What is Exorcism?

The idea of exorcism and deliverance creeps out a lot of Christians.  A lot of them jump over it whenever it shows up in the Bible.  It seems so barbaric.  They've heard of people being killed by exorcists' abuse.  They wish Jesus hadn't done that and stayed with preaching love.

Well it is Christian because demons do exist.  In Africa, Asia and South America the Christians rub shoulders with witches all the time, so they use exorcism all the time.  Otherwise they wouldn't make converts.  In North America, Europe and Australia we are being swamped out with witchcraft, Voodoo, Hinduism, demonism, Satanism, charming, occultism, etc.    Our churches are in decline because of the occult influence on our communities and kids.

In Luke 4:33-36 Jesus astounded everyone by taking authority over a demon and commanding it to go.  Unprecedented!  There were demonized people, but they had no way to get rid of the demons.  No one every had.  Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha and Daniel had no way to cast out demons.  All they could do was pray and fast for a long time.

Now Jesus was unique in that he was not of the children of Adam who were in submission to the devil.  His father was God Almighty.  But He became like us in all ways.  He put aside His divine powers to be a real human, so he could be the salvation of humans and our example.

Jesus of Nazareth received the authority of the Holy Spirit to be Christ when He was baptized.  The Holy Spirit who indwelt Him performed all the healings and exorcisms that Jesus was famous for. 

When He sent out the twelve, he gave them power and authority through the Holy Spirit to do the same healings and exorcisms. (Luke 9:1-2)  Suddenly others were able to do these things as well through the conferred authority of the Holy Spirit through Jesus.

However, there was one man who was a follower of Jesus who wasn't given the special commissioning -- and cast out demons anyway!  (Mark 9:38-39)  As soon as someone is a Christian by receiving Jesus in their heart and becoming indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they then can immediately order demons to get out.  If someone hasn't received Jesus in their heart, they can't order demons to do anything. (Acts 19:14) 

The gifts of the Holy Spirit came later with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  But they already had prayer and exorcism.

edited: April 19, 2017         orderofsaintpatrick.org/exorcism/what-exorcism.htm