Introduction to Demons

The first level of spiritual warfare

Demons Seek to Rule

Demons first seek to control through fear, but if humans smarten up and see that demons are not in control of everything, then second, demons convince humans they don’t exist at all.  Many denominations and church leaders do not know how to handle demons so it is easier to say demons don’t exist than explain their ignorance. Who knows how many people have been lost to the Kingdom over this lie!

The first is the belief of primitive societies; the second belief is found in civilized societies.  Either way the demons appear to be either non-existent or harmless.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Demons have only one nature.  This is helpful to us.  For example, a lying demon will not steal and the whining demon will not curse.  The Bible is filled with these names, scattered about the pages – lust, strife, evil work, whining, depression, rebellion, religion, false humility, contempt, shame, guilt, jealousy, rage, blame, confusion, pride, presumption, greed, stubborn, controlling, and murder, hate, plus all the disease demons, I could go on, but I’ll leave a scripture list for another time.

Demons Need Humans to Complete Their Spiritual Body

Demons do this by finding and using a human body which is made up of three parts, spirit, soul and body.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Demons have only two parts, soul and spirit.  (Dictionaries which say man’s soul and spirit are the same are wrong.  The Bible is the book which defines the nature of man, not Noah Webster.) This is why the demon says in Luke “I will return to my house” because the human is the only house available to him. He thinks it belongs to him. He’s wrong! Jesus died for your “house” and let the demons know it.

Luke 11:24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

Note that the demon needed water. The human body is 97% water, and water is life- the original element as in Genesis One. There is no water in hell. Here’s what the guy in hell complained about:

Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

I’ve described those two parts to you already; the soul part is the defining part.  The soul of a lying demon is lies.  Then he has a spirit because he got that when he was originally created by God in heaven as part of the angelic kingdom.  What he does not have is a body of flesh!

Demon Possession means the ownership is complete. If you buy a car, you say you own a car.  But what if the car is missing a hub cap, or a radio, or even the backseat?  You can still drive it and it is still yours, but it is not a whole car. The radio part is in there but it does not function.

In the case of a demon, he is like a small radio, not working on your behalf but his. You function well in the rest of your body and personality, but he has one tiny part he controls, like the busted radio. I’ve seen truly possessed people and most often they are in institutions, or languishing on our streets in “another world” of their mental making. You’ve seen them too. They are like a possessed car – which will not run at all.

Most demons are like a small radio so the human being thinks he merely has a “problem.” Demons come in different sizes, some have limited power, others are very powerful and can exercise great power.  The Bible identifies them:

The Satanic Goal of Demons

Demons’ common goal is to ruin the life of Man, spoil our mental and physical health, foul up our decision-making, lure us into witchcraft or the occult, control our behavior and if at all possible, keep us both out of salvation for this life and heaven in the next. And this is the purpose of the entire evil spirit kingdom.

The New Testament has a proven plan for dealing with the devil at all levels, and the Old Testament books describe how these spirit beings are to be warred against and conquered.  It’s all there.  That is why Jesus could say on the cross right before He died, “It is finished.”  He has given us the tools for victorious living.

God has mercifully kept us from seeing and dealing with these demons or we would be overwhelmed by them.  He has, however, given us all power over them if we obey His rules.  This means that people groups and individuals which are outside of the Kingdom of God are not equipped to handle them while Jews and Christians as Kingdom residents are.

On the other hand, those who are taught and who believe in the powers given to God’s people can be, and in fact should be, in control.  One group does have surprising power over the Satanic world – children.  Their innocence is their power.  Once children are taught about handling the devil, they get to it quickly and easily.  Adults, having been brainwashed by culture, have a harder time.

Communists are told that demons do not exist because they claim here is no God, but then hordes of demons come in to fill their cultural void; Communism is a demon, atheism is a demon; unbelief has no power over reality. Pastors tell us otherwise because they did not learn the truth in seminary.

The Demonic Chain of Command

Demons are the smallest, lowest spirit beings in the spiritual world.  They are believed to have originated when one-third of the angels fell with the rebellion of Lucifer who defied the authority of God prior to the creation of the universe, the world and what we know as earth.  There are billions of them, but fortunately for mankind, two-thirds of the angels are good, God’s unseen spiritual servants.

Victorious living is based on holiness. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”  And holiness is the process of cleaning out the human soul (called in the Bible saving the soul) which is a process begun when a person accepts Christ as savior.  That process of continuing cleansing marks the life of a true Christian. 

