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The Devil & Demons Explained
by
Colin Owen
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CONTENTS

Preface

	Chapters:

		1 The DevilŐs beginning.

		2 The DevilŐs plans.

		3 The DevilŐs methods.

		4 The DevilŐs demons.

		5 The DevilŐs signs & symbols.

		6 The DevilŐs names.

		7 Whos Really in control?

		8 Possession.

		9 The DevilŐs end.


Preface:

I can remember when I was a new Christian just how mystifying the concept of
the devil was. Id heard the name of course, but it was shrouded in mystery.
The devil was almost a mythical being in my thinking, and no-one told me that
he was actively trying to destroy me. And this was before I knew anything at
all about demons. So you can imagine how I felt when I first came across one
of these creatures in a meeting. The rattling and shaking, not to mention the
odd shriek or two really had an effect on me for quite some time.

I began to wonder why there was no teaching in the church on this subject? I
soon found out it was either fear or ignorance that was the problem. So,
little wet behind the ears here, made the mistake of trying to find out for
himself by reading some of the many books written on the subject, (mainly
American!). Its sad that simple (should I say sane), basic teaching on this
subject is not provided for new converts. Much pain, danger, and confusion
could so easily be avoided if the church would do its job more fully.

Shortly after my conversion, the enemy came and attacked me, and as a result,
I was a backslider for twenty seven years! Who knows? Maybe this could have
been avoided if someone had only been willing to talk to me about the enemy.
But in those distant days the devil was held in some kind of awe. His name
was only mentioned in hushed tones, it seemed to me that if you talked about
him he would come and get you. I was only a lad at that time, and knew
nothing about Christianity proper, only that Christians went to church on
Sunday, sang hymns, prayed, and got sore behinds sitting on hard benches as
someone spoke for what seemed like an age! I was twelve years old when I got
saved, and had been going to church for three or four years by that time. I
was water baptised at thirteen, and then the enemy came at me and I fell.

I wonder how many other youngsters have had a similar experience, some may
not have come back to the Lord, some may have died along the way. I can only
thank the Lord that my Mum & Dad never gave up on me, and prayed faithfully
through those twenty seven years, and the Lord was faithful to that prayer,
He brought me back. I was lost, and Jesus found me, praise His wonderful
name. I got lost because of ignorance, I was a little lamb facing a wolf, I
didnt know about warfare, or weapons, or authority, or even the power of
lies. I was a baby! And how can babies fight? The answer to that is, very
well. So long as they know who they are fighting, and what they are fighting
with.

After my twenty seven years in the wilderness, the Lord really got hold of me
and set my feet on His path once again. I was forty years old by this time,
and had seen more than enough of the world to be what might be called street
wise with regard to evil. I still knew very little about real Christianity,
but I was determined to learn. As I have already said, I went to the wrong
place for my teaching. I soon found that there was no shortage of books on
demons and such like, but there was certainly a shortage of common sense. I
wont name the books I read, but suffice to say, red buckets and towels under
church seats, four hour screaming sessions, and guess the name games, were
written about in abundance! None of it biblical! So, I put away my books (in
the bin), and got on with being a Christian. I thank God for a good pastor,
who allowed me just enough rope to trip myself up on the way to the gallows,
and then was there to gently catch me as I tripped.

Having been mightily blessed by the Lord for some years now with good solid
biblical teaching, I can look again at this subject in the only way that
makes any sense, in the light of scripture! What follows is a simple
scriptural explanation of who the devil really is, where he came from, what
hes doing now, and where hes going.

It covers his plans, his methods, and many aspects of demons, deliverance and
possession. All in language that even I can understand! The book contains
nothing that is outside of solid scriptural common sense teaching, and has
been written especially for those who are new to Christianity, but are never
the less ready to face up to the responsibility of it. And anyone who simply
doesnt know that much about our enemy.

The book will neither instil fear of, nor wild ideas about the devil and
demons, but it will break once and for all the mystery that Satan has
shrouded himself in. It will take away the veil and expose our enemy for what
he really is. A book like this would have saved me a lot of wasted time, pain,
and money. So here it is. Be blessed.

All numbers in square brackets relate to the Strongs numbering system.

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chapter 1

The Devil's Beginning

As Christians, we must realise and accept that we have an enemy. Not to do so
gives him an advantage, a cloak of invisibility that aids his cause. Our enemy
is not the world, nor any force that we can see, even though sometimes the
enemy will stir up people against us. No, our enemy is a spiritual enemy, a
living spiritual being. Just as real as any person we can see. He, for that
is the gender the Bible gives him, is the devil.

We live in a time of war, hence we are at war with our enemy and his army. He
is certainly at war with us. To be at war means that he fights against us, and
we fight against him. We dont just passively wait for him to hit us and then
rebuke him, no, that is spiritual stupidity, and not the victorious Christian
life that we have been called to live. We must plan against him, we must
strike at his strongholds, we must take the battle to him! We are offensive
Christian warriors, not passive defenceless wimps. This may not sound like
Christianity to you, but this is the reality of it.

It makes good sense then for us to get to know our enemy, not to dwell on
him, or glorify him in any way, but just so that we can more readily
recognise his work, and put a stop to it. Our ignorance is his bliss!

His Beginning:

The devil is a created being, like every other living being, except God, and,
like every other created being, he was created by God to be holy and good.
However, in this case something went wrong, and what was created good became
evil. There are two passages in the Bible that are understood to speak about
Satan as it were, before, during, and after his fall. Im going to use these
passages to illustrate Satan's beginning, and shed some light on his actual
person. During this section I will use some alternative translations to more
fully put across the meaning. Lets take a look at our first scripture.

 The anointed Cherub: Ezekiel 28

NIV
12 "Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him:
'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "'You were the model of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.


NKJ
	12 You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty

The King of Tyre is acknowledged here to be a representation of Satan, The
words in this passage could not apply to a human. The phrases model of
perfection, and seal of perfection are taken from the Hebrew word chtham
[2856] which means to seal up, in other words when God was speaking of this
being He was saying, you are the limit and cannot be bettered, you set the
seal on perfection! This must have been some being! On to verse 13.

NIV
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you:
ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and
beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were
created they were prepared.

The being spoken of here had great beauty! The word Adorned in verse 13 means
decorated, so God had decorated this being with jewels. Note in the NKJ
version the reference to music.

NKJ
	13 ...The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes...

This musical connection is also found in the margin reference of the NAS
version

NAS
	13 ...settings and sockets...( Margin reference says tambourines and flutes)

In verse 13, the Hebrew word translated as settings is (Toph) and means to
strike a drum ie, to play it.. Jewels are set, and mounted, which probably
accounts for the other translations.

There are 2 facets of this being to bear in mind:

	1) Beauty and light.
	2) Music and praise.

Well see why in chapter two. On to verse 14.

NIV
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on
the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.

In verse 14 the word Anointed is used to translate the Hebrew word (Mimshach
[4473]) which actually means expanded or out stretched wings! The KJV says:
Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; so we have a winged being who
covers and guards. But what? The word Cherub [3742] gives us a clue, and
tells us much about our enemy.

A Cherub is:

A winged figure that stood over or covered the mercy seat Gods throne. Put
there by God.
An order of angel ranked just below the Seraphim.
A composite being! Multi faced, sometimes 2, man and lion. Sometimes 4, man,
lion, eagle, ox.
1st appearance is in Gen 3:24. Where the cherubs sword pointed in every
direction to prevent Adam and Eve from getting back into the garden.
They have a humanoid body and hands, but feet like calf's.
They have 4 wings. (Seraphs have 6 wings) They use two to cover their body,
so there must be something to cover, and two to fly. So Satan can fly.

So we now know what this Cherub looked like, and what he did. Lets read on.

15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till
wickedness was found in you.

Corruption set in at some point, we are not told when, but it happened.

16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you
sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you,
O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.

What was this trade that led to violence and sin? The bible doesnt say, and
there are no clues hidden in the Hebrew, the word simply means trade! We can
see that this trade was widespread, but beyond this we cannot go. The trade
led to violence, and sin, so God threw him out in disgrace. We enter in by
Gods grace, he was thrown out in disgrace. Lets read on.

17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your
wisdom because of your splendour, (or brightness). So I threw you to the
earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
He corrupted his wisdom. Its very important for us to know this, we always
think of the devil as being wise. The word for corruption is (Shchath [7843])
It means to decay, destroy, ruin by killing both physically, and morally.
Satan did this to his own wisdom.

The word used for wisdom is (Chokmh [2451]). It means wisdom, knowledge,
experience, intelligence, insight, judgment, military strategy, diplomacy,
shrewdness, and practical spirituality. What ever Satan was in heaven, he
certainly isnt now. His God given wisdom is gone! He is only a liar!!!

In verse 17 we see that it was because of his splendour that he became proud.
The Hebrew word can mean either splendour or brightness. (Yiphh [3314]).

Imagine a being covered in precious stones. Stones that reflect the light.
Now, put that being in the brightest place in all creation, ie, over Gods
throne, and what you have is the most brilliant reflection imaginable. The
colours, the dazzle, the brilliance. Picture this being, shining, reflecting
Gods glory and you have a literal picture of Lucifer, the shining one. This
was the splendour that caused him to sin, but it wasnt his, he must have
thought it was him shining, but he was only a reflection of God!

Now, if you take a diamond and put it into a darkened room guess what
happens, it stops sparkling, it stops glinting, it becomes just a stone, for
that is all it is. A gem can only reflect outside light, it has none of its
own. This is what happened to Lucifer, he thought he was the light, but he
wasnt, the light was God. So when God threw him out of heaven, all that
splendour went. The light source was removed and Satan had nothing to
reflect, the precious stones went dark, and became what they always were,
just stones. The glory and splendour belong to God alone, and He has said I
will not give my glory to another! So Satans kingdom is a kingdom of
darkness, he will not allow any light there because he can only be a
reflection of someone else's light, and Satan wants to be his own light, his
pride will not allow him to be a mere reflection. Like all of creation,
without God he is nothing.

Note the line, I made a spectacle of you before Kings. This word Kings (Melek
[4428]) means: a King, ruler, prince, false god, an idol-king. In this
context, we are looking at spiritual beings rather than human, so God made a
spectacle of Satan before all the hosts of heaven, and then threw him out. No
wonder Satan is angry, pride hates to be publicly ridiculed.

To summarise:

Satan held what is probably the highest position possible. He was the
guardian angel set over Gods throne, his wings outstretched. He was a being
of immense beauty, the seal of perfection, covered in jewels. He was perfect
in wisdom. He was musical, or at least he had a musical connection. He was
related by name to praise. Being in such a place as he was, he was at the
centre of all worship (Gods throne). He may even have been the heavenly
worship leader. He was positioned to reflect Gods glory, hence his name
Lucifer the shining one. He had the highest status and place that can be
imagined, but it was not enough, he wanted more. All that worship was going
to God not him and he wanted it for himself, so he began to trade. Using his
position and power, but he became filled with violence and he sinned. He
corrupted his wisdom and lost his place over Gods throne. He obviously tried
to get it back by fighting for it, but he was not strong enough, and God made
a public spectacle of him and threw him out. This was Lucifers end and Satans
beginning.

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Chapter 2

The Devil's plans

It should be remembered that whilst in heaven Satan was a planner, he fought
a war against God! You dont do such things without a plan. He had perfect
wisdom which as we have seen included military strategy. He corrupted and
killed off his wisdom when he sinned, so that military strategy is now
somewhat flawed (praise God), but Satan is still a planner, schemer would be
a better word.

So, Satan has been cast down to the earth. Whats he going to do? Hes going to
take revenge, hes going to get his own back on God and all those Kings he was
paraded in front of. Hes going to do his best to make life a misery for
everyone. Well, this is definitely part of it, but Satans pride is bigger
than mere revenge. No, he still wants the original prize, he wants to be like
God. So, whilst his plans do include as much destruction as possible, his real
goal is to exalt himself to the highest position.

