- A believer has Christ-given authority to cast out demons (Matt. 10:1,8; Mk. 16:17). The source of this power is Christ alone.
- Christ cast them out by the Spirit of God (Mt.12:28); therefore, a believer should have a Spirit-filled walk (Gal.5:25).
- Prayer, fasting and total submission to God is important (Mk. 9:29; James 4:7).
- The believer should seek the gift of discerning the spirits (1Cor. 12:10).
- He should not talk with demons, as a general rule (Mk. 1:24). They are deceivers.
- The believer should cast them out in the Name of Jesus (Acts 16:18).
- Do not close your eyes when casting out demons: you are commanding, not praying; demons are sometimes seen to be physically violent (Matt.17:15; Acts.19:15,16).
- The believer should not allow the demon to weaken his/her faith in God, His Word, and the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit. One of devil’s weapons is doubt (Gen. 3:1; Matt.4:3-10).
- In every deliverance session, there must be order and discipline among the servants of God; let one minister in authority while the rest back him/her in prayer (1Cor.14:33).
- All amulets, charms, fetishes, and occultic objects must be removed before any deliverance can take place. The possession of such things provide strongholds for demonic oppression. (Acts 19:19).
- The delivered must be guided into confession, repentance, belief, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit to avoid serious consequences of demonic return (Matt. 12:44,45). A life of holiness and keeping in the will of God is imperative (1Jn. 5:18).
A placebo is a non-therapeutic substance administered under the camouflage of medication to deceive patients into believing that they are receiving medications; this done solely for psychological and not for physiological effects. Placebo may usually be used to compare its effects with the effects of other drugs in drug research. Let's take the case of an experiment that tries to establish whether a particular drug, say to treat weariness, is genuine or merely has the effects of a placebo. Suppose 20 candidates are chosen for this experiment. 10 are given the drug and the rest are put on a placebo while they are told that the placebo is a genuine medication. They need to make sure that the deception is well carried on for the success of the experiment. If both the groups make similar improvements after taking the treatments, the new drug seems to only function as a placebo in effect. The basic hypothesis of the placebo raises the question of mind over matter. Of course, this pushes...
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