Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

If, by "talking to spirits", the question is referring (as seems to be indicated by the verse cited in the question) to the ability of Christians to exorcise or drive out various types of spirits from individuals through the use of verbal commands (as recounted in the gospels and in the book of Acts), I would say that, although evil spiritual forces under the control and direction of Satan undoubtedly continue to exist, the means of dealing with them for Christians today -- as indicated by guidance contained in the teaching epistles of the New Testament (Romans through Jude) -- is not through those types of verbal commands (which those epistles neither mention nor exhort Christians to use), but by employing the various aspects of the "full armor" of God that is available to every believer, as described by Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18.

The need for the act of communicating with such spirits has been superseded by the practices of evangelism and discipleship, and (in my opinion) attempting to engage in or achieve such communication (even with an intent of driving those spirits out) is a negative action that should be avoided, in order to prevent any involvement with those forces, in accordance with commands given in multiple New Testament passages from multiple authors, such as Paul (Ephesians 4:27), James (James 4:7), and Peter (1 Peter 5:8). (The case of the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-17) serves as an example to me in this regard.) 

Christians are also given the ability to "be transformed by the renewing of [their] minds" (Ephesians 4:23) in order to do away with ungodly thoughts and habits, which again does not involve a need for the casting out of spirits, but is a personal choice of action that believers can make through God's grace with the help of the Holy Spirit.

August 09 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report