 Self glorification (pride) Isaiah 14

12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have
been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

O morning star is a translation of Lucifer, which is Latin. Lucifer means
bringer of light, or morning star. The Hebrew word is Heylel (Hey-leyl
[1966]) and is taken from the root word Hlal (Haw-lal [1984]) which means
brightness, (originally of sound, but later of light). This word is also
translated as praise! So, the Devil's name incorporates both brightness (of
light & sound), and praise! (music is part of Satans actual being)

13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne
above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the
utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

He said I will 5 times!, and God answered him 5 times with an I of His own!
We saw in chapter one how Satan was set over Gods throne, now in verse 13 we
see what he really wants! To be seated on that throne.

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the
Most High.

Note, he said make myself like the most high, not greater than. There can
only be one God. Satans wisdom should have told him that God would never
permit any created being to make himself like God. Apparently it didnt!
Satans prime directive then is to be like God, and to sit on his own throne
that he himself has raised above Gods throne. The reason for this is his
pride. Satans pride is almost beyond belief!

Domination of others:

Pride, when it is this extreme, must be dominant. Satan could not accept
anything less than being top dog. He couldnt manage it in heaven so hes
trying to achieve it on earth. Some of his methods are vicious, lets look at
the book of Daniel and chapter three to see just what I mean.

Daniel 3
1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet
wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image. Why? And whos image was it? We can only
speculate about the answers to these questions, but my money would be on
pride as the reason for putting it there in the first place, and as for who
or what it looked like you tell me. Maybe it was his own image. Some people
do have that kind of ego, look at the Roman emperors. Or maybe it looked like
his inspiration. An image is a likeness, so maybe Satan inspired those who
carved it so that it looked like him.

It was 90 feet high so you couldnt miss it. Big ego, big statue. And look at
where he had it set up. Dura. This Hebrew word means circle, and speaks of a
large but enclosed space. So, the image is set up in the middle of a large
circular place where it is quite literally the centre of attention. Sounds
like pride, doesnt it?

2 He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers,
judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the
dedication of the image he had set up.

These titles are equivalent to rulers, authorities, powers, etc. Its the same
collective Hebrew word, only in this case it is being applied to human beings
not spiritual beings. It is quite possible however that the spiritual
counterparts were also present at this momentous occasion.

The fact that so many were invited speaks of the plan behind this incident,
namely to spread this muck as far as possible. If it were to happen today,
the politicians, royal family, and TV people would be there. It would get
world wide coverage on the news. What we see here in Daniel is the then
equivalent of world news coverage.
Also if we look at the type of people invited to the ceremony we see leaders
from every walk of life. Nothing is left out. This speaks of the cunning
behind this stunt. If you can dominate and control the leaders in a society,
then you effectively control the whole society. Which is definitely part of
Satans plan. What we have here in fact is a pre run of the beast in
Revelation. The only difference is that when the real beast comes, the dragon
(Satan) will give it power to speak. This idle was mute.

3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges,
magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the
dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood
before it.

As with all things that the devil does, he makes it attractive to the
ungodly. It appeals to the fleshly desires. So, the people came to see this
thing that had been set up. After all it was made of gold, and must have
looked pretty spectacular when the sun shone on it, (where have we seen this
before?).

4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, this is what you are commanded to do, O
peoples, nations and men of every language:

Having got your audience assembled, speak to them, or in this case, shout at
them. The command rang out loud and clear. This is what you will do. Look at
the depth of coverage, peoples, nations and men of every language. Having got
the leaders, the ordinary every day folk are now the target. Again no-one is
left out, or given the choice to opt out. Notice from all this that there is
no small thinking. The thing is huge, and the command is to everyone. Satan
doesnt think small, hes after the whole world.

5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes
and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that
King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

Here comes the musical connection. Believe it or believe it not, this is the
only definite connection between music and worship! Its the only one I can
find any way. Its interesting that the words idol, and image are both very
much involved in music today. Think about it, we have pop idols, rock stars,
and everyone of them has an image, usually crafted for them by some
advertising agency or other, and costing huge sums of money. I used to be
involved in pop music, and I know just how important that image is. The image
comes first, then the stupid record!

6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a
blazing furnace.
Satan always threatens. This is one way that you can recognise him. Here, hes
using fire as the means by which to force people to worship, a real threat,
because its a horrible death, with incredible pain. Satan knows all about
fire, well he will soon enough!

Notice too the words of the threat, immediately, arent you glad you werent
alive then. It must have been a terrible place to live in. Not somewhere to
dodge your income tax payments. Also whoever. In other words no one was
exempt, however high up they were in government, or leadership. Satan demands
total submission, for him there can only be one number one, and there is no
such thing as a number two!

The spirit controlling throughout all this is pride, the spirit of I will, or
the spirit of the world. In other words - Satan.

You can find out more about Satans plans to dominate the world in Revelation.
It makes good reading, but dont get too hung up on it, the Lord called us to
evangelise, not analyse.

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Chapter 3

The DevilŐs Methods

Satan is predictable, his strategy is flawed. There are certain facets of his
nature that betray him. Thats one of the reasons for this book, to acquaint
you with your enemy. Lets take a look at Satans methods, were still reading
Daniel 3.

 Accusation:

Accuser is one of Satans names, so its not surprising that he accuses people.
In verse 7 we see that the people obeyed the command that was shouted at them.
Except for a few Jews that is, who had more love for their God than their own
lives. In verse 8 we see the outcome:

8 At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews.

This is Satan at his work, hes bringing accusation against these Jews who
dare to love and worship God rather than him. In verses 9 - 12 we get a clear
example of Satans style.

9 They spoke and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever.

The first rule of accusation, flatter the one who is to receive it. You have
to be on good terms with them before you can get their ear. Accusers will
also be flatterers, watch out for them, they will flatter you when it suits
them, and accuse you if you stand up to them. The conversation will often
start: I can tell you this because I know you are mature! Then out comes all
the verbal garbage about someone. They use flattery as a form of
manipulation, which, when you get right down to it is witchcraft.

10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that hears the sound of
the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of
music, shall fall down and worship the golden image:

This is the second rule of accusation - bait the trap, and put the pressure
on. Here we see these accusers pointing to the King and saying, look you said
this didnt you. The King has no other reply than yes.

11 And whoever does not fall down and worship, will be cast into the midst of
a burning fiery furnace.

Having baited the trap set the spring. The king is made to hear his own words
just to remind him. Then comes the point of it all.

12 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province
of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not
regarded you: they do not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which
you have set up.

Notice how they apply the offence to the King personally O king, have not
regarded you: they do not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which
you have set up.

Really they were jealous of the Jews and hated them because they had been
given favour by the King, so they were using this accusation to get rid of
them. It nearly worked too, except that God turned up and stood in the fire
with them. The outcome was that the accusers were themselves thrown into the
furnace, and guess what, Satan left them there to burn. And of course, Gods
name was honoured in the land after that. Satan will never out manoeuvre God.

And, look at the ones that Satan used to make the accusation, astrologers, or
diviners. People who are in flagrant rebellion against God's Word and law. Lev
19:26 states,Do not practice divination or sorcery. The Hebrew word used for
divination is Nchash (Naw-chash [5172]). It means to hiss or to whisper a
spell or incantation. Compare that with Nchsh (Naw-chawsh [5175]) which means
a hissing creature, a serpent, a snake, or get this, the constellation of the
dragon!! Divination is part of the Devil's nature! (So is astrology).

Often the ones bringing the accusation will not be spotless themselves. If
they appear to be righteous, it will be their own righteousness, not Gods.
There is a way laid down in scripture for us to approach others when there is
a problem. Dont accept any other approach than that.

 Threats:

Another of Satans devices, threats with fear as the lever. Lets continue in
Daniel 3.

6 Who ever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a
blazing furnace.

This is a very real threat, deaths of this kind were common place in this
Kingdom. Not so today praise God, but it still relates to our generation.
Satan may have changed the outcome somewhat, but he still makes threats.
Today the threat is more like: If you're not one of us you're no-body. We see
examples of it in fashion, fitness v fatness, the car we drive, or house we
live in. Its a pre cursor to the mark of the beast in Revelation, where
anyone who does not have the mark will be clobbered! It's a threat, it
threatens the following:

Loneliness.

No-one likes to be lonely, yet today loneliness is one of the biggest
problems facing society. If a person believes what is said about them by this
worlds system, then loneliness can easily come. Even if the person is not
really alone! You can be in a crowd and feel lonely, and thats the nub of it,
loneliness is a feeling. Never trust your feelings, only trust God's Word. As
Gods adopted children we are part of a family, a very loving and caring
family, never forget this and you will not feel alone. Jesus said I will
never leave you nor forsake you. He was not wrong and neither does He lie.
The Lord Himself lives inside you, how can you be alone?

Isolation from the crowd.

This stems from the feelings of loneliness. If you feel cut off, you will
probably cut yourself off, the feelings will begin to dominate your thinking.
You will actually begin to live out your feelings. Just look around at every
day people and you will see this satanic principal in operation. Many fat
people try to hide their size from others. They use various methods, like
dress style. Fat people will often dress to hide their size rather than to
look or feel good. Often the clothes only serve to feed the problem, and of
course, dressing in a particular way makes you stand out, so nothing is
gained. This is satanic subtlety and its cruel. If you are overweight and
cant get rid of it, remember that God loves you just the way you are! He died
for you knowing how much weight you were going to put on!

Fear

Fear plays a big part in peoples lives too. We see so much violence and crime
on TV that it influences our lives. Many are not free to enjoy life because of
fear. Some wont venture out after dark for fear of attack, especially the
ladies, who have been hounded sexually, and even treated with suspicion by
the authorities when they report that theyve been attacked. Which means that
many dont make the report. I wonder how many rapists get away with it because
the victim is too frightened to ask for help? Fear is satanic. God has not
given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Fear is the
opposite of faith.

In addition to the injustice of the attack, the devil often tries to shift
the blame onto the victim. How often do you hear the comment, she was asking
for it? Even in the courts these attacks crop up. The counsel for the defence
will do his utmost to discredit the victim, even to the point of down right
slander. The victims mode of dress and behaviour are all put under the
spotlight. Even past relationships can be dragged up. This indignity adds to
the Devil's attack and brings in a second line of onslaught, namely guilt.
Many victims believe that it must have been their own fault. That somehow
they brought it on themselves. This is a satanic ploy, to shift the blame
away from himself, and to add to the distress of the victim.

There is a third line of attack too, namely, uncleanness. Many victims of
rape feel unclean. This is a real problem if you dont know the Lord, and many
victims never recover from this one. Throughout all of this, at every stage,
the devil is clocking up points. He is a destroyer of peoples lives. A
bringer of misery. Truly there is no love or compassion in the devil. The
bible gives a command to hate what is evil, having read the above it shouldnt
be too difficult.

This is the devil at work, its dominance, or down right control. When fear
rules your life, the devil looks on it as a perverted form of worship, why?
Because you are bowing to his will for your life, which is the same as bowing
directly to him. Fear is a great isolator of people, it separates them from
each other and makes them more vulnerable. Its the old adage: divide and
conquer. You can immediately see how this is contrary to Gods ways of unity,
and bonding together through love. Its another of Satans reversals.

To be sneered at.

This is really hurtful as Satan knows only too well (God made a spectacle of
him when He threw him out of heaven, and Jesus made a public spectacle of him
when He triumphed over him on the cross). To face the sneers of people is what
Christ had to suffer before His crucifixion, but look at his response to it,
Dont weep for me... rather weep for yourselves (Luke 23:28), or the ultimate
saying, forgive them Father for they dont know what they are doing (Luke
23:34).

Jesus answered the sneers with compassion for those who were sneering, and
that is our way to victory over this satanic attack. Satan has no answer to
compassion. The Bible says pray for those who spitefully use you, this is
good advice. The purpose of sneering is to make you feel unsure of yourself,
and question your beliefs. Remember in the desert Satan said to Jesus several
times if You are the Son of God!. Satan was trying to undermine Jesus belief
in who He was. A common tactic of our enemy. The reply is of course to use
scripture, which is the truth about us, and not based on feelings, but Gods
unshakable will!
It follows then that we need to know our Bible. We get to know it through
reading it over and over. Why do you think it seems so hard to just sit down
and read your Bible. Its because the devil doesnt want you to, and he tries
every trick in the book to stop you. This is war remember, Satan is at war
with us. We must fight back!

To be an outcast.

