All right, now, Mark chapter 5 at the beginning of the chapter is the part that I'd like to
focus on the story about the man that's possessed with devils, and I want to preach tonight
on the subject of being possessed with devils.
Now, we commonly refer to this as being demon possessed, but the Bible does not really
use the word demon.
The Bible only uses the word devils, but I may use that word in the sermon just in
order to make it more understandable just as I'm speaking so that people know what
I'm talking about.
But what we're talking about is being possessed with devils.
Now, whenever I think of this subject, I always think of the book of Mark, because I don't
know if you've ever noticed this in your Bible reading, but the book of Mark deals
with this theme very heavily.
Almost every chapter, almost every page, you're dealing with somebody who's possessed.
Let me just show you a few quick examples, and we'll get into the implications of
this.
But go to Mark chapter 1.
Right away in Mark chapter 1, this subject comes up in the book of Mark, and it's pretty
much on every page.
But in Mark chapter 1, verse 23, the Bible reads, there was in their synagogue a man
with an unclean spirit.
That's another term for being possessed with a devil.
And it says, saying, let us alone.
Now right there, what do you see?
You see plurality there.
This man with an unclean spirit is talking about us.
There's only one of him, okay?
So there's multiple devils that have possessed this man.
Saying, let us alone.
What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Art thou come to destroy?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Now isn't this consistent with what we read in James chapter 2, when the Bible says
thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest well?
The devils also believe and tremble.
Here we see that the devils are full aware of who Jesus is.
They're saying, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
And they are fearful of him.
What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth?
Art thou come hither to torment us?
I'm sorry, I'm quoting something else.
Art thou come hither to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Look at verse 25.
And Jesus rebuked them, saying, hold thy peace and come out of him.
And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out
of him.
And they were all amazed in so much that they questioned among themselves, saying,
what thing is this?
What new doctrine is this?
For with authority commandeth thee even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
So back at this time, this was a big deal.
I mean, this guy's possessed with devils.
He's saying all kinds of strange things.
Jesus casts out the devils that people had been well aware of this man being possessed.
And once he casts out the devils, people are amazed, and the fame of it goes all
over the place.
I mean, it was a big deal.
It was a big event.
Now, let me ask you this.
Is it really rational to believe that no one today is possessed with devils?
When we see all throughout the New Testament, people are possessed with devils.
Did the devils go anywhere at the end of the New Testament?
I mean, are they just gone now, or do they still exist?
You know, the devil still exists, and all of his devils still exist.
Yet this isn't something that you really hear taught today very much in a Baptist
church.
You don't really hear people talk a lot about it.
Now, just from what we've looked at here, and we're going to look at a lot more scriptures,
but just at first blush here, looking at this, what does this remind you of that
we could look at present day and say, okay, I see a present day equivalent of what I'm
reading about in Mark chapter 1?
I mean, if we saw a guy like this today who's saying, let us alone, okay, he's yelling,
he's foaming at the mouth, what would you say that person is?
Schizophrenic, insane, right?
And what would you do?
Put him in some kind of an institution, drug him, tie him down, give him a lobotomy, whatever.
I know they don't do that anymore, but anyway, they did it for a while.
What I'm saying is that a lot of what we would look at and say, oh, that person
is insane.
You know, a lot of that could be due to being possessed with devils.
You know, a lot of times you'll see people walking down the street just yelling at no
one.
Who's ever seen something like that?
You know, I remember there was a guy in Sacramento, California, we'd see this guy all the time
because he would, you know, haunt the area right near the church and he would carry around
a CD and he would scream at that CD all day long.
He'd walk down the street just yelling at the CD.
I don't know if he was looking at his reflection in the CD or what, but he had
a CD and he would just scream at it all day long.
He was completely nuts and I talked to him one time, tried to give him the gospel
and I was not, you know, I didn't have the kind of power that Jesus had and so I wasn't
able to fix it.
But anyway, look down if you would at verse 32.
It says that even when the sun was set, they brought unto him all that were diseased and
them that were possessed with devils.
So it's coming up again already and all the city were gathered together at the door
and he healed many that were sick of divers diseases and cast out many devils and suffered
not the devils to speak because they knew him.
He did not allow the devils to speak because the devils knew more about Jesus than the
people around Jesus.
And at this point early in Jesus' ministry, he did not want everyone to immediately know
that he was the son of God.
He did not want everyone at this time to yet know that he was the Christ.
He did not reveal that immediately to all men.
He revealed it unto his disciples.
He did not reveal it unto everyone.
You know, he had a certain plan and constantly you'll see Jesus in the four gospels saying,
you know, my time is not yet come.
And when it comes a point where they're trying to make him a king or they're trying to get
him arrested, they're trying to have him killed.
It's like his time was not come.
You know, Jesus had a certain time frame and it was not within his plan that these
devils would tell everybody everything about who he was and his ministry.
But it says he did not allow them to speak because they knew him.
Jump forward if you would to chapter 3.
In chapter 3 verse 11, the Bible says, an unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell
down before him and cried saying, thou art the son of God.
So just from what we've seen so far, we can already learn a lot.
We can see that probably a lot of the people today that we see that are classified as insane
could just be possessed with devils.
You know, you hear people talk about multiple personalities.
Well, that's because there are other spirits that are indwelling that person.
And you know, psychiatrists will laugh at this sermon and psychologists and scientists
will laugh at it.
You know what?
I laugh at you, you glorified dope dealer.
I laugh at you, you tool of the pharmaceutical industry.
I laugh at you, you satanic witch doctor, giving people a bunch of drugs that make
them suicidal and make them depressed and make them do even worse things.
I mean, the psychiatric industry is a fraud tonight.
Okay, so don't tell me that what I'm preaching is a fraud.
Don't tell me the Bible is a fraud.
I believe the Bible.
I believe there are unclean spirits and devils out there.
And I believe that people are possessed, my friend, today.
And I don't believe that a drug is going to fix it.
Now people will say, oh that's ridiculous.
No, you're ridiculous.
The Bible is the word of God and I believe it.
Now you say, well how many of these devils are there?
Well if you think about it, the Bible talks about the fact of Satan having one-third
of the angels following him in Revelation chapter 12.
So the Bible seems to indicate that one-third of the angels are fallen angels or the
angels that sinned and left their habitation and have followed Lucifer.
