Misconceptions on Demonic Topics, Episode 2
Welcome back to Conquering Our Unseen Enemies. Today I want to address some questions that will also serve to clarify some misconceptions. So we will be discussing: What is a Demon? What is a Believer? Can believers be demon possessed? Is casting out demons real and can we really cast out (evict) demons the way Jesus did? What authority do we have to tell evicted demons where to go? Can we evict demons in non-believers?
Alright, let’s get started and kick it off with:
What is a demon?
A demon is a spirit, a person without a body, otherwise called disembodied. Generally speaking we cannot see demons, but they can choose to make themselves visible as both darkness and disguise themselves as an angel of light. There are instances where they can be seen by individuals who have been given the gift to see into the spirit realm, they are called Seer’s, but also at times the Holy Spirit will allow you to see a demon spirit if necessary. Demons are in Satan’s hierarchy and have roles and ranks. Demons need a place to indwell and they prefer humans, but will take an animal. An example of this is 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. When a demon indwells in a person, it considers that person to be its “house”. Jesus gives us a picture of this in Matthew 12:43-44, “when an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid and dry places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, I will return to the House I left”. A demon is a spiritual enemy of all believers, but also of humanity in general. Their objective is to keep people from knowing Jesus as their savior. If you already are a believer, then they want to keep you from knowing your authority and being effective. The way they achieve their objective is through tempting, deceiving, accusing, condemning, pressuring, defiling, resisting, opposing, controlling, stealing, afflicting, killing and destroying. Jesus told us in John 10:10, “the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy” Mark 9:17, gives us an example of a man who brings his son to Jesus because a demon has taken away the child’s ability to speak. Luke 4:33, gives us another example demonic activity of a man who was possessed by an impure spirit and the demons began to cry out at the sight of Jesus “Go away! 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!” That same event is given to us in Mark 1:23. Mark 5:2 gives us a picture of a demon possessed man that was incredibly violent and would not only harm others, but would cut himself, something we see today as well. Demons have characteristics that identify their role in the kingdom of satan. The characteristic also identifies their name. For example, someone who has addiction issues may have an indwelling of a demon named Addiction. So their name corresponds to their role, or their job. We will break down these demon names more on our episode discussing demon groupings and even further when we talk about specific groupings.
We need to clarify here when I refer to a believer what I am specifically saying. A believer is someone who has accepted Jesus as their savior. Someone who believes that Jesus is the son of God, who died for their sins, was resurrected and ascended back into heaven at the right hand of God. A believer is someone who has repented of their sins and is faithful and committed to serve Jesus. I don’t particularly like to use the term Christian because many religious groups refer to themselves as Christians but are not believers. For what we are discussing in this podcast, the distinction is necessary and requires clarification. Our authority comes from Jesus so someone who is a Christian but not a believer in Jesus will not have the authority. We discussed that in Episode 1, but the scriptural reference for that is Mark 16:17. which states…in my name they will drive out demons.” Luke 9:1, reveals “when Jesus has called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons” and Matthew 10:1 where Jesus gave his authority to drive out impure spirits.
Ok, let’s move onto the next question. Can believers be demon possessed?
Most people will answer this question no, which is correct. Once we belong to Christ, we cannot be possessed by Satan as we belong to Jesus because satan does not have the legal right to “possess”. However, what isn’t well understood or accepted is that believers can be demonized. Believers can have demons indwell to demonize them and not realize that is what is happening. Again, Matthew 12:43 addresses the fact that demons indwell in a person. Once we get to a mindset where we don’t defend our “house”, we are allowing the demons to work unchallenged against us. I would say if you ask anyone sitting in church today if they have any demons they need cast out, after you got past the looks of insult, you would hear a resounding “NO!” In reality, the answer should be, “Yes, please and thank you!” We all have at one time or another demons that are working against us demonizing us. Sometimes over little knit picky things and sometimes over big sins we are carrying in our lives. It’s not something to be embarrassed about, it’s reality. If we look at the delivery ministry of Jesus, he didn’t just cast out demons for “those people” the ones we shun in public. He addressed demons in the lives of everyday people. For years I used to wonder why Jesus had such an active deliverance ministry and yet we don’t see active deliverance ministries like that today. Were demons more prevalent in ancient days? The truth is we have the same demons today they had when Jesus walked the earth, but today we are more willing to embrace them, hide behind them or not bother to address them at all. There are people active in deliverance ministry, but we are more likely to cast the deliverance minister out of our lives than the demons.
At some point you may hear me use the word evict instead of cast out. I prefer evict because it better defines for us what needs to happen. To evict someone is to force them to leave a place, supported by law. Cast out is more to exclude someone from a group or place. We need to go into it with the idea of forcing those demons out with the message, “and don’t come back!”
Moving onto the next question. Is casting out demons real and can we really cast out (evict) demons the way Jesus did?