Rejection is a brilliant weapon for controlling people. No-one wants to be
rejected, no, on the contrary, everyone wants to be liked, Mr Nice Guy. But
in order to be this Mr Nice Guy you must conform to the current trends. You
must personify the media's vision. The media belongs to Satan, he uses it to
spread his hate and fear all over the world. Every day we are presented with
a barrage of images of what we should look like, and the kind of possessions
we should have.

Satan wants us to focus on ourselves, if we do then obviously we wont be
focused on God, which is Satans plan. At all costs divert everything away
from God towards himself. He really wants to be top dog. This focus on self
crops up in the church too, the whole area of inner healing, stem from this
satanic implantation. The lie is, Im not acceptable to God, hence the need
for some to look inside self for the reason why, and repair self so that they
will then be acceptable.

Also, there are those in the church who need an identity, and counsellor is a
pretty good one in their eyes. They fulfil a need in their own lives by
helping, so they think, others with their needs. Its the blind leading the
blind, and both dancing to the Devil's tune. There is only one counsellor in
scripture, the Holy Spirit, and He doesnt need our help. The Bible states
that self is dead and counts for nothing, so why go and look at it or try to
repair it? If we will read and believe our Bibles, we will not need human
council, the Bibles got it all covered. Satan is subtle, and he knows where
to hit people, where to target the arrows so that they have maximum effect.
Counsellor, and counselled are both being deceived.

All of these threats are very real in our modern day society, and all are
designed to make us bow to Satans control, and to bow is worship! Threats are
designed to control us, with fear of reprisals as the motivation. Have you
noticed that all of these threats are what Satan has actually gone through
himself? He is using his torment to torment others, even to the threat of
fire, which of course he still faces.

 Deception:

The fire now awaits those who obey Satans command, not those who disobey!
(Dan 3: 6) This is typical satanic deception.
Reversing the truth is one of Satan's devices, its one of the tricks hell
play on you, beware of it. Many Christians fall prey to this one. Satan comes
along and says things like, youre not really holy, God will never accept you
in this condition. If you listen to him and take it on board youll end up
trying to be more holy so as to make yourself more acceptable to God, and the
effort will cost you and wear you out, which is what the devil wants, and
youll achieve nothing. When you are weary its easier for him to get to you.
Dont play his game, simply reverse what hes saying to find the real truth and
speak it back to him, in the above example you could say: Satan according to
Hebrews 10:10 I have been made holy by Gods will. He has no come back on
scripture. It works every time. Do you see just how subtle he is? A lot of
Christians believe this junk and fall for the lie.

 His weapons:

This is another deception. Satan has no weapons, Jesus took them off him at
the cross:

Colossians 2
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle
of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

You see, no weapons! What ever it was he did have, he hasnt got em anymore.
He just tells you he has to frighten you.

 Lies:

When Jesus took Satans weapons, its a pity He didnt take his voice too! Lies
have to be spoken to be delivered, and as we know lies are Satans native
language, hes the father of lies (John 8:44). Satan is a master of lying, and
cunning with it, so you must beware of this. The secret of lying is to make it
sound convincing. A lie has no power over you until you believe it, only then
will it take effect. If you simply refuse to believe, then Satan can rattle
on as long as he likes, and you will be immune. The devil hates to be
ignored, pride needs recognition, it feeds on recognition. I keep saying it,
but the devil wants to be worshipped, he wants to be the centre of attention.
You can take great delight in denying him this privilege. The other thing the
devil hates is being told to shut up, after all, speaking is all he can do,
lies are all hes got! Command silence, he hates it, and youll get some peace
and quiet.

 The roaring lion:

The devil prowls like a roaring lion to see whom he can devour. You may or
may not have heard that scripture. This verse has been used by the devil to
instil fear in the church, and quite effectively too. It is often quoted by
older brothers and sisters in the faith, but hardly ever by younger ones.

There is something to be said for being cautious when it comes to dealing
with the devil, but some have become frightened by this verse, and as we have
seen, fear is not from God. I asked the Lord about this verse some time ago,
and He gave me this revelation.

A lion is a group animal, it hunts in small groups. It feeds on much larger
groups. What happens is that the lions look for a sickly, weak, or very young
animal in the group and stalk it. Lets face it, who wants to go chase a
healthy animal for miles when you can catch a sickly one quite easily. This
is the Devil's ploy, look for the weak ones and chase them. Have you noticed
that some Christians are always under attack, and some dont seem to get half
as much trouble? A pound to a penny the one who is attacked most is the
weaker one, the easier target. Why? Usually because they dont take as much
time and care over their Christianity as the other one. Strength comes from
knowing your Bible, and standing on what it says, no matter what comes
against you.

Another very pertinent thing about lions is the way they use their growl. If
they can get close enough to the prey, they growl very low down. This has a
paralysing effect on the prey making it easier for the lion to strike. You
can see how good a description this is of the devil. The only thing that lets
it all down is that the devil hasnt got any teeth. In other words, hes all
bark and not much bite. If you dont believe what he says, and you dont freeze
when he growls, then he cant exactly do a lot to you. If you are this sort of
Christian then Satan will go elsewhere for his prey. Good isnt it?

 Confusion:

Satan loves to sow confusion. Much of what he does is designed to mess you up
so that you cant think straight. He does this in the hope that you will get
confused and make a wrong move. Its true that many Christians do make wrong
moves, or take wrong turns. It would be of use to us to know how to avoid
such confusion!

One thing that Ive found over the years is that Satan likes to come in with a
counter move. Let me explain. You get a word from the Lord giving you
direction, great you think, and get all happy. Then out of the blue comes
something counter to that word and you start to think about it. The more you
think, the more you get confused. The Lord said go to Africa, the devil said
go to America, and you start to weigh the two in your mind. It goes something
like this. If I go to Africa, no-one will understand what Im saying, this wont
happen if I go to America. If I go to Africa I wont be able to preach so
effectively or to so many as if I go to America. America has got TV, and
radio.

This kind of thinking is typical, the devil puts forward plausible lies that
have the sound of good spiritual common sense, but it is a terrible trap. If
our hypothetical friend were to go to America he would not be in Gods
blessing. That would be in Africa. God does not bless disobedience! The thing
to remember here is that Satans ploy will come into effect after Gods true
call. Satan probably wont call you to Africa to preach off his own bat. He
knows that people would get saved, and he doesnt want that at any cost. Satan
wont try to trick you into working for God, hell try to trick you out of it.
The confusion comes after the event. God speaks first, and Satan throws his
two pennyworth in to cause the confusion.

 The easy road:

Another of Satans ways is to offer you a counter proposal that is easier than
Gods original. God requires that we live by, and demonstrate our faith. This
means that God stretches us all the time to do bigger and greater things for
Him. Faith is always just one step out of reach. You will have noticed this
by now! What Satan does is to come with an easier route, an easier option. If
this is the case, as it would have been in the above example, then you know
that it is Satan trying to confuse you. The easy route is the Devil's route,
the faith route is Gods route, and will always seem to be just beyond what
you think you can do.

 Temptation:

Is another of Satans devices. Have you noticed that he knows you personally,
or seems to when it comes to temptation? He knows exactly when and how to
tempt you, and with what. How does he do this? Well, well see later that
Satan has helpers who assist him in his diabolical plan.

Temptation is used to stir up the things in your life that are not fully
submitted to God. Answer, submit all to God and temptation doesnt work on
you, try it! None of us are immune to temptation, even Jesus was tempted, and
by Satan personally. We will almost certainly never meet Satan in person, very
few have. We can learn from the way that Jesus defeated Satans temptation,
lets look at a few points:

 The fasting.

Have you ever wondered why the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be
tempted? I have, and this revelation came. Jesus was much too strong for
Satan whilst in a normal state, so the Spirit drove Jesus to a place where He
would not be in a normal state. Being in a desert for 40 days and nights is
not normal! Especially when you go unprepared for such a stay. Why would you
not take food, and more importantly, water with you?

It was the Spirits plan to make Jesus weak before He faced the tempter, how
else could He be tempted in every way as we are. You see at times we are
weak, very weak, and Jesus had to be very weak in order to show us that even
in our weak state we can defeat the devil, and stand against his wiles.

Of the three angles used by Satan to tempt Jesus, the first one was the only
one that stood any chance of working. Why? Because it was directed against
Christs physical flesh. Jesus had not eaten for forty days and nights, so He
was mightily hungry. You could almost say desperately hungry. Why do you
think that Satan waited for 40 days? Anyone who hasnt eaten for that length
of time is on the verge of starvation, and hunger is a very strong sensation.
Also, Satan wasnt tempting Jesus to do anything that was seemingly very wrong,
he wasnt trying to get Jesus to kill, or steal, he simply said Youre hungry,
eat something. You have the power, use it.

On the surface, there doesnt seem to be too much wrong with that, but that is
the nature of Satans deception. There is always something more terrible hidden
under the surface. If Jesus had yielded to Satans will, it would have been an
act of worship, an act of submission, and Satan would have won the battle,
just like he did in the garden of Eden. But Jesus was much too much in love
with His Father to fall for it. He knew that He had to face this test without
bowing to Satan. He knew that Satan would try to get Him to break that
relationship with His Father, just as he did with Adam and Eve. Jesus knew
His enemy, and how to defeat him, so should we! Which brings us to the next
point.

 The scripture.

I think we all know this by now, that Jesus used the Word of God (sword of
the Spirit) to defeat Satan. And, Satan had no come back, once Jesus had
spoken, that was the end of it for that tempt, there was no debate, Satan
didnt even try! I think Satan knew that Jesus meant what He said, and there
was no point in going further with it. Theres another lesson for us to learn.

 The Challenge.

If you are the Son of God. Satan kept hammering away at Jesus with this
point, he wanted to undermine Jesus faith, and he will do the same with you.
Know who you are in Christ and never forget it. Satan will try every trick in
the book to get you to think that you are lower than you are. Know your
position in Christ and declare it often! Know that you are holy. Know that
you are forgiven. Know that you are righteous in Gods sight, and cling to
these truths like a limpet, they will hold you through any time of temptation
or attack that Satan can throw at you.

 The wrong use of scripture.

Real sneaky this one, the devil quoted scripture to Jesus. This proves that
he knows it, and that he knows it well enough to use it against you. Yes, I
said against you. Used against you, scripture can seem like a weapon. How
often have you been confused by words that have been spoken to you, that are
either scriptural, or actual scripture? Well take heed of this ploy and dont
be fooled by the Devil's false use of the Word. The Devil's quote to Jesus was
accurate enough, but the motive was obviously bad. The devil will always give
himself away by his motive. Look behind the obvious to the hidden or
underlying motive. By the fruit you will know, look for the fruit of what is
being said to you, the Holy Spirit will guide you in this, ask Him. Only take
words from others as confirmation of what the Lord has already said to you,
especially directive words. This will avoid any wrong steps being taken. Paul
said, test everything! Lets be wise and take his advice.

 The Worship.

The last temptation was a desperate attempt by Satan to get what he really
wanted. He has always wanted to be worshipped, but no-one in their right mind
is going to worship him. So, he tries to get his worship by devious means.
Daniel 3 shows us Satans strategy for gaining worship via third parties
through music, hence the association with the words idol, and image, which
are both synonymous with the music world. There was no way that Jesus was
going to bow down to Satan at this point, Jesus was ahead 2 nil, but Satan
just had to try! It shows how desperate he is.

 Revenge:

I wanted to include a section on revenge, because the Lord has shown me this
facet of Satan's tyranny quite recently. Its like a double bluff. Satan does
something to somebody, and uses that to influence others to be as bad as
himself. Let me give you a recent example to illustrate what I mean.

Within the last few years there has been a sharp increase in the number of
crimes committed by youngsters. There has always been a certain amount of
teenage crime, but this new stuff is pre-teen. Recently there was a most
horrible murder committed. A very young child was abducted from a busy
shopping centre and led away to his death. And who were the perpetrators of
this heinous crime? Two young lads, aged around ten or eleven years old. A
four year old is horribly murdered by a ten and an eleven year old. It doesnt
bare thinking about. People are heard to say, what is the world coming to?,
and, why is this happening? And still they buy little Johnny another grisly
computer game for Christmas so that he can pump more of the rubbish into his
little mind.

The two lads who committed the murder will have had their minds pumped full
too. The kids TV programmes are full of it, the comics are full of it, the
videos are full of it, the computer games are full of it. When will we ever
learn?

