The Exorcist's Bestiary

All exorcists eventually have to face a question: Why has God created a world in which demons can harass us? There are several correct answers to this question, but the one I will focus on here is an answer that has resounded for me:

Just as our bodies feel pain to make us aware that we need physical healing, so do our spirits feel pain to make us aware that we need spiritual healing. That is to say that demonic harassment makes us aware of the deep spiritual and emotional wounds we cannot see.

God has not created a paradigm for demons as much as we have created it for ourselves. Sin is sometimes pictured in the Bible as an entity with whom every human (except for Jesus) has partnered in some capacity. Adam and Eve started the trend, and we have continued it. Our cooperation with Sin/Satan/demons has more to say about us than it does about God.

But God gets creative with this dynamic. As the old expression goes, God allows us to “have our cake and eat it too,” hoping that the increased cooperation with Sin will eventually cause us enough pain to turn and run from it. Paul acknowledged this technique himself when he had to call a Christian to account for having sex with his stepmom. Paul’s instructions were to “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” In other words, if he’s going to openly live like Satan in such a severe way, then turn him over to Satan so he can experience the total weight of his sin. The pain he experiences there will hopefully be enough to drive him away from Sin so that he might repent and be found on the right side of things on judgment day.

Through this technique, God turns Sin against itself. This is more often how God works than many realize. In his detailed two-volume work, The Crucifixion of the Warrior God, theologian Greg Boyd says,

Jesus’s sacrificial death on Calvary teaches us that God judges sin and defeats evil simply by withdrawing his merciful hand, thereby allowing sinners to suffer the consequences of their sin and wisely causing evil to self-destruct …. We have seen that God’s Aikido-like way of judging sin and defeating evil is reflected throughout the ministry and teachings of Jesus as well as throughout the writings of the NT. We have seen this mode of judgment is also confirmed in the multitude of passages that equate God’s “wrath” with his withdrawal and with his turning people over to suffer the destructive consequences of their sin. We have further seen God’s non-violent way of judging sin and defeating evil confirmed in the organic relationship between sin and punishment that permeates the OT. And, finally, we have seen God’s Aikido-like way of responding to sin and defeating evil strongly confirmed in the multitude of passages that depict sin boomeranging back on sinners, that speak of people punishing themselves with their sin, and that in various ways portray sin and evil as self-destructive. (849-850)

Every addict is aware of this dynamic. Most are not desperate enough to enter into recovery until their sin has hit a new height and their lives have hit a new low. The core principles of Anonymous groups realize that we’re stuck until we realize that our “lives had become unmanageable,” and “that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”

This is why I don’t go around kicking demons out willy-nilly. If a person really wants freedom from a demon, then they often need help healing their spirit. In my model of exorcism, I create sessions for the Holy Spirit to address the many layers of spiritual pain that need to be healed so that the demons can be extracted fully. Once we discover these themes in their life, we can practice overcoming them until the Holy Spirit deems that the time has come to remove the demons.

The Demonic Thorn of Paul

While this may be an unpopular suggestion, I suggest that Paul underwent such a situation. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, he says

to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

The word messenger here is angelos in Greek—the same word we translate as angel. I submit the idea that Paul was dealing with a demon. Once he noticed the effects of the demon, he reached out to God for answers on how to remove it. Because Paul sensed that this spiritual scenario was happening to keep him humble, perhaps he was dealing with a spirit of pride. To overcome the thorn, he had to learn to be content with weakness and not let pride go to his head. Such pride blinded him before he became a Christian, and he had to put up with a lot of rejection and drama after his conversion, causing him to really have to fight for himself. Add to this his incredible spiritual experiences and we can see multiple reasons that Paul may have had to learn a lesson in humility. Without the stinging pain of the demonic thorn, pride could have really gone to Paul’s head, and we could have been left with a very different church leader. Without the demonic harassment, Paul may not have become aware of his spiritual wound. The demon is being used against itself.

God does not tempt us to sin. He is not hopeful that our situation will get worse. Indeed, he has nothing to do with our sin—that’s a broken dynamic we have chosen to pursue. However, God does have a way of using the enemy against itself so that their efforts self-implode. Once we repent, God can turn evil around for good and write a redemption story out of it so that “all things work together for good.”

This is the heavy work of exorcists, counselors, therapists, and recovery groups. We’re all in this together.