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

You have the authority to war

Luke 10: , I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you…because…

John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. so you can bring peace, His peace to the earth and its citizens.

There you have it! Jesus authorizes and empowers His people with the same authority and power He received from the Father to do His work in your chosen time and place in history.

If it is all there for us, you are now asking, why we don’t have it?  It takes commitment and effort.  It requires that you (not someone else) change your attitude and rise up in opposition to men and programs that have different goals for the human race or for nations. Yes, we war for nations too.

Christians and Possession

Someone will also tell you Christians cannot be possessed by a demon.  This is another confusion of the truth.

So, consider this – how does a lying spirit manage to function if all he has is a spirit and a soul?  Easy.  He needs a body.  Yours, if possible.  Someone else’s in any case.  My guess is that lying spirits are the most common demons of all.  After the spirit takes up residence in a body he has a complete identity – spirit, soul and body. Now that he has a physical body he can practice his evil deeds – fat, dumb, and happy.

And Christians? Of course, some are possessed. You’ve seen it yourself in real life. Severe addictions, so great they totally consume the life of that person, is clear proof of possession. And this explains why counseling these people is usually futile. The physical grip combined with the demonic grip seems almost hopeless. But you have the power to break this in Jesus’ name – if they agree.

Where does the Bible say Christians can have demons?

It is in a passage in the gospels. Jesus is speaking with a Syrophoenician woman, in other words, a non-Jew. She asks for a demon to be cast out of her child and Jesus says, “no.” It sounds cruel but deliverance from demons is “children’s bread” he said. Children are those who are God’s people – first the Jews and then later those born again under the authority of Jesus and His death.

The woman could have just left Jesus but she begs – maybe a few crumbs from the master’s table? She is confessing him as Lord. According to First John, no one can say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit in his heart. Confessions like that qualify you for salvation. That means she is accepted as a believer and she receives her request for her child.

A word of caution here. Being saved is not enough. There are many people out there who have a brief ceremony at church, sign some paper and are called “saved.” The church needs to stop this. Many individuals believe they are saved, especially in those churches which say water baptism saves you or some other behavior. No, you are saved by faith in your heart. Like the thief on the cross, you are saved by what you believe. Period.

Ruling Princes

Princes are at the top and they can govern whole nations. Powers are under them. Rulers have smaller jurisdictions and wicked spirits we have discussed in full. They would be very dangerous if they could all obey Satan but they don’t. Jesus said they were at each other’s throats, and this diminishes their power.

Let’s take one prince and analyze one group – a controlling demon.  They govern large groups of people as well as individuals and frequently families. A controlling demon can control through fear and hate or passive aggression.  We see this clearly in employment, putting up with evil just because “I need this job,” or through fear of loss of friendship or relationships.  There is control by addictions – alcohol, drugs, porn, debt – a major controller.   There is control by brute force which is the pattern of war, control by Law, which is what we see in Islam these days – the controlling demons tell their followers that God told them to do evil and they follow.

Jezebel – Principality over the Planet Today

Jezebel is a controlling spirit who silences all criticism and verbal opposition and is presently controlling America, especially through the media, but also in private life.  It is known these days as go-along-get along.  In previous generations people would say, “if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all.”  This is a Jezebel spirit.

Jezebel is also “political correctness.”  Jezebel is the demon that said “healing doesn’t exist for the church anymore,” or “the Holy Spirit Baptism and speaking in tongues is from the devil.”

Another lie from Jezebel is that members of only one church go to heaven, or small lies like “you have to be baptized to be saved.”  She removes good ministers and replaces them with compromisers, removes good Congress people and replaces them with wimps, or people so motivated by lust for sex, money and power that they become unwilling vessels for demonic or foolish change.

Jezebel not only stops truth; she invents lies to keep people in her control.  And while we are at it – the demon may have a female name but the spirit itself is as much in males as females, maybe even more so because men control power in most societies.  It stirs up gossip against believers and keeps people in turmoil.

This is a most important truth.  Some ministers say Christians cannot have demons because demons cannot invade a man’s spirit.  This is half-true – demons do not need a spirit so of course they don’t invade man’s spirit.  They already have one.  So demons inhabit the physical body, especially the mind.

Jezebel controls the Democratic Party, the Media, and many nations, such as huge China and the middle East. She does not limit her efforts to women obviously, because women do not exercise political or media power; women are always under authority at some point, either God’s, man’s or the demonic powers in males.

That is why we do not pray against individuals, only against the powers of darkness, according to God’s word and revelation. That is the sum of warfare in a sentence.

