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But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you.
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For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe—
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until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.
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“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.
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“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’
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So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order.
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Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”
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As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”
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Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
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As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah.
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What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.