THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS

BY FRANK HAMMOND

KINDLE ISBN: 978-089228-369-9

Copyright © 2014.
Impact Christian Books

IM PACT CHRISTIAN BOOKS, INC.

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All passages are from the KING JAMES VERSION unless otherwise
noted.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE POWER TO
CAST OUT DEMONS
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF WARFARE
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT ARE GOD’S
EQUIPPING
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND NOTHING ELSE
RESORTING TO THE VOICE OF DEMONS
FOR GUIDANCE
HOW, THEN, ARE WE TO KNOW THE
STRATEGIES OF THE ENEMY?
TWELVE REASONS NOT TO SPEAK TO
DEMONS
THE OPERATION OF THE GIFT OF
KNOWLEDGE
THE OPERATION OF THE GIFT OF
DISCERNING OF SPIRITS
MY PRAYER FOR YOU
PARTING WORDS
APPENDIX ON MARK 16:9–20
 INTRODUCTION
When God calls us into ministry, whatever that ministry is,
God equips us. This is a fundamental principle in the way God
works in our life.
God has called all of us into spiritual warfare and spiritual
battle. His Church will be a militant Church, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against her. I say this to encourage you in
two ways. First, so that you would know your potential in the
Body of Christ, that you can be equipped by the Holy Spirit to
face whatever challenges are in your life, or your in your family.
Second, I encourage you that the gates of hell are real, the
enemy is real and therefore spiritual warfare is real. God has
given this ministry of spiritual battle not just to me, Frank
Hammond, or to my wife Ida Mae, but to you. You are a soldier,
and because God has called you to be a soldier, he wants to
equip you with spiritual armor and spiritual weapons.
Every believer should be involved in spiritual battle. Let’s
take a quick look at this commission to warfare in Scripture to
back this point up.
In Matthew 10, Jesus commissioned the twelve disciples to
go out and to minister.
 And when he had called unto him his twelve
disciples, he gave them power against unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease.

What is the first task Jesus gives his disciples in this

commission? He gave them power against unclean spirits. He
says “I give you power,” and this is power over unclean spirits
to cast them out. So, the twelve went with the authority that
God had given them and they accomplished that ministry that
God had assigned them.
The identical thing happened in the 10th chapter of Luke
where Jesus commissioned the seventy disciples. How do we
know? Because the first thing they reported back to Jesus was
that demons were subject to them: And the seventy returned
again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto
us through thy name.
Again, the power and authority required for the ministry of
deliverance were given to Jesus’ followers as He commissioned
them. Note that there was not some special ceremony, and no
event that took place for this commission to be valid. All we are
told in Scripture is that the Lord commissioned His followers.
Why? Because the power and authority was already resident in
His name.
Now pay special attention to this. Later on, in Mark 16:17,
Jesus gave the same commission to the entire church: And he
said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature… And these signs shall follow them that
believe; In my name shall they cast out devils First the twelve,
then the seventy, and now the entire Church is being inducted
into God’s fight against demons. What are we to conclude from
these three commissions? Simply that every believer should be
involved in spiritual battle in some form or fashion. You are a
soldier by virtue of your citizenship in the Kingdom of God. He
didn’t just send out one squad out of the church to do a work
of deliverance here and there. He sent 100% of the twelve, and
100% of the seventy and finally 100% of His Church to the
ministry of casting out demons.
All of us should be involved in the ministry of deliverance
in some fashion. When God calls, He equips!
 DEMONSTRATIONS
OF THE POWER TO CAST OUT DEMONS
We read in the first chapter of Mark, where Jesus went into
the synagogue. There was a man present who disrupted the
meeting under the power of an unclean spirit. Jesus rebuked
that spirit and commanded it to leave him.
Now the scribes and the Pharisees who were gathered in
the synagogue that day were amazed at what took place! They
knew about evil spirits. They had methods that they employed
to deal with evil spirits, but they had never seen such
authority. They looked at each other and said “what thing is
this? What kind of new doctrine are we being introduced to
here?” “This man Jesus doesn’t use incantations, he doesn’t
use gimmicks in order to get spirits out of people. He just
speaks to them. He speaks with the word of authority.”
Jesus has given us the same power and the authority to
deal with evil spirits that He demonstrated in the synagogue
that day. And this episode began first and foremost with Jesus
discerning an evil spirit in the man.
In the eighth chapter of Acts it speaks of the ministry of
Philip, the evangelist. It says in verse five:
 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and
preached Christ unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed unto
those things which Philip spake, hearing and
seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came
out of many that were possessed with them: and
many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were
healed.

What a fascinating evangelism technique! It says in the

NIV about the crowd Philip was preaching to that “they all paid
close attention to what he said.” Why? Because, it says, they
saw the miracles that Philip was performing under the anointing
of the Holy Spirit. They saw the “signs that he performed” and
as a result they listened intently to him. The first miracle
mentioned that they saw was deliverance, the casting out of
demons! Evil spirits were crying out and leaving people, and
the torment of those people was ended. Miracles are not
natural happenings, they are supernatural happenings. They
were witnessing a supernatural miracle of deliverance. Philip
was moving in the gifts of the Spirit and lives were being
forever changed. He was equipped for the ministry God called
him to.
The apostle Paul says in 1st Corinthians, in paraphrase, “I
didn’t come before you with eloquent speech and such tactics.
I was feeble in that department. But I, Paul, did come to you in
a demonstration and in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.” So
when Paul went out to minister, he was equipped by God. He
wasn’t trying to convince people intellectually. It was a
spiritual manifestation that followed Paul, and the Holy Spirit
was coming with power, and with convicting miracles to back
him up.
Paul was ministering by the inspiration and the power and
the authority of the spirit of God. And that is what God has
called us to do, to minister in that same fashion.
To repeat, when God calls you to do something He equips
you to do it. You may not be in the forefront, you may not be in
front of people leading and teaching every day about warfare
and the ministry of deliverance, but God has a place for you in
the ranks of His army. And if you will find that place fill that
place, you can know with confidence that God has an
equipping for you. He will give you all that you need. God has
commissioned the whole church to warfare.
Let me give you a personal example of this in my life. When
God called me to preach I said, “Oh, God I can’t do that! I don’t
know how to stand up in front of people. I’m scared and it
makes me nervous when I stand up in front of two or three
people and try to express myself.” I was so timid and shy, I felt
inferior in my abilities. I didn’t even know whether I had
anything to say if I stood up in front of people. Nevertheless, I
obeyed God. Even though it was torturous to begin with, to go
against all the oppression that the enemy was throwing against
me, I found out that God equipped me for what he wanted me
to be and what he wanted me to do.
Along those lines, Ida Mae used to ask me “why do you
sound like the last preacher you heard preach?” You see, I
would listen to other preachers and then I would imitate them
hoping to be successful. Then I learned that all I had to be was
just brother Frank! Thank God I don’t have to be somebody
else; I can be who Christ made me to be.
 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF WARFARE
I want to lay down a few fundamental premises, on the
subject of the equipping of the saints. I am talking to you as a
deliverance people, whom God has called into spiritual warfare
and called into spiritual battle. If I will do what he has called me
to do, and stay within the limits and the boundaries of that,
then I will have my reward and so will you. The first premise,
we have already seen is that God equips us for service. The
second principle I want you to lay hold of is that God awards
us not based on our successes but according to our
faithfulness. He wants all of us to be faithful to our calling.
And everyone has the same basic calling as expressed through
the commission to the Church mentioned earlier. It is, generally
speaking, as we move into this broad commission that we find
our specific, unique ministry.
The next principle I want you to lay hold of is in second
Corinthians 10, where it says:

