Demons…What are Demon Groupings, Ep 9
Welcome back! I am your host, Dawn Simmons, and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to lay some groundwork for understanding demon groupings. We will also talk about how demon groupings can form, I will be sharing some of my experiences in working with people to deliver them from the bondage of demons and going over some demon groupings.
In our episode on demons, we talked about a demon being a spirit, a person without a body, otherwise called disembodied. We discussed demons are in Satan’s hierarchy and have roles and ranks. As well as explaining demons need a place to indwell and they prefer humans but will take an animal. We saw an example of this in Matthew 8:29 when Jesus casts out the demons from the two demon possessed men and permits the demons to enter a herd of pigs. That example is also discussed in Mark and we find out that the leader of those demons referred to himself as Legion because the number of demons was 2000. So Jesus gave us a remarkable example of a demon grouping that He was able to cast out all at one time. In my experience, it doesn't always work that way nor have I seen someone with that many demons at one time. That might actually overwhelm me. I appreciate that we do have that Biblical example available to us so that we know what we face will generally be easier to manage. The reason I say that is because as we also discussed in the demons episode, demons have characteristics that identify their role in the kingdom of satan. The characteristic also identifies their name. In reality, this makes it far easier on us to deal with than if say these demons were named Bob, Mary and Jennifer. With those names I don't know anything about what I am dealing with and quite frankly the less I have to actually deal with the demon directly the better. By having them be named by their role or we could even say responsibility because once a demon indwells, they have to perform their responsibility, we can quickly get to the heart of an issue and know why we are dealing with a particular demon. This will ensure we are addressing the root of the issue. Once we get to the root of the issue, then we know we are likely dealing with the strongman.
Let's break all that down a bit so we can walk through a demon grouping from the beginning and see how demon groupings form. I want to be clear about demon roles. Demons function as experts, specialists, in a particular area for example anxiety. Their entire purpose is to create anxiety in you at any opportunity and if there aren't enough opportunities then they will help to create opportunity. The way a demon anxiety functions may be through several different processes, but they will find multiple ways to get their end result. Their process will change depending on the person, the place, circumstances and external factors. Demons know the person they are demonizing very well. Do not assume that you are being demonized one day just out of the blue. Do not assume that one day you are being demonized and the next day you are not. Their sole purpose is to work you into the worst possible state they can possibly achieve to ultimately have control, domination over you. The entire objective of satan is domination. To dominate each of us, to ultimately dominate this world and then to overthrow the Lord and dominate God. They plan to achieve their goal one person at a time. When we talk, act, think or do anything with any other perspective than satan is there to dominate us, then we are lying to ourselves and you are positioning yourself to be dominated without the ability to put up much of a fight. Denial of them and their purpose is the beginning of a loss. This is not conspiracy theory discussion. This is truth. Jesus is very clear in John 10:10 when He tells us, "the enemy came to steal, kill and destroy…" If nothing else I say in our time here today resonates with you, at least take away this one point. The enemy is real and he exists to dominate and destroy you. This is not a game, this is not me trying to scare you, this is reality. Ok, that is more than one point but nonetheless, I need you to understand the severity of the condition the enemy is working to get you into their negative domain every single day.
I stated before that the demon knows the person they are demonizing well. I want to explain something about that. Let's use an analogy. Have any of you ever gotten a call from the best restaurant in your country advising that the chef is out sick and they need you to come in and cover him for the night? More than likely, unless we have a world class chef listening along with us right now, the answer is probably no. Why is that? Well, I can do a few good things in the kitchen that my husband enjoys but if I want to make a good beef wellington, I'm probably going to pull up a Gordon Ramsay recipe to follow along. I took cooking classes from Damiano Carrara, he used to be on Food Network, he and his brother have Carrara's, he's Italian, so if I wanted to make Italian pastries, I'd refer to those recipes he gave me. No way could I show up at a restaurant, put on an apron and start yelling at the sous chefs to speak up or how long for the risotto. Right, it just wouldn't happen that way. To get that call I would have needed to prepare for that for a while. Similarly, a demon takes time to get to know the person they demonize. They need to know weaknesses, relationships, how to manipulate us to deceive us into making poor choices. So how do they do this so well?
