The Christian and the Demon World
Luke 10:19
Reg Bendixen
1. The Question
There are claims that compulsive bad habits and disturbing irregularities in a Christian's life are caused by demons, and can be eliminated by binding or casting out demons which are supposedly causing the trouble. Before we set out to refute this spurious contention - one which is wreaking havoc with the faith of the Lord's people - it would be to our advantage to have a quick look at the "deliverance" procedure usually followed by many of these people.
It begins with the scriptural principle of identifying compassionately with a problem-ridden Christian, who is made to think that his difficulties are serious but not insolvable. Demons are claimed to be at the root of the trouble and the assurance is given that they can be bound or cast out. The unfortunate Christian, ruled by a desire for promised relief, lays himself open to delusion by choosing to believe that demons are causing the trouble and that his problems can be solved by submitting to one claiming to exercise a ministry of exorcism, deliverance or some other name. A mental conditioning begins.
After a course of teaching about demons and their activities, the candidate is conditioned to expect certain manifestations and reactions from various demons. These may take the form of a cough, a roar, a scream, or perhaps muscular spasms, blackouts and frightening contortions.
The actual "deliverance" involves questioning the "demons" about their names, their natures and activities, and ends with demands for the "demons" to leave their victim. A struggle usually follows. There is almost always a reaction and a subsequent "deliverance" is claimed.
The candidate has been allegedly set free from demons of fear, doubt, death, sex perversion or any number of other exotic varieties of evil. But is it so? How can we know the truth? What does the Bible teach about demon activity?
These questions, and others, we will answer in some detail. We will show that the devil is able to implant suggestions in the heart and mind and achieve similar results to that brought about by a hypnotist. We will show that the subconscious mind being conditioned by teaching and reacting in turn with physical manifestations is compatible with the Bible for "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he." (Proverbs 23:7).
· We will show that it is possible for a candidate to experience an apparent deliverance, but at fearful cost to his faith and to his relationship with Jesus Christ.
· We will show that these doctrines of demons are posing a very real threat to the church.
· We will show, above all, that the only source of truth and the only security of our knowledge lies in the infallible Word of God, and that as we deviate from its precepts and principles to even the slightest degree, we lay ourselves open to deception and disillusionment.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," said Jesus. (Matthew 24:25).
His Word is all Truth. It is sufficient. It is our refuge and strength.
Demons "In" and Demons "Out"
As we endeavor to shine the light of scriptural truth into the darkness caused by deviation from the Word of God, it is necessary that we have a workable, scriptural definition of demon activity.
We will not try to define the meaning of the terms demon possession, demon obsession, demon deception, demon oppression or even “demonisation”. Rather, we will turn to scripture for a basic and unambiguous definition upon which to base our argument.
This is presented in Mark 7:25-30 - the story of the Syrophoenician woman “whose young daughter had an unclean spirit.'' Three times in this passage - verses 27, 29 and 30 - reference is made to the demon being cast out of the young girl. Thus her problems were caused by a demon being in her, and the intervention of Jesus resulted in the demon being out of her.
The operative words are IN and OUT, and it is to this simple concept that we will limit our argument. In other words, if a demon is "in", then it must be cast out. But if it is not "in", then it is farcical to try to get it "out", and a scriptural remedy other than exorcism is called for. We will find that the Bible is full of rich instruction about such ministry.
2. Doctrines of Demons
Can a Christian, one who is born of the Spirit, one in whom Christ has come to dwell, have a demon in him at the same time?
The verdict of scripture is a resounding, emphatic "No!" We will demonstrate clearly from an objective analysis of God’s Word that the massive weight of evidence is totally opposed to the concept of a Christian having a demon in him, and that, furthermore, any suggestion to the contrary borders on both the blasphemous and heretical. Such allegations stem from a subtle and deadly Satanic deception which is clearly referred to in scripture.
In 1 Tim 4:1 we read that "In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.” These "doctrines of demons” obviously include doctrines about demons, in the same way that the doctrines of Christ include doctrines about Jesus Christ.
Needless to say, we can expect these doctrines of demons to be untrue. Anything that is outside of scripture, wherein is the doctrine of Christ; anything that comes from circumstantial evidence and is demonic in nature, must inevitably be false. It will be a lie. If the devil preaches a doctrine there is one thing we can be sure of – he’s telling lies. He is a liar from the beginning and the father of lies (John 8:44). It is impossible for him to bring forth truth. Therefore, we can expect the doctrines of demons to an elaborate structure of false teachings cleverly designed to seduce and mislead. We can expect the doctrines of demons to tell us about what demons are, what their activities are, what they do, how they think, how they speak, what their names are - all of which will have only the most superficial and tenuous links with scripture. We can expect doctrines of demons to undermine recourse to and dependence on God’s Word as the one and only source and arbiter of all truth. Finally, we can expect to hear the cry from those who have been deluded: “I know the scripture is not too clear on this matter, but I cannot doubt my experience”.
Having been brought this far, the Christian is virtually defenseless against further widespread deception.
Unfortunately, many are already in this sorry position. More unfortunate still is the fact that those being misled are often the ones most eagerly seeking a closer, more righteous walk with the Lord. It is that very hunger of theirs that Satan exploits to bring them into bondage. He comes to them as a seducing spirit, offering them a supposed means of fulfilling their spiritual desires, but one that will lead to their ultimate ruin.
For example, if a man wants to seduce a woman, he seduces her along the lines of what she desires. She wants to know that she is beautiful, so he tells her that she is beautiful. She wants to know that she is the only one, so he tells her, “You’re the only one.” She wants some kind of security, so he tells her, “I’ll marry you.” And then he comes to the place of seduction. Having told her what she ‘wanted to hear’, he expects her to submit to him. Notice that he does not violently force her to submit, but wins her submission with his flattery.
Seduction begins with identifying with the victim’s desires, and then bringing about a willing submission. In the same way, when the devil comes to seduce us, he begins by identifying with our desires. We may say, “I want to be a better Christian, but ... I have a problem with bad temper, I have a problem with gossip, I have a problem with lust, and this is stopping me from being a better Christian.’’ Well aware of our desire, Satan tempts us to acknowledge that he, or his agent, is living in us, in return for which he will give us deliverance from our problems. He used precisely the same tactics against Jesus by saying, “Bow down and worship me, and I will give you the kingdom.”
Jesus Tempted to Submit
The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness provides us with an outstanding example of the devil’s purposes and means of deception. In Matthew 4:1-11 we see Satan coming against Jesus in three areas, and exercising great control over Jesus while tempting Him:
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up (note: the devil taketh him up! He did not just talk about it, he took Jesus bodily) into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall hear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil Ieaveth him…”
This is a remarkable passage of scripture which portrays Christ, manifest as Christ, infused with the Holy Spirit, suffering temptation from the devil. There is much to learn here, and a careful analysis of the nature of the temptation is very revealing in uncovering Satan’s devices.