“the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but

they are mighty in God.”
 This is another premise, a foundational principle I want you
to lay firm hold on, because it is vital to what God’s Spirit is
saying to us in this hour. The weapons we use in spiritual
battle are not fleshly or carnal weapons, but they are mighty,
supernatural weapons from God. They are mighty because they
are divinely bestowed, spiritual weapons. The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal!
You cannot fight the devil with carnal weapons. You
cannot, for instance, use your fist and punch him or his
demons in the nose. We have to instead use the weapons that
God has made available to us, and know that they are mighty
indeed. They are effective. They will work!
Fleshly weapons are not effective against the devil, only
the weapons God has supplied are effective. Right in line with
that principle, in Ephesians chapter 6 Paul says we “wrestle not
against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.”
Our warfare is not against fleshly beings, despite the enemy’s
attempt to convince us otherwise. Our battle is against spiritual
forces at work in people’s lives.
Paul says to put on the whole armor of God, the complete
armor of God, that you may stand against the “wiles of the
devil.” The equipment that God gives to us is not lacking; we
do not have a partial, limited amount of armor, but we have a
full armor. We have all that we need in the battle against the
hosts of hell.
 A verse that gave me great comfort when I first started out
in the deliverance ministry was Luke 10:19. I was so fearful of
the enemy’s retaliation! But then the Lord spoke this verse to
me, and it settled deep in my soul:

