Why do exorcists ask demons to reveal their names?

You should expect as much. Most everyone obeys the King more quickly than they obey the King's representative two- or three- times removed.

And you'll recall that even Jesus noted that some demons were harder to cast out than others.

“Maybe we worship a different Jesus.”

That’s a real possibility.

2 Corinthians 11:4
For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

“Mine destroyed death by dying on the Cross and rising on the third day. I’m sorry yours didn’t.”

This is why it is important to follow scriptures rather than just going by whatever you feel to be true:

1 Corinthians 15:26
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Jesus defeated death by His death and resurrection. He has not yet destroyed death.

But more germane to the argument, you are making claims about speaking to the deceased by applying future events to the present. Neither the living believers here on earth, nor the spirits of departed believers have yet received their incorruptible, resurrected bodies.

“Breaks the Body of Christ into pieces, huh? I don’t think so.”

That’s a straw man argument. I’ve stated already that believers in Heaven, though deceased, remain part of the body of Christ. And it is true that they live unto God.

But there is a difference between being separated and divided. People are separated by time and distance in this life. This is why I already pointed out that you do not use telepathy to update your spouse about an added grocery item that is needed. We use cell phones.

Again, as I have already pointed out, and you ignored, Peter and Paul described their future deaths as “departing”. And in both passages I cited, both apostles acknowledged that their departure would render them unable to continue in their teaching ministry with the exception of things they had preserved in writing.

So your accusation is false.

“So on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus conversed with Moses and Elijah, was he sinning gravely? Just setting a spectacularly bad example for us? What, exactly?”

Again, you twist my words, as you do the scriptures. Here is exactly what I said: “The only one in Heaven with a resurrected body is Jesus. Others are spiritually present but their bodies are in the grave awaiting the resurrection. If you speak to someone who is dead and in a coffin at a funeral, they don’t hear you. Only God has the power to speak to the dead and be heard.” And: “You have not one single example of Jesus, the apostles, or any other people of the Bible who are examples of faith, who prayed to the dead. “

So you’re claiming the transfiguration is an “example” for us to follow of praying to the dead?

First of all, Elijah and Moses appeared bodily. These were not ghosts. Elijah never died. Elijah was transported away by God in a manner similar to Enoch, who also never died. And Moses had a similar “departure”. He was not permitted to “cross over” the Jordan river because he had disobeyed God. God showed him the promised land from a mountain top, he died, and God buried him. No one knows where. And the next time we see these two men is here with Christ.

We have many other dead saints who appeared to others at Christ’s death and resurrection:

Matthew 27:50-53
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Both the transfiguration and this event are connected with Christ’s death and resurrection. And none of them were detached spirits of dead people. The dead were raised bodily. Their graves had to split open for them to come out. These are not apparitions or ghosts. And they are not communicating telepathically.

Secondly, you and I are not Christ. Christ forgave sins, but He also commanded the lame to walk. Which one is easier? It is easy for anyone to say the words “your sins are forgiven you”. But it is easy because such a “miracle” does not require any proof or verification. So, if you are able to speak to a dead saint at his grave, and command him to come forth, and he does so, I will concede that it is ok to talk with him.

The prayer to images and to spirits of the departed are exactly what occultic and idolatrous religions do. And there is not a single positive example of doing such in the Bible. Only negative. Only warnings and commands not to do this.

Thirdly, your analogy to the transfiguration contradicts your premise. You identify this as an “example for us” to follow. But read it to see where the disciples spoke with either Elijah or Moses. When Peter suggested making tents for Elijah, Moses, and Jesus, how did God respond?

Matthew 17:1-8
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

There is the answer: Jesus ONLY!

It is quite a pernicious doctrine that seeks to supplement the sufficiency of Christ for salvation, prayer, and worship. The Gospel is not a message of faith in Christ + Moses, or Christ + Peter, or Christ + Mary. The Gospel commands to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who has died that we can speak to?

Jesus ONLY!

Who has died that we need to listen to?

Jesus ONLY!

Not Elijah. Not Moses. Not Mary. Not Joseph.

Who is the Man who died, was raised again with an incorruptible body, ascended to Heaven, and is seated at God’s right hand?

Jesus ONLY!

Don’t know what happened to my paragraphs:

“And you have no scripture to support the notion that everything there is to know is in the scriptures.”

We are not talking about knowledge outside of the scope of scripture. We are discussing so-called knowledge that contradicts the scriptures. The knowledge of aerodynamic flight is not identified in scripture. However, it also does not conflict with anything we know from scripture.

You appeal to some subjective experience and knowledge outside of the scope of scripture as if it could supersede the authority of God’s commandments. And this very thing is addressed in the teachings of Christ in scripture.

Isaiah 8:20
To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Ezekiel 2:7
You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.