(I) The devil identified first of all with Jesus’ appetites as a man, tempting Him to transform the barren wilderness and so appease His hunger. To understand the full import of this temptation, we must understand why there was a wilderness at all.
The answer is found in Genesis 3, in the story of the Fall and the curse that resulted from it. God told Adam, “ . . . cursed is the ground for thy sake . . . in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread “. From that day the earth would be barren and stones would only be turned into bread by ploughing, sowing, watering, reaping, sweating — the way of the curse! What Satan was tempting Jesus to do was not merely to relieve His hunger, but do it in such a way that would avoid sweat and effort and so lift the curse.
The temptation becomes more diabolically subtle when we realize that one of the primary reasons for Jesus’ entry into the world was to lift the curse! When He sits upon the throne of David the curse will be reversed. In the new heavens and the new earth there will be no curse. But He did not come to lift the curse in a denial of God’s purposes; He came to take the curse, for “cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Galatians 3:13).
Satan’s aim, therefore, was to entice Jesus into satisfying His highest desire quickly and expediently and in a way that would acknowledge the devil’s supremacy. The alternative was to go the long, hard way of the cross in obedience to the will of God. Jesus never flinched. He rejected the temptation and resisted Satan by standing immovably on the truth of the Word of God.
(2) Undaunted, the devil next took Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple. How he did it is a mystery, but he did it! He took Jesus to a place where it was not possible to climb and challenged Him to throw Himself down.
What would have happened if Jesus complied? Imagine the effect on those in the temple if a man floated down from heaven and landed among them. They would have said, “This is the Messiah. He has landed in our temple. He has come to rule on the throne of David!’’ And, of a truth, it would have been their Messiah.
But Jesus was first to come in the role of the suffering servant before He came as the King, and Satan was, in effect, tempting Him to make His first coming His second coming too. Again, to take the easy way, to avoid the impending clash, to reject the work of the cross, and to acknowledge the supremacy of the devil.
(3) The third temptation was the most dramatic of all. Jesus was lifted up high into a mountain. We know that there is no mountain high enough to reveal all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory, but Satan gave Jesus this impression. Into the imagination, into the heart of Jesus came a vision of all the kingdoms of the world, and He perceived their glory. (Note that while one rationalizes with the mind, emotional responses come from the heart. In other words, one does not perceive “glory” with the mind, but with the heart. Satan therefore had access both to Jesus’ mind and heart in bringing Him this vision.)
The devil claimed dominion over the kingdoms thus arrayed, and it was not a false assertion. At the time he was the world ruler and it was within his power to dispose of all in exchange for the worship of Jesus. What’s more, he was identifying with a strong desire in Jesus, who came to have fulfilled in His life the words of Matthew 28:18, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.’’ However, this was not to be achieved by worshipping or acknowledging Satan in any way, but by doing the will of God in dying on the cross, for “in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.” (Psalm 40:7,8).
Satan Craves Worship
In all three of the temptations of Jesus we see the devil offering Him a quick, easy fulfillment of His desires, if Jesus would only acknowledge him in return. If He would just confess that Satan did have a certain supremacy, that he did have some authority and power, that he was a significant factor in thwarting the purposes of God and that God, by bargaining with him, could fulfill those purposes, Satan would have been satisfied.
Acknowledgement is a form of worship — indeed, worship is the highest form of acknowledgement — and above all else, Satan wanted Jesus to worship him.
He wants us to worship him too. That is what doctrines of demons are all about — to win worship for Satan by seduction, delusion and lies. If we acknowledge that a Christian has a demon in him, and that this demon has brought him into bondage, has brought some sort of curse upon him, victimized him, taken away the ground which is God’s possession and defeated the purposes of God in his life, then we are acknowledging a supremacy that Satan does not have, we are granting him a status to which he is not entitled, we are glorifying, uplifting and worshipping him. In return, he offers the deliverance that is sought. He brings about a cessation of his attacks and a conditioning of the mind that will help the Christian to overcome his problems. All Satan wants is a member of the body of Christ to acknowledge him and give him credit for upsetting God’s power and plans. That is all he wanted from Jesus. It was as if he said to Jesus: ‘‘These were your kingdoms which I stole. These stones were not supposed to be barren, but I have upset God. I have interfered, I did it! Acknowledge me! Just admit that I did it!’’ We might say that this was true, that Satan was indeed a cause and that he did have a part to play, but Jesus’ attitude was that if Satan was a cause or not, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve.”
Satan pleaded. ‘‘Just tell me I was successful to some degree” and Jesus answered. ‘‘No!’’
Satan pleaded. “ But look at the evidence!’’ and Jesus answered. “No!”
Whatever the evidence, Jesus refused to give the devil any credit. He stuck by the principle that nothing happens which is not in the purposes of God, and we should do likewise.
When we acknowledge that there are demons in God’s people we are giving Satan unmerited credit, we are taking worship from God, and we are denying the truth of Romans 8:28, that ‘‘all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
3. Deliverance or Deception?
If we accept that demons cannot enter Christians (a fact that we will shortly establish beyond doubt), how is it possible for Satan to bring about a deliverance from a demon which a Christian does not have? How is it that those who claim to have had demons cast out of them, confess not only to physical sensations at the time of the exorcism, but also to a definite release from the problem afterwards?
The answer lies in the fact that Satan has access to our hearts and minds, just as he had access to Jesus. In 2 Cor. 4:3,4 we read: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.’’
Satan, the ruler of darkness (Eph. 6:12), can only operate in darkness, and with his access to men’s minds he strives to keep them in the dark concerning the truth of the gospel. He prevents men from seeing the light.
He also has access to the heart: ‘‘Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?’’ (Acts 5:3). Satan put it into his heart to lie — but it was not a demon which entered him. It that were the case Peter’s solution would have been to cast it out. If something had entered into Ananias and Sapphira that they could not control — if they were poor, “possessed” people — Peter would have set them free on the spot. But Satan had simply capitalized on their desire for personal gain by filling their hearts with the concept of lying to the Holy Ghost — a concept to which they readily agreed. The covetousness in their hearts motivated their minds to think up a plan to mislead Peter. The words which they spoke were their own inventions stemming from the flames of covetousness which Satan had fanned in their hearts. (The mind, of course, is the realm of thought, while the heart is the place of appetite and desire). In the same way, the devil capitalizes on the weakness in the Christian. He uses the lusts and hungers, the human ambitions and even the spiritual ambitions of Christians as a foundation for his evil purposes. As he did with Jesus, he will do with us. He has access to our minds to implant suggestions, and to our hearts, to identify with our desires, so that the very desires themselves present thoughts to our minds. For example, a drug addict motivated by his strong desires is constantly plotting ways in which to assure his supply of drugs. His desire is so strong that it rules his mind and impulses.
