Is It Biblical to Cast Out Demons in Public?

We see that this first incident occurred when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. And I’ve already read, but I’ll read once again, Phillips’ version of Mark 1:39.

“So he continued preaching in their synagogues and expelling evil spirits throughout the whole of Galilee.”

And I’ll read there when I’ve put against the outline, point five, Jesus combined the casting out of demons with his normal ministry of preaching and teaching in the public place of worship. This was nothing like the atmosphere of a psychiatrist’s consulting room or couch.

I would think at least 20 people have said to me at different times, “Brother Prince, it’s all right to cast out demons, but don’t do it in public.” And I’ll tell you, there’s a good deal of pressure along that particular line. Especially when this ministry first developed, very influential people who could open or close certain doors of ministry approached me along this line.

And I said to myself, “I’ll think it over before I make a decision. And if I’m doing the wrong thing, I want to be teachable, and I want to adjust.” But this led me specifically to examine the ministry of Jesus. And the more I examined it, the more I saw that Jesus regularly did it in public. It was not like a psychiatrist taking people into a concealed or closed room, lying them down on a couch, and listening to all their problems hour by hour. It was not that type of atmosphere. It was not that type of procedure.

On another occasion, in a certain place where I regularly ministered, I started a particular night, Friday night, for a deliverance service. And we saw many, many people delivered. But after a while, it dried up. And I didn’t have any liberty from God to go on with that. And when I sought the Lord about it, as I understood it, the Lord showed me that He did not want it put off in a corner as something that had to be done under cover. That it was part of the total ministry of the gospel, and it was nothing to be ashamed of, and that it should be done just as openly as healing or the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or any other aspect of the full gospel ministry. And as far as I’m concerned, that is so clearly established in Scripture that I do not intend to depart from it. And if I have to choose between offending God or offending man, in the last resort, I’d rather offend man and have God on my side because I’ve discovered God is faithful.

Let us look also at what Jesus said in Luke 13:32. This was fairly near the close of His earthly ministry. And the Pharisees came to Him and warned Him, and they were hypocritical about their warning. “Get away because Herod’s planning to kill you.” And Jesus refused to yield to this motivation of fear. And He said unto them,

“Go ye and tell that fox, Herod, ‘Behold, I cast out demons, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’”

I have to go on doing what God sent me to do. What did God send me to do? Cast out demons, heal the sick, and I’m going to do it till my ministry ends.

He began that way, He continued that way, and He ended that way. I was talking to the editor of a well-known Christian journal, which I will not mention by name, because he asked me to do an article on this subject about three years ago. And I had several meetings with him because he wanted to be sure that what I said was acceptable. And I was talking to him about the ministry of Jesus in this respect, and he’s a very respected figure in the fundamentalist world. And I said, “I suppose, actually, if you look at the account in the Gospels, Jesus must have spent at least a quarter of His time casting evil spirits out of people.” And he said, “That’s an underestimate.” And really, it is. Probably, He did this more than any other single aspect of His ministry.

Where did they all come from? Well, that’s not exactly our business. But I’ll tell you one thing, there are just as many in the world today as there were in the day of Jesus. They haven’t diminished. And just as many people need deliverance today as needed it in the time of Jesus.