Scripture is clear about the reality of demons, and about Jesus and the Apostles driving out demons. So why do Catholics have exorcists, and the vast majority of Protestants don’t? Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, explained the Evangelical position:
Evangelicals do not need a rite of exorcism, because to adopt such an invention would be to surrender the high ground of the Gospel. We are engaged in spiritual warfare every minute of every day, whether we recognize it or not. There is nothing the demons fear or hate more than evangelism and missions, where the Gospel pushes back with supernatural power against their possessions, rendering them impotent and powerless. Every time a believer shares the Gospel and declares the name of Jesus, the demons and the Devil lose their power. [….]
We do not need a rite of exorcism, only the name of Jesus. We are not given a priesthood of exorcists — for every believer is armed with the full promise of the Gospel, united with Christ by faith, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
That’s a pretty common position for conservative Protestants; but he nods to another position, those who “‘demythologize’ the New Testament in order to deny the existence of these evil forces and beings.” So how should a Catholic respond to these two positions: that demonic forces either don’t exist (or aren’t personal beings), or that we don’t need ordained exorcists, since all Christians are equally empowered to drive out demons by proclaiming the Gospel?
1. The Foundation of Jesus’ Public Ministry is His Role as an Exorcist
The Gospels are full of references to Jesus confronting demonic forces. Look at the first chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, for example. In Mark 1:21-26, Jesus heals a man with an unclean spirit, causing this reaction (Mk. 1:27-28)
And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
So it’s because Jesus could command even unclean spirits that He becomes famous in Galilee. In other words, Jesus’ popularity is initially based upon the fact that He’s an exorcist. And so we hear in Mk. 1:32-34 that
That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered together about the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
After this, “he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons” (Mk. 1:39). This is the beginning of the Galilean ministry, before the high-profile physical healings and the Sermon on the Mount and the rest. Jesus is an exorcist able to drive out demons in His own Name. That is both a great cause for hope for healing for the afflicted, and it’s also incredibly suggestive: Who is He who can drive out demons in His own Name?
So you can’t write the demons and exorcisms out of the Gospel without undermining the very foundations of Jesus’ public ministry. That doesn’t stop people from trying. These days, it’s popular to write these cases off as misidentified mental illness. They just didn’t know better back then, right? Think about what that entails: it means that Jesus (the Creator of all things, spiritual and physical) didn’t know His own creatures, and thought He was talking to demons when He was just talking to figments of His imagination. It means that the Holy Spirit inspired the Evangelists to likewise misdiagnose the event, presenting it as a confrontation with demons. Or… it means that Scripture isn’t inspired and Jesus isn’t divine. It’s a huge claim, because taken to its logical conclusions, the claim is really “Jesus and the Evangelists didn’t know the reality of what was going on here, and so Christianity is false.”
And what’s the support for this huge claim? Simply an assumption that people in the first century (and God) must not have known anything about mental illness. And it’s true that normal people didn’t have as good a grasp of mental illness or its causes (although frankly, this is still an area where we’re guessing much more than we’d like to admit). But it’s not true that people in the first century had no knowledge of the existence of mental illness.
The Jews and Greeks in the first century understood that these phenomena could be caused either by demonic forces or by natural causes. Typically, the natural cause that got the blame was the moon. Its waxing and its waning was viewed as influencing human behavior. There’s some scientific support for this theory, but it’s generally rejected. Psychology Today points out that “before electric lighting became ubiquitous, a bright moon was more likely to disrupt sleep,” so it’s also possible that full moons were correlated with symptoms in the ancient world. But whether the ancients were on to something or not with the particular diagnosis, the point is that there was an awareness that physical forces (not just spiritual ones) impacted our mental well-being. In Greek, the word for mental illness was “selēniazomai, “moon-struck,” from the word selēnē (moon)… just like the English word “lunatic” comes from luna, “moon.”
