Ephesians chapter 6, verses 11 and 12 will serve
as our jumping -off place tonight in the Word
of God as we talk about the theme of the demons
of darkness. We have before us in these two verses
an encouragement to us to fight against our enemy.
And our enemy is explained as being not human
primarily, but rather being spiritual. Ephesians
6, 11 and 12. Put on the full armor of God that
you may be able to stand firm against the schemes
of the devil. For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers. against the world forces of this
darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly places. That phrase, heavenly
places or the heavenlies, is one that is unique
to the book of Ephesians and refers to the spirit
realm. The apostle is outlining for us here the
hierarchy of Satan, which you and I battle with
throughout our lives. Before we have said that
the devil is not God, thus he is not omnipresent,
everywhere present. The question logically comes,
why does it seem that he is then? The answer
is that Satan works through his army of spirit
beings, which are called, among other things,
demons. There are many. these creatures. They
are numbered, and yet their number is not given
to us in the Word of God. It has been suggested
to us that perhaps as many as a third of the
angels of God fell with Satan, and these would
be the demons. The idea of demons and their influence
on people has become a matter of of curiosity
and fascination in our society. We see that in
the movies, for example, that seem to be developed
around this theme, as an example, the Exorcist
series. Other similar horror flicks have merchandised
the idea of the supernatural, and particularly
supernatural evil. It has been merchandised.
and made a product of Hollywood to the point
of almost making it seem fictional or unreal
or otherworldly, something like Star Wars. And
thus it becomes a matter of fascination, but
it's a rather innocuous topic, not too harmful,
so our society is led to think. Other portions
of our society, though, feel that... Such a subject
as demons and the supernatural is ridiculous.
In our enlightened and scientific, secularized
society, there is no place among intelligent
people, they would say, for discussions of such
things. No one seriously believes in a devil
after all. I mean, if you believe that, you must
believe that the earth is flat and that the sun
rotates around the earth. You must be someone
out of the Dark Ages if you really take seriously
such a reality as Satan or demons. But if you
leave this culture in which we live and you go
to other cultures, such as the one represented
by our missionary here tonight in Africa and
other parts of what is normally called the heathen
world, you would find that there is, in many
of these places, a superstitious fear of spiritual
powers. In many of those areas, there is lots
of overt, open evidence of supernatural evil.
You see it in the voodoo of the Caribbean islands,
in the witch doctors of the pagan tribes, in
the medicine men of the Indians, etc., etc. It
is possible to purchase various books these days
which deal with the topic of the occult and demonic
powers, but the only reliable source of information
we have comes from the Bible, the Word of God.
The Bible reveals the existence of a system of
evil, a kingdom of darkness, an army of wicked
beings. which is headed by Satan and obediently
follows him. These are the demons of darkness.
What is the origin and what is the nature of
demons? There are three theories of the origin
of demons. Actually, the scripture is silent
on the subject, and so all we can do is conjecture
regarding it. One theory is that demons are actually
the spirits from a race of beings that God created
on the earth before Adam. This theory espouses
the idea of what is called a pre -Adamic creation,
which for some reason was judged by God, and
they say part of that judgment is that the spirits
of those people who lived then are condemned
now to Satan's army and to be demons. This presupposes,
of course, a gap between Genesis 1 .1 and 1 .2.
Such a theory is actually built on the silence
of Scripture. There is not a word in the Scriptures
regarding it. There's a second theory. which
says that demons are the souls of those who were
produced by the unique event which seems to be
described in Genesis chapter 6, that is, the
union of the sons of God with the daughters of
men. An event that was so heinous and reprehensible
in the sight of God that it produced giants of
wickedness in those days just before the flood
of Noah. And that race was entirely obliterated
by the judgment of the flood. And so this theory
says that these beings who were half human, half
angelic, are the demons of today. But once again,
the Scripture does not say that. It is a theory
that is built actually upon the silence of Scripture.
And to say the least, when we argue from the
silence of Scripture, our arguments are a little
tentative. A third theory, I think, is the best
one, and that is the one that I've alluded to
earlier, that the demons are actually the angels
which fell with Satan when he, in his pride,
was cast out of heaven. They joined with him
in that rebellion against God. It seems to me
that that is the best explanation of what demon
spirits are today. Whatever their origin, the
fact is, of course, that they do exist. And they
observe us here tonight. They are in this auditorium.
