Demons |
Demons
are evil spirits or unclean spirits which are under the leadership of Satan,
who is called “the prince of demons” (Matthew |
As
far as their origin is concerned, the Scripture doesn’t say how they came
into being. Demons believe that there is one God, and tremble (James |
Please
note the following thing: in the New Testament the KJV speaks of demons as
“devils”. However, the underlying Greek word is not diabolos, the term for the devil (Satan), but daimonion which is rightly rendered as
“demons” in the NKJV and NIV. |
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The demons in the days of Jesus
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In
the days of Jesus there were many people possessed by demons in |
In
the Gospels there are many passages which confirm this. Here are just a few
of them: “At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were
sick and those who were demon-possessed …. Then He healed many who were sick
with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the
demons to speak, because they knew him” (Mark 1:32,34 - NKJV); “And He was
preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons”
(Mark 1:39 - NKJV). Jesus cast out demons by the Holy Spirit (Matthew |
Jesus
gave His apostles power over demons to cast them out (Matthew 10:1) and
commanded them to cast out demons (Matthew 10:8), and His apostles cast out
many demons (Mark |
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The different kinds of demons
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As in the
kingdom of God there are different kinds of good spirits (cherubim, seraphim,
an archangel, and angels) which have different jobs, so is in the kingdom of
the prince of the power of the air (that is, the devil), for in it there are
various kinds of evils spirits (demons). |
There are
evil spirits which cause dumbness and deafness like that evil spirit which
Jesus cast out of a boy, as it is written in the Gospel according to Mark:
“And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and
the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they
beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked
the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered
and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth
with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they
should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O
faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer
you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him,
straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed
foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto
him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire,
and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have
compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked
the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee,
come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent
him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many
said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he
arose” (Mark |
There are
evil spirits which are called ‘seducing spirits’ because their job is to
deceive people into accepting all kinds of false doctrines. Paul mentions
them when he says to Timothy: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils [demons]; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having
their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding
to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of
God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:1-5). These
evil spirits help the false prophets and false christs spread their damnable
heresies among the people of this world, as well as the false ministers of
the Gospel who are among the Church of the living God spread doctrines of
demons, which unfortunately many believers have accepted. I remind you that
the father of lies is Satan (the devil), so every false doctrine does not
come from God, but from Satan. In order not to be deceived by these spirits
it is necessary to watch and pray, and to search the Scriptures continually
to see if what is taught is true. |
There are
evil spirits which perform signs and wonders. The apostle John saw some of
them in a vision, for he says in the Book of Revelation: “And I saw three
unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of
the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they
are the spirits of devils [demons], working miracles, which go forth unto the
kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of
that great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:13-14). These spirits enable
the false prophets and the false christs to work signs and wonders in order
to seduce people. Many Indian gurus, and the witches and the wizards have
these unclean spirits, which enable them to perform signs and wonders, and as
you know these servants of the devil have many followers. However, bear in
mind that these evil spirits work signs and wonders even among believers
through false ministers of the Gospel, who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Beware of them too. |
There are
evil spirits called spirits of divination, by which some people predict (or
foretell) the future, for in the Scripture we read that while Paul and his
fellow workers were at Philippi they met a slave girl with a spirit of
divination and Paul one day discerned that evil spirit and cast it out. Here
is the biblical account of that deliverance: “And it came to pass, as we went
to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us,
which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul
and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God,
which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But
Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour” (Acts
16:16-18). Many people today have this kind of evil spirit and they need to
be delivered from it. |
There
are evil spirits which induce people to kill other people; for instance, one
day one of these demons came upon king Saul, while David was playing the
harp, and Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David
eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall (1 Samuel 19:9-10) |
There are
evil spirits which rule over large areas of the earth as lords or leaders and
governors in the evil spirit world; in the book of the prophet Daniel we read
that the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted the messenger of the Lord
sent by God to Daniel (Daniel 10:1-20) 21 days, that prince was an evil
spirit. |
There are
evil spirits which are stronger than others, for Jesus said that the spirits
which cause dumbness and deafness can be cast out only by prayer and fasting
(Mark 9:29); and there are evil spirits which are more wicked than others (Matthew
12:43-45). |
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The places where demons live
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Demons
principally live in the air above the earth, since their prince, that is,
Satan, is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). It’s in the
air that is above the earth that we find the four categories of demons, which
are the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world
and spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). |
Some
