The Forms of Demons

With natural eyes we perceive natural things: with spiritual eyes we perceive spiritual things. God can open our spiritual eyes so that we begin to see spiritual things-both from God's kingdom and from the kingdom of darkness.

A minister I know, who had been released from migraine headaches, was one night seated in a tent campaign watching an evangelist pray for a person with migraines. As he watched, his eyes were opened to see a green snake wrapped around the person's head. When the migraine was rebuked, the snake left and came straight for him. Immediately he claimed protection in Jesus' name, and it went past. Turning, he saw the snake-like spirit wrap itself around the head of an associate evangelist who had just walked into the rear of the meeting. The whole of the next day, that evangelist suffered a shocking migraine.

It is interesting that he saw the evil spirit in the form of a snake- the same form in which Satan appeared to Eve in the Garden of Eden. There is a close relationship in Scripture between the animal world and the demonic. In Luke 10:19 evil spirits are referred to as serpents and scorpions.Rev 16:13 speaks of "three unclean spirits like frogs." In Rev 9:7-11 we read of satanic hosts appearing as hideous-looking locusts with faces like men's faces, hair like women's hair, teeth like lions' teeth, and tails like those of a scorpion. I was at a deliverance meeting where a young boy saw spirits like frogs and insects hopping and crawling from the meeting. "Where did all those strange creatures come from?" he asked his mother as he tried to leave her to see where they were going. He was not afraid - just curious. As well as animal forms, demons can have other grotesque and hideous forms. If we look at carved gods on heathen temples we see fearful, gruesome, repulsive demonic representations that millions bow down to and worship.

While praying for a young man, who had unknown to me been involved in yoga before his conversion, I saw a spirit leaving him that had a most hideous form. It could best be compared to an Indian-type god. That evening as I contemplated the incident, I realized that the spirit had been in a sitting-yoga position as it rose from him and disappeared. When Shirley and I were in Papua New Guinea praying for a missionary, the Lord showed me that a curse of death had been placed upon him. My eyes were opened to see numerous spirits binding him because of the curse. Their faces were horrible and just like the masks the people carve and wear in their demonic rituals. They fled as we came against them in Jesus' name.

In this same country, we visited a school where some time before, a student had begun screaming while walking in the school grounds. A Christian teacher took her to his home, where she related that she had seen an evil spirit that terrified her. Interested, the teacher asked, "What did it look like?" 'Ibming and pointing to a Phpua New Guinean mask on the wall, she said, "Like that! It looked just like that!" The convicted teacher hurriedly destroyed his souvenir.

Most of us do not see the form or shape of evil spirits, nor do we have to. It is enough to know that they are vile creatures - vile in appearance, character, and works. Let us give no place to them.

One concern I have is the type of puppets that children see through agencies such as TV. Although many of these puppets look delightful and humorous, there are some that are hideous and frightening, especially to small children. From where comes the inspiration for the fashioning of these puppets? Should we not as parents supervise what our children watch so that they will not open themselves to spirits of fear. We should not over-protect our children, but there is a measure of protection that we must give.

Again, what is the inspiration behind characters such as fairies, elves, gnomes, and witches? These are forms of demons. I have known people who have had literal visitations of demons in these forms. When I was a child, fear increased in my life by reading a certain fairy tale and viewing the pictures of a witch and her deeds. My fears also increased through another fairy tale and its accompanying music that was read on numerous occasions in my early school life. Small children are particularly vulnerable to fear through what they see and hear.