PROLOGUE

  • “We bind you, Satan, in the name of Jesus!”
  • “I bind you, demon of adultery, in Jesus’s name!”
  • “Demon of lust, I bind you, in Jesus’s holy name!”
  • “Lord, we loose this city from Satan’s power, and bind his control over it, in Jesus’s precious name!”
  • “We take authority and loose the Spirit in this assembly, in the name of Jesus!”

How many times have you heard “prayers” or “affirmations” like those above being uttered by those who claim to be ‘Christians’ and their assemblies today? Such utterances are simply taken for granted in the world of many today as being a vital component of spiritual warfare. Vast numbers of books litter Christian bookshops instructing people on how to cast out demons and “bind” and “loose” the demonic realm. And the “prayers” above just roll off people’s tongues, with never a doubt about whether or not they are doing something which the Lord expects of them, or even if what they say is of any relevance to anything whatsoever in the universe (which it mostly is not)! The “binding and loosing” of demons is simply taken for granted as a valid Christian activity. But is it?

Over the years, I have already examined the cult-like phenomenon of so-called “Deliverance” ministries in many other articles and books about such ministries in particular and about spiritual abuse in general. In one of those articles, from some twenty years ago, I reproduced the testimony given to me by a lady concerning the abuse she had suffered at the hands of these so-called “Deliverance” ministries which had almost destroyed her. She referred to the practice of “binding and loosing” a number of times. In the following quotation are some examples of what she wrote:

“I was scared because of all these ancestral demons. It’s so horrible because you don’t know when [the deliverance counsellors] can fit you in for the next session. Meanwhile, you are told to ‘bind them down each day’. How scary this is. Very scary indeed. You imagine what they may look like and whereabouts in your body are they hiding. I would look at my face in the mirror and wonder if they were behind my eyes… Another time I was told that there were witchcraft covens involved in my life in the spirit realm so I was given a list on a piece of paper each day to follow so I could bind the controlling covens… I can personally testify to doing this with the team of leaders at Glyndley Manor [the home of Ellel Ministries in the South of England.]. We walked around the grounds standing in a circle. Some thought that they saw fire. We were praying in tongues, binding and loosing the spirits that had been on the land before and then we did it in the house going through all the rooms and corridors”.

Unfortunately, this is typical of the spurious ‘spiritual’ activity that many professing ‘Christians’ are encouraged to practise today, especially in the ‘charismania’ section. In doing so, they become lost in the strange, nether regions of a quasi-paganism — immersed in a dark, spooky hinterland of pseudo-psychology, mind-games, fear and superstition which is about as far removed from the life in Christ as one can get. This murky world of spiritist activity is endemic in the ‘Christian’ scene today, so much of which has come to resemble a bizarre cult rather than the Christ-centred fellowships envisaged in Scripture.

“Christian” Superstition

I remember an occasion when a ‘Christian’ who had come to my house for a meal refused to even enter a certain room because we had a small metal elephant for an ornament. Because it originated from India, she believed that it would be infused with some evil power which could then be transferred to her across the room in a Bluetooth-like manner. On another occasion, I met a young woman who had been instructed by her so-called “deliverance counsellor” to “pray over” every orifice of her body each night before going to sleep in order to protect them from being penetrated by demons. (When I told her that each pore of her skin represents an orifice, and that she would therefore have to be praying for a very long time in order to do the job properly, she began to realise the ludicrousness of the instructions!). Any possible demons lurking with evil intent also had to be “bound” individually each night. Another man I met told me that every morning he would visualise putting on a complete set of armour for spiritual protection against demons, doing the actions of putting it on with his hands and arms; and then before going to bed he would remove it all and place it on a chair next to his bed. This involves a complete failure to perceive the metaphorical nature of the instructions in the Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10‑17, and what the armour there refers to. So many today speak about the need to “bind the demons” which are alleged to rule over their city, town, or locality before they can evangelize it or it will not work. This is normal life for so many professing ‘Christians’ today. But it is a load of superstitious pagan nonsense achieving nothing except making themselves the laughing-stock of demons who must run rings round them! Their whole lives revolve around binding demons, always looking over their shoulders, always wondering if there is another demon under the bed or in their bodies or darting up an orifice which has to be dealt with. And somehow there are always more. What an awful life of bondage that is! It has nothing whatsoever to do with the genuine Christian life. Have they never read, “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (First Letter of John, chapter 4, verse 4)? Frankly, this approach to “binding” and “loosing” is humanistic faithless idiocy, disbelieving the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to protect and preserve.

One of the chief purposes of the Diakrisis Project is “holding out a hand of rescue to those who suffer psychological and spiritual manipulation in the religious scene”. This article is being written in order to release people from such manipulative fear and the cultish superstition generated within those circles which advocate the “binding and loosing” of demons.

