It seems bizarre that Jesus could be accused of using evil powers to cast out demons.  His exorcism ministry was well known (Luke 4:36-37): those who had previously been held captive by Satan had been released to live a healthy and productive life in the community (Luke 8:38-39). Why did they not attribute such healing to the power of God?  If even the demons recognised that Jesus was the Son of God (Luke 4:41), and the ordinary people saw the obvious miracles and praised God (Matthew 15:30-31), why did the religious leaders fail to understand the source of His power?

It is a sad fact that we easily mislead our minds so that we cannot see what is obvious.  The clerical elite had decided that Jesus could not be the Messiah, and they did not want a Messiah to upset their power hold over the people.  Therefore they had to find another explanation for all His miracles.  Clearly, He was totally effective in everything He did: He far exceeded the abilities of doctors, and so His power had to be superhuman.  Now, if they admitted that He was from God, then they would be obliged to obey His commands and follow Him.  But if they could claim that His power was Satanic, then they would be quite justified in resisting any call to believe in Him and therefore to submit to Him.

An evil spirit which prevents people from speaking is directly denying that human beings are made in the image of God, and that part of His nature is to speak so that things happen.  In the beginning God spoke His Word into nothing and created everything.  That is explained in the Scriptures and witnessed as true to us by the Holy Spirit.  It is a fundamental part of true Christian faith (Hebrews 11:3).  It is no accident that the message of God to human beings in the Bible is called the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23), and that Jesus was the Word of God in a human body (John 1:14).  To deny words is to strike at the root of God’s character and creation.  When Jesus cast out mute spirits, He was asserting His authority over all that would literally ‘dumb down’ the God-given, life-giving, power of words (Romans 10:10).  

What lengths people will go to, to avoid the obvious!  Alas, resisting God is so ingrained into our human nature, that for those outside of God's kingdom, it is easier to postulate a force, higher power or even demonic activity than to admit that God is supreme in all things and that His kindness is designed to draw us to the point of repentance (Romans 2:4).  But some people have no intention of accepting that the Lord is right and they are wrong.  Repentance is the obvious route to blessing but that would demand submitting their whole life to Him.  Instead, they fabricate lies about Jesus to match the fantasy world they inhabit.  May God send them messengers to explain the gospel to them - that messenger could be you!