Are We Able To Cast Out Demons?

Are we able to cast out demons? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day.

We would love to hear from you. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. And of course, you can always email us your question at questions at COREChristianity.com. First up today, here's a question from Eric calling in from Texas. Eric, what's your question for Adriel?

Hey, gentlemen, longtime listener, third time caller. Yeah, I had a really good question from a friend of mine the other day about the issue of baptism, particularly about the believers versus infant baptism. The question came up, well, if Jesus commanded us to baptize a certain way, obviously, you know, two sides of the fence, they disagree on how that what that looks like and who should be baptized. So on the other side, is the person who doesn't do it correctly in sin?

And should they be treated as someone who is in open rebellion and be treated like Paul says, like not to have fellowship? That was kind of the question that came up. And then secondly, if not, then does it kind of get relegated to the category of like meat sacrifice to idols where it's really not that big of a deal? So is there, what category would it fit in?

Is there something in the middle there? Like, how should we approach that? Yeah, excellent question. So no, I don't think it would be we wouldn't put this in the category of meat sacrifice to idols isn't just a sort of a gray area thing where some Christians believe one thing, other Christians believe another thing. I do think that we're talking about worship and right worship and how God calls us to follow him. And in particular, you know, when we're thinking about the proper recipients of of holy baptism, I mean, if this is a gift given to us, from God, and we're withholding it from proper recipients, or we're giving it to people who shouldn't, you know, receive it, well, there's a problem there. And there is, we would say sin. Now, there's, you know, different levels of sin, we might say not all sin is the same. Some sins in and of them themselves. And by reason of several aggravations, you know, the repeated nature of them are more heinous in God's sight than other sins. And so I think this is an area where we recognize there's disagreement within the body of Christ.

And we grieve over that disagreement. But I have friends who differ from me, who I believe are believers. And while I don't think that they're, they're properly viewing this or seeing this or administering the sacrament of baptism, if they're if they're ministers, and they take a certain view, that doesn't mean that I treat them as you know, well, this person is in open rebellion to God. No, there's, you know, they have these convictions that they're in. They have these convictions that that they, you know, are appealing to the scriptures for. And so we want to reason together, we want to be charitable with each other, and gracious with each other, while also recognizing that this is an important thing. It isn't just like, I thought that the example that you brought up, you know, the case in First Corinthians or in Romans, where you have this discussion about meat sacrificed to idols, that's a great that's a great one to bring up.

And we wouldn't want to say that that's what this is. We're talking about worship. And God cares about how he's worshipped. And one of the marks of the church is right worship that we're doing the things that Jesus has commanded us to do, administering those ordinances that he's given to us in the way that he's he's called us to do them. Now, you can be a true church, and, and still struggle in certain areas. In fact, every church, you know, every true church that's clinging to the gospel is still imperfect, right, this side of glory, this side of the new creation.

And so there is no perfect creation. There's no perfect church. And even even when we're thinking about true churches, you know, there's there's a spectrum.

But if you lose the gospel, and if you completely lose right worship, well, then well, then the church is called into question, you know, if they're rejecting the gospel, but that's not what's happening here. But again, I wouldn't want to minimize the importance of this topic. And so I guess there is a sort of middle ground, right, where we're saying this is important. It's a matter of worship. And yet we realize that there's disagreement and that people are appealing to the Word of God and working through the issues and trying to trying to get to the heart of the scriptures. And so there's also patience, and grace. And so appreciate the question, Eric, and definitely, you know, even on this broadcast, as we talk about core Christianity, we want to exhibit that charity, and we want to say, Come, let's reason together, let's look at the scriptures, because ultimately, that's what should guide us in all that we do, and especially in how we worship the Lord. Thanks for listening and great to have you call in again.

into problems, big problems. do so out of a heart filled with love for the Lord, and for our brothers and sisters, our brothers and sisters, even who disagree with us. And boy, that that charity, you said it's so important in our day to day, it totally is because it's what we don't see so often in the world, when people disagree with each other, there's a there's a lack of love, there's a lack of charity. And so we can really shine his lights, as I already said, by by having that love in our hearts and extending it to each other, even when we differ. Amen. This is core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine, theology, something going on at your church that you're concerned about, give us a call 833 the core.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Calvin calling in from Missouri. Calvin, what's your question for Adriel? Hey, what's going on, guys? I'm a huge fan.