When I was a lad of their age, this kind of violence just didnt exist. It
wasnt portrayed anywhere, so as kids, we never knew about it. Thats probably
why we never did it! But today its everywhere. The devil has seen to it that
theres no escape. So why are we surprised when kids do crazy things like
this? Why are we shocked when they act out their fantasies, didnt we do just
the same thing when we were kids? Of course we did. The difference is that
our fantasies were not pumped full of demonic activity like the children of
today have to face.

So, we have a horrible murder, one victim and two killers, with the devil
standing in the shadows gloating. Lets take stock of what is happening here.
Satan influences society, which produces the two killers. He works on them
until they actually fulfil his will and kill someone. By doing this he has
caused devastation in three families, the victims, and the two killers. He
has also managed to frighten just about every mum in England, and probably
around the world. He has cost the tax payers untold amounts in legal fees and
court costs, and will continue to do so for as long as the two killers are
held in custody.

This is what I mean by the double bluff. Satan maximises his efforts to the
full. But theres more. Look at the after effects of this whole affair. The
victims family have been hit by grief that will last for many years to come.
Add to the grief hurt, and you have a recipe for bitterness that will fester
away and cause all kinds of problems for them. The killers families have been
hit by shock, followed by shame, followed by fear. Theyve probably had to move
to new homes because of this, and hope that no-one finds out who they are.
This is all the work of the devil. He really hates society.

You may recall some of the scenes on the TV taken outside the court. Every
time the van containing the two lads went in or out there was a mob waiting
for it. They jeered, shook fists, shouted murderous threats, it makes you
wonder who was the worst, the lads in the van, or the mob on the outside. If
ever that van had somehow broken down, and that mob had got their hands on
those two lads, what do you think would have happened? They'd have been torn
limb from limb in a matter of seconds, and by whom, the family of the victim?
No, even though they were the only ones who had been wronged, no, by people
behaving according to Satans programming. Self appointed vigilantes, full of
self righteous indignation, who had not been hurt by this event at all. They
were in fact, more to blame for their actions than the two young lads they
were venting their outrage on. They wanted revenge, mob justice (which is no
justice), more blood, more death, more, more, more.

This is the extent of Satans hatred and the depths that he will go to, to
destroy people. If the mob had succeeded, there would have been a
multiplication of Satans brownie points, not to mention more families
destroyed. And someone somewhere would have said good. To some, revenge is
sweet, but revenge is Satans way of extending the hurt and the pain. Revenge
is one of Satans ways of eating away at people from the inside.

Gods answer to revenge is forgiveness, how wonderful and wise He is. Revenge
will not bring that little victim back, but forgiveness will heal the wounds.
The Bible says, dont return evil for evil. The devil doesnt abide by Gods
rules.

 Forgiveness:

Forgiveness is not only an aid to recovery, it is a command of God. Lets
examine the command first.

Luke 6
37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will
not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

If we ourselves want to be forgiven, then we ourselves must forgive others
who wrong us.
Luke 17
3 So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents,
forgive him.

We should not be afraid to rebuke our brothers!

Luke 17
4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to
you and says, `I repent,' forgive him."

Forgiveness and patience....... We are commanded to forgive as often as it
takes. This is a godlike quality. He forgives us repeatedly!

Now lets look at the benefits of forgiveness:

Matthew 6
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive
your sins.

If we will not forgive others our Father in heaven will not forgive us. There
is further evidence of this in the following quote:

Matthew 18
33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow-servant just as I had on you?'
34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until
he should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive
your brother from your heart."

And yet more evidence:

Mark 11
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive
him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

We even learned the principal at school as part of the Lords prayer.

Luke 11
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And
lead us not into temptation.'"

And surely the ultimate act of forgiveness must be.....

Luke 23
34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.....

I think the point is made. Forgiveness plays a big part in our Christian
lives, but the world knows very little of it.

The unforgivable sin.

Mark 3
29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he
is guilty of an eternal sin."

I thought I would include this verse for the benefit of new believers, and
also those who still dont acknowledge the work and giftings of the Holy
Spirit in this present day.

Mark 3
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness,
but is in danger of eternal damnation:

The above translation words it somewhat stronger. Church, lets get away from
our own interpretations of Gods Word, and simply believe it, and act upon it.
Maybe then well see some unity.

_______________________________
_______________________________

Chapter 4

The DevilŐs Demons

There has always been something mysterious about demons, or so they would
have you think. Ignorance in the church has been exploited by the devil for
centuries. Hence the effort going into this little book. There is nothing
whatsoever mysterious about Satan or his demons.

 What are they?

Demons are fallen angels. That is, once they were in heaven and holy, but
when Satan led his rebellion against God, these angels followed him and
joined in his rebellion. They got thrown out with him too. This speaks of the
great power that Lucifer must have had in heaven.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the devil is everywhere, but he isnt.
Only God is omnipresent. No, the devil is only a single being and can only be
in one place at a time, but he has a lot of help. This help comes from his
demons, his followers. The Bible tells us that in heaven the devil and his
angels fought against Michael and his angels. It is clear from this that the
higher ranking angels had their own angel followers. We can see a parallel of
this on earth with Jesus, who had His disciples, and John the Baptist who had
his own disciples. The pharisees too had disciples. It is also clear from
this scripture that Michael is stronger than Satan, because it says that the
devil was not strong enough to over come them and they lost their place. The
devil isnt all powerful like he would have us believe, and Michael and his
angels are on our side!

The devil seems to be everywhere because of the number of demon helpers he
has. The exact number we dont know, the approximate number we dont know, but
we do know that Satan has a third of the heavenly host on his side, which
leaves two thirds on our side!


Revelation 12
4 And his (the dragons) tail drew the third of the stars of heaven, and cast
them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman

An interesting point to ponder on with regard to numbers is this: Satan
cannot create life! He can destroy it, but he cant create it, so the number
of demons hes got is finite, its fixed. The number that were thrown out with
him is all that hes got. On the other hand, God is THE creator of life, and
there is no reason to think that God has stopped creating, maybe He has,
maybe He hasnt, so the number on our side is INFINITE. Isnt that good!
Incidentally, the Hebrew word for demon means shade, and various references
to demons in the Old Testament refer to goats that are demon possessed.

Leviticus 17 (Greens Literal Translation)
7 And they shall not sacrifice their sacrifices any more to goats, after
which they have gone whoring. This is a perpetual statute to them throughout
their generations. The NIV says goat idols.

The phrase Gone whoring means quite literally to commit fornication! What
ever were they up to? Theres one other reference that is of interest from the
Old Testament, read the different translations below.

Isaiah 34 (ASV).
14 And the wild beasts of the desert shall meet with the wolves, and the wild
goat shall cry to his fellow; yea, the night-monster shall settle there, and
shall find her a place of rest.

Isaiah 34 (BBE).
14 And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals,
and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit
will come and make her resting-place there.

Isaiah 34 (Dby).
14 And there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals, and the
wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle there, and
find for herself a place of rest.

Isaiah 34 (RSV).
14 And wild beasts shall meet with hyenas, the satyr shall cry to his fellow;
yea, there shall the night hag alight, and find for herself a resting place.

So we have night monster, night spirit, the lilith, and night hag!. The key
is the word lilith, which is the name of a female goddess known as a night
demon who haunts the desolate places of Edom.

 Where do they come from?

All spiritual beings originate from heaven. All were created by God for His
purposes. All have free will. The only real difference between angels and men
is the environment they were created in. Man is temporal, angels are
spiritual. Man has a body that contains his spirit, angels have a spiritual
body. So, demons are angels that have left their rightful place in heaven and
come down to earth where they now are.

Revelation 12
 7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
9 The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or
Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his
angels with him.

 Demonic Ranks:

There are demonic ranks, just as there are angelic ranks. We have seen that
Satan was created a Cherub, a very high order of angel. We know that there
are Seraphim, which are an even higher order of angel. Also, there are the
four living creatures, and the twenty four elders who are always in Gods
immediate presence, these must be the highest. Then theres Michael the arch
angel, well see more about him later. Also Gabriel the messenger.

Paul gives us some different orders of evil spiritual beings in Ephesians:

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

The NIV states: rulers, authorities, powers, and spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms. Each have four categories, and each is plural, so that
we know there are many of them.

Lets look at some of the Greek words used in these scriptures:

principalities = Arche (Strongs [746]) and means: beginning, to be first,
extremity or outer most point. Authority granting power
powers = Exousia (Strongs [1849]) and means: it is permissible, allowed,
authority, right liberty, Executive power.
Rulers = Kosmokrator (Strongs [2888]) and means: world ruler, a ruler of this
world
Darkness = Skotos (Strongs [4655]) and means: Shadiness, obscurity. From Skia
(Strongs [4639]): shadow, or darkness of error. It speaks of spiritual error.
 Princes over places:

Ezekiel 21
25 "'O profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of
punishment has reached its climax,

This profane prince is false, a kind of anti prince

Daniel 12 (Michael the true prince over Israel)
1 "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will
arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the
beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose
name is found written in the book (That's us) will be delivered.(NIV)

Lets take a look at an angelic visitation. This episode in Daniel gives us a
clear insight into territorial spirits, and also, spiritual warfare.

Daniel 10 (NIV).
1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel
(who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great
war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.
2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks.
3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no
lotions at all until the three weeks were over.
4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank
of the great river, the Tigris,
5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of
the finest gold round his waist.
6 His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like
flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and
his voice like the sound of a multitude.
7 I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; the men with me did not see
it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.
8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left,
my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless.
9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep
sleep, my face to the ground.
10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
11 He said, "Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the
words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to
you." And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
12 Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you
set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God,
your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.
13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then
Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained
there with the king of Persia.

If Michael is 'one' of the chief princes there must be others. Michael means
God like! Notice that the angel speaking to Daniel was not strong enough to
defeat the prince of the Persian Kingdom. They fought for 21 days. It was
only when Michael intervened that the angel could get through. Notice also
that when Michael did intervene, it was all over. The angel got through
straight away. Lets read on....

20 So he said, "Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to
fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will
come;

There are princes over areas, both good and bad, and there is fighting in the
heavenly realms. This is spiritual warfare.

 What they can and cant do here on Earth:

Its not clear from scripture just what demons did before Christ, except that
it was probably the same sort of stuff that they were doing when He came.
Jesus only involvement with demons was to cast them out. Another translation
for the word cast is throw. I much prefer to read about Jesus throwing them
out!

It seems clear that demons cannot actually appear in our world in a physical
form, at least it would seem to be extremely rare. This is probably why they
need to possess a human beings physical body, possession seems to be the
maximum triumph for them. It would surely be much easier for them to achieve
their aims if they had physical bodies of their own, but they dont. Contrast
this with the angels who often appear to us humans in a physical form. There
are many scriptures to support this fact. If both are spirits and both were
created angels, why should there be the difference? I dont know the reason,
save that it must be a limitation set on Satan and his demons by God, for
which Im thankful. So, demons are invisible to our eyes, we cant see them
though they can almost certainly see us. Other than in extreme cases they
cant make themselves visible to us, visions, dreams, maybe, but not actual
visible bodies.

Demons can possess animal bodies (Luke 8:27-33). The story of Legion proves
this. When the demons left the Gardarene demoniac they entered the pigs. The
strange thing is, they asked for permission to enter them, and Jesus granted
it. They also begged not to leave the territory. Territory must be important
to them, and a pigs body is preferable to none.

If they cant actually possess a human being they settle for just influencing
them as strongly as they can. Demons can speak into your thoughts, thats why
Paul says take every thought captive. The war zone is your mind. The way the
devil controls people is through their minds. Hitler thought about dominating
the world before he actually tried to do it, and that thought was implanted by
demons. Hitler was obviously susceptible to that kind of attack, he was a
dabbler in astrology.

Others become mass killers, or child molesters, or violent, or drug users, or
heavy smokers etc. The list is endless, whether in your opinion the demonic
effect is serious or slight it is still demonic. Whatever the symptom, its
demons that plant the stuff in peoples minds. It all begins with thoughts. I
can clearly recollect the time when demons implanted certain thoughts into my
mind, that shaped my whole life style until Jesus set me free of it when I got
saved. Praise Him forever and ever!