The KJV has an accurate rendering of Matthew 4:24, in which we learn that Jesus’ “fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.” That’s a neat threefold distinction between those whose diseases and torments are spiritual (daimonizomai, those tormented by demons) mental (selēniazomai, lunatics / the mentally ill) or physical (paralytikos, paralytics). In other words, Jesus is healing the soul, the mind, and the body.
This is a good reminder that the ancient world did get the difference between demonic possession, mental illness, and physical afflictions, even if they didn’t understand exactly what caused the latter two. Not every case that looks demonic is. It might be mental illness. But just as two different illnesses might have similar symptoms, the same is true here. Some physical cases look like mental, some mental cases look spiritual, etc. So just because some people who seem to be possessed are just mentally ill, it doesn’t follow that therefore all people who seem to be possessed are just mentally ill. The ancients actually got this better than many of their modern critics.
2. Exorcism is Something Distinct From Proclamation of the Gospel
Note also that Jesus isn’t just proclaiming the Gospel to cause the demons to flee. He’s preaching in synagogues and casting out demons (Mark 1:39). These are two distinct activities. Consider Mark 9:17-29:
And one of the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has he had this?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t just drive the demon out by preaching. He specifically calls the boy forward and exorcises the demons. And notice also that Jesus says that this kind of demon “cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.” Not, as Mohler claims, “evangelism and missions,” The common Protestant impulse to reduce everything to “just believe” or “proclaim the Gospel” actually strips the Gospel of most of its color and much of its meaning. Jesus rebukes the crowd and the boy’s father for faithlessness, but His instructions for the Apostles are to pray and fast more. Only in that way can they drive out demons. Of course there’s a connection between these, but they’re not the same thing.
3. Jesus Gave the Apostles (Not Everyone) the Ability to Exorcise Demons
As you may have noticed, the demoniac boy’s father said to Jesus, “I asked your disciples to cast it out” (Mark 9:18). Why was he going to them in the first place, if Mohler is right that “We are not given a priesthood of exorcists — for every believer is armed with the full promise of the Gospel, united with Christ by faith, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.” Remember that the man in question has some faith: he’s the origin of the beautiful line “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24). So why doesn’t Jesus just tell him to drive the demon out himself?
Because Mohler is completely wrong on this point. Jesus gives particular individuals, beginning with the Twelve, the ability to serve as exorcists (Mk. 6:7, 12-13):
And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. […] So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.
Notice that the Apostles both evangelize and exorcise (since they aren’t the same thing), and that they’ve been specifically given the ability to exorcise by Jesus. This wasn’t something given to just everyone. That’s why St. John and Jesus have the conversation that they do in Mark 9:38-40,
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us.
If the Apostles believed that anyone could cast out demons in Jesus’ Name, John’s reaction wouldn’t make sense. So we need to reject two extremes: that only the Apostles could drive out demons, or that every Christian could. Rather, it’s a particular authority that Jesus gives to particular individuals He sends out. That’s why Luke 9:1-2 says that Jesus “called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal.” And it’s an authority that Jesus also gives to the Seventy, as we learn from Luke 10:17-20:
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
These are particular gifts given to individuals, not gifts given universally. Why does this matter? Because Mohler’s belief system is incredibly dangerous. The idea that you can simply drive out a demon in Jesus’ name by yourself (without being specifically given the authority) is a horrible misunderstanding that led to the following situation in Acts 19:13-16,
Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
In other words, the demon recognized that these Jewish exorcists didn’t actually have the authority to drive out demons in Jesus’ Name, and responded by humiliating the exorcists by assaulting and stripping them, casting them out of the house. It’s a reminder that demonic forces are incredibly powerful. Jesus is infinitely more powerful than them, but you’re not. So unless you’ve specifically been given this authority, don’t even try to go toe-to-toe with them.
