A Modern Guide to Demons and
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Chapter Nine - Powers and Physics - Demons This chapter will be covering the powers and abilities of "Demons", which are also called "Evil Spirits". We have already covered where demons come from: they are the disembodied spirits of dead Nephilim giants, paternal life-blood descendents of the Nephilim, or the first generation of Nephilim themselves, the paternal life-blood descendents of fallen angels. This unique heritage necessitates an accompanying uniqueness in the powers and abilities of demons. Are demons spirits just like human spirits? No, demon spirits are different from human spirits. We can see some major differences in these passages: A demon gave fortune-related orations to this demonized girl, and the demon knew who God’s servants were, and knew that they were telling people how to be saved, in Acts 16:16-19, "It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her. When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities." (Note: there is nothing here that verifies that this demon could predict the future, or that the fortune-telling of this girl was any different in vagueness and accuracy than fortune-tellers today.) Demons in the NT knew who Jesus was, as seen in: Mark 5:6-8 "When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!". Luke 8:28-31 "When he 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!" (For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss." Here we see that demons also have knowledge of the Abyss where their fallen angel fathers (or paternal life-blood ancestors) are imprisoned. Demons travel through dry desert places, without a body, which Jesus says in Luke 11:24-26, "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes 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." Also Jesus says in Matt 12:43-45, "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 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. 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." These dry arid places seem to refer to a desert location, and points on Earth on a 3d spatial plane. Although translated as “possession” in the KJV, the Greek word is actually “demonized” (1139), meaning, “to be under the power of a demon” according to Thayer’s. Demons get inside of people, demonizing them, and causing the afflicted person a variety of potential problems. We know that the demons that are demonizing a person are inside the person somehow, because Jesus always told the demons to “come out” (1831, Greek exerchomai) of a demonized person. Demons work for Satan. Demons could be driven out of a person by the power of God, healing the people, and this is what Jesus did and explained in Luke 11:14-20, "Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, "By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons." Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you." So it is by the power of God that demons are driven out. So what do we see in these passages? It seems that demon spirits are not like human spirits. Living human spirits, those of deceased Christians, do not travel around the earth, nor do they have the ability to get inside of living people, (nor would we if we could as it is a violation of a person), and it simply does not happen. We go to sleep, unconscious, until one of the Resurrections. Or our spirit is with God, which He brings to Himself, in the Third Heaven at His throne (Rev 6:9-11). But we do not have the ability to travel where we will. We have no choice in this, Christian or not. Dead human spirits do not have this ability. Neither in the state of life, or death, of the human body can human spirits (living or dead (see Chapter 5)) separate from the body, or do anything apart from the body. For the spirit is tied to the soul, the soul has the awareness and consciousness of life, and the life is in the blood, and the blood is in the body. So there can be no consciousness and separation. Separation from the body would mean unconsciousness. For the unsaved, the human spirit is dead and can’t do anything, let alone travel away from the body. For the Christian, the human spirit is alive, but the soul, mind and heart are tied in life with consciousness, to the body with the life in the blood. So a living Christian spirit also could not travel outside of that Christian’s body. In death we sleep, or God keeps us by Him, possibly also asleep. In either case, dead Christian spirits don’t have bodies (until one of the Resurrections) and are in God’s hand. So in summary, none of us humans can get inside of anyone else, person or animal, with our human spirits. Nor can human spirits know and instantly recognize Jesus as the Son of God (if only all lost people could, but it doesn’t work that way, their spirits being dead). Demon spirits are different than human spirits, and have more power than human spirits. It is Very important to note that demons have no physical bodies. Demons' giant bodies died a long time ago, before the flood. Demons do not have physical 3d bodies anymore. However, like human spirits are not physical, neither are demon spirits. Demon spirits are simply more powerful than human spirits, but they have no direct physical presence in the basic 3 spatial dimensions in and of themselves. Yet, they can get inside of living beings, and then they have a potential physical power, but only through inhabiting some person or animal's body. (More on this “inside” a person a little later.) Demons have no physical body made out of matter, mass, or energy, but rather in and of themselves they exist entirely on the spiritual dimensional plane. Can demons do all the things that fallen angels