Mark 7:7-9
And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men —the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do... you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

John 12:48
He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

I am not offended. I feel deep pity for you. I shudder to think of the tremendous judgment that you are rushing headlong toward. I pray that somehow God might soften your heart to His word.

God’s Spirit will not always strive with men. He is striving with you to turn from destruction. You are fighting Him as you press hard toward the fire of eternal wrath. His wrath may at any moment fall upon the unrepentant person who hardens his heart to the truth.

If you will not listen, at least I have laid out the case plainly for those who have ears to hear it.

I have earnestly asked God and pleaded that if I am in error, He will show me. I fear God. I do NOT want to receive the judgment that awaits false teachers. He continues to confirm the authority of His word.

Have you asked God to teach you and show you if you are in error? Are you willing to hear Him and accept His correction?

John 7:17
If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.

“we are discussing knowledge that contradicts your ridiculously narrow and mistaken interpretation of scripture”

Did I miss something? I don’t remember you using any scripture. Just arguments and opinions.

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Excellent compilation!

It will fall on deaf ears.

They are being sent strong delusion.
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“Did I miss something?”

I’m not going to touch that line.

“I don’t remember you using any scripture.”

No point. You think everything there is to know is in scripture.

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>> “we are discussing knowledge that contradicts your ridiculously narrow and mistaken interpretation of scripture” <<

There is not one word to be found in the scriptures that indicates any need for “interpretation.”

The words are plain, and need only reading to understand them.

Interpreters are of their Father, Satan.
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“You think everything there is to know is in scripture.”

That’s not true. I already gave examples of extra-biblical knowledge. Aerodynamics is one.

You keep trying to distract from the scriptures. And that is quite revealing.

“There is not one word to be found in the scriptures that indicates any need for “interpretation.”

That might lead one to ask why you impose interpretations that contradict their meaning.

“The words are plain, and need only reading to understand them.”

Why, then, do you have such a terribly tragic misunderstanding of them?

The one thing that people are really good at is getting things wrong. Were that not so, there wouldn’t be several thousand versions.

The fact is that most of us are in no way smart or holy enough to understand any significant part of the Bible on our own. The idea that we are comes from the same being who told Adam and Eve that they would be as gods if they defied God.

Speaking of defying God, does your sect have female “clergy?” Despite 1st Corinthians 14:34-37: Let your women keep silence in the churches - for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. But if they would learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church.

Sects with female “clergy” don’t mind defying one scripture that actually is clear, spitting in God’s face, while insisting that people with whom God has directly communicated are wrong.

Given the number of people who have communicated with saints, angels, and even our Lord, your denials can only be seen as Pride.

“That’s not true. I already gave examples of extra-biblical knowledge. Aerodynamics is one.”

You really should have understood that I was talking about spiritual matters, not temporal. I mean, really. You should have seen that.

“You really should have understood that I was talking about spiritual matters, not temporal.”

Extra-biblical knowledge, whether spiritual or natural, can not contradict what is revealed in the scriptures.

Galatians 1:8
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Idolatry is forbidden and condemned by God throughout scriptures, from the Pentateuch through Revelation. Extra-biblical revelation that switches the Gospel — which command repentance and turning from idolatry — to another gospel which embraces it, is going to incur the Divine judgment that has been pronounced against it in scripture.

The call of the Gospel is not to slap a different, Christian-sounding name on the pantheon of false deities worshipped down through the ages in the form of images. It is not a call to pray to images or spirits, but to God only.

Claims otherwise are not extra-biblical, but anti-biblical.

Yeah, yeah, whatever it is that you want to fling back in God’s face, just call it idolatry.

I’m done here.

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Yours is the typical Nicolaitan POV, which is why Yeshua denounced all the nicolaitan churches in his “letters to the churches.”
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Road apples.

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Dust shaken and falling.

Head’em up - Move’em out!
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Interesting book.

I read it after you posted it on another thread.

“whatever it is that you want to fling back in God’s face, just call it idolatry”

Outlandish. Maybe it is offensive to the deities that receive worship through statues images. But those aren’t real gods. They’re impostors.

1 Corinthians 8:4-6
Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

1 Corinthians 10:20
Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

Exodus 20:4-5
You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.

When people bow to images, offer incense, flowers, food, money, etc. to those images, pray to those images, it is idolatry.

Ezekiel 8:11-12
And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’”

Ezekiel 16:15-19
“But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. Also My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.

1 Kings 19:18
Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

God is not being insulted by me calling these activities idolatry. That message comes from Him, not me.

Applying Christian labels to these actions does not change what it is.

Revelation 2:20
Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

God said not to do it. He said it is an abomination. He warned us to flee from it. He never said to ignore His word and go by our feelings about it.

1 John 5:20-21
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.