Well if you stop and look at some of the numbers of angels in the Bible, like for
example in the book of Revelation you see this a lot, and in the book of Daniel chapter
7, it talks about God's throne being surrounded by angels and it says the number of them
was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands.
Now that might sound like complicated math but it's really not.
10,000 times 10,000 is 100 million.
Thousands of thousands are called what?
Millions.
So we're looking at a minimum of 102 million angels surrounding God's throne, possibly way
more than that.
But a minimum, the only way you can interpret 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands
is at least 102 million.
Well if the third part went with Satan, assuming that the angels that are surrounding
God's throne and praising him there are not those fallen angels, well then that would
mean that there would have to be at least, what, 51 million of these devils, minimum.
Now that's a lot of devils, and like I said there could be way more than that.
But they're probably based on the logic that I just explained, make your own decision,
but to me it seems logical to think that there are at least 51 million of these devils.
And if you read the Bible there are a lot of them, and even multiple devils in one
person.
You say, what are these devils?
They're spirits, they're not flesh and bone.
People will talk about, oh man there's UFOs, and devils are coming down in UFOs, and they're
procreating with women.
That is a false doctrine, that is not biblical, and that's a whole other sermon in and of
itself to defeat that doctrine which is a misinterpretation of Genesis chapter 6.
But I'll say this, these spirits are clearly not flesh and bone.
And Jesus Christ, when he said after he had risen from the dead, he showed him the
hole in his side and showed him the holes in his hands, he said, come handle me for
a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me to have.
He also said that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of
the spirit is spirit.
And so you know this procreation of unclean spirits with human beings is a false doctrine,
but these are clearly not flesh and bone, they are spirits, just as the angels are ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them that believe or to serve them that believe.
You know, angels of God are spirits and these devils or these unclean spirits are
the same way.
Now these unclean spirits can indwell someone's body.
They can basically enter into someone's body and control that person.
That is what it means in the Bible to be possessed with the devil.
It's when one of these devils or unclean spirits or fallen angels enters into someone's
body and begins to control them by speaking through them, controlling their actions, controlling
what they do.
Let me show you some other examples in Mark.
Let's skip over the story in Mark 5 because I want to spend more time on that one.
Jump forward though if you would to another story.
Of course it's mentioned in chapter 6 that they're casting out devils again.
Chapter 7 mentions it again.
Verse 26 of chapter 7 says the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation and she
besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
So here we have example of a woman possessed with the devil, not just men.
Look at verse 29.
And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out and her daughter
laid upon the bed.
Jump forward to chapter 9.
Look at chapter 9.
This one is a really telling story.
Look at verse 17.
One of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son which hath
a dumb spirit.
Now dumb means unable to speak.
So it says he hath a dumb spirit.
So this would be different than the spirits previously that were speaking through their
victims.
And it says, wheresoever he taketh him, he tareth him and he fometh, so he's foaming
at the mouth, and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away.
So basically this guy is possessed and he's grinding his teeth together, foaming at
the mouth in all this pain and agony from this.
And it says, I spake to thy disciples, verse 18, that they should cast him out and they
could not.
Verse 19, he answered him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be
with you?
How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him unto me.
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.
And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him?
And he said, of a child.
So this is something that could even affect children.
This is something that even children could be possessed with devils, and we've already
seen a couple examples of that.
Just in looking at a few examples, just from one book in the Bible, just Mark alone
has a lot of this, doesn't it?
But you don't hear much about it.
But it's very biblical.
And look at verse 22, and oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters
to destroy him.
But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
So here in this example, we see a person who is throwing themself in the fire.
Now that's not a normal thing to do, that's not a natural thing to do.
I mean if any of us even tried to throw ourself in the fire, you know we have natural
reflexes that would keep us away from that.
But when you see somebody foaming at the mouth, throwing themself in the fire, throwing
themself into the water, trying to drown themself, okay, you know these are all examples
of people that could be demon possessed, okay, or possessed with devils.
And it says that, this is the father speaking, Jesus said unto him, unto his father, If thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord I believe,
help thou mine unbelief.
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.
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.
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose, and when he was come
into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
And he said unto them, This kind, referring to this kind of unclean spirit, can come
forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.
Now, a lot of people will try to attack the Bible and attack the Word of God in
this way.
You know, atheists will try to attack the Bible and say, you know, the Bible's not true.
And here's what they'll say, the people who wrote the Bible, they thought that
all illness and all disease was caused by devils.
Is that what the Bible has been teaching?
Because the Bible made it clear that he was healing sickness, and other people he's
casting out devils.
So weren't there a lot of people that were sick, and that had diverse diseases and
torments that were not possessed, where he's just healing them?
And then there are other people who are demon-possessed.
Now, are there things that could be a result of being possessed that could look like an
illness today?
Or we would look at that and say, oh, that's an illness?
Like being deaf?
Is the Bible teaching that everyone who's deaf is possessed?
You know, but that's what people will attack the Bible and say, see, the Bible's
blaming every sickness.
There are people in the Bible that were blind and deaf, and people even asked Jesus,
you know, was this guy blind because of something that he did wrong or something that
his parents did wrong?
And Jesus said, neither had this man sinned, nor his parents.
But he's, you know, he's lame for the glory of God.
He's blind for the glory, you know.
People are blind or lame or deaf often for some purpose that God has in their life,
okay?
You know, someone who's blind, someone who's deaf, someone who has some kind of a handicap
or disability, that doesn't mean that they sinned.
That doesn't mean that their parents sinned.
You know, God creates us the way we are for a reason.
And that's why it's so wicked, this society we live in that says, oh, it's handicapped,
abort it.
Don't bring that handicapped child into the world to live a miserable life.
You know what?
I've seen handicapped people be used by the glory of God, and so that's a wicked
philosophy that wants to rid the world of all handicapped.
That's like saying, you know, Hitler or something, you know, if you're not the master
race or something, you know, we're going to just eliminate you, or like Planned
Parenthood's philosophy of Margaret Sanger that wants to, you know, kill the weak
or, you know, and literally, they'll give you tests when you're pregnant to see if there's
a handicap because they want to warn you about that, so hey, your child could have
Down syndrome, you may want to just abort this child.
