I hope that Christian church organizations will seriously address the issue of pastoral care and radically stop the obvious abuse of power by “spirit hunters”.
Photo: [link]Thom Milkovic[/link], Unsplash, CC0.
During my travels through Eastern Europe, I increasingly come across Christians who have been told in counseling that they are possessed by spirits.
Certain mental and physical manifestations such as depression, daydreams, speech impediments, voice changes, conspicuous physical reactions to prayer and the like are cited as so-called proof.
As a rule, the affected person agrees with the diagnosis of the self-proclaimed deliverer. The exorcism follows, but the psychosomatic condition does not change. For the corresponding pastor, this is proof that his patient lacks faith.
These people are now sitting in the churches with their old problems, but now enriched with the conviction that demons are living inside them. One can only imagine the suffering of these people, their inner jellyfish and despair.
Just recently, on my trip to Belarus, I again met dozens of people affected by demons and spoke in the churches about the urgent need for education and biblically-oriented pastoral care.
[destacate]The self-proclaimed “spirit hunters” have an easy time with those in need. Instead of helping their brothers and sisters in faith, they do them massive harm. Help is urgently needed here[/destacate] Obviously, the lack of knowledge about demons, the demonic nature and mode of action on the one hand and the psychosomatic problems of people on the other, as well as knowledge about biblical-centered pastoral care, is so devastatingly low that the self-proclaimed spirit hunters have an easy time with those in need.
Instead of helping their brothers and sisters in faith, they do them massive harm. Help is urgently needed here.
In this article, I explore the essential questions of the recorded problem and hope that Christian church organizations will seriously address the issue of pastoral care and radically stop the obvious abuse of power by "spirit hunters".
In the New Testament, people who come to faith in Jesus Christ are compared to little children who need to be guided to grow. God has therefore placed qualified workers in his church who are to guide these saints in the work of their ministry and growth (Eph. 4:11-16).
The apostle Paul uses the image of putting off the old man and putting on the new man for the process of spiritual growth. In Colossians 3:1-15 we read:
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Look for what is above, not for what is on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 But when Christ your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore the members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, vile affections, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. 7 In all these things you also used to walk, while you still lived in them. 8 But now you also put off all these things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, shameful words out of your mouth; 9 do not deceive one another, for you have put off the old man and his works, 10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed to knowledge in the image of Him who created him. 11 There is no longer Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, non-Greek, Scythian, slave, free, but all and in all Christ. 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, patience; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a complaint against another; as the Lord hath forgiven you, so forgive ye. 14 But above all things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful."
Christians put off the old man with all his shortcomings, i.e. behaviors that are harmful to man, and put on the new man who is oriented towards God's standards.
This is a process. And we call this process sanctification, which takes place in pastoral care. Where there is no pastoral care, or it is inadequate, people remain attached to the old man and his sinful behavior, the works of the flesh, and spiritual life suffers (Gal. 5:16-26).
Admittedly, life according to the nature of the old man, so typical of a person without God, is a life under the leadership of the "prince who rules in the world". Apostle Paul states in Eph. 2:1-3:
"You also were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the manner of this world, under the ruler of the powerful one who rules in the air, that is, the spirit who is at work at this time in the children of disobedience. 3 Among them also we all once lived our lives in the lusts of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the mind, and were children of wrath by nature, as were others."
Life without God is therefore a life under the control of demonic powers, whose prince is Satan and whom Jesus calls the father of lies (John 8:40-46). These fallen angels were deprived of their corporeality by God.
In order to present themselves in the physical world, they make use of the bodies of other creatures, including and preferably humans.
And how do demons exert their influence on people? They trick people into believing that they can satisfy their needs. People believe these thoughts, act accordingly and remain unsatisfied.
And because they keep repeating it, the need becomes desire and desire leads to frustration, anger and despair. Like an alcoholic who believes that alcohol gives him courage and quality of life.
[destacate]These false “shepherds” justify their actions with special revelations, but if personal revelations do not correspond to the Word of God, they originate from the lying kitchen of the powers they believe they can fight[/destacate]But all that remains is a hangover, a headache and frustration. And the more you drink, the greater your despair becomes. So demons exert their influence on people by influencing their thinking. They literally besiege them. In pastoral care theory, we call this obsession.
