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Years ago, our disciple making team was invited to the house of the Muktar (village mayor) in a Muslim village. This entire area of over a million Muslims had no known house churches or even disciples at this point. It was an area that the stronghold of Islam, terrorism, and radical nationalism had a strong grip. This was an area where the major city in the area was a rich city of commerce, but the villages held over 80 percent unemployment in the depths of poverty and political struggle. Last of all, it was an area where both Orthodox Jewish nationalists struggled with their Palestinian Muslim nationalist neighbors in incredible tension.
Our team was a committed group of Jewish background believers that were “loving across enemy lines” in a unique situation where messianic Jewish Israelis were invited into the homes of Muslims. Our common language was Hebrew since most of these villagers spoke Hebrew as they received permits to work in Israel as construction workers.
However, speaking Hebrew in a Muslim village (a stronghold of Hamas) was usually not considered wise and extremely dangerous. However, when loving your enemy well is a motivation, our team had Spirit infused boldness to share the everlasting gospel in our only mutual language since we did not know Arabic, and they did not know English. This is when love trumps wisdom!
We had already been meeting with two Muslim young seekers in this village and doing Discovery Bible Studies with them weekly for about a month when the father of one of the young men heard about us and invited us into his house. He was the Muktar.
When arriving in his house, he had made a meal for us and served us coffee and tea as customary of Arab culture. It also fit the Luke 10 instruction that Jesus gave to eat what the person of peace puts before you in their home.
After eating, the Muktar asked us, “Can you tell me about the green book you gave my son?” He was speaking of the Arabic Bible; we gave him to read along in the discovery Bible studies. We shared and asked him to open the Quran while inquiring of what the verses meant about reading the former books when a Muslim has questions about the Quran (former books are Old and New Testaments which are considered holy books in their original uncorrupt forms in Islam). When inquired upon about their corruption, we just appealed to the sovereignty of God to keep His holy books uncorrupted, which surprisingly they received the answer.
The Muktar and his wife then told us about a vision they had of Jesus in the sky. They said they wanted to learn the former books from us as well and wished to open it up to the entire village!
We then had the Muktar read from the Quran the verse in Al Imran about Jesus healing the sick and raising the dead. We opened the New Testament and shared the story of Jesus healing the centurion’s servant.
While we were sharing, someone from the village walked into the Muktar’s house and started manifesting demons (in Islamic worldview a jinn) on the floor in front of us in the living room. At this point, the entire village came to see the spectacle. There were people outside of the house looking through the open windows to catch a glimpse of what was going on because there was no room in the house.
After 20 minutes of intense prayer for deliverance and manifestations, the young Muslim man who had been plagued with demons for years was completely released. He was known for being the demonized young man in the village and God had delivered him in the name of Jesus!
The people in the village were amazed by the display of the power of God, and this opened this entire village to many becoming part of discovery groups. Not only did it influence this village, but it opened doors for our team to go to other areas to pray for the sick and cast out demons.
For the first time ever, an area that was traditionally known as hard ground for gospel work suddenly had become softened and the testimonies of God’s work in this area still has fruit of new believers and house churches from this even a decade later.
There are many lessons I could share from this encounter about original pioneer breakthrough of gospel work in an unreached area. I could draft many articles on the power of loving your enemy across enemy lines. I could also write about God’s calling on the Jewish people and Arabs in the region with an Isaiah 19 theme and Israel’s unique role in world missions. In this article, I want to emphasize and bring out the need for deliverance ministry in pioneer movement work.
I want to know what happened in the Spirit on this day and what can church planters learn from it?
Since then, I have seen many unreached and unengaged areas with unreached people groups start their first Discovery Bible studies around Asia being sent out from Israel. Most times, these engagements start from powerful deliverance ministries in the homes or religious buildings of the religious or political leaders of the villages we engage in a Luke 10 strategy. I could share many stories for years to come employed by some of the simplest obedient uneducated believers with a passion to reach their people or love across enemy lines to other people groups.
I believe starting with deliverances is not just a power encounter strategy that we have found effective. It is also a command in Luke 10 and Matthew 10 and has significant spiritual implications that cannot be overlooked.
I will share insight from the scripture that also helped me and others I work with realize this:
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
We see two remarkable stories here of powerful deliverances that confronted regional spiritual influences.
1.) Jesus calms a storm and then casts demons out of a man from Gesara, although the deliverance shakes up and offends the local farmers, it influences the entire region of the Decapolis.
2.) Jesus casts demons out of a mute man, it highly offends the Pharisees. Jesus teaches an important lesson about significance of casting out demons.
I included Jesus calming the storm as an inseparable part of the Gesarene demoniac story because they are connected both in sequence and in the overall storyline.
In the first story, I believe the storm was definitely spiritual forces trying to stop the event that happened on the other side of the lake with the deliverance of the Gesarene demoniac. Jesus was going to confront a regional principality through the casting out of this legion of demons. This was more than bringing freedom to a demon possessed man (although love alone many times was the motivation of Jesus).
In this case it had a governmental and regional purpose as well as the ever-increasing purpose of love for this man. Something clearly happened in the region once this man was set free! The farmers recognized the change of atmosphere and asked him to leave the region. They were like caged birds who had been set free but did not know how to live outside of the cage of the regional principalities they were living under. It was more than just the loss of their livestock (of pigs).
I remember when our Israeli team cast a demon out of a Muslim man in the Tel Aviv slums, a witch came to put curses on us while doing the deliverance. I remember rebuking the witch to stop her curses while we were ministering deliverance to this Muslim man. She screamed at my rebuke and fell backwards and was paralyzed from cursing us any longer.
