Mark 9:14 ¶
And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about
them, and the scribes questioning with them. 15
And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly
amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye
with them? 17 And one of the multitude
answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb
spirit; 18 And wheresoever he taketh
him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth
away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they
could not. 19 He answereth him, and
saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I
suffer you? bring him unto me. 20 And
they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare
him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago
since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire,
and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have
compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus
said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth. 24 And straightway the
father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou
mine unbelief. 25 When Jesus saw that
the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into
him. 26 And the spirit cried, and
rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many
said, He is dead. 27 But Jesus took him
by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. 28 And when he was come into the house, his
disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? 29 And he said unto them, This kind can come
forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
14
¶ And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and
the scribes questioning with them. 15 And straightway all the people, when they
beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16 And he
asked the scribes, What question ye with them? 17 And one of the multitude
answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb
spirit; 18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and
gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that
they should cast him out; and they could not. 19 He answereth him, and saith, O
faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer
you? bring him unto me. 20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him,
straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed
foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto
him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire,
and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have
compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of
the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief.
Again,
based on the corrupt readings of a handful of Alexandrian manuscripts, most
notably the twisted Codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, “tears, Lord” are removed
in many modern versions, downplaying the sincere devotion and response of this
father. Sadly, many fine Christians have no concept of what the Devil has done
to their Bibles. “Yea, hath God said?”
Here
is an example of what demonic possession can do. This last request is a classic
for all of us. We should all be saying at some point in time “help thou mine
unbelief”. You can believe and have a great need for faith to be given to you
by God. Pray for faith. When you get saved you don’t have all the faith you
need.
Romans
14:1 ¶ Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful
disputations.
1Corinthians
13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know
in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
Also,
we should be asking Jesus Christ to rebuke the devils. We should resist the
Devil. There are, as I said before, people who think they can command Satan to
leave a place in Jesus name. They are foolishly mistaken. You have no example
in the Bible where you talk to Satan in prayer. You are never to speak to Satan
directly but to call upon God to rebuke him. Pastors who command Satan in
prayer to leave, even in Christ’s name, have merely invited an infestation of
devils on their congregation. These devils won’t leave easily and you can have
spirits of apathy and dull hearing and those who create bitterness, jealousy,
envy, and rebellion. I have left “revival” meetings and not returned to them
because a Pastor spoke to Satan in prayer, prayer that should be reserved only
for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Zechariah
3:2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the
fire?
Jude
8 ¶ Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and
speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the
devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a
railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10 But these speak evil of
those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute
beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
You
can’t honestly claim to be like Moses or Paul. Your Pastor is not Moses and is
not Paul. To claim that he can command a devil to leave is to imply that he has
the power of the Apostles. The Apostles are in heaven and their gifts are not
manifest in the church as we have something more perfect and complete, that
does not point to us, but to Christ; His Book. Satan knows your weakness and
pride. You think you can command Satan to do ANYTHING? You are called to do one
thing.
James
4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you.
Nowhere
are you told to rebuke the Devil.
Claiming
Apostolic gifts to point to your own spirituality and how close you walk with
God is a sham in comparison to submitting to the authority of His word. Today,
we have people who create rankings of Christians, starting with those who are
“great” Christians who have apostolic gifts and/or think they are without sin
in their lives. Their experience with Christ is first and foremost. It’s all
about them, not Christ, although they pay lip service to Him.
You
can see that they have not submitted to the words of God to sanctify their
lives because their affections are little different from the unsaved. If they
don’t go to bars, they’ll attend professional sporting events and criticize
those who go to bars. If they don’t go to movies, they’ll watch TV and
criticize those who go to movies. If they don’t smoke, they’ll be addicted to
caffeine, and criticize those who smoke. The modern Pharisee has created, like
the Pharisee of old, standards that are comfortable to him. The Pastor who is a
Pharisee will say that his standards are godly and that if you put more or less
on him than he does you are being rebellious.
Then,
that Pastor will think that he is an Old Testament prophet, or priest, or even
perhaps Paul or Moses. He will command spirits to leave, thereby infesting his
congregation with them. He will go to the Law for his doctrine and then, pick
what he thinks he has and discount the rest. If you don’t manifest the gifts or
righteousness this Pharisee has then you are backslidden or steeped in sin.
There
is no liberty in his doctrine, only chains. He is a Judaizer, trying to put his
congregation under the bondage of the law. He will not uplift the testimony you
have at work or in your family because those things compete with his demand
that you be at his beck and call. And, in his arrogance, he will claim powers
of healing and the rebuke of devils that he does not have. People who focus on
special gifts and their own righteousness, salvation experience, and works, and
thus themselves, and don’t focus on the word of God to transform their lives
think they have the power of God on their lives and that they are an example of
a Christian reaching for perfection. Instead, they are why there will be no
revival in America that is from God.
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