They are intangible, you cant touch a demon, or physically feel a demons
presence, though you certainly can detect them spiritually. You can feel the
effect of what they do, and come under them if you allow them any free reign.
But, a demon cannot physically harm you, it has no physical substance so how
can it? In the same way that you cannot hit a demon, they cannot hit you. A
demon can influence another person to harm you, but this is the only means
that actual bodily harm can be brought against you. (Luke 10:19)

Sickness can be demonic, there are instances in scripture where demons caused
the effect of sickness. The woman who was bent over for instance (Luke 13:11).
Here Jesus rebuked the spirit of infirmity, it left and she was straight! The
boy that the disciples couldnt heal, (Mark 9:28-29) clearly this was
epilepsy, yet it was cured by throwing out the demon. The deaf and dumb man
(Mark 9:25) was cured when the demon left.

Not all sickness is demonic. Peters mother in law had a fever (Luke 4:39)
Jesus rebuked the fever and it left her. The blind eyes and crippled limbs
etc were mainly physical ailments.

Demons cant speak audibly. This is no surprise as you need a physical body to
do it. They can however speak through human beings and frequently do. You dont
have to be possessed to have a demon speak through you. Poor Peter found that
out when Jesus turned and said to him, get behind me Satan..... (Matt 16:23)
Jesus was looking at Peter, but speaking to Satan who had just spoken through
Peters mouth.

They can enter a human body but not at will. There has to be a way open to
them. Judas at the last supper, (John 13:27) is a good example of this.
Clearly he was open for the devil to enter him, his heart was full of evil
intent. Judas used to steal from the money box, and protest when valuable
items were, in his opinion, wasted. Lets read it:

John 12
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus
lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was
among those reclining at the table with him.
3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured
it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled
with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him,
objected,
5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth
a year's wages."
6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a
thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put
into it.

Jesus even makes reference to the fact that one of His disciples is not what
he seemed:

John 6
70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is
a devil!"

The word translated as devil is the same one used for Satan, but Judas was
not the devil, he was acting on the Devil's behalf, and doing what the devil
does, which in this case is to slander, or falsely accuse. This is what the
word for devil means. Accuser.

We can learn more about demons from scripture.

Matthew 12
43 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places
seeking rest and does not find it.

The reference here to arid places can mean any defined area, such as a city,
or district. Demons seek rest but dont find it. They are tormented creatures,
which is probably why they torment others. They live in a kingdom of darkness
where there is no love, and no truth. Fear is their ruler. Fear of the devil.
He hates everything except himself. There is no rest for these evil spirits,
not now, not ever!

44 Then it says, `I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it
finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.

Its clear that Jesus had deeper motives for telling this story, but for our
needs, we can just look at the surface for our information. I will return...
This tells us that demons can reason, and make decisions. They are aware of
their surroundings both here in our world, and also in their native habitat,
the spirit world. The two would appear to exist side by side. We cannot see
into their world, but they most definitely can see into ours. And, as the
following verse indicates, they can and do interact with both.

45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than
itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is
worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."

Multiple occupation seems to be their aim. Where there is one, you usually
find others. This suggests that they are pack animals. Perhaps they take some
comfort in numbers. Theirs must be a lonely world. We can take heart in their
suffering. They are not deserving of anything other than our contempt.

The reason why the devil seems to be everywhere is that he has so many
demons. Theyre like spies, they watch us and get to know us. Have you ever
wondered why mediums can hold meetings, and so much seemingly right
information comes out of thin air? Well, this too is in scripture, but we
must look in the King James version for our information.

Leviticus 19 (MKJV).
31 You shall not turn to those that have familiar spirits, nor seek to
spiritists to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 20 (MKJV)
6 And the soul that turns to those who have familiar spirits, and to
spiritists, to go lusting after them, I will even set My face against that
soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

Deuteronomy 18 (MKJV).
11 or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or one
who calls to the dead.

There is one incredible story in the Old Testament. It happened when Saul was
still King, and the Philistines had gathered their forces to make war on the
Israelites. Saul was struck with terror and so inquired of the Lord as to
what he should do. But the Lord had left Saul and become his enemy. As he
could not get an answer from the Lord, Saul turned to evil for the answer. It
didnt pay off, but then it never does. Saul asked his servants where there was
a medium or spiritist, they knew where one could be found, so Saul went to
consult her. Lets read it from scripture.

(1 Samuel 28:1-25, MKJV).
3 And Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in
Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar
spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
4 And the Philistines gathered themselves and came and pitched in Shunem. And
Saul gathered all Israel and they pitched in Gilboa.
5 And Saul saw the army of the Philistines, and he was afraid, and his heart
greatly trembled.
6 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, neither by
dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
7 And Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit,
so that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him,
Behold, there is a woman who is a necromancer at Endor.
8 And Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing. And he went. And two
men went with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, Please
divine for me calling up the dead, and bring me up the man whom I shall name
to you.
9 And the woman said to him, Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has
cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
10 And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD lives, there shall
no punishment happen to you for this thing.
11 And the woman said, Whom shall I bring up to you? And he said, Bring me up
Samuel.
12 And the woman saw Samuel, and cried with a loud voice. And the woman spoke
to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!
13 And the king said to her, Do not be afraid. For what did you see? And the
woman said to Saul, I saw gods coming up out of the earth.
14 And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, An old man comes up,
and he is covered with a cloak. And Saul saw that it was Samuel, and he bowed
his face to the ground, and prostrated himself.
15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up? And
Saul answered, I am grievously distressed, for the Philistines are warring
against me. And God has left me and does not answer me any more, neither by
prophets nor by dreams. And I have called you so that you may make known to
me what I should do.
16 And Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has left you and
has become your enemy?
17 And the LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD has torn
the kingdom out of your hand and is giving it to your neighbour, to David.
18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD, nor execute his fierce
wrath on Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you now.
19 And, the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the
Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD also
shall deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

The Lord chose this way to speak to Saul, the dead to the dead. Saul was
already dead in Gods sight.

Some demons have been imprisoned. Not all of them are free to roam planet
earth, the following scripture shows this.

2 Peter 2 NIV
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,
putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;

The word for hell is Tartaros, and speaks of the place of the evil dead,
where they undergo punishment. Gloomy dungeons is a weak translation here.
The phrase should read, blackest prison. There is further evidence in the
next scripture.

Jude 1 NIV
6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned
their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains
for judgment on the great Day.

The word for positions means origin, or first place, so what we have here are
those angels who did not keep their original place or function. The word also
means rule, or magistracy, so we can see that these angels had authority in
Heaven. The word for bound means under, as though the darkness itself were
the binding agent. This is obviously not a nice place to be in, but for these
creatures it can only get worse. In both of the above instances we can clearly
see that some demons have been bound and imprisoned, and they are waiting even
now for the great day of judgment which will seal their eternal fate.

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Chapter 5

The DevilŐs signs & symbols

Its a fact. Satan loves to titillate peoples minds with his so called
secrets. He knows that people are curious, so he shrouds everything in
mystery so that some will be sucked into his trap. Satan has no secrets, no
hidden power, no mysterious ways, chants, incantations, signs or symbols. Its
all part of the show. Look at Revelation 2:24.

Satan likes to get people side tracked into his mumbo jumbo to keep them away
from the truth. And he obliges some so called high priests with a modicum of
success just to keep the myth alive. All so called satanic worship serves the
Devil's purposes not those who indulge in it. Satan allows them to think that
they can control demonic forces by chanting and such like, but by no means
are the humans in control. Demons have bent humans around their spiritual
fingers since the fall of man in the garden of Eden. No mere human is a match
for demonic trickery. Praise God, we who belong to Gods family are not mere
humans. We are filled with Gods Spirit, how can a demon deal with that? No
way, they cower and plead the same today as they did when Jesus walked the
earth. read the following scripture to see just how much Jesus was, (and
still is) in control.

Luke 8 (NIV).
27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the
town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but
had lived in the tombs.
28 When he (the demon) saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting
at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most
High God? I beg you, don't torture me!"

We have that same authority, but instead of using it, we chose to believe the
demonic lies, which Jesus never did, and they feared Him. Greater is He who is
in you than he who is in the world. No matter what Satan thinks, says or does!
Jesus reigns. Hallelujah

 Gods opinion of it all:

God is quite clear in His Word about His attitude to Satan and his signs &
symbols, lets read from Isaiah.

Isaiah 41 (NIV)
21 Present your case, says the Lord. set forth your arguments, says Jacobs
King.
22 Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the
former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final
outcome. Or declare the things to come,
23 tell us what the future holds, so that we may know you are gods. Do
something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with
fear.
24 But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who
chooses you is detestable.
25 I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes - one from the rising
sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if
he were a potter treading the clay.
26 Who told of this from the beginning, so that we could know, or beforehand,
so that we could say, He was right? No-one told of this, no-one foretold it,
no-one heard any words from you.
27 I was the first to tell Zion, look, here they are! I gave to Jerusalem a
message of good tidings.
28 I look but there is no-one -- no-one among them to give counsel, no-one to
give answer when I ask them.
29 See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are
but wind and confusion.

The word for Princes/rulers is Cgn [5461]. This word refers to a substitute
deputy of a prince or ruler. Which is what they really are, false, imitation,
substitute deputies.

The word for image is necek ({neh'-sek} or necek {nay'-sek}) [05262] and
means: drink offering, libation, molten image, something poured out. In other
words what is done for, or in the name of these images, means nothing. Its
just wind. Hot air seems to fit the bill. The word for confusion means:
formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness. You could add, of no value.

 Dont bother with them:

Dont waste your time reading all about Satans signs, or the occult, or false
religions, or anything else that is not of God. Weve enough to do learning
our own truth filled Bible without spending time filling our minds with
Satans junk. The only thing you need to know is God's Word, it alone has all
the answers to all the questions.

They had the right idea in Ephesus, where they took all the books and burned
them.

Acts 19
19 A number who had practised sorcery brought their scrolls together and
burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the
total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

And thats the best thing for these so called Scrolls, burn them. Thats what
God is going to do to those who wrote and inspired them. In any case, what
have they got to say that compares with the living Word? Treat them all with
the contempt they deserve.

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Chapter 6

The DevilŐs Names

The devil has quite a few names in scripture. Here are some of them and their
meanings:

 Lucifer: This has been dealt with in chapter two.

 Abbadon [1895] Hebrew: means destruction. Abbadon is the name given to the
angel of the bottomless pit, this angel is called a king!

Rev 9
7 And the shapes of the locusts [were] like horses prepared for battle; and
on their heads [were] as it were crowns like gold, and their faces [were] as
the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [the teeth]
of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound
of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running to
battle.
10 And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails:
and their power [was] to hurt men five months.
11 And they had a king over them, [who is] the angel of the bottomless pit,
whose name in the Hebrew language [is] Abbadon, but in the Greek language he
has [his] name Apollyon. {Apollyon: that is to say, A destroyer}

We can see Satan at work in the book of Job, where he brings destruction into
Jobs life.

 Apollyon: (The Greek form of Abbadon) means destroyer.

The devil is certainly a destroyer, he has no feelings for anything but
himself. If you think the devil is kind to his demons you are mistaken. Satan
rules by fear. He is the most powerful fallen angel, he must be, or another
would have assumed control. There is no such thing as loyalty in Satans
kingdom. He hates the demons just as much as he hates human beings.

Daniel 8
9 Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power
to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land.
10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the
starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.

It is his intention to destroy as much of Gods creation as he can. He has
already had some success. Mans fellowship with God in the garden was
destroyed. The whole earth was destroyed in the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah
were destroyed, and all because of wickedness. Satan introduced wickedness
into the world when man fell. He hasnt stopped since. So why doesnt Satan
destroy all the Christians? He would like to but he cant. See the next
chapter Whos in control.

 Beelzebub:

Means lord of the flies, there is a derivative of this in some translations,
Beelzeboul, which means lord of the dung heap. Whether its flies or dung,
Satan isnt lord of much! These words are sometimes translated as prince of
demons, which means first demon.

 Devil:

Means slanderer. To slander someone is to viciously speak out an untruth
about them, and make it public. In Satans case, he can only speak lies so it
is not surprising that he is called slanderer.

Rev 12 (KJV)
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night.