You know, that is so sinful and wicked to kill that child.
And by the way, we used to have a girl that attended our church that had Down syndrome,
and she would go out soul winning, okay?
Now she was not able mentally to go through the whole plan of salvation or the whole
gospel with someone, but you know what, just she would show up and she would quote scripture.
She had memorized a lot of the salvation verses, and you know, people were so impressed
by this Down syndrome girl coming to them and just attempting to give the gospel, trying
to explain it to them, quoting the scriptures, that then, you know, whoever was her soul
winning partner would be able to fill in the blanks, you know, and basically help.
And so as a team, this girl was able to team up with other people and be used of God to
see souls saved, okay?
So are you saying that that girl should have just never been born?
I mean, what kind of a wicked philosophy is that?
You know, God doesn't just create everybody to be tall and strong and handsome and beautiful.
You know, God makes everybody different for a different reason.
That's why you should just be happy with who you are.
Maybe you're tall, short, you know, maybe you were just born with the look that everybody
thinks is just the look that, you know, the Hollywood model look, or maybe you have
a different look.
You know, God created us all the way we are.
We should be happy with who we are and the way we look.
And maybe you have some physical problem that you were born with.
You know what, God might have a purpose for that that you and I just don't understand,
okay?
So don't be confused here, like, well, the Bible's teaching that everyone who falls
on the ground and flops around, you know, okay, yes, there could be people that are
epileptic, of course.
You know, there could be people that are deaf.
There could be people that are blind or that have nothing to do with being possessed
with devils.
But look, if somebody falls on the ground and is foaming at the mouth, I'm saying
that's not epilepsy 100% of the time.
I'm saying that some of the time, not all of the time, some of the time that
is a person who is possessed with devils.
Because I'm not going to sit there and say, well, this doesn't exist anymore.
There's no evidence of that in the Bible.
The Bible's clear that the devil still to this day walketh about as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour and that these devils still exist and that they possess
people and they can cause people to commit suicide.
Not saying that everyone who commits suicide is possessed.
There are people in the Bible who commit suicide, nothing to do with an unclean spirit.
But some people who are throwing themselves in the fire, some people who are throwing
themselves off a bridge, some people who are falling on the ground and foaming at the
mouth, some people who have these problems, some people that are going around talking
about we and us, you know, are possessed with devils.
It's not that complicated.
It's pretty simple when you study the Scripture.
Now go back to Mark chapter 3 because the question inevitably comes up when we're looking
at the subject of being possessed.
I've heard this question a lot.
You know, can a Christian, can a believer, can one of the saints become demon-possessed
or possessed with devils, right?
Have you heard that question?
People will say, you know, can a believer be possessed?
And I will answer unequivocally no, a believer cannot become possessed.
First of all, number one, there's no evidence of any believer or any saved person or
saint being possessed in the Bible.
There's no teaching of that.
Now look at Mark 3.22 and let me show you some evidence here.
It says in Mark 3.22, and the scribes which came down from Jerusalem.
So get the picture.
Jesus is doing all these miracles and he's casting out a lot of unclean spirits.
He's casting out a lot of devils.
It's made him very famous.
So these scribes from Jerusalem, the religious authorities, they're coming down to investigate
because people are hearing about this and they, you know, we're going to go take
a look at this.
Now we know these people are not saved.
They did not believe the Bible.
They did not believe the Old Testament.
Even though they're scribes, even though they're writing down the Old Testament, they
did not believe that angels existed at one point, a lot of the scribes, you know,
that were the sect of the Sadducees.
They don't believe in a spirit.
They don't even believe in any of this, okay?
Now these scribes right here, they do believe in the spirit world, okay, but they're
not believers.
In fact, Jesus tells them they have eternal damnation.
So these are unsaved religious authorities that are coming down to investigate this phenomenon
of Jesus performing all these miracles.
So they want to find a way to explain it away, and in verse 22 it says the scribes
who came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, okay?
Beelzebub is, of course, Satan, comes from the Old Testament word Baal.
Remember in the Old Testament they're always worshipping Baal, B-A-A-L.
Okay well, if you go to 2 Kings, don't turn there, but 2 Kings chapter 1, it talks
about them worshipping Baal-Zebub.
You remember that?
Well that Baal-Zebub is where we get our word Beelzebub.
Okay so this is Satan, this is a devil.
And so the Bible says here, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils, so they're
referring to the prince of the devils as Beelzebub, casteth he out devils.
So they're saying, well Jesus, the reason He commands the devils and they obey Him,
the reason He commands the unclean spirits is because He's their boss.
He is possessed with Satan himself, and that's what's giving Him the power to command the
unclean spirits.
Look at verse 23, it says, and He called them unto Him.
He calls them over these scribes, you know, and He says unto them, how can Satan cast
out Satan?
And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
And if Satan rise up against Satan himself and be divided, he cannot stand but hath an
unclean.
No man can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first
bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house.
Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies
wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme.
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath not forgiveness, but is in
danger of eternal damnation.
Now why is he saying that they have blasphemed the Holy Ghost?
The answer is in verse 30.
Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
Now what was it that the scribes said that Jesus said, you blasphemed the Holy Ghost
by saying that?
Well they said that Jesus had an unclean spirit.
Now let me ask you this, what was the spirit that Jesus really had?
The Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, right?
So Jesus Christ was indwelt by the Holy Spirit, He was filled with the Holy Spirit,
He had the Spirit of the Lord upon Him.
Because remember He said in Luke 4, 1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
And if you remember at His baptism, remember the Holy Spirit of God descended on Him like
a dove, and there was a voice from heaven that said, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased.
So we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all there, present at that occasion.
So let me ask you this, would it stand to reason if Jesus Christ, with the Holy
Ghost inside of Him, is being told by these people, you are possessed by an unclean
spirit, and that they're saying, hey, that's a blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, would it then
make sense that we as believers who have the Holy Spirit living inside of us could be
possessed with an unclean spirit?
See how it would be as ridiculous?
Because I know I'm not Jesus, but I do have the Holy Ghost living inside of me,
so how could I have the Holy Ghost living inside of me and an unclean spirit when
Jesus here is saying that it's blasphemous to say that He has an unclean spirit when
He really has the Holy Spirit and that they're blaspheming the Holy Ghost?
