The other primary manifestation of demonic activity I encounter is in terms of influence. I do not deny that there are people out there who are clearly dominated by one or more demon spirits. However, I don’t encounter them much myself. Instead, what I see are subtle signatures of a less overt influence that is nonetheless clearly demonic.
For this reason, I seldom perform anything resembling driving them out. Most of the time it’s a matter of calling attention to their signature and allowing the victims to decide what they should do about it. In the vast majority of cases, the victim of demonic oppression will do their own casting out.
The game is thus a matter of discernment. Unless you’ve experienced it yourself, it’s well nigh impossible for me to explain seeing into the Spirit Realm and sensing the meaning of things from a moral perspective. The most dangerous thing I could do is take it for granted or get a big head about it. I’m not that special. There’s no doubt in my mind He could use others the same way, but I don’t see it that often.
For the most part, I blame the common Western Christian mythology for hindering a clear understanding of how Satan operates. Most believers get wrapped up in false assumptions about the Devil and his schemes. For example, virtually the whole fabric of Western Civilization is his best tool. Keeping folks Western is the best way to keep them from their divine heritage of shalom.
A primary gateway of demonic influence is the improper attitude about human suffering. There is a certain level of human misery that is the due result of the Curse of the Fall — what we should call “legitimate suffering.” Seeking a false escape, taking the attitude that it is not, and should not be considered, normal gives the Devil so much room to operate. In my experience, this is the single greatest factor in bringing a demonic presence into any situation.
The New Testament says repeatedly that the purpose of suffering is to drive us back to the feet of Jesus. Our society is loaded with all manner of human effort to evade legitimate suffering, precisely because the Devil uses it as a distraction from soul searching and hearing the voice of conviction. If we spent more time praying and seeking God’s face to find the proper balance between seeking relief and learning to bear up under sorrow, fewer of us would find ourselves facing demonic presence.
So it is the modern American sense of entitlement about escaping suffering (“rights”) that serves Satan’s purpose so well. The business of keeping non-believers that way is just the routine business of herding, but it provides the atmosphere for making the Elect feel so out of place when they reject that sense of entitlement. Western Christians keep trying to fix society, when that’s not even possible or desirable. They keep trying to engage a system that Satan owns totally, designed from the ground up to serve his purpose.
The sole solution is moving people to the otherworldly viewpoint. There’s not much good in “casting out demons” when we’ve done nothing to help the victim fortify and occupy their lives against the demons moving back in (Matthew 12:43-45). The path to closing access begins with rejecting this world and its ways, and embracing a wholly different set of assumptions. Without God’s election of that soul, there is no way someone can find the power to make that transition. The fallen soul cannot even want it (Romans 8:1-8).
Thus, Jesus Himself warns us that casting demons out of non-believers is a waste of time. It’s not that we can know so clearly who is and isn’t elect, but that this thing is not a circus act of wholesale mass deliverance. It’s one person at a time under the discernment of one or more heart-led believers who are moved to assist and assert divine authority in any number of different ways.
This is your chance to ask questions in the comments below.
