The
core of any deliverance ministry is based in two Spiritual gifts: Discernment
of Spirits and Word of Knowledge. These are almost prerequisites to the
ministry of deliverance, but apart from these, in the Supernatural realm, there
are many other ‘signs’ or indications that will alert us and make us aware that
a demon is at work, either in ourselves or in others.
As
we said in Part One in this series, demons are disembodied persons or ‘spirit
persons without physical bodies’ who want nothing more than to inhabit a body –
ANY body. Demons prefer human bodies because they can cause more trouble, wreak
more havoc in the human realm - but will
settle on animals, as is illustrated by the story of Legion (see Mark 5:1-20 or Luke 8:26-39) where Jesus accepted the request of the demons to enter into pigs.
The Nature of Demons (Evil Spirits)
In
addition, demons have two main objectives assigned to them by Satan: 1) to keep
man from knowing Jesus as his Savior and (2) to keep man from serving Jesus
effectively. The first objective is to keep man and God apart. If that fails
then their second objective is to cause disruption enough to keep man from
being effective disciples and Apostles for God – to interfere with our
ministries using any human weakness that lies in us as individuals! The key
here is that demons never quit! If they fail in their primary objective, they
continue on with their secondary objective. If only Christians were as devoted
to their cause as much as demons are to theirs – the demons would be running
scared! As it is today, with the vast majority of the church totally ignoring
the threat of demonic spirits to the body of Christ, demonic forces are
diligently at work…and, like rust, they never sleep!
In
Matthew 24:28, Jesus said, “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures
will gather”. The vultures referred to here are demons and demonic
forces or spirits. In other words, just as when the nearer an animal gets to
death the lower (closer) the vultures come to devouring it, where there is a
weak or dying faith in Christ, you can be sure that there you will find demonic
activity..
Demonic Remedies
So
we have established that where the unregenerate flesh of man is exposed in its
carnality and sinfulness, the vultures (demons) will come. The only remedy for
the flesh is the cross – the power of the blood of Jesus. Galatians 5:24 tells us that “those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” The remedy for demons
is to expel them! As has been demonstrated in scripture, a third of Jesus’
ministry was spent casting out demons and healing the sick – with a great
percentage being a fusion of the two. How did Jesus deal with demons? He cast
them out…he expelled them from afflicted people. These two remedies can never
be reversed – you cannot expel the flesh and you cannot crucify demons. In order
to know which remedy to apply, you must know what you’re dealing with in each,
specific situation.
In
general, if you’re a committed, sincere Christian who reads the Bible and prays
and desires to do God’s work – but there is an aggravating, humiliating,
binding and even enslaving problem that nags and torments you, and you’ve tried everything you can think of
to remedy the situation, you prayed, you’ve fasted, etc and still can’t
reconcile the issue – you can almost be positive that you’re dealing with a
demon that is ‘demonizing’ you. Demons can cause issues that lead you to be afraid
of something; addicted to something; jealous or envious of something or
someone; have anger or judgmental issues, etc. These are all very common forms
of demons that plague the best (and sometimes even the strongest) of
Christians.
Characteristic
Activities and Traits of Demons
The
following is a list of some of the more common characteristic activities of
demons. If they are present, either singular or in multiple form, the person
(or yourself) needs to examine things more closely through deliverance. Keep in
mind that all of these activities are descriptions of things that people would
do, because we are dealing with disembodied persons or spirits.
1) Entice – Demons entice or tempt people
to do evil. Enticement
usually comes in verbal form. For example, a ten dollar bill has been dropped
on the floor and something in your head says, “Go ahead, take it, no one will
know. Other people would do the same.” This is where the proof comes from that
demons are persons – anything that has a voice is a person! You are hearing the
demon inside of you speak to you, rationalizing that it’s ok to do something
wrong, enticing you to commit sin. Absolutely everyone has experienced this at
some time or another.