Casting out demons is very real but generally not as crazy and dramatic as the movies make it out to be. The Holy Spirit is always in control so you need to make sure you are yielding to the Holy Spirit. Speaking to whether we too can evict the same way Jesus did, we refer back to Matthew 10:1, where Jesus gave his authority to drive out impure spirits, and Mark 16:17, which states…in my name they will drive out demons..” We have the authority and the responsibility to evict these demons in the name of Jesus. Paul gives us a really good example in Acts 16:16, when he is on one of his missionary journeys and staying in Philippi. He was being followed around by a woman who practiced divination. She followed him for a time before the Holy Spirit directed him to say, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from her!” This led to the beginning of a number of problems for Paul and Silas, which is not our focus, but understand that Paul doing that took incredible faith and courage. We can be just as effective as Jesus was and in some ways more so because he was only with us for a short time. If you are interested in learning more about the history behind this type of demon Paul evicted, I did a video on this on my YouTube Channel, Life Journey with Dawn Simmons where I visited Delphi, Greece and share that visit and explain what Paul was addressing. It’s titled “How Delphi shaped the history of the world.
Next question, What authority do we have to tell evicted demons where to go?
The short answer to this is very little. Let me explain what the Bible reveals to us about this issue. There is a set time and place for when demons are sent to be tormented. Only God knows the set time. In Matthew 8 we see several instances of Jesus evicting demons and healing people. This chapter is full of his miracles, he also calms the storm here, just a magnificent chapter. Let’s look closer at 8:29 where Jesus encounters two demon possessed men who were out casts from their community, living in tombs, so they were set apart already in the natural. In this particular case the demons caused these men to be violent. Starting with verse 28, “When he (Jesus) arrived at the other side of the region of the Gadarenes, two demon possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. (So these demons recognized Jesus) “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” The Book of Revelation explains what that appointed time will be like, but from this we see that there is an appointed time at which these demons will no longer be allowed to torment you and me. Let’s go back now and take a look at how Jesus responds, some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” He said “Go!” so they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water”. This story used to puzzle me. These poor innocent pigs were living their life, doing what pigs were supposed to be doing and then..bam…they are dead, a pretty violent death in my opinion. I’d get stuck on that point and miss the other points that are revealed here. First, we see Jesus took care of these 2 men and evicted the demons. Second, the demons tried to talk and stall the inevitable. Third, the demons tried to negotiate, and Jesus let them. Fourth, when the demons left, they transferred themselves to pigs because pigs are better than nothing. The demons claimed not allowing them to make that transfer qualified as premature torment for them. Fifth, a herd of pigs, these men had several demons indwelling, not one or two. The same account in Mark actually reveals the number of demons was 2000. Sixth, Jesus surely knew the end result with the pigs. Seventh, even the pigs did not want these demons, they were scared and chose this end rather than a life with these demons. Animals sense demons better than we do. Whether logic was applied, I have no idea, but something made these pigs run, a natural reaction to a huge group of demons running at you. Eighth, demons were permitted to go into the pigs for the benefit of the men being tormented. Lastly, demons are unclean. Jesus confirmed that to us by allowing them to transfer to these pigs which are considered unclean animals by Jewish law, which is what was still being practiced at that time.
So now back to that original question. We cannot in our authority send demons to hell. We can command them to leave, but unless the Holy Spirit tells you something specific to say at that time, we cannot tell them where they should go.
Ok, we are on our last question now. Can we evict demons in non-believers?
The answer here is technically yes, but let me explain how that would have to happen. We touched on this earlier, but the issue comes down to legal rights. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and become a member of the Kingdom of God, we belong to Jesus. Legally, Satan cannot stay with us if we use our authority and command him to leave. We are then responsible to keep our “house” clean. In a situation where the person requesting the demons be evicted is not a believer, the eviction must be done by someone does have that authority, a believer. As long as the non-believer explicitly states they want the demon gone, then the demon has to leave once directed to do so. The question really becomes one of whether it should be done. Someone who has not accepted Jesus does not have access to the legal right of protection from Jesus. If that non-believer is not then equipped with authority to keep demons out once they are on their own a day later, a week later or a year later. Setting someone up for a Matthew 12:44 scenario is not what we should be doing. The better approach is to lead that person to the saving grace of Jesus first and then address the demons being evicted. Just don’t forget a new believer will need support until they can stand on their own. Not many new believers will know how to fight off demons, they are still learning what the Bible is and may not know much about the Holy Spirit.
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.
· We need to clarify here when I refer to a believer what I am specifically saying. A believer is someone who has accepted Jesus as their savior. Someone who believes that Jesus is the son of God, who died for their sins, was resurrected and ascended back into heaven at the right hand of God.
· Believers cannot be demon possessed because we have salvation in Jesus and therefore cannot be possessed by someone or something not of God. Believers can be demonized, and can be indwelt.
· Casting out, or evicting, demons is very real. The Holy Spirit is always in control so you need to make sure you are yielding to the Holy Spirit.
· We have very little authority to tell evicted demons where to go, but the Holy Spirit may give us specific instructions so we need to listen always
· Demons can be evicted in non-believers but it is not the best long term solution. It is better to bring that person to salvation and then evict.
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
· Watch the video on our YouTube channel, Life Journey with Dawn Simmons for additional background on the demon of divination Paul was addressing.
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