 Thursday, Oct 9, 2014
Deliverance isn’t in the Bible. Now that I’ve got your attention with that statement, let me explain what I mean. Many beliefs and practices in Christianity are not explicitly pronounced in the Bible, but the implications are there. For example, I’m pro-life, but I can’t quote a scripture saying, “Thou shalt not commit abortion.” I believe in the rapture, but it’s not mentioned once in John’s Revelation, where you’d think the Holy Spirit would have placed it, if anywhere. Many Christians believe that for baptism and accepting Christ as Savior with full mental recognition there should be an “age of accountability,” but it’s not taught specifically. Baptism by immersion is pretty standard for evangelicals (me too), but it can’t be proven that’s the only way to baptize.
Now to my point. Yes, Jesus cast out demons, but there is no specific formulaic system laid out to follow procedurally. The command of Christ to cast out demons is explicit. (Matthew 10:1, for example.) Exactly how it should be done is implicit, gleaned from the anecdotes in the synoptic gospels. We infer how to go about it by piecing together the accounts of Christ’s exorcisms. (Yes, I know, when Jesus expelled demons it wasn’t actually called an exorcism by the gospel writers. That came later in church history.) So the next time someone tells me that what God has called me to do isn’t found in the Bible, I am inclined to smile inside and agree with them. That should keep them quiet for a while.
An encouraging word: PRIDE Few sins are as evil as pride. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall,” Proverbs 16:18 says. Pride makes one think he is better than others; more powerful, better looking, more intelligent. The worst pride is that of the atheist or intellectual who thinks he knows more than God. Or that there is no God at all. Yet, with all their pride, and it was their first sin, James tell us that the demons believe in God and tremble. In fact, Satan’s sin was that he believed God existed and wanted to be above God. (The devil was after all in Heaven with God in the beginning.) But pride sent Satan to Hell. Don’t let pride send you there too.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did� (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online. |
