A LESSON ON CASTING OUT DEVILS

Jesus then told me he was going to show me how demons get hold of people, even believers, if they will let them. He showed me a man in a vision. I didn't recognize the man. I saw an evil spirit come and sit on his right shoulder.

(There's no significance to the right shoulder at all. If there had been, the Lord would have told me.) The evil spirit began to whisper in this man's ear, and the man began to entertain its thoughts. Then in the vision the man became as transparent as if he were made of glass. Something seemed to go into his head. It looked like a black dot and it was almost as large as a baseball. Jesus told me that this thing first came from the outside to attack the man, but because he had listened to it and had opened his mind to it, it had entered his thinking. He had become obsessed.

Then I saw this black dot go from the man's head down into his spirit. He told me that it now possessed him wholly. Then I saw a whole group of evil spirits come in. I saw the first spirit holding a door open, as it were, for all these other spirits who were swarming in. There were so many I couldn't count them all. They looked like big flies. The first one looked like a little monkey or elf.

Jesus talked to me about that. He reminded me of the Bible account in Matthew 12:24 which tells how Jesus was accused of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the lord of flies. He said these spirits were lower classes of spirits. The higher class demon got in there first and got control and then let the others in.

Remember the man whose house was swept clean but the evil spirit came back with seven others and they all entered into him (Matt. 12:44,45)? The one spirit knew how to get in, and he took the others with him. Jesus told me this man was possessed of the first spirit which went into him, and then he let the others in. All of them were in there, but only one fully possessed him. He then told me the madman of Gadara had a legion of demons. Jesus told me in the vision to walk up to the man I saw in the vision. I walked up to him, and the Lord told me that from that night on, when I was in the presence of one who was fully possessed, these spirits would recognize me. They would recognize that I had power over them.

He said when a person is fully demon possessed, the demon can use his voice and state that he knows who you are. The demons will know you as much as they knew who Jesus was. He said that through discerning of spirits, which is an inward revelation, I would know what kind of a spirit possesses a person. He told me that if the spirit did not come out when commanded to, I should ask what his name is and how many there are within. Some won't come out until you do this. Then Jesus showed me some things I hadn't understood before. He talked to me about the man who came out of the tombs at Gadara. (Mark 5). Jesus said if I had been there that day I would have heard, with my physical ears, this man talking. But it was really the demon who possessed the man doing the talking. (A person present wouldn't have heard all the demons speaking unless he had discerning of spirits.) This was what Jesus told me. He said because I had this gift, at times I would see and hear into the realm of spirits. That scares some people; I'd be lying if I said it weren't so.

Sometimes I've had spirits speak to me before I've ever said a word. I hear them. People can hear me telling them to leave, but no one else hears them talking. Sometimes they say to me very emphatically, "I don't intend to go." I say, "Yes you do, and out you go in the Name of Jesus." I've seen them go. People will be delivered. I've seen too much of it not to believe it, and I know it works. I don't just run and jump into something. I stop and think it over for a long time before I start using it. The Lord told me one time when He appeared to me in a vision that He would rather I be too slow than too fast. He said some people receive a little revelation, and they grab it and run. They usually end up with everything messed up. It's better to be careful.

I do not believe that God is going to take novices and new Christians who know little or nothing, equip them with these things, and send them out to turn the world upside down. That's out of line with His program. He plainly said, even concerning the office of a deacon, not to put in a novice. Someone who is new in the things of the Spirit might be lifted up in pride. I know ministers who have had gifts of the Spirit operating in their lives and today they are shipwrecked. They tried to build a ministry on spiritual gifts, but you cannot do that. You cannot put a spiritual gift above the Word of God.

Jesus did not tell the disciples to go into all the world and work spiritual gifts. He said for them to go preach the Gospel. We're supposed to preach first. I've been around Pentecostal people for years and I've learned many good things. I think they're the finest people in the world. They're my people. But we miss it sometimes. I've had people say they had a wonderful service and they didn't have any preaching. I like to see God move, but I like to see a little of the Word also. Preaching and teaching had first place in the ministry of Jesus. The Bible plainly says, "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people" (Matt. 4:23).

Let's get it like it ought to be! Then we'll have the Word confirmed with signs following. We'll have it in right focus. So Jesus told me to walk up to this man. When I walked up to him, the man immediately spoke out loud and said, "I know you; I know who you are." Without thinking I told him to shut up in the Name of Jesus. He hushed. Then on the inside of me I knew what kind of spirit was talking to me. It was a deceiving spirit. I said, "You foul deceiving spirit, I command you to come out of the man in the Name of Jesus!" Nothing happened.

So then I asked the name and how many there were in there. (Deceiving isn't a name, it's just a kind.) He said there were 19 more in there besides him. That was all I needed to know. I then commanded him and all 19 to come out in the Name of Jesus. And they came out. I wanted to know where the spirits who were in this man went. You remember in Mark 5:13 the devils went into the swine and the swine went off the cliff. I asked Jesus where evil spirits go when they're cast out. (I'd heard preachers say they were going to cast them into the abyss or pit.) I asked Jesus if I should have done more than just cast these out — if I should have cast them into the pit, or into hell. He said that I couldn't. Jesus said with the lower class you could, but there wasn't too much accomplished by it.

He said you can't do that with the rulers of the darkness of this world. I asked Him for Scripture. He told me that if we could do this, He would have gotten rid of all of them when He was on earth. In the Scripture we find that evil spirits always would beg Jesus not to torment them: "And, behold, they cried out, saying, 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).

Jesus said these spirits walk through dry places seeking rest (Matt. 12:43). In the vision I saw this main demon walking through a dry place. Jesus said they'll try to get back into the place they came out of if that person will let them. That's why it's so important, when dealing with demons in the lives of Christians, to take time to get the Word of God into people. If we don't, we'll do them a worse injustice than if we hadn't ministered to them at all. They might wind up eight times worse than what they were! I've seen that happen. (Kenneth Hagin)