God must have got fed up with this constant garbage coming out of Satans
mouth, day and night it never stopped. The devil is a professional slanderer,
so slander is one to watch out for. Sadly the church is full of it. Never be
party to slander, never say amen with a slanderer.

 Satan:

Means adversary. I believe that in Greece this word is still used in the
courts. Our equivalent would be prosecutor. An adversary is one who is
against you, as best he knows how. You can see how all of these names are
appropriate for our enemy, and how names are used in scripture to describe
character.

 The god of this age: Paul gives Satan this name:

There is worship of the god of this world or age today. Its not hard to see,
fashion, money, power, greed, abortion, its all around us. The truth of the
next scripture is only too plain.

2 Cor 4
3 But if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those that dont
believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them.

The Bible speaks of ages. We know the one we are in now will come to an end,
then well be in the age that is to come. In that age Satan will not be a god
or a ruler, hell be a burger on slow roast!

 The great dragon:

Dragons are found in almost all ancient cultures. Fire breathing monsters
that wreak havoc on society, but the world hasnt yet seen the ultimate
dragon, the devil, hes coming later!

Rev 12
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon,
having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

This will be a fearsome sight. Note in the next scripture his angels were
cast out with him

Rev 12
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him.

 The prince of the power of the air. Paul uses this title in Ephesians 2

Ephesians 2
2 In which in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in
the children of disobedience:

Here we see that it is Satans spirit that is at work in the world. Children
of disobedience simply means all who are not Gods. There are only two
options, Gods children, or Satans children. Theres no in between.

 The ruler of this world. Jesus gave Satan this name in John 12:

(John 12:31, BBE).
31 Now is this world to be judged: now will the ruler of this world be sent
out.

(John 14:30, BBE).
30 After this I will not say much to you, because the ruler of this world
comes: and he has no power over me;

Jesus said this prior to the cross, which was Satans casting out, he was
stripped of his weapons, and his dignity. Jesus made a public spectacle of
him.

 That serpent of old. In Rev 20 we see four of Satans names mentioned:

1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the keys to the Abyss
and holding in his hand a great chain.
2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years. NIV

Here we see again that Satan is not the most powerful angel. The Bible just
says an angel coming out of heaven, (verse 1), not a big or mighty one as
elsewhere in scripture. This angel is holding a great chain (presumably in
one hand), and seizes the dragon with the other!

 Man of lawlessness:

2Th 2
3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for [that day will not come] until
the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction.

 The evil one:

Mt 13
38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the
kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

John 17
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect
them from the evil one.

 The son of perdition:

John 17
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that
thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of
perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. (This is Judas.)

2Th 2
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition; (This is Satan)

 The accuser of our brothers (brethren):

Re 12
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and
the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.

This should serve to show something of Satans character.

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Chapter 7

Whos Really in Control?

This is another area where Satan has managed to pull the wool over the
churchs eyes. Satan is not in control of anything! He likes to think that he
is, and he wants you to think that he is, but he isnt. God is in full control
of everything! Including the devil and his demons, but God has allowed Satan
some room to manoeuvre. Lets take a look at this in scripture.

Col 1
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by (or in) him all things consist (or
hold together).

He is before, or, the head of all things, it actually means that Christ is
first. We can get a flavour of this from Job:

Job 1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was
perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and shunned evil.

Its important to recognise that Job was in Gods own words, perfect and
upright, this was no ordinary man.

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Here we see angels, called sons of God, coming before God, and, as he too is
an angel, up pops Satan, but not called a son anymore.

7 And the LORD said to Satan, where did you come from? Satan answered the
LORD, and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and
down upon it.

Not a very awe inspiring answer really, but then, what would you expect from
someone who has corrupted their wisdom.

8 And the LORD said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that [there
is] none like him on the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears
God, and turns away from evil?

The Hebrew word for considered means set your heart on, which is much more
descriptive, and, we can see that Satan had indeed set his heart on Job, lets
read on:

9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing?

Satan new all about Job, and gives himself away by his next comment:

10 Havent You made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that
he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his
substance is increased in the land.

You can see straight away that Satan had already been to Jobs address to have
a go at him, but he couldnt do anything because God had indeed set a hedge
about Job and all that he had. Notice Satan says on every side, which tells
us that he had already tried to get at Job from every side.

11 But put forth Your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse
You to Your face.

Here comes the accusation. Satan is accusing Job of cupboard love, but God
knows better surprise surprise!

12 The LORD said to Satan, Very well, then, everything he has in your hands,
but on the man himself do not lay a finger. Then Satan went forth from the
presence of the LORD.

You almost get the feel that God is toying with Satan. It is blatantly clear
from this passage that God has total control over Satan. He gives explicit
instructions and Satan follows them to the letter. God is in charge!

 Sauls evil spirit.

This is another instance where we see God controlling evil spirits. Saul had
blown it as King, and David had been anointed by Samuel, read on...

1Samuel 16
14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit FROM the
LORD troubled him.

This word troubled is not very descriptive really, the original word means:
to terrify, startle, fall upon, dismay, be overtaken by sudden terror. That
sounds much more like a demon.

The words say it plainly, this evil spirit was sent by the Lord, the spirit
obeyed. The word for evil means bad, of inferior quality!

15 And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God
troubles you.

Seems that these servants had the gift of discernment, they knew that the
spirit was from the Lord, and they knew that the spirit was evil, and, they
knew how to get rid of it. These were some servants.

16 Let our lord now command his servants, [which are] before you, to seek out
a man, [who is] a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when
the evil spirit from God is upon you, that he shall play with his hand, and
you will be well.

I love this verse, because it clearly shows the power of music over evil
spirits when it comes from the hand of the Lords anointed. The word for
cunning is interesting (Yada) It basically means skill, but skill attached to
knowledge. It speaks particularly of knowledge gained through the senses, ie,
to know a woman! The word for well, (Towb), means literally, good.

 Gods further use of demons:

In Psalm 78 we see God is at it again. This time He is angry and so uses a
band if you will, of demons.

Psalm 78
49 He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and
hostility-- a band of destroying angels.(NIV)

In the KJV it says, "evil angels". Evil angels are demons!

You see God is in control, not Satan.

 Our weapons.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of
strongholds, and every argument that sets itself up against Christ. (2Cor
10:4+5)
We have two weapons that can be used to great effect against the enemy:

Our God given authority.
The Gospel which is the power of God for Salvation.

Lets take a look at both in some detail.

 Our authority.

We have been given authority over evil spirits. This is good news for us, not
so for them.

Matthew 10
1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out
evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. (even Judas!)

Luke 9:
1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and
authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.

Note all demons.

Luke 10
17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are
subject unto us in Your name.
18 And he said unto them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I have given you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

The Greek word for power (to tread), which is translated authority in the NIV
is Exousia, and means, privilege, force, capacity, competency, freedom,
mastery. Somehow, authority doesnt do it justice! The word translated power
(of the enemy) is Dunamis, which speaks of supernatural power, or might.

 Casting them out.

It is abundantly clear from scripture that we have the authority to throw
demons out of people. A significant part of Jesus ministry was doing just
this.

There are instances of foaming at the mouth, shrieks, convulsing, shaking
violently, and demons speaking. It didnt matter what they did. Jesus still
threw them out. Dont be afraid of manifestations. Its part of what demons do
as they are leaving. Dont look for manifestations either, or youll think that
nothing happened just because there was no show. Simply believe in your God
given authority and theyll be off like a shot.

 Myths and old wives tales.

There are no instances of Jesus speaking to demons other than when the demons
were in people. Peter being the one exception, Satan spoke through Peters
mouth, but wasnt in him, (otherwise Jesus would have cast him out).

There were no long ministry times, just a command and out they came. We have
now been indoctrinated with long ministry times. This has come about through
the need of some ministers to show their prowess against demons. Some have
even written books about the subject, and seem to glory in the fact that the
fight took 4 hours. I prefer Jesus method. One command and out they came. We
dont fight with demons, we command them and they obey us. Nice and simple,
just like the Gospel. Its only men who have made things seem to be harder
than they really are. This is playing right into the demons hands. They love
to waste your time, and get you worn out. Dont do it!

There was no hitting, holding, naming, or even quoting scripture at them. No
pleading the blood (this is fear), no argument, no debate, no prayer, no
committees, no elders, no bishops, no priests, no rituals, no holy water, no
oil, no sending of angels, and definitely NO TONGUES...... Just a command to
come out and it worked every time. IT STILL DOES! Dont believe what a demon
says, and dont believe what the person with the demon says either. Its one
command and theyre out. Some people really do love attention, and will put on
a show to get it. Remember this, you cannot cast out a persons flesh.

 The Gospel is the power of God for salvation.

Romans 1
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

 Strongholds.

A stronghold is where the demonic has got such a strong hold on a situation
that they are almost immovable. An example of this would be Islam. This false
religion is fast growing in Britain and nothing seems to be stopping it. When
I say nothing, I really mean the church, Christians, or if you like,
Christianity, is not halting the flow of Islam into this nation. Why? Well
Islam is a stronghold and very powerful too, so what do we Christians do
about it? We pray, and we pray, and we pray. We bind it, we loose it, we pull
it down, we cast it out. Some of the more radical ones will go at night and
pray around the Mosque. But still it grows. Its like a cancer, it grows. Why
is this? Why does nothing seem to work against it? Answer, we are using the
wrong weapon! There is only one way to defeat Islam and that is to preach the
Gospel to Moslems. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation not prayer.
Binding, loosing, and casting out have no place, but only the gospel of Jesus
Christ will get them saved. And only by getting them saved will Islam fall.
When there are no followers of Islam because they have all become Christians,
then, Islam will die. This is where faith comes in, praying in our churches is
one thing, but going and preaching to them is another.

We have lost the focus of what church is about. Church is for the saints to
gather for fellowship, but we have made it the place of evangelism. We think
if we can only get the sinners into our churches theyll get saved. Many will,
but what has happened is that we treat church as the place to preach the
gospel. This is not consistent with scripture. The Bible says go into all the
world and preach, not bring all the world to us. We must go to them. How many
Moslems will go to a Christian church? Not to mention Hindus, Jehovah
witnesses, Moonies, Mormons, and all the other demonic religions. We must go
to them. The world is where we preach the Gospel, not church. How many
Christians are there who sit in church week after week and hear the same
message, over and over. No wonder there is little growth. Church should be
the place where Christians are taught, encouraged, challenged, discipled,
made ready for service. In the following scripture we can see the fruit of
constantly preaching the same message.

Hebrews 6 NIV
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to
maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead
to death, and of faith in God,
2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the
dead, and eternal judgment.
3 And God permitting, we will do so.

We can see some of Gods plan for the church in the following scripture. There
are definite jobs given for a definite purpose.

Ephesians 4 NIV
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ
may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.

How many of our churches have the full compliment of Gods chosen leaders?
Most have only a pastor, (many dont even have this). Where are the prophets,
evangelists and apostles? And worst of all, where is the unity? As you can
plainly see, we have a long way to go!

 Binding.

This is another area that has caused some division in recent years. Binding
has become popular in conjunction with the rise in spiritual warfare. Just
what does it mean when we say I bind you, and what scriptural basis is there
for doing it?

The term comes from Matthew where Jesus said it, but lets look at the whole
context in which it was said. The first paragraph starts at chapter 16 verse
13.

Mt 16:
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still
others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

At this point Jesus is setting up a situation through which God will reveal
the one chosen to be leader. Read on.

16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not
revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

There it is. Peter is chosen. Gods revelation to Peter is the indicator. Now
Jesus goes on, still speaking to Peter.
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Jesus gives Simon a new name, but its more than just a name. This is a
prophetic word to Simon. Jesus is saying that you are a rock (Petros), a
strong man. It refers to Peters character. Jesus goes on to say that on this
rock (Petra) I will build My church. Its this immense truth of verse 16, (You
are the Christ, the Son of the Living God), the is the rock (Petra) not the
man himself. Its the character that God chose for His church to exhibit, it
speaks of strength and trust. Jesus also said that the gates of hades or hell
will not overcome it. In other words hades will not be strong enough to
overpower the character or strength of the church. Thats the true nature of
the church, not what you see around you today. We live by faith not by sight.
Lets read on...

19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed
in heaven."