2) Harass – Demons harass by studying you,
following you. They know you’re weaknesses and your weak moments. They know
just how and when they can get in. For example: A man has had a horrible day at
work, he lost a big deal, his secretary was out, there was traffic on the way
home and the dog used the living room rug as a toilet. To top it off, the kids
are running around screaming and as he enters this scene he finally can’t take
any more and ‘blows up’. In that moment of losing it, the demon of anger that
has been patiently following him all day, waiting for the perfect opportunity,
jumps in and takes over as he screams at his wife and kids, totally losing
control – and although he loves his wife and children dearly, he makes life
miserable for them. Afterwards he feels terrible and remorsefully says “I don’t
know what got into me” The answer is, quite literally, a demon of anger.
3) Torment – Demons torment.
In Matthew 18:34, the parable of the
unforgiving servant, it says “And his lord was angry,
and delivered him to the tormentors…” In Matthew
6:15 it says very clearly “But if you do not forgive
others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” In this case, the
unforgiving servant was delivered by God to demons for tormenting. Today there
are thousands (maybe millions) of Christians who have unforgiveness in their
heart. If you have any unforgiveness in your heart toward anybody, you are a
totally legitimate target for demonization…and Satan knows the word as well as
anybody, maybe better. Satan knows that, according to God’s own word, He will
not do anything to stop it, so Satan has free reign to move in and take up
residence. There is but one choice for this Christian - he must go through
deliverance to expel the demon of unforgiveness.
There
are various forms of torment. There is physical torment, a
perfect example is arthritis. Arthritis is the result of demons in
action – twisting, torturing, crippling and binding their target with
excruciating pain. There is mental torment; a very common example is the
fear of anything. Fear is one of the strongest demons there is;
suffocating and strangling it’s victim with panic. There is Spiritual
torment. For example, someone accuses you of committing the unforgivable
sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This torment can also include fear as the
result of the possibility of committing this sin and facing eternal damnation.
By the way, if you have concern over whether or not you’ve committed this sin,
you haven’t because the people that have don’t have any concern at all. At the
heart of this torment is the unclean spirit of lying and false accusation,
taking away your peace and assurance of salvation.
4)
Compel – Demons compel and cause ‘compulsive’
behavior. Almost anything compulsive is liable to be demonic. Compulsive smoking, drinking (alcoholism),
eating (gluttony), compulsive sexual behavior are all caused by demonic spirits
with the intent to kill and destroy their host.
5)
Enslave – Demons
enslave their host. For example, you’ve committed adultery. You go to Jesus and
repent. As a result, you’re cleaned as if you’ve never sinned. You know that
you’ve been forgiven and it’s over – but you still have an intense drive to
commit adultery again, you’re enslaved to the demon of sinful sex.
*If
you put 4 and 5 together, you have addiction – the compulsion to do something
coupled with being enslaved to it.
6)
Defile – Demons defile
by making you feel dirty and unclean – especially when you’re about to worship
God or read His word. Example: You’re about to get into the presence of God and
some dirty image or filthy word is projected into your mind, maybe even a bad
memory from your past. Anything that rises up when you’re about to worship God
and opposes you is certainly demonic. A common example is the spirit of sleep, the
Bible talks about a spirit of slumber in Romans 11:8. An example would be the
person that wants to read the Bible at 10:30 and is asleep by 10:45. If the
same person wanted to watch a football game on TV they could easily stay up
past midnight. This is also a good example of supernatural forces at work, one
that loves it when we are distracted from God and hates it when we are drawn to
Him.
7)
Deceive – Demons
deceive or lie. All forms of spiritual deception are demonic and the one thing
that opens the door to deception is PRIDE!
8)
Make sick, weak
or tired
– There is a demon of tiredness that physically robs us of energy to do almost
anything – especially if it is centered on anything Godly. This is one of the
demons that others hide behind.
9) Kill – John 10:10 tells us that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Most
don’t realize that death is not a condition but a spirit, there is a spirit of
death. When people raise people from the grave (yes, it happens a lot more
frequently than you think) they have to overcome the spirit of death in the
person being delivered.
10)
Restless – This word
sums up all of the above. Demonized people are usually restless, that is not at
peace and relaxed.