Fortunately, the Christian, unlike the drug addict, need not be in bondage to his desires. Because he is filled with the new life of Christ, he is able to resist temptation (1 Cor. 10:13), to resist the devil (James 4:7), to renew his mind (Rom. 12:2, Ephesians 4:23) and to emerge victorious (I Cor. 15:57, Rom. 8:37). It needs hardly be said that none of these steps to victory necessitate the casting out of demons.
Demons are real
Of course, we do not for a moment suggest that demons are not real, or that they do not attack Christians. But we must understand very clearly that the effectiveness of their assault against us lies solely in their ability to deceive us. This assault is both general and specific. Each time we read a news-paper or magazine, watch a film or listen to the radio, we are receiving a blast from the Satanic master-mind. Ephesians 2:2 gives a graphic description of this, speaking of the fashion of this world which is to follow the “prince of the power of the air,” or atmosphere, as the original Greek implies. The very atmosphere we move in is charged with the evil presence of Satan, and we would have to separate ourselves right out of the world to escape his influence. For example, there is at the moment an all-pervading trend towards immorality and permissiveness which urges us to believe that only old fashioned, eccentric people abide by a strict moral code, and this is pounding all of us all the time. Then there is the individual attack, when a demon, like a sniper in wartime, zeroes in on a particular target with the express purpose of deceiving or harassing him.
A demon is able to control or manipulate the behavior of an individual believer in the degree to which he can deceive him. By deception, demons can manipulate our reactions and behavior patterns. For instance, if the devil can convince us that we are not washed in the blood of Jesus, we will be overcome by guilt feelings and react accordingly. We will become depressed and discouraged, and our relationship with Jesus will be clouded. Satan dwells in the realm of lies and deceptions, and when we believe his deceptions, he can to that extent control our behavior.
Deception based on Ignorance
It is easy to illustrate this. Let us assume that I have in my home a display cabinet containing much valuable china. I also have in my home a very naughty and destructive little boy, and I am faced with the dilemma of how to prevent the two from coming into violent contact with one another! The most effective — although by no means the wisest and certainly not recommended — way of achieving this would be to fill the child’s mind with a graphic description of a terrible, invisible goblin or similar beast which supposedly inhabits the display cabinet. I would assure the child that while the cabinet remained closed, there was no danger of the goblin escaping, but if he were to be so foolish as to open the doors, the goblin would leap out and inflict the most gruesome injuries upon him. The result of this calculated deception would be that the child would not go near the cabinet! And imagine his terror if, say, his elder brother were to open it. A doctor would he able to measure the extent of the physical reaction in the child’s body as he gave expression to his terror. His heart would beat faster, his breathing would turn to gasps, his blood pressure would rise, the amount of adrenalin in his blood would increase and he might even begin to sob hysterically. There would be tangible physical evidence of his mental and emotional torment - and it would all be based on a lie, a cruel deception.
But if we are able to deceive each other in this way, can the devil and his demons not do the same to us? Of course they can. If you were a Christian with a problem and – recognizing the access which Satan has on your heart and mind — if you were induced to submit to an exorcist who warned you to expect certain manifestations, something would be manifested! There would be a traumatic, emotional experience and into your subconscious mind would enter a massive surge of suggestion that you had been “delivered”.
Your “freedom,” however, would be based on deceit and deception, and while you might believe that you have progressed further into the light, your true situation would be deeper in darkness. Moreover, it is in this realm of darkness — of unbelief, superstition and confusion - that the real danger lies.
Scripture clearly indicates that all the problems of a believer lie only in the area of his darkness, his ignorance and his unbelief; in the area in which he has not recognized the truth of the work of Christ in him.
A believer with problems is a believer who has yet to make discoveries in so far as the truth in his relationship with Jesus is concerned. A victorious believer is one who is at least secure in the knowledge that his life, and everything pertaining to it, is in the hands of Jesus who will never fail him nor forsake him.
4. Satan’s Intentions Exposed
Satan dearly wants us to believe that casting demons out of Christians is a prerequisite to their righteous and victorious walk with God. His aim in seeking to propagate this false doctrine is three-fold: firstly, to claim supremacy over God by virtue of his having directly caused the death of Jesus; secondly, to attract acknowledgement and worship of himself from the believer; and, thirdly, to shatter the faith of the believer.
Demons and Sin
In the first place, Satan wants to equate demons with sin — even to the extent of calling them by the names of sin — in order to lay false claim to having caused the death of Jesus. To refute Satan, it is necessary that we clearly understand the purpose and meaning of the atonement: Jesus atoned for sin; He died for the sins of the world; “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” declares the scripture (1 Peter 2:24).
Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and into His body. 2 Corinthians 5:21 goes so far as to state that Jesus was “made to be sin.” But nowhere in scripture does it indicate that Jesus was demon possessed, that He bore demons in “His own body”. This could not be. There was never a demon in Jesus, although He became sin. The significance of this is that God himself caused the death of Jesus, without Satan having any part to play in it at all — despite the fact that it is one of Satan’s functions to cause death.
John 10:10 declares: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. That power was given to the devil in the Garden of Eden, when God told Adam that he was of dust, and would return to dust. To Satan God said: “Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” (Gen. 3:14,19). Satan’s appetite would be the death of men — from that day his nature was changed from one desiring fellowship with men to one desiring the death of men. All corruption, all death, is due to the devil. It is his appetite to destroy people. In Jude, we read that Satan came to take the body of Moses, and Michael, who intervened, “dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” (Jude 9). Michael was so restrained because Satan was simply doing his job, the thing he was assigned to do; the body of Moses was his due. But God was to preserve that body miraculously because it was to be re-inhabited by the spirit of Moses on the day of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3). Moses and Elijah are the only Jewish prophets whose bodies did not decay for God preserved them from the hand of Satan, the agent of death. In a much more important sense, God also preserved Jesus, whose death came at the hand of the Almighty Father, and not Satan. The scripture goes to great lengths to record the death of Jesus as being free from any interference by Satan. In Isaiah 53:10 we read: “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. In Acts 2:27, we read a prophecy of David which declares: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Corruption is the process of turning living flesh to dust, and it starts at the instant of death. Yet for three days, Jesus’ body was preserved from Satanic interference, from corruption, because Satan was excluded from the drama. The crucifixion was not a devilish accident. The Jews who condemned Jesus and the Romans who drove the nails into His hands and feet, were all playing a role in God’s foreordained plan.
