Spiritual Authority to Cast Out Demons and How It Actually Works

The subject of casting out demons is growing in popularity in some Christian groups, and for good reason—it is an important need and people are realizing their ignorance and choosing to learn. However, in order to take authority over a demon to cast it out, one actually has to have that authority. One of the subjects that I think is fairly poorly understood among Christians is that of spiritual laws and their relationship with spiritual authority. There is a lot of teaching out there about our authority in Christ, but far less on the subject of spiritual laws. Why does this matter? Because casting out demons is normally based on spiritual authority, and spiritual authority is based on spiritual laws. It isn’t a matter of “we can do whatever we want because we know who we are in Christ” but “through Christ we can operate to the extent of our authority based on existing spiritual laws. Now, before someone levels the heresy finger at me, lets discuss spiritual authority and how it actually works.

Authority of any kind is obtained through power delegated to an individual from a governing body. In order for a governing body to govern, there have to be rules in place that decide what is and is not permitted—in other words, laws. For a person to operate in spiritual authority (which is spiritual power that has been legally delegated to an individual based on existing laws made by the governing body), there must be spiritual laws.

I hear people teach on this subject, saying things like “Take authority over a demon and cast it out”—and they are 100% correct in teaching that. But sometimes even when one does that, the demon doesn’t leave. So how does that work, and why does the demon not always leave when we command it to in the name of Jesus? This is where understanding spiritual laws come into play.

First, before anyone decides I am wrong and that demons have to leave every time they are commanded out, let’s look at what the Bible shows us. We’re going to look at three separate situations that deal with spiritual authority and casting out demons, and what that means for us and our beliefs about whether demons can resist or refuse being exorcised.

The first is found in both Mark 5 and Luke 8, and recounts Jesus’ encounter with the Gadarene man possessed by a legion of demons (a legion is roughly 4,000-5,000 men). In it, Jesus actually had to command the demons out twice (as the first time clearly didn’t work and only agitated them further), and the second time only occurred through bargaining.

Mark 5:6-8 says, “When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!’ For Jesus had said to him, ‘Come out of this man, you impure spirit!’” This passage shows us that the demons started yelling after Jesus commanded them out, and it was then that they started speaking through the man’s body.

Mark 5:11-13 continues the story, saying “A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.’ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.” I can’t pretend to understand what was going on that Jesus needed to let the demons go into pigs instead of sending them to the Abyss, and the passages are written in a way that suggest Jesus had the authority to send them there if he wanted to. Maybe he just felt like it, maybe he had another reason he chose the pigs, but in doing so it destroyed someone else’s livelihood (which is something Jesus would likely have avoided if circumstances were different), so Jesus probably had a good reason for doing it that way. Regardless, not only does this passage show us Jesus bargaining with demons on exactly how they will leave a man, but he was forced to command the demons to leave two times before it actually took place. If Jesus has to command demons more than once, even if it only ever happened to him one time (and that’s only what was recorded), we shouldn’t be surprised if we run into the same problem.

The second situation that shows us something about casting out demons and spiritual authority is in Acts 19:13-16 which says, “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”

It was not unheard of in that day for certain Jews to perform exorcisms. This family exorcist-team heard about Paul doing it and decided to try his method, not realizing that Paul wasn’t working with a method like they typically did. Instead, Paul was operating out of spiritual authority. Notice that the demons not only recognized that both Jesus and Paul had spiritual influence, but that the demons also recognized that these seven brothers did not possess that same authority. The end result was a badly-failed deliverance.

The third passage is Phillippians 2:10-11 which states, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Yes, one day in time or eternity every knee will bow, but that hasn’t happened yet. Thus, it is only in theory that demons must obey, and in actual practice we sometimes have to make them obey.

What can we learn from these passages?

First, if a demon doesn’t leave, simply repeating oneself isn’t necessarily going to get the job done. Does that mean that it can’t work? No. What it does mean is that we will need to figure out why that demon is able to resist being cast out. The ability of a demon to enter a person is based on spiritual laws, as is its ability to remain. That’s why the topic of spiritual laws is relevant to deliverance to begin with. Demons already know spiritual laws, and know those laws well enough to know when they can and cannot remain in a person. When a demon is able to resist being cast out, it is usually because there is something connected to that individual that is making room, giving permission, or in some manner making an allowance for that demon to remain. Demons know these laws and that’s why authority doesn’t always work to cast them out. Theology that says authority always works to cast out demons is theoretically correct but in actuality wrong.

There are a number of things that can either give or help give demons access to a person. Unhealthy emotions and/or beliefs, sinful actions and desires (and feeding them over time), curses, generational iniquity, any form of abuse, and intentional engagement with the demonic are some of the main ones, but this is not an exhaustive list. The way this works is that all of these involve some human’s free will—and our free will is a significant contributor to demonic involvement in situations. There is a principle in the Bible that says that whatever happens on earth requires human involvement and agreement (Psalm 115:16, Amos 3:7). As such, for demons to afflict us and latch on to us generally requires someone (whether us personally or others perpetrating evil upon us) to utilize their free will to permit it.

When interrogating a demon to find out how it was able to gain access to a person, I have heard demons say on multiple occasions things like “They let me” or “They gave me permission.” Keeping in mind that demons lie as commonly as we breathe, the things they say are often a twisting of truth. For example, if someone has spent a lot of time engaging pornography, and have spirits associated with lust and perversion, while the demon may claim that he or she “gave them permission”, it wasn’t like someone sat there and said “demons of lust and perversion, please enter me.” But that’s what the demons make it sound like. No, it was that person’s actions which engaged the law of sowing and reaping (what you put out you get back) and the law of focus (what you engage will engage you). It is only by understanding spiritual laws that we can get a better handle not just on how people get demonized, but why demons are sometimes able to resist our efforts to cast them out. In the above example, if the spirits of lust and perversion won’t leave, it is usually beneficial for the person to renounce whatever actions, thoughts, words, activities, etc. they have engaged in that would constitute a form of spiritual agreement between them and the demonic. Again, while one might not be consciously invoking demons, the energy that our actions release has an attractive quality to it for either light or dark, good or evil. In fact, Proverbs 18:21 says it like this: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” While this isn’t just limited to the words we say, this is a perfect example. The things we speak, or really the energy we put out in any manner, will cause us to receive the fruit of those words or actions.

When we want to cast out demons, we need to identify where we operate in spiritual authority, areas of weakness or bondage in our own lives that undermine our spiritual authority, and our own limiting beliefs. We also need to recognize that in addition to learning how spiritual laws function, which is vital, we also have to *develop* our spiritual authority. Believe it or not, spiritual authority can be grown (we will look at that subject in another article). The Bible says in Luke 2:52 that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” While not technically authority, this passage demonstrates that Jesus had to grow in aspects of his walk as he journeyed through life, and we are no different. While in Matthew 28:18-19a, “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go . . . ” it doesn’t mean that they received all authority. He received all authority and has delegated it to us, but we don’t necessarily walk in all of it at once. In John 16:12, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” He recognized that their ability (and likewise ours) to handle everything he had for them at that time was limited, and v13-15 goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit will reveal and release more to us as we become ready for it.

Ultimately, spiritual laws help give us insight into how the spiritual realms operate, how the angelic and demonic are able to function, and ultimately give us a glimpse into how we can become more effective in casting out demons. Specifically, growing in spiritual authority is an effective means to reach that end, but ultimately there are a good number of tools we can use and even new ones we can develop by understanding how spiritual laws influence both spiritual authority and how to more effectively cast out demons.