Casting Out the Spirit of Stupidity
Alternate Title: Getting Rid of Stupid and Unbiblical Ideas About Demons.
In some circles, demons are held responsible for everything from gluttony to bad breath. People in these groups spend a lot of time casting nonexistent demons out of each other. Generally, if these people gave God half as much glory and attention as they give the devil and his demons, they would be spiritual giants. Beware.
Most of the time they try to “cast out” the flesh, and you can’t do it. If only you could! You have to walk in the Spirit to avoid catering to the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). It’s not something someone can do for you on a one-shot basis at a “deliverance service.”
Jesus did not “heal” fat people by casting out the spirit of gluttony. There is no such thing. You will not find a spirit of gluttony anywhere in the Bible. You just have to dominate your flesh. There is no quick fix.
There are sometimes spectacular “manifestations” at meetings such as people “throwing up demons.” It pretty much comes down to this: Give the devil a stage, and he’ll perform. Jesus did not hand out “barf bags” to people whom He delivered from evil spirits. If you don’t see something in your Bible, avoid it. Unwitting Christians can open themselves up to real demonic manifestations at such meetings.
Most Christians do not need deliverance – they just need to quit listening to the devil. There’s a difference. The devil tempts everyone, but he does not “demonize” everyone. Some people use “The devil made me do it” as a lame excuse for sin. The devil is defeated. He cannot make you do anything. You can overcome any temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
There is a lot of weird teaching about demons out there! You do NOT need to buy material from someone who hangs out with witches so that you know what the witches are up to. If there’s anything you need to know, the Holy Spirit will tell you, but there probably isn’t, given that no witchcraft is effective against a Christian who knows the Word anyway. I know of a church that hosted a 10-day “deliverance seminar” with material that was not in the Bible. They actually told people when they went in that what they teach is not in the Bible! That is supposedly why you need their seminar – you can only get this teaching from them. We should thank God that you can’t get it anywhere else; any sensible Christian would run out the door as soon as they revealed that their methods are beyond the Bible. You see, the Bible itself contains everything you need for your Christian walk to equip you for all good works, including deliverance (2 Timothy 3:16-17). You do not need anything beyond the Bible. It is OK to have a seminar to reveal Bible truths, but beware of anything “more advanced” than the Bible – there isn’t anything!
If I could cast a spirit of stupidity out of people who get involved with some of this stuff, I would. But Jesus never cast a spirit of stupidity out of anyone – “dumb” spirits were what we would call “mute” spirits, not spirits of stupidity.
There is this certain foolishness that it takes 4 hours to cast out a demon using a special method you have to learn in a seminar that prevents inter-demon communication, among other things. (I wish I were making this up!) I don’t see Jesus taking 4 hours to cast out each demon, do you? I don’t see Jesus employing special prayers to prevent demons from talking to each other. Jesus said that you would do the works that He did, so why would you want to do works that He never did?
I am not minimizing the fact that demons can and do talk to Christians to try to influence them to divorce their mates, kill themselves, and all kinds of other things. The solution to this is the Word, which is our armor (see Ephesians 6:10-18 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5). It is up to you to resist the devil (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9) and to give him no place in your life (Ephesians 4:27). You have authority over him (Luke 10:17-20). Use it!