Why God doesn’t deal with demons Himself

God wants us to deal with sin and the demoniac in order to create in us the reflection of Christ, in other words, glory. One of the great lies of Satan is that salvation is an event.  Not so, it is a process, and the cleansing of demons is part of that process.  But it must be done with two weapons – first the Word of God, second faith, and later the baptism in the Holy Spirit..

That process is called Holiness

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

God resides in a person when he/she accepts Christ as savior. God in His mercy sees to it that we are not cleaned up all at once.  We learn and grow precept upon precept, day after day, scripture after scripture, obedience after obedience, and challenge after challenge.  He also gives us 70 years to finish that work with a master plan for each of us as individuals.

How Demons enter

So how does the demon get in?  This is a common scene.  Mother tells child, do not eat any cookies. The child climbs up on stool and swipes a cookie.  Mother asks, after she has seen the crumbs around his mouth, “Did you steal a cookie?” No, of course not, says the child.  A quick punishment ensues. 

The mouth was used to lie, but more importantly, now the child sees that a lie will bring about punishment and he fears.  So we have lying and fear both in the same person.  It is very common.  Where someone refuses to believe the truth, both the lie and the fear are there.

The job of the parent is to let the child know that while lying, stealing cookies and being afraid are not right, mother still loves the child, but the behavior MUST GO.  The longer a person learns to live with his ability to deceive the more ingrained it becomes in his nature.  People overcome by fear will lie the most.  If they get away with it year after year and decade after decade, it becomes their nature. And if they don’t feel loved they realize that there is no cure, from any place.

You cannot change anyone

You want to know how to get rid of this demonic routine. You and God can do something about it, but you have no power to relieve another person of their demons unless they want to!!! I can’t emphasize this enough. 

The power to change is always solely resident in the individual believer.  That is why we find drunks in the gutter after years of addictions; there are people even in old age holding on to hate, unforgiveness, and resentment without letting go.  It eventually leads to sickness and then of course all men die.

Can you still die and go to heaven if you have demons?  In most cases, yes. Demons have no power to send you to hell.  Your decisions govern that.  Their job is to make your life is as miserable as possible, and if they can, to see that you choose hell on your own.  God gives everyone free will!  Everyone.

This is what happens to people. The demons take over some small portion of a man and his personality is impaired.  He is not possessed by demons, but a demon has some of him under its control.  If you go into a psychiatric ward you will see people are completely possessed; but in daily life, most often no.  The demon can have one part of your life but not the whole you. This is why alcoholics are told never to drink again; porn addicts are told never to get near a computer for anything but work.  That evil spirit will take over until the individual learns to walk in holiness.

Why aren’t people all completely possessed?

Considering how many demons there are, why isn’t everyone possessed? Simply because God’s grace rules the world for the time being and the demons are completely under the law. 

Demons cannot do willy-nilly what they want. They can only act if there is sin. They are not allowed to run amok!!!!

That is, they have no access to you or anyone else without the commission of a sin.  When the devil inspected Jesus, he found nothing in him.  That is to say, he found no sin whereby the devil could attack him.

After over 50 years demon-driving I still wonder at God’s grace keeping so many of them at bay as the planet is overwhelmed by their numbers. Demons are still under God and he restrains them for our benefit.

Sin Nature is not the same as Sins

We all are born with a sin nature, but sin nature is not the same as committing a sin.  We all have the ability to sin; but only the commission of a sin gives ground for the enemy. Watchman Nee has an excellent book on this topic, showing the clear difference between Sin and Sins.

Committing a sin opens the door for the enemy to enter, and with repetition of that sin, to now take over so that it becomes central to a living pattern and way of thinking if it is a false doctrine.  Most demons enter through the eyes or through the brain, through a thought, or visual stimuli, like porn and movies or cartoons. That is why video games and movies are so dangerous.  Demons can also enter through music, or especially physical or sexual abuse.  And Jesus protects the innocence of the young because they are under the authority of adults.  Small children because of their innocence are protected until the age of accountability, somewhere around 9 to 13 years of age. Keep your children safe.

You may inherit a demon through inherited sin nature. A demon of colitis was cast out of me years ago. I had no colitis, in fact, I’d never heard of the disease but years later I learned my father had it. Your sins are under the blood, but your sin nature is something you personally must crucify. More on that in the next installment

PART TWO – How to use the Word of God to identify and cast out Demons.

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©CorneliaScottCree.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission, from this blog’s author and/or owner, is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to CorneliaScottCree.com. Thank you for cooperating in the effort to give glory to God.