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on

serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of
the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt
you.
Never again, from that point onwards, did I have any fear of
the enemy’s power. Jesus told us that we can tread upon the
enemy, even the serpents and scorpions of the demonic
kingdom, and nothing shall hurt us.
 THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
ARE GOD’S EQUIPPING
Now the gifts of the Holy Spirit represents God’s
empowerment to us, as believers. In first Corinthians 12,
beginning in verse seven there comes a listing of the gifts of
the spirit. You see when God says he empowers us, that is not
something nebulous, it’s not something indefinite. God has
said there are channels through which His power will flow.
There are avenues through which His Holy Spirit will operate.
And here, in 1 Cor. 12, He begins to mention these channels
and avenues. They are distributed by the spirit and they are for
the benefit of everyone who is involved, every member of the
body of Christ.
The first two gifts listed are the word of wisdom and the
word of knowledge. Next we find the gifts of faith and healing,
then miracles and prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and
interpretation of tongues. If you count all of those there are
nine supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Let me say this again,
these are the channels by which the Holy Spirit’s power and
authority comes into our life as we are baptized in the Holy
Spirit. We become a spiritually equipped, supernaturally
endowed believer. It is through these gifts that we are
empowered to do the ministry and the work of God, His great
commission.
Right in the middle of that listing is the gift of the
discerning of spirits. This is one of the main gifts needed for
casting out demons and the ministry of deliverance. It is a
powerful weapon that is most needed in the ministry of
spiritual warfare. We must earnestly desire the operation of that
gift!
 THE HOLY SPIRIT AND NOTHING ELSE
Here is another premise. We must rely upon the Holy Spirit
for the ministry of deliverance and nothing else. We must not
lean upon our own understanding, we must not lean upon the
arm of the flesh, or the voice of demons, but we must learn to
rely completely on the Holy Spirit to empower us and to guide
us in all that we do in deliverance and spiritual warfare. Why?
Because if we attempt to minister deliverance without the gifts
of the Spirit, and the empowerment thereof, then it will not be
long until we resort to the flesh for our help. Here is where my
conviction rests.
Somebody asked me once, “Brother Frank, when you begin
to minister to someone with the problem of schizophrenia, as
described in Pigs in the Parlor, with what demon do you
always start?” I said “I don’t start with any particular demon,
because the ministry depends on a case-by-case basis, and I
have to rely on the Holy Spirit for every case.”
Every case of deliverances is separate. You can write
something down and say here’s the format that I will follow.
But when we rely on formula we are not listening to the Holy
Spirit, and we will miss a lot of the things that God wants to say
to us and show us. We are tying our hands by tradition and
not listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
What I’m trying to say is this: become dependent upon the
Holy Spirit! Don’t become dependent upon past ways of
success or anything else. Make the decision, commit to the fact
that you are going to follow the Spirit each time you minister.
Because if you don’t, you will become dependent upon fleshly
ways, in a sense eating “yesterday’s manna.” The things God
gave for yesterday’s ministry were good, just like the manna
received by the Israelites in the wilderness. However, one day
it was good but the next day it was filled with worms and stank.
As a side note, I have seen a lot of fleshly things done in
the name of deliverance. I went to minister to a 12-year-old girl
not long ago, and when the mother brought the girl for
ministry, she wanted to know before we started ministering
“now how are you going to do this?” She was very cautious.
She said the last time she took her daughter to a deliverance
minister, when she got home “her daddy was very upset.” I
asked “why was her daddy upset?” “Well,” she said, “she was
bruised all over her body.” I said “how on earth did that
happen?” “Well,” she said “the deliverance ministry I went to
explained to us that certain demons indwell certain areas of the
body and the way to get them out was to pound on that part of
the body. And so they had pounded on her legs and her back,
and when she got home she had bruises.” This is a completely
unacceptable, and entirely flesh-based (e.g. carnal) form of
ministry. I feel it is important to tell you some of the things that
we have encountered when people have moved away from
God’s Spirit and into the flesh in order to administer
deliverance.
I have heard of instances where, when faced with difficulty
getting a demon out of somebody, the minister will grab the
communion wine and pour it down the person’s throat. They
are resorting not to the word of authority, not to the
empowerment of the Holy Spirit, but to fleshly and carnal
means.
We were in a conference several years ago in Pennsylvania.
Evil spirits took over a young man in the back of the
auditorium. He was a young man in his early 20s, and he was
completely taken over by evil spirits and thrown to the floor.
Ida Mae made her way to the back of the auditorium to see if
she could help, as there were not many counselors in that
meeting. By the time she arrived at the back of the room, she
could not even see the young man because he was covered up
with Bibles. Everybody around him had thrown their Bibles on
top of Him! You know the word of God is the “sword of the
spirit,” right? Yes, but not in this manner. I have seen people
trying to get the devil out of somebody by laying a Bible on
their head, or on their chest. This is a fleshly error. Saints, the
way you use the Word of God is to quote the word of God. Let
the sword of the Spirit come out of your mouth: “thus saith the
Lord!” That’s what Jesus did. He did not throw a scroll at the
devil during the wilderness temptation! He quoted Scripture. If
we don’t, we are apt to fall into fleshly methods.
I’ve seen ministers lay crucifixes on people, spin rosary
beads; all sorts of things. I’ve even heard people do a ritual
chanting of the blood. “The blood, blood, the blood, the blood,
etc.” Now the Scripture says we overcome him, the devil, by
the blood of the Lamb. But you use the weapon of the blood
by telling the devil what the blood of Jesus does, not by
chanting it! “The blood of Jesus has justified this man! The
blood of Jesus sanctifies this man! The blood of Jesus has
redeemed this man! The blood of Jesus has atoned for this
man’s sin! The blood of Jesus has cleansed him!” Tell the
demons what the blood of Jesus means. The blood of Jesus is
just as alive as it was the moment it was shed on Calvary. Do
not let it become a meaningless ritual in your mouth. Tell the
devil what the blood is all about!
In another instance, I saw some people ministering
deliverance to a man, and they kept swallowing air and
burping. They would swallow air and burp, and then swallow
more air and burp. I asked him what was going on, and they
told me they were helping the man get delivered. They said
“We receive the spirits that are in him, and after we have
invited his spirits into us then we then burp them out of us.” I
spent one whole day ministering to a preacher’s wife who had
practiced that, inviting other people’s evil spirits into herself.
That is dangerous stuff, and entirely unscriptural.
I’ve known people who wanted to get rid of an evil spirit
and so they stuck a finger down their throat in order to vomit.
Now, quite often when people are getting deliverance they
might throw up phlegm and mucus, but very (very!) seldom
have I ever seen anyone regurgitate food when they are
getting ministry. Anyhow, you don’t get deliverance by
induced vomiting. This is a fleshly, carnal method and is
therefore of no effect.
I want you to see what the Spirit of God is saying to us
here. If you do not rely upon the Holy Spirit we will become
carnal, fleshly, and will start using fleshly methods trying to get
rid of spiritual beings and it cannot be done that way.
 RESORTING TO THE VOICE OF DEMONS
FOR GUIDANCE
If you do not depend upon the Holy Spirit to guide you in
the ministry of warfare and deliverance you might even find
yourself resorting to the help of demon spirits. I know many
cases where the deliverance minister fell into the trap of calling
upon the evil spirits to guide them and help them with the
ministry of deliverance.
For instance, they say “Now demon, tell me what your name
is, how many are there with you, what is your strategy in this
person’s life?” etc. Now when you do that you are depending
upon the demons to guide the ministry rather than the Lord!
This is why God gave the discerning of spirits, so that we will
not have to talk to evil spirits, or rely on them for information,
but we can get our information from God.
This brings us to another foundational principle. To rely
upon evil spirits rather than upon the Lord is a denial that
God’s help is sufficient. The Holy Spirit is our one supernatural
source, not the unclean spirit, because God is a jealous God.
Some people do not realize how jealous God is. There is a
passage in the Old Testament that tells us that his name is
“jealous.” Now that’s not a sinful kind of jealousy, mind you.
But God has a right to His people. He has created us and he
has redeemed us.
The Scripture says that God is like a husband to us, and we
are the bride of Christ. Jesus is the bridegroom. Now how
would a husband or wife feel if their spouse went somewhere
else to get their needs met? That spouse will become jealous
and they would have a right to be jealous. God will not permit
us to go to any other source other than Himself for wisdom,
knowledge, guidance or power. In fact, He says anyone who
has done that has committed spiritual adultery. That is the
reason we cannot go to evil spirits for knowledge or wisdom.
In the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy there is a listing of
those things which are considered occult. This list includes
“observers of times;” He is talking here about horoscopes and
astrology. It mentions “divination,” as in water witching or
divining metals. He mentions “necromancy,” that is
communicating with evil spirits. He talks about “witchcraft,”
which also involves a communication with evil spirits. God
says these things are an abomination to Him.
In fact He mentions in that context, and tells the Israelites,
that this list of the occult is the reason that He is giving them
the land of Canaan. Because those people, the Canaanites who
had lived in this land, polluted their land and themselves
through seeking the help of demon spirits. That is the reason
God took their inheritance away from them, and gave it to
Israel. He goes on to say that if Israel were to turn to those
things then He would take the land away from them, too! God
says to have communication with evil spirits is an abomination,
and spiritual adultery, and it incurs the wrath of God.
“But,” you say, “this is an exception, I am an exception, and
these are unusual circumstances. So I can lay aside what God
said.” That’s what brought King Saul into trouble, remember?
His back was to the wall, and he was so ready to hear
something from God. But God was not speaking to him. And
instead of correcting his relationship with God so that he could
hear from Him, he went to the witch of Endor for help. He felt
justified in this, because he was under a pressured
circumstance and a very difficult situation. We all know what
happened to Saul as a result of his involvement with the witch
of Endor. He lost his life. The reality is that there are often
things coming up that tempt us to take information from the
evil spirits we are combating. But God says no, don’t do it.
If I were to rely on evil spirits to give me information or to
give me understanding during a deliverance session, then I
would be doing the same thing that a witch does, the same
things that a wizard does, or that a necromancer does, or that a
consultant with the departed dead does. Therefore I would be
an abomination to the Lord!
If we seek light or wisdom or knowledge from evil spirits we
have sought the kingdom of darkness. The Bible says Satan’s
kingdom is the kingdom of darkness. We are to be translated
out of darkness into the kingdom of God’s son, which is a
Kingdom of light. If we are walking with the Lord we are
walking in the light. If you seek understanding from evil spirits
then you have sought light amid darkness. Jesus said on the
sermon on the Mount, if your light be darkness, how great is
that darkness! If the light that you have came from the kingdom
of darkness, you may call it light but God calls it darkness.
This brings us to another foundational principle: to rely
upon evil spirits rather than upon the Lord is a denial that
God’s help is sufficient. This is how the mixture settles into a
person’s life, where someone might say “I will listen a little to
God and a little to evil spirits. And I’m smart enough to sort out
the difference between what’s true and what’s not true.” Evil
spirits, much like their overlord Satan, mix a little truth among
their lies. Sometimes they will even sound like they’re in line
with the word of God. But let me ask the question, does a
deceitful lying spirit ever tell you anything that’s true in order
to help you? No. He’s not trying to help you, he’s trying to
deceive you, distract you, to put you off. His only concern is
hindering the person’s deliverance. And so he gives you a little
bait. When you take the bait, he leads you down a path
somewhere else away from the truth.
So the question becomes is God sufficient? Is God’s
wisdom adequate? Are the gifts of the Spirit enough? If God’s
wisdom and knowledge is not sufficient, then I would rather
not be in the deliverance ministry. I would rather not practice
deliverance than to rely upon the lies and distortion of evil
spirits.
 HOW, THEN, ARE WE TO KNOW
THE STRATEGIES OF THE ENEMY?
In 2 Kings 6, the king of Syria had a problem. He was
coming in battle against God’s people Israel, and every time he
would meet in secret and counsel with his military leaders, it
turned out that the leaders of Israel knew exactly what he was
up to. They knew all of his secret plans. So he decided that
somebody within his inner circle must be a spy, that there was
an informer in his midst.

Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and

took counsel with his servants, saying, In such
and such a place shall be my camp.
And the man of God [Elisha] sent unto the king of
Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a
place; for thither the Syrians are come down.
And the king of Israel sent to the place which the
man of God told him and warned him of, and
saved himself there, not once nor twice.
Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore
troubled for this thing; and he called his servants,
 and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of
us is for the king of Israel?
And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O
king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel,
telleth the king of Israel the words that thou
speakest in thy bedchamber.
How will we then find out what the enemy is up to? How
will we know about his wiles, and the deceitful things that he is
plotting? The Scripture says that we will defeat the devil “in his
gates.” The gates in the Old Testament were where the leaders
drew up their plans for battle. The gates of hell are where the
kingdom of Satan draws up his strategy and his council of war.
Jesus said the “gates of hell” will not prevail against His
Church. This means we will defeat the enemy in his very place
of counsel and strategy. How can we possibly know the
strategy of the enemy? God can tell us! Amen?
Now look in Joshua 9. This occurs when Joshua was
moving into the land of Canaan and conquering his enemies.
There were Gibeonites that came to deceive Joshua. They
pretended that they were from a country far off, because they
knew Joshua was conquering all of the land of the Canaanites.
So they asked Joshua for an agreement that he would not
attack them, to spare them in his conquest. And so they
presented their evidence (in paraphrase): “look at our worn-out
clothes, we traveled so far that even our clothes are worn out
trying to get here.” And “when we started out, we had a fresh
supply of bread, and look at how moldy our bread is. This
proves that we came from a long way away.”

And Joshua made peace with them, and made a

league with them, to let them live: and the princes
of the congregation sware unto them.
Joshua 9:15

Joshua, as great a man as he was, dealt with them in a

simplistic way, by questioning the enemy and taking
information from them. But, you see, they were deceivers and
liars. As great a man as Joshua was, he did not detect this. He
did not discern it because he did not go to God for wisdom and
knowledge.

The Israelites sampled their provisions but did

not inquire of the LORD.
Joshua 9:14

That is where they made their mistake. They sought their

information from the enemy rather than from God.
Many are making the same error today. They’re looking to
the enemy and asking him to tell them what he his strategy is,
rather than seeking the counsel of God and asking Him to show
the ways in which the devil is working to deceive.
 TWELVE REASONS
NOT TO SPEAK TO DEMONS
I have put together a list of 12 reasons why I do not talk to
evil spirits. I think this list supports what we have been saying
so far, that reliance on the Holy Spirit, and not the spirits
speaking through the deliverance candidate, is the only
effective means and sure way to accomplish the great
commission of the Lord.

REAS ON 1
Demons are all liars. Satan is the father of lies, and he is the
head of their kingdom. So, nothing they say can be relied upon.

REAS ON 2
 I have access to truth, all truth. The Holy Spirit is the spirit
of truth, so I don’t need information from evil spirits.

REAS ON 3
God is a jealous God, and I will look to him alone for
wisdom, guidance, knowledge and power.

REAS ON 4
Talking with demons discourages the use of the gifts of the
Holy Spirit. The Spirit says to covet these gifts and Paul
encourages us to stir up the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and to
desire earnestly the gifts. This is a matter of obedience to the
Lord.

REAS ON 5
 Relying upon information coming from demons gives them
the right to direct or control the ministry. You are no longer in
control of the ministry, they are.

REAS ON 6
There is no sound scriptural basis for conversing with
demons.

REAS ON 7
Requiring them to talk through person is inconsiderate of
the person. It is a very de-edifying experience.

REAS ON 8
I must flee the temptation of pride by boasting that I have
talked with demons.
 On this point, a few months ago I heard from a man who
was in the ministry of deliverance. He claimed he was talking to
demons in order to get information from them. They gave him a
lot of information about how their hierarchy was set up, what
their names were, etc. He felt that no one could successfully
minister deliverance unless they had this private information
that came from the mouth of evil spirits, information that he
was now in possession of. He even wrote a book dedicated to
the name of the demon who told him all this.
I found out later that he fell into deep deception which led
to the breakup of his marriage. Saints, there is a pattern here
that we find in the first chapter of Romans. It is that doctrinal
error leads to moral error. That’s the reason we need to keep
ourselves free and clear of every curse of deception. People
who get into doctrinal deception soon fall into immorality and
sexual sin. That’s the pattern; one kind of deception leads to
the other kind of deception.

