CASTING OUT DEMONS / UNCLEAN SPIRITS
The unclean spirits were wicked souls misguiding people to turn away from God. They were unclean in contrast to God, who is Holy. Jesus and the apostles could drive them. Those freed from Satan’s bondage could receive Jesus and reach heaven after their earthly life. The apostles were casting out demons in Jesus’ name using the authority he had shared with them.
The demons have been influencing humans since the time of the first parents. They use different means to achieve their impact on the people. In demon-controlled cases, the possessed cannot act freely because an outside force controls the person’s behavior, in effect acting under influence. That makes the person behave strangely, hurting oneself or others. By liberating from that external influence, the person becomes free.
DISCIPLES CASTING OUT DEMONS
Jesus, who freed the demon possessed, shared that power with his disciples. In the name of Jesus, they healed the abnormal, amply manifesting Jesus’ power over evil spirits. When the seventy-two disciples returned after their assignment, they shared with Jesus, “‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.’ Jesus said, ‘I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky’” (Lk 10:17-18).
The disciples continued casting out demons after Pentecost. When Philip preached in Samaria, they paid attention to him, “For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. There was great joy in that city” (Acts 8:7-8). While Paul, who was at Philippi, cast out a demon from “a slave girl with an oracular spirit, who used to bring a large profit to her owners through her fortune-telling” (Acts 16:16-18).