That was the thrust of what WE were talking about. You got caught denying that you said... what you said. Don't try and move the goalposts to justify yourself.
No, as I clearly stated, too many are hung up on the "possession vs. obsession" red herring, and that is merely one reason why they're ineffective when it comes to casting out devils. This is what the OP is trying to suss out and this is what you should be pursuing rather than attempting to bolster your ego.
Well, that gives us about a 90% chance that you're in a cult. Who are you affiliated with, if you don't mind saying?
"us"? How magnanimous of you. And "affiliated with"? Surely, you're joking. Reminds me of the seven sons of Sceva:
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. (Acts 19:13-16)
Who do you think Sceva was "affiliated with, if you don't mind saying?"
I gave you the task to verify for yourself in my last post.
You gave no one anything but Greek grief, 'cause that's all you got. I don't apologize for refusing to dance for you; I bow to the King and the King only.
Moving beyond the pettifogging and sophistry, Hobie's OP asked:
So why do we not see [casting out of devils] today, is it because of unbelief and lack of prayer and fasting, or are we so deep in sin and in darkness, we are not given this?
Both.
I've recently read Angelina's "Sanctify Yourself - Six-Part Series." It is an easy read and highlights the requirement for
sanctification. As with unbelief and lack of prayer and fasting, when one is harboring sin, he has rendered himself ineffective at spiritual warfare. While prayer and fasting are top-tier weapons in the battle, if one is harboring sin, then one can never fight victoriously. There are plenty of satanists who regularly pray and fast when they go into battle; if believers had the same moxie, they would be able to engage far more effectively.
Is the Holy Spirit present here on the earth? Yes. Are there devils present here on the earth? Yes. Both are here; they both occupy the same sphere. Imagine that.
There are devils (aka demons) outside and there are demons inside. Moving on the theme of
sanctification, the following focuses on demons that are inside the body, inside the flesh.
You're never gonna get delivered unless to take it to a certain level. If you just acknowledge your sin, that's not enough. If you confess it, and that's all you do, that's not enough. You actually need to turn away from the behavior (i.e. repent); you actually have to fight the tendencies that are giving that demon a hold in your body, or it won't come out. People don't know what behavior they're doing that's feeding these demons. Over time, other believers can start to see their behavior, and stronger believers can help them to identify where they're bound. When this is done, many people respond by saying, "I didn't realize that what I was doing was demonic. Thank you for pointing that out." Obviously, there are others who bail out because they want to keep their demons, they're offended, they don't want to change the way they behave. Building a base of strong believers is vital, so that when people come in to your group who are demonized, they can't stay that way because you've built a core of good people who are mature in Christ. This is what most "churches" and "Christian" forums never do and, as a result, they will never ever have a strong ministry.
Ironically, this is exactly what Satan fights against. The devil fights against getting that first five or ten people in that one location to start a ministry because he knows all about the foundation that you build on. Christ taught about building on a good foundation. Christ is our rock; if we don't build our foundation on him, eventually it's gonna fall apart.
We always have to take heed that we don't become one of those who fell apart. We always have to be humble and watch ourselves so we don't go off-track, because many people who thought they had a good ministry ended up getting destroyed by Satan. When we ask for a revelation of how these demons affect us, we get that knowledge from God alone. I wouldn't otherwise know this, if I hadn't suffered and then prayed to God and asked him to show me how to overcome the demons that I had.
This has been my calling in life, to hit rock bottom, learn how to deal with and overcome these demons, and teach other people how to do the same thing. In James 1:5, we learn that if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God who is giving to all liberally. So every time I had an issue, there were many times I was confused and I didn't know why I was suffering and I had to go take a walk and pray to God and genuinely ask him in faith to teach me how to get out of the situation that I was in. There was no one else there to teach me. There comes a time when you have to get your wisdom from the Holy Spirit. So when I got that wisdom and applied it and it worked, I began to teach it to others.
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? (Luke 11:11). This is Jesus letting us know that God the Father always wants to give us good things, but he also wants us to ask for those good things. When you're in a jam, and you don't know how to get delivered, you don't know how to get free, you need to ask. People forget to ask God. They sit there just waiting for God to do it for them, day after day. They go for months, even years, and never actually admit they're lost.
This is how God has chosen to interact with his people. God has chosen to let his people wander off into dark places to glorify himself by bringing them back out of those dark places. This is the creation we're living in. I didn't make it up, folks. I didn't make all this; God the Father did, and his Son. And if he wants us to interact with him in this way, and we don't want that, then shame on us because we're missing out on a whole bunch of blessings.
...continued...
Uh... yes, we were. You 2 posts earlier:
