…when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly, "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him."

Mark 1:21-27

Many modern psychologists try to explain these Scriptures by saying that the people in Jesus’ day did not know anything about mental disorders, so they blamed demons for people’s mental sicknesses. However, it was not just the people in those days who believed in demon possession, but Jesus also believed in the reality of demon possession, and by casting demons out of people, they were cured. In other words, if demons are not real, then how did Jesus get good results?

I’ve also seen positive results when driving out demons. For example, years ago I received a midnight call. The young man over the phone, frightened and bewildered, pleaded, "Something has happened to my wife. She has lost her mind. We don’t know what to do, and my mother-in-law said to call you."

In the background, I could hear the wife growling and screaming. I promised him that I would go to his house immediately.

When I arrived, the man opened the door, and I could see his wife on top of the couch, cringing and growling. She was totally psychotic.

I looked into the husband’s eyes and said, "I don’t think you’ve ever seen the power of God before, but today you’re going to see God’s power deliver your wife from demons."

I walked toward the wife and laid my hands on her and spoke sternly to those spirits. I commanded all the spirits to leave. Within a couple of minutes, the woman snapped out of her psychosis. She looked at me and said, "Who are you?" She looked at her husband and asked, "What’s going on?"

She was not aware of the entire incident, yet she was totally back to her normal self. The husband began to cry as he saw his wife delivered from spirits. He immediately gave his life to the Lord.

If demons are not real, then how could this woman as well as countless people be helped through casting out demons? The fact is demons are real and exorcism is real.

The Ministry of Deliverance

The ministry of deliverance must be carried out in accord with the Scriptures. The harm which has been caused by so-called ministers of deliverance is a result of them departing from the Bible and getting into extra-biblical and, worse, unbiblical practices. The Scriptures give us several important facts about Jesus’ ministry of exorcism.

First, Jesus emphasized teaching and preaching above driving out demons. In the above scripture, the reason Jesus came into the Synagogue was to teach. The Bible says the people were amazed at His teaching. Today, I’m amazed at the lack of teaching among ministers of deliverance.

Some people think they are called to specialize in deliverance. Exorcism should not be anyone’s specialty. Every minister should specialize in teaching the Word of God to people, and then when the need arises, they can drive out demons.

Don’t go to Sister Deliverance to get set free from demons. These people seem to have revolving doors with signs that reads: Bring your paper sack with you and prepare to vomit your demons. Don’t misunderstand me, I have seen people vomit after they have been delivered, but I don’t look for it.

People ask, "Why does it seem that people cough or vomit when demons come out?" Well, there is Scriptural precedent for physical manifestations. The Bible says, "The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek." It is normal for there to be physical manifestations when spirits come out, especially physical manifestations through the mouth. Notice that this spirit came out with a shriek.

This is exactly what happened when Philip drove out spirits, "With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many" (Acts 8:7). A shriek is a high, pitch scream. It seems that the exit for evil spirits is through the mouth. After all, it is usually our big mouth which became the open door for demons, so it stands to reason, that the mouth is the exit as well. Coughing and vomiting are manifestations of the mouth.

In my youth, I was working at a local restaurant when one of my fellow employees confided in me. She said, "Tom, I know you’re going to think I’m crazy. But I feel that I have a demon inside of me. Nearly every night when I go to bed, this spirit begins to scare me." This girl was not a charismatic. She was not even a Christian at the time. She simply believed that evil spirits were real.

I told her that I believed her and that I would try to help her. We ended the conversation and proceeded to continue working. We closed the restaurant and started cleaning up. The Lord startled me, "Tom, if you will speak to the spirit now, the demon will go."

I walked to this girl as she was vacuuming the carpet. I said to her, "The Lord spoke to me and told me to tell the spirit to go, and it will go."

She turned off the vacuum cleaner and said, "Then tell it to go."

I pointed my finger at her—she was about ten feet away—and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus, I tell you evil spirit to come out of her!"

The moment I said that she gasped, "Ugh!" She looked startled and exclaimed, "Something came out of my mouth. What was that?"

"That was the demon. It’s gone!"

Let me repeat. This girl knew nothing of the charismatic movement. She had never seen people delivered from evil spirits. She had no past experience which could cause her to psychologically make her think that the demon should come out of her mouth. But it did. This incident is similar to the biblical examples of shrieking.

Don’t Talk with Demons

A second fact about Jesus and demons is this: He never held conversations with demons. He said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

It is true that on one occasion Jesus asked a demon his name, but this was because the demon refused to go. I suppose you may ask a demon its name if they refuse to depart, but it’s not wise to hold a conversation with them. Ordinarily, Jesus shut the mouths of demons. This is the normal way of deliverance.

I heard someone pound on my door. As I opened it, one of my members barged through, "Tom, you have to come with me quickly! There’s a man who’s demon possessed. I and some others need your help to drive out the demons!" I went with him.

As I arrived, there were about four men who were trying to excise the demons from this man. Everyone was shouting different things, "What’s your name!" "Tell us about the realm of the spirit." "Where did you come from?" "Recount to us about the role of demons in Mexico." Everyone was more interested in talking with the demons than casting them out.

The people would grab the man and try to hold him down, but the demoniac simply threw them across the room.

One guy turned to me, "Tom, these demons don’t want to leave. We’ve been at it for several hours. Why don’t you give it a try. Maybe you can cast them out."

I walked over to this man, reached out my right hand and touched his shoulder. Looking him in the eyes, I said, "I’m not talking to the demons, I’m talking to you, sir. Please come over here to the couch and sit down with me." He did.

I asked him, "How long have you been like this?"

"For many years, I have heard these demons talk to me and speak through me. I want to be free, but I can’t."

"Yes you can!" I assured him. "And I believe that you will be set free today."

"Can you drive out the demons from me?"

"I sure can with God’s power."

He grinned, "I think you can."

"I know I can." I laid my hands on the man and said calmly, yet sternly, "In the name of Jesus, I command all the evil spirits to come out of him." I named several which I believed were in him.

No sooner than I said this, the man looked up at me and smiled wide, "They’re gone!" The other men all sensed that the spirits had left him.

That night, the leader of this group came to me privately and asked, "Tom, what were we doing wrong? Why couldn’t we drive out the spirits?"

I explained to him, "You should not hold conversations with demons. By doing that, you prolong the deliverance. Simply, take your authority over the spirits and cast them out!" He accepted what I said.

Give Orders to Demons

This brings us to the third principle about exorcism as witness in the ministry of Jesus: He drove out demons with His word.

When Jesus drove out the demon from the man in the synagogue, the people were astonished on how He drove out the demon. They said, "He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." They weren’t used to any one driving out demons with simply their words. This is the way Jesus delivered people from demons. Another scripture says,

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to [Jesus], and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. (Matt. 8:16)

Jesus expelled demons with simply His word. He used nothing else.

I’m surprise how many Christians depend on various methods of casting out demons. The only method you need is your words. Your words can drive out demons.

Yet, when people try to perform an exorcism, they bring out the holy water, a crucifix, candles, incense, prayer beads, a blessed Bible, a prayer book, and anything else they think will be effective to drive out the demons. But they lack one thing: faith.

Listen, if you want to be successful at driving out demons, then take all your religious paraphernalia, and find the nearest garbage can and dump all the unnecessary accessories in it. Then you’ll be ready to drive out demons.