Understanding what Demons are
What Are Demons
Satan's Forces Are Like An Army
How To Tell If Someone Needs Deliverance
Problems That Suggest The Presence Of A Demon
There Is Progression Of Control
WHAT ARE DEMONS?
Demons are spirits without bodies who seek bodies to operate in and through in their desire to fight against God and those whom God loves. They are not fallen angels, who have bodies. Their origin is a matter of speculation. Possibly therefore a pre-Adamicrace, or a product of the sons of God and daughters of men, ( Gen 6:1-2) When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
They certainly prefer to dwell in a human body, ( Matt 12:43-45) When the evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says I will return to the house I left. When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation; ( Mark 5:11-13) A large herd of pigs were feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them. He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned, but will at times enter bodies of animals.
They have all the normal marks of personality:
Will ( Matt 12:44) Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left' ( Mark 5:12) The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them" (choice and preference). Emotion ( James 2:19) You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder (shudder, apprehension, fear).
Knowledge ( Mark 1:23-24) Just then a man in the synagogue who had an evil spirit cried out," What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth ? I know who you are - the Holy One of God"; ( Acts 19:15) One day the evil spirits answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you ?".
Self-awareness ( Mark 5:9) Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name ?". "My name is Legion", he replied, "for we are many". (my name is Legion). A conscience (though too seared to respond) - ( 1 Tim 4:1-2) Such teachings come through hypocritical hers, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
Ability to speak ( Mark 1:23-24) Just then a man in the synagogue who had an evil spirit, cried out What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God"; ( Mark 5:7-12) He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!". For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion", he replied, "for we are many" And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them"; ( Acts 19:15) One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?".
Satan's forces are structured like an army with various ranks and powers, ( Eph 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
When Satan fell he drew down with him a number of the spiritual intelligence's which God had appointed to assist him in his government, Part of Satan's hierarchy consists of these fallen angels - possibly a third of the original angelic host, ( Rev 12:3-4) Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth; ( Rev 12: 7-9) And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The great dragon was hurled down -that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Angels have bodies and do not seek human bodies to live in. Indeed they are of a higher order than us. In deliverance, we are dealing with demons, not angels.
There are different kinds of demons, they are not all the same. In ( Matt 12:45) Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, Jesus refers to spirits that are 'more evil' than others, and in ( Mark 9:29) This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting, he speaks of 'this kind', thus distinguishing the spirit he is dealing with from other kinds that may be encountered.
But whatever spirits you do come up against, be sure that they are demons, you won't encounter Satan himself! Sometimes they say "I am Satan" or "I am Lucifer", but that is only to frighten you. In ( John 13:27) it says that Satan entered into Judas, but this was probably only a manner of speaking - he entered through the agency of demons.
This is parallel to the case of a Christian; it is said that both the Father and Jesus will dwell in him ( John 14:23), and they do so, but only in the sense that the Holy Spirit, whom they are one with, dwells in us.
Satan is the prince of the power of the air with his power base in the heavenlies.
Outside the body - influence. In this instance, they need only to be resisted, ( James 4:7) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you;
( 1 Peter 5:8-9)Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering. Within the body - control. In this case they need to be expelled, driven out.
1. Entice - they tempt people to sin with suggestions to the mind; "take it, no-one will know." Children are often subject to this. The Lord was tempted by suggestions, ( Matt 4:1-11).
2. Deceive - by demons, Satan deceives and blinds people to the truth (2 Cor 4:4) The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, and even snatches the word away once it has been sown (Mark 4:15) Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
3. Enslave - there is a spirit of slavery, ( Rom 8:15) For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship, by which Satan holds people in chains, forcing men and women to do his will. Many are not aware that they are slaves until they seek to do what the Lord wants, and then they realise that they are enslaved to habits, cravings and unclean desires, or to drink and drugs, or to depression and fear.
4. Torment - they delight in causing anguish and pain, physical, mental and emotional - fear has torment.
5. Compel - Compulsion is a classic sign of demonisation, ( Luke 8:29) Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him and though he were chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and been driven by demons into solitary places. Perfectionism (often the case with sports enthusiasts), restlessness and suicide are manifestations of this. It takes away peace and breaks down harmony, physically, in relationships and with regard to circumstances.
6. Defile - They seek to debase what God intended as a temple of the Holy Spirit - demons are at the root of all perversion, (Rom 1:21-32) For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised Amen.
Because of this God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even the women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.
Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received ) in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
All forms of sexual immorality open doors to evil spirits, who then promote the uncleanness that let them in, ( 1 Cor 6:18-20) Flee from sexual immortality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God ? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. They seek to ruin men and women morally, spiritually, physically and mentally, since whatever God loves, Satan ) hates.
If you are going to minister deliverance, this is obviously an important question. There are two ways of knowing:
1. By Revelation One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the discerning of spirits, whereby the indwelling Holy Spirit discloses to you the spirit in a person. Some people see spirits, others hear them in the spirit, but more common is a word of knowledge given by the Holy Spirit.
2. By Detection When someone comes with problems and difficulties, as they talk you become aware of the spirits by way of the symptoms - just as a doctor will diagnose a physical problem:
a. Emotional - resentment, rejection, self-pity, hatred, anger, jealousy, depression, worry, inferiority, insecurity, fear.
b. Mental - torment, indecision, compromise, doubt, confusion, rationalisation, loss of memory.
c. Speech - lying, cursing, blasphemy, criticism, mockery, railing, gossip.
d. Sexual - unclean acts and thoughts, fantasy, sex experience, masturbation, d perversions, adultery, homosexuality, lust, incest, fornication, harlotry, provocativeness.
e. Addiction - nicotine, alcohol, drugs, medicines, caffeine, food.
f. Physical - allergies, migraine, skin disorders, cancers. Often prayer for healing is needed afterwards.
g. Religious error - false religions, Christian cults, occult, false doctrines.
Find out the areas they have already had deliverance in; it is good to talk and ask a few questions since demons tend to show off and give themselves away. A good counsellor listens sympathetically, yet at the same time beware of self-pity and being emotionally pressurised.
This is because the entrance of one spirit will open the door to others, ( Matt 12:45) Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself. In groups there is often a dominant or ruling spirit. Example of a group: resentment, hatred, bitterness, anger, violence, murder. (The names of demons relate to their nature).
A good example is Saul in the Old Testament, ( 1 Sam 18-30.) From being initially depressed (music was called for to uplift him), he went steadily downhill into jealousy, anger, rage, hatred, murder, fear, paranoia, occult involvement and suicide. During all this, notice the swings in his attitude to David, ( 1 Sam 19:10-11, 24:16-17, 26:21).
The person who needs deliverance can hinder or help in deliverance by his attitude - his co-operation is vital, he must be willing to submit to your ministry (this will be dealt with more fully later). So far we have considered the case of someone who has come to you for deliverance, knowing that they need it; but what about the person who is unaware of his need of ministry?
Do you tell them that they need it? No hard-and-fast rule can be made, since it depends on the person, your relationship with them, and the way it is done. Be open to the Holy Spirit's leading. A personal testimony as to how the Lord delivered you is a good way of introducing the subject and encouraging others.