That should not surprise you, because they observe
you and me all of our lives, as do the angels
of God. What is the nature of demons? What are
they like? Well, in the first place, they are
spirit beings. Ephesians 6 .12 indicates that,
that they are spiritual forces of wickedness.
You can also go to the Gospels and see where
Jesus dealt with the demon -possessed person
described in Matthew 17, 18. You compare that
with the parallel account in Mark 9, 25, which
we don't have time to do in the service, and
you will see that in one instance the thing,
the being, is called a demon. In the second,
it is called a spirit. Thus, demons are spirits.
They are real. They have personalities. They
have existence, but they are not flesh and blood
as we are, because they are angelic, how be it
evil. They're not only spirit beings, but they,
as the holy angels, are intelligent beings. They
know, for example, who Jesus was. In Mark 1 .24,
they announced who he was, and Jesus commanded
them to be silent, because such an announcement
was premature for his purpose. They know, for
example, their judgment, as Matthew 8, 29 says,
and they apparently are aware of the plan of
salvation, James 2, 19, yet they are not saved,
but they are aware of it. They are intelligent
beings, and their experience with human beings
over the process of time from the Garden of Eden
until today gives them a great deal of insight
and cunning wisdom as to how to tempt. and ensnare
us in sin. Thirdly, they are deceitful. 1 Timothy
4 .1 warns us about deceitful demons, spirits,
which would espouse false doctrine, particularly
in the last days. Why are they deceitful? Because
they are like their leader. their captain or
their general, Satan, who is a liar and a deceiver,
and they are the same. They are like him. They
carry his characteristics. Fourthly, they are
unclean, and that word is used of them several
times, unclean spirits. The idea behind that
is that they are impure and immoral. Their desires
are filthy. and sinful desires. And that is what
they seek to promote. Again, I refer to 1 Timothy
4, verses 1 and 2, where we are warned that in
these last days, these deceitful spirits will
produce doctrines of demons, that is, doctrines
originating with demons, and that these doctrines
will promulgate immorality. And we see that taking
place. By the way, false doctrine always produces
false living. And true doctrine produces true
living. Finally, demons are by nature evil and
cruel beings. They are unbelievably cruel. They
hate God. They hate believers. They hate people.
And they seek to inflict upon people suffering
and torment. We see this in the Gospels, for
example, Matthew chapter 15 and verse 22, where
we have an anguished cry. It says, And behold,
a Canaanite woman came out from that region and
began to cry out, saying, Have mercy on me, O
Lord, son of David. My daughter is cruelly demon
-possessed. Cruelly demon -possessed. The demon
tormented and used and abused that poor daughter
of that woman. She was delivered by the grace
and power of Jesus Christ. And so by nature they
are spirit beings who are intelligent yet deceitful.
They are unclean and they seek to promote uncleanness.
By the way, I believe without any doubt in my
mind whatsoever that it is the particularly unclean
particular unleashing of demons in this land
of ours, which has created the flood of pornography,
perversion, and immorality within the last 20
years. I have no doubt in my mind at all that
there are demon spirits behind all of that, and
their desire is to destroy this society, and
they are well on the road to doing it. And finally,
they are evil and cruel. What is the work of
demons, secondly? Well, the answer to that generally
is that they serve Satan. That is their purpose
for existence. They follow him and do his bidding.
They afflict people in serving Satan. I hope
you turn to Matthew, in case you didn't turn
there anyway now, to Matthew 9, verse 33, and
let's see what it says here regarding the affliction
of demons upon people. It says, after the demon
was cast out, the dumb man spoke. And so we see
in this case, the man was afflicted by dumbness.
He was unable to speak. Not because there was
something physically wrong, but because a demon
held his tongue and he was unable to speak. Now
we could turn to other passages, but you can
look them up on your own. Demons can also afflict
other symptoms of diseases. For example, blindness.
deafness, deformity, and symptoms which are similar
to epilepsy. Now, please understand I am not
saying that everyone who is afflicted by these
problems has a problem with a demon. I'm simply
saying that demons can cause those same kind
of symptoms. All diseases are not demonic. In
fact, in the book of Mark, chapter 1, verse 34,
Mark... The Holy Spirit, through Mark, clearly
differentiates between diseases and demon possession.
