Derek Prince - They Shall Expel Demons Expanded 2020 Edition

W hen a member of my congregation let out a blood-curdling shriek and collapsed just in front of my pulpit, I had to make a split-second decision. I called on some others to help me and, in the name of Jesus, we succeeded in driving out the demon (or evil spirit). That experience in 1963 propelled me into intensive study of the ministry of Jesus. I wanted to be certain my actions were in line with His.

Mark begins his record of the public ministry of Jesus, I discovered, with an incident in which a demon challenged Him as He was teaching in a synagogue in Galilee. This encounter spread His fame immediately throughout the whole of Galilee (see Mark 1:2128).

From that point on, we see Jesus dealing with demons wherever He encountered them during the three and a half years of His public ministry. Near the end of that time, He sent a message to Herod that He would continue to cast out demons and perform cures until His earthly task was completed (see Luke 13:32).

But the ministry was not to end then! When Jesus commissioned His followers, He transmitted His authority to them. In fact, He never sent anyone out to preach the Gospel without specifically instructing and equipping that person to take action against demons in the same way that He Himself did. I can find no basis anywhere in the New Testament for an evangelistic ministry that does not include the expelling of demons. This is as true today as it was in the time of Jesus.

I soon came to realize that Satan has developed a special opposition to this ministry. He is, by choice, a creature of darkness. He prefers to keep the true nature of his activities concealed. If he can keep humanity unaware of his tacticsor even of his very existencehe can use the twin tools of ignorance and fear to open the way for his destructive purposes. Unfortunately, ignorance and fear are not confined to non-Christians. They are often at work inside the Church. All too often Christians have treated demons with superstitious dread, as if they are in the same category as ghosts or dragons. Corrie ten Boom commented that the fear of demons is from the demons themselves.

For this reason I chose the verb expel (Weymouth) for the title of this book, to describe the action of dealing with demons. Expel is a familiar, everyday word that has no special religious overtones. It brings the whole ministry down to the level of everyday life.

Jesus Himself was extremely practical in His dealings with demons. At the same time, He emphasized the unique significance of this ministry of expelling demons when He said, But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you (Matthew 12:28).

Casting out demons demonstrated two important spiritual truths. First, it revealed the existence of two opposing spiritual kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Second, it demonstrated the victory of Gods Kingdom over Satans. Obviously Satan would prefer to keep these two truths hidden!

When Jesus cast out demons, He went beyond the precedents of the Old Testament. From the time of Moses onward, Gods prophets had performed many miracles that foreshadowed the ministry of Jesus. They had healed the sick, raised the dead, made miraculous provision for multitudes and demonstrated Gods power to control the forces of nature. But there is no record that any of them had ever cast out a demon. This was reserved for Jesus. It was a unique demonstration that the Kingdom of God had come upon the people of His day.