Jesus entrusted the keys of Heaven to His church, and also gave us power and
authority to use those keys. Whatever, or more correctly, whoever we bind on
earth (lit, bind upon the earth) will be bound in or by or from heaven. The
same is true of loosing. Whoever we loose (lit, release) on earth will be
loosed in or by or into heaven. Our actions will be backed up by heaven. The
Greek words mean literally to tie or untie.

Whichever way you look at this scripture, it is Jesus speaking to Peter about
the church and heaven. Therefore the inference is salvation for sinners, we
have the keys by which they enter in or are kept out. We can open or close
the gates of heaven by our actions. We have the keys and the authority to use
them. Its up to us.

There is a second occurrence of this phrase, lets take a look at it. Again,
we will take it in the context it was given.

Mt 18:
15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between
the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that `every
matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses
to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax
collector.

These verses set the scene. We are obviously talking about sinning people.
Jesus gives us the means by which we should approach those who are going
astray. This is the only way we should do it. I wonder how much adultery
there would be in the church if we would carry out this threat of public
exposure? Its the Devil's game to keep sin in the dark. The Bible says confess
your sins to one another. So, in this context lets read on....

18 "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

The same Greek words are used for bind and lose as in the first passage, but
the word for whatever is different. The word here means, as far as, or, how
much, or, how many. So, we are talking here about sin, or sins, or sinful
people. Lets read on....

19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you
ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Jesus again confirms our authority to act in this way, but our agreement is
important. Binding and Loosing refers to people who are in sin, both saved
and not saved, not demons. The keys Jesus mentioned is the gospel.

Why did no-one do it in the Bible?

This is a question I have asked myself many times. If Jesus was referring to
binding the devil and demons, why did no-one do it in the Bible. There are no
instances of any-one saying I bind you Satan. There are no instances of
any-one praying against the devil. Why? Well I think weve already seen the
answer. The two instances of binding and loosing are not aimed directly at
the devil or his demons at all. They are aimed at people, and in both cases,
sinners, whether in the church or outside it. Also, in both cases it refers
to salvation. There is a scripture that says, do not go beyond what is
written (1Cor 4:6). Sadly the church has, many times and in many ways. This
whole book is being written to redress some of them.

Lets take a scenario as an example. I pray that this will illustrate the
point for you. We have already seen that the devil is a single being. He is
NOT omnipresent, only God has this power. So, the devil can only be in one
place at any one time. Also there is nothing in scripture to suggest that
Satan has super hearing. Sometimes I think we give the devil credit for
having more power than he really has. Remember do not go beyond what is
written! Now, I live in England, so lets say that Im in a prayer meeting and
I stand up and pray out, I bind you Satan. Many of us do this. Now lets say
that there is an all night prayer meeting going on down under in Australia.
It does happen! And, down there someone else is praying out, I bind you
Satan, which one of us can he hear? Can he hear either of us? He may be in
Africa! Ah you may say, he has demons everywhere that tell him what is
happening all over the world. This is very probably true, but is a demon
going to go to Satan and say, theyve bound you in England again, whilst
another one comes and says, make that Australia too! If that were the case,
would Satan sit down and tie himself up? For that is what the word for bind
means.

There is nothing in scripture to suggest the Satan can hear every
conversation going on in the world at once. And this is the power he would
need to be able to obey our commands. I just dont believe that he has this
kind of power. What he does have is demons assigned to your vicinity. They
are the ones who hear what we say, they are the ones that attack us. They are
the ones that interact with our everyday lives. Not Satan personally. He is in
his command centre directing the battle like any other general would be. This
is probably why Legion didnt want to leave the territory. By entering the
pigs and drowning them they were able to stay in that vicinity and carry on
their work. Read on from this incident and you will see how fear gripped the
people of that place. So much so that they begged Jesus to leave. This is not
a normal reaction from people whove just been set free from a raving mad man,
but it is from people who have just been attacked by a horde of demons whove
just been thrown out of their home.

 The Devil is a counterfeiter.

The devil has his counterfeit for everything that God does. There are false
prophets, false healers, false speakers in tongues, false teachers, false
praise, and false worship. Demons are, by their very nature, false angels,
(the word for angel simply means messenger). There is a scripture that says
the devil can masquerade as an angel of light, so demons are a counterfeit of
Gods holy angels (messengers). Lets look at a scripture that explains this:

Heb 1
14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will
inherit salvation?

This is the role of the angels. They are sent to minister to us individually,
so, Satan will have his counterfeit of this, hence demons are sent to minister
to us too. We each have our own personal angels and hence, demons in
attendance! These are the ones that hear us, and know us, this is how the
temptation is always so well targeted. They follow us around all the time,
they are assigned to us. These are familiar spirits.

 The Devil Will be Bound.

The devil will be bound one day, by an angel who has a chain specially for
the purpose. He will then be cast into the pit for a thousand years. Until
that day he has freedom to move about the earth, so do the demons. Jesus
never bound them, He threw them out of people full stop. As for us, we preach
the gospel. This is our weapon against the devil and his work, this is true
spiritual warfare, wielding the sword of the Spirit against our spiritual
enemy. He will be active right up to his last day, so must we be, but our war
is to tear down Satans arguments by revealing the truth to those whom Satan
has blinded. This is spiritual warfare, not binding. Loosing if you like, or
setting the captives free.

 Pauls Thorn.

There is an incident in scripture which will serve to illustrate this point
further. In the course of Pauls lifetime, God gave him a thorn in his flesh
to keep him humble, we read about it in 2nd Corinthians, lets read it.

2 Corinthians 12:1-10, NIV
1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on
to visions and revelations from the Lord.
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third
heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God
knows.
3 And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do
not know, but God knows--
4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man
is not permitted to tell.
5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself,
except about my weaknesses.
6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be
speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no-one will think more of me than is
warranted by what I do or say.
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great
revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to
torment me.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in
hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am
strong.

Ive included the whole paragraph because its important to get the proper
context. We see that Paul was a boaster, indeed in verse 11 of the same
chapter we see that he made a fool of himself because of his boasting. God
does not want His children to fall into pride, and Pauls mission was far too
important to allow this, so we see that God gave Paul a thorn in his flesh in
order that he would keep his feet on the ground.
We need to examine this thorn to see just what is going on here. The verse
states that the thorn was in fact a messenger of Satan, sent to torment Paul.
The Greek word for Thorn is:

4647 skoloq skolops {skol'-ops}
1) a pointed piece of wood, a pale, a stake
2) a sharp stake, splinter

From this we can see that this thorn was indeed a pain for Paul and indicates
physical discomfort. You carry a splinter with you, theres no escape. Where
was this thorn? In Pauls flesh, so lets look at the word for flesh:

4561 sarx sarx {sarx}

1) flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and
is permeated with blood)
2) the body
2a) the body of a man
2c3) the physical nature of man as subject to suffering

So, we have several meanings:

The skin type of flesh.
The body in general.
The nature, or intangible part.

The word for messenger is just as complex:

32 aggelov aggelos {ang'-el-os}
1) a messenger, envoy, one who is sent, an angel, a messenger from God.

This messenger was either a spirit, or a man. The word can apply equally to
both. It is clear that the messenger was from, or of, Satan, and that God
instigated the whole process for Pauls benefit. Lastly, of interest is the
word for torment:

2852 kolafizo kolaphizo {kol-af-id'-zo}
1) to strike with the fist, give one a blow with the fist
2) to maltreat, treat with violence and contumely

So, Paul was either punched by this messenger, or violently maltreated in
some way by it.
I dont personally believe that this messenger was human. Paul was beaten many
times by humans, and his response was to get away from them if he could. In
this case Paul entreated God to take this thorn away. Something we have no
scriptural evidence of him doing in the other cases. It is also clear that
Paul could not escape from this messenger by running away. If he could have,
he would not have begged God to do it three times. Paul could deal with
people quite well. He had no trouble with discipline. Paul also called the
messenger it, which further suggests that it was not a person.

What is abundantly clear, is that Paul didnt speak directly to the messenger.
He didnt bind it, or loose himself from it, he didnt go for deliverance! He
begged God to take it away from him, but God said no! Proof also that God
does sometimes say no to us.

 Gods promises.

In this chapter I have sought to establish from scripture that God is in
total control. We have also seen that God allows Satan some room to manoeuvre
in order that Gods overall plan will be worked out. Its not Satans plan that
is unfolding before us, its Gods! Unlike with Job, God hasnt put us in Satans
hands. In fact there are some tremendous promises in scripture that we can use
at times of attack. Below are just some of them.

2Thessalonians 3
3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the
evil one. (A great promise)

Yes, our Lord is faithful, and He does give strength when you need it. He
protects us from the evil one, He doesnt allow the evil one to go any further
than you can tolerate. And God knows better than we do just how much we can
take.

1Co 10
13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is
faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when
you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up
under it.

Some more great promises for you.

1 John 5
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was
born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
2Timothy 4
18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to
his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Satan cannot
take away your salvation).

This scripture shows us something of Gods higher plan. Yes we are attacked,
and yes we are even killed, but rescue is always at hand. And what better
rescue than to be taken to Gods heavenly Kingdom? Truly His ways are not our
ways. We look on rescue as being saved from the attack and returned to normal
in this world, we would even call it victory, but God, in His infinite wisdom
knows that this world is not the be all and end all. There is a much better
place for us Christians to go to, its where He is! To get there, that is
victory.

You can parallel this in the area of healing. Many times we will pray for
brothers or sisters to be healed and they will die. We look on it as failure,
but really it was the utmost success! What better healing can there be than to
go into Gods presence forever? Im not advocating that we pray for people to
die, far from it. Those who are physically healed bring glory to Gods Name
here on earth, which is our prime goal, to see Him glorified. But let us not
look on death as failure. Death is triumph. For us, death is the door into
Gods presence, literally.

We are called to be witnesses in this world, we all know this, but what a lot
of us dont know is that the Greek word for witness is Matrus, which is the
same word for Martyr!

Php 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

_______________________________
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Chapter 8

Possession

There has been so much misunderstanding in the church about this topic. The
devil has been able to bring serious division because of it. And all because
no one takes the time to look at the Devil's input into the debate. No-one
seems to notice him standing in the background. The devil loves it when
Christians argue, especially when the argument centres on him and its in
public. Church, lets put an end to this nonsense once and for all.

 What is possession?

Well, the Greek word used means under the power of a demon. Why do they
translate it possessed? Beats me! When you go to school you are under the
power of the headmaster. But it doesnt mean he possesses you! You can be
under the power of a demon from the outside, which I call oppression.

The word possession means ownership. You own your possessions, they are
yours. They belong to you alone and no-one else. This is my possession.
Absolute right belongs to me, the possession has no say in the matter, none.

You would apply these principals to your car, your watch, your TV set. In
fact anything that you had personally bought, or been given. I own the
computer that Im using to write this book, its mine, I paid for it, it
belongs to me, it has no say in what I type on it. I do with it as I like.

Why go to such lengths to explain possession? Well it would appear from the
years of public debate in our church magazines that no-one out there seems to
know what the word really means.

In this day and age we can see another way of gaining possessions, by force.
If someone has something you want, take it from them, fight them for it. What
else is war about?

Yet another way is stealth. If you see something you like and cant or dont
want to pay for it, steal it! This applies to video recorders, cars, other
men's wives! What a terrible society we live in. What a terrible society the
devil has crafted for us to live in, and hes not finished yet!

Forgetting objects, lets concentrate on people. There are two parties
involved in possession:
	1) the possessor, or the owner, and
	2) the possession itself, or the owned.

The possessor is the one who has the possession, however he got it. The
possession is the one who is held by the possessor. Is that clear enough?
Good, now lets look at the age old debate!

The question has arisen can a Christian have a demon? Actually this question
is a nonsense. If you look at the wording you can see it. Can a Christian
have a demon? Of course he can! He can have one as a pet, or several, many
Christians do this, they say its my little indulgence, or something similar.
Its the thing they cant bare to let go of, even though God wants them to.
Some Christians blame the devil for their lack of control over some sin or
other, and go to get delivered from it time and time again. We would do the
church a big favour if we really did deliver some of them. Put a stamp on
them and send them to the moon or somewhere! In truth we blame the devil for
all sorts of things that he isnt responsible for, often we ourselves are the
culprits.

