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Also See Is Lucifer Another Name For Satan?
The Evidence For The Devil
The Message of the Bible and The Warning of The Bible
"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" [Ephesians 6:12. Emphasis Added]
Foreword
In his article Do Demons Exist? pastor Mark D. Roberts says he
" ...was inclined to believe that the Devil existed, along with his demonic minions, but there didn’t seem to be any reason to pay much attention to such unsavory things".
But they didn’t seem to be "too relevant" to his life which I am willing to wager is not far from the viewpoint of most believers.
Pastor Roberts went on to college and graduate school where he learned that only primitive peoples actually believe in supernatural beings.
Though I still believed in God and the good guys on his side, I was willing, perhaps even glad, to give up my belief in the literal reality of demons. As an evangelical Christian friend of mine said, “I don’t know why we need the Devil. The human heart has plenty of evil all by itself.” No doubt about that. So, out with the demons!
A book written by influential liberal theologian Walter Wink entitled Naming the Powers didn't help as it concluded
that people in the first century used the language of powers and demons to describe something real, but not supernatural beings. Rather, this language was used to describe what we would identify as social, economic, or psychological forces.
However as pastor Roberts goes on to say that stripping away the supernatural stuff and not acknowledging that demons are real "makes mincemeat of the historical record". In fact,
a belief in demons and an understanding of the spiritual world they represent makes great sense of Jesus’s ministry of the kingdom of God. [01]
For example,
In the New Testament the word demon was translated from the Greek daimonion - a supernatural being/evil spirit which explains why Jesus repeatedly cast demons or unclean spirits out of people and gave His disciples the authority to do the same
Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness. (Matthew 10:1 NASB)
Which they did
And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. (Mark 6:13 NASB)
Now the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” (Luke 10:17 NASB)
If these spirits were "social, economic, or psychological forces" as Walter Wink concludes in his book Naming the Powers. # [02] how in the world did Jesus cast them out, even on one occasion sending them into a herd of pigs that then ran into the sea and drowned (Matthew 8:28-32)?
Where Did They Come From?
Since everything that exists was created by God demons had to have been as well.
In other words, demons are not the spirits of dead men as some believe nor are they members of some race that preceded Adam. They are not the personification of evil nor 'gods of nature' - whatever that is. They, like angels, are spiritual beings that do not grow old or die.
However, as it is impossible that God caused something evil to exist, these spiritual beings must have been created as angels i.e. good.
Something had to have happened to cause them to turn from good to evil.
The Rebellion and Its Consequences
Although the Bible does not give us any specific details about the why, it does say they defied authority and followed Satan in his rejection of God's rule. In fact, although we do not know when exactly this occurred, the book of Revelation paints a dramatic scene of a battle between good angels led by Michael, and the defiant ones led by Satan.
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:7-9 NASB)
How Should We As Mature Christians Respond To Them?
In the preface to The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis wrote the following
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.
Good advice indeed!
However, what we CANNOT forget is that regardless of being thrown out of Heaven they have remained very powerful beings who are not to be underestimated as they have tremendous power and influence in our world none of it good because of their now morally corrupt natures.
Think of it this way. Revelation 9:14-15 relates how four angels will be released to kill one third of mankind. There is no reason to believe that demonic forces that were once angels have lost any of this power.
So I hope it is perfectly clear by now that our ONLY defense against these beings is God.
Our Defense
Christ's power over the demons was absolute as the following two incidents clearly demonstrate. They were fully aware that their time of judgment was coming which is why they asked Christ if He had come to torment them before "the time".
And when He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men confronted Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. And they cried out, saying, "What business do You have with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding at a distance from them. And the demons begged Him, saying, "If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. (Matthew 8:28-32 NASB)
And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. (Mark 1:34 NASB)
It must never be forgotten that the true believer has nothing to fear from these creatures. The Holy Spirit of God dwells in the true follower of the Messiah that the demons are no match for.
Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7 NASB)
In spite of their significant power and influence, they tremble at the name of Jesus and at the power of God.
You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. (James 2:19 NASB)
We should take comfort in the fact that judgment day is coming - not only for mankind but for the demonic world as well who will be judged firstly for their for their willful rebellion against him, then for everything else they have done since. As Revelation 20:2-3, 7-10 says
And he took hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. (Revelation 20:2-3 NASB)
When at the end of the millennium Satan is released from his prison, he will make one last stand ...
and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth - Gog and Magog - to assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore. And they marched across the broad expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:8-10 BSB)
In the meantime we have ...
The Warnings
This is why New Testament is choc-a-bloc full of warnings about the deceitful ways of the demons who, fully aware that they have already been condemned, seem determined to take as many people with them as possible. The Bible says this ...
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 NASB)
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11 NASB)
... even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14 NASB)
It will be to our peril should we ignore these statements that indicate a real and present danger. The struggle is as Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12 BSB)
We need to be fully cognizant of the fact that there is a constant and ongoing struggle between good and evil thus always be on our guard because deception arises through the most inoffensive and seemingly innocuous places - a family member, trusted friend and unfortunately even church leaders who are supposed to shepherd the church to safety.