I have wept many times — sometimes in frustration, sometimes in despair — at the discovery of how hurt, abused and confused so many Christians are today, either by their fellow believers or by their so-called “elders”. Over the years, many have come to me broken by such impostors. The teachings which currently abound on the subject of demons in most corners of the Christian scene have caused more hurt and confusion than any others (with the possible exception of the all-too-common equally nonsensical teaching that everyone has a right to be completely healed of all diseases). It is high time that this pseudo-demonology was exposed for the fraud that it is. One wonders how many more bleeding souls it is going to take before that happens. (On this note, it would be advisable to read my article on “deliverance” (https://diakrisis-project.com/2022/02/15/delivered-from-evil-is-exorcism-ever-necessary-for-the-disciple-of-christ/ ) and my recent book about “Signs, Wonders & Divine Revelation” (https://diakrisis-project.com/2023/05/13/new-book-signs-wonders-divine-revelation-the-gifts-of-the-spirit-their-abuses-in-todays-churches/ ), which deals in detail with the use of dangerous psychological manipulations posing as spiritual activity.

The Proliferation of False Teaching via the Internet

Although there are many benefits which can be gained from the internet, one of its principal drawbacks is the ease with which any Tom, Dick, Harry, Gail, Steve or Barbara can build a website filled with their own brand of false teaching and spread their mess across the entire globe in an instant. It reminds me of Paul saying that “all the Athenians and the foreigners visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new” (Book of Acts, chapter 17, verse 21) — ‘seed-pickers’ I call them. In modern lingo, they are known as “those who are always picking up fag-ends” — those who latch onto any new craze with gusto, without considering if it resembles the truth and is in sync with God’s law. Never before in history has such widespread instant proliferation been so possible. This has certainly been the case with the pseudo-demonology which is so prevalent today. If you plug “binding and loosing” into your search engine you will be confronted with pages and pages of delusional writings which will take you “away with the fairies”. The following quotation — a typical internet example of the common teaching on “binding and loosing” — comes from the “Christian Online Magazine”:

“Early on, when I was casting out evil spirits, I got into a little trouble. I wasn’t binding the evil spirit before I cast him out. I don’t know at the times [sic] I would go home after church and feel the presence of the same devil I just cast out or rebuked. Sometimes I would have to call a friend to help me run the devil off before I could go to bed. Then…God spoke to me about binding. God said, “Bind the devil before you cast him out.” I thought, “God, why didn’t you tell me this before?” But it was right in the Book the whole time. I should have known that you must first bind the strong man before you kick him out of the house. (Mark 3:27)”.

http://www.starwire.com/cc/article/0,,PTID42281_CHID147904_CIID1339612,00.html

The unwarranted assumption is simply made here that the Lord Jesus, when He spoke of binding “the strong man” (a text I will be examining further below), was giving carte blanche to every believer to go round binding demons. The thinking in these circles is that (and I quote) “Binding is like a temporary spiritual handcuffing. You can bind a demon spirit, much like tying something up with rope or chains. You cannot bind a person’s free will, but you can bind the demons affecting or influencing that person” (from https://www.greatbiblestudy.com/deliverance-ministry/binding-and-loosing/ ). We can see another typical internet example of the popular “binding and loosing” teaching on demons in the following claims:

“By Binding we stop demonic activity. By Loosing we send away evil spirits that torment us and plan for our downfall, to specific places for designated periods and we release angelic hosts to accomplish positive effects for us. Jesus called these tools the “Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” John, the Revelator, called them the “Keys of David.” With their use we are able to shut doors so that no man can open them and open doors that no man can shut. Our ignorance of using these tools of Redemption has cost the Christian community dearly”.

https://web.archive.org/web/20040504205723/http://www.geocities.com/~bethyeshua/binding/binding1.html

We see here that this couple think they are restoring to the church the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven by teaching people to bind and loose demons. These people believe that after many centuries of disuse they have only just rediscovered some powerful tools which can be used in order to wage spiritual warfare. But is this true? Is that what is really meant by “binding and loosing” in Scripture?