So it wouldn't make any sense, and if you add that with the fact that there's no evidence
of anyone who's a believer being possessed, and then if you combine that with the scripture
that says, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world, well when
he says he that is in the world, he's referring unto the devil, because the devil
is called the god of this world.
So when he says greater is he that is in you, who's the he that's in you?
The Holy Spirit.
And who's the he that's in the world?
Great.
So how could it be then that you could say, well you know, a saved person can be filled
with a devil also.
Now I don't believe that.
Now people will also, you'll also hear this, they'll say, you know, cast out the
devil of drunkenness.
You don't see that in the Bible.
People will take individual sins and just, it's all a devil.
The devil of stealing, the devil of drunkenness, the devil, you know the Pentecostal movement
does a lot of casting out of devils, right?
And they do a lot of slapping people on the forehead and people fall over and flop around
and they do a lot of that.
But any sin they say, oh it's the demon of drunkenness, the demon of stealing, the
demon of lust, the demon, you know, that's not the Bible, because the Bible doesn't
really teach that people who are possessed with devils are committing those type of
sins because they're possessed.
Because the Bible says every man, you know, every man is tempted when he's drawn away
of his own lust and enticed.
You know, and when lust is conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished
bringeth forth death.
So the devil made me do it, you know, is not a legitimate excuse for anything, okay?
That's not biblical.
When people are possessed with devils, they're committing suicide, they're throwing
themselves in the fire, they're flopping around, they're foaming at the mouth, they're
speaking with other voices that are not their own voice.
I mean, they're saying things, you know, oh let us alone, and they're talking about
stuff that's not pertaining to that person because it's another spirit talking through
that person.
Now go back, if you would, to Mark chapter 5 where we started out the sermon.
Mark chapter 5.
So I'm just trying to show you a lot of scriptures from the book of Mark just to
help you get a picture here of what it means to be possessed with a devil.
It says in verse 1, and they came over unto the other side of the sea, unto the country
of the Gadarenes.
Mark 5 verse 2, and when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out
of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs, and
no man could bind him, no, not with chains, because that he had been often bound
with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the
fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him.
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones.
So get a picture.
They're trying to bind this guy.
They're trying to put this guy in chains, and he's breaking through chains with his
bare hands.
So would you say that he has a superhuman level of strength?
If he's able to just break through chain, okay?
Not only that, but it says that, you know, nobody could bind him, and it says that
he hangs around in the tombs.
He's hanging around at the graveyard, and the Bible says he's crying, when usually the
word crying, it's not what we think of as crying, what we think of as crying, the Bible
calls that weeping.
When it says crying, it means that he's yelling out, and he's cutting himself with
stones.
Now, let me just make this really clear.
The Bible's a long book.
The Bible is 1,189 chapters long, and the Bible talks a lot about everything, because
it's a long book.
Let me tell you something.
There are a lot of instances in the Bible of people cutting themselves with stones,
and you know what it is?
It's their demon possessed.
They're possessed with devils.
Now let me ask you this.
Have you ever known people who cut themselves?
Put up your hand if you've come into contact with people that cut themselves.
I know that when I was in high school, there were lots of girls, especially,
that would cut themselves, okay?
And I remember there was a song that came out by a band called Nine Inch Nails, which
is a wicked, satanic, evil band, and the song was about cutting yourself.
And this was popular when I was a teenager, this was a popular song.
And the song was an anthem of these girls in my high school that would wear all black,
right?
I don't know who I'm talking about.
They would seek to stay out of the sun because they want to be as pale as possible.
They think they're like a vampire or something, you know?
So they would always be cutting themselves, and they would be wearing all black, and
they would do a lot of just things to make themselves look hideous, like just really
strange body modifications.
They would dye their hair black, they would paint their fingernails black.
You know, I've had black fingernails and toenails before, it was when I hurt myself,
you know what I mean?
Like, you know, you're using a hammer and you accidentally slam the hammer into
your finger, you know, that turned my nail black.
You know, when you're painting your nails black on purpose, you've got a serious problem.
And if you're painting your nails black and you're a man, you know, you're probably
a sodomite, you know, if you're painting your nails, period, okay?
But anyway, what I'm saying is, you know, you see these girls that are wearing all black,
they're cutting themselves, and what did they do for fun?
They literally would want to go, let's go to the graveyard.
Who was around these teenagers that thought it was cool to go to the graveyard at night?
Anybody?
Yeah, there are a few people.
Because I remember there, it was a whole crowd, the goth crowd.
Now I don't know, is there still a goth crowd today amongst teens, or has it become emo?
It's morphed into emo?
Yeah, times change, you know.
But aren't there still certain things that are timeless?
I'll bet you these emos are still cutting themselves, and let me tell you something,
anybody who's cutting themselves is either possessed with a devil, or they're trying to
copy, they're trying to copy someone who's possessed with a devil.
You know, they're trying to copy celebrities, rock stars, Hollywood stars that are cutting
themselves.
That is the only time the Bible mentions it, because here this guy's possessed, what's
he doing?
Cut him.
Look, it's not normal to cut yourself.
And you know what?
You know what I've always heard about people who cut themselves, both at school and at
church?
These people have anxiety disorders, and they just need drugs, they need treatment,
they need a psychiatrist.
No, they're possessed.
Or they just think it's cool and trendy, so they're impersonating someone who's possessed.
But if they just, man I just really want to cut myself, that's not normal.
What are you going to do next, throw yourself in the fire?
You're already hanging out at the graveyard.
It's so clear in the Bible, and yet preachers will sometimes say, oh they have an anxiety
disorder, they need psychiatric treatment.
No, they need to get saved.
They need the Gospel.
They need the Word of God.
They need prayer and fasting.
So we get a picture of this guy, it says, and by the way, why would it surprise you
that those girls are demon possessed when they're pumping their minds with Nine Inch
Nails and Ozzy Osbourne and what was the other one, Marilyn Manson, or I mean just this
openly satanic evil music, why would that surprise you that they're inviting unclean
spirits into their life by going and trying to commune with dead bodies at the graveyard,
playing with a Ouija board, and by the way, they sell Ouija boards at Walmart in
the board game section.
And it's communicating with spirits, with unclean spirits.
