ACTS
19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
The power of God is upon us through his Holy Spirit, we don't need to put a cross on their foreheads, we don't need to sprinkle water everywhere, we don't need to chant in order to free someone with an evil spirit, they can leap and if you aren't strong enough, they can overcome you as they did with these men. All we need to do is pray and Lay Hands as Paul did, Gods power is enough, Human Tradition isn't.
2007-08-23 22:40:39 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
While I agree with you that any believer has the power through his belief in God, I disagree with your assessment of the story.
I have always understood this to be a warning against invoking the name of the Christ or the Apostles without believing in their message. That was the mistake these men made. They thought it was some kind of "magical spell" or something that anybody could do just by saying the words.
If you attempted to perform an exorcism rite without believing in it, you are going to fail, regardless of whose name you invoke.
2007-08-23 22:59:58 · answer #1 · answered by King James 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Catholic priests perform very few exorcisms.
Catholics have been casting out demons ever since Jesus and the Apostles did it.
Modern psychology says that most of the people who had demons cast out of them were probably miraculously cured from schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. But their cures were still miracles.
The Church has guidelines in place to take great care to exhaust psychological options before calling in an exorcist.
The Catholic Church believes that real demonic possessions are rare but possible, so they keep a few exorcists around just in case.
With love in Christ.
2007-08-24 23:02:09 · answer #2 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The power and authority is in the Name of Jesus alone and the demons know, bow down and/or flee. We have that same power and authority if we repent and become gifted with the Holy Spirit, which is the risen spirit of Lord Jesus Christ.
Great point! God Bless You!
2007-08-24 10:22:16 · answer #3 · answered by Dr. G™ 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. Only the power of God, working through validly ordained clergymen, can perform exorcisms.
2007-08-24 08:49:30 · answer #4 · answered by Daver 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had never even heard of the practice outside of the movie the Exorcist. And, I was a Catholic as a kid. So, I'm not so sure it's that common.
Baptists do it to I've heard.
A strange belief to me.
2007-08-24 05:53:09 · answer #5 · answered by 354gr 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmmm-interesting
2007-08-24 05:47:04 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The church doesn't perform exorcisms anymore. I have no idea where you are getting information of "many" as there have not been any performed in a very, very long time.
2007-08-24 05:46:35 · answer #7 · answered by thefinalresult 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they might get some shmuck to shell out a bunch of cash.
2007-08-24 05:47:10 · answer #8 · answered by Haywood Jablomee 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have you performed an exorcism in this manner? Ask yourself this before making an assumption.
2007-08-24 05:48:03 · answer #9 · answered by Otaku in Need 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