Mark 1, 34. And Jesus healed many who were ill
with various diseases and cast out many demons
and was not permitting the demons to speak because
they knew who he was. And so there's a clear
delineation in this text and in some others in
the Gospels. showing that disease is not the
same as demon possession, or demon affliction,
rather. But demon affliction can cause some curious
symptoms. Not only the symptoms of disease, but
also the symptoms of insanity. Turn to Luke chapter
8, and we see a rather terrifying account. Luke
8, verse 26. And they sailed to the country of
the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. And
when he, Jesus, had come out onto the land, he
was met by a certain man from the city who was
possessed with demons and who had not put on
any clothing for a long time and was not living
in a house but in the tombs. And so here's a
poor individual who is demon -possessed, who
is naked and whose home is in the tombs. And
seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before him
and said in a loud voice, What do I have to do
with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I
beg you, do not torment me. For he had been commanding
the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Apparently,
before they even met, Jesus recognized what the
problem of this man was. silently perhaps, began
commanding that demon to come out of him, and
the demon responded through the lips of this
man. It says, It had seized him many times, and
he was bound with chains and shackles and kept
under guard, and yet he would burst his fetters
and be driven by the demon into the desert. And
so here was a man possessed with unusual strength
and could not be contained. And Jesus asked him,
What is your name? And he said, Legion. For many
demons had entered him, and they were entreating
him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
Notice that. I want to talk about it later. And
there was a herd of many swine feeding there
in the mountain. The demons entreated him to
permit them to enter the swine, and he gave them
permission. And the demons came out from the
man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed
down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
And when the herdsmen saw what had happened,
they ran away and reported it in the city and
out in the country. And the people went out to
see what had happened, and they came to Jesus
and found the man from whom the demons had gone
out, sitting down at his feet, clothed and in
his right mind. And so here was a man who was
possessed by symptoms of insanity. Jesus delivered
him from all of that. And immediately he was
clothed, and he was sitting quietly, subdued
at Jesus' feet, and was there learning from him.
We see also in Matthew 17, verses 14 and 15,
the demons attempt to drive people to suicide.
I have had people say to me, there's a voice
that tells me to kill myself. It is possible.
You cannot diagnose this in general. I am not
attempting to do that at all. It is possible
that that is the influence of demons. On that
occasion, they drove a person to throw himself
into the fire and other things. So they attempt
to cause people to commit suicide. They also
afflict people by causing immorality. I have
already talked about the unclean spirits that
are mentioned. And finally, they cause violent
behavior. We see this man, for example, could
not be contained. And there's other activity
recorded in the gospel of some who are demon
-possessed that was very, very violent. Demons
then work by afflicting people. A second work
that they have is that of at least the possibility
of invading animals. And we see that here in
this account. They did not want to be dispossessed
and have no body to indwell, and were content,
if they had to, to even indwell the bodies of
the swine. And that is what Jesus, on that occasion,
gave them permission to do. And they caused the
swine to kill themselves, but they obviously
can invade animals. A third work is that of opposing...
God's purposes in the world. We see, for example,
in Matthew chapter 13, Jesus warning us that
when the word of God is preached, Satan will
seek to steal that word before it can take root
in the heart. Now, Satan can't be everywhere
at once seeking to take the word out of every
heart, so of course it is Satan's demons. They're
at work whenever the Word of God is preached,
seeking to snatch that Word back from the hearts
that have received it before that Word can take
root and bear fruit. They seek to oppose the
work of God. Later on in that chapter, verses
38 and 39, Jesus tells us that Satan is also
involved in sowing false believers, professors
only, in the work of God. who weaken and undermine
God's work. And that as well is his work in opposing
the purposes of God in this age. Satan works
through his demons to do that. That's their work.
They oppose the purposes of God. And fourthly,
and I've already suggested this, they promulgate
false teaching, 1 Timothy 4 .1. It's time to
turn there and read that passage since I've talked
about it two or three times. 1 Timothy 4 .1,
but the Spirit explicitly says that in later
times, some will fall away from the faith. In
other words, they will be professing people who
will apostatize. They will fall away and then
deny the faith. Someone just recently was expressing
such alarm to me about another individual who
at one time solidly professed the faith, but
now totally denies it and blasphemes the name
of God. That is apostasy. And he says, what happens?
They pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines
of demons. Demons seek to promote false teaching.
