Victory Over Darkness
“Victory Over Darkness” E-100 #63 Mark 5:1-20
by Clancy Nixon
February 20 and 21, 2010
Church of the Holy Spirit
Ashburn and Purcellville, Virginia
When I served at Truro Church in Fairfax, a friend asked me to come to his townhouse in Alexandria, because he thought there might be a bad spirit there. I asked him why he thought so. He told me how he was a happily married newlywed, and had a great honeymoon, but his bedroom in his townhouse was not a place of joy for him and his wife. When they slept elsewhere, it was great! That bedroom just didn’t feel right. He told me of how he learned after he bought the home that a murder had taken place in that very room. A single woman had lived there 20 years before, and two men had broken in at night, and stabbed her to death; they were never caught. So I visited my friend, and I brought a ministry partner, Dave Young, and few other things with me: my Bible, holy water, and anointing oil. (That’s my ammo! Beloved, hear me: when I go into battle, I go with bullets in my gun and a knife on my hip! – metaphorically speaking.)
We blessed every room in the house and asked God to show us any demons or curses. I discerned that there were indeed several demons infesting that place, demons of violence and murder and lust. That is often the case in places where violence or trauma have occurred. So in the authority God has given me, which he has given all of you if you would but walk in it (Matthew 28:18-21), I spoke to the demons, and told them to go away. Most left immediately. One was rather persistent. We stood our ground, and after about a half hour, it left as well. The work was not over yet. I believe that the spirit of the murder victim had been stuck and held in that place by some curse, and had not been able to go on to its final resting place. So I spoke words of release for it to go, and much to the spirit’s relief, it was released. At my urging, my friend disposed of one occult object of art. After that day, that bedroom was like heaven for my friend and his wife, and they enjoyed their marital bed in their home from that time onward.
People who are oppressed by demons, or people who know people who are possessed, often ask me to do this ministry, because it seems so few pastors or leaders believe in it any more. This is a shame. This ministry is needed and many of you could be trained in deliverance. I’ve trained teenagers to do this. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it! I call it “taking out the trash.” What you need to do deliverance well is faith in Jesus; understanding your authority Jesus has given you over evil spirits; being under authority yourself, and getting trained; and a strong nose, not offended by the smell and sight of trash.
Francis MacNutt says every believer should be equipped to know how to protect themselves from spiritual attack. Put on the armor of God from Ephesians 6! He believes most Christians are called to pray for people who are lightly oppressed or infested with evil spirits; and some will be called to pray frequently in deliverance ministry; but that only a few should pray in cases where a person is severely demonized by powerful spirits (usually a result of occult involvement). There are degrees of difficulty in deliverance ministry. There is a hierarchy of spirits. Some come out right away; some are more resistant or powerful. In those severe cases, the exorcist should be holy, wise and experienced, have a gift of deliverance, and be empowered by, and baptized in, the Holy Spirit.
I believe that Spiritual Warfare is every bit as needed in our day, as it was in the days that Jesus walked the earth as a man. Do you believe that? Do you think that in our world today - a world far more advanced in technology, medicine, and psychology than in Jesus time - that Satan and his demons are really real? That Christians are called to confront demons, and to set the captives free? I’m not talking simply about your theology or your ideas; I’m talking about your practice – how you walk your walk, and live your life. Have you ever met a demon or an angel? I believe that most of you have, but you may not all know that you have. Hebrews 13:2 says, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” [Raise hand] How many of you have entered a room in a house but felt that for some reason, it was not quite right – it was just creepy? In many cases, I believe that people are experiencing real spiritual discernment.
Just like some people do not believe that the United States is at war with Terrorists, some Christians don't believe that there is a spiritual war on. At my niece’s wedding, I met a lawyer from Los Angeles, a Public Defender, who hates the Patriot Act, and how it permits our government to spy on suspected terrorists. OK, I understand his concern for civil liberties, but unfortunately, it colors how he takes in reality. This man told me that he simply does not believe that terrorists are operating here in the US. I asked him if he believed the many newspaper stories, like the Ft. Hood Massacre. Since then, we’ve all heard about the Christmas Day bomber who lit his underwear on fire over Detroit. The lawyer said he thought those stories are planted by our government which was trying to fool us in order to take away our liberties! I thought to myself, “Get a grip, man!”