Generally speaking, if we use this demon, anxiety as an example, anxiety isn't working alone. Once we open a door that allows the demon legal access to us then the demon of anxiety will come and indwell. Anxiety typically will then become the strongman, not always, but usually the first one in is the one to set up shop so to speak and create opportunities for us to allow other legal access through our sin or words. Most frequently I see others were allowed in because of words spoken, which we will discuss in another episode on choosing our words wisely.
Let's get back to our example, so anxiety comes in and begins to bring in others that are tied to anxiety like fear. As they create opportunities for others to enter, and we oblige because we are caught up in their deception and lies, then the group begins to form. You can think of it like a chain. They join together and create a demonic chain of influence that over time will get bigger and stronger and pretty soon has us in a bondage. These groupings can also be called colonies, clans or families. A particular grouping will form that will control a particular area of a person's life. Let's look back at the example Jesus gave us, let's examine this demon called Legion. How do you think he got his name? His name doesn't sound like a characteristic as we have discussed, so why Legion. A grouping covers a particular area. Do you know anyone with "baggage" that affects only one area of their lives? I don't. So you may have a grouping formed from anxiety, but this person may also have issues or "baggage" because of rejection. Rejection can come in and bring along their demon associates and now we have 2 groupings in one person. So when we have strongman called Legion responding to Jesus, his role is to oversee the 2000 demons function and controlling or ruining everything in this man's life. The chances are very slim that someone is being demonized by only one demon. They work best together and in particular combinations. So with anxiety you frequently will see the demons of fear, worry, apprehension. These are frequent but never assume it's always the same. I didn't really enjoy statistics but I can tell you that the number of demon combinations possible are closer to infinite and I hope I never have to meet a Legion or anything similar.
Let's talk a little more about the strongman. Jesus introduces the strongman to us in Matthew 12:29, "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house." As I said, usually the strongman is the first one to indwell. A strongman is essentially the ruler of the groupings. In a situation where the demons become challenged, you may only hear from the strongman and the others in the group will simply hide behind the strongman and remain silent. The strategy is that if they hide behind the strongman and you don't know they are present, you will miss their presence and they can remain even if others are evicted. The opposite can also be the case where maybe you know the name of a lesser demon, but you don't know the strongman. The lesser demon may be evicted but if the strongman remains. The lesser demon will be better positioned to come back at a later date. Those are the instances where you will see they could return with even more demons in tow. We read that in Matthew 12:43-4, " When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 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. 45 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 person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” That scripture also begins to discuss outcomes of a deliverance, which we will discuss in a future episode.
What we can discuss now related to deliverance is the groupings I have seen. From my experience there is a strongman, but it will take some digging sometimes to identify who it is. The reason for that, again, from my experience so it won't be this way for everyone, the strongman can be difficult to identify because it has been there so long. Most of the time the strongman was able to enter during childhood when we are the most vulnerable and often times are not protected. From the time of our childhood to adulthood, others have since joined and that childhood demon is somewhat suppressed. It becomes suppressed because we push it back and try to forget about it or because the demon itself can function just fine in the background with the others in the foreground. Like an orchestra. It’s almost like they can function as a puppet master with us as the puppet. Now not everything we do or that happens to us is demonic. Sometimes we are just making bad choices, so do not misunderstand what I am saying. We are ultimately responsible for our decisions, demon influenced or not because we are also responsible for cleaning out our "house". There would be very few exceptions to this. Mental incapacity, children, those types of things would create an exception.
About 2 years ago I was working with a woman and I was trying to identify the demons that were influencing her. She was willing to admit to some, but not all that she was aware she had been dealing with. The Holy Spirit revealed to me two of the demons that she did not reveal. Her unwillingness to address all the demons was part of the issue. There were multiple groupings and one of the things I noticed that I want to share with you is that you can have multiple groupings but in each grouping you can have duplicates. For example, she had the demon of fear in multiple groups. That fear had managed to work its way through so many areas of her life, it became a part of who she was. She both acknowledged it and accepted it. When you get to that place where you know it and allow it to stay and permeate your existence it prevents you from moving forward. It prevents you in those areas of your life you want to move forward in and you have allowed the enemy to dominate you. In those situations, I cannot help the person, I could not help her. She would not let go of the demons. We have to want to evict and be willing to evict.
