Exorcists!

January 23, 2022

Exorcists are not mentioned often even though Jesus cast out many demons, but in

Acts 19:13-14 are some vagabond Jews that attempted to imitate Jesus and Paul.

The seven sons of Sceva were leaders of these pretenders. It seemed to them that

using the name of Jesus and Paul might give them more power, so without

permission they attempted to cast out demons. The demon’s response was to

empower the man in whom they dwelt to beat and batter these pretenders until they

ran away naked. The demons knew Jesus, and they knew Paul, but they did not

know or acknowledge these sons of Sceva. So, exorcism is possible, but only by

God’s power and no one can replicate that power. Satan does not cast out his

demons, but God does cast out demons by the authority of Christ Jesus. This

became obvious to all the Jews and Greeks in Ephesus. They were so impressed

with the majesty and power of our Lord that they brought all their books that dealt

with the curious arts and burned them. The value of them was 50,000 pieces of

silver, but the Word of God to them was more valuable and more potent. They

recognized truth and by their actions proved that their sorceries were fake, fraud,

and fiction. They burned their books and “so mightily grew the Word of God and

prevailed” (Acts 19:20). Wouldn’t it be a glorious thing for us to discover just how

powerful is the Word of God, who spoke the universe into existence. By His word

the sun, moon, and stars were created and then by His word you were created in His

image (Genesis). So let us glorify him and depreciate every book but the Bible. We

must come to the point that we magnify the will of God. His will should be our will

and His word our word if we expect to have power in our speech and our life. Our

words make a difference in the lives of others and yet they can never do more than

encourage demons, but his words cast them out of us and others.

Dr. Kenneth E. Morrison