Devil Possessed

Jesus was accused by the Jewish leadership of having devils.

Today we don't go around accusing anyone of having devils. We've scientifically declared that devils are not a *real* thing but rather something amiss inside a person's brain. Anyone who seemingly has a devil is really plagued by misfiring brain cells. We believe saying anyone has a devil, a demon, an evil spirit inside them is total lunacy. Yet if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you believe in God the Father, you HAVE to believe in the reality of people 'having devils'.

Joh 8:48  Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

Joh 8:49  Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.

The Jews: Isn't it true, you are not only of a corrupt people you have a DEVIL.

Jesus: I have not a devil.

Jesus didn't chuckle and say there is no such thing as having a devil. What Jesus did do was say that He didn't have a devil.

Joh 8:52  Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil.

The Jews are CONVINCED that Jesus has a devil. A devil, something inside him that is evil and causing him to do and say evil things, things in opposition of God.

 Read the following verses about devils--

Mat_4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Jesus tempted of the devil. TRUTH.

Mat_4:5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple

The devil took Jesus into Jerusalem and placed Him on a pinnacle of the temple. TRUTH.

Mat_4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them

The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and REVEALED all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus.  Physical power to move, mental power to reveal all the kingdoms of the WORLD. TRUTH.

Mat_4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The devil leaves. TRUTH.

Mat_9:32  As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.

A man POSSESSED with a devil.  TRUTH.

Mat_9:33  And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

The devil cast out of a man! TRUTH.

Mat_11:18  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.

Accusing another of God's chosen of having a devil. TRUTH.

Mat_12:22  Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

Another possessed with a devil brought to Jesus. TRUTH.

Mat_15:22  And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

A daughter grievously vexed with a devil. TRUTH.

Mat_17:18  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

The devil rebuked by Jesus. TRUTH.

Mat_25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels

A fire is the end fate of the devil and the devils angels. TRUTH.

We know that God's angels are ministering spirits-

Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Heb 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

If God's angels minister to the heirs of salvation, who do the devil angels minister to? They minster to those who will NOT be heirs of salvation but rather heirs of the prepared fire.

Jesus was accused of having a devil, why? Because He spoke TRUTH to those who could not understand truth, they lived in the devil's darkness, preferring that darkness to the light of truth and understanding because their evil deeds. They wanted their evil to be thought of as good, as just, as right, as of God. The only way they could truly live with their own evil and still appear as if they were God's was to call their evil deeds good and believe that true good was in fact evil and of the devil.

Today people do the EXACT same thing. They call their evil good. They use a counterfeit evil that appears to be good, and on the outside it is amazingly good, but underneath where God sees the heart of hearts there is evil intent, evil in NOT being of God, but of self. Self having the reign underneath it all buried so deep beneath the seemingly benevolent acts, the seemingly truly charitable deeds that entire churches filled with hundreds and thousands of people are caught up in the deception all because they do NOT really want truth, but lies that pander to their perception of what truth is, not what it really is in our Savior. 

Whole churches DECEIVED. And don't think it can't be because we know it can be.  The church favored of God as HIS chosen, HIS church, HIS people, that church was left desolate by Jesus Himself! And even as it was left desolate it continued on believing itself to be of God still. To this very day today they still believe they are God's by mere virtue of being called Jewish.  Individually they can be God's but as a church they were weighed in the balances and found wanting, they came up short, they rejected the Messiah and killed Him, and tried to do the same to all His followers. 

There are many, many churches out there claiming to have the truth, the light of the Savior, but that truth is a lie.  Everything on the outside seems on the up and up, the counterfeits are truly remarkably deceptive in appearing as the real thing, but they are STILL counterfeits.

Please Father, please uncover the darkness over the eyes of so many! Please, help them to see Your truth, nothing but Your truth! And when they see the truth please help them… help us… help me… walk in Your truth and ONLY Your truth! Help us to put aside the 'feel good' religions in favor of TRUTH.  Help us to put aside the sensational, the feeling based, the ecstasy desired spiritual high, in favor of Your TRUTH.

Your truth, Father, Your truth, let us live in Your truth even if it means never feeling an emotional ecstasy that so many believe they must have to prove they've been blessed by You. Let us live content in the knowledge and truth of You, and let the spirit blessings we receive protect us from all evil as we fight the harsh spiritual battles on all levels. 