Examples would be occultism. You can read about
it in Acts chapter 16, where that was the confrontation
of those missionaries in the particular city
they were in. They confronted those who were
involved in occultism. Satan seeks to promote
that today, and he does it in very clever ways.
He also seeks to promote astrology, which is
close to occultism. By occult, I'm saying O -C
-C -U -L -T. Occultism. That involves necromancy,
it involves fortune -telling, all of those kinds
of things. And astrology, of course, is the reading
of the stars and predicting the future on the
basis of what the heavens say. Those have long
been the promotions of demons. Never pick up
a horoscope and use that. That is demonic. They
also seek to promote idolatry, the worship of
idols. And they will do this in clever ways by
making people say, well, I'm not worshiping the
idol, I'm worshiping what the idol represents.
Well, how true that is. Because what the idol
represents is demon spirits. And the worship
of idols is actually the worship of demons. So
that is their work. They seek to promote false
teaching. They do it through cults. We have various
cults and explosion of them in our day. They
seek to use what I would term today liberalism,
that is apostate Christianity, which uses the
terms, some of the terms that we would use, but
they redefine the terms. An example of that would
be represented by a commentary I read in our
local newspaper someone gave to me just a week
ago. It was a commentary written by a priest
in Minneapolis regarding his understanding of
a letter that is going to be published by the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops sometime
this fall, winter, spring, in that neighborhood
somewhere. And in this letter, which the Catholic
bishops are going to... publish and approve,
they denounce capitalism and embrace communism
and socialism. And that is being promoted by
the local gentleman here in St. Paul, who is
the head of this area, Mr. Roach. Now, in that
article, there is redefining of Christian terms.
And it embraces what has been called liberation
theology, which takes some of our theological
terms, and you apply to that Marxist teaching
communism under the guise of Christianity. You
see, that's the work of demons, seeking in any
way possible to twist or pervert the truth, trying
to have a semblance of it, but then slipping
in false doctrine with it. or in place of it,
so as to lead people into deeper darkness and
ultimately to hell. By the way, demons do not
guard hell. Satan does not have his headquarters
in hell. He's trying to stay as far away from
there as possible. Their headquarters is here
in the world. Their headquarters is here in the
world, and that is where they work. That is their
sphere. Let's talk thirdly and quickly about
their judgment. It is clear from the Bible that
the judgment of demons was made secure at the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, by the cross,
not only redeemed us who are saved, but he condemned
Satan and his army to their eternal judgment
so that there's absolutely no doubt whatsoever
that they are defeated at this point. He came
to make inoperative the power, the powers of
the devil. Now it is true that they are still
free in some sense to work today because that
is the purpose of God, but never forget that
their ultimate judgment is already sealed. And
they know that. They know that. It is interesting
that one of the demons spoke and said to Jesus,
We know who you are. Why have you come to torment
us before the time? That was his statement. So
they know that their judgment is coming. They
know that it has been sealed by the cross work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a suggestion,
at least, from Luke 8, 31, that there are some
demons who are already incarcerated in a place
called the abyss. The abyss. Those demons and
that man and Gadara did not want to be cast into
the abyss. That may indicate that some had already
gone there to that place called the bottomless
pit. It may be that these who are already incarcerated
there are the ones who will be released someday
according to Revelation 9 verses 1 through 11.
during the tribulation period, and they will
set forth upon the earth tremendous destruction
and will be used ultimately by God to bring together
the final battle. It may be, I say, that those
demons that are incarcerated are the ones that
will be released then. We don't know that for
sure. But apparently there are some who are now
already incarcerated. Ultimately, though, and
permanently their judgment, their destiny is
the lake of fire. Matthew 25, 41 tells us that
that place of suffering and torment was created
for the devil and his angels, which we understand
to be the demons. Now I want to talk just briefly
about some of the common questions that come
up regarding demons, and I would be quick to
profess that I am no expert in this area. and
really don't intend to become one either, as
a matter of fact. But I'll be glad to share with
you my understanding, such as it is at this point,
regarding this matter of demons and their relationship
to people, and particularly Christians. The question
is commonly asked, what is demon possession?
That term is used, as we have read even here
tonight in one of our texts at least. I think
a better term would be demonization. than possession.