I've been a listener for a couple years now. And I just had a question about cohabitation. So believer, a man and a woman, they're living together before marriage. They're not they're not like doing anything before marriage. But it just seems to me like there's not really any specific scripture that points toward that. And I was just wondering, how would you be in a relationship with a Christian?

Where you honor God, and honor the woman in question the most? While cohabitating? Or is that even possible?

Or what would you say to that? Mm hmm. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for this question.

I mean, obviously, super practical one. And I know there's a lot of research out there about cohabitation bill, you could probably speak to this better than I could, because I know you've looked some of this research and, and, and the result often, which isn't, which isn't great. But what I would say is, so the Bible is very clear, right? We're, we're called not to fornicate not to engage in sexual activity before we're married. And, and that's something that's so important. I mean, this talk about another way in which we can shine, as lights in the world today, with everything that's happened with it with the sexual revolution with the way people think about intimacy. And, and the way it's, it's treated and viewed in our culture, to fight to be pure, to be pure before the Lord and to respect each other before the Lord. That's, that's countercultural.

That's, that's shining as a light in the world. The Apostle Paul, or excuse me, the author of the Hebrews, some people think it was the Apostle Paul, the author of the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 13, verse four, let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. We need to hold the marriage bed in honor, as as the author of the Hebrews says there. And I think you're you're setting yourself up for temptation for failure. If you're cohabitating before marriage, and some people will say, well, you know, we're not doing anything. But but you, you are opening up the door big time for temptation, you're putting yourself in a position of compromise.

And, and it's not above reproach, quote unquote. And so so I just, you know, if I'm having conversations with people, if there's a young couple in our church that wants to get married, and they want me to do the wedding, but they're cohabitating, I say, you guys, you guys need to, you know, separate, you guys should not be living under the same roof. This is a part of what it is to be married.

And you're not there yet. And so do whatever it is that you need to do to, you know, be in separate homes and to seek to be pure in all things and to honor the Lord, and to respect each other as as you said, Calvin, I think it's I think it's really important. I know I know it's I know it's for many people, it's just like, well, it just feels so inconvenient. No, we're trying to plan things and get a place but don't put yourself in a situation that that's going to open the door to sin and compromise just because it's convenient. We need to take God's Word seriously, we need to take sin seriously, we need to love each other and respect each other. And I think and I think by not cohabitating before marriage, that's that's what we're doing. And so Bill, do you want to add anything with regard to some of those statistics that I know I've heard you bring up before? Yeah, unfortunately, the the research is pretty negative on couples who cohabit before marriage. And the first of all, they're going to have a much higher divorce rate than the couples that don't. There's also a much higher rate of infidelity among those partners. And tragically, if the cohabiting couple gets pregnant, there's a very high likelihood that within two years, the guy will be gone, leaving the woman to be a single mom raising a child.

on her own. And that, that's just sad stuff that I think a lot of young people don't know about. Yeah. I mean, it's also I think, I mean, a stumbling block here. If you have two believers, you know, they're in church, seeking to honor the Lord, and they're both living together prior to being married. That that's just not a good witness. That's not a good.

That's not a good look. That's not that's not honoring to the Lord that raises suspicion that raises questions. And and again, I just think I just think we need to think about that. And again, I just think I just think we have to take this seriously. We we need to.

We need to not go that route. And so appreciate the question that you have there, Calvin. And pray the Lord blesses you. Thanks for reaching out. Calvin, thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity.

We do appreciate you. If you have a question for Adriel, feel free to give us a call right now. 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. I want to mention a great resource that we have here at Core Christianity. It's something that really in today's world is so key.