Later, after the deliverance was finished. The witch came up to our team member who led the ministry in the slums and shouted, “Who do you think you are? Stop changing the atmosphere in these slums.” This witch had recognized that the deliverances confronted local principalities who this witch was channeling. Yet she also recognized a greater power came to confront these local principalities and tried to do anything to stop the changing of the guard to continue to live under the demonic government she was accustomed to and comfortable with.
I often think of this story when thinking of the local farmers begging Jesus to leave the region after he performed a coup against the local principalities to establish that He was the new king in town.
Jesus then did something amazing. He did leave town and left the job of establishing His rule and reign to the delivered demoniac as His trophy of grace. The man who once held the principalities of the region was then given responsibility to go and share about the new sheriff in town. Jesus took captivity captive from the principalities in releasing the demoniac from the demonic apostolic calling he held for these principalities. Then He gave them as a gift an apostle for the establishment of the church in that area to lead to Jesus as the head of all things in the Decapolis.
I remember another time being in a Buddhist village invited by Buddhist monks to pray for the sick and demon possessed Buddhist villagers. The monks gathered everyone into the Buddhist temple and had us pray for people there. Many demon possessed people were delivered. After this, the local monks who invited us also turned on us. They wrote letters forbidding us to come back. Their primary concern was that we had authority over the ghosts, and they did not (ghosts is their way of saying demons). They were shaken by our spiritual authority over their principalities.
By the grace of God, this led to raising up secret leaders in this village that was unreached that started Discovery Bible Studies. The Buddhist monks were very aware of the spiritual coup that was beginning to happen with confronting the rulers they were accustomed to in order to introduce them to a new sheriff in town. Just like the farmers of Gesara, they wanted Jesus to leave the region to return to the oppressing authority they were familiar with.
In the second story Jesus casts demons out of a mute man. He perceived the thoughts of those who had grown accustomed to a religious principality. I find it interesting that the demonic authority Jesus was confronting was a mute man. Meaning their voice was taken away. Something that a religious principality often does is try to quiet the voices through not allowing people to think and speak for themselves.
The accusation was that which questioned the authority of Jesus to confront the local principalities. They accused him of being on Team Principality through Baal Zebub, rather than recognizing him as the new sheriff in town. Not recognizing Him as the new King who not only has authority to overthrow the local principalities, but also has the authority to be the new ruler- is the greatest sin of the Pharisees. They did not recognize Him as King Messiah, so they had to make sense of his authority to overthrow these other rulers with another explanation. They were wrestling with Him as being The King!
Jesus left them with a question that caused their wrestling with this issue to give even greater conflict to their soul’s question: can a house divided against itself stand? He left no standing room for their soul’s justification that he can overthrow spiritual rulers and still not be the King. Their reasoning, they had found some solace in dismissing him being the Messiah.
Then Jesus makes the most significant statement of the day,
““But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Luke 11:20
Jesus is correlating the fact that He is driving out demons to the coming kingdom of God! To a coming King! To the changing of the guard! To a spiritual coup!
Yes, the kingdom of God only is fully here when Jesus returns to rule and reign on mount Zion and make everything right. However, there is spiritual significance to His rule and reign being recognized and practiced with Him being seen as an authority over the powers and rulers of this age! I can be longing for a coming kingdom that is still not here yet, and still recognize the coming king and kingdom as my current king and kingdom through submitting to His coming rule and commands now!
This does create a spiritual coup in the spiritual realm where the powers and principalities of this age lose obedient subjects to a newly recognized King. Jesus says deliverance is key to this coup! The finger of God casting out demons brings the reality of the coming kingdom of God!
Then Jesus gives the parable of the strong man. He says that these principalities and powers thought the house they ruled over was safe. But now a stronger King has come to plunder this house and establish a new reality! Jesus is declaring Himself to be the stronger man over the power and rulers of this age and He has the right to cast out demons and plunder the powers of this age!
This all from casting demons out of a mute man! This deliverance was an act of love by Jesus to this man but was also much more significant than that in establishing Jesus as the new sheriff in town!
It ends with a warning that if demons leave and the house is not put in order, seven more come back and it is worse off than it was to begin with.
I remember in the Syrian civil war when the pro-democracy Free Syrian Army militia tried to overthrow the regime of Bashar al Assad during the Arab Spring. They were able to create autonomous regions within Eastern Syria as well as southern Syria. Unfortunately, they had no plan for regional stability and temporary governance for the sovereign regions they created. This “vacuum of power” they created with good intentions was filled with Sharia governance of evil Islamic groups like ISIS and al Nusra. Assad’s evil regime and harsh government was overthrown in some regions, but a greater evil force came in to fill the vacuum of power because of lack of preparedness by the Free Syrian Army.
This storyline is more complex than this, but I have simplified it to make a point. Jesus was teaching us to not create vacuums of power. He was confronting the Pharisees for casting out demons too without recognizing Him as king. He was saying that the ministry of deliverance the Pharisees were engaged in will be fruitless and even harmful without their recognition of Him as King to fill the power vacuum. Wisdom is justified by her children!
For us as pioneer church planters and disciple makers we need to realize casting out demons and prayer is not enough. Our goal is to help the nations recognize Jesus as coming King through obedience to Him now! We can be engaged in confronting powers and principalities through deliverance ministry and filling that power vacuum with teaching loving obedience to our new King Jesus throughout the establishment of Discovery Bible studies and obedience-based disciple making.
This is why this entire story ends with this encouragement to confront not leaving a vacuum of power:
“He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” – Luke 11:28
I pray as pioneer disciple makers we will have skill to know our authority, have confidence in Jesus as King, cast out demons and confront regional powers, and establish fellowships that recognize Jesus as the new king in town that lovingly obey Jesus words!
