Long.story.short.
My wife’s cousin was Baptist, but became Pentecostal. Every bad thing in life she attributes to Satan.
That’s certainly not a healthy attitude. Satan is not hiding behind every tree, and even if he were, it is nothing that should make the redeemed of the Lord afraid. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
Perhaps—and I say this tentatively because I don’t know all the details and personalities involved, perhaps—having come from a Baptist background, your wife’s cousin is suddenly in an environment where the reality of demonic forces are not just believed but talked about much more often and sometimes less cautiously but always more enthusiastically. Compared to many Baptists, I suspect Pentecostals might appear quite superstitious in that many of us have had moments where things have happened, whether in a church service or in a random place, that have left us shaking our heads in wonder or has left the hair on the back of our necks standing up.
Unlike in the Catholic Church, Pentecostals are not shy about conducting exorcisms right in the middle of a church service if the opportunity presents itself. Also, we have to become familiar when things just don’t seem right given the often subtle warning signs. If you are in a church service, and someone starts to violently shake, how do you know if that person is demon possessed, physically/mentally ill, or simply feeling the Holy Spirit? These are questions anyone would have, logically, so people have to be educated about these things.
So, her behavior could just be that she’s fascinated a little too much with a whole dimension of the Christian faith that she was never exposed to in her previous church. If that’s the case, hopefully with time and proper guidance, she will mature in her understanding and her odd behavior will lessen.
Now she has taken it upon herself to “call out” Satan and “defeat” him with some annoiting oil that she bought at a local Christian supply store.
When it came time for her to call him out, the oil was thrown from her hand and smashed on the floor, spilling everywhere, but she plans to buy more oil soon and attempt this again. Is it just me, or is this type of behavior dangerous? Won’t it invite more demons in?
I’m confused. Who is she trying to call Satan out of? Herself or someone else?
If herself, it would be odd from the viewpoint of a Pentecostal. We believe that born again Christians cannot be demon possessed because the Holy Spirit already dwells in them. There is a level of demonic oppression that can come to believers who give way to Satan through sin, but entire possession of a Christian by an evil spirit is, in our minds, impossible.
Either way,demonic possession or oppression is not something the possessed person can really solve on their own. They need someone strong in the faith and full of the Spirit to cast the demon out.
If she is as new to all this as it sounds, she shouldn’t be exorcising any demon out of anyone. This is really not something for novices.