Jesus died according to the scriptures, (1 Cor. 15:1), according to prophecy, according to the purposes of God — and not according to Satan. But if Satan can identify demons with sin, if he can call them by the names of sin, then he can claim that Jesus was filled with demons at the time of his death — lying, murder, adultery — for Jesus “became sin.” If those sins were demons, it means that demons were intimately involved with the death of Jesus; indeed, that they caused His death. They were in Him, they were in His body. Satan can claim, “I did it! I won!” when quite the opposite is true. Jesus gave His life into the hands of the Father; He voluntarily laid it down. The Jews who condemned Him did not kill Him, the Romans who beat Him and crucified Him did not kill Him. He let them do it to Him, willingly, and then “He gave up the ghost.” (John. 19:30). He cried: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke. 23:46). Unless Jesus had given up His life, He would have stayed alive on the cross and would still be there to this day! “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up.” (John. 10:17, 18). Jesus became sin, but His death was not due to Satanic consequences upon that sin.
Here it must be briefly noted that when the scripture refers to a ‘‘lying spirit’’ (1 Ki. 22:22-23) it is telling us the nature of that spirit, and not its name. In other words, all demons are lying spirits because they proceed from the father of lies, Satan.
All demons are seducing spirits —seduction is just a sophisticated form of lying. But there is no scriptural evidence to suppose that there exist demons of lying, or demons of seduction, or demons of testifying, or demons of lust or demons of anything else that would indicate that they are the embodiment of sins. No demon — not the devil himself — was even remotely associated with the actual death of Jesus, and any suggestion to the contrary stems from the father of lies himself.
Equating demons with sin has further devilish implications.
To understand this, we must understand what happened when we accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. In John 15:1-7 — the discourse on the true vine — Jesus emphasizes the wonderful truth of our mutual indwelling. In verse 4, particularly, we read: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” In John 17 Jesus expands on this theme. Speaking to the Father, He says: “And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” (v. l0). “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…”(v21) “l in them, and thou in me, that they maybe made perfect in one” (v23). Here we see an indwelling by God of His Son, and an indwelling in His Son by His people, and an indwelling in His people by God. Colossians 2:10 says that we are complete in Him.
Now, consider: If Christ is in us, and we are in Christ a demon in us would also he in Christ! But more — Christ is in the Father, and a demon in us would therefore have intimate access to the Godhead. To label such an assertion as being blasphemous would almost be an understatement, yet it is what we as believers unwittingly assent to when we believe that there are demons in us.
This raises the question of how our sins affect God, but it is a question easily answered if we recognize that sin is a principle and not a “personality”. In other words, sin does not have any life of its own; When God looks at us, He sees us, as it were, through the “red cellophane” of the blood of Jesus. If you were to take a piece of red cellophane paper and look through it at a piece of white paper on which is written in red ink, you would see . . nothing! Just a blank sheet of paper. In Isaiah 1:18 we are told: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”.
God uses this simile because the price of sin is the blood of Jesus, and though our sins may be red like crimson, they are invisible when under the blood of Jesus. Sin in the believer does not therefore pollute God, because God sees us not in the flesh, but in the spotless resurrection life of Christ who dwells within us. And that life is absolutely untainted by sin. It cannot sin. It cannot displease God. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not…(1 John 5:18). We know that every Christian has been born twice, and the man who was born first — the man of flesh — is the one who will not inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor. 15:50). But the man who was “born again”, the inner man, is the man “after God’s own heart.” “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh... for if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature…” (2 Cor. 5:16, 17), and that new creation cannot sin. That is why in the NT dispensation we are not under law, because there is no need for the law where there is no tendency towards wrongdoing. To put it another way, God does not legislate for the believer “in the flesh” because the flesh has already been condemned and crucified and it would be ludicrous to threaten a crucified man with punishment for, say, exceeding the speed limit! Likewise, God does not legislate for the believer “in the spirit” because there is no need to. Our lives change and we no longer do the things we used to do, not because the law prevented us, but because the new life, the inner life, doesn’t want to do those things, and it has risen to a place of domination in us. That which is born of God does not commit sin! And because he is born of God, “the wicked one toucheth him not.” (I John 5:18).
The devil cannot touch a believer. He will talk to him, like he talked to Jesus — but do you think he would have gone to live in Jesus? Never! He would have died of terror. He would have perished at the entrance. “for what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14). And it is none the less true for us.
Only One King Rules
The devil’s second reason for wanting us to believe that demons can inhabit born again Christians, is to attract acknowledgement and worship from us. Satan wants us to believe that he still has great power and authority. This, of course, is a lie. The whole ministry and life of Jesus brought about a tremendous change in the status of Satan in this world. “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us: through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:17, 18). This tells us that the devil changed place, and as a direct result, Jesus told His disciples: “Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Why? “Because I am living in you,” Jesus might have added.
In Luke 11:17-22 we have a clear passage of scripture indicating how thoroughly Jesus has defeated and dethroned Satan. In verses 17 and 18 Jesus speaks of Satan’s kingdom and then in verse 20-22 declares: “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But; when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his amour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.”
Satan fell from his kingdom, he was roundly beaten, and never again—from the Book of Acts on throughout the New Testament—do we read of Satan having a kingdom. We read of his power, but his kingdom is driven underground. Instead of Satan sitting on a throne and attacking Jesus, he is forced to fight as an illegal insurgent.
The situation is illustrated by what happened in Europe in the days of Napoleon. He amassed an invincible army which marched across the continent dethroning one king after another until he was able to take upon himself the rightful title of emperor. Napoleon ruled, all owed allegiance to him, and if any dethroned king wanted to oppose him he would have had to do it by fighting an illegal guerilla war. Once that king held the throne, but now he was no more than a bandit leading a group of terrorists. Which is precisely the position in which Satan finds himself. He is nothing more than a bandit trying desperately to reassert his authority by employing all manner of underhand terrorist tactics. He has gone underground. His throne is now unoccupied. True, he does still have a certain charisma and attracts a certain following. He leads a principality and, in darkness, is a prince, but he fights always from an inferior position of defeat. Therefore to look at demon activity in the gospels and apply that same standard to today is to acknowledge a Satanic kingdom which no longer exists and to deny the victory which Jesus gained. The devil would love us to believe that his kingdom exists uninterrupted, but it is destroyed, according to the word of God. We must understand that Satan does still have a certain amount of power, but he has absolutely no authority with which to implement that power—certainly, not in the life of a Christian.
There has been an open clash between the kingdom of God, through the focal point of Jesus, and the kingdom of Satan—and today only one king rules in the “kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13).
This is not to imply that we need never be on our guard against Satan, for the Bible warns us that he will continue to promote lying signs and wonders. Again, we can understand this clearly if we look at an example in the physical world. Communism, when it is working underground, will often promote capitalistic activity in certain circumstances in order to entrench itself and ensnare others. Looking at the situation on the surface, you may be tempted to say that communism is divided against itself, but of course we know that this is not so. When the time comes for it to take over, all it has built up in this way will come crashing down.