demons live under the earth, and even under the sea; there are several testimonies
of former wizards which confirm this. |
Some
demons live in the bodies of some human beings, in this case we speak about
demon possession. Since, according to the Scripture, demons can enter animals
as well (Mark |
Some
demons live in arid places, for Jesus said that when an unclean spirit goes
out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest (Matthew |
Some
demons live in buildings, both private and public buildings. Some houses
where some crimes have been committed are inhabited by certain demons. The
pagan temples are inhabited by demons. |
Demons
live in cities; some cities of certain countries are particularly full of
demons. |
Demons
live in certain mountains, rocks and trees, which are inhabited by evil
spirits; the heathen know very well these places for they go there to worship
these demons. |
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Demons and idolatry
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Idolatry
is one of the works of the devil. That’s why Paul warns us not to become
idolaters. Here are his eloquent words: “What am I saying then? That an idol
is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things
which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I
do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of
the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of
the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger
than He?” (1 Corinthians 10:19-22 - NKJV). |
From
the words of Paul we learn that even though both the idol and what is offered
to the idol are nothing, all the sacrifices that the Gentiles sacrifice to
the idols are sacrificed to demons and not to God. In other words, behind all
the idols there are demons. That every time someone sacrifices something to
an idol he sacrifices it to demons, is confirmed by these passages of the
Scripture concerning the Israelites: “They served their idols, Which became a
snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons,
and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they
sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood”
(Psalm 106:36-39 – NKJV). |
Therefore,
since these sacrifices sacrificed by the pagans are polluted by idols, we
must abstain from them lest we have fellowship with demons and thus provoke
the Lord to jealously, because He is a jealous God. That’s why when the
apostles and the elders gathered together in Jerusalem they decided in the
Lord to command the brethren who were of the Gentiles to abstain from things
polluted by idols or offered to idols (Acts 15:20,29). Their command is still
mandatory, therefore I exhort you to abstain from all those things which the pagans
offer to their idols. |
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The form of demons
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Even
though demons are spiritual beings or entities, they have a form (or a shape).
Some of them look like animals. As we saw before, the spirits that John saw
looked like frogs (Revelation |
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Demons can be cast out in the name of
Jesus Christ
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Demons
are at work all over the world. In some countries their work is more evident than
in others, but certainly they do evil works everywhere. According to some of
the above mentioned passages of the Holy Scripture, one of the ways the
demons manifest themselves is through the human beings. They enter the bodies
of human beings and begin to work evil things. This is called
demon-possession and when a person has one or more than one spirit (a person
can be possessed even by thousands of demons) we say that he is demon-possessed.
When demons enter a person, that person loses the control of his body and
begins to do and say strange things; in other words his behaviour becomes
completely different. Let’s see some of the things such a person can say and
do while he is under the power of demons. He can undress himself before other
people, he can cry out with a loud voice blaspheming and insulting people
(very often he speaks in a voice entirely different from his normal one), he
can go to live in the tombs, he can cut himself with stones or knives, he can
display a superhuman strength, he can disappear from sight and appear again
some time later, he can be thrown to the ground by the demons and begin to
foam at the mouth, to gnash his teeth and become rigid. Demons can induce him
to kill other people, to slaughter children in order to sacrifice them to
Satan, and he may perform various lying wonders or display occult powers
(such as telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience). Many people who are
regarded as ‘crazy’ actually are demon-possessed. At this point let me tell
you that a person who is born again and walks in the Spirit cannot be
possessed by demons, for the Scripture states that the One who dwells in him
is greater than any demon who might attack him and that “when
the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will put him to flight”
(Isaiah 59:19 - NIV). |
Can
we deliver the demon-possessed from the power of demons, as the apostles did
in the first century after Christ? Yes, we can. How? By invoking the name of
Jesus Christ over those who are possessed by demons, rebuking the demons and
commanding them in the name of JESUS CHRIST to come out of the body where
they are. Demons know that they must obey when they are rebuked in the name
of Jesus Christ and so they know that they must leave the body where they
dwell. It doesn’t matter how many demons are in that person, or how much
strong they are, they must obey and will obey. Jesus Christ said about those
who believe in Him: “In My name they will cast out demons” (Mark 16:17 - NKJV).
Let us, therefore, have faith in the name of Jesus Christ, and let us invoke His
glorious and powerful name, which scares Satan and all his evil spirits, over
the demon-possessed, and we will see the captives delivered by the power of
the Holy Spirit, yes, for – as I said before - demons are cast out by the Holy
Spirit. |
As
we saw before, Jesus rebuked severely those who accused Him of casting out
demons by Satan, for they attributed the work of the Spirit to the devil.
Among other things, He said to them: “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it
shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it
shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to
come” (Matthew 12:31-32). Therefore, I warn all those Christians who have
been deceived into believing that the days of miracles ended with the death
of the apostles not to speak against the Holy Spirit, when they see or hear
that some Christians invoke the name of Jesus Christ over the
demon-possessed. ‘Be careful not to say, ‘They cast out demons by Satan,’ lest
you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.’ |
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The destiny of demons
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One
day all demons will be thrown into the everlasting fire, where they will be
tormented for ever along with their prince (that is, Satan) and all the disobedient
angels. They know that this is the destiny awaiting them, for on one occasion
some of them asked Jesus: “Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
(Matthew |