We are in Spiritual War. This war has waged since Eden, and shall end on Judgment Day. Until then we are must do battle with the "principalties, thrones, powers of this present darkness." (Ephesians 6:12). Unfortunately, many ministries have made is difficult for people to get delivered and do battle against the demons. Exorcists and eminent deliverance ministers have made such a spectical of the supernatural, that many saints and believers are afraid of ever addressing the issue of demonic possession and oppression.
The good news is that the War is won. Jesus Christ has conquered the devil () and set the captives free. The Lord has given us power over "serpents and scorpions," and "The authority to bind and loose anything in heaven and on earth." (). The Great Commission of Mark's Gospel says, "Go forth and make disciples baptizing them in the Name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. Heal the sick, caste out demons, and raise the dead." (). The power over the dark powers is ours in Christ Jesus! We need not be afraid, "for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but rather of power, love, and sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7). Interesting evil spirits attack those three; they try to convince us that we have no power, they try to rob us of love and replace it with fear, and finally the try to destabilize our minds with their thinking.
Demon possessions can only take place over unbeliever. Demons cannot possess a Christian. They can however influence or affect a believer's attitude, mind (with thoughts that are impure, harmful, lies and etc) and if follower of Christ is dabbling in deliberate sin, that is sin without remorse or repentence, then the demons are given a right to that Christian's life. This si why we must be diligent and guard the door by not doing sin and justify it. It is one thing to stumble and repent and then go back to resisting, but once you reach justification, the jury of demonic powers comes to judge you.
There is haunting verse in Hebrews, "if one deliberately sins and does not repent, what sacrifice is left to save them?" (Hebrews 3:18). Acceptance of iniquity and doing wicked things and yet claiming to be in Christ opens the door wide to devils. It is dangerous ground that has eternal consequences. But what about the one who stands firm? What of Christian who closes the door to sin as best they can and relies on the Sacrifice of Christ to cover their shortcomings? To such a person there is assurity of salvation! But often we misunderstand repentance. Repentance is likened to saying I am sorry, but it actually means, "to turn away, to turn and never do again." It has resolution and zeal attached. It is a living promise of purity and yet that is not how it is treated.
Those who begin to open their eyes to the spiritual war often fall into demon hunting. Demon hunting is what is called "looking for a demon under a bush." It is hyper vigilance that makes a Christian more focused on the demonic than the divine; chasing after devils rather than focusing on Christ. I like what Chip Ingram, a pastor said about the spiritual war, "be aware, but not preoccupied. Do not look for demon under every bush, but if one does show up, deal with it by the power of Christ Jesus."
Our enemy is hard at work, putting all their energies to make us fail. Thankfully we have the Lord God on our side and two thirds of the good angels fighting in battle. The point of this post is to raise awareness, there is a war and things in your life are combination of natural and supernatural phenomenon. Sometimes people are just mean, other times they have mean spirit; sometimes people have a natural fear, other times it is a spirit of fear. We as Christians must use discernment (1 Corinthians 12).
There are many methods of how to deliver people and make demons flee. What is important is that whatever is being done can be supported by Scripture (The Bible). The Scriptures have plenty of passages about supernatural encounters with demons, many of which Jesus Christ himself dealt with. However, we must be careful of becoming demon obessed. Our enemies would like nothing more than for us to spend all our time and energy on them. Think about it like a child, if they cannot get attention one way, they will get it another; if they do not get it the positive way, they will get it the negative way. While children and demons are not the same, the point is if demons cannot oppress a Christian by moving in their bodies or effecting their minds, they will get the Christian be obsessed and anal retentive about casting demons our and knowing all their names.
It is the pendulums that are dangerous. Not believing that demons exist or that devil exist is dangerous, but so is being afraid and preoccupied with demons and the devil. There is saying at the end of the Goodfellas that rings true regarding most of the Church and world, "the devil's greatest deception was that he convinced the world he doesn't exist." This is true, but I would also would say, "The second greatest deception of the devil is that he convinced Christians that he is dangerous and almost omnipotent." The devil is without fangs. He lost them at the cross. But we can give him shards of glass, steel knives, and other sins to fill those holes in his mouth to strike out at us. That is how he gets power, by us fearing him or doing deeds that invoke him or give him legal right to afflict us.
It says in Scripture, "Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8). Indeed, our Lord has done this! Satan's fate is in burning sulfur, in fact it says in the Apocalypse of John, "Satan shall be tormented in lake of fire for eternity." (Revlation 20:10). So every affliction, torment, temptation, and torture he has done to us will be his for eternity and worse! Remind our enemy of this, that his fate will be a trillion times worse than the agitation and angst he gives us! I shall end on that note, that our enemy is defeated foe, but beware! Do not give him fangs: addictions, deliberate sins, rebellion, pride, anarchy, sexual sin, and etc.
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