REAS ON 9
I flee from the possible deception thinking that I have
gained secret, spiritual information.
 REAS ON 10
It is not necessary to gain a person’s deliverance. We have
ministered successfully to thousands of people without talking
to evil spirits. Praise the Lord, the gifts of the Spirit work!

REAS ON 11
Speaking to demons delays or defeats the process of
deliverance, which is their goal.

REAS ON 12
Quoting demons does not build faith. Faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God.
The gift of discerning of spirits makes speaking with evil
spirits totally unnecessary. We need to exercise and cultivate
our faith that God has given what we need to effectively
minister deliverance.
 THE OPERATION OF
THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE
I want to talk to you now about the specific operation of
some of the gifts of the Spirit.
Sometimes the gift of discerning of spirits is confused with
the operation of the gift of knowledge. Many times these two
gifts operate so closely in conjunction with one another that it
may be difficult to separate one entirely from the other. There
will be times that they overlap.
The word of knowledge is an understanding of facts that
we could not know ourselves; a disclosure of certain facts that
were hidden from our own understanding. Sometimes when we
are ministering deliverance God gives words of knowledge, he
tells us facts about this person that they themselves may not
even know. It may have been something that took place when
they were still in their mother’s womb or when they were being
born.
As an example, I remember on one occasion we were
ministering to a boy who had brain damage. He said that he
was not able to function in his mind as thoroughly as he
should be able to, as a normal person would. So he spent two
extra years studying to graduate from high school, he was now
20 years of age, and he had no plans to attend college because
of learning difficulties.
As we began to minister to him God showed us this was
indeed caused by an evil spirit that came in when he was being
born. The picture we got in our mind was of an umbilical cord
being wrapped around his neck and him being strangled at
birth. That deficiency of oxygen caused damage to his brain,
allowed a demon to enter, and that has been his problem ever
since.
So, armed with this word of knowledge, we commanded the
spirit of oxygen deficiency to come out of him. Immediately he
began to gasp for breath. He threw his head back gasping for
breath, his face turning blue, and in a few moments he was
delivered. God healed him so much so that a few months later
he wrote to tell us that he was now applying for college as his
mind was functioning well. He was able to proceed with higher
education. This is an example of the operation of a word of
knowledge.
I remember another instance where we were ministering to a
woman, and the Lord told us quite clearly that she had had an
abortion. We had not seen this woman previously, and had
only been with her a few moments when God told us about the
abortion. Now abortion is a sin, it is a sin that God will forgive.
But she did not know this was a sin, and she did not know to
confess it at all, especially as murder. So when we led her in
that prayer and commanded that spirit of abortion to come out
of her, the spirit actually materialized. It formed in her throat,
the pressure became so intense that the blood vessels actually
burst in her neck and her face from the pressure.
As the spirit materialized, it flew out of her mouth and
plopped into a wastebasket sitting in front of her. We looked in
the wastebasket and there we saw a perfectly formed embryo,
the size and complete appearance of a baby that would be
about 2 1/2 to 3 months in the womb. That demon of abortion
materialized when it came out of her! Following this, the spirit
of murder also materialized, and it came out of her mouth as a
spot of bright red blood about the size of a silver dollar and fell
into the wastebasket. So there is an example of the word of
knowledge. She received her deliverance because God gave us
facts about her that we had no way of knowing. She would
never have known to confess this as act sin, so we would have
been unaware unless the Lord had spoken through discerning
of spirits. (I should caution you at this point about getting
wrapped up in manifestations. Most deliverance sessions are
not as wild as this one was!)
As mentioned, the gift of knowledge and the discerning of
spirits sometimes work together, as allied gifts of the Spirit. I
remember a very clear instance of that. We had a lady come to
us for ministry with a back problem. She had been driving in
her car and while shifting something was displaced in her back.
She went to a doctor and had her back x-rayed, and the doctor
told her that she had a double curvature of the spine,
something she had apparently since birth. As a result of her
spine not being straight, it had caused a certain weakness
which was the reason something went out in her back. She had
been suffering that way for about a week, and then she
managed to climb out of bed and to come see us for prayer.
There were two of us pastors that day to minister to her,
and as we began to pray for her back, God showed me a vision
(sometimes the word of knowledge, and even the discerning of
spirits, come in the form of a vision). In this vision, I saw a
birthday cake, a white cake with red lettering on top of it which
spelled the number 32. I asked her if a birthday cake with the
number 32 meant anything to her, and she said that within three
months she was turning 32 years of age. I took that to mean the
Lord was pointing to an event of some kind that had occurred
around the time of three months prior to her being born.
Just then, the other pastor who was with me said that, as we
were praying and seeking the Lord, God gave him through the
discerning of spirits a revelation that her problem was rooted in
a spirit of rejection.
So we put the two words from the Lord together, the word
of knowledge and the discerning of spirits, and determined that
this woman had a spirit of rejection that had entered her while
she was still in her mother’s womb, three months before she
was born. So we proceeded with this information and cast out
the spirit of rejection from her spine and immediately her spine
straightened. That evening,when she returned home, her
husband looked at her and he knew something had happened
to her. He said “you are taller than you used to be.” So he
measured her and found out that she had increased 2 inches in
height as result of the straightening of her spine. She had been
instantly healed!
The sequel to the story is a fascinating confirmation that
what the Lord had shown us was true. Her mother was still
living, so she asked her mother if there was any truth to her
having been rejected while in the womb. Her mother admitted
that she did not want her daughter to be born, and in fact
climbed on top of a dresser and jumped off several times trying
to abort the baby. This took place three months prior to birth!
So there it was. That was a perfect illustration of how these
gifts of the spirit operate in connection with one another.
 THE OPERATION OF
THE GIFT OF DISCERNING OF SPIRITS
The discerning of spirits is supernatural insight into the
spirit realm. Note that it does not say the gift of “discernment,”
but the gift of the “discerning of spirits.” It’s not a general
discernment of all things, but it is a limited discerning in
relation to evil spirits. It is very valuable to discern spirits, and
let me give you some of the purposes of this gift.