can do? No. Whereas fallen angels have something along the lines of extradimensional spirit "bodies", demons used to have mortal giant human-looking physical bodies, and those bodies died before the Flood. And as such, while fallen angels have expansive supernatural powers in their "bodies", demons don't have bodies like fallen angels do, and as such there are things they can't do. For instance, demons cannot physically manifest external to a living body. A demon could not move a chair, bend a spoon, cause a mass sighting of a UFO or multiple people to see a ghost, sit on someone putting pressure on their chest, leave Bigfoot tracks on the ground, etc. A demon can only have a physical presence in the 3d world by gaining control over the body of an animal or person. Then a demon could move a chair, bend a spoon, etc., by causing a demonized person or animal's body to manually physically do such things. Demons are thousands of years old. Although they came into existence after fallen angels, demons have this in common with fallen angels: longevity. Fallen angels are immortal or near-immortal spirits. Fallen angels which have a sort of spirit, life and body that they are not mortal like humans. Demons did not inherit the immortal bodies of their fathers, but however they do have an immortal sort of soul/spirit as their fathers do. The soul (mind/will/emotions) of a demon is attached to their spirit of life, independent of a body. For angels, their bodies themselves are made of the stuff of the spirit or heavenly realm. For demons, their bodies were made of the stuff of the earthly physical realm (but now they don't have their own bodies). And so demons inherited some qualities of
fallen angels, and some of humans. As such it seems that how demons work their demonization is for the demon soul (mind/will/emotions) to try to replace the authority/position of the soul (mind/will/emotions) of a human in that own human's body. This can result in internal struggle, confusion, and also potentially the human's will or self-control being pushed to the side. Fallen angels seem to have supernatural abilities based on their spirit bodies. From the previous chapters, fallen angels may be extradimensional in every aspect of them. Demons had 3 dimensional physical bodies, so there seems to be nothing supernatural in ability there. But demons also seemed to have extradimensional souls/spirits which are not part physical, or physically tied for life, such as the souls of human beings. Or to put another way, for human beings, "the life of the flesh is in the blood" and without our bodies, we cease from activity. But it is not so with demons, as their life seems at least partially independent of their blood/bodies, as they did and have remained active after their physical bodies died. So, whatever supernatural abilities demons could have, rests not in their bodies, but in their soul/spirits. And so if the supernatural powers of fallen angels could be said to come from extradimensionality conceptually (or heavenly realm-ness), then it would be true of demons that their supernatural abilities would have to come from a similar extradimensional aspect to their soul/spirits. But it is very obvious that demons cannot cause supernatural occurrences, except for when they gain control over the body of a human or animal. And when this happens, the supernatural abilities of a demon are limited to causing supernatural changes within the natural system of the body they are in. It could be that the substance of the souls/spirits of demons is of an extradimensional nature, which allows them limited supernatural abilities within a bodily system, according to how it is. This might be how they can cause muteness, deafness, blindness, insanity, seizures, ailments, and cause supernatural strength in a body. In any case, the Bible makes clear in the New Testament that demons can do these things (Matt. 9, 12; Luke 8, 11, 13; Mark 9). And I want to make clear, these are the most physically supernatural abilities that are attributed to demons in the Bible. I don't see any firm Biblical examples of any more pronouncedly physical effects that demons can cause. How could a demon, inside a person, cause things such as blindness, deafness, seizures, or supernatural strength? And by supernatural strength, the Bible speaks of simply being strong enough to take on several people in a fight (as in Acts 19), or escape from chains and fetters (Luke 8). There is no firm indication that these chains were metal, but might have been leather straps or ropes. This is not "leaps tall buildings in a single bound" sort of strength. And in this case, it was the case of Legion, in which the man had many, many demons inside of him. And the demonized man was also prone to causing intentional injury to himself. So in the case of supernatural strength to escape from fetters and chains, it is possible that the demons had the man cause injury to himself in doing so. But another way to explain great strength might be found in adrenaline. It could be that a demon, or many demons, could supernaturally cause a sharp and high increase in natural bodily adrenaline, which would have enabled the man to show amazing strength. Here is an excerpt from "How Can Adrenaline Help You Lift a 3,500 Pound Car?" by Josh Clark of HowStuffWorks.com: hysterical strength -- unnatural and amazing strength tapped during high-stress situations -- are not recognized by medical science. This is largely due to the problem of gathering evidence: Instances like these come about without warning, and to reproduce these situations in a clinical setting would be unethical and dangerous. But we are aware of the effects of adrenaline, a