Likewise, we can expect seducing spirits and lying signs and wonders to emanate from Satan, because he has lost his kingdom. This is indirectly revealed in scripture as it records a dramatic decrease in demon activity in the Book of Acts as opposed to the high level of activity we see in the gospels. Thousands of people are saved in Acts, but there are startlingly few references to demons, and those that do exist indicate that the demons fled in a spontaneous, fearful retreat as they were exposed to the light. Because of Christ’s victory, their only place of abode and sphere of activity is darkness. There is a dramatic scripture which gives ample testimony to this victory — Colossians 2:15: “God disarmed the principalities and powers ranged against us and made a bold display of them, exposing them to public infamy and shame, in triumphing over them in Christ and in the cross.” If this be so, then what need we fear? Jesus instructs us not to fear, for it is He who said: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18). We need not fear, but we would be foolish to ignore the workings of Satan, “for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Cor. 2:11). It is he who roars in the dark, and someone has well said of him that he is not really a lion, he is just a mouse with a big amplification system.
Some shall depart from the faith
The devil’s third purpose in wanting us to believe that a demon can dwell in a Christian, is to shatter the believer’s faith, to erode his confidence in Jesus. 1 Timothy 4:1 tells us that “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.” We have already studied the implications of part of this verse, but here we want to draw attention to the statement that “some shall depart from the faith.”
Immediately a believer looks at the evidence of a problem in his life and attributes it to the influence of an indwelling demon, he has departed to that degree from the faith because the faith saved him from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, and above all, from the residing presence of demons. If a believer acknowledges that a demon dwells in him, he has to admit that Jesus let him down. If he sins, he lets Jesus down. But if a demon enters him — he cannot see a demon, he has no control over a demon, he cannot fight a demon in the same way that he can fight temptation — if a demon enters him he has to believe that Jesus failed him. He must depart from the faith to believe it. He cannot maintain his faith in Jesus as the strong man living in him, if he accepts that he also has a demon in him.
Thus, in seducing the believer to accept that he has a demon or demons in him, Satan is laying a foundation of unbelief and fear in him which could lead to his ultimate destruction — for somehow, Christ failed him. And if it happened once, it could happen again. Perhaps something even worse could happen the next time. And so instead of a place of security in Jesus, the believer comes to a place of dangerous insecurity. Like Esau, he has sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Recklessly seeking to appease his hunger, Esau took a step which satisfied him for a moment but which led to the ultimate total loss of his birthright. Satan wants us to do the same, and he tempts us by offering a quick and easy way out of our problems.
Yet, we must understand that very often the problems which we face form the cocoon through which the butterfly must emerge. We have got to go through the tribulations caused by defects in our personalities in order that the beauty of Christ might come forth. “When he bath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10).
There is no short cut to refining gold, although Satan would have us believe otherwise. He appeals to us to acknowledge him, and — with the access which he has to our minds and hearts — he offers in return to remove the problem like a hypnotist would. He stops tempting us. He stops filling our minds with suggestions and stops inflaming the desires in our hearts. For a season. For a time. But the day will come when he will renew the attack on us with redoubled vigor and then no amount of shouting or rebuking or “casting out” will help us. None of our formulas will work. We will be defenseless, having already cast aside our birthright of faith in the protective power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To the extent that we have turned our backs on Jesus, we will stand alone.
5. The Scriptural Way of Deliverance
Are we to despair? Is there no hope of release for those of us who are experiencing real torments and trials which threaten to rob us of our peace, joy and confidence in the Lord? Is there, in other words, no scriptural form of deliverance? Does a scriptural solution to our problems exist? Indeed it does. The word of God is full of rich counsel to the believer for the overcoming of problems and difficulties.
Firstly, let us recall an earlier statement—that all the problems of a believer lie in the area of his ignorance, in the realm of his darkness and unbelief. It is this darkness which generates discouragement, despair and fear. It is unbelief which spawns guilt feelings, a broken relationship with God, inhibitions and condemnation. Therefore, if we can rid a believer of his darkness and unbelief—and it can be done by shining the glorious light of the Word of God onto him—there will be no basis for any problems to remain. A secure knowledge of the work of the Lord Jesus brings peace in the believer’s life: a misunderstanding of the position of the believer not only prevents him from being set free but leaves his problems as festering areas of darkness where further problems can breed.
Secondly, we must understand that God does not intend us to live in sheltered, cotton wool-lined cloisters, remote from the realities of physical and spiritual life. We have already seen how the very problems which we encounter are often the means which God uses to refine us and bring us forth as gold. We could go so far as to say that confrontations with demon powers are often in God’s purposes for us. Noticeably, the very first thing which Jesus did when the Spirit came upon Him was to be involved in a confrontation with the devil, and this event has a very prominent place in the gospels. Ephesians 6:12 records that ‘‘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.” It is part of the believer’s lot to confront the wicked one, to wrestle with difficulties and temptations, and to overcome by the word of God.
With this in mind, we understand how vitally important it is to be aware that Satan will always employ deceptive devices and blatant lies in his attacks upon us, and that we should never trust our senses or experiences in preference to the Word of God. Our cry should ever be that we stand or fall by the Word.
For this reason we minister to those believers in difficulty by beginning with the ready foundation of their position in the Lord Jesus, as revealed by the Word of God. We explore their relationship with Jesus, their thoughts about Him and His attitude towards them. When we have laid that foundation with care, their deliverance from fear or doubt or whatever plagues them follows spontaneously.
Deliverance through Awareness
Recently a woman came to see me who confessed that her problems were driving her to the brink of insanity. She told me her story. Her mother was a spiritualist. She herself had a dabbled in spiritualism, having consulted mediums and been given a ‘‘guide.’’ Then she surrendered her life to Christ. For a while she had no problems, but soon strange things started happening in her house. Her small son would wake up in the night, screaming that someone was in his room, playing with his toys and rattling the things in his cupboard. Every night this happened. In desperation, she asked fellow believers to cast the “thing” out of the house. They came and prayed, they rebuked the spirit, spoke to it, commanded it to leave, but it seemed to have no effect. At last her friends told her that the problem lay in the fact that she had a demon in her. At first she could not accept this, but eventually submitted and allowed them to minister to her. They prayed for her. They bound the demon, spoke to it, “cast it out.’’ But, instead of improving, her position grew worse. It was at this stage that she came to see me. She was a nervous wreck, convinced that if her situation did not improve soon she would be admitted to a nervous disorders hospital. The manifestations in her home were increasing. She could not enter the home without being attacked by fear —fear that was so tangible and oppressive that she would choke and become paralyzed.
I asked her, “What are you afraid of?”
“I don t know,’’ she replied. ‘‘It is just a most terrible fear.’’
“Have you given your life to Jesus?” I asked, aware that she had, but wanting her to make the declaration of faith herself.
“Yes,” she said.
‘‘Who has responsibility for your life now?’’
‘‘Christ has.’’
“Can you trust Jesus?” I asked.
“Of course I can trust Him,” she said without hesitation.
“Do you think He will ever let you down?”
“No, He will never let me down.”