As Close to Blasphemy as One Can Get

On that same professing ‘Christian’ website (on the following link: https://web.archive.org/web/20050211041246/http://www.geocities.com/~bethyeshua/binding/chapter1.html ), one can read a statement which reveals the underlying doctrine which makes them believe that they have a mandate to carry out these practices. We read there that “Jesus did not possess anything in His soul or flesh that you as a believer do not have also!”. Now this is as close to blasphemy as one can get. It is a very common belief among professing Christians today that “we can do everything that Jesus did because we have the same power that He had”. In fact, it is a standard teaching in many Charismatic and Pentecostal circles. But even a moment’s reflection would show the folly of such an idea. Have you ever walked on water? Have you turned water into wine? Have you raised someone from the dead? Have you made a shrivelled, withered, limb instantly become a full-sized and whole one? Have you taken the punishment for sin in your body and soul not only for your own sins but also for the sins of all those billions over time who have come to Christ and who will come to Him? Of course not! The Lord Jesus Christ is very different from us in body and soul. Radically so. Christ is the Son of God by nature , whereas we are only the children of God by adoption.

Throughout His entire time on earth, He was always God as well as man. It is true that all the fullness of His glory was temporarily and voluntarily hidden from human eyes (which is the thrust of the passage in the Letter to the Philippians, chapter 2, verses 5-8, although it occasionally shone out to the disciples, Gospel of Matthew, chapter 17, verses 2-9; Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verses 2-10; Gospel of Luke, chapter 9, verses 29-36; Second Letter of Peter, chapter 1, verses 16-18). But that “hiddenness” of the fullness of His glory does not at all mean that the Lord Jesus relinquished His divinity during His incarnation.

To imagine that we, as disciples of Christ, can go round doing exactly what Jesus did is nothing less than a complete failure to understand the nature of what it means to be an Apostle. [See the relevant section about Apostleship in my book, “Signs, Wonders and Divine Revelation”, pages 62-68]. In fact, I believe that this is tantamount to the exercise of satanism within the church. The very heart of the Fall of Man is the false belief that we can “be like God” or conduct ourselves “in the manner of gods” (Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 5). Thus, to say that “Jesus did not possess anything in His soul or flesh that you as a believer do not have also!” is not only a satanic lie but it is also an open invitation to cultism of the most pompous and hubristic nature.

It is this idea which lies behind so many people running around today imagining that they are casting out demons and binding and loosing them. But it is all based on a serious misunderstanding and the wilful twisting of Scripture. There are two passages in the New Testament Scriptures which make specific reference to ”binding and loosing”. These are: Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 18-19 and chapter 18, verses 15-20. One other passage has a bearing on these: Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 20-23. I propose to examine these Scriptures in the course of this article further below. However, there is no point in trying to understand those Scriptures unless we have first exercised the right method of biblical interpretation. If we just give them a cursory reading and then — because of our preconceived ideas — immediately make them apply to how one handles demons, then we will go seriously astray. But if we have a reliable way of interpreting Scripture, we will not flounder so easily. The reason why so much misunderstanding has arisen about the verses which speak of ”binding and loosing” is because of a complete failure to apply fail-safe rules of Bible interpretation. Another word for Bible interpretation is “hermeneutics”; and faulty hermeneutics is what lies at the heart of all errors, heresies and cults. Let us develop this theme.

I.  INTERPRETING THE BIBLE CORRECTLY

Before we even begin to discuss what is meant by “binding and loosing” in the Bible, let us first discover what we can call “The Five Golden Rules of Biblical Hermeneutics”, which can be applied not only to the passages about “binding and loosing” but also to the entire Bible.

It is not enough to apply only one, two, three or four of these rules to any given verse or verses of Scripture which one is seeking to understand. All five rules must have been applied in order to be sure that you are not giving Scripture some unwarranted private interpretation. It may be that one or more of these Golden Rules is not actually relevant in every instance; but it cannot be stressed enough how important it is at least to have gone through the process of applying them. “The Five Golden Rules of Bible Interpretation” are:

1. Always Interpret a Passage of Scripture Taking Note of its Cultural Context

By this, I mean that we should take into account people’s thoughts, beliefs, social customs and forms, actions, figures of speech, and physical elements. If we ignore the cultural context, especially in the Old Testament, we can superimpose the way that we view things today onto historical practices.

As but one example, the Book of Ruth cannot be properly interpreted — neither can its place in Scripture be fully discerned — unless we understand the position of Boaz as “kinsman-redeemer”, and what is known as Levirate Law, in which a man had both the right to marry his dead brother’s widow and also the obligation to provide for her. Understanding the Book of Ruth in its cultural context enables us to interpret the fullness of its meaning and place in Scripture. Ruth represents those who come to the Lord and are saved by Him. Boaz is a beautiful illustration of the Lord Jesus Christ who became humanity’s Kinsman-Redeemer and who makes things right before God the Father for those who trust in Him. Boaz redeemed Ruth at a price. Christ is our near kinsman (in terms of His humanity). Boaz fulfilled the three conditions of “Redemption”, of “Kinsman-Redeemership”: He must be a near relative; He must be able to pay; he must be willing to pay. Understanding these cultural aspects enable us to understand Ruth and Boaz as real historical people who symbolize what has often been called the “Romance of Redemption”. Christ is our near kinsman (in terms of His humanity) who was not only able but also willing to pay.