The word in the Greek is actually that they were
demonized. Now, I don't like the word possession
because it connotes ownership, and that is not
the meaning of what is taking place in those
instances, nor is that, I think, connoted by
the Greek language. It's not the idea of ownership
which the English word possession gives to us.
but the idea is control and influence over. It
is the control of a person's faculties, even
his ability to speak, and his personality. That
is demonization. How is one brought under such
control? Well, the answer is, number one, People
can be brought under such control by direct contact
with the occult or with another demonized person.
One can be brought under the control and influence
of demons by playing around with the occult.
That's why it is a very serious thing to have
anything to do with... those practices which
are called occultism. I want to come back to
that as I close. A second way that one can be
brought under the control of demons is by choosing
to deliberately yield to demon powers. I don't
have any proof of this, but in my own mind, I
don't have any doubt that there are certain entertainers
in our world, particularly those entertaining
the youth culture and rock music who have given
themselves to demon powers for the purpose of
becoming well -known or wealthy or influential
in the world. And I also have no doubt in myself,
though I do not have proof, that that is the
reason that many of these people are taken at
a young age. I believe that they very much do
sell their souls to the devil. And their choice
is to be under the power of demons in order to
gain certain things, even if it is for a temporary
period of time. A warning to us is that one can
be brought under the influence of demons eventually
if we begin to give footholds in our lives to
Satan. That is why the apostle says in Ephesians,
neither give the devil an opportunity. If you
and I allow sin to go on unconfessed in our lives,
or if we harbor certain sins, that gives a foothold
to the devil in us. Thus, we need to beware of
sins that are not repented of. We need to beware
of sins that are not confessed. Furthermore,
we need to beware of giving the devil an opportunity
By doing such things as playing certain games
like Dungeons and Dragons or the Ouija board.
Now those may seem simple in themselves or even
fun. And I know that there are some Christians
who laugh at the idea that these could be instruments
of demons to bring people eventually under their
control. It is sad that they laugh at that. In
a church that I worked in, in another state,
as a youth pastor, we had a group of girls who
were having a pajama party together one night,
and they decided it might be fun to get an Ouija
board out, which one of them had, and so they
did. And this was late at night, and they began
to ask this board certain questions. And lo and
behold, the pointer on the board began to move,
and it began to give them right answers. And
they became very frightened. And so they decided
that they would talk about Jesus. And so they
talked about Jesus to the board, and the whole
thing flew off their lap and hit the wall, and
then crashed to the floor. I can guarantee you
that was the last time they played with the Ouija
board. They saw firsthand that it was not just
an innocent little game, a parlor game. But in
fact, it is one of the many of Satan's subtle
little ways of getting people interested in the
powers of darkness. I think that we also need
to be careful of allowing our children to watch
cartoons which are built around weird and demonic
kinds of creatures. And these somehow seem to
be popular on Saturday morning, and it's not
accidental. I believe that our whole society
is being prepared for another great influx of
demonization as we head into the period of the
Antichrist. So how is one brought under such
control as demonism, demonization? Well, by direct
contact with the occult, by deliberately yielding
oneself to demon powers. Or it can happen eventually
if one begins to give way to the devil and allow
him to have foothold in one's life. How is demonization
recognized? That is not a simple, well, it's
a simple question, but there's no way to simply
answer that. How does one know if a person is
actually demonized, under the control of a demon?
can produce symptoms that would be very similar
to what one would expect with a demonized person.
It is not something that should be, that is this
kind of discernment is not something that should
be undertaken by an inexperienced person. But
I would suggest a couple of things to you. Number
one, I think that you can have a clue by noting
the person's speech. For there are people who,
under the influence of demons, are able to speak
different languages than their own language,
or which speak with an entirely different accent
or a manner of speaking. Several years ago, I
met a gentleman who was a missionary for a number
of years, a graduate of Bob Jones University
in the South. He was doctrinally just where we
would be, I'm sure, as far as the fundamentals
of the faith. He was a man that has dealt to
some extent with demon powers, and he related
on a tape recording, which I have in my possession,
the story of a woman in Louisiana who was delivered
from demons. In fact, on the tape, they record
a couple of those exorcisms. And it is a hairy
thing to listen to, I want to assure you. But
one of the things that I have noted in listening
carefully to that tape is not a good quality,
but you can distinctly tell when different demons
are speaking through the woman because of the
way that she speaks. There are different personalities
involved, and when one demon would be cast out
and she would be delivered, another then would
speak, and it would be a completely different
accent, different manner of speaking altogether.
