Must You Ask a Person for Permission Before Casting a Demon out of Him?
No.
For starters, if a demon speaks through a person, I doubt it will give you permission to cast it out! How are you going to be totally sure you’re talking to the person and not the demon?
Let’s go to our source for all answers on essential topics, the Bible.
Paul cast a demon out of a slave girl in Acts 16:16-18. There is no indication that she wanted to be delivered, and the furious reaction of the girl’s owners (resulting in Paul and Silas’s imprisonment) is proof that her owners certainly didn’t want that demon cast out. Paul did it anyway. Apparently, the fact that the demon manifested in Paul’s presence and tried to mess with his ministry made it fair game to be cast out.
In Matthew 4:23-24, Matthew 8:16-17, Matthew 9:32-33, Matthew 12:22, Matthew 17:14-21, Mark 1:32-34, Mark 9:17-29 and Luke 9:38-42, people with demons were brought and Jesus cast them out. There is no record that He ever asked the demonized people for permission to deliver them, though in most of these cases, the fact they allowed themselves to be brought to Jesus was a good indication that they wanted to be free.
Likewise, in Acts 5:12-16, demonized people were brought to Peter. There is no indication that he asked permission before casting out demons.
While we don’t see any indication of demonized people being “brought” in Mark 1:39, Mark 3:10-12, Luke 4:33-36 and Acts 8:5-8, there is also no indication that Jesus or Philip ever asked a demonized person if he wanted to be free before casting a demon out.
The man in Mark 5:2-20 and Luke 8:27-39 apparently wanted to be free because he ran to Jesus and worshiped Him, though Jesus never asked explicitly if he wanted to be delivered from the legion of demons. That would have been a useless question given that a demon would probably have spoken the answer from the man’s mouth, and it wouldn’t have been “Yes.”
Matthew’s account of the incident in Matthew 8:28-32 is interesting because the demons knew they had to come out because they recognized Jesus’ authority. They begged for permission to enter pigs.
In Matthew 15:22-28 and Mark 7:25-30, a demon was forced to leave without Jesus even being with the demonized daughter, so obviously the demonized daughter did not give Him permission to deliver her.
In Mark 1:23-26, a demon manifested in a synagogue in front of Jesus and Jesus cast it out without requesting the person’s permission.
In Mark 9:38-39 and Luke 9:49-50, there is no indication that the unnamed person casting out demons asked for permission, though there are no details at all.
In Luke 4:40-41, it is not explicitly stated that the demonized were brought, but the context certainly gives that impression. Also, we can safely assume that they were brought because Matthew and Mark’s accounts of the same incident (Matthew 8:16-17, Mark 1:32-34) state explicitly that they were brought.
Luke 8:2 provides no details of how the seven devils left Mary Magdalene, and there is no indication that Jesus got her permission first.
Luke 11:14 gives no details about the circumstances where the demon was cast out.
In Luke 13:11-16, Jesus laid hands on a woman with a spirit of infirmity and declared that she was loosed. He did not ask her if she wanted deliverance and He never even spoke to the demon directly, but the demon left.
In Acts 19:11-12, when anointed cloths were brought to the demonized, they were delivered. No mention of getting permission was noted, though it would appear to be implicit permission if a person allowed an anointed cloth to touch him.
Based on what we saw above, if a demon manifests in your presence, it’s fair game to be cast out without permission from the demonized person.
An anticipated follow-up question would then be, “What if the person doesn’t want to be delivered because he likes his spiritual hitchhiker?” If someone indicated that, I would try to explain why he should not want to host an agent of Satan. If the person still wants his “special friend,” I would leave him alone. The demon would have to leave if I commanded it to do so, but it would be pointless if the person would just ask it to come back, in which case it could bring seven “more evil” companions:
Matthew 12:43-45:
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Luke 11:24-26:
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.