And so why would it surprise you that people that participate in those type of activities
and are basically inviting these kind of spirits into their life?
And today it's being pushed even more amongst the young people, witchcraft, sorcery, and
the casting of spells and just the obsession with the undead.
It's pretty bad when you walk into Barnes and Noble and there's a whole section called
paranormal teen romance.
That's a weird section.
I mean I'm surprised that's even a book, but it's not a book, it's a section.
It was several, it was three whole bookcases, paranormal teen romance, and it's all about
vampires and zombies and werewolves romance though.
I mean it used to be in the old days you're just trying to get an oak stake through that
sucker's heart, and I'm not condoning of that, I'm just saying now it's romance.
And you know these girls are into romance with zombies and dead bodies and vampires
and ghouls and goblins, and then it's like, oh, I wonder who's possessed with devils.
Probably people that are communicating with them and inviting them into their life all
the time.
You know, I mean it's not that hard to believe, but keep reading.
It says, but when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him.
So this guy, nobody can tame this guy, nobody can tell this guy what to do.
Anybody who tries to put the cuffs on this guy, he just rips them off.
The cops don't even come near this guy.
But Jesus gets in front of him and the guy just runs over and just falls at his feet.
He just immediately dominates this guy, okay?
And it says he cried with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus
thou son of the most high God?
I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.
And in other places where you read about this story in the other gospels, you know
when you're reading in Matthew, Luke, he said torment us not before the time.
It's like they know they're going to spend eternity in hell.
They know they're going to burn in hell, but they're not there yet and they're scared
of Jesus that he's going to send them to hell early.
Don't torment us before the time, don't send us to hell.
And it says here in verse 8, for he said unto him, come out of the man thou unclean
spirit.
Now that's singular.
But he asked him in verse 9, what is thy name?
And he answered saying, my name is Legion, for we are many.
Now a legion is 6,000.
So I don't know if this guy was possessed with 6,000 devils, but a little bit later in
the story when Jesus cast out the devils, he cast them into a herd of swine, and you
know how many swine there were?
2,000.
And they possessed the swine.
So I mean this guy, whether it's 2,000 or 6,000 or some other number in between,
this guy is filled with thousands of devils.
So you say, well the girl at my school, you know, she's cutting herself but she
wasn't like this guy.
Well that's because she didn't have 6,000 of these suckers in her.
But if you remember Mary Magdalene, out of her went seven devils, you know.
So there could be one, there could be seven, there could be 6,000.
And that's going to be to the level of the effect that they're probably going to have.
You know, when you look at the story here, this is like the most extreme case in the
Bible of somebody being possessed.
Well it makes sense because he got thousands of devils in him.
This guy listened to a lot of Nine Inch Nails, okay.
This guy loved Harry Potter.
I mean this guy, I don't know what this guy did but this guy did something to get all these
devils in him.
I don't know what this guy was into, how many Ouija boards he bought.
But it says here that he besought him much that he would not send them away out of
the country.
Now there were there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine, swine or pigs, feeding.
And all the devils besought him saying, send us into the swine that we may enter
into them.
In Matthew it says, if thou will cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
And forthwith, forthwith means immediately, Jesus gave them leave or gave them permission.
And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently
down a steep place into the sea.
They were about 2,000 and were choked in the sea.
And they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country and they
went out to see what it was that Jesus had done, or what it was that was done.
And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion
sitting and clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid.
So how many psychiatric drugs did this guy have before he, I mean how many cc's and
how many milligrams were put into this guy before he was normal?
No, you know, when he got saved, you know, when Jesus cast out the devils and the
guy does get saved, the guy does believe on Jesus also after the devils are cast
out.
You know, the guy's fine and notice now he's clothed, he's not naked anymore because
he stripped his clothes naked before this because he was possessed.
You know, there are people out there who for no apparent reason will just strip off
their clothes publicly.
There are people like that.
And people will, you know, it's a disorder.
You know, it's a disease, exhibitionism or whatever they want to call it.
But there are people who will just, like I remember one time, you know, there was a
kid who came into a Sunday school class, you know, this was a bus route that picked
up a lot of kids from a really bad part of town and this kid came into this Sunday
school class and I mean his eyes rolled back in his head and he was foaming and he literally
just in the middle of the class for no reason just dropped his pants and underwear right
there.
You know, that kid was possessed because I mean he's foaming, he's, you know, stripping
his clothes, you know, he was just, he was nuts.
I mean he was, this kid was just, and he was an evil seeming kid, I mean, you know.
So you know, this is a real thing.
But it says here, they see this guy sitting and clothed and in his right mind.
And they were afraid.
And they that saw it told them how it befell them that was possessed with the devil
and also concerning the swine.
And watch their reaction, they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
Now maybe in the book of Mark you might misunderstand this.
Go to Matthew 8 just so that we know, because sometimes when you, keep your finger in Mark
chapter 5 because we're going to go right back there, but sometimes when the Bible
uses pronouns like he, you kind of wonder well who's the he or who's the him?
Because it says they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
You know, is that the possessed guy that they want gone?
Do they want him to leave, the guy who was clothed in his right mind?
But look at Matthew 8 where it's really easy to see.
It says in verse 33 of Matthew 8, and they that kept them, this is the same story, they
that kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything and what
was befallen to the possessed of the devils.
And behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him they besought
him that he would depart out of their coasts.
So who are they telling to hit the road?
Now why do they want Jesus out of there?
Well he's not helping their business very much.
Now think about this, swine costs money.
Now I need my wife to help me out with this.
How much does a swine cost today in 2013?
600 bucks?
So my wife says, you know, a pig costs about 6,000, or I'm sorry 6,000, that'll
be next week, you know, after the Federal Reserve prints a few more notes.
But no, no, no, 600 bucks today for a pig.
Because a pig, I mean you could slaughter that pig and produce a lot of meat, hundreds
of pounds of meat sometimes.
And so, you know, that's a lot of money, that's a lot of value there.
So a pig, if I were to go out and buy a pig today it would cost about 600 bucks.
Okay, what's 600 times 2,000?
Somebody help me out.
Six hundred bucks, is that right?
No that's not right, is it?
I'm messing up the math, 600 times 2,000, yeah it is right, 1.2 million, okay you
guys are right, I'm sorry I doubted you, okay you guys are right.