DIS CLOS ES THE P RES ENCE OF EVIL SPIRITS

This gift will disclose the presence and operation of evil
spirits.
Looking back, I can see that God provided the resources
that I needed for the ministry of deliverance. He knew from the
day He baptized me in the Holy Spirit that the emphasis He was
going to give me was in the area of deliverance. I didn’t know
it, but God did. Immediately upon my baptism in the Holy Spirit
God began to equip me. As mentioned at the outset, God
equips us for the ministry we have before us.
So the very next day after I received the baptism in the Holy
Spirit, which happened in a full Gospel Businessmen’s meeting
in Denver Colorado, I was asked to sit on the stage and give
my testimony. After I finished my testimony, they asked me to
remain on the platform for a while. As I looked toward the back
of the room from the platform, I saw a group of hippies that the
businessmen had invited into the meeting in the hopes that
they would be saved. Three of them stood up and started to
head toward the platform. Just as suddenly, I knew something
was wrong. I turned to the man sitting next to me and I said
“look! that fellow has a demon in him!” And the man looked at
me and said “Oh, you must have the discerning of spirits.”
Now I had not studied the discerning of spirits, I didn’t know
what that was. So I said to the man, “well I don’t know what
I’ve got, but I know what he’s got!” So God was equipping us.
And in that same meeting God gave Ida Mae the gift of faith
for deliverance. She stood up in the middle of the audience,
when the three men were on the platform trying to interrupt the
meeting, and she rebuked the demons out of those men. She
had only had the baptism of the Holy Spirit for two weeks, and
she had never been in a meeting like this. She had never seen
anything like this, and was normally a quiet person who
avoided the attention of others. But in that meeting, she stood
up and started rebuking demons! And when she did, all three
hippies hit the floor at the same time, flat on their backs: boom,
boom, boom!
It is good to know what is going on in the spiritual realm.

DIS TINGUIS HES B ETWEEN THE

OPERATION OF EVIL SPIRITS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Many times evil spirits pose as angels of light. Remember
the damsel in Acts 16 who followed Paul around the city? She
said “These men are servants of the Most High God.” Take
notice that what she was saying was true. But there was
something wrong with it and Paul knew it was not the Spirit of
God. It was a of divination and cast it out of her. It was a false
religious spirit.
Some people get into spiritual things and think it’s the Holy
Spirit, when in reality it is an evil spirit. We were once in a
meeting, where we were praying for people at the front of the
auditorium. As one sister approached the front of the room, Ida
Mae whispered in my ear “the Lord says do not lay hands on
this woman. Don’t lay hands on her.” Ida Mae operated in a
powerful gift of discerning of spirits, so I knew something was
not right. It turns out this woman had a false religious spirit in
her. As she came up to the front, the anointing of the Holy
Spirit was so strong that she went into a religious gyration; she
began to shake and tremble. Now, a lot of people have these
kind of seizures, and they think it’s the Holy Spirit. In fact, she
had been in meetings where people had told her that this was
the Holy Spirit! So, she thought that when she went into those
seizures that it was the spirit of God falling on her. But God told
us it was a demon — a religious spirit.
So we told her what God had shown us and offered to cast
it out of her. She was so sweet and teachable, and she
immediately said “yes!” She said she had been confused about
this recurring spiritual experience, as there was no fruit in it; no
blessing or peace in it either. So we ministered to her and the
spirit came out of her. Then God said it was all right to lay
hands on her for prayer.

HELPS US DETERMINE
WHETHER A P ROBLEM IS DEMONIC OR P HYS ICAL
A lot of problems may be physical rather than spiritual,
certainly more than we first realized. Now Jesus found that
many physical problems had demonic roots, including
blindness, deafness, fever, epilepsy, torment, vexation, insanity,
infirmity — all were the result of evil spirits in those cases. We
have also discovered the same thing, that evil spirits are often
behind sicknesses, including allergies, tumors, high blood
pressure, diabetes, and so on. Many of those things are the
result of the operation of evil spirits, and when identified as
such and cast out, the sickness lifts. But on the other hand,
you cannot say that all physical problems are due to demons.
As an example, I had a woman who persistently called me
over months from long distance, and every time she called she
said she was tormented by demons and she needed
deliverance. It was always the same spirits she needed
deliverance from… she needed deliverance from smoking and
from gluttony. “I can’t seem to stay off cigarettes,” she would
say, “I stay off a day or two and then I go back and here I am
demonized again. Oh brother Frank, will you cast out that
nicotine demon out of me!” Also, she would admit “It seems
like I just keep eating, I raid the refrigerator at night.” Here I
had visions of her being extremely overweight, but I asked her,
“how much overweight are you, sister?” She said “I weigh 90
pounds.” I was shocked. But she was still troubled by what
she thought was a spirit of gluttony that would cause her to
get up the middle of the night and eat.
Finally, I said “Sister, there is something else going on, and
I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to pray and seek the
Lord’s wisdom, so that I can discern what the problem is in
your life.”
As I was praying one day, I said “Lord, what about this
sister?” The Lord spoke to my spirit and said she has
hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia!
I found out that a lot of the symptoms of hypoglycemia are
identical to schizophrenia. I called her and told her this and she
did not much like that word. I could tell by the response I got
over the phone that she just wanted her demons cast out. But
when there was no devil to cast out, and she had to believe
God for a physical healing, along with regulating her diet, she
was not so happy. You see a person who has hypoglycemia
has low blood sugar. When their blood sugar gets low they
begin to act and feel listless and weak, and so they need a
charge which they can get from eating. Hence she would raid
the refrigerator. Or, you can get the same charge from drinking
alcohol or smoking cigarettes, these give a surge in blood
sugar. So this was the reason the Lord showed us that she had
these cravings, or what she called “gluttony;” it wasn’t
demons that were driving her, but it was hypoglycemia. And
this was a physical problem.
Not shortly thereafter, when I returned from a ministry trip, I
spoke to my associate pastor and he said that this lady had
called, not for ministry, but to give a victory report! God had
healed her, she said, of her hypoglycemia and she had
regulated her diet according to the wisdom God had given her
and everything was now fine. She was out of the pit she had
been in for many years.
So it’s good to know what is going on the spiritual realm.
The gift of discerning of spirits can lead us to the true source
of a problem, be it spiritual or physical.