Instead, turn to a priest who has been given this authority. There’s a reason that exorcist movies almost invariably involve Catholic priests. And there’s a reason that when we hear about these cases (the credible ones, I mean), it’s no surprise that we find Catholic priests at the heart of them, even if the afflicted person or family in question is Protestant. We have an unbroken tradition of ordained exorcists. There’s an actual mechanism by which the Church can authorize and empower particular individuals as exorcists, instead of the sort of dangerous (and unbiblical) free-for-all envisioned by Mohler and the Jewish exorcists from Acts 19.
If you’re interested in this topic: in today’s episode of The Catholic Podcast, Chloe Langr and I interviewed Fr. Joshua Werth, the exorcist’s assistant for the Diocese of Salina. He is the son of an ex-Catholic Wiccan, and has (in both his “personal” and “professional” life) seen these spiritual realities up close in a way that most of us will thankfully never have to. If you want to be convinced that demons are real, and learn more about the matter, he’s a good resource.
What about the Eastern-Orthodox? They got that as well…
I don’t want to rude or disrespectful, just to bring an argument. Mainly that is not uniquely Catholic. But I guess the answer would be that “God once spoke through the mouth of an ass”, so he can do it trough the orthodox as well.
I also wonder, this obviously affects free will. So does that mean God allows our free will to be taken from us by evil?
Does the opposite also happen? Can our free will be bounded to good?
I also bring this argument to orthodox believers themselves when their megalomania exceeds too far, remaining them about Catholic saints, that are after all, well… saint, and is that.
Good topic, as always Joe, good article!
Dan, the Orthodox aren’t Protestants, so it’s a bit of a non-issue. If you’re bringing them into the topic, then it becomes an issue between apostolic and non-apostolic churches.
“I also bring this argument to orthodox believers themselves when their megalomania exceeds too far”
Megalomania of what? Exercising their apostolic powers? Blame scripture I guess.
Of rejecting the apostolic power of the Catholic Church
Schisms gonna schism.
Hi Dan,
Late last night I wrote a 5-paragraph reply which disappeared when posting; I hit a wrong button or tried to post without my name! The short reply is: The Podcast goes into some detail about the involvement of our will. The priest spoke of his personal experience. He simply couldn’t seem to shake some sort of doldrum in his seminary studies. He wasn’t aware of conscious sin. He sought help from a spiritual director and had prayers for exorcism said for him. In the process, it was discerned that he suffered as a result of a relationship (with his mother) who had, it seemed, offered him to demonic influence through some incanting or ritual involving spirits of ‘nature’ rather than of God. So his will was not consciously involved.
It seems we need only allow some association through relationship, or some fascination or curiosity about evil or the occult. This is the only invitation the demon or his cohort need. Just a little pinprick, an opening through which to establish some base in our being. In essence, it may be a slight momentary lapse which opens us up to subtle and slight influence. Then, once established, the demons know our weakness and take advantage of that to propagate itself.
The Podcast adds an entirely larger dimension to the writing here. It causes one to shudder. There is nothing fascinating about evil. It is ridiculous, perverse, an excrescence on creation. The Podcast points the power of Catholicism–its apostolic protection, the development of sacramentals, the power of the sacraments, the teaching. All this counters the pale weakness of Protestantism’s preaching and belief in belief alone. Much more is needed; Lucifer was made to be the brightest star in the heaven, so he is, in essence, powerful. My fear is that said preaching and belief opposes scripture. As such, Protestantism represents a broad swath of real estate, prime for occupancy.
Forgot: Catholics also call upon the powerful support of our friends–the saints and good angels–asking that their treasury of merits, prayers, and protections be granted to us.
I heard before (where I live) that an Orthodox priest tried to do one but couldn’t do it so he sent the person to a Catholic priest who then got into contact with the diocesan exorcist. This story is very common with Protestants, but I was surprised when I heard this one.
Does anyone know of an Orthodox exorcist? I know several Catholic exorcists but zero Orthodox ones. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard contemporary Orthodox ever mentioning exorcisms. Any thoughts?