James 1:14, NIV
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away
and enticed.

The real question should be, Can a demon have a Christian. This is a totally
different kettle of fish. You see, for a demon to have, or own a Christian he
has to face and displace God! Well who else owns all Christians if not God?
How can a demon fight God and take a Christian away from Him? Its a total
nonsense. Lets look at a couple of points that may help us to understand all
this.

 Possession v oppression.

In some cases these two can be hard to distinguish. Some Christians dont walk
in the fullness of life that Jesus promised. This can usually be traced to a
lack of faith, caused by fear. Fear is the antithesis or opposite of faith.
If a Christian is ruled by fear, then everything that comes by faith is
denied them, be it joy, blessing, victory, you name it. The lack of these
things in a Christians life may have the appearance of possession. The person
will not appear to be in control of their own lives, which is what possession
is in a human being. And that means that it will appear that God is not in
control of their lives. This is a nonsense. If they are really a Christian
then God's Word applies to them in all its fullness. Its just that such a
person is not able or willing to accept or believe this fact and appropriate
the victory that Jesus won for them on the cross. Fear being the Devil's
weapon against them. Faith overcomes fear, and brings victory. Unbelief is
the sole cause of trouble in the life of a Christian, God's Word covers every
eventuality if only well believe it. Oppression is not possession, however bad
it looks. All Christians are attacked, but some fight back and some dont.
Guess who comes out on top! This brings us to the next point.

 What is a Christian?

This is where a lot of people go wrong. They think that going to church
regularly makes them a Christian which is not so. Going to a garage regularly
for petrol doesnt make you a mechanic. Believing in God is not enough to make
you a Christian. Believing in mechanics doesnt get you a job at the garage.
In James 2:19 we read this: you believe that there is one God. Good! Even the
demons believe that -- and shudder. Yes the demons believe in God, and why
shouldnt they, theyve seen Him, but theyre not going to heaven! If the church
goer is not a Christian, (in Gods sense of the word), then they are fair game
for demons and may indeed be truly possessed. They dont have God's Word to
stand on and use as a weapon against the enemy, and they dont have Gods Holy
Spirit as a guarantee of their inheritance. This gives the impression that
Christians can be possessed, but this impression is false.

So, what then is a Christian? A Christian is a person who has made a heart
commitment to God by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. They
have repented of their old way of life and actually turned away from it, IE,
they are no longer the same. Repentance bears fruit. No fruit equals no
repentance. No repentance equals not saved. Not saved equals not a Christian!

A Christian is one who has had an encounter with God, and that encounter has
changed their lives. Far too many put their hand up in a meeting and pray the
sinners prayer, but nothing happens, there is no change. If there is no change
they have not been saved, why? Because they were not sincere in their hearts.
Emotion can make people do funny things. Christianity is a heart commitment,
not an emotional commitment. Emotion brings no lasting change, but when the
heart is involved it lasts. God always keeps His side of the bargain. If you
come to Him sincerely He will accept you, and you will change. No change, no
conversion.

Another somewhat frightening teaching in scripture tells us that not all who
profess to be Christians actually are.

Mat 7:
21 Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.

So just saying Lord to Jesus is not enough to get you into heaven, it must
come from the heart. Hitler often said the Lord is with us!

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
your name? and in your name cast out demons? and in your name done many
wonderful works?
23 And then will I (Jesus) profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me,
you that work iniquity.

These self professed Christians did many things in the name of Jesus, all
false, had these actions really been of Jesus He would have accepted them,
but as we can see, Jesus says to them depart from me I never knew you. God
knows our heart! Christianity is a living relationship, not a dead tradition.

Luke 6
46 And why call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Christianity is following Jesus in actions, not just words.

Disobedience is a sign of a false Christian. Jesus said if you love Me you
will obey My commands. Many want heaven but not Christianity. To be a
Christian is to follow Jesus Christ wherever He leads you, and to do the will
of the Father in heaven. Some see Christianity as a price they must pay to
enter heaven. This is not so. Christianity is a way of life now, and a ,joy
for those who enter in with all their hearts.

 Gods possession.

This is a brilliant truth. A Christian is Gods possession. God fulfilled all
of the requirements for it to be so. Lets prove this from scripture.

1Co 6:
19 What? dont you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which
is] in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?

Gods Spirit lives inside every true Christian and uses their body as His
temple. Do you live in your house? Well God lives in His too.


1Co 6:
20 For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit, which are God's.

The main requirement for legal possession. We were bought with a price, the
blood of Jesus. This makes us Gods possession. Our body and spirit belong to
Him.

1Co 7:
23 You were bought with a price; dont be the servants of men.

A second scripture just for added proof that God did indeed buy us with a
price, and commands us not to be the servants of men.

Ephesians 1
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal,
the promised Holy Spirit,

The promised Holy Spirit. God keeps His promises! Here we have more proof of
who we belong to. And God has given us a guarantee, a seal on the bargain.
Nothing less than Gods own Spirit. The ultimate seal.

14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of
those who are Gods possession -- to the praise of His glory. NIV

There it is in glorious black and white. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee
that we are Gods possession. This contract is unbreakable. Look....

27 My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me:
28 I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, no-one can snatch
them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, no-one can
snatch them out of My Fathers hand,
30 I and the Father are one.

Just for added comfort read this...

Romans 8
38 For I (this is Paul speaking) am convinced, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I too am convinced that I am possessed by God. He died for me, which is the
price He paid for me. He lives in me as a sign of ownership, and no demon can
make a take over bid on God. So as far as I am concerned, I, as a Christian,
cannot be possessed by a mere demon, or even the devil himself. To put it in
the words of our original question, a demon cannot have me. I belong to God.
Hallelujah!

 Seizures:

It would appear from scripture that some people were infected periodically by
demons. The word used in the NIV is seizes, the demon seizes him. Lets look at
scripture:

Mark 9
18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the
mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive
out the spirit, but they could not."

Luke 9
39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into
convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is
destroying him.

Its clear from this that the person was not possessed all of the time, but
only at certain times, probably of the demons choosing. Just why this should
be is not made clear to us, but it does suggest that the person was
susceptible to the attacks. In my limited experience of church folk I have
found this to be somewhat true. There are those who are prone to demonic
attacks much more so than others. Why, I dont know, but it does happen. Its
my belief that if we stay close to the Lord, and walk in obedience according
to His word, then the devil will not have a free reign in our lives. There
are scriptures in this chapter that clearly promise us protection from the
evil one. Remember that all of the cases of possession in scripture were non
Christians. In plain English, they were not born again bible believing
followers of Christ. If you are, then you have nothing to fear from the devil
in the area of possession. There may well be other trials to go through, but
possession will not be one of them. Praise the Lord!

 Deliverance.

Having hopefully laid the Christians can be possessed rubbish to rest, lets
talk about deliverance. The word delivered only appears once in the NIV New
Testament in connection with evil, and then the evil ones are men not demons.
 2 Thessalonians 3
2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not
everyone has faith.

The only other instance is in the Lords prayer:

Matthew 6
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

Again the inference is not demons, but the devil, evil ONE. More common to
the NIV is the word rescued which has a different sound to it than delivered.
I would much rather have a rescue ministry, than a deliverance ministry.
Wouldnt you? One sounds like its heroic, the other sounds like the Royal
mail! There are two interesting scriptures that reverse the direction of the
deliverance, found in the New King James Version.

1 Corinthians 5
5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. The NIV says hand over such
a one...

Timothy 1
20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they
may learn not to blaspheme. Again the NIV says, handed over.

Demons do possess people, it seems to be their main goal. People who
genuinely are possessed are easy to spot. They bear no relation to anything
thats human. They exhibit demonic traits, they do fiendish things, they say
stuff that is not printable, but above all they curse God with a vengeance.

Think of any incident in scripture where Jesus came into contact with a
demon, and you will see what I mean. The demons would throw their possession
on the floor, or convulse them, or force them to cut themselves with stones.
And in almost every case (except a couple), the demon spoke out in
recognition of Jesus. What have we to do with you Jesus, Son of the most
high, have You come to torment us already. That is not an exact quote, but it
incorporates the general theme of what the demons said. What Jesus said to the
demons was mainly, come out of him! Sometimes with a holy shut up before it.

Only once as I recall did Jesus hold a conversation with a demon, and that
was Legion, should I say, they were Legion? Interesting point here is that
Legion was many demons in one human body. Spirits are not restricted by
physical barriers. Demons affect peoples character, and will, both of these
have an outward expression.

So, the game seems to be: a demon enters a human body, and causes it to do
all manner of horrible things. The demon doesnt take very good care of its
host as is all too plain from scripture. The main plan seems to be to destroy
the one they are possessing. Wanton destruction by any means possible, however
big, however small. That seems to be their lot in life. Our part as Christians
is to throw them out. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less. We dont hold
conversations with them, we dont try to guess their names, we dont bargain
with them, and we certainly do not live in peaceful co existence with them.
WE THROW THEM OUT! Got it? Also. we dont go looking for them, as in the
Bible, they will find us, or we will stumble across them as part of our every
day lives. We are not demon hunters, no matter what the books say, yes Ive
read some of them! Demons like nothing better than to get us Christians at
it. Its like playing spiritual hide and seek. Dont fall for it. Demons do
exist, if you come across one, command it to leave. Thats what Jesus did.

For new Christians, let me explain a few things about deliverance. Its not
how loud you shout at them that drives them out. Its your authority that does
it, and you can have a quiet authority as well as a loud one. Think of the
army. A sergeant has a loud authority, but a general has a quiet one. The
sergeant screams at you, but the general just talks in normal tones. Any
soldier will be more afraid of the General than the sergeant. Its the
authority thats important not the lung power. Its the same for you. Make it
your goal to realise that you are a general in Gods army, not a sergeant or a
foot soldier. Then you will have success in your Christian life. Submit
yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. To flee is to
run for your life, remember that.

You cant destroy demons. they are immortal just like the angels. You can
however command them to leave the place where you found them. Remember Legion
begged Jesus not to send them away from that place, but let them enter the
pigs instead. Jesus could have said on your bike, get away from here, but for
His own reasons He chose not to.

So, true deliverance is for non Christians. Christians dont need deliverance
from demons that possess them on the inside, they need an infusion of the
truth to counteract the demonic lies that oppress them from the outside.
Deliverance for the non believer is a power encounter. The power of God is
brought to bare on the demon by a believer, forcing it to leave. Deliverance
for the believer is a truth encounter. The power of God is already inside the
believer (the Holy Spirit), so what is needed is a good dose of the truth to
bring the believer back into line with God's Word. Its the truth that sets us
free. Actually, the truth has already set us free. If only well believe it!

_______________________________
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Chapter 9
The DevilŐs End

You could almost say that the devil has two ends. The first comes when he is
bound by an angel and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. This
is not his ultimate end, but it serves to show him that he is not all
powerful, and also that he is a loser. Lets look in scripture at this event,
we find it in Revelation.

Revelation 20
1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss
and holding in his hand a great chain.

Notice its the chain thats great, not the angel. Lets read on

2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years.
3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him
from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After
that, he must be set free for a short time.

This angel seizes the dragon, binds him with the chain, and casts him into
the abyss. Then he locks and seals it so that Satan cant get out. This prison
is sufficient to prevent Satan from deceiving the nations. Without their
leader the demons cant function. Sadly, after a thousand years Satan is let
lose again, and guess what happens?

7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison
 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the
earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the
sand on the seashore.
 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of
God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured
them.
 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning
sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be
tormented day and night for ever and ever.

This really is the Devil's end though not his death. He remains in this lake
of fire being tormented. After this point he is not heard of again. There is
no release from the lake of fire, whoever goes in there stays forever. No
wonder it is called the second death.

Unlike the popular portrayal of hell, the devil will not rule there. He will
not meet out punishment to the sinners. If he could do this it would not be
hell for him, he would actually enjoy that job. Be assured that Satan will
suffer terrible agony in the lake, just like all the other sinners who wind
up in this God forsaken place.

We must make every effort to see to it that as few people as possible go into
that lake. Its our job, our choice, but its their eternal lives.

May the Lord bless you as you live for Him and with Him.

Amen.

Please feel free to use/copy this material.
Further information from: colin@jesusreigns.co.uk