Years ago I listened to a podcast where a pastor was talking about how he did what he called “spiritual warfare.” He didn’t mean resisting temptation, which is what the scriptures mean when they describe
Then he told a story about fighting a particular devil. A woman came to him for counseling, and in the course of talking with her, he determined she had
Nope, didn’t throw it out of the woman like he absolutely should have done—like Jesus did every time he realized someone had an evil spirit in ’em. I remind you Jesus forbade those spirits from speaking,
As I recall, he didn’t put the spirit under oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, like our courts of law do. Not that we should be so stupid as to think a devil would keep any such oath. Humans don’t; perjury happens all the time. To think a devil would be more honest, honorable, and oath-keeping than a human… well that’s ridiculous.
Popular fiction likes to depict Satan as “a man of his word,” because whenever humans in these stories make a deal or wager with the devil, then somehow outsmart or outperform it, it keeps its word and pays its debts. Sometimes ironically, but even so. But Satan is not a man of its word. It’s not even a man!
What it is, is a liar. Precisely as Jesus describes it:
John 8.44 KJV - Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
There is no truth in the devil. Nor in any devilish spirit you encounter. Nothing any of them tell you can be trusted. Nothing.
Everything this particular pastor got the evil spirit in the woman to tell him: As far as we know, everything it said is pure garbage. Might’ve sounded plausible and convincing—either because devils can tell a good story, or they swipe someone else’s good story and tell that. And of course devils can easily identify a sucker who’ll believe it—who really wants to believe it, like this pastor.
But again: Pure garbage. Trust nothing.
“No, I asked it properly.”
Of course “spiritual warriors” will claim no, it’s totally okay that they interacted with devils, and tried to get information and knowledge from them. (Take a moment to think about how that sounds.)
Y’see, it’s okay for them, because they followed the proper procedure. They bound it in Jesus’s name. They said, “In Jesus name tell me the truth,” so it’s obligated to tell ’em the truth, and does.
Do I have to remind you “In Jesus name” is not a magic spell, and doesn’t work when you’re not following the lead of
Acts 19.13-16 KJV 13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
If it’s not the Spirit’s idea nor will for you to interview devils—and I find it hard to fathom it’d ever be—commanding evil spirits “in Jesus name” to tell you the truth does nothing. The devil respects Jesus, but when you’re just some schmuck trying to use Jesus’s name as an incantation, you’re nothing, and the devil can merrily beat the clothes off you.
Although it’d be way more evil fun to just fill you with baloney, and plenty of times that’s exactly what an evil spirit will do. It’ll spin you a tale of just what it does and how it does it, and will make you firmly believe you’re now an expert demonologist and exorcist. But nope; you’re just a dupe, helping the devil spread its misinformation to gullible Christians who covet the very same control over evil spirits. Control none of you actually have.
There are those who love to point out, “Well, but the devil uses half-truths to mislead us.” It’s based on the fact Satan quoted bible to tempt Jesus:
Luke 4.9-12 KJV 9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:10 for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:11 and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.Ps 91.11-12 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.Dt 6.16
And of course it did. Anyone can quote bible. False prophets and fraudulent Christians do it all the time. Satan’s no different.
Naturally Satan quoted Psalms
Even the things Satan claims about itself in the scriptures—like when it tells Jesus about the kingdoms of the world, “That is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it”
So don’t be so foolish as to think you can handle and control evil spirits: You can’t. Not for nothing do the scriptures regularly compare them with snakes. The best and only thing to do with them is drive them out. Pray for the Holy Spirit to empower you, then command them to shut up and begone in Jesus’s name. And that is all the interaction we oughta have with them. Trust no one who says otherwise.