“What are you afraid of?”
She considered the question a long time before answering, “I don’t know.”
“Are you afraid to die,” I asked.
“Perhaps,” she said.
“Well if you did die, who has responsibility for your eternal soul?”
‘‘Jesus has.”
“Are you afraid of sickness?”
“No. That doesn’t bother me.”
It was time to drive the point home, and I began to say to her, “The next time the fear comes, talk to it, ask it what it wants you to be afraid of!”
Before I had quite finished, a light dawned on her face. She suddenly saw how terribly deceived she had been, and how much in bondage she had become to this unnamed fear. We had explored all the avenues in which Jesus might have failed her, all the avenues in which she had a reasonable ground for fear, and we exhausted them all. We found there was no ground for her fear. She began to laugh and cry at the same time. She was overcome with joy, and completely released. She went home and rejoiced with her family. The manifestations ceased totally and have never returned.
The change in that woman was dramatic. When she first came into my office, the fear that clung to her was so tangible that I could almost feel it, her tension was almost unbearable. She was very close to breaking point, and if I had said to her, “Sister, you’ve got a demon!” it would simply have triggered off a fresh flood of terror and brought her deeper into bondage. But I knew that her problem stemmed from a Satanic deception, and I ministered to her simply by asking questions which released the truth within her.
The Anointing is Truth
It is as simple as that. We minister to the believer by asking questions. Why? The answer is found in the word of God. John 2:27 “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” Thus, we do not minister to those seeking counsel simply by telling them the answers we have learned, but we ask them probing questions which cause them to open their hearts and look inside for the answers. And what do they find inside? “The anointing which teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie . . .“ The truth is released from within them.
If we merely try to feed them with answers, the demon which is tormenting them tries to block their minds and confuse them. But if they give the answers, they uncover something within them which cannot be blocked. What’s more, the demon hears the answers coming, from their own lips, and realizes that his deception has been exposed. Let us look again at that passage in I John, this time from verse 24 to 26:
‘‘Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.”
Again, we find that same ugly word, “seduce”. This would apply to deceptive doctrines and seducing spirits, whether emanating from a man standing up and preaching falsehoods, or from a demon. But, no matter, for the scripture goes on to say, ‘‘the anointing which abideth in you teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie.’’ The anointing is in you. It is truth. It can teach you. And Jesus said, ‘‘ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’ (John 8:32).
What is the truth? It is the anointing within us. What more do we need when we have this Word of God?
Notice the difference between God’s way of teaching and the world’s ways. The way the world imparts knowledge is to bombard the listener or student with a constant stream of facts, to feed him with reams of information which he is expected to absorb and digest. But when we come into the realm of New Testament Christianity we find that we begin with a believer who knows as much as the teacher! Every believer has all the truth in him for Christ who said ‘‘I am the truth’’ lives in him, and you cannot teach him anything! So New Testament teaching does not inform and instruct — it merely uncovers and releases the truth from within. That is why we ask questions. Each time an answer emerges, we have pulled another strip off the lampshade and out comes the light. The light was there all the time, we just helped to release it! We have often experienced this for ourselves. There have been the occasions at Bible studies or while listening to sermons that a spark has leaped within us in response to something that was said. ‘‘Praise God, that’s true!’’ we told ourselves. How did we know it was true? The anointing taught us! A sympathetic chord was struck by what the teacher said.
As Christians, we are living in the whole truth and all the truth. We have all drunk of the same living water, we are all intimately connected by the same flowing stream of life. And if you have a problem and come to me, or I have a problem and go to you, the truth in me will identify with the truth in you and release us both! I say it will release us both because your problem affects me. If one member suffers the whole body suffers. If you have a victory it is my victory too. And the truth that leaps out of you reinforces the truth that is within me.
There is an amusing story of an old Christian which underlines this point. Old Moe was not very bright, intellectually. He knew little about world politics or religion — but he loved Jesus with all his heart. He was always the first at meetings, and the last to leave. Yes, old Moe often made mistakes and sometimes embarrassed his friends, but there was one thing you could not fault him on — he loved Jesus with all his heart. If ever there was an open-air meeting, Moe was there. Whenever there was any Christian activity, Moe was there. Everybody in the town knew that Moe loved Jesus.
One day, one of the elders from the church happened to pass by a street corner where he saw a man preach from an open Bible. And of course there was Moe. The elder stopped to listen, and soon he realized that the man was preaching false doctrine. But there was Moe, taking it all in with that familiar smile on his face. The elder was shocked. “Moe must be phony,” he thought. “If he can’t hear that this is not the Word of God, he must be phony. He walked over to where Moe was standing, and after exchanging greetings, he asked:
“Moe, what do you think of this man?”
“Wow, what a speaker!’’ said Moe. ‘‘I’ve never heard a speaker like this.’’
‘What do you think of what he’s teaching, Moe?’’ the elder asked.
“Well he’s preaching out of the Bible, ain` t he?”
Then the elder came to the point . “Moe,’ he asked, “do you believe what he says?’’
Moe replied, ‘‘Mister, I like the way he talks, and his preaching out of the Bible, but when you ask me if I believe it... I want to believe it… but something in me keeps shouting ‘Lies! Lies! Lies!’’
Old Moe would not have been a match for that man in an argument but Moe’s anointing was more than a match for him! The truth was in Moe and there was no way to get around it. Now the anointing is like a fountain within us. It has to he released. It must be set free, for ‘‘out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”Truth released by Teaching
We release that flood of truth by teaching, not by instructing people, but by uncovering the truth within them. Christians are not academics. We are unique. There is no parallel in the world for this kind of teaching.
We see it clearly outlined ill the words of scripture, as Timothy is instructed by Paul:
‘‘And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but he gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.’’ (2 Timothy 2: 24—26).
Here is practical, scriptural deliverance, brought about by gentle instruction which leads to the uncovering of the truth which sets us free. Notice that those who are brought to an acknowledgement of the truth recover themselves out of the snare of the devil — when they realize the truth the devil no longer has a hold over them and they are freed from bondage. Needless to say, there is no mention of, nor need for, any casting out of demons.
When people come to me for advice, I try not to anticipate the answers to their problems. If I think of an answer I put it out of my mind. The reason is that I know that when we talk there is going to be a third person present — the Holy Spirit — and He will bring out an answer that will be better than my preconceived answer. It will be tailor-made for this problem amid this situation. Furthermore, when a problem is solved in this way the truth is everlasting, the person who has been “delivered” will never be plagued by the same problem again. But if you supposedly cast a demon out, you would make a hole in the believer’s faith that would give entrance to further deceptions.
How did the demon get in the first time? — “I don’t know.”
Will it happen again? — ‘‘I don’t know. Maybe. If I don’t do this or that…”
The deluded Christian formulates a list of rules. But when he makes rules, he will inevitably break those rules, and when he breaks the rules he will live in fear. He will begin to measure his performance, day by day, and this will lead to him laboring under a cloud of condemnation, robbing him of any peace and joy which he might have had. On the other hand, expose him to New Testament liberation — and he will be free indeed!
