Acts 8:5-8 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. (6) And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. (7) For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. (8) And there was great joy in that city.”
Firstly, we will discuss the scenario where the person being prayed for begins to shout out as hands are laid on them. In this instance the person being prayed for already has a demon. As we saw earlier, some people, even Christians, can 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 so, when believers that are filled with the Holy Spirit lay hands on them, very often the demon manifests by causing the person to cry out loudly. And so, it is incumbent upon either the person laying hands or the leaders of the meeting, to discern that an unclean spirit is manifesting and cast the demon out of the individual. But unless either the person laying hands or leaders recognises that it is a demon manifesting, nothing will be done to deliver that individual and they will remain oppressed. And so sadly many are never delivered, because both those laying hands and the meeting leaders have no discernment, and attribute the manifestation to the work of the Holy Spirit. The above passage of scripture describes how it is that demons cause people to cry out loudly when they are being cast out of individuals through the laying on of hands.
Michael E.B. Maher
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