Teneisha Johnson
BEWARE OF STRANGE FIRE: THE SEVEN SONS OF SCEVA
The Bible provides abundant evidence of the existence of demons.
Satan’s evil angels are known in Scripture as demons.
We know from certain Scriptures that Satan fell from heaven and other angelic beings (demons) shared in Satan’s fall and became evil (Ezekiel 28:18; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 12:4).
The word for demons in the Greek language is daimon and is found more than 75 times in the Greek New Testament.
In each case it is translated by the word devil in the King James Version.
In Jesus Christ’s teachings and ministry He often confronted demons and their activities, i.e., demonic possession of individuals (Matthew 12:22-29, 15:22-28, 25:41; Mark 5:1-16).
Christ demonstrated His power over demons and, furthermore, He gave His disciples power to cast out demons (Matthew 10:1).
Demons attack in a number of ways.
Examples provided in the Bible include:
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The Spread of False Doctrine
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Spiritual Warfare
One of the many stories in the bible which spoke of demons is the Seven Sons of Sceva.
There were some religious hypocrites in Ephesus who pretended to have special, miracle-working powers.
Sceva, who according to my studies is identified as “a Jewish chief priest” (Acts 19:14), had seven sons who went around driving out evil spirits.
Apparently it all started when the seven sons saw the success that Paul had in exorcising demons and began using a new formula while invoking the name of Jesus.
They would say to the demon, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out!”
Unfortunately one day the ploy of Sceva’s seven sons backfired.
A demon they were trying to cast out refused, saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15). Lol!
Imagine that!
Clearly this demon was well informed.
The demon then turned on them viciously and the demon-possessed man jumped on them and overpowered them all.
He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Wow!
The seven sons of Sceva were no match for the demonic power they were toying with.
In the end, the result of the demon’s attack on the seven sons of Sceva was that everyone in Ephesus was seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor (Acts 19:17).
In this story we learn several things from the seven sons of Sceva.
First, demons are dangerously powerful spirit beings—much stronger than we—who can cause the people they possess to do incredibly violent and uncontrollable things.
Second, demons recognize valid authority, and they fear God (see James 2:19)
The demon in Acts 19 says that it knows Jesus and Paul (one of Jesus’ chosen apostles.
It refused to recognize any other authority in Ephesus.
The demon’s question “who are you?” is insulting in its simplicity.
Obviously they had no authority.
Third, demons cannot be cast out via a formula or a ritual.
The power belongs to Jesus alone and the individual he graciously uses to perform His will.
Probably the greatest mistake the seven sons of Sceva made was their failure to realize that Paul was not doing the exorcisms.
Jesus Christ was doing the exorcisms through Paul.
The problem faced by the seven sons of Sceva was that they had no power over the demon they confronted.
They were not apostles.
More than that, as religious as they were, they had no relationship with God.
They were not believers in Christ.
They did not possess the power or the presence of the Holy Spirit.
There was nothing in them or their words that would cause a demon to pay them the slightest heed.
I believe in essence there was no Scriptures planted in their Spirit for the Holy Spirit to work with.
Regrettably, a very proud demon in the story apparently got fed up with their “grand stage show” and gave them a beating they would remember to the end of time.