Thus, if we do not see this book in its cultural context we will miss much of its multi-dimensionality. Always interpret a passage of Scripture taking note of its cultural context, if that is pertinent.

2. Always Interpret a Passage of Scripture According to its Historical Context

Not only in terms of earth history but especially in terms of redemptive history. Answers to questions such as “Should Christians eat pork?” or “Should Christians eat meat at all?”, “Do Christians need to celebrate Passover?”, “Should Christians wage war on infidels?” and so on, can all be answered correctly when we interpret Scripture according to its historical context.

As another example of many, if the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 44-45, were seen in their proper historical context, rather than as an example for all believers for all time, then they could be better understood and would prevent many cultish Christian situations being set up.

3. Always Interpret a Passage of Scripture According to its Immediate Biblical Context

How often have people picked out an isolated verse or phrase of Scripture at random in order to prove a case. It is almost as if they had used a pin on the page! As an example, let us apply this rule to a classic example of Bible twisting which takes place concerning our Lord’s warning: “Do no judge not, lest you be judged yourself” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 1). Many (generally unbelievers) conveniently assume that the Lord Jesus means there that we should never judge others in any way at all. However, a careful reading of the biblical context shows that He is referring specifically to people who judge someone else for something of which they are an even bigger culprit (as one can plainly see in verses 3-5 of that same chapter)! In other words, the Lord Jesus is not saying that we should never judge anyone at all, but that we should not indulge in hypocritical judgement — which is very different. One only understands this by seeing the single verse in its surrounding biblical context instead of being taken as an isolated verse.

4. Always Interpret a ‘Dark’ or Hard-to-Understand Passage of Scripture in the Light of Other Scriptures which plainly have a bearing on it

We should never take a verse or passage in isolation of other verses or passages elsewhere which qualify or modify it in some way. In the case of any controversial verse or passage, always look for what I call “control texts” which contain a clearly authoritative statement dealing with the same subject. These “controls” will provide the necessary light by which the controversial passage should be interpreted.

For example, to continue interpreting the Matthew 7 passage above and applying this rule, the entire process of “judging” can also be understood in the light of other passages elsewhere in the Bible which speak of it. For example, we are commanded to “test the spirits” to see if they are of demonic or divine origin (First Letter of John, chapter 4, verse 1). That involves judgement. The Lord Jesus warns us that we must be careful not to be deceived by false teachers and false prophets (Gospel of Luke, chapter 21, verse 8). That involves judgement. The Lord also scolds people who do not “discern the signs of the times” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verse 3; Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verses 56-57). That involves judgement — specifically it involves judgement of other people. Someone operating in the power of a demonic spirit, or who is a false prophet, or who fails to discern the signs of the times and thus becomes an unreliable observer, must be judged as such and treated as such. Thus, the Lord must not have been referring to that kind of judgement when He said, “Judge not, that you be not judged”. Scripture must be used to interpret Scripture.

Another example of this need for “control texts” would be the statement in the Letter of James, chapter 2, verse 24 that  “a man is justified by his deeds, and not by faith alone”. This could, by itself in isolation, be taken as proof that one is saved by one’s own actions and that salvation is not exclusively a work of God. However, when we take into account other Scriptures which plainly have a bearing on the subject, the true meaning comes to light. Paul says that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8-9). There is nothing contradictory here. For when we see that James says in context, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds” (chapter 2, verse 18), and “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (chapter 2, verse 26), we can see that he is really saying that someone’s justification before God is made known by his or her deeds — a fact which the Lord Jesus elaborates on in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31-46. True good deeds are an outward sign of personal salvation.

How necessary it is to interpret Scripture with Scripture, using these types of “control texts” and how much foolishness would be avoided if we did so!

5. Always Interpret a Passage of Scripture with an Eye on Orthodox Tradition in History

We should always ask ourselves “What have others more wise than me said about this Scripture?” Are you the first one in the last 2000 years to have come up with some extraordinary theory on the passage? If so, then the chances are that you are out of line. So many foolish ideas about the Bible began with a denial or rejection of the fact that “no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own personal interpretation” (Second Letter of Peter, chapter 1, verse 20). We must always take into account what wise men from previous times have said on any of the sacred texts to ensure that we are not riding on a wave of idiosyncratic hermeneutics.

If these “Five Golden Rules of Hermeneutics” had been routinely employed throughout Church history, an enormous amount of heartache and foolishness could have been avoided. It is sobering to think of the mayhem in the church during the past century or so which has resulted from a failure to correctly interpret such phrases as “times of refreshing” (Book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 19), or “for these are not drunk, as you suppose…” (Book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 15). To this could be added the failure to correctly interpret the phrase “bind and loose”.

