Luke 4:33-35 “Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, (34) saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!" (35) But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.”
Luke 9:42 “And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.”
Both passages of scripture quoted above describe the demons throwing people to the ground when confronted with our Lord’s anointing. In the first passage of scripture quoted the individual that cried out in Jesus meeting had not asked Jesus for deliverance, because he was unaware that he even had a demon. Nevertheless, in the presence of the Holy Spirit (on Jesus) the demon was forced to manifest itself. And so, even today there are some people, even Christians, that have demons that are oppressing them in some way and those same people are unaware that it is in fact a demon that is afflicting them. And it is when believers filled with the Holy Spirit, lay hands on them that very often the demon manifests by throwing the person to the ground. Again if we look at the ministry of Jesus as our example, every time this type of manifestation happened in His ministry, Jesus then cast the demon out of the individual. And so, it is incumbent upon the person laying hands to discern that an unclean spirit is manifesting and cast the demon out of the individual. But unless the person laying hands recognises that it is a demon manifesting, nothing will be done to deliver that individual and they will remain oppressed. Sadly many are never delivered because those laying hands have no discernment and attribute the manifestation to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Michael E.B. Maher
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