In a similar way, some Christian teachers think that while we have an enemy, he is not very active, and we don’t really need to concern ourselves with his attacks or his strategies. Other preachers say that if you are saved, demons cannot bother you or influence your life. I believe that these people have been deceived. They have fallen for Satan’s chief strategy in the western, post-enlightenment world: to get us to believe that he does not exist. And if he does, that he is just a caricature with a pitchfork and pointy tail - not a serious adversary. And that the Bible stories of deliverance of evil spirits are really stories of healing from diseases that they didn’t have a name for in Bible times, but we now have names for, like epilepsy or schizophrenia.
Let’s suppose for a moment that the skeptics are right; that demons are not real, but rather are a product of magical thinking and a pre-modern consciousness. If that is so - if the spiritual forces of light and life are not engaged in a cosmic combat with spiritual forces of darkness and death - then we must admit that this story of the demon–possessed man of the Gerasenes, this demoniac, makes no sense at all in Mark’s Gospel. Not only that, but if demons are not real, then the whole of Mark’s Gospel and the whole New Testament makes no sense, either! If that were so, since Jesus would then be deluded about the fundamentals of spiritual reality, then why should we trust him about anything else? Such a man would not be worth following or worshipping.
Praise God, Jesus saw spiritual reality better than anyone before or since. The witnesses to angels and demons, to God and Satan, and are repeated over and over consistently, throughout the Scriptures. For 2,000 years the church has lived with and experienced this reality. I have personally met both demons and angels on repeated occasions. I know that Christ the King has overcome the darkness, that he has the victory over sin and death. If you believe that the Lord Jesus came to set the captives free, and that he has the victory, let me hear you shout, AMEN!
God has landed on the earth in human form, and returned to his creation, which had become enemy-occupied territory, in order to defeat the foe, who is Satan, and to establish his government. That is what the Kingdom of God means. When God’s Kingdom comes in its fullness, evil spirits will finally be sent to perdition and chained there with chains that cannot be broken. Until then, we are in a spiritual war against sin and sickness and death, and no amount of wishful thinking will make this war go away! Amen?
Let’s review what we know of Satan: he is our enemy; he comes to steal, kill and destroy, according to John 10:10. According to 1 Peter 5:8 and 9, he is like a roaring lion, who seeks to devour us. What a picture of that Scripture we are given in C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters! I saw the stage performance at the Shakespeare Theatre in December – if it ever comes back to town, I highly recommend you go see it. In that drama, the senior demon, Screwtape, is intently teaching his apprentice nephew demon, Wormwood, how to seduce souls - because they are his food! Demons seek to devour people. Demons are angels who have fallen, who followed Satan in his rebellion against God. They are more than legion. You may want to know, “Clancy, are you one of those teachers who believes that there is a demon behind every tree?” Well, no, I don't believe demons are behind every tree; I just think they are behind many of them! I also believe, as the prophet Ezekiel teaches, that there are two good angels for every fallen one. However, because this world is currently far more welcoming to dark angels than good ones, many angels are probably doing their work in heaven.
Let’s distinguish demon possession from oppression. The NT uses the
Greek demonazoi, “demonized,” and it is sometimes translated as “possession.” It is better translated “demonized,” meaning “to have a demon.” Possession is rare in America today; but demonization is common. Possession means that an individual’s personality is submerged by an alien, evil force. I have encountered possessed souls on two occasions ministering in Uganda, where people were brought into a healing meeting foaming at the mouth, and so violent that they had to be bound with ropes. Praise God, both times, the people were delivered and healed, and one professed Jesus for the first time. These encounters are unforgettable! In contrast to possession, demonization or infestation indicates oppression by evil spirits – where the devil does not overwhelm your personality, but simply and subtly gets a foothold in your life, because you have taken his bait, and a hook remains in you. Beloved, hear me: Christians can be demonized, but Christians cannot be possessed, for Satan cannot possess that which belongs to Christ. Mike Evans writes that when Christians have demons, most of them got them from the period before they became Christians. (Learning to Do What Jesus Did) Demonized people who become Christians do not attain complete freedom in Christ until they are delivered. Satan is a legalist, and demons are sticky. They like to stay where they have a right to be, because their job is to frustrate the church. Until they are dealt with, they will stay. That is why the early church, which was closest to the practice of the apostles, had new converts undergo exorcism in the period immediately following their conversion.