Peter wrote
(1) But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. (2) Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; (3) and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (4) For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, held for judgment; (2 Peter 2:1-4 NASB)
A Question? Ever looked around at the Christian church that is apparently booming and wondered if Peter was talking through his proverbial hat?
Well! what he said wasn't wrong in the slightest. It is we who are badly deceived in ways too many to count.
The problem with America's Christianity today is that, for the most part, it doesn't exist! Although one constantly hears "Praise the Lord," or "Praise Jesus," or some similar-sounding phrase, it is merely a formula that by itself does not prove anything.
Isaiah could have been speaking of very many modern Christians people when he said... "and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me". Today's fad driven church has deviated so far from what the Scriptures say to be unworthy to bear the name Christian.
Embracing and borrowing from other religions, cults, and the occult we have truly become 'The Devil's Playground'.
See Sections Doctrines of Demons
AND
Shepherds or Wolves
Put the teachers to the proof by, as John said, 'testing' them (1 John 4:1) which means comparing everything they say or write with the truth of the Gospel. There is no other benchmark
And as long as do this and are not swayed by pretty words, extravagant promises, nor esoteric concepts we can take comfort is John's words
You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4 BSB)
Extreme Deception
When it comes to choosing a cell phone, signing a contract, or buying an insurance policy, more often than not people will ask questions - investigating as thoroughly as possible that what they are reading/being told is accurate and above board. That what they are being promised is based on fact not fairy dust.
Yet, when it comes to spiritual matters that could potentially affect their eternal destiny all too many seem to fall flat on their faces blindly believing everything that a mysterious voice or enigmatic stranger tells them. Regardless of how intelligent the recipient/hearer all too often it seems they do not pause for even a second to consider the possibility that what they are being told is not true - that these beings are lying in their teeth.
Much to the contrary, in one way or another what they have heard is launched on an equally spiritually illiterate and very gullible world.
For example, under the guidance of an ectoplasmic apparition who called himself Djwhal Khul ("The Tibetan"), Alice Bailey, wrote some 24 books and founded the Lucis Trust (formerly Lucifer Publishing Co.) in 1922. Lucis Trust evolved to where it now enjoys "Consultative Status" with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and, I believe at one time, even maintained the UN meditation room tucked away in the UN complex in New York.
And that is far from all. Lucis Trust has spawned several other organizations - the Arcane School, Triangles, World Goodwill, Lucis Publishing, Lucis Productions, Lucis Trust Libraries, the New Group of World Servers.
See Alice Bailey and The Lucis Trust AND The Global Alliance
And the purpose of these groups? At their core ALL of them exist for one purpose ... in their words "the helping of the Great Ones and the rendering to Them of that intelligent assistance which will make their plans for humanity materialize". (Capitalization in original)
The Lucis Trust home page (lucistrust.org) says they are "dedicated to the establishment of a new and better way of life for everyone in the world based on the fulfillment of the divine plan for humanity." [03]
This "plan" is centered around making conditions suitable (By occult meditation and reciting of the Great Invocation) for what they call "The Reappearance of The Christ. Except that this Christ has nothing to do with Jesus Christ of the Bible.
In fact this coming "christ" and his henchmen are nothing but demonic beings.
'Harmless' Teachings?
While believers in Jesus cannot be possessed/controlled by demons because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, they can be influenced.
Those who believe that some teachings are relatively harmless (abstaining from certain foods for example) need to pay close attention to 1 Timothy 4:1 - 4. These verses should be considered very carefully not least because Paul specified that they were a revelation from the Holy Spirit who expressly said...
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, (2) influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. (3) They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (4) For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected.
Although in verse 3 Paul specifically mentions the false teachings of staying celibate and abstaining from "certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth", it goes much further.
Paul was warning Timothy about false teachings going as far to say people who believe false teachings are following the "teachings of demons". (V. 1).
'Abandoning the faith' does not mean they no longer believed, but had lost the substance of what to believe. They were abandoning Christianity's essential teachings and, as the verses clearly say, this was prompted by demonic influence.
Commentator of yesteryear Adam Clarke wrote
They will apostatize from the faith, i.e. from Christianity; renouncing the whole system in effect, by bringing in doctrines which render its essential truths null and void, or denying and renouncing such doctrines as are essential to Christianity as a system of salvation. A man may hold all the truths of Christianity, and yet render them of none effect by holding other doctrines which counteract their influence; or he may apostatize by denying some essential doctrine, though he bring in nothing heterodox.
In summary there are no unimportant doctrines.
If a teaching deviates from what the Bible teaches it is inspired by unclean spirits.
End Notes
[01] Mark D. Roberts . Do Demons Exist? https://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/do-demons-exist/
[02] As mentioned in Do Demons Exist? by Mark D. Roberts.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/do-demons-exist/
[03] Alice Bailey. The Externalisation Of The Hierarchy. Section Four - Stages In The Externalisation Of The Hierarchy. Part I
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