The Word is our Strength
There are a number of scriptures worth noting as foundations for our confidence in our unassailable position in Jesus. The Word of God is our strength and our consolation , and as we turn to it for encouragement we find that it never fails us.
I Peter 1:3-5 speaks of us who have been begotten ‘‘Unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,’’ and then goes on to say that we are ‘‘kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”
Thus means that a demon would have to break through God’s protecting power to get at us. But the scripture goes on to assure us that we ourselves are victorious over Satan. for in I John 2:14 we read: ‘‘I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.’’
This is reinforced by’ the statement in I John 3:8 that ‘‘the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.’’ Jesus has completed his task, and now, whenever we manifest the truth of Jesus, we see that the works have been destroyed! Satan’s greatest deception is in leading us to believe that his works are concrete, when in truth they are mere mists and illusions. His works are lying in ruins, and when we encounter problems with him, all we need do is bring a manifestation of Jesus into the situation.
To illustrate this, imagine a platoon of soldiers walking through a minefield in time dark. There is just sufficient light for them to follow a path which they believe has been cleared. Suddenly, their leader spies a black, round object in front of him. He freezes in terror. It looks like a mine. The word goes back down the column, ‘‘Send someone with a light!’’ When the light arrives, it is directed at the threatening object, and an ordinary, inoffensive rock lies exposed. With a sigh of relief, the men kick the rock out of the way and proceed.
The light revealed that there was nothing to be afraid of, but while time then were walking in the dark, they were terrified. Similarly, whenever we approach something that looks like the work of the devil, we need only expose it to the light of truth to reveal the flimsiness of its structure.
Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. He is the Word and Light who always reveals the devil as the impostor that he really is. Demonic illusions can exist only in the dark, and if we walk in the Light we will never doubt the total destruction of Satan’s attempts to defeat the Lord’s purposes. In I John 4:1 we see that our warfare is in the realm of our faith for we are instructed to ‘‘believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.’’
In the fourth verse of that chapter, it speaks of our overcoming these false, evil spirits, ‘‘because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.’’ We would have to change that if a believer could have a demon in him, and say, ‘‘Greater is he that is in you, than he that is also in you.”
Notice also that John was ministering to a church that was riddled with problems. The Revelation indicates that the seven churches were faced with the sort of problems that would make a demon hunter rub his hands with glee, and John goes so far as to refer to their ‘‘synagogues of Satan,” declaring also that the devil would “cast you into prison.” But far from indicating that these Christians had demons in them, John reminds them instead that ‘‘He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world!’’ He sees nothing of Satan in the believer, even though he goes to great lengths to discuss the believer’s sin. He speaks about confessing our sins, for if we say that we have no sins the truth is not in us. But nowhere does he suggest that we cast out demons.
In I John 4:17 we read: ‘‘As He is, so are we in this world.’’ A little further on (5:18) we are informed that ‘‘the wicked one toucheth him not.’’
Romans 5:9 tells us why: ‘‘Much more them, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.’’ Not only that, but we are “more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37). Therefore, let us be thankful to God, “who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’’ (I Cor. 15:57).
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” (Col 1:13).
“In Christ dwells all the fullness of God. So you are filled with God through your union with Christ, who has authority over every other power.” (Col. 2:9, 10).
“Jesus the Son of God is our great High Priest in heaven; therefore let us stand firm in our trust of Him.” (Heb. 4:14).
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7).
“And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” (Rev. 12:11).
6. Opinions, Assumptions and Heresies.
It remains only to refute certain incorrect assumptions arrived at by disciples of the so-called “deliverance ministry”, and to answer a number of specific assertions on deliverance.” The very foundation of this teaching rests on attributing to demons the names of sins, and we have already answered this fallacious idea satisfactorily. But there are a number of other statements and claims which, if carried to their logical conclusions, can only end in error and confusion, and it is to these that we will now direct our attention.
Strained typology
Attempts to reconcile spurious experiences with scripture have led to the advancement of convoluted theories that would be comical if they were not so dangerous. A foremost example of the spectacular mental gymnastics employed in extending doctrine into the realms of fanciful typology, is provided by am argument concerning the Jewish Temple. It goes like this:
The temple is likened to a Christian’s body.
The temple had an outer court for gentiles, and an inner court reserved exclusively for Jews.
The Jews are defined as “good” spirits.
The gentiles are defined as “evil” spirits.
Tim is “proves”, therefore, that demons can enter our bodies but not our spirits.
But let us take this analogy one step further:
Gentiles could become proselytes.
Demons therefore can be converted to Christianity!
Of course, this is an idiotic statement, but it is nevertheless a logical conclusion of the foregoing argument. This spurious line of reasoning is also refuted by the fact that gentiles were allowed into the outer court of the temple to worship God, and demons would certainly not enter a Christian’s body in order to worship God there, but to destroy the body. We have noted earlier that Satanic activity is legitimately confined to the destruction of the human body. Satan has been appointed lime agent of death amid this will never be reversed, for flesh and blood will never inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor. 15:50). But, while the devil. may attack the body of a Christian in order to bring about his physical death (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-5), he cannot dwell in it, and neither can a demon. (In the case of an unbeliever, a demon’s residence in his body will hasten its destruction.)
Furthermore, if a Christian’s body was a place for demons to enter then the scriptures would teach us to cast them out, and as we have already seen we are nowhere instructed to do this.
The only time we should cast out demons is when they spontaneously manifest themselves. An example of this is found in Acts 16 which tells us of the slave girl who had a spirit of divination. From this account we learn, firstly, that Paul was extremely provoked before he reacted against the demon (not that we necessarily need to bear such provocation before reacting); and secondly, that demons can imitate the Word of Knowledge. This is at least one of the areas in which the gift of Discernment of Spirits is called for, as all demonic utterances are perverted and contain an element of untruth.
While dealing with the subject of casting out demons we should take note also of the words of Jesus, who warned that in the judgment some would appear who had cast out demons in his name. “And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:23). It is thus dangerous in the extreme to exceed the limits of scripture.
Finally, it is significant that in the whole of Paul’s recorded ministry, only once did he cast out a demon (the instance referred to above). It would be futile to speculate about all the possible reasons for this, hut it must be noted that he would undoubtedly be condemned by some people as deficient in an ‘‘important” area of his Christian life, if he were ministering today!
Christians and tormenting spirits
The parable in Matthew 18:21-35 which tells of the wicked servant who refused to forgive the small debt of a fellow servant and was handed to the tormentors by his master, is a passage of scripture that ‘‘deliverance ministers” latch on to with glee. They claim it proves that unforgiving Christians can be indwelt by demons, for does the scripture not say, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.’’?