Having highlighted those basic rules for Bible interpretation, we then need to go on and apply them to the Lord Jesus’s statements about “binding” and “loosing”.

II.  WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY TEACHES ABOUT BINDING AND LOOSING     

The first thing which Scripture teaches us on this subject is that

1. The Lord Jesus is the Only One Who Can Bind Satan

We need to be absolutely clear that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the sole binder of Satan, not us! We have no permission, warrant, ability or even necessity to “bind” Satan or, in fact, any other demon. The reason for this is that both Satan and his fellow-demons have already been ‘bound’, put under restraint, by Christ as a result of what He achieved on the Cross. Let us go into this more deeply (as we always should)…

Although the evil effects of the Fall are still very much with us throughout the Gospel Age, the powers of the satanic realm and its ability to influence human affairs in the wake of Christ’s absolute victory have been greatly transformed. Throughout the Gospel Age, Satan has carried on his God-permitted warfare with humanity from his stronghold in “the air” (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 2); but this has been severely restricted in comparison with the  dominion over “the nations” that he enjoyed prior to the triumphant Ascension of Christ. Although it is true that Satan is still highly active in the affairs of humans (and especially in those of the Church and the individual believer, First Letter of Peter, chapter 5, verse 8; Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 27; cf. Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 11; Letter of James, chapter 4, verse 7), there are a number of significant Scriptures which reveal that he has been “bound” or placed under special restraint in the wake of Christ’s victory — not completely, obviously, but to a certain degree. Let us examine these texts.


For example, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, verse 29; cf. Gospel of Mark, chapter 3, verse 29). As is clear from the context (compare the whole passage in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, verses 22-29), Jesus was here describing the victorious aim of His earthly mission, which was set in motion at the scene of the Temptation in the wilderness (Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, verses 1-13), consolidated through the mission work of Jesus and the disciples, and finally fulfilled at Calvary. He came to bind the “strong man”, Satan, so that the privileges of despotic power over humanity, previously held by Satan and his fallen angelic helpers, what we now know as demons, would be confiscated and transferred to the new King of Kings, and subsequently to His labourers who would preach the Gospel with great success following the Ascension (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 18-19; Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 2; Letter to the Galatians, chapter 1, verse 4; Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 14; Book of Psalms, 68, verse 18; Book of Isiah, chapter 53, verse 12a; Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 7-16). The Lord Jesus plainly referred to this process when He said: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder” (Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, verses 21-22).

In this way, Satan’s “house”, or domain — sphere of influence — has been well and truly plundered as souls among the nations (Gentiles) began to be delivered from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of Christ (Letter to the Colossians, chapter 1, verse 13). From the time of the victory on the cross, spiritual supremacy over this planet was to be in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 18-20).

In Jerusalem, shortly before His arrest, Jesus predicted His death on the Cross and said, “But for this purpose I came to this hour” (Gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 27). To what purpose was He referring? Four verses later He tells us: “Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (Gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 31). The term “cast out” is most appropriate. In the same way that Jesus “cast out” demons from individual people during His earthly walk, so He also banished, evicted, the Prince of Demons from his then-current sphere of activity as the “ruler of this world” (rulership which he had earned ‘legally’, and which was permitted to him, through his victory over our first parents in Eden). However, from the moment that Jesus’s mission on earth was fulfilled, Satan legally ceased to be its ruler. The end of the last Gospel record is the final time that he is referred to as such a “ruler” (Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 30). Throughout the rest of the New Testament, Satan is never once referred to as being the “ruler of the world”. Instead, he assumes the title of “ruler of the power of the air” (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 2), having been cast out of heaven in the wake of the Cross (Book of Revelation, chapter 12, verse 10; Gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 31), condemned to haunt the other-dimensional ‘etheric envelope’ corresponding to the atmosphere of this earth. In this way, Satan was bound and the world had been loosed from the all-encompassing influence of Satan as a preparation for the Gospel Age, during which his former “goods” (humans) would be “plundered” (drawn away from his sphere by the Gospel).

Another of Satan’s titles in the wake of the Cross is “the god of this age/world” (Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 4), which does not mean that he is an actual god, but is a reference to the fact that the heathen world in this evil age (from which Christians have been spiritually delivered, Letter to the Galatians, chapter 1, verse 4), effectively deifies Satan through its allegiance to the Lie that he planted in world history in Eden — the Lie that God is not God and that Satan is the real world ruler (climaxing in the revealing of the Antichrist on earth). And when John says that “the whole world lies under the power of the wicked one” (First Letter of John, chapter 5, verse 19), the imagery does not imply any sort of legitimate rulership but, rather, the ongoing mesmerisation of the world with the elemental principles of the satanic Lie. Satan is still a powerful force in the world, but he is not its legitimate prince or ruler; and because he knows that his time is limited, he is filled with a rage which he vents on the Church (Book of Revelation, chapter 12, verses 12-17).

