Demonization
How do Satan and his forces fight against us?
There are 3 factors that come to bear on us in the spiritual conflict we are in: The World, The Flesh and The Devil.
Each of these plays an equal role in their fight against Father and his kingdom. The enemy, the devil, can manipulate these in his fight against us.
Next week, we will mention more about these other factors, but today we are going to talk more about the enemy of our souls, the Devil and his host of principalities and powers.
Unclean Spirit
Matthew 12:43
Mark 1:23, 26; 3:30; 5:2, 8; 7:25; 9:25
Luke 4:33; 8:29; 9:42; 11:24
Revelation 18:2
Demon
Matthew 9:33; 11:18; 15:22; 17:18
Mark 7:26, 29f
Luke 4:33, 35; 7:33; 8:29; 9:42; 11:14
John 7:20; 8:48f, 52; 10:20f
Devil
Matthew 4:1, 5, 8, 11; 13:39; 25:41
Luke 4:2f, 5, 13; 8:12
John 6:70; 8:44; 13:2
Acts 10:38; 13:10
Ephesians 4:27; 6:11
1 Timothy 3:6f
2 Timothy 2:26
Hebrews 2:14
James 4:7
1 Peter 5:8
1 John 3:8, 10
Jude 1:9
Revelation 2:10; 12:9, 12; 20:2, 10
Satan
1 Chronicles 21:1
Job 1:6ff, 12; 2:1ff, 6f
Zecheriah 3:1f
Matthew 4:10; 12:26; 16:23
Mark 1:13; 3:23, 26; 4:15; 8:33
Luke 10:18; 11:18; 13:16; 22:3, 31
John 13:27
Acts 5:3; 26:18
Romans 16:20
1 Corinthians 5:5; 7:5
2 Corinthians 2:11; 11:14; 12:7
1 Thessalonians 2:18
2 Thessalonians 2:9
1 Timothy 1:20; 5:15
Revelation 2:9, 13, 24; 3:9; 12:9; 20:2, 7
Serpent
Genesis 3:1f, 4, 13f
2 Corinthians 11:3
Revelation 12:9, 14f; 20:2
The Scriptures recount stories of demons and their leader, the Devil, Satan, having influence over people.
There are 3 ways of approaching theses stories:
1) Dismiss the stories about demons altogether
This is the tact of the “demythologizing” approach of the twentieth century led by such scholars as Rudolph Bultmann who debunked these stories as reflecting a primitive worldview.
2) Reinterpret the strories about demons
The value to these stories is found when one gets behind their surface and discovers the deeper message. Some have suggested that “demon” is a code word for the Pharisaical religious establishment or that “unclean spirit” should be seen as a psychological projection of our inner self or that the “demons” were probably only outward displays of a mental illness altogether.
3) Accept the stories as what really happened
This does not necessarily mean that all Christians will find what is said in the bible about demons as relevant for today.
Some are still convinced that demonization only happened back in the first century.
The issue of possession
First, possess means to own. We are owned by Christ, and we, as followers of Jesus Christ cannot be owned by Satan.
Second, the word “possession” that is attached to the word “demon” in many current translations such as (KJV, NKJV, NASB, NRSV, NIV, NLT) is not actually in the Greek text.
The idea of possession is the interpretation of the translator from a single Greek word “daimonizomai”.
This is probably because since the translation of the KJV, the standard was set in interpreting the meaning of the single term.
This wording has come to create some, perhaps, false concepts of the work of the enemy in the life of Christians and even non-Christians.
I, along with many others, prefer to use the term “demonized”.
This is a transliterated word that comes straight from the Greek word and I believe captures the essence of the work of the enemy against us and the rest of humanity to continue the rebellion.
How might demons exert their influence on Christians? How can we be demonized?
Note: There is a distinction between what the enemy can and does in the life of the Christian and the life of the non-Christian.
We are inhabited by the Holy Spirit and have God’s seal on us. The enemy cannot do to us anything we do not allow them to. We have authority over the enemy. The enemy must submit to us.
This is not the case for the non-Christian. They have no authority, because the authority giver is not in them defending them and giving them authority over the evil one.
When we are transformed by the gospel and the Holy Spirit takes up the work of regeneration in us, we are not completed yet. We belong to Jesus Christ, however, we still wrestle against sinful tendencies and a system of lies that we have a tendency to believe. So, we have a war to fight, and the enemy brings the battle to us.
What might that look like? How might the enemy exert it’s influence on Christians?
1. Temptation
“So, too, by an influence equally obscure, demons and angels breath into the soul, and rouse up its corruptions with furious passions and vile excesses” (Tertullian, Apology, 22).
1 Thessalonians 3:5 The enemy is called “the tempter” and the object of his work was the Thessalonian’s faith.
1 John 3:12 (see John 8:44 Satan a murderer from the beginning) Cain was tempted by the murdering Satan to murder his brother because his deeds were right and his own evil.
Acts 5:1-11 (see verse 3) Ananias and Sapphira were tempted to make themselves look more generous than they were.
2. False Teaching
1 Timothy 4:1
2 Timothy 2:24-26
Colossians 2:8
Galatians 4:9
3. Initiating Feelings of Guilt, Doubt and Fear
Revelation 12:10 We are said to be accused by the “accuser” continuously.
“He likewise reminds believers of their shortcomings, unworthiness and sin. By stimulating feelings of guilt, he hopes to keep Christians from feeling well-assured in their relationship to Christ and unworthy to receive his empowering grace” (Clinton E. Arnold 99).
1 Peter 5:8 The image of Satan as a roaring lion depicts his attempts to instill fear into believers.
“Anxiety, panic and terror are feelings that Satan endeavors to arouse as a means of paralyzing Christians and preventing them from yielding to and experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives” (Clinton E. Arnold 99)
Illustration: Tent, Malawi, voice telling me my sister was dead
4. Physical Attack
2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was a “messenger of Satan” to harass and torment him in order to keep Paul from becoming conceited because of the great things he had seen in visions and revelations from the Lord.
1. This was graciously allowed by the Father
2. Paul did not seek help from an intermediary, but he went straight to the Father
3. But the enemy was able to make sick
4. Father’s grace can sustain and he can make strength rise from weakness induced by the
enemy
5. Persecution
Revelation 2:8-11 Satan is behind the imprisonment of some in Smyrna
Revelation 2:12-13 Satan is behind the death of a faithful servant in Pergamum
Revelation 12-13 Satan’s seething violence toward God’s people is symbolized here
Revelation 13:7 The beast is given authority to make war on the church
Ignatius of Antioch describes saw his own suffering and eventual martyrdom as incited by Satan when he wrote his letter to the Romans:
“…fire and cross and battles with wild beasts, mutilation, mangling, wrenching of bones, the hacking of limbs, the crushing of my whole body…cruel tortures of the devil” (Letter to the Romans 5.3).
How do we deal with these demonic forces and gain victory? That is next week.
But for now, fight with this as a means of warfare and giving you a glimpse at next week:
James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.”
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