So that's like a million bucks.
So basically Jesus just sent a million bucks over the cliff, okay?
Now here's what I, by the way I love this story, this is one of my favorite stories
in the whole Bible.
And here's what I love about this story, just Jesus' utter disregard for that fact.
Because he, and I think, you know what God's teaching us here?
Several things.
People are more important than animals.
Jesus is willing to just demolish 2,000 swine to save one guy.
Now is that the mentality that some people have in our world today?
Some people today say, oh man, we've got to save all these animals.
And they're more concerned about those animals than they are about human beings.
And they'd rather see a human die than 2,000 pigs die any day, and maybe even one
for one, you know?
But dead sure, 2,000, but you know what Jesus is showing?
I'll say in 2,000, because you know the Bible talks about the fact that we as human
beings are of much more value than many sparrows.
But here we can put a quantity on it.
One man's soul is worth more than 1.2 million dollars.
It's worth more than 2,000 pigs.
So God cares a lot more about humans than animals, and the Bible says God doesn't care
about oxen, for example in 1 Corinthians 9.
Animals, they die, they go to the dust, and they're gone forever.
But a human being is a soul, a man made in the image of God.
And I also love the fact that he just gives us the value of one's soul, how important
it is, because he says it's more important than money.
And let me ask something.
Are you spending your life trying to make that 1.2 mil, or are you spending your life
trying to win one's soul to Christ?
Because what's more valuable?
Going out and earning a 1.2 million dollar paycheck, or going out and getting one person
saved?
Jesus says, you know what, I'll demolish 1.2 million dollars right now.
I mean look, have you ever destroyed that much property?
I never have.
Now I've broken stuff on the job.
You know, we've all been on the job and stuff broke.
But it wasn't 1.2 million.
I've never done that much damage, you know, maybe you have, you know, you probably
lost your job.
But you know, there are probably people who work with real expensive equipment.
You're not in your head, didn't you demolish something on the job?
What was the dollar value of that?
Okay 30,000.
So he demolished 30,000 dollars on his job, but he's a great worker, he still has the
job of course.
But let me tell you something.
You didn't demolish 1.2 million.
And Jesus is showing us an extreme example here of how much he cares about the soul,
and how the soul is everything that matters.
He said money is nothing, I'll pay the streets with gold.
It's about people, it's about souls, it's about a human being here.
And so he just destroys 2,000 pigs, destroys 1.2 million dollars of merchandise, and you
know, he's happy about it.
The disciples are happy about it.
This is great!
This guy that was cutting himself and possessed and all this, he's saved, he's clothed,
he's in his right mind, praise the Lord!
But the town just didn't see it that way.
They said you need to leave now, you need to get out of here now!
They're not rejoicing, they don't care.
You know the world's not going to understand soul winning.
The world's going to criticize soul winning.
But you know what, it's what Jesus cares about.
But let's keep reading because I love this story, I want to finish it.
You know, they besought him, we're in Mark 5 verse 17, they began to pray him to depart
out of their coast, just please leave.
And when he was coming to the ship, he's getting in the boat to leave, you know, because he's
going to leave their land because they don't want him around.
He that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with them.
So this guy, this guy that was just a complete psycho, he's clothed, he's in his right mind,
he comes to Jesus and says, I want to follow you.
I want to be one of your disciples.
I'm coming with you.
I'm going to follow you everywhere you go.
Howbeit Jesus suffered him not.
Jesus did not allow him.
But saith unto him, go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord had
done for thee, and have that compassion on thee.
Now why is he doing that?
Well look, hadn't Jesus just been kicked out of town?
Jesus isn't going to be able to preach in this town, he's not going to be able
to win the souls.
And so he says to this guy, that's what you're going to do.
You're going to do it.
And you know, this is a great symbol or picture of us.
Because of the fact that, you know what, Jesus Christ departed from this world.
Jesus Christ said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world.
But then he said, ye are the light of the world.
And now he has left this world and he's left us behind to give the gospel, to preach
the gospel, to tell all our friends the good news of the glorious gospel of Jesus
Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection, salvation through his blood, forgiveness
of sins, etc.
So that's what he tells this guy.
Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee,
and hath had compassion on thee.
If you look at it, you know, in another account in Luke, it says, you know, tell
the great things that God has done for you.
Here it says, go tell the great things that the Lord has done for you.
And in both cases, he departed and began to publish into capitalist how great things
Jesus had done for him.
Of course, Jesus is the Lord.
And hath had compassion on thee, he said, he departed, verse 20, and began to publish
into capitalist how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel.
And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered
unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea.
So we've seen a lot of stories.
We're getting a big picture here of, okay, this is what's going on.
People that are possessed, they're falling on the ground.
They're foaming at the mouth.
They're self-destructive in some cases.
They might have, you know, physical problems caused by that.
They're speaking with other voices that are not their own.
Other things are speaking through them, other spirits that are not their own spirit, okay?
But turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians, chapter number 11, 2 Corinthians, chapter
number 11, 2 Corinthians 11.
And the Bible reads in verse number 13, for such are false apostles, so the Bible talks
about the fact that there are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, verse 14, for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers, referring
to the devils that follow him, if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness whose end shall be according to their works.
Now let me ask you this.
Can being possessed with devils take on a religious component?
Because so far everybody we've looked at was just a foaming at the mouth psycho,
right?
But wait a minute.
How does having a possession of devils or being demon-possessed, how does that tie
in with religion?
Well first of all, have you noticed that in the Old Testament, you don't see talk
about people being possessed with devils?
Have you noticed that?
I mean, the Old Testament's a pretty long story.
You don't see mention of devils.
You see mention of Satan, you see mention of the devil, but you don't see a lot of
mention of devils, plural.
When you get to the New Testament, when you're in Matthew, Mark, Luke, like I said
in the book of Mark, it's on every page.
It's all throughout the book of Acts.
It's mentioned throughout the epistles, okay?
It's mentioned in Revelation, foul spirits, unclean spirits in Revelation 18.
So we see that in the Old Testament, you don't see it mentioned much, but in the New
Testament you do.
But do you remember what they said when they said Jesus had the prince of the devils?
What was the name that was associated with that?
Beelzebub, right?
And if you remember in the Old Testament, that was Baal.
