Devil Possession, Mental Illness, and Bad Behavior (Part 2)

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1. How can a person be delivered from devil possession?
2. The apostolic gift of casting out devils ceased in 70AD.
3. Jesus had the power to cast out devils (Mat 8:16).
4. Jesus gave His apostles the power to cast out devils (Mat 10:8).
5. Paul cast devils out of people (Act 16:16-18).
6. Other ministers in addition to the apostles had this gift in the early church such as Philip the evangelist (Act 8:5-7).
7. Miraculous gifts such as casting out devils ended around 70AD at the end of a period of signs and wonders that lasted 40 years (Mic 7:15 c/w Joh 2:11).
8. See the series on The Sign Gifts for further proof of this: MinneapolisChurch.net/charismatics.
9. Of course Jesus can still cast out devils anytime He wishes since angels and powers are all subject unto Him (1Pe 3:22).
10. Ministers and Christians can and should pray that God will deliver a person from devil possession if it be His will to do so (Jam 5:16).
11. Sometimes an unclean spirit will voluntarily depart from a man (Mat 12:43).
12. That is no guarantee that he will stay departed though (Mat 12:44-45).
13. If a person doesn’t fill the void with godliness, when they return it will be worse than before they left.
14. A person can be delivered from the harassment and influence of the devil by the following methods.
15. Resist the devil with the word of God.
16. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (Jam 4:7; 1Pe 5:8-9).
17. This is done by using the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, as Jesus did (Mat 4:1-11; Eph 6:17).

iii.    This is done by turning it over to God and asking the LORD to rebuke the devil as Michael the archangel did (Jud 1:9).

1. We must put on the whole armor of God to withstand the assaults of the devil (Eph 6:11-17).
2. A person can recover themselves from the snare of the devil with good instruction from a preacher and with the help of God (2Ti 2:24-26).
3. Don’t give place to the devil (Eph 4:27).
4. Give – 47. give place (const. to). †a. To give ground, yield to pressure or force (obs.).  b. To quit one’s place to make room (for another); to yield precedence; †fig. to be inferior, ‘yield’ to.  †c. To yield or defer (to advice) (obs.).  d. To be succeeded or superseded (by another person or thing).
5. Don’t make a place for the devil to have a residence in you.
6. Get out of false religion which is the habitation of devils (Rev 18:2).

1. Is mental illness real?
2. Yes, it is. The Bible calls it madness or being mad (Ecc 1:17; Pro 26:18).
3. Madness – The quality or condition of being mad. 1. Mental disease, insanity; now applied esp. to insanity characterized by wild excitement or extravagant delusions; mania.
4. Mad – 1. a. Suffering from mental disease; beside oneself, out of one’s mind; insane, lunatic. In mod. use chiefly with a more restricted application, implying violent excitement or extravagant delusions: Maniacal, frenzied.
5. The Bible also calls it being lunatic.
6. Lunatic – 1. Originally, affected with the kind of insanity that was supposed to have recurring periods dependent on the changes of the moon. In mod. use, synonymous with insane;
7. Lunatic – A lunatic person; a person of unsound mind; a madman.
8. There were lunatics in Jesus’ day (Mat 4:24).
9. Lunatics are not necessarily possessed with devils (Mat 4:24).
10. But sometimes lunacy is caused by devil possession (Mat 17:14-18).

III. Can one’s circumstances cause mental illness?

1. Yes, oppression can drive a wise man mad (Ecc 7:7).
2. This happened to Israel as a judgment against them from God (Due 28:15 c/w Deu 28:28 c/w Deu 28:33-34).
3. God will judge his own people with madness (Zec 12:4).
4. God can make diviners mad (Isa 44:24-25).
5. God judges nations and makes them mad by destroying them (Jer 25:15-16).
6. Hatred of Jesus Christ will cause madness (Luk 6:11).
7. Sever traumatic events such as war can cause a mental illness termed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

1. Can bad or strange behavior be mistaken for devil possession or mental illness?
2. Yes, it can.
3. David acted mad and deceived men into believing that he was (1Sa 21:13-15).
4. Elisha sent one of the children of the prophets to anoint Jehu king of Israel and to give him a message from God and those who saw him thought he was mad (2Ki 9:1-11).
5. People thought the Lord Jesus Christ was mad (Joh 10:20).
6. They thought Jesus was beside himself (Mar 3:21).
7. Beside – 5. fig. senses from 4. Out of a mental state or condition, as beside one’s patience, one’s gravity, one’s wits; now only in beside oneself: out of one’s wits, out of one’s senses;
8. Of course Jesus was not behaving sinfully, but they mistook what seemed to be strange behavior to them for mental illness.
9. The Pharisees thought that the Lord Jesus Christ had a devil (Mar 3:22; Joh 8:48,52).
10. They thought that He cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils (Mat 9:34; Mat 12:24).
11. They were the ones who were devil possessed (Mat 12:45).
12. The Jews said that John the Baptist had a devil (Mat 11:18).
13. Festus thought Paul was beside himself and mad (Act 26:24-25).
14. A bunch of tongue-speaking charismatics would appear to be mad to a sane person, and rightly so (1Co 14:23).
15. There are many supposed mental disorders today that are (at least in most cases) nothing more than bad behavior left unchecked, such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
16. If a person shows signs of having sufficient intellect and a rational mind capable of understanding their own decisions and actions, then he is likely not mentally ill, but is rather just a brat.
17. In most cases, making them zombies by doping them up with psychotropic drugs is unnecessary and dangerous (mass-shootings, anyone?).
18. Many of these supposed mental illnesses can be cured in early childhood with liberal doses of vitamins N (NO!) and B (beatings) (Pro 22:15; Pro 23:13).