hormone shown to increase strength to amazing degrees for short periods of time." If a demon were able to stimulate the brain directly, to cause a strong adrenaline response throughout the body, then great temporary strength might result. This implies that a demon spirit/soul inside a person can at least cause some sort of physical stimulation of the brain. Blindness, deafness, and seizures would also perhaps necessitate that the demon possessing the person was able to cause neurons/nerves in the brain to fire, and also to supernaturally block other neurons or nerves from working properly. This would entail that demons can cause physical operational malfunctions inside a living person's brain (or animal). The key thing to keep in mind here is that it is the living state of the person or animal that allows for a demon to come inside. If a person or animal is dead, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates a demon can gain control of their body. The independent immortal life "energy" that a demon has/is cannot directly plug into a human body to animate it, in the case of a living human soul being absent. This indicates that the demon is not capable of directly interacting, or plugging into, the body, or the physical, but rather that the demon is plugging into the part of the person that is "a living soul". In short, demons are parasitic on the living souls of human beings. Demons do not enter through people's bodies, or animal's bodies, but rather their souls; souls being composed of the mind, the will, and the emotions. And once a demon gets inside the soul, then they are inside the body that the soul is tied to. At least this is as best as I understand it. And when the demon has gotten inside having control over the body, not directly but through the soul, then the demon can cause physical effects to the body. By this I mean things such as supernaturally induced blindness, deafness, ailments, etc. But probably the most prominent aspect of demonization is not anything as sharp as blindness, but rather psychological warfare. If a demon can think thoughts using a person's brain, firing the appropriate neurons for those thoughts, mental images, words, etc., then a demon can cause mental oppression of a great degree. Also, if a demon can block the auditory nerves in the brain, so that the person cannot receive external sounds, then who is to say that demons cannot do the opposite? What I mean by that is that is it possible that a demon would be able to cause false sounds, fake auditory stimulus in the brain, which to the person would seem to be external auditory noises? Could this even include seemingly auditory voices that speak intelligently? Although the Bible does not specify that demonized people heard voices, it does indicate that demons can cause deafness, and therefore can manipulate the auditory centers of the brain. And so if demons can block real sounds, supernaturally causing deafness, then it stands to reason that they could also cause pseudo-sounds that seem to be authentic auditory stimulations. The same reasoning would seem to hold as equally for blindness. If a demon can supernaturally block the optic nerves/center of the brain in the demonized person, to cause blindness, then why couldn't a demon also generate false visual stimulus, that seems to originate externally, but does not? Hearing auditory or seeing visual "hallucinations" is a well-known symptom today of various mental disorders. Among mental disorders today, "hallucinations" are seen as an extreme symptom on the range of mental illness symptoms, and sometimes occur as part of psychosis, which is an acute period of insanity. And somewhat milder symptoms of mental disorders seem to commonly include emotional disturbance (depression, mania, fear, etc.), anxiety and paranoia, and especially, delusional thinking. One commonly known symptom of schizophrenia is
delusional paranoia, in one example, the belief that someone or something is out
to get you. (As Christians, we know there are beings out to get us, they
are called demons and fallen angels). One passage I find very interesting in the
Bible is John 7:20-21, So Jesus said openly that people were trying to kill him, and the people responded by saying he "had a demon". Funny, if I walked around saying people were out to get me, and trying to kill me, I think people might respond by thinking or saying I was "paranoid" or "crazy". Which would be a normal response these days. What few people would think or say to me is "you have a demon". Yet in the days of Jesus, it seems the terms were synonymous. People today are not so different from people 2000 years ago. Another interesting verse of what people said of Jesus: "Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" (John 10:20) There is no doubt that demons can cause insanity, and crazy behavior. The man demonized by "Legion", whose behavior while demonized was insane, greatly changed after Jesus cast the demons out of him, as seen in Luke 8: "Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demonized man had been healed." After the demons had left the man, he was healed to again having a "sound mind" or in his "right mind" (the term can be translated both ways). While demons cannot cause a chair to move across a room, or a spoon to bend, demons can cause physical effects to a living body, once inside that body. For instance, in cases of muteness or seizures of demoniacs in the Bible, the demon on the inside was able to cause a supernatural ailment to the body physically. Nevertheless, this is a physicality that can effect a person's body only from the inside out. A demon would have to have spiritual authority grounds to be inside the