Unclean spirits can get a foothold in anyone’s life, even a believer’s life, through habitual sinful practices. They can attach to you through trauma, such as rape or battery or emotional distress. They can come in through occult practices like Ouija boards, horoscopes, or worshipping other gods.
If you want to know how to minister deliverance, I encourage you to read my seven page paper on Deliverance that I’ve copied for you on the table in the hall. If you want to go deeper, I recommend you read Francis MacNutt’s excellent book, Deliverance from Evil Spirits.
We don't leave out stuff Jesus told us to do just because it is harrowing or difficult. Matthew 10:7 says we are to drive out demons. We are to expel them, and to deliver people from bondage into freedom. This is the call of every believer.
It is important that you not attempt to minister deliverance to someone unless there is a strong indication that deliverance is needed. Do not always attribute negative emotions to demonic activity, nor are demons always involved in physical sickness. If a spiritual remedy is applied in areas where a physical or emotional remedy is indicated, then it will not work. This can result in feelings of unworthiness, loss of faith, or desperation. Some prayer team people at Truro tried to cast what they thought was “the demon of Down’s Syndrome” out of Martyn Minns’ daughter Rachel. Rachel asked her dad, “Do I have a demon, daddy? Is that why I am this way?” Please understand: Down’s syndrome is an irreversible genetic disease caused by a defective chromosome. If any miracle was called for, it would be for physical healing, not deliverance. This remedy was far worse than leaving it alone. Ministers should remember the start of the Hippocratic Oath of physicians: “First, do no harm.” Discernment of the problem, getting the right diagnosis, often does take a more mature believer.
How can you tell that deliverance is needed? You ask questions. Often the person coming forward is aware of the nature of the problem. I knew that I was infested when I had a recurring dream in my early 30’s. I was saved, I had recently been baptized in the Holy Spirit, but I had this recurring nightmare that a demon was chasing me, and just before he was about to kill me in my dream, I’d wake up in a cold sweat. I dreamed this same dream, with different chase sequences, maybe twenty times. As I prayed about it, I sensed I really was infested. A few times, I began to manifest demonically – I could feel the thing come up in my throat! I tried to self-deliver, but I could not. I could not get it to go until I went to someone who had experience and gifts to free me – at a Leanne Payne Conference. I had earlier received deliverance at Truro from generational spirits, and later from other spirits that I had successfully told to go away all by myself. Sometimes you need help. That is why it is always wise to do deliverance ministry with someone alongside. Often people hear voices of condemnation like “You are not worthy to receive love.” or “You are condemned to hell forever.”
One way you can tell deliverance is needed is if you observe symptoms of demonization. One example of that, says Leanne Payne, is if the person has dreams or recurring thoughts in which the profane is inserted into the holy. Ginger and I ministered to one woman who witnessed several murders and had been raped by this murderer. This killer had promised to come back and get her. Its horrifying, but true. She was so frightened at night that she could not sleep at all, and she kept the lights on. We brought her to our home so she could sleep. She also had recurring images of the white robes of the priest and acolytes being soiled with feces and urine. This is the insertion of the profane into the holy. You can see why a demon would do that. Demons had infested her through all her trauma. She was delivered of many demons, and was afterwards able to sleep at night.
Another way to tell if a person is demonized is through the spiritual gift of discernment of spirits. This is a really useful gift to pray for. I have prayed for it, and I operate in this gift frequently, as it is a huge help in deliverance and other pastoral ministry. This gift gives you supernatural ability to discern the presence of demons and angels. I often get a picture in my mind of a spiritual reality as I pray God to reveal it. I do house blessings, and have sensed the presence of evil spirits on many occasions. Then we just tell them to go away, and we stand in that authority until they do go away. I have seen little impish spirits, and big powerful ones with this spiritual sight. As I ask God to show me, he does. When I do not ask, then I often do not see these things.
God has given us victory over darkness. God is more powerful than Satan! He loves you, and wants to set you free from bondages. If you would like to be set free from something you think is demonic, come forward, and we’ll be glad to pray with you.
