Where Do You Send Demons?
Many have asked the question "Where should you send demons after you have cast them out"? I was particularly interested in this as I was concerned about demons lingering in our home after doing Ministry sessions. For the first few years we chose to send them to the abyss because of the fear the demons showed Jesus in Luke 8:31. And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned (Luke 8:30-33, NKJV). This Scripture was about the demoniac who was demonised by Legion. These demons asked Jesus if He was here to torment them before their time and begged not to go to the abyss so Jesus commanded them to go into the herd of swine.
I recently came across a Scripture in Revelation 9 claiming that an Angel was going to unlock the abyss near the end of the tribulation to unleash demonic powers onto the earth. The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. To Him was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them (Revelation 9:1-6, NKJV). Did this mean that various parts of the abyss were locked at present? If so, then was I sending demons to the wrong place. If these demons who are locked up are waiting for God to unleash them during the tribulation then there must be other parts where demons can come and go. What is the point sending them there if they can just come and go. They are obviously a different class to the ones waiting to be unleashed.
With a group of other Christians we decided to ask God where we should send them after they are cast out. This is what He spoke to me: "When you cast out a spirit all you need is a simple direct command to tell it to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. You do not need to tell it where to go as it will not stay there anyway. Does the Bible not say that satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. If you are concerned about demons lingering in your home at the completion of Ministry, simply command all demons to leave your home in the name of Jesus Christ when you are done". I now believe that only God is able to send them to the abyss permanently and this will happen when Jesus returns. If we try it may end up in unnecessary attack!
In most cases of the Bible Jesus never told the demons where to go, in actual fact it was a simple command telling them to leave. When the demons pleaded with Jesus not to send them to the abyss in Luke 8:31, I now believe that they were referring to their fate, of what was to come in the future, as satan and his demons will be locked in there for one thousand years, and then after this the eternal lake of fire! Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (Revelation 20:1:3, NKJV).
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Revelation 20:10, KJV).
I believe that the reason Jesus chose to cast the legion of demons into the pigs was to illustrate to us that we cannot permanently remove demons from the world until He returns. I have heard of other Ministers telling them to go to dry places, but in actual fact, as soon as a demon leaves us, he is in dry places, as we are made up of at least 70% water. The most important thing after a demon is cast out is to fill the empty place left behind with truth, healing and new revelation. The demon who was evicted will always try and return, and if successful bringing with it 7 more wicked than before. “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26, NKJV). Many believe that all they need to do is ask the Holy Spirit to inhabit that area after deliverance, but it is much more than that. We need to have revelation and understanding of the lies, so we can come into agreement with God's truth. That is how we fill the empty space. It is the truth that sets us free. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32, NKJV). Christ's light needs to invade the dark places. Darkness cannot dwell where there is light! And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5, NKJV).
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8, NKJV).
By Tania Francis