Demonic Areas
of Operation
Proverbs 25:28 says “Like a city that is broken into and without walls
is a man who has no control over his spirit.” Here God
compares the inner nature of human personality to the walls of a city. When the
person has no spiritual defenses he is open to almost any spiritual attack. For
example, a drug addict; almost anything can invade him because his walls of
defense are broken down. Within the inner city there are areas of residences,
both rich and poor areas, business and banking areas, ethnic areas, manufacturing
areas, etc. Inside every man there is a
city with various areas, with characteristic residence in each area. These are
the areas where demonic spirits (demons) can live in us:
1) Emotions and Attitudes (Gangs)
- Behind every negative emotion and attitude there is an evil spirit. Remember,
if it is not for God, it is against God (Matthew 12:30) and God does not allow
negativity as part of his plan for us. So then, anger, fear, misery,
loneliness, self pity, doubt, jealousy, depressions, despair, resentment, etc.
*Please keep in mind that the fact that you experience anger does NOT mean that
you have a demon of anger, but if it is habitual or persistent it may be.
Within these
areas of emotions there are ‘root issues’ or ‘gang leaders’ that are the cause
of the emotions or attitudes. One of the biggest root issues is that of
rejection, which can open the door to a whole series or gang of demons – fear,
resentment, doubt, jealousy, self pity, etc. These gangs can actually cause the
death of the host – by suicide or ‘accidental’ overdose for example. All
suicides are the result of the work of an evil spirit – they have to be because suicide is
not of God! Another gang leader is rebellion, which leads to hatred, resentment,
anger, violence and even murder. Rebellion is the spirit that drives almost all
crime bosses, from the street gang leader to the mafia head.
2)
The Mind – The mind is
the battlefield between demons and the God conscience of man. Characteristic
spirits that affect the mind are doubt, unbelief, confusion, indecision and
insanity. Derek Prince always said that people involved in the occult almost
always had a problem with confusion – which God to serve.
3) The Tongue – The most
common characteristic of the tongue is lying or deceit. 2 Chronicles 18:21-22 says “He said, ‘I will go
and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
Then He said, ‘You are to entice him
and prevail also. Go and do so.’ 22 Now
therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in
the mouth of these your prophets, for the Lord has
proclaimed disaster against you.” There are a lot of people who are compulsive
liars , to the point that they don’t even know when they’re lying. Salespeople and
other professions that talk a lot, can easily fall prey in this area. Lying is
usually based on some kind of expectation not met. It can be as simple as a
task not completed but you will lie and say that it was completed. If you get
away with it, the next time the same situation comes up it will be much easier
to lie…to the point where it becomes habitual. Compulsive liars are so deceived
that they can even pass a lie detector test because they don’t even know when they’re lying!
Another pair of
‘church-going demons’ inhabit the tongue – criticism and gossip. There is the
evangelistic demon of exaggeration. Blasphemy is another characteristic of the
tongue – taking the Lord’s name in vain, cursing, etc. Derek Prince was a big
user of foul language before the Lord came into his life, as was I.
4) Sex – The
characteristic most associated with sex is – guilt. Either about masturbation
or sex acts or whatever. This is one area that Derek and I differ on. Where he
was of the opinion that even masturbation was demonic, I'm of the opinion
that if it’s not Biblical then it doesn’t exist – and nowhere in the Bible does
it say anything about masturbation be a bad thing. In fact, the Bible has zero
guidelines about what constitutes healthy or Godly sex whatsoever – except
where adultery is concerned. This leaves me with the opinion that any sexual
act is good if it takes place between husband and wife and is consented
mutually - as long as it is not a form of perverted sex. When I was growing up we were
taught that any sex that wasn’t for the purpose of making babies was bad. This
is simply not Biblical – and therefore not true. The biggest problem where sex is
concerned is that the church doesn’t talk about it enough, to let Christians
know that whatever is consented to between husband and wife is fine – that
there is nothing ‘dirty’ about matrimonial sex, including sexual
positions, acts etc. God said it is all good! 1 Corinthians 7:5 says on sex “Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that
you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again” Of course, any
sexual act that is not Biblical is evil. This includes homosexuality,
lesbianism, rape and all perversions (S&M, etc).