If Protestants neglect the use of Exorcists and exorcisms it is just another proof that they are divorced from the history, mind and spirit of the Early Church. Consider these quotes of the early Church Fathers:
Justin Martyr (ca. 160 A.D.): “For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served… For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, governor of Judæa, they are overcome. And thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power by virtue of which demons are subdued to His name, and to the dispensation of His suffering” (Dialogue, 30,3). (7)
Same author: “He (Christ) said, “I give unto you power to tread on serpents, and on scorpions… and on all the might of the enemy”. And now we, who believe on our Lord Jesus, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, when we exorcise all demons and evil spirits, have them subjected to us (Dialogue 76,6) (8).
In Dialogue 85,1-3 Justin refers to the exorcisms as the very evidence of the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father: “For every demon, when exorcised in the name of this very Son of God – who is the Firstborn of every creature, who became man by the Virgin, who suffered and was crucified under Pontius Pilate…who died, who rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven – is overcome and subdued. But though you exorcise any demon in the name of any of those who were amongst you – either kings, or righteous men, or prophets, or patriarchs – it will not be subject to you. But if any of you exorcise it in (the name of) the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, it will perhaps be subject to you. Now assuredly, your exorcists, I have said, make use of craft when they exorcise, even as the Gentiles do, and employ fumigations and incantations.” (9)
Theophilus of Antioch (ca. 180 A.D.): The Greek poets were inspired by demons. “This is clearly evidenced by the fact that even today demons are exorcised from possessed in the name of the true God, and then the deceiving spirits confess themselves that they are the demons who once worked in the poets…” (Ad Autolycum II,8).
Origen (ca. 235 A.D.): The critic of Christianity, Celsus (ca. 175 A.D.), “asserts that it is by the names of certain demons, and by the use of incantations, that the Christians appear to be possessed of power”. Origen continues, “Hinting, I suppose, at the practices of those who expel evil spirits by incantatons. And here he mainfestly appears to malign the gospel. For it is not by incantations that Christians seem to prevail (over evil spirits), but by the name of Jesus, accompanied by the announcement of the narratives which relate to him; for the repetition of these has frequently been the means of driving demons out of men, especially when those who repeated them did so in a sound and genuinely believing spirit. Such power, indeed, does the name of Jesus possess over evil spirits, that there have been instances where it was effectual, when it was pronounced even by bad men…” (Contra Celsum I,6). (10)
“If then the Pythian priestess is beside herself when she prophesies, what spirit must that be which fills her mind and clouds her judgment with darkness, unless it be of the same order with those demons which many Christians cast out of persons possessed with them? And this, we may observe, they do without the use of any curious magic, or incantations, but merely by prayer and simple adjurations which the plainest person can use. Because for the most part it is unlettered persons who perform this work: thus making manifest the grace which is in the word of Christ, and the despicable weakness of demons, which, in order to be overcome and driven out of the bodies and souls of men, do not require the power and wisdom of those who are mighty in argument, and most learned in matters of faith” (Contra Celsum, VII,4). (11)
An interesting aspct of the latter passage is the emphasis that Origen places on the fact that there among the pagans only are a few specialists that are able to perform exorcisms, and then with magic means and incantations, while every Christian, without such means and with only a simple calling upon Jesus’ name can perform an exorcism. In another place Origen emphasizes a different aspect of exorcism, namley that it proves the reality of the resurrection: “How could a phantom drive out demons or otherwise perform others things of great importance?”