It was just a lot of discussion about the sanctity of human life and abortion, especially with the Supreme Court ruling, the anniversary of the Dobbs decision in the U.S. Supreme Court. We think this devotional will be a big help to you. It's called Fearfully Made. That's right. You can get this devotional for free over at corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

You just download a digital copy of Fearfully Made. And I just want to encourage you, especially as you have conversations with others about this topic. And this, again, is one of those issues that comes up over and over again in our culture.

The lines are drawn, right? So it's so important for us. It's so important for us to have a biblical understanding of this and really to just praise the Lord for the wonder of life and the gift of life. Again, get a hold of this resource. It's called Fearfully Made over at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. A lot of great resources at our website.

You can go there and browse around, check out some of our core guides, our core questions, our Bible studies again at corechristianity.com. Let's go back to the phones. We have Edward on the line calling in from Missouri.

Edward, what's your question for Adriel? Yes. I've heard this term used. I was wondering if it's scriptural, slain in the spirit, some denominations, you know, they place hands on a person. And supposedly they receive the power of the Holy Spirit and they fall down. So is that biblical or not?

Edward, thank you. Yeah. I mean, this is a common thing in some circles and I don't see any biblical precedent for it. I mean, what happens is, you know, people are at this evangelistic meeting or just maybe a worship service and somebody is preaching and then folks start to line up and he lays hands on them and they just fall over.

Sometimes they fall over and sort of writhe on the ground. And that's just not, in terms of biblical worship, when we look at the New Testament, you don't see that anywhere. And so it's concerning to me. I mean, the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 that when it comes to worship, all things should be done decently and in order. And the focus of worship has to be God and His word, Jesus Christ. And that's why we gather together. We gather together to hear the word of the true and the living God to receive the gifts that God is giving to us, the body and blood of His Son, to be nourished by those gospel promises, to be built up in the word. And that's not very exciting to some people, tragically.

And so we're looking for other, you know, just, you know, fantastic experiences. I want to have a slain in the spirit experience. Well, what we really need to recover in our churches is spirit-filled worship. And spirit-filled worship looks like letting the word of Christ dwell in our hearts richly. That's what the Apostle Paul says. And so, Edward, I don't believe that it's biblical. Is this something that you've seen taking place around you or even in your own church, Edward? Well, this is a discussion.

We got into it. We have a Zoom men's Bible study on Monday mornings, and we got into their discussion, and they brought up some scriptures that talks about balik and revelation. Yeah, well, if that's the text that people are going to go to, to sort of justify this, I don't think that works very well. Again, the fact of the matter is, is in worship, what concerns me about this is where is our attention when we're gathered together? Is it on Christ and His word?

Or is it on something else? Is it a show? And that could look in a number of different ways. It might not be people getting slain in the spirit and everybody speaking in tongues, and that's distracting. It could be, you know, worship is this band performance. And, you know, it's just so amazing.

It's like a rock concert. But again, where's the focus? Are we worshiping the Lord, like Hebrews 12 says, with reverence and awe? Are our eyes fixed on Him and His gospel?

And so I would say you don't see examples of this. I mean, I guess if somebody wants to go to the book of Revelation and try to argue from that, but you don't see examples of this in New Testament worship when you're reading the descriptions that we have of the early church, whether it's in the book of Acts or Paul's description in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14. Paul seems to emphasize everything being intelligible, right? We have to understand. We don't want it just to be, you know, Paul says regarding the gift of tongues, if people walk in and everybody's speaking in tongues and an outsider, you know, shows up, they're gonna say, you guys are out of your minds.

What's going on here? And I think that's a lot of times what happens when you have these services where people are, you know, being slain in the spirit and it's just very, you know, highly emotional and not that emotions are bad at all in worship, but it's just sort of over the top, this show. Paul says, no, decently and in order intelligible with Jesus at the center.