person, having strong influence, in order to cause these supernatural physical ailments in the body. Most prevalently: demons internally telepathically communicate with people, and cause them to have dreams or visions in the mind, whether in a sleeping or awake state, or in a state between asleep and awake, demons have the ability to telepathically project words, thoughts, images, and emotions. Also, instances of astral projection and remote viewing are evil illusions that could be caused by demons (or fallen angels). Demons use their abilities to oppress, attack, deceive, torment, disable, and destroy people. Such methods may include telepathy, mental visions, dreams, hearing voices in the mind, physical ailments of the body, for instance: muteness, seizures, illnesses, deafness, perhaps even hearing auditory voices or seeing things, etc., projecting thoughts/emotions/images into a person’s mind, inducement of insanity, depression, heavy mental/emotional/psychological oppression and harassment, and control over the person’s physical body. What they can do can include many, many things, in that the attack can be tailored to suit the individual person under attack. At least this is how it can work, and these descriptions could fit all people, excepting where God's presence changes things. I want to next talk about the scenarios possible for a Christian. A born-again Christian has a living spirit, born of the Holy Spirit. A born-again Christian has the Holy Spirit living within their heart. As we read earlier, the heart reflects the entire person. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God Himself, the Spirit of Jesus, and I would consider the Holy Spirit to have a dimensionality comparable to God and Jesus, being summarily infinite in dimensionality. As such, potentially, no demon spirit can take over the heart of a Christian, because the Holy Spirit is in that person's heart, covering the reflection of their entire self. This principle is shown by Jesus in, Matt12:28-19 "But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house." And also Luke 11:20-26, "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters. "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes 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." Once the Holy Spirit is in your house, your heart, no demon can conquer the strong man of the Holy Spirit and get in your house (heart). But if its just you in your house (heart), a demon could enter in. In general, we know “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt, who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). But with the Holy Spirit inside the heart of a born-again Christian, there is a circumcision of the person’s heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom 2:29). God writes his laws upon the Christian’s heart, and their mind. (Heb 10:16-17). In this way the heart, and the mind to some extent, of a born-again Christian are different and changed from those of an unsaved person. The Holy Spirit is in the house of their heart. The heart and mind have God’s laws written on them. Therefore, A demon cannot take control over a born-again Christian’s heart, as the Holy Spirit is inside and will allow no demon to have control over it, or get in it. Also, a Christian's born-again spirit is independent, and cannot be violated by a demon. This means that both the heart and spirit of a Christian is protected from demons. But a demon can still get in soul or the mind, will, and even emotions of a Christian. Christians can still unfortunately have demons harassing them, which can lead to influence, torment, and even potentially control over the body, I think primarily through the mind. But fortunately, the best case also includes that demons cannot enter and have power over the heart of a Christian. Also, the spirit of a Christian person is of course their own and a demon cannot control or influence a Christian’s spirit. The heart and spirit of a Christian are safe. If in the course of the life of a person, they acquire a demon that gains power and influence over their system, what then happens when that person becomes a born-again Christian and the Holy Spirit comes inside and dwells in that new Christian's heart? The demon is already inside of the person's heart, mind, and soul. Is the demon automatically forced to withdraw its influence and control at the moment the person becomes Christian? Yes, from the heart. No, not necessarily from the mind, will, or even emotions. Somehow in the person's life, the person sinned in such a way that allowed the demons to have legal spiritual authority grounds to be there in the person. By the person's own free will, they allowed the demon ‘inside’ and to gain control and influence over them. In the same way, the same person, now a new Christian, must use their same free will to no longer allow the demon to remain ‘inside’, having influence or control. The Christian has all the authority they need, through Jesus, and the power of God through the Holy Spirit of Jesus, to command the demon to get out and stay out, and refuse to let the demon influence or control them any longer. But the Christian person must choose this by his or her own free will. God does not violate our free will, and the Christian must choose of their free will to kick the demon out of their system and self. But, I would say it is arguable that it makes sense that most of the demons in a person do automatically leave a person as or after they become Christian, as part of the process of repentance and healing. “Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Yet I think stragglers are possible, specifically demons that specialize in harassing or tempting a person