Now, this woman was dealt with by a psychiatrist
at Tulane University. This whole thing has been
documented. This is not something that happened
in a back alley somewhere. The whole thing has
been documented. And by the way, the doctor made
an interesting comment. He said that he would
guess that probably, as I recall, it was 70 %
to 75 % of the patients he has dealt with who
have this particular problem that she suffered
from all had the same symptoms as Jane did. And
so the implication of that was that a good deal
of the people he dealt with in his practice may
well have been under the influence. of demons
if the speech is out of character if it is blasphemous
if it is filthy then there is the possibility
that a demon is involved and i want to say especially
if that's out of character for the person and
then a second way in which one can have a clue
as to whether demon influence is involved is
by The reaction of the individual to the blood
of Christ. For demons hate anything to do with
the blood of Jesus Christ. And again, I have
heard that illustrated myself with my own ears
on the tape recording that I possess. Whenever
the blood of Christ was spoken about or when
it was sung about, which they did, the demons
screamed in terror and anger. because of the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to
emphasize to you that if you suspect someone
may be under the influence of demons, you need
to be very careful before you would ever say
anything to anyone about that. Don't take it
lightly. Don't by yourself try to diagnose the
case. You could do great damage to a person who
may have some other trouble. than this but i'm
simply passing on along passing along to you
some of the the things that i have come to understand
regarding demons and how they can be detected
a common question is can a christian be demonized
she usually asks can a christian be demon possessed
well again i say it's a wrong term because it
connotes ownership no christian can be owned
by a demon But the fact is, I believe that demons
can influence and control believers. I think,
in fact, we have a couple of biblical examples
of that. One of them is found in Matthew chapter
16. Let's look at verse 21. From that time Jesus
Christ began to show his disciples that he must
go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the
elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed
and be raised up on the third day. And Peter
took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying,
God forbid it, Lord, this should never happen
to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get
behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to
me. For you are not setting your mind on God's
interests, but man's. Now, would you note that
Jesus spoke to Peter. I should say he spoke to
Satan through Peter. And the implication is that
as Peter spoke, Satan was influencing him to
say those things. And so he spoke there the words
that Satan wanted him to speak. So to some degree,
I would not say to what degree, but to some degree,
He was under the influence of Satan at that point.
And Jesus recognized it and rebuked Satan in
Peter. I think another example of this is Ananias
in Acts chapter 5. And you know the story, I
trust. And, well, let's turn there so we can
look at it more precisely. Acts chapter 5. Ananias
and his wife had sold some property and came
to give the money at the apostles' feet, but
they were not giving at all. And notice in verse
3, Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled
your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep
back some of the price of the land? And so Satan
was involved in the lie of Ananias, and the interesting
thing to me is that the verb filled in verse
3 is the same word that's used elsewhere in Acts
for the filling of the Holy Spirit. And so Ananias
was empowered by, under the influence of Satan,
in saying what he said to Peter and offering
up hypocritically the price that he claimed the
land had been sold for. And so the answer is
yes, to some degree, Christians can be demonized.
But the objection is, how is it that a demon
can control what belongs to God and is indwelt
by the Holy Spirit? Well, an answer to that is
that sin does. Sin still indwells us along with
the Holy Spirit, and sin can still control us.
So is it too much to think that though we belong
to God and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that
it's possible, if we allow it to happen, that
Satan could have influence in us, control us?
Now, there is today a ministry that is mushrooming
called the deliverance ministry. The idea is
that demons are cast out of Christians. And I'd
like to point out to you that there is no scriptural
precedent. for doing that none whatsoever there
is precedent for fighting against them wrestling
against them ephesians chapter 6 but there is
no precedent in the word of god for a ministry
of casting demons out of christians i don't believe
that kind of thing is necessary i believe that
by the grace of god we are able ourselves to
wrestle against satan and to ward off his influence
that we may have given to him in our lives. I
have heard evangelist James Robison, as perhaps
you have, a man who in recent years has been
used mildly of God in evangelistic meetings throughout
the South, tell about how he was delivered from
demons, how his wife has been delivered from
demons. And they are now heavily involved in
the charismatic movement. And so that was a...
to their turn into that particular movement.
