Would you cast out a demon

I drove out a demon once. A family member owned one with a V-8 engine

 

It seems that there is more trouble with this at this time of year.

Have y'all seen this?

 

Since we are on the topic of possession and/or demonic leading there is a book I have read that is very interesting called "The People of The Lie". I would have to go home to find the name of the author, but I found that book to be interesting.

I think I would also perform an exorcism, but only if I were assisting someone.

Please explain the fasting to me as I do not understand what we should abstain from during the fast.

I should probably try to exorcise the demon from my kat first...she tries to cough that thing up every morning at 4am. Meow...riaaaow...morrroowww.

Seriously I do know that possession is a real thing and not something that should be taken lightly. I had some friends once that are Morman and they cut me from their lives because they felt that there was something evil in my apt (catbox...lol) that I somehow transferred to their new house. It hurts to be cut out of a life like that, but I digress. Pray for them as I will continue to do so.

azwyld
<*}}}><

 

Lori, I would not recommend the book, People of the Lie to anyone. It's by M. Scott Peck, who is not a believer. He's more of a Buddhist/New Ager than anything. He also believes that pornography can be okay.

As far as demon possession goes, my ministry causes me to deal with this issue a lot - but more in the form of questions than actually coming across people. Most Christians seem to assume that people in the occult are demon possessed, but in my experience, they aren't. They might be demon influenced, but that is not the same thing.

What I have most encountered are schizophrenics who are obsessed with demons. They are not possessed.

The letters to the early churches have zero instructions or references to casting out demons.
There must be a reason for this. I have often wondered if after Jesus resurrected, the ability of demons to possess people was weakened and that is why there is nothing in the letters to the churches.

I know many people say they have encountered people who are possessed, but this is purely anecdotal. The people could have been mentally ill or pretending. I also think some people do this to get attention.

In any case, I think Christians consume too much time on this topic when the main issues are dealing with sin (not demons) and reaching the lost for Christ.

 

Thanks for the info Marcia. I did a look up on him and found his website.

http://www.mscottpeck.com/html/biography.html

According to his bio:

"On March 9, 1980 at the age of 43, Dr. Peck was nondenominationally baptized by a Methodist minister in an Episcopalian convent (where he has frequently gone on retreat)."

I don't know much else about him, but the book was ineresting. While I did not agree with every single thing he said, there were some spots that did make sense.

What does anectodal mean? Also it is possible the people they came in contact with were possessed, but since I didn't run into these people myself I can't say one way or another.

I think it is probably rare for someone to be genuinly possessed these days, but there must be at least some out there that have been.

Perhaps you are right in that Christians sometimes spend too much time on this type of topic, however it is just something interesting to discuss once in a while.

azwyld
<*}}}><

 

I was reading "The Road Less Traveled" many years back, & felt a bit uneasy as I read it. Nothing I could put my finger on, but just that feeling that something wasn't right.

Got about 3/4 way through the book, and ran across a ststement by Peck to the effect of "You are God"; the New Age garbage.

As soon as I saw this, I knew why my antsy feelings, & threw the book in the trash.

Haven't touched any of his stuff since.

 

Good thing you felt uneasy. Actually, on p. 78 or so, he talks about "evolving toward godhood."

Around 1980, he claimed to have become a Christian, but there was no resulting evidence of this. I read an interview of him in a New Age magazine in early 1991, and it was clear from that he was not a Christian (aside from the fact this magazine would never interview and feature a born-again believer). Yet, in my SS class of the church I was attending at the time, they talked about doing a study of The Road Less Traveled! I freaked out, especially as I was a brand-new believer. I was constantly coming across situations like this as a new believer. It was very disheartening for me.

I highly recommend that Christians read the book, The Less Traveled Road and the Bible: A Scriptural Critique of the Philosophy of M. Scott Peck, by H. Wayne House and Richard Abanes. It's a pretty short book but packed with info.

 

Some of what Peck says may make sense - it's hard for a writer to be wrong on everything. But below is an excerpt of what I wrote about Peck a few months ago to inform some Christians about Peck:

 

Had to divide this up as it would not post the whole thing.

Ancedotal means that you hear stories about something -- for example, the testimonials you hear on infomercials of some health remedy or some real estate scheme. Or it could be that cousin Suzie and your son's 3rd grade teacher and your neighbor's sister-in-law said X was true -- that's all anecdotal. It may or may not be true, but anecdotal evidence is not hard evidence and you certainly need more evidence than that for most things. You might go along with it to try a new chewing gum, but not for theology. Basing truth on experience is often the only evidence I find in some theological stands.

I have encountered 2 people that I though might be possessed, but I am not sure they were. And even if I thought so, that is not enough evidence to convince me. Since the NT is pretty silent on this as far as outside the Gospels and Acts, I don't take a hard stand on it (except to say believers cannot be possessed). When you look at the possessed people in the Gospels, they are wild, supernaturally strong, or being thrown into the fire and water. None of the people I met were like that.

 

If I became convinced of a possesion, I would call a priests that has a lot of experiance in exorcisms. Demon possesion is real.