in areas of sin they have strong problems with; I have heard people call them "Satanic Strongholds". Other potential demons might be ones that gained the authority to be there in the first place because of generational curses, the result of sins of ancestors going back to the immediate 3rd or 4th generations (Ex 20:5), or non-immediately from even earlier generations that never had the curses on them broken. These curses can be broken by God and Jesus in Jesus' name, and the associated demons can also be told to get out and stay out by a Christian with the authority and power of Jesus' name and His Holy Spirit. So this cleaning house can be, and I think often is, a gradual process for the new Christian. As the Christian repents of more sin, and asks for forgiveness, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit, whatever demons are left quietly flee, as the Holy Spirit fills more of the Christian's mind, and soul. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit can so fill the heart, soul, and mind of a person that there is no place for a demon, and resisted, they must flee. I believe this gradual process is a common scenario, and not the worst case scenario. Ultimately, we Christians and our bodies belong to God. A demon cannot "own" or "possess" us, as truly we are owned or possessed by God, purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in 1 Cor 6:19-20, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." So Christians are owned by God, and demons are just squatters or burglars that can cause trouble; they can always be evicted by the true landowner, Jesus Christ the Lord. But in this life, we are not yet made perfect, and this means that as Christians, in this world, we are never entirely free from the possibility of harassment from demons. I would think they are always looking for some grounds or weakness by which to gain the authority to enter back inside and gain influence over the soul or mind directly. In this way they can be like annoying flies to the Christian who is strong in the Lord, occasionally buzzing around, but no real threat to the strong in the Lord who will resist them. (It is interesting in this that one root meaning of Beelzebub (954) is “lord of flies”.) Though I don’t believe that they ever give up entirely, I would argue they eventually choose to rarely target such a person, because they know it is probably pointless and they can do more harm and damage focusing their efforts on some other person. Having covered some relatively brighter scenarios, there is a worst case scenario for Christians. That is the one in which a Christian uses their free will to allow new demons to gain influence and control over their system and enter ‘into’ them, after they have become a born-again Christian. Although the Holy Spirit, using the model above, can so completely fill the person that there is no room for any demon, the Holy Spirit, who is God, does not violate a Christian person's free will. If a Christian willingly chooses to get involved with demons, and sin, and invite demons into their self, and desires that the Holy Spirit not interfere, then the Holy Spirit will not violate the Christian's free will. In this worst case scenario, a Christian would still have their living human spirit inviolate, and the Holy Spirit would still be inside their heart.... but their mind and soul could be infiltrated by a demon, causing the demon to have strong influence or control over that Christian. But please understand, this scenario requires that the Christian be working against the Holy Spirit, and strongly choosing evil over good, likely doing things to violate their conscience, sinning, or it is possible this could only come through decided choice to get involved with demons and the occult. I'm not sure what it takes for a Christian to get to this level, but it takes choosing evil, and not seeking God's protection and help. I do not think it matters as to whether the person gets involved with the occult, demons, and evil things in ignorance of the danger, or with good intentions, the result is the same. At this level, which is possible for a Christian to reach by their free will and God's respect of their free will, a Christian could become so demonized that they might be hardly distinguishable from an unbeliever who is so demonized as to be called "possessed" by Biblical standards. Pastor Chris Ward, an experienced deliverance minister (or exorcist), in his book "Case Files of an Internet Exorcist" says, "I cannot find any scripture that undeniably states that a true believer can or cannot be demonically possessed, but I do know that a Christian can be so spiritually oppressed that the average person cannot tell the difference. I know this fact from experience. In many cases I have worked where it would take a very discerning and experienced deliverance minister to know the difference between possession and oppression. What I do know is that when we give our life to Jesus, we keep our free will. Free will allows Satan to get a foothold in any person, believer or non-believer, in order to oppress and confuse the spiritual life of the believer. Obviously some of the church is confused. I have heard all the scriptures that argue that a born again Christian cannot be demon possessed. These theological arguments ignore the reality of the many believers who come to me for deliverance." Pg. 171 "It is my opinion that the best way to understand the difference between demon possession and spiritual oppression is this: when I am dealing with an unbeliever who demonstrates supernatural phenomena, I assume, for the moment, that he is demon possessed. When I am dealing with a professing believer, who is