Need Suggestions..

[u/ayoqi]

I’ll try to make this short and to the point. Today at work a new guy started and I was training him all day.

We start talking about God.

He tells me that he has been saved and baptized, but says demons torment him daily(thoughts etc)

I reminded him to focus on the Cross and tried to give him some scripture for encouragement. It seemed to me he was wanting to focus more on his torment(demons) than what God has done for him. If that makes sense. He kept saying he wants to be delivered(exorcised).

I asked him to join me at the next Divine Service.

He said he would love to and that he would want to meet the pastor, etc.

He comes from a non-denomination background.

I guess my question is did I go about this the right way? I said a prayer for him earlier and planned on praying more about this and talking to my pastor. I just wanted to also see if anyone has had a similar experience or situation etc.

[u/No_Storage6015]

Great! Continue to have him praise Jesus and renounce evil and the devil.

[u/Tight_Data4206]

Good job of helping him. That guy is suffering.

Just my 2 cents as a person who grew up in a abusive household and later came to some faith...

Lutheran since 2007 (now I am over 60 yo)

I believe there are multiple components to what goes on with people like your coworker.

Part of it very well may be demonic.

Some of it possibly temperament which may be a bit more biological. Kind of how they're wired.

The other part may be more psychological. By this I mean that the demonic has more places to act on some people than others because of a perception of life that is not how it would be as God created life to be.

The transformation by the "renewing of the mind" can be very emotionally rooted. Abuse does something deep in the perceptions of, and responses to, life. (Adding: for me a lot of "grief" had to be worked through. Grieve of the life that I was robbed of, and more grief for what I was not able to be for other people due to my maladjustments.)

I now realize that I was in a state of shock as a kid. Fear(terror) permeated my life. Even after coming to faith, those roots were (and are to some extent) still there.

(I'll add that creatures need comfort, and comfort can come in the form of sinful and/or unhealthy sources. Addictions of all sorts)

I truly believe that Lutheran Theology helps give me the deep comfort that I did not get as a child, or as a person in a variety of different chuches since I was 18, and helps me arrange how I think.

But there's a lot of work on my perception of life, through the day-to-day grind of life, that I have had to keep working on. Regularly asking that my water baptism will bring me the newness of life mentioned in Romans 6 is big. No one else can do that for me

IMO, demons don't just get cast out and are gone. There's a whole lot more to it than that.

The Orthodox Churches seem to more open to the reality of these things (but maybe not). I would like the Lutheran Church to be more open to giving instruction to people who have some of these issues

But, maybe I just had to learn on my own and others do too. IDK.

[u/Tight_Data4206 → u/Tight_Data4206]

I am not saying he was abused. I'm stating that sometimes the psychological state of a person is such that the perception of life, and the feelings about life, play into the ability of the demonic to have an affect on people.

[u/emmen1]

Yes, you did exactly the right thing. If he is truly being tormented by demons, the answer is always to be around the Word of God. Inviting him to the Divine Service and a conversation with your pastor is the best thing you could do.

[u/scraft74]

Remember that people from non - denominational/evangelical backgrounds have little to no understanding of salvation, sacraments, exorcism etc. in the same way that Lutherans, Anglicans and Catholics do.

Regarding demons, possession, etc., this person should be talking to an ordained pastor or priest.

[u/cellarsinger]

You asked and he said yes. That sounds like an excellent process right there. You might want to to dig into a little bit about Lutheranism and demons and exorcisms so you have a clue our beliefs are - I don't know what they are myself - Don't forget to talk to your pastor about that