Athanasius (ca. 320 A.D.): The reality of the resurrection can be proven. “And how does it happen, if he is not risen, but is dead, that he expels the false gods who by the unbelievers are said to live, and the demons whom they worship, and persecute and destroy them? For where Christ is mentioned, and faith in him, all idolatry is eradicated, all demonic deceit is revealed, and no demon even tolerates that the name is mentioned, but hurries to flee, as it hears it mentioned. This is not the work of a dead man, but a living and first and foremost God” (Der incarnatione verbi, 32). (12)
“It is clear that if Christ were dead, then he would not expel the demons…, for the demons would not obey one who is dead. But when they obviously are chased away at the use of his name, then it should be clear that he is not dead, especially because the demons who see the things that are not visible for humans – should know it if Christ is dead. Then they would simply deny him obedience. But now the demons see exactly what the ungodly do not believe; that he is God, and therefore they flee and fall down for him and say that which they also said when he was in the body, “We know who you are, you the Holy One of God” (De incarnatione verbi, 32). (13)
Citation: https://www.lausanne.org/content/historical-overview-1
“If then the Pythian priestess is beside herself when she prophesies, what spirit must that be which fills her mind and clouds her judgment with darkness, unless it be of the same order with those demons which many Christians cast out of persons possessed with them?”
Sounds eerily similar to Pentecostal “tongue” speaking…
“Protestants have no exorcists”? Perhaps you mean ministers whose spiritual work is devoted entirely to exorcism? Protestantism is a vast assemblage of believers in many different churches and groups; have you determined that none of them have exorcists or is this just another juvenile attempt to pretend that Roman Catholicism has something that other churches do not and that this proves some sort of uniqueness? I have read accounts of numerous exorcisms performed by “Protestant” ministers. I recall one case in South Africa which is detailed by one of the principals in which the Roman Catholic exorcist had limited success, but the Seventh Day Adventist exorcist was promptly successful. What do you make of that? Perhaps you will make the same accusation against him as was made against Christ?!
It should be obvious to any person of spiritual perception that it is the purity and strength of faith of the exorcist that tells in their struggle with evil entities, and the power of the Holy Spirit which works through that person who is thus found worthy to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, not whether they use some particular ritual or belong to some particular church. But of course if you are still lost in the blindness of pretending that your church has some monopoly upon the Holy Trinity and the Grace of God, you may stumble over that. Until you can find the courage to open your eyes, consider the evidences and rise above such worldliness, you will remain stuck where you are. God have mercy on those who hinder the unity of the Body of Christ through their worldliness and love of “high seats”.
Remember those Jews who tried to cast out demons using the name of Christ and were attacked by the entities? They thought that the use of Christ’s name as an invocaction would suffice; it did not as they were not believers in Him. And yet that stranger who exorcised in Christ’s name was successful. The disciples tried to forbid that man from doing so, and Christ in turn forbade them; plainly that unknown man must have been a believer. Though “he followeth not us” as the disciples put it, his faith must have been such that the Holy Spirit worked through him. And if his faith was sufficient for that, and sufficient for the Son of God to approve his work, who will claim that those who “followeth not us” cannot do that work of God?
You have a surfeit of articles on “Protestantism” here; you will not gain the grace of understanding, or any other, through attempting to pluck out the splinters you think you see in the eye of Protestantism. We are not living in the days of the Inquisition. The first task of Christians, nay, all humanity, is to seek after the Will of God THEMSELVES. He who sees all and knows all knows the capacities of every human heart and mind, but we are required to exercise those to the best of our ability in seeking Him, His Faith and understanding, which he gives to all who “truly and unfeignedly” seek with diligence. READ THE GOSPELS and pray for guidance to the Truth. God has not given men the privilege of lazily subscribing to the nostrums or ordinances of a church and thus excusing themselves from the effort of seeking Him and His Will themselves. Only Christ stands between man and the Father, NONE OTHER, if you doubt that read what Christ said.
Is it hard to accept that one’s church is wrong, that it’s ordinances are often vain, the inventions of men? Yes, it is hard, for our vain little hearts love to preen themselves on vanity and we love to see ourselves as “elect”, but did not Christ say that those who would not leave their very families for His sake were not fit to be His disciples?? What is a church compared to our flesh and blood? Did He not say that the very right hand must be cut off if it leads us to damnation? What is a church compared to that? As a Protestant, I know that most of the mainstream Protestant churches are wrong on a considerable number of questions; they are controlled by worldly people who think that God must be fitted to man, when it is man who must be fitted to God. But in worldliness they hardly compare to those who made a mockery of the Gospels and a mockery of Christ’s humility, and whose worldliness caused the rupture of the Western Church.
