Church Attendance Does Not Equal Freedom... In Mark 1 there was a man sitting in the synagogue who had an unclean spirit. He was in the right place, hearing the right teaching, and still not free. You can be a member, serve on a team, lift your hands in worship and still have an unclean spirit tormenting you. Church membership is not validation that you are free. Sometimes demons stay hidden because there is a lack of anointing that exposes the demonic. Ministers can teach, prophesy, organize, but avoid confronting what they secretly battle. When you are defeated in private by the very things you preach against, you lose confidence to confront them in public. Other times demons stay hidden because people have learned to live with them. Our culture calls it all mental. We give demons medical terms. We tell people, “You just need a therapist and meds,” while the real problem needs deliverance. There comes a point where you get tired of looking free and not actually being free. Desperation makes you stop caring what people think and start caring what Jesus thinks. Jesus did not just comfort the man in the synagogue. He confronted the spirit. He rebuked it and said, “Be quiet and come out of him.” Demons are not talked out, hugged out, or counseled out. They are cast out. The presence of Jesus made the demon cry out, but not leave. His command was what cast it out. Just because Jesus is in the room does not mean demons automatically leave. There must be a confrontation, a command, a deliverance. The focus of Jesus was not the comfort of the crowd. He allowed the demon to cry out, allowed the convulsions, and then set the man free. People left with awe of His authority, not impressed with the show, but marked by His power. Going forward, we cannot make deliverance taboo. If we sanitize everything to protect our image, we rob Jesus of glory and keep people silently suffering. Church attendance does not equal freedom. Jesus still casts out demons and He still wants His people free.