
: “In your anger do not sin: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold,” (Ephesians 4:26).  Unforgiveness creates anger because of the refusal to resolve an issue.  The longer the anger is there, the more likely a demon can keep the anger active by speaking lies that are designed to expand the anger, and get the person to eventually be consumed by anger.  I have seen family members angry at other family members for decades.  One woman was dying in the hospital and her sister walked in to say goodbye and the patient screamed at her to leave because of some slight that she caused 25 years earlier.  She died 2 days later, filled with hatred.  Her family said that once you made her mad she was an enemy for life.  Demons love to latch on to these people because they will fuel the anger and the victim will rarely recognize the source.  The demon will lie and tell them that they are the righteous ones and they deserve to be angry and the person will readily agree.

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Religious error
: This is having extreme views that are not based on the Bible, or the Scriptures are distorted to support a point of view…”So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours,” (2 Chronicles 18:22).   Here, the prophets wanted to please the king to get approval, and because of their prophetic lies a lying spirit was allowed to enter.  

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Rebellion
: “For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft,” (1 Samuel 15:23).

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People sinning against us
: Demons will sometimes transfer from a rapist or a sex offender to the victim.  The two become one in an unholy union which is exploited by the demon (1 Cor. 6:16).  In many cases I have seen a demon transfer from a sexually perverted person to an innocent victim.  The demon has authority to move from one to the other because they are united in body.  

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Rejection
: Rejection is the root to many mental disorders.  Christianity is a religion of acceptance.  Rejection is not from God-He only rejects sin.  A sinner is never rejected; the sinner rejects God.  The devil was rejected by God and kicked out of heaven.  He hates this feeling and feels the weight of this rejection throughout eternity.  The devil wants all of us to experience this feeling with him.   Rejection hurts.  When we feel rejected we are more likely to abuse substances, develop depression, and wallow in self-pity.  It is a negative state that draws evil spirits.  Rejection is so powerful that researchers have found that rejection by peers was a main cause for the majority of high school shootings (Leary, Kowalski, Smith, & Phillips, 2003).

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Going into a trance
: This is done through hypnosis, drug addiction, and allowing spirits to possess and speak through you (New Age channeling). When a person goes into a trance the mind is not in a normal state.  In a trance, the conscious thoughts of the mind are suspended and another mind can come in and take over.  This is an open invitation for evil to come back and use the person whenever it wants.

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Dissociation
: When a person dissociates there is literally a split in the mind where part of the mind leaves a stressful situation.  For example, a child that is being sexually abused may leave his body and watch the abuse from the ceiling.  To escape the psychological pain the child splits from reality.  This is helpful to deal with stress in the short-term, but in the long-term, the child may learn to use this strategy under any stressful situation and not be able to problem-solve effectively.  Dissociation leaves the body partially empty and it could fall prey to evil that is in the area.  In fact, dissociation makes it easier for a demon to transfer from the offender to the victim.

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Fear
: We are to live by faith (Luke 17:6; Romans 3:26-27).  Fear is the opposite of faith, and where there is fear there cannot be faith.  For example, if you are afraid of heights you cannot work above the first floor of a building; if you are afraid of closed-in spaces you cannot work in a small office, and if you are afraid that others will make fun of you in social situations you cannot be around a lot of people.  A person with these 3 fears cannot function normally in any work environment where these elements are present.  When we fear things we run from them. Fear means that at some level we do not have faith that God will be there to help and give the strength to conquer the fear.  Demons try to bring as much fear as possible as fear binds us from growth and power.     

Special Cases: Familiar Spirits, Soul Ties, and Generational Sins

Familiar Spirits

Familiar spirits are demons.  Familiar spirits have two basic functions in their relationship with humans.  First, a familiar spirit can be conjured by a witch, shaman, medium, psychic or magician in order to seek information.  Some witches consider familiar spirits to be a spirit that inhabits a local animal to assist in magic and protection.  Basically, a familiar spirit would stay close to the conjuror in order to help in any way possible (Koch, 1969).  They were frequently used to tell the future, find out what others were doing, and to give guidance in life decisions.  A description of their activity is described in Isaiah 29:4…”And thou shall be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.” 

Having a familiar spirit is forbidden in the Scriptures…”Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them,” (Leviticus 19:31).  In 1
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Samuel 28:1-25, Saul sees the enemy and is afraid, but the Lord would not speak to him.  He asks for someone to find a woman that has a familiar spirit that in Hebrew literally means a divining demon.  Saul asks the witch to bring up Samuel (who was dead).  The witch saw Samuel coming up out of the ground and prophesies Saul’s doom.  First Chronicles 10:13 states that one of the reasons for Saul’s defeat and death were because he consulted the witch with the familiar spirit.

Familiar spirits attach themselves to a person and provide supernatural information.  The magician, shaman, medium, psychic, or witch uses tarot cards, idols, Ouija boards, crystal balls, tea leaves, the stars (astrology), and all forms of divination (like palm reading).  In the use of divination the demon speaks through the device or manipulates the device in order to give direction or guidance.  The demon will give accurate information to get the client to come for more in order to create dependence.  The client will rely on the medium, psychic, or witch and block God out of the process.  Gradually, over time, this ensnarement will ruin their lives.

This was a popular reason why people did come in seeking an exorcism.  Some went to a church that didn’t believe that God speaks to His creation today and they got so desperate to get an answer to a problem that they went to someone that promised to give them guidance from a positive spirit.  Others were ignorant of the dangers of going to a psychic or medium and went out of a need to know that there was something supernatural out there.  The psychic may have a cross on their wall and a Bible on their desk and use tarot cards, astrology, and spirit guides, which does confuse people.  Many people that go to psychics have no consistent theological beliefs and psychics tell their clients that what they are doing is fine and that Jesus may actually appear to them.

One woman went to a psychic because she had gotten a divorce, was lonely, and hadn’t been to church in years.  She drove by a store that said free spiritual advice on the first session.  She went in and there was a Bible on the psychic’s desk and the woman was kind and very friendly.  They talked for a while and the psychic said, “You just went through a divorce and you are very lonely now, right?”  The woman was amazed. The psychic then started to tell her more things that she saw in the woman and again, she was right.  The woman asked how she knew these things and the psychic told her that God reveals these things to her because she was born with a special gift.  The psychic told her that God loved her and brought her there for help and invited the woman to come back.  The woman readily agreed.

The next time she went back, the psychic told her that she could tell her the future if she wanted to know it.  The woman was so amazed by the psychic that she said yes.  The woman began to tell her what to do each week through tarot cards and horoscopes.  At first the psychic seemed to help because when the psychic gave her advice it worked.   But then, she began to notice strange things happening that frightened her.  She began to wake up in fear each day and didn’t know what to do.  She started calling the psychic each day for guidance.  The psychic said that she would send helpful spirits to protect her.  The fear went away for a few hours but it would come back.  She began to be afraid of leaving the house and stayed home more and more.  Then, she started feeling that something was in her house that was evil and she was afraid to stay but was also afraid to leave.  She heard footsteps at night and sometimes she heard her furniture move.  She eventually was helped by a family member that went to her house and found that she had not left her bedroom in a month.  When I went to see her she was afraid of almost everything.  She had no idea that going to the psychic was the cause of what was happening to her.