We know that even the seemingly perfect can be truly deadly to us in our Spiritual battle. We must look to heaven for all our treasures knowing here and now all treasures are temporary and not always the blessings we call them.  If we cannot place the treasures we have in heaven but hold fast to that which can become corrupted and destroyed, we are treasuring all the wrong things. 

Guide us to TRUTH! Guide us to the LIGHT found only in YOU! Please, keep us from ALL evil, in all it's awful disguises! Please.

All in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ!

Back to the beginning of this little study- Jesus was accused of having a devil. Devils are real and cast out by Jesus. Jesus Himself was tempted by the devil. The devil's angels are evil ministering spirits working for the devil himself.  Devils then are devils today. Today we call a lot of our devils by scientific, medical terms a refuse to see them for what they are. We live in a society that refuses to see and society has created the perfect home for devils allowing them to live perfectly undetected. The movie makers, the fiction writers have created obscene tales of devil possessions that rank right up there with a lot of peoples imaginings of what the devil is and does.  People no longer comprehend that Satan doesn't need us to be sadistically evil to lay claim to us, he simply has to have us focus on our self and that evil alone is sufficient for him to call us his.  It's true. The devil possession today is as real as it ever was, but we no longer can tell the difference between a devil possessed person and someone we might label schizophrenic, or manic depressive, or bipolar, epileptic, attention deficit afflicted, hyperactive, etc. etc. etc.  Am I saying all those with these problems are plagued by devils? No. No more so than a person in Jesus' day who was blind, blind because of a demon. Yet, some could be blind because of a demon.  So how do we know the difference? I'm afraid I don't have that answer. I know some organizations have tests and such to rule out- all physical/medical disorders etc- before they dare claim devil possession.  Is that the answer? I don't know. We do know this--

Mat 4:23  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Mat 4:24  And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Jesus healed all manner of sickness and possession.  The Bible does not tell us that Jesus healed all by casting out devils.  There was a difference between those who were possessed with devils and those which were lunatic, and those who had palsy. So how did Jesus know?  He knew.  The devils inside the people knew.

Mat 8:28  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

Mat 8:29  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Mat 8:30  And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

Mat 8:31  So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

Mat 8:32  And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

The evil spirits knew Jesus and knew He couldn't leave them alone.

Mar 9:17  And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

Mar 9:18  And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.

Mar 9:19  He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

Mar 9:20  And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

Mar 9:21  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Mar 9:25  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Mar 9:26  And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

Mar 9:27  But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

Mar 9:28  And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

Mar 9:29  And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

The disciples had tried to cast an evil spirit out- unsuccessfully.

Jesus cast it out successfully and told them only PRAYER and FASTING could cast out some spirits.

This doesn't really help us with the problem we face today- how do we know the difference between an evil spirit and a medical condition?  Then again, is it really a problem? Do we NEED to know?

Seriously, do we need to know?

We are told this--

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

Jas 5:13  Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

Jas 5:14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

Jas 5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Jas 5:17  Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Jas 5:18  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

We are to pray.

We are to pray without ceasing.

We are to pray for one another.

We are to pray for healing.

We aren't told to diagnose before praying, are we?  We aren't told to pray in a certain manner for devils specifically.  Yes, some need prayer and fasting on our parts, but still we aren't told to diagnose before prayer. We aren't told to rule out all medical conditions before we pray that an evil spirit be removed. If our prayers don't seem to be working we do know that some prayers need fasting involved so that would be the next course of action.  Do we NOT believe that evil spirits possess people and make them sick? No, it's not our place not to believe what has already been proven by our Savior. We just have to realize that whether or not it is a devil possession making a person ill for years and years and years, that we need to KEEP praying for that person. We need to keep praying for one another and yes, fast along with our praying should the Holy Spirit guide you too do so.

We have our Savior's words as truth. We need His TRUTH.

The Jewish leaders of Christ's day accused Jesus of having a devil, the Jews believed in devil possession. They accused Jesus because they could not put off their own dark sin  obsessed lives.

Please LORD, bless us now and always!

Keep us IN YOU, ALWAYS!

In YOUR LOVE!