demonstrating supernatural phenomena, I assume, for the moment, that they are spiritually oppressed. This is an oversimplification of course, but as I begin to investigate and interview the person, I make a more discerning diagnosis. Sometimes it will take prayer and fasting to discern the difference between possession and oppression. Sometimes the person is both. Other times I may discern that the professing Christian is not a Christian at all, but masking his evil in religion as Dr. M. Scott Peck reported in his book The People of the Lie." Pg. 172 Using the strong man analogy, if a Christian wants the Holy Spirit to stand aside and let the demon in the mind, will, or even emotions, He will. This would grieve God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit greatly. (The Holy Spirit stays in the heart, sealing it, and will not leave, no matter what, so the heart has no room for a demon. God will not break His side of the New Covenant, even if a person tries to break it.) But even in this state, the Christian could always choose to seek God's help, cry out to Jesus, repent, and be cleansed and healed of all of their demons. Also, in this state, a Christian still has a measure of internal protection greater than that of an unbeliever, because the Holy Spirit is dwelling in their heart, always working to comfort them and teach them the Truth. With this level of demonization, a born-again Christian might even need the help of a Deliverance ministry (or Exorcism ministry), to get the demon out of themselves and to stop it from having influence and control any longer, the same as an unsaved person. About the Deliverance ministry or Exorcism field, in his book, Pastor Chris Ward also says, "The ministry of deliverance is a ministry of intercession. It is a ministry of mercy. I often refer to it as the gift of evangelism (Ephesians 4:11) because such a high percentage of the people who come for help have never before given their active free will over to the Lord. I also refer to the ministry of deliverance as the gift of miracles, see Mark 9: 39. Some professing believers know Jesus as Lord, but they have never made Jesus the Lord of their life. Another reason I refer to deliverance ministry, as the gift of evangelism, is that I start every deliverance session with a clear declaration of commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ whenever this is possible. "Also, Phillip was the only person in the New Testament identified as an evangelist and his ministry was marked by the demons crying out (Acts 8:7). To me, deliverance ministry is the highest form of evangelism. The New Testament refers to deliverance ministry as: the “discerning of spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:10), as the “gift of mercy” (Romans 12:8), as “evangelists” (Ephesians 4:11), as “exorcists” (Acts 19:13), and as “spiritual intercession” (Ephesians 6:18). The Lord loves the intercessory man or woman. In Psalm 99:6 the Lord declares, “Moses and Aaron were among the priests, and Samuel was among those who called upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them.” I find it interesting that the Lord keeps track of those ministers who conduct intercessory prayer for the people. The Lord recalls the names of Moses, Aaron, and Samuel as intercessors for the people. Intercession is so important to the Lord that He cherishes the intercessory minister. Deliverance ministry is intercession. "Some deliverance ministers feel it is necessary to classify their client’s behavior as spiritual oppression, demonic activity, demonic oppression, demon possession, or full demon possession. I personally do not do this. I do not care at what level of spiritual wickedness the person is. I do not care if they are oppressed or possessed. I do not care if they are believers or non-believers. I do not argue if a Christian can or cannot be demon possessed. These questions are moot when a person needs intercession for spiritual attack in his life. The only thing that goes through my mind is: are they having spiritual problems, and do they want help from Jesus? "I was involved with deliverance ministry for over twenty years before I even knew that most of these theological arguments existed. It has only been within the last couple of years since I started my web page, The Origin of Demons, when I discovered so many churches reject or ignore deliverance ministry. You may visit the Origin of Demons at my web site at http://www.logoschristian.org/demon.html. It is apparent from what we have studied together so far in this book, that rejecting the ministry of healing and deliverance is the same as rejecting the ministry of Jesus. "Do not let theology, denominational bias, or fear keep you from one of the most wonderful ministries that Jesus has appointed to the Body of Christ. Do not let theological opinions prevent you from intercessing for people who need help. The Lord cherishes deliverance and intercession ministry. Go and act with authority, the authority that Jesus gave us and the authority that God planned from the beginning." Case Files of an Internet Exorcist, Pastor Chris Ward, Pgs. 173,174 There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus and His disciples cast out demons in the Gospels and New Testament. Jesus and His disciples were the Deliverance ministers and exorcists at that time. Not only that, but the Bible tells us of the Lord, "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." (Mark 16:16-18) There is no doubt that driving out demons is a valid Christian ministry for today that is needed, and that Jesus expects at least some of the church to practice this ministry.
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