Exorcism is the practice of expelling demons from people who are possessed by the demon(s). It is a common practice around the world and throughout Bible times.
In this story, from the book of Acts, we read about some people who practiced exorcism at a skilled level. Let's see what happened to them.
"And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily."
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| Demons Beat Up Sons of Sceva - Credit - Sweet Publishing/FreeBibleImages.org |
The seven sons of Sceva got beat up by the demons! I thought we were supposed to have all authority over the demons. What gives?
The Bible is very clear that everything is subject to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When a person comes to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, that person becomes a new creature in Christ. Old things are passed away and everything becomes new. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit dwells in those who belong to Christ. They are given power over the Enemy of their souls. Nothing can harm them. Anything that happens to them has to first, pass through God's safety net, for He will absolutely protect them.
What happened with the seven sons of Sceva is simply this; Jesus Christ was not their Lord and Savior. At least, at that time He wasn't. They were skilled in the Jewish way of thinking and had some excellent teaching, but the Holy Spirit did not dwell in them, for they did not know Him.
We don't know whether any of the sons of Sceva ever came to know the Lord or not, but they didn't have the power of God in them to overcome the demons that were in the people they were exorcising. They used Jesus' name in exorcism, which was correct, but, if the Holy Spirit is not dwelling in a person, that person is at risk for a physical attack from the Enemy.
Many people profess to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, but have never put their trust in Him in order to have their sins atoned for. Many of these people go to church on Sunday and know the difference between right and wrong, and they make right decisions in life. They also trust in God for important things like deciding where they should live or what job they should take. They do have a trust in God, but have never come to the place where they have turned away from their sins and trusted in what Jesus did for them, while He was on the Cross.
We need to ask ourselves if we really do know the Lord, or do we really trust in our own goodness to be saved from our sins? If we graded ourselves on a scale of 1-10, how well would we grade ourselves on keeping the Commandments? If we break even just 1 Commandment, that is enough for God to send us to hell, forever, to pay for that sin.
If you are not sure that you ever placed your trust in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, you can do that right now. We repent of our sins, (turn away from selfishness) and believe that Jesus died for every sin we have committed or ever will commit. That doesn't mean its ok to sin. But the devil is tricky and he always tempts us with sinning and sometimes, takes us off guard, and we fall into sin. When that happens, we turn back to God and ask Him to help us not to sin again. God will pick us up and we will walk with Him again, and He promises to cleanse us from all sin, when we are in Christ.
"If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new". 2 Corinthians 5:17
No good deeds we do will ever atone for our sin. Good works do not cancel out the bad things we have done. Only Jesus' blood that He shed on the Cross will cleanse us from our sins.
God promises to cleanse us from sin, when we turn from sin to Him. God doesn't lie. Trust in Him today.
If you have questions or are concerned about this matter, please write in the comments or send a message to me. Also, check out the other blog pages that I put together.
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