That's what worship needs to look like. And so appreciate you calling in, brother, and may the Lord bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can leave us a voicemail 24 hours a day. Here is our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

Let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners. This is from Hester. My question relates to casting out demons and what the word of God says about that.

Be blessed now and thank you. Certainly a part of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is one of the things he said he came to do. He tells that story of binding the strong man so that he might plunder his house. And in the context, the strong man is Satan who's taken people captive. And Jesus is the one who binds him and plunders his house. And Jesus is still plundering his house today.

How is Jesus plundering Satan's house, the kingdom of darkness? It's through the proclamation of the Holy Gospel. We see this in the New Testament. We see this with the disciples in the book of Acts. Of course, you do have that passage in Luke chapter 10 where Jesus says to his disciples, I've given you authority over scorpions and serpents and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. And so sometimes people will go to that text and say, look at Jesus gave the 72 their authority and we have the authority to cast out demons. What I would say, I mean, think of it like even the miracles that we see in the New Testament. It's not the individual. It's not that there's something special about the person. So, you know, in terms of, you know, do we have healers and exorcists walking around there?

This guy's got this really special skill. No, it's the name of Jesus and the word of the gospel that drives out the power of darkness. The Bible is very clear that we are in a spiritual war, that demons are real, that they're seeking to tempt us, to lead us astray, to deceive us. If you're a Christian, you cannot be possessed by a demon. I think John makes that clear in 1 John chapter 4, but you can be tempted and tormented by the evil one. And there are people I think who still are, I mean, their life is just consumed with evil and are even possessed. And so how do those demons get driven out?

It's through the name of Jesus Christ and the word of the gospel. It's amazing how when Jesus would go around in the New Testament, the demons trembled. He'd show up in a city and they would just fall down before him saying, what do we have to do with you, Jesus?

Have you come to torment us? They're terrified of Jesus and of the name of Jesus. And so they're terrified really of the disciples of the Lord, those in whom Jesus and the Spirit of Christ lives. And so, you know, we don't want to get weird about this thinking, well, I have these special powers and I can cast out demons.

No, it's Jesus. There's power in the name of Jesus. And we rest in that. What's interesting about that passage in Luke chapter 10 is he goes on to say, don't rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Rejoice that I've saved you, that you're a part of my kingdom, that you're a part of my family.

That's what we should focus on. You're listening to CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine, theology, you name it, you can give us a call anytime. 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Or send us an email at questions at corechristianity.com. Let's go to Rochelle calling in from Lincoln, Nebraska.

Rochelle, what's your question for Adriel? Hello. I do have a question that is very concerning to me. I've been married six and a half years to a wonderful man. He's a good Christian, his parents were missionaries, but we have sexual desires that are different. And so I told him last night that I just can't be with him anymore and I have to let him go. I do have my earthly desires and I have cigarettes that I smoke and I used to quit, but I didn't.

I'm back doing it and I did it for him and my daughter and you got to do it for yourself. Am I blatantly sinning? Is that going to send me to hell even though I love Jesus Christ with all my heart? Rochelle, I'm heartbroken to hear about this situation, this rift in your marriage.

You know, Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And you're married right now and it sounds like from what you're saying, there's an area of your marriage that you're dissatisfied with. We struggle with these kinds of things. This isn't something that I would say you should separate your husband over.

It sounds to me like you guys need help. And that help can come through the church, that help can come through marriage and family therapists. But really, I think recognizing what are the desires that I have that are driving me away from my husband and leading me away from the man that God has put in my life, who I know loves you, Lord. And a lot of times at the heart of it, Rochelle, is sin. Sin that we need to confess and repent of, sin that we need to own.

And I think that's what's happening here. And Jesus invites you to himself to receive his grace, to receive healing, to confess sin, and to strive to have a healthy marriage, a good marriage. And so stay on the line. I'd love to talk with you a little bit more about this, Rochelle, and we'll invite our listeners to be praying for you and for your family. God bless. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673.

That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together. God bless.