A person besieged by demons is not necessarily possessed. But they are massively influenced in their thoughts. On the other hand, people can also be possessed by demons.
In this case, they live in people and control their behavior from within. In one way or another, demons seek to bring people's thinking under their control, because it is here in our thinking that people decide how we live, what we do and why we do it.
It is no coincidence that the apostle Paul calls on people to give their bodies to God as a sacrifice and to change their thinking so that they can recognize what God's will is for them (Romans 12:1-3).
Demons are therefore real in the human world. They are the ones who tempt people to sin and enslave them in sin. Admittedly not without their consent.
Evangelical pastoral care must therefore face up to this demonic reality, understand it and then establish it in the lives of specific people and free those affected from the demons' sphere of influence.
Unfortunately, current concepts of pastoral care all too often lack both knowledge and the authority to help people.
Church pastors naively reject the presence of demons in the everyday lives of Christians and thus make room for all kinds of self-proclaimed deliverers whose practice, however, does not correspond in the slightest to what was laid down as fundamental in the New Testament.
As a rule, these false “shepherds” justify their actions with special revelations. But personal revelations, if they do not correspond to the Word of God, originate from the lying kitchen of the powers they believe they can fight.
People become free from demonic domination through Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul writes in Eph. 2, 4-10:
"But God, who is rich in mercy, in his great love with which he loved us, 5 made us also, who were dead in sins, alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - 6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace through his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Only those whom the Son of God, Jesus the Redeemer, makes free are truly free (John 8:32). And whom Jesus sets free, he establishes a dwelling place in his heart.
In this way, the body of a born-again Christian becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). And only when this inner dwelling of the Holy Spirit happens in a person is he protected from being possessed by demons. Jesus says:
"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he wanders through barren places, seeking rest and not finding it. 44 Then he says: I will return to my house from which I went out. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept and decorated. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and when they come in, they dwell in it; and in the end it becomes worse with that man than it was before. So shall it be with this evil generation." (Mt 12:43-45).
A born-again person in whose heart the Holy Spirit dwells cannot therefore be possessed! Anyone who teaches such a thing is spreading a false doctrine and will always end up empty-handed in their deliverance campaigns.
Demons can ONLY be cast out of people who have not yet given their life to Jesus and in whose heart the Holy Spirit does not live.
[destacate]A born-again person in whose heart the Holy Spirit dwells cannot be possessed. Anyone who teaches such a thing is spreading a false doctrine and will always end up empty-handed[/destacate] Does this mean that born-again Christians are completely free from any influence of Satan and his demons? That is not the case. Satan repeatedly tries to lure Christians into his ways.
He even tried to turn Jesus around (Mt 4:1-22). And he goes around, we read in the New Testament, like a roaring lion, looking for people he can devour. The apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8-9:
"Be sober and watch! For your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being fulfilled in your brotherhood which is in the world."
And he starts where we Christians indulge in selfish ways, make arrogant and godless decisions, indulge in the world and its desires and live according to the nature of the old man (James 4:1-6).
Christians who have not taken off their old man and put on the new one and therefore live carnally are therefore at risk of being exposed to massive temptations from demons. Born-again people can still sin and can therefore also come under demonic influence.
However, demons cannot possess a Christian. The Spirit of God lives in the heart of a born-again person and demons tremble in his presence. Even demons are not so stupid that they would move into the immediate vicinity of God.
However, in practice we are repeatedly told of possessed Christians. In my experience, these have always been nominal Christians who, although they have adhered to the church and carried the name, had never surrendered their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Converted, but not born-again people.
As born-again Christians, we can resist the devil. James puts it aptly: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). But to do this, we must first be born again!
For the practice of pastoral care and liberation, it is, therefore, necessary to distinguish what it is in a person's life that blocks his spiritual life. Is it the person's thinking, which comes from the old man? Is it psycho-somatic problems, perhaps even an illness?
Is it unprocessed experiences that are shaping the person's emotional world? Or is it demons that are influencing the person's thinking? Or, ultimately, demons that have possessed the person from within and thus totally control their thoughts, feelings and actions?