G UIDES THE DELIVERANCE MINIS TER THROUGH THE

P ROCES S OF DELIVERANCE
In a practical sense, when the gift of discernment is in
operation, it’s just like a “knowing.” To me, most of the time, I
just know, like my spirit is programmed with the truth.
When we are ministering to an individual, we should not
rely upon manifestations as our guide, but rather the Holy
Spirit. He should be the guide as we work with someone
through a deliverance. We may feel the Lord urging us to cast
out various spirits, as He administers the discerning of spirits,
and yet we do not see any manifestation. Did we not hear the
Spirit correctly?
For instance I may begin by knowing the presence of a
specific spirit, through the Holy Spirit’s urging. As I call out
this specific demon, I don’t see any manifestation; I don’t get
any witness in my spirit that a demon has left. But I get another
discerning, for a second spirit. Instead of hammering on that
first spirit, I call for the second spirit to come out. God is not
the author of confusion, and I have to trust in faith that he is
leading me when I am praying deliverance for somebody. If we
were not through with one demon he would not have given me
the name of another. So I’ll call that one to come out, and I may
still not see any manifestation; like the first spirit, I may not get
a witness in my spirit that the demon has come out. And as the
Lord leads, I call another spirit, and another spirit; sometimes I
go through 25 or 30 demons and as far as looking at anything
in the natural, nothing has happened. But when I get to the
30th demon, then something breaks and all 30 come out the
same time, “Blah!” That’s the value of letting the Lord lead the
battle. It takes the sweat out of it; it takes the strain out of it.
You flow with the Holy Spirit, and let Him lead. He knows the
proper sequence to unlock a person’s bondage.
When you are ministering to groups it works the same way.
Sometimes in a group ministry the Lord will have me
personalize a deliverance for somebody in the audience. We’ll
be calling the spirits generally out of everybody in attendance
and there may be someone there that the Holy Spirit wants
delivered of a specific thing.
As an example, I was ministering in the Los Angeles area
once, and we were having a powerful group deliverance
session with about 600 people in attendance. That night, as I
was ministering from the platform, I received a discernment that
I had never received before: sickle cell anemia. And so I called
for the spirit of sickle cell anemia to come out of someone, not
knowing who it was for. There was a precious girl about 18 or
19 years of age and a demon and she screamed out at that
precise moment. It was there! That demon was present in her. If
I had followed a prescribed list, like the demon groupings in
Pigs in the Parlor, and had just worked through the names of
demons listed in Chapter 20, that girl would not have received
her deliverance that night, because it doesn’t have sickle cell
anemia in that list! I had never called for that spirit before.
So if you are tuned into the Spirit of the Lord and you are
following the discernment that the Lord gives, you can be led
like this. He knows what challenges people have far better than
I ever would. So, when I prepare to minister I say “God I don’t
know what these people need, you need to show me by your
Spirit. You tell me what demons are present. I don’t want to
follow a prescribed list, Lord. I want to know from you, Lord,
what devils to come against and in what order.”

ENABLES US TO DIS TINGUIS H B ETWEEN A F ALS E

 P ROPHET AND A TRUE P ROPHET
There are men and women that come as a wolf in sheep’s
clothing; this is a hard lesson to learn. In the 13th chapter of
Acts, it tells us about a sorcerer whose name was Elymas. Paul
received a powerful discernment on him such that he called
Elymas a “child of the devil,” and an “enemy of everything that
is right.” He discerned the spirits that were motivating that
man, the sorcerer.
I was asked one time to lead a small group meeting, where a
new member was going to be announced. This new member
was a businessman who had just moved into the area, and the
leader of the small group told me that he was baptized in the
Holy Spirit, and an on-fire Christian businessman who wanted
to use his business resources to spread the news of what the
Lord was doing through that small group. Sounded good.
But as he walked in the door, the spirit of God spoke to me
and said “he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” That was a
powerful word, I still remember it to this day. And before that
meeting was over, the wolf nature had showed itself in a very
demonstrable way. In fact he was such a problem in that town
that the local people eventually ran him off. It’s good to walk in
the spirit of the Lord and to know what’s going on in the
spiritual realm.
 ALLOWS US DIS CERN THE STRONGMAN OVER
TO

F AMILIES , CHURCHES , CITIES AND NATIONS 1

The Holy Spirit wants to disclose who the strong ruler
spirits are over nations. We were ministering in a part of
Canada once, and before the meeting we were on our knees
praying, and the Lord said to us quite clearly that the ruling
spirit over that area is a “wilderness spirit, wild and
unrestrained in nature.” It was the spirit that had attracted most
of the people to move to that area. It was closely aligned with
the spirit of escapism. We were able to better minister to that
audience as we knew the way to break through the spirits over
that area.
When Ida Mae and I went to other countries in Europe, God
has shown us by the discerning of spirits the ruling spirits over
various countries. The same is true of cities, where God has
shown us the ruling spirit over cities here in the United States.
This is information given to us for a purpose — that we might
bind those ruler spirits so that the Lord’s light and love can
shine into an area and the gospel can have its effect on the
hearts and minds of those living there. It is a very rewarding
and fruit-bearing spiritual battle to fight when you know that
eternity is at stake.
It is also true that when we are ministering to individuals or
families, there may be a key spirit that we need to know
through the gift of discerning of spirits that will allow us to
unlock a person’s or a family’s bondage. So we must be faithful
to listen to the Lord and receive instruction from him.

1 See Frank Hammond’s book Saints at War for more information, available at
www. IMPACTCHRISTIANBOOKS.com
 MY PRAYER FOR YOU
There is a purpose in impartation, as described in both the
Old and the New Testaments. The Lord has given us, through
Ida Mae and my ministry, the gift of wisdom, the gift of
knowledge, the gift of discerning of spirits and the gift of faith.
Those are the primary gifts that God has given to us to operate
in the ministry of deliverance. Since you are a deliverance
people, and you are part of the warring church of Jesus Christ,
the Church against which the gates of hell will not prevail, I feel
strongly that you need these same gifts active in your life.
In the closing section of this message, I believe God wants
these same four gifts of the Holy Spirit imparted to you such
that you may rise to a whole new level of spiritual warfare and
ministry in deliverance. Thus, we pray that you might move to
a higher level of effectiveness against Satan’s forces, his evil
spirits and in particular, his strongmen.
I would prefer to lay hands on you individually and pray
over you, even prophesy over you, and ask the Holy Spirit to
impart the gifts mentioned above into your life. But I am going
to trust the Holy Spirit to bring this impartation to completion
in your life and thereby impart to you the gifts of wisdom,
knowledge, the discerning of spirits, and faith. This is so that
you might be able to minister to those in need around you,
including your immediate family and those in your church and
your community.
This is no mere formality; this is the truth of God’s word
being applied to your life. Just as when the anointing came on
Aaron, the oil flowed from the top of his head down his
garments even to the hem of his robe, so I ask the Lord to
anoint you with His precious gifts right now. We are going to
pray for you to receive a touch from God, a new measure of his
Holy Spirit that you might be empowered from on high. That
you will be enabled to do the ministry of God with the very real
demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power.
If you have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit, we suggest
you pursue this experience first, as it is the foundation for the
prayer we are about to pray. With that in mind, let’s pray
together:
Lord, we pray for this person reading
this booklet now to have a strong
desire, and a sense of Your willingness
to empower, to open new avenues to
minister to their families, friends,
neighbors and those in their
community. As Aaron was anointed, and
the anointing flowed down his garments
and even to the hem of his robe,
covering his entire body, Lord we are
asking for the anointing of the Holy
Spirit’s power to flow upon this reader
today, from their head to their feet, that
they may be overwhelmed by the loving,
refining presence of the Holy Spirit – and
become a vessel cleansed and purified
for Your glory. May they walk in a
powerful and effective manner for your
Kingdom.

