Laying Hands on People with an Evil Spirit

Luke 4, verses 40 and 41.

“Now when the sun was setting...”

Why was ‘when the sun was setting’? Because it was the Sabbath, and until the sun set, they weren’t allowed to carry people around.

“When the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out, and saying, ‘Thou art Christ, the Son of God!’”

Notice that he laid his hands on every one of them individually.

“And evil spirits came out of many of them.”

Many people will tell you that you should never lay hands on someone who has an evil spirit. I don't want to be in any way offend anybody, but that is simply a Pentecostal tradition. It's one of the things that have been passed down amongst Pentecostal people without ever being analyzed in the light of scripture.

And here we have a clear pattern in Jesus. He laid his hands on every one of them, and unclean spirits came out of many of them. Now, this is a parallel passage to Matthew 8:16, where it says he cast out the spirits with his word. Some people say, “Well, then he didn't lay his hands on them.” But Luke 4 says he laid his hands on them as well as casting out the spirits with his word.

Now, we look also in Matthew 8:14 and 15.

“When Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her.”

Notice, he touched her hand first, and then the fever left her. Now, you look in the parallel passage describing the same incident in Luke 4, verses 38 and 39. It says,

“He arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her.”

Now, I've heard many preachers say, “You see, because it was an evil spirit, he rebuked it, but he didn't touch her.” But if you look at Matthew's Gospel, you'll see that first he put his hand on her, then the fever left her. So, again, this is a careless reading of scripture.

And we could look also in Luke 13 for another clear example of this. Luke 13, verses 11 through 13:

“And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.”

Notice that she had a physical condition, which we would call curvature of the spine. She could not straighten her spine out, and the scripture says specifically it was due to an evil spirit of infirmity.

“And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, ‘Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.’ And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight.”

Notice that he ministered deliverance to her physically by laying hands on her, and the scripture says she had an evil spirit. So, this theory that you must never lay hands on people who have evil spirits is not supported by scripture. It is, in fact, a tradition. However, I want to emphasize that laying hands on generally is a thing that should only be done with great caution. First Timothy 5:22, we just look at those words for a moment. The apostle Paul said,

“Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins.”

Now, this is primarily in reference to ordaining elders, but the principle applies for every purpose of laying on of hands. It is extremely dangerous to do it unless you do it with caution and you know what you're doing because you can become partaker of something evil that's in another person.

I experienced that once when I was newly saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. There was an American soldier in Cairo, and I was in a prayer group with him, and he was sobbing all the time. Every time he prayed, he sobbed. I felt so sorry for that man, I went over and laid my hands on him. You know what happened to me? Every time I prayed, I sobbed for about 2 weeks. And then I shook this thing off and got rid of it, but I realized later that something that was in him had transferred itself to me because I'd laid hands on him rashly, without knowing what I was doing. So, I want to urge you never lay hands rashly on anybody, and never let anybody lay hands rashly on you. That's the other side of the story. Many times, not many times, but several times, people have said to me, “Brother Prince, I would like to lay hands on you.” And I say, “Well, I'm sorry, but I don't feel that that's the Lord's leading,” because it's a two-way business. These emotional scenes in Pentecostal churches where people are seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit, about half a dozen people lay hands on them till the person disappears below a sea of hands, in my opinion, is 101% unscriptural and very foolish.

We'll go on to my seventh point, and this is very important. Again, notice in Mark, chapter 1, that the man was in the synagogue. The man who needed deliverance, he was under the ministry of Jesus. He was submitting to teaching when deliverance came to him. And I do not find that Jesus ever ran after anybody and sought to deliver them unless they would submit themselves to his ministry. The other clear example is in Mark 5:6, a very clear example of this. This Gadarene demoniac, who was naked, couldn't be bound with chains. When he saw Jesus, he did one thing, about the only thing he could do. Says,

“When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him.”

He fell at his feet. He submitted himself to the authority of Jesus. The demons in him fought, but his will was to submit to Jesus. And, normally speaking, there is no scriptural precedent, and it is totally in vain to seek to minister deliverance to people who will not submit themselves to the ministry of the word and the authority of Jesus Christ. Now, there may be occasional exceptions, but on the whole, the pattern is that the person needing deliverance must submit to the ministry of the word and to the authority of the person who is ministering deliverance to them. I have discovered, for instance, in my own experience, if people do not have confidence in me, I absolutely cannot help.

I may desire to help them, but if they have any kind of attitude of reserve or suspicion, or in many cases, resentment, I am unable to minister help to them. It's a comical thing how often when a person comes into a meeting needing deliverance, the demon in them will turn them in absolutely unreasonable resentment against the preacher. And this has happened so many times. I tell people when I'm preaching, I say, “Now, there could be many reasons for you to resent me, and some of them might be very strong reasons. But if you feel an unreasoning resentment for me that's not based on anything I've said or done, then bear in mind that's the demon in you, and he doesn't want you to come to me for help, and that's his way of keeping you from me.”

But those people have to resist that thing and come and submit themselves to my ministry, or whoever it may be who's ministering deliverance. It is not scriptural to run after people trying to deliver them before they are willing to submit to the ministry that will bring deliverance to them.