Physical Manifestations Are Not Necessary in Deliverance
Kenneth E Hagin
The triumphant church
http://eaglesway.org/prophetscall/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=38
Another extreme deliverance teaching in our day is that the devil has to manifest himself in order to be cast out. Some people are always wanting to see manifestations. Some believers seem to be more interested in demonic manifestations than they are in Holy Ghost manifestations!
Some ministers teach as doctrine that people must cough or vomit or have some other kind of physical manifestation in order to get rid of a demon. People think that’s new, but we had an outbreak of that in the days of The Voice of Healing too. As I said, these errors and deceptions seem to run in cycles because Satan is the same old deceiver he’s always been.
Don’t misunderstand me. There may be occasions when a demon will manifest itself when it leaves someone. For example, the Bible says a demon manifested itself as it came out of a child who had a dumb spirit: “And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him …” (Mark 9:26).
However, when Jesus appeared to me in the vision in 1952, He specifically said to me, “In dealing with the devil, don’t ever tell anyone to cough or vomit up a demon. Expelling a demon through coughing or vomiting may happen occasionally. If it does, fine. But don’t you ever tell anyone to put on any kind of a physical manifestation in order to get delivered of an evil spirit. If you tell people that some physical manifestation is to come forth, they’ll try to put on a physical manifestation, and instead of getting rid of a demon, they’ll get one.”
You see, here’s where folks are missing it. Just because some kind of physical manifestation occurs one time when a demon leaves someone’s body or mind, some people think, Evidently that’s the way it’s supposed to happen every time. So they begin telling people to start vomiting or coughing to get rid of evil spirits. I have seen ministers do this. For instance, I was in a certain meeting, and one of the ministers announced to the entire audience, “Everyone bring a paper sack to the next meeting.” He wanted people to bring a paper bag so they could vomit up evil spirits!
But you can’t build a doctrine on a manifestation or on an experience and expect it to happen that same way every time. In studying the New Testament, you won’t find even one example of anyone vomiting or coughing up evil spirits. And you won’t be able to find any scriptural principles or doctrine to support such a practice.
Believers who go around seeing devils in other believers are creating havoc in the local church body. I’ve actually dealt with people who became so devil- conscious because of extreme teaching in this area that they actually got an evil spirit when they didn’t have one before. When people are taught that believers have devils which routinely need to be cast out and there always has to be a physical manifestation when the devil departs, it actually opens a door to the devil.
You see, Satan is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), so he can manifest himself in the physical realm. He can work in the realm of the flesh through what people experience with their five physical senses. In other words, Satan’s realm is based on what people can see,
feel, and experience in the natural realm.
But faith isn’t based on what you can see. Faith is based on what the Word says. The Bible says that Jesus cast out evil spirits with His Word (Matt. 3:16).
Therefore, if you tell people they are going to have some kind of physical manifestation in order to get rid of an evil spirit, you are really teaching them how to yield to the devil, because the devil operates in the physical realm.
Instead of trying to create fleshly demonstrations to get rid of evil spirits, teach people what the Word says so they can learn how to yield to the Holy Ghost. When people yield to the Holy Ghost, He will manifest Himself. Let’s just get back in the middle of the road on the demon issue, and stick with the Word of God!