Deliverance ministries, in my opinion, are not
biblically sound. There is no precedent for it
in the Word of God. And by the way, James Robison
claimed to be delivered from the demon of ice
cream. Somehow that doesn't ring true with me.
I really do not mean to make fun of it, but somehow
it... that does not settle well within my spirit
that there's there's truth there how should we
respond when faced with a person who's definitely
demonized who's definitely demonized we do not
see a lot of that or we have not i should say
in our society but i believe that we're going
to see more of it we're going to see more of
it because of the tremendous and now prolonged
influence of rock music And we're going to see
more and more of it because of the influence
of drugs in our society, both of which are open
doors, wide open doors for the invasion of demon
spirits into people. How are we going to respond
to people who are definitely demonized? Well,
there are some people who take the position we
should do nothing. I would not agree with that,
but I do believe that we ought to be careful.
I believe in the first place that we never should
face such a situation alone. But if we have need
to deal with that person, we should always do
it with a group of believers so that we can support
one another in prayer. We need the support of
other believers in such a situation. And then
the demon should be dealt with only as directed
by the Lord, as that group prays, because I want
to tell you that's serious business. It is not
for the immature, and it certainly is not for
the carnal Christian. Indeed, I shared with you
several months ago the story of a pastor who
has written a book on depression, who was a man
of God, a man who was greatly used of the Lord,
but who dealt with a demon -possessed young man
at a Bible conference center and was afflicted
for months afterward by demonic spirits, darkness
of depression that descended upon his life. It
is serious business in dealing with demons. Do
not do that carelessly or lightheartedly. I would
encourage you to get the advice of an elder or
myself or one of our staff before you would ever
begin to approach a person that you felt was
demonized. Folks, So much more could be said.
Our time is long gone. Let me encourage you to
avoid... ...thing on the devil. They see the
devil involved in this, the devil involved in
that, and behind everything there's a demon.
That's an extreme. Avoid that. The flesh is still
plenty powerful to lead us into sin. And so there's
not a demon behind every sin. though they can
use sin to get into our lives and influences.
The other extreme is treating the doctrine of
demons with disdain or contempt, because that
is equally as dangerous. Don't be overly curious
about demons. I beg of you to, if you're going
to study this doctrine, study it first of all
biblically, because that will keep you balanced
and will keep you in the truth. Do not go out
and buy secular books about the occult or demons
or the powers of Satan. Do not buy those books
and get involved in them. Because anything that
might be worthwhile there would be so couched
in lies and half -truths, etc., that it would
never be worth what you would have to expose
yourself to. If you're going to study this truth,
study it biblically, because that will keep you
positive and keep you balanced. in truth. Secondly,
study it prayerfully if you're going to study
it. Don't ever go out and just study it without
praying because you need the armor of God upon
you if you're going to undertake it. And I have
sensed even this summer a need to pray more regarding
the Sunday evening services since we are even
undertaking the study of Satan. And thirdly,
if you're going to do some study in this area
of teaching, then study it slowly. Don't go hog
wild in it. Indeed, I would encourage you to
almost make it a peripheral matter of study and
not a focus of study. Do you understand what
I'm saying? Put it on the side and just do a
little bit at a time, but never make it the focus
of what you are studying. Because it can result
in depression in your life, and Satan can use
that to bring discouragement and defeat to you.
So while this is an area of doctrine we need
to know about, there are other things that are
more important for us to know about, and we need
to major on those things and involve ourselves,
if need be, only peripherally in the kinds of
things we've been talking about tonight. My prayer
is that you have not been stirred to go out and
to do some kind of investigation that's going
to harm you. Accept what I have said. Study what
I have said in the light of God's Word. and let
God teach you the truth about the enemy. I'm
glad after a message like this, which is really
kind of heavy to me, that the truth in God's
word is that greater is he who is in you than
he who is in the world. And somewhere in our
hymnal we have that chorus. I'd like us to close
just by singing that. Greater is he who is in
you than he who is in the world. Well, let's
try it this way. Greater is he that is in me.
97. There we go. You may have questions regarding
this area. If you feel it's an area that you
want to do some study in, I'll be glad to suggest
to you a couple of Christian books that might
be helpful to you. Give me a call at the office
and let's talk about it. 97. Greater is he that
is in me. than he who is in the world. Let's
stand together as we sing.