The Exorcist's Bestiary

To get a demon out, you first need to figure out why it’s there so you can address the themes it’s capitalizing on and help the participant heal through that pain in their life. As you coach the participant to address those themes, the demons tend to push back harder than usual, trying to make you stop. Contrary to what you might think, this can actually be helpful. Every attack a demon makes becomes information for you to work off of. As you see what they’re up to, you can get all the more specific about what they’re after.

It’s especially helpful when they overplay their hand. When they get really angry, they sometimes hurl insulting statements that actually help discern what’s going on. Other times, they’ll jump the shark when trying to tempt the participant, which wakes the participant up. They felt stuck in the lower levels of a temptation, but now that the demon has offered a mega temptation that was 10 steps past what they might have considered, the participant begins to see the demon for what it is.

Other times, the demon overplays its hand by talking too much. I recall a time when a demon was being snarky with me and used the word “we.”

“So there’s more than just you, huh?” I said.

The demon immediately went silent, and his eyes got deeply annoyed. He hadn’t been more careful with his words and overplayed his hand. I could tell the others were not going to be happy with him.

In my particular form of deliverance ministry, I aim to address the Holy Spirit, not the demons. But in most deliverance cases, you’ll eventually have to address the demons. When you do, discernment is crucial. When we walk with wisdom, we can spot the moments where they overplay their hand.

I think of Gandalf’s words here: “Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself…”