Ponder on the Word of God, He changeth not. It will not suffice in the last day to say that another misled you when you merely allowed them to do so because it was easier.
“Narrow is the gate, and few are they who find it.”
Brother in Christ. I could not have written it any better. I do wish the RCC would one day open their eyes and see the freedom God brings. Not by rituals or Traditions, which as Christ said
“thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do”
Believe in Christ and that Him and Him alone is sufficient. For He is the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Him.
Here my friends, is a Protestant exorcist par excellance; in fact I wonder if you have one to equal him?
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bob+larson+exorcism
And if you want another, look up Derek Prince.
*crickets* LOL
I’ve been reading “Possessed” by Thomas B. Allen. It is the story of the exorcism on which the well known movie was based. It is a sobering read, but what is most depressing is the agonizingly slow and ineffective methods used by the RC exorcists. Night after night of invocations and incantations, effectively a spiritual bludgeoning dragged out interminably. Finally, the direct intervention of the Archangel Michael, brought about deliverance after weeks of slugging. By contrast, have a look at some of Pastor Larson’s exorcisms, read his books. Laser guided munitions compared to area bombing would be one metaphor.
This is a very different outlook on evangelicals than we actually are. Yes we believe in angels and demons, as far as I know we don’t do exorcisms because yes we believe the power of trinity and our belief in him and his word protects us from such. So trying to paint us in a bad light about it and saying we are questioning the scripture or questioning Jesus is very far fetched. So here’s my stance and most of evangelicals I’ll assume anyway, you do not need a priest or to pay the pope to cast demons away if you don’t believe me Mark 16:17 tells you otherwise. This is part of our 100% belief in Christ, why we don’t need exorcist because we have been born again in his name, no demon/devil will touch someone born in his name and that’s in his words not mine
United Pentecostal Pastors, Ministers, Evangelists, and even lay believers, who are submitted to the Holy Spirit, often cast out demons in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ. Also, demons are often displaced when new converts submit to God and receive the baptism, or in-filling, of the Holy Ghost. ( “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”).
A life of victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil involves daily repentance and worship of God, submission to God’s Word, vigilance, and resistance to evil. The scriptures say, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Jesus also told His disciples that because of unbelief, some kinds of demons can only be cast out “but by prayer and fasting,” In short, Jesus is the Victor, and at His Name every demon has to flee!
To a certain extent this argument has zeri grounding. You are essentially comparing apples to oranges. Prodestants fundementally believe their authority through Jesus is based in the belief of the resurrection. Jesus died on the cross and in three days conquered hell returning to earth.
The gospels you are quoting to support your argument against the protestant belief are based on believers pre resurrection…….everything changed for every believer of Jesus after the resurrection including the diciples. In this one area of the gospel it is important to understand how the balance of power through the belief of Jesus’ resurrection changed for true believers and followers of Christ.
Sad.
The truth will set you free.
Pride and arrogance is prevalent in the Body of Christ. We look more like a bunch of ravenous wolves than a United body. Christ loves us. Everyone of us sin and are therefore susceptible to the influence of the devil and his lies. The Catholic Church led to the passage of knowledge for centuries and despite the corruption that has threatened her no force has been able to defeat it. Many Protestants seek to hate the church and many do not. Many Protestants seek the truth and God loves them and will help them achieve victory over death through Christ. They may not believe in purgatory or on Mary’s intercession but one day we will all know the truth. We will know Jesus. We should work on unity. So unless you want to push back against God’s will, learn to love your neighbor Catholic, Protestant, sinner or Saint.
I am a cradle Catholic. I have been brought back to the church by attending many Protestant services (Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, non-denom) and nothing yet had brought me what the OG church has brought me…. The Presence. The Eucharist. .