In other words, Satan is a dethroned vagrant without a kingdom, wandering about in a state of vindictive perplexity, with strictly limited powers as he awaits the inevitable coming judgement. He is bound; and he was bound by the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us go even further into this binding of Satan.

The Binding of Satan

A number of other Scriptures make reference to this “binding” or restraining of Satan which our Lord promised would be fulfilled in the wake of His victory on the Cross. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reveals that the return of Christ will not happen until two events have taken place in history: first, the final great apostasy, followed by the revealing of the “man of lawlessness” (Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 3) — a personal figure who will be the final and ultimate manifestation of Antichrist in a single man (cf. First Letter of John, chapter 2, verse 18). A few verses later, Paul speaks of a powerful restraining factor which prevents this ultimate event from taking place before its appointed time (Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 6). The restraint here involves the Divinely-appointed holding back of the full exercise of demonic “power, signs, and lying wonders” by the Satan-inspired ‘man of lawlessness’, coupled with a universal belief in the satanic Lie (Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 9-11) — all of which will be released from that restraint at a certain point in history. The context clearly implies that this release of the demonic powers from their former restriction (being bound) will take place shortly before the Second Coming of Christ (Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 8). Therefore that binding/restraint is currently already in force.

The evidence of history itself bears out this “binding” or restraining of Satan throughout the Gospel Age in this manner. One has only to compare pre-Christian civilisations with those of the last two millennia to see the extraordinary difference between the two eras. Although there have been empires of a sort since the Ascension of Christ, they have been on a much smaller scale than their counterparts of the pre-Christian era; and those which have threatened to become vast, monolithic, international empires (e.g., Napoleon, Hitler, etc.) have been constrained before they could properly exercise their full-blown global ambitions.

Throughout the present Gospel Age, there have been many restraints which have prevented Satan from achieving his aim of gathering the nations into that final global confederacy. The shifting interests of narrow national causes and the divisions of language ordained by God as an outworking of His original judgement at Babel, coupled with an international Gospel ministry, have (until recently) all worked against creating the conditions for the global confederacy sought by the satanic realm. Although Satan still has enormous power amongst the nations of the world, the exercise of that power has been forced to operate within the confines of this Gospel Age. This is because, until recent times, something has been restraining the ability of Satan to deceive the nations in the manner in which his unbridled lusts would have it — a matter which is hardly surprising in view of the fact that “all authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Jesus in the wake of the cross (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verse 18), after which Satan was cast out from his usurped rulership of the world (Gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 31; Book of Revelation, chapter 12, verses 7-9).

To sum up: in the wake of the Cross, Satan ceased to be the “ruler of the world” and it is in this sense that he is said to be bound. Prior to Christ’s incarnation (i.e., in times B.C.), the nations were living in utter spiritual darkness and debauchery as the Lord’s grace was confined almost exclusively to His chosen people at that time, the theocratic nation of Israel. But since the Lord Jesus’ ascension, Satan has been comparatively bound, unable to wield the same global power and influence, as spiritual priority has been given to the worldwide spread of the Gospel to all nations and the building of the church. However, he has not been slow in devising a strategy to compensate for that loss of authority which he originally wielded as ruler of the world. For in the wake of his restriction, Satan has been operating through the leavening factor of the politico-economic and religious/philosophical systems of the world, as symbolised by the two beasts in the Book of Revelation, chapter 13. In fact, the Scripture expressly states concerning Satan that, in the Gospel Age, “his power, his throne, and great authority” was given to the beast which rose out of the sea (the sea being the symbol of the restless political tumult of the nations, Book of Revelation, chapter 13, verse 2b; cf. chapter 13, verse 12). In other words, while Satan has been bound, restricted and under restraint, he has been working covertly through the world government of the nations, which, in turn, provide the power and authority behind the development of antichristian world religion, philosophy and science, symbolised by the second beast (Book of Revelation, chapter 13, verses 11-12). They have mainly been undercurrents and occultic because of the overt restraints of the demonic realm.