5) Lusts - Sex could be
included in this area but we’ll discuss other distinctive forms of lusts here. Lusts
are perverted desires and appetites.
When God created man all appetites were of a healthy nature, but by sin
and demonic interruption they have been perverted to become unhealthy and destructive. 1 John
2:16 says “For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the
Father, but is from the world.” As an example, there are men that look at women
only with physical lust – the man’s eyes automatically go to certain physical
areas of any women he sees. This is the result of demonic forces using the
“lust of the eyes” that this scripture refers to. Gluttony is another clear
example of lust in the form of a perverted appetite. Remember that one of the physical
traits of demons is being compulsive – and compulsive eating is no exception.
Addictions grow out of frustrations,
like branches off a trunk, and until you deal with the demon of addiction that
in turn causes the compulsion you will never solve the problem.
6) Occult – Every single
activity that has anything to do with the occult or a cult is demonic – period!
This includes the bad and the ‘good’ occult. When I say ‘good’ cults I mean
what society calls good, of course, not what God would call good. These occults
include somewhat seemingly innocent activities such as yoga. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says “No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants
also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be
according to their deeds.” In other words, what may seem harmless, or even good
for you, isn’t necessarily. Scientology is an excellent example of a cult, for
it certainly is not a religion of God. The Hare Krishnas, the Family of
Love led by Moses David Berg, and Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church are
examples of cults.
7) All False Religions – Some of these
claim to be Christian, and even consider the Bible to be authoritative, but
they manipulate the Scriptures to fit their own beliefs. Although they may
claim to serve Jesus Christ, and may even use the same terminology orthodox
Christians use, their definitions are vastly different. These include
Mormonism; Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, The Way International, and
the Unity School of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and in some respects
Judaism. Galatians 1:8-9 says “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a
gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any
man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”
There isn’t a single false religion that Satan is not at work in – this is his
main field of operation.
8) All Heresies – These are
departures from the Christian faith. 1
Timothy 4:1-3 says “ But the Spirit explicitly says
that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to
deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in
their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods
which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know
the truth.” This is already happening on
a widespread scale with diets of every kind that limit all kinds of food –
don’t eat carbohydrates, don’t eat protein – anything that makes food the
center of one’s life is not of God. 1
Timothy 4:4-5 goes on to say “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected
if it is received with gratitude; 5 for
it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”
9)
Our Physical
Bodies – There are
certain ‘diseases’ and aspects of such that are the result of demonic forces –
and there is scriptural evidence to back this up. The top of the list is
epilepsy. I have seen many people ministered to by Derek Prince, Mahesh Chavda
and my parents that were cured of epilepsy by way of deliverance and Mark 9:17-22 gives us a perfect picture
of epilepsy being healed by deliverance:
“And
one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a
spirit which makes him mute; 18 and
whenever
it seizes him, it slams him to
the ground and he foams at the
mouth, and grinds his teeth and
stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do
it.” 19 And He answered them and said,
“O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” 20 They
brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit
threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He
asked his father, “How long has this been happening to
him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and
into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and
help us!”
If that isn’t a description of epilepsy
I don’t know what is, “whenever
it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds
his teeth and stiffens out.” It goes on to say that “when he saw Him”, meaning
that when the evil spirit saw Jesus, he threw the boy to the ground in a convulsing
seizure, complete with foaming at the
mouth. This passage clearly defines this ‘dis-ease’ as a spirit of epilepsy
– not a physical condition at all but the direct result of a demon or evil
spirit. The key to healing in this case is to treat the ‘disease’ as an unclean
spirit!
So, in this second part of this
series on deliverance, we have defined demonic activity and its goal, we have
identified ten Characteristics or traits of demons and nine primary areas of operation
of demons. As you can see, a person may be completely clear in the area of sex
but be involved in a false religion. He may be free in the mind but bogged down
emotionally. A person may be in an occult but be perfectly healthy physically.
There is an abundance of possibilities for demonic activities to creep into our
everyday existence.
In the next part of this series, I’ll discuss how demons
come in, how they gain access to human lives.
©2013 Mark Williams, First Love Missions
~May the blood of Jesus cover, bless and protect you!
Mark