Lord help them turn away from the

weapons of carnality and the flesh, and
from whatever man or the enemy might
seek to supply, and turn instead to you,
honoring you and glorifying you through
the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of Jesus, we now impart the

anointing of the Holy Spirit, that this
person might move in a demonstration
of power of the mighty gifts, and be
used as a lighthouse, and as a refuge, to
those who are weary, those who are
oppressed, those who are tormented
and those who are chased by the
enemy. That these troubled souls might
find a place of help and peace, that they
might come to know the mighty power
of your delivering Hand, that they might
flee to the Rock that is higher than they,
through this reader’s personal ministry.
I pray now for a touch of the living God,
strengthening this reader’s mind, body
and soul.
And in the name of Jesus, I now impart
to this reader the gift of faith, the gift of
wisdom, the gift of knowledge, and the
gift of discerning of spirits, for the
equipping of the saints for the work of
God. Hallelujah! Let it be done.

In the name of Jesus, we declare it done!

We declare it done in the high and holy
name of Jesus. Hallelujah! Thank you
Jesus.
Amen
 PARTING WORDS
There was a lady who walked up to me one day, thinking
that I can discern spirits at will, and she stood before me and
she said, “Brother Hammond, I don’t want anything in me
that’s not of God. I want you to discern me. So, you look at me
and you tell me if you see any demons in me.”
So I studied her very carefully: I looked at her from the tip
of her toes right up to the top of her head, and I said, “Well,
yes Sister, I do see something.” And her eyes got big and she
said nervously, “What is it Brother Hammond, what is it?”
I said, “I see Jesus in you.”
People think that because Ida Mae and I are in the ministry
of deliverance that we are constantly looking at people and
discerning what demons they might have. The truth of the
matter is that when I look at people who are among the family
of God, I only see one thing: I see Jesus. I do not see rooms full
of demonized people, I see “Jesus people.”
Jesus said not to get obsessed with demons. We are to pay
attention to demons, because they are real, and we have to get
rid of them, so we can become more effective in our walk with
Jesus. But there’s a difference between dealing with demons
and being obsessed with them. In Luke 10:20, when the
seventy came back celebrating their victories over Satan and
his evil spirits, Jesus said:

… rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto

you; but rather rejoice, because your names are
written in heaven.

That is the foremost thing. People often wonder that so

much of our energy and time is spent in the ministry of
deliverance and yet we say to people “be more Jesus-
conscious than you are demon-conscious.” It is really all about
Jesus. Amen? Amen!
 APPENDIX
MARK 16:9–20
There is a belief (or some would say rumor) that Mark 16:9–
20 was not included in the original ancient Bible texts. We have
carefully researched this, and have found this not to be the
case. Mark 16, and the great commission to cast out demons,
speak in new tongues and heal the sick, is in many of the
ancient manuscripts that all date to the same period of time.
Also, certain Church fathers refer to this passage in Mark as
early as the second century, before the Gospel of Mark was
compiled. Let me explain.
There are five ancient manuscripts that have formed our
Bible. Each of these documents date to the 5th Century A.D.
(the 400s A.D.). They are all called “unicals,” as the text is
written in capital letters. These five manuscripts are:

1. The Vatican Manuscript held in the Vatican

Library. This manuscript is often considered the
most important one, although it is an incomplete

rendering of the Bible. Specifically, it is missing

Genesis 46:28, Hebrews 9:14 to the end, and all of

Timothy, Titus, and Revelation. This document is

 also missing Mark 16:9–20. However, interestingly,
the scribe left a space for these verses. This
strongly suggests something was written in Mark

16 but the scribe did not copy it either due to an

oversight or a theological position.

2. The Sinaitic Manuscript or codex. This manuscript

was discovered by Constantin Tischendorf at St.

Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai. As with the

Vatican Manuscript, Mark 16:9–20 is omitted.

3. The Alexandrian Manuscript (or Codex

Alexandrinus). This is the first of the five

manuscripts found with Mark 16:9–20, so these
verse are in the manuscript.

4. The codex Ephraem. This ancient manuscript,

dating from the 400s also, contains Mark 16:9–20.
 5. The codex Bexae. This manuscript is not as highly
valued as the others, but it is considered an
excellent resource for our Bible. Mark 16:9–20

appears in this version also.

In addition, all the later unicals, a number of Old Latin

authorities, the Vulgate, and many other versions contain these
passages from Mark.2
The earliest reference to Mark 16:9–20 was by Justin Martyr
around 160 A.D. Irenaeus, in his work “Against Heresies” from
around 184 A.D., cites Mark 16:19 and reveals that Mark was
the author. Why is this dating important? Because these
references are over 100 years older than the earliest complete
manuscript of Mark 16!
It is clear, then, that Mark 16:9–20 was actively in use by
Church fathers prior to the compilation of all five of the
“unicals” mentioned here. It is also, in our opinion,
understandable that the explosive nature of these verses, with
the confirmation they give of the power of the baptism in the
Holy Spirit along with the casting out of demons and the
healing of the sick, meant they were a serious threat to the
enemy and no doubt spiritual forces were at work to deny their
rightful place in the Bible.
2 “ How We Got the Bible,” Third Edition revised and expanded, by Neil R.
Lightfoot: Baker Books, Copyright 1963,1988,2003.