I have another woman I was working with who was able to identify the specific demons she was dealing with. She also had a demon of fear, but she knew what she had been living with for so many years and was willing to address her demons head on and evict them. There were several issues to address and the strongman had a hold on her to the very end. In her case, she had one strongman and the demons, there were about 20, and they formed what appeared to me to be more of a web around her heart and her mind. When you have something like that it can be difficult to hear and understand the truth. They are specifically trying to blind you, so you are not able to evict them.
Let me give you some examples of groupings so you can understand how they can operate against you and hopefully you can begin to identify them all when you encounter a situation, whether for yourself or someone else. The truth is, it's not something to be ashamed of or embarrassed by, we all deal with this. The number of demons isn't really an indication of anything in and of itself. If someone thinks they only have one demon, they are not being honest with themselves. On average, it is not uncommon for demons count to be in the 20 or even 30 range because they are so specialized. They gain strength in numbers, so it is to their benefit to join forces.
So here are some examples of common demon groupings:
Pride: ego, vanity, self-righteousness, haughtiness, Importance, Arrogance
Guilt: Condemnation, Shame, Unworthiness, Embarrassment
Control: Possessiveness, Dominance, Witchcraft
Depression: Despair, Suicide, Hopelessness, Defeatism, Discouragement, Insomnia
Paranoia: Jealousy, Envy, Suspicion, Distrust, Persecution, Fears, Confrontation
Indecision: Procrastination, Compromise, Confusion, Forgetfulness, Indifference
I tried to choose different types of issues to show how they can link together and create that web effect to dominate multiple areas of our lives. The more you know about groupings and how they work against you, the easier it will be for you to identify them and position yourself to evict them. This is just a small sampling. There are over 50 groupings that I use when identifying demons and the strong man. Even just looking at these you can see how if we take Depression for example. Depression is specific, yet all of these others: despair, suicide, hopelessness, defeatism, discouragement and insomnia can create their own web, but when they feed off of each other the demons can take you to a place where you don't see a way out. I will tell you the last time I helped someone evict their demons, I gave them some time afterwards to be alone. When I came back, the woman told me how clear her mind was without all the voices. That was awesome. She had been living with that for years, hiding it, and now she was free.
We can all be free and we can stay free.
Ok, so let’s recap where we have been today.
Top show points to remember:
· Demons are disembodied spiritual persons who are a part of the Kingdom of satan. They have characteristics that reveal their role in their warfare against us.
· Demons function as experts, specialists, in a particular area for example anxiety. Their entire purpose is to create anxiety in you at any opportunity and if there aren't enough opportunities then they will help to create opportunity.
· Their process will change depending on the person, the place, circumstances and external factors. Demons know the person they are demonizing very well.
· the strongman, not always, but usually the first one in is the one to set up shop so to speak and create opportunities for us to allow other legal access through our sin or words.
· As they create opportunities for others to enter, and we oblige because we are caught up in their deception and lies, then the group begins to form. You can think of it like a chain. They join together and create a demonic chain of influence that over time will get bigger and stronger and pretty soon has us in a bondage
· These groupings can also be called colonies, clans or families. A particular grouping will form that will control a particular area of a person's life.
· The chances are very slim that someone is being demonized by only one demon. They work best together and in particular combinations.
· A strongman is essentially the ruler of the groupings. In a situation where the demons become challenged, you may only hear from the strongman and the others in the group will simply hide behind the strongman and remain silent. The strategy is that if they hide behind the strongman and you don't know they are present, you will miss their presence and they can remain even if others are evicted.
· Not everything we do or that happens to us is demonic. Sometimes we are just making bad choices, so do not misunderstand what I am saying. We are ultimately responsible for our decisions, demon influenced or not because we are also responsible for cleaning out our "house".
· You can have multiple groupings but in each grouping you can have duplicates.
· On average, it is not uncommon for demons count to be in the 20 or even 30 range because they are so specialized. They gain strength in numbers, so it is to their benefit to join forces.
· There are over 50 groupings that I use when identifying demons and the strong man.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
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