This condition will prevail until the approach of the close of the age, at which time Satan and his fellow demons will, under the sovereignty of God, be “released for a little while” from their restraint, in order to fulfil His divine purposes, so as to galvanise the final manifestation of Antichrist in the ‘man of lawlessness’ (Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 3-12; First Letter of John, chapter 2, verse 18). This evil horde will capitalise on the well-prepared, universal, religious/philosophical movement (Book of Revelation, chapter 13, verses 11ff.) and global political confederacy (Book of Revelation, chapter 13, verses 1-8; chapter 17, verses 12-18), so that the previously-restrained “mystery of lawlessness” can then come to its fullness and ripeness for judgement, as indeed it will.

In other words, once the witness of the Church has been completed and the full number of the elect has been saved, the “rulers of the darkness of this age”, under their leader Satan, will be unleashed from their restraint and permitted to achieve their ambition for a brief time (Book of Revelation, chapter 11, verse 7, where the “two witnesses” symbolize the witness and testimony of the Gospel through the Church). But note that all of this takes place under the sovereignty of God and in the cause of Christ. At the cross He binds the “strong man” (Satan), and then for a “little while” He looses the “strong man” as the precursor to the final judgement on the old adversary. That binding and loosing is in the Lord’s power and under His authority, and its purpose is judgmental (compare Second Letter of Peter, chapter 2, verse 4; Letter of Jude, chapter 6). The Lord is the only One who has the power to bind Satan and his demons, and He already did so more than two thousand years ago! That is precisely what the Book of Revelation, chapter 20, verses 1-3 are all about. The thousand years of Satan being bound in Revelation 20 is a symbolic representation of the situation regarding Satan during the entire Gospel Age. It is an outworking of Christ’s promise in Matthew, 12, verse 29: “How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house”. This does not mean that Satan and his demonic hordes have been completely powerless. It means that he was restrained from being able to “deceive the nations” into an all-out global war against the saints during the time that it has been necessary to rescue souls from his holding power. We see that clearly in the Book of Revelation, chapter 20, verse 3, where it is specifically said that Satan was put under restraint “so that he could not deceive the nations“ while the Gospel was doing its work throughout this age. Then, at the end of this age (the thousand years, symbolically expressed), we see that Satan will be released from his restraint and then indeed “go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to assemble them for battle”, surrounding the camp of the saints, the Ekklesia (Book of Revelation, chapter 20, verses 7-9; cf. Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 6-8). That will mark the great tribulation for the saints.

So you see that Revelation 20 has nothing whatsoever to do with a one-thousand-year reign of Christ on earth from Jerusalem after His return, as so many popularly believe. The Scofield Bible has much to answer for before God. If you own one, or any other Dispensationalist treatise, please jettison it into the dustbin where it belongs. (For further deep understanding of this, please see the appropriate section in my book on the Book of Revelation, which you can download freely from here: https://diakrisis-project.com/2022/06/10/the-essential-apocalypse-making-sense-of-the-book-of-revelation-is-ready-for-download/ . I strongly recommend reading this book because it covers much which is relevant to the development of a stable and grounded faith).

This is not to say that we do not need to practice spiritual warfare. On the contrary, at this point in history especially, even though Satan is still under his restraint, spiritual warfare must be waged with great urgency. However, we have to be sure that we are practising it according to the manner genuinely prescribed in the Bible rather than developing a communally-reinforced fantasy about messing around with demons which plays straight into Satan’s hands. Thus, if we are to be real demon-busters, we are to “expose the works of darkness” (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 11), we are to “resist the devil and he will flee from us” (Letter of James, chapter 4, verse 7), to exercise truth, righteousness, Gospel-spreading, deep faith, the protection of our salvation, the right use of our ever-growing knowledge of the Sacred Texts, praying in accordance with the Holy Spirit and keeping alert to all the wiles of the demonic realm and their activities through world affairs (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10-18). Above all, our spiritual warfare consists of rescuing souls “from the dominion of darkness” and bringing them “into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son” (Letter to the Colossians, chapter 1, verse 13). All of that is the real spiritual warfare, not the nonsense taught by “deliverance ministries” and the accompanying phony binding and loosing brigade.

The second thing which the Bible teaches about “binding” and loosing” is that

2.  It Has Nothing to Do with Personally Engaging with Demons but Has Everything to Do with the Church    

There are two principal New Testament Bible texts which specifically refer to “binding” and “loosing”:

1) “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 18-19

2) “If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses’. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them”.

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, verses 15-20

Firstly, we should note that there are two different contexts here in which “binding” and “loosing” are mentioned. The first (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 18-19) involves the commissioning of the Apostle Peter with “the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. The Lord Jesus is indeed the One with “the keys of Hades and of Death” (Book of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 18). He alone holds the keys to the power of life and death. In spiritual terms it is the preaching of the Gospel on earth and the response of its hearers which determines whether one has death or life. The power of binding and loosing in Matthew 16 involves the power which is intrinsic in the proclamation of the Gospel, which was first declared by Peter at Pentecost in the Book of Acts, chapter 2. The parallel and explanatory (control) text for this is in the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 20-23:

“Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”.

Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 20-23

Thus, in the context of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 18-19, this ”binding” and “loosing” are the equivalent of “retaining” and “forgiving” sins, a process which comes to fruition in the preaching of the Gospel. To be still in one’s sins — outside of Christ — is to be bound; and to come to Christ and receive the forgiveness of sins is to be loosed. Only the Gospel has the power to loose the bound from their bondage, or to confirm them in their sins:

“For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are an odour of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life”.

Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 2, verses 15-16

That is the symbolic significance of Lazarus, who — after being raised from the dead — “came out [of the tomb] bound hand and foot with graveclothes”, upon which the Lord Jesus said: “Loose him, and let him go” (Gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 43-44). The Lord calls us through the Gospel: “Lazarus, come forth!” and then we (unable to save ourselves and being hopelessly enslaved to sin and Satan) are “loosed” from the seemingly hopeless bondage of sin and death and set free.

The other passage involving “binding” and “loosing” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, verses 15-20) is in a different context altogether. The context there plainly involves the way that the body of Christ deals with those who, through wilful sin, cause problems in the churches. Both the contexts of “binding and loosing” — Gospel of Matthew, chapters 16 and 18 — concern the church, which is the kingdom of heaven on earth. The former involves the teaching of the church and the latter involves the discipline of the church. To be within the true church (the company of the saved) is to be loosed; to be outside the true church is to be bound. The church holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven — as given by the Lord Jesus to Peter — both for those who have not yet come to Christ and for those who have come into the church but who are behaving so terribly that they have to be treated “like a heathen and a tax collector” and must sadly be formally excommunicated (“delivered to Satan”) in the fervent hope that they will later be restored (see, for example, First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 1-5; Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 2, verses 5-8).

Therefore, we can see that the passages about binding and loosing in Scripture have nothing whatsoever to do with engaging with demons and the need to practice the binding and loosing of them before casting them out. That is all just modern church-twaddle and is an erroneous and destructive fantasy which has been concocted by the cult-like “deliverance” ministries of today. Instead, it is the church, the body of Christ, which holds the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven to free people from bondage with the freedom in Christ which comes through the Gospel and also through the maintenance of church purity. That is the double-work of “binding and loosing”, the real work of it — a far cry indeed from the absolute nonsense which is being taught in so many churches today.

Most of that nonsense in the spiritual warfare realm stems from the teachings of C. Peter Wagner’s “Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare” theology and George Otis’ Sentinel Group and so-called “Transformational Christianity”, which was a fusion of Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism and Ecumenism, all of which filtered down in the churches through the New Apostolic Reformation, John Wimber’s Vineyard Ministry, and many other wacky charismatic organizations and gatherings. (You can read about some of this in my book, “Discerning the Signs of the Times”, which also clearly shows the surprising connections with the Central Intelligence Agency, especially in the section, “Controlling the Charismatic Mind”, pages 142-150. You can download it freely here: https://diakrisis-project.com/2022/09/14/new-book-discerning-the-signs-of-the-times/ . I believe that the reading of this book will greatly enlighten many concerning the direction of so much of what calls itself “Christianity” today).

Suffice it to say that the Bible texts which teach about “binding” and “loosing” are very far removed from the way that these words are practised in the vast plethora of subjective-experience-based churches of today and propagated on so many internet sites.

EPILOGUE

The main purpose of this brief article has been to “loose” any disciples from the bondage and superstition which has so gripped them in recent years. There seems to be a complete failure to grasp what it means to be adopted into God’s family and the stability and respite (genuine times of refreshing) which that brings.

When you become a disciple of Christ, you have been taken out of the dark, chaotic orphanage of this world and brought into the safe, all-embracing arms of the family of God by the Spirit of adoption. Being adopted into God’s family involves mighty privileges which many professing believers seem to have missed completely. God’s family is the exact opposite of a dysfunctional family. It provides stability and security and love. Yet to see and hear so many today, one would think that one had entered an unstaffed lunatic asylum or torture chamber rather than the stately halls and fragrance-filled gardens of the church of Christ which, incidentally, should be the suburbs of heaven.

Only a recapturing of the richness and cleanliness of healthy teaching, the impregnability of self-discipline and a willingness to submit to constructive hermeneutics can rectify this madness. With the Lord’s help, may we be part of some kind of rescue operation and ‘extraction’ ministry — though I am aware that I say this in the midst of what is surely a great apostasy in the visible church from the objective truth of true spirituality into the subjective experience of a mystical ersatz banality. 😢

.

.

.

.

© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2023
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]