Effective pastoral care requires a qualitative diagnosis. And for this, the Holy Spirit has given his church a whole range of spiritual gifts that serve to establish the truth: The gift of the word of knowledge, the word of revelation, prophetic speech and the knowledge and discernment of spirits (1Cor. 12:8ff).
Pastors need to know what is causing and reinforcing their patient's problem if they want to admonish, rebuke and comfort them properly.
It is particularly important to clarify the extent to which demonic influences are evident in the life of the person concerned and the way in which they make themselves felt.
How do demons manifest themselves in people's lives? Are they physical and mental abnormalities, as we can observe in psychiatric patients. Or are they manifestations such as falling down, rolling around, foaming at the mouth and the like, as can be observed in almost every epileptic seizure. And if such manifestations are evidence of demons in a person's life, are all these and similar illnesses automatically phenomena of possession?
Years of investigations into thousands of such cases have long since proven that, firstly, possessed people all exhibit psychosomatic abnormalities, but abnormalities of this kind do not in themselves necessarily indicate a demonic presence in a person's body.
It is not possible to determine whether a person is possessed or not on the basis of such abnormalities alone. How can we know for sure what is going on in this matter?
The answer can ONLY be found in the relationship of the person concerned to Jesus, the Bible and God. If a person is possessed by demons, he or she quickly shows an abysmal aversion to Jesus and everything holy.
I have never seen a possessed person who could pronounce the name of Jesus, let alone one who could speak of love for God and Jesus and even enjoyed reading the Bible.
The abnormalities in the lives of such people obviously have other causes and are to be found in the psycho-somatic biography of the person concerned.
Of course, the demons will do everything imaginable to make such Christians believe that they are under their control. And where Christians believe them, they will soon be massively possessed.
Counselors should therefore always first clarify what is actually bothering their patients and only act once they have made a correct diagnosis, got to the bottom of the enemy's potential lies and have clarity about how to tackle the problem.
Only recently, a young man was brought to me who was firmly convinced that he was possessed by ghosts. As soon as he appeared in my treatment room, it was clear that the young Christian was indeed suffering from his condition.
His whole body was trembling, his eyes were running wildly from one corner to the other. And he seemed to be deeply afraid. I invited him to sit down, looked him in the eye and asked him what he was afraid of. "I am possessed and whenever someone prays for me, I fall over, roll on the ground and foam comes out of my mouth. It's the spirits that manifest themselves like that."
During this time I prayed for the man and I realized that the young man was under the influence of spirits, but that there was no demon living in him.
I reassured him a little by telling him that I needed to learn more about him before I would pray for him. I also told him that I had the gift of discernment. Then I prayed for our conversation and commanded the demons to infatuate us.
- Do you love Jesus? I wanted to know from him afterwards.
- You bet, very much so. If Jesus didn't exist, the spirits would have destroyed me long ago, he said with conviction.
- And you pray to Him too?
- Often, very often, he replied.
- And no anger, rage or angst arises in you when you do it?
Again, the answer was positive. My original suspicions were slowly confirmed. There could be no question of this man being possessed. Because spirits in people cannot bear to hear the name of Jesus and lead their victims into a state of absolute aversion.
As a rule, they can no longer even mention the name of Jesus. But here a man loved his Lord. I shared my observation with the young man.
- But where do the sins that I always commit in my life come from?
- You mean your masturbation, right?, I asked.
- Yes, but how do you know that?, he asked in amazement.
- Well, because the Holy Spirit reveals it to me. And we have to tackle this problem. The demons are just free riders here. Who told you that you were possessed?
The young man told me the name of his so-called deliverer and also that he had told him the manifestations that would occur during the exorcism, and so it happened. Only he did not become free. According to his expert, it was because he didn't believe enough.
- Well, you won't have any manifestations today. I'll pray for you now and Jesus will let you feel his love and then we'll tackle your masturbation problem.
Then I prayed and so did he and then the young man jumped up, beaming from ear to ear. It was so easy for him. He no longer felt any demonic presence. Jesus was in his heart.
Now we could tackle the problem of masturbation, which was related to a deep rejection of his father and the feeling of not being loved. The man left my room happily. Now he was really being helped.
We do well to help people. Let´s seek for ways to do so!
Johannes Reimer, professor of Mission Studies and the former director of the Department of Public Engagement of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA).
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