It is quite clear from this statement that God will hand an unforgiving Christian to the tormentors. But who or what are the tormentors? We cannot infer conclusively that this refers to demons. It might just as well be a tormenting conscience or psychosomatic disorders. Let us assume, however, that demons are referred to. There is still no justification whatsoever for claiming that they will be allowed to enter into the body of a Christian, and in the light of the mass of evidence we have already brought to bear against this possibility, we reject it outright.
How then do we minister to a Christian who is suffering at the hands of the “tormentors”? Obviously, we don’t “cast out” anything. Instead, we reveal to him his unforgiving spirit and bring him, through the ministry of the Word, to a point where he is willing to forgive all. Once he does so, the “debt” is paid and the Father releases him from the tormentors. In terms of the parable, the Father is committed to free him — and He will!
We should note also in this context that a Christian should not be unforgiving towards himself. Inability to do so has brought many into bondage, yet in Christ there is total forgiveness for all our sins and we degrade the work of the cross if we refuse to accept this.
The Ingredients of Heresy
We come now to the “background teachings” There are many points at issue, too numerous and too detailed to discuss here, but it will satisfy our purpose if we expose a representative cross-section to the light of truth in order that the underlying error may be revealed.
Firstly, reference is made to a “Pentecostal assumption” that demons cannot live in believers. But this is not a Pentecostal assumption, it is the truth of the Word of God. And if it is a truth held by Pentecostals, then it is the anointing of time Holy Spirit which has settled them in this assurance for over half a century.
A demon is quoted as referring to someone’s body as “my house”. If that person is a Christian, then that claim, whether from a demon or some other source, is a lie.
Just how unfounded this claim is, is clearly shown in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians—a church beset by every problem imaginable, a church in which, among other sins, there existed envying and strife and divisions. (I Cor 3:3). Paul, however, does not attribute these sins to the activity of demons, but to the carnal nature of the Corinthians. Moreover, in spite of their sinfulness, he declares to them—to these Corinthians, of all people—that they are the temple of God!
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, whose temple ye are.” (1 Cor. 3:17,l8). In other words, God is saying “you are My house’’, and for anyone to claim to the contrary, is to commit a gross blasphemy. The devil would love to call Christians “my house”, but he cannot, and if Christians make this assertion on the devil’s behalf they are deluded, deceived and speaking lies stemming from Satan himself.
It is in fact apparent from listening to “these doctrines” that most of the assumptions and claims stem from conversations with demons. Not only is this unscriptural, it is also foolish, for demons (if demons they are) cannot tell the truth. To listen to a demon, and formulate a doctrine on the basis of what it says, is simply to build a structure of lies founded on lies and leading to more lies. Jesus told them to “hold their peace.”
There is a reference made to the insects which play such a prominent part in the Book of Joel. (Joel 1:4-14). It is claimed that this is a demonic fifth column in the church which is eating the fruit of the Spirit, but to make this assertion is to flirt with blasphemy! The fruit of the Spirit is inviolate. If the believer cannot be touched, how much less can that be harmed which is the fruit of the Spirit of the believer?
What then are we to make of God’s statement in chapter 2 verse 25 that it is His “great army which I sent among you”? Is it suggested that we should fight God and His army and stamp them out? Surely not! If this is a demonic army, and if it has been sent by God to harass — not indwell — the church in order to turn the church back to Himself then the answer is not to fight the army but to be restored to fellowship with God. Any demonic confrontation with the church must end with a release of the truth which will glorify and exalt God and defeat the devil, but the unedifying spectacle of Christians hunting demons in each other and striking all manner of compromise bargains with Satan in order to effect their release, is hardly likely to glorify God.
No doubt God uses many things to chasten the believer, and at times may use the devil himself as we learn from 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, yet even here the church is instructed not to cast the devil out of the believer, but to hand the believer over to the devil. The significance of this cannot be overstated, for we see that quite contrary to the believer being wide open to the possibility of demons indwelling him, he is instead so immune to Satan (or his agents, presumably), that the church is required to deliberately hand him over to Satan before that denizen of the pit can so much as lay a finger on him! Even then it is highly unlikely that time devil or a demon could enter into him. Rather, we may suppose that his flesh would be destroyed in the same way that Job was afflicted. Whatever the true position, however, it is important to note that scripture clearly gives us a remedy for dealing with gross sin.
A word about “Pleading the Blood”
Mention needs to be made very briefly of a practice associated to an extent with the casting out of demons, namely, “pleading the Blood.” This has become a well-worn but misunderstood cliché and it would be well to explain the basis of it, particularly as there is no scriptural record of anyone ever “pleading the Blood”, nor is there any instruction to do so.
The expression stems from the fact that the plea before the throne of God is the blood of Jesus. He is the advocate who stands before God and on our behalf — when we are accused — pleads His own blood. His plea is that we are guilty, His plea is that we are condemned, His plea is that He took our place and shed His blood. His blood is the evidence that the debt has been paid, and because of that plea of the blood we have entrance into heaven. When we face the devil it is with the knowledge that the blood has been pleaded for us and that he cannot touch us. Furthermore, Satan has no grounds to accuse us because God will not accept his pleas. The Lord looks at the blood and says, “If they have sinned, it has been paid for!”
Thus, we would discourage the practice of Christians “pleading the blood” over their houses or cars or whatever, firstly because it has no scriptural precedent, and secondly, because it relegates a very precious truth to the level of a superstitious magic formula.
7. Conclusion
It would be well to summarize briefly the main points of our contention regarding Christians and time demon world, in order to lessen the possibility of unjustified conclusions being drawn. Although time foregoing study is by no means aim exhaustive approach to the subject, we do feel that we have covered the ground in sufficient detail so as to leave no-one in doubt as to our standpoint. We believe also that we have provided ample scriptural evidence to substantiate our view, which is:
1) Demons are real.
2) It is possible for demons to indwell unbelievers.
3) It is NOT possible for demons to indwell believers.
4) Demons can, and do, harass, torment, deceive and trouble believers.
5) Deliverance from such demon interference does NOT come by casting demons out of believers.
6) Any supposed deliverance obtained in this way is suspect and allows manifestations engineered by Satan. It is definitely unscriptural.
7) Satan’s purpose is to attract worship from the believer and ultimately to destroy his faith in Jesus Christ.
8) Scripture warns us of the consequences of being deluded by this doctrine of demons.
9) The scriptural way of deliverance is to unfold the truth of God’s Word to the troubled believer, who is then able to recover himself out of the snare of the devil. (He realizes his position in Christ)
10) Victory is enjoyed by the believer who is secure in the knowledge that his life, and everything pertaining to it, is in the hands of Jesus who will never fail him nor forsake him.
Let us not be ignorant of Satan’s devices, but more important, let us not he ignorant of the glorious inheritance of the saints in Christ Jesus, for we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