Do you remember how people always worshipped Baal in the Old Testament when they're not
worshipping the Lord, they're worshipping a false god called Baal?
But it wasn't just one Baal, sometimes it was called Baelim, with an I-M on the end.
That's the plural.
They're worshipping Baal's plural, okay?
Go back to 1 Kings chapter 17, this is the last place we'll turn.
Now remember I just showed you a scripture that said that Satan is transformed into
an angel of light and that his ministers are transformed into ministers of light.
So let me ask you this, could these devils be impersonating a minister of light, impersonating
something religious, impersonating something righteous and spiritual and good?
That's what it says, right?
Now in 1 Kings, I didn't plan on turning here, this just popped into my mind.
I think I'm in the wrong chapter.
1 Kings 18 is where we need to be.
This is the story where Elijah is facing off with the prophets of Baal, the same word
where we get Beelzebub.
Now when the prophets of Baal are trying to call down fire from heaven for their God,
they're unsuccessful.
Look if you would at verse 26, they took the bullock, and I hope you know the story,
I don't have time to give the story, which was given them and they dressed it
and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon saying, oh Baal, hear us!
But there was no voice, nor any that answered.
And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
So they're jumping around and yelling for Baal to hear them.
He doesn't hear them.
And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud, for he is
a god.
Either he's talking or he's pursuing or he's on a journey, peradventure he sleepeth
and must be awake.
Hey, you need to yell a little louder, your god might be asleep or he might be on the
phone or something.
And it came to pass when midday was passed, I'm sorry verse 28, they cried aloud and cut
themselves after their manner.
So is this the first time they've ever cut themselves?
It says they cut themselves after their manner as they often do, is what he's saying,
and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them.
So look, here we have an example of people who are worshipping who?
Baal.
And what are they doing?
Cutting themselves.
And what are they doing?
Crying out.
Sound familiar?
Sound familiar to the New Testament?
So don't tell me this didn't exist in the Old Testament, it just exists under different
names.
So when they worshipped Baal, who are they really worshipping?
Satan.
And when they worshipped Baal Ekron, they're worshipping a devil.
When they're worshipping Baal Zebub, they're worshipping the prince of the devil.
When they're worshipping Baal whatever, there are all these different Baals mentioned.
And it's all devils, it's all demons, it's all unclean spirits that they're worshipping.
And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians, again, it says that the things which the Gentiles
sacrifice unto idols, they sacrifice unto devils.
He's saying every time you see somebody bowing down to an idol or a statue, that is
a devil that they're worshipping.
That is not just a figment of their imagination, but it is actually a devil that is represented.
You know the Hindus have a thousand gods, there are a thousand devils is what they
are.
So what I'm trying to say here is that religious people here are in a worship service and
they're exhibiting some of the same signs of people that are possessed with devils.
And let me tell you something, there are worship services today where people in the
name of Christ will basically yet exhibit the signs of being possessed with devils.
You can go to a church service tonight where people are falling on the ground and flopping
around uncontrollably.
You can go to a church service night where people are speaking with other voices that
are not their own.
You can go to a church service night where people are...
It's out there.
It's called the charismatic movement.
Now you say, well how do you know those people aren't filled with the Holy Spirit?
Well because I'll tell you something, people in the Bible that were filled with the
Holy Spirit never did any of those things.
People that were possessed with devils did those things all the time.
Not only that but the Bible very clearly talks about the Spirit of the Lord in 1 Corinthians
14 when it says, the Spirit of the prophets is subject unto the prophets.
Meaning that the Holy Spirit never takes over your body.
Are you listening?
Never in the Bible.
When people are filled with the Holy Spirit in the Bible, they allow the Spirit to work
through them.
They allow the Holy Ghost to speak through them.
They speak as they're moved by the Holy Ghost but the Spirit of the prophets was
always subject unto the prophets meaning that the Holy Spirit is not taking over their
body and just controlling them against their will like a robot.
But does the devil take over someone's body and make them do things that they wouldn't
normally do?
Absolutely.
And I'll tell you something.
I've been to these charismatic services and I've seen...
I've been there physically in the service and I've seen these people go into these
convulsions and they say, oh the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, praise
God.
Oh they speak with tongues.
As they're flopping on the ground, as they're foaming, as they're rocking back
and forth uncontrollably.
I was at a service and I didn't know it was a charismatic church.
The girl in my row started rocking back and forth.
I thought she was having an epileptic seizure.
I was ready to call 911.
I'm not kidding.
I mean think about it.
If we were in church right now and somebody just started going like...
I mean wouldn't you think like, oh man, we need to get a paramedic here or something.
This is epilepsy.
One time I was working in a restaurant and this girl was playing a video game
and all of a sudden she fell on the ground and started flopping around.
Now I don't think she was demon possessed.
I think it was the flashing of the lights and this was a girl that had been want to
smoke pot in time past.
And so I think that, you know, and I've heard that that also can be a factor.
I'm not sure if there's any truth in that, but I've heard people say, hey if you're
smoking pot and you're epileptic, those two things together with flashing lights
you know can all work together to cause more seizures.
I don't know the science behind it to be honest.
But I picked up the phone and I called 911 and I said, hey we need to get an ambulance
down here.
And this was like a few months before I went to that church.
So I had that in my mind, that round table pizza experience where this girl is flopping
on the ground and I'm thinking like, it's happening again, you know.
But this was before you had a cell phone, at least almost nobody had a cell phone.
You know, teenagers sure didn't have a cell phone back then.
But you know, I was thinking, you know, is somebody going to help this girl?
Do I do something?
I'm just a visitor, you know, what are the regulars?
But then I saw people like smiling and thinking it was great.
And I'll tell you something, this girl was not in the driver's seat.
She wasn't in the driver's seat.
So people will say, oh they're faking it.
Now I do think that there are some people who fake it.
You know, they just kind of get worked up with all the rock music and all the intense
emotion and they just kind of just force some experience to pop out or throw themselves
on the ground just to, you know, just see what it's like.
But honestly, this girl wasn't faking it.
I don't, I mean I don't believe.
I mean I looked at her and she was not behind the wheel.
Somebody else was running the controls, okay.
Now let me just prove to you right now, in case you have any doubt and you say no
Pastor Anderson, those are manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit, let me just prove
it to you right now.
Everybody who believes in it, are you listening to me?
Everybody who believes in it, everybody who goes to these churches where people are
flopping around and jabbering and barking like a dog, everybody who believes in it
believes you can lose your salvation, all of them.
And they all teach some kind of a works-based salvation, all of them.
Show me a Pentecostal church, show me a charismatic church where people are falling
in the aisles, where somebody says that salvation is by faith alone and that it's
eternal life and that he'll never leave us or forsake us.
None, zero.
All your TV preachers that are doing this, do you agree with that Brother Garrett?
And look, Brother Garrett, didn't you spend a few years in the charismatic movement?
Three years, before Brother Garrett was saved, he spent three years in the charismatic
movement.
Is what I'm preaching tonight accurate?
Can I get a witness?
Alright, well you know, he was in it for three years.
They don't teach it.
I think you even said Brother Garrett, that until you came to our church, no one had
ever even clearly articulated to you the concept that you could not lose your salvation.
Didn't pretty much you just believe everybody thought you could lose it?
I mean, when Garrett came to our church, it was like the first time he'd ever heard
that you can't lose it.
And he spent three years in the charismatic movement.
And did you hear some of the big names during that time?
Who'd you hear?
Todd Bentley, Benny Hinn.
Did they tell you about eternal security of the believer?
No.
Because they're all false prophets and false teachers with an air-conditioned doghouse
and five Mercedes covered in gold like a Christmas tree, just decked out.
And so I'm telling you my friend, when you see false doctrine and lies, and then
you see people exhibiting signs of what the Bible shows as like a textbook demon-possessed,
and you say, that's like when they accused Jesus of being possessed.
Where did Jesus flop on the ground?
Where did Jesus speak with a voice that was not his own?
Where did Jesus throw himself in the fire or throw himself in the water?
Where did Jesus rock back and forth?
Where did Jesus slobber on his self?
And I've talked to people that have had these experiences in these churches and later
got saved, and I said, what was it like?
And you know what they said?
I don't remember any of it.
That's what they told me.
They said, you know what, I was there, the music was pumping, we were in the spirit,
we were swinging and swaying, and the next thing I know, several minutes have gone by,
and somebody's picking me up off the ground saying, you spoke in tongues, you got the
gift, and they couldn't even remember it.
Now I'm not saying that that's just, I'm not saying I know everything about this.
I don't want to know everything about this.
I don't want to study it.
I don't want to learn about it.
I don't want to go on YouTube and watch all the thousands of videos of people flopping
around and you know, I mean it's all on YouTube, but if you want to see this,
go look at it, I don't need to see it, because I already read the Bible, I already know that
salvation's eternal.
I already know salvation is by grace through faith, and I know anybody who teaches works
salvation is a liar, and look, the Bible says, many will say to me in that day, talking
about judgment day, Lord, Lord, if we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works.
So let me ask this, are there people who think they've cast out devils but didn't?
Are there people who are fraudulently casting out devils?
Because you say, well I don't know, I saw a Catholic priest on a video and he cast out
devils.
Maybe Catholicism's the true church.
Look, if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them.
And so, you know, it's a fraud, they're going to be saying, oh we cast out devils
in thy name.
You know what he said, then will I profess unto them, and they say we've done many
wonderful works, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me
that we're iniquity.
And obviously he didn't say I used to know you, but then you lost your salvation.
You can't lose your salvation.
He said I never knew you.
And so what I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of fraud out there.
There's a lot of people out there saying that they're casting out devils that are
not.
They are false apostles.
Because the apostles had the power to just cast devils out of anybody.
I mean everybody they went to, anybody they went to, they had the power to say in
the name of Jesus Christ, you know, come out of him.
And Jesus had the power to cast out every devil he came in contact with.
And when they couldn't cast out that one devil in Mark 9, they were surprised.
And Jesus said well this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
But keep in mind the apostles were also given the miraculous ability to just anybody
who they laid hands on would be healed.
Jesus laid hands on everybody.
We as believers do not all have that power at all.
Absolutely not.
Now can we pray for someone and they'll be healed?
James 5 teaches that.
Can we anoint someone with oil and pray in the name of the Lord?
I've done that as a pastor, okay?
That is biblical.
But I don't have the power to just lay hands on sick folk and they all recover.
But can we pray that they'll be recovered?
Yes.
And the same thing as this.
We can't just walk up to anybody and you know I was planning on telling you all kinds
of stories about people that I've run into that were possessed in my life but that was
probably going to be the funnest part of the sermon but I'm not going to get there.
But anyway, see me after the service, I'll tell you all the possession stories.
But the bottom line is, I don't just say, you know, come out of him thou unclean devil.
And then they just cast them out.
Because I don't have that power.
Every believer doesn't have that power.
I'm not an apostle.
But there are many people who try to convince you that they are an apostle.
The apostle Paul was the last apostle according to the Bible.
That's a whole other sermon.
But you know they'll try to basically convince you that oh we have the power to cast out
devils and we can do all these miracles.
Now look, we can pray and fast.
You say well I know somebody who I believe is possessed or I know somebody who cuts themselves
and I know somebody who just hangs out in the graveyard and sometimes they say weird
things and it doesn't seem like it's coming from them or I know somebody who's going
to one of these church services where they flop around and do all this.
And you know what you can do for that person is pray for that person and fast.
Just like you would to see someone healed.
But we want to just line up for Benny Hinn or whatever but that's not biblical.
And you need to try the spirits whether they're of God.
And you know you try them by seeing if they line up with the word of God.
And so let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you so much for your word and it's a complicated subject.
I definitely didn't get through all the material that I wanted to talk about tonight
Lord but I pray that people would read the book of Mark and read other books and just
get more insight from this by studying their Bibles.
But Father help us to stay away from Satanism and witchcraft and the occult even though
we are not able to become possessed with devils we shouldn't even want to dabble or get
anywhere near this stuff because frankly our children are young children that are not
yet saved.
You know they could get exposed to this stuff.
We need to keep them away from the Nine Inch Nails and from the Harry Potter and
just whatever has to do with sorcery and witchcraft and Satanism.
Help us to keep it away from our children and help us not to be having fellowship with
devils and just help us to believe your word and to understand this truth and in
Jesus' name we pray.