Fighting Demons – Wallace Articles

09/07/23

Intro:

Today I’d like to talk to you about demons. “Why?”, you may ask, do I want to talk about them?! Well, because we have to face them regularly. And I believe it is helpful in that endeavor if we know about them and what we might expect. This way you know better how to fight them, and can see that there’s no reason to be afraid of them.

You recognize that humans have different personalities. Some are intense and aggressive, while others are quiet and reserved. Some are good at business, while others are good at nurturing. Millions of people in the world, and thousands of different personalities and abilities. Likewise, just as there are different personalities and skills in humans, so there are different personalities among demons.

DEMONS: COMPOSITION

I. a.

To begin, let’s briefly discuss what a demon is. Demons aren’t hideous monsters that creep out of the forest at night to eat small children. That’s just a Hollywood depiction: It has no basis in reality.

Instead, consider the image you picture when you think of the word “angels”. Once you have that in mind, then remember that demons are angels. The different name is just a reflection of their change from working in service for God, to fighting against God. This change in allegiance did not significantly alter the nature of their material composition.

As spiritual beings, they are able to take on other appearances temporarily when it serves their purpose. So they might make themselves look monstrous for a bit. But their default state is their angelic form.

When God created angels, He made them from air and fire. You might think this a weird concept, but it’s found in the Bible. Ps 104:4, “He makes the winds his messengers, and flames of fire his servants.” Thus we see they’re composed of air and fire. This concept is also mentioned in passing in Lk 10:18, “I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning.” And lightning is a form of fire.

You may think, How can air and fire be made into an angel body? Well, consider humans – How can our bodies be made out of dirt and water?

If we mix together a scoop of dirt and a scoop of water, we just end up with mud. If we somehow find the right consistency, we might be able to mold our lump of clay into a human shape; but it won’t look realistic. No matter how skillful a sculptor we may be, our creation will never pass for a live person.

God, however, is able to transform a mass of dirt and water into human flesh; the end result which looks nothing like mud. Likewise, He is able to transform air and fire into angelic bodies; which don’t look like their constituent elements. Bodies which have life, intelligence, and individual personalities.

How does knowing this help us? Because, just as we humans modify our behavior in response to the various personalities of the people we encounter; so, too, we will need to adjust our attitude to suit the types of demons we’ll have to deal with. Let me give an example to illustrate my point.

Throughout your employment career you’ve encountered bosses with differing leadership styles. There may have been a foreman who was loud and bombastic. They only ever gave directions by yelling and making insults. There may also have been another boss who always spoke calmly and without ever raising their voice, even when things went wrong. But there was such a presence of authority around them that no one ever thought to argue or disobey. The difference between these two was not in their volume, but in their security with their own authority.

When you are called to cast out a demon, you need to understand two things. One is to know the authority you have when addressing them. The other is to know that you will need to modify your actions depending on the strength of the demon.

OUR AUTHORITY

II.

Regarding our authority, Jesus has told us He shares His own authority with us. Mt 10:1, “He gave them power against unclean spirits and to heal diseases.” When we receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (BHS), we share in that gift of authority. We too then have available to us the power to cast out demons. But this endowment of power is not fully realized by most people, because it requires a change in attitude to correspond with the change in status. And this is difficult to do, due to old habits of thought. Thus the person with new authority is insecure in it.

Most of us who have been taught the importance of being “good Christians” have had drilled into us the importance of being “humble”. Christians must be self-abasing, even to the point of being a door mat. It’s stressed how it’s better to allow yourself to be taken advantage of rather than have people think you’re pushy or assertive. The model to follow is to be like “sheep”, because Jesus is likened to a “shepherd”. To be “proud”, or anything resembling that, is to be sinful. Pride is how Lucifer fell from serving God. So pride is to be avoided at all costs.

This desire to be humble and to avoid even the appearance of pride is what conflicts with the teaching that we are to recognize our authority as “sons and daughters of God”. If we dare to think of ourselves as members of the “royal family” and “children of the Most High”, then we’re on the verge of being prideful. And that’s a sin!: or so we may be tempted to think.

The problem is in equating a recognition of the status Jesus gave us with being “too proud”. Lucifer’s sin wasn’t in his appreciation of the authority God had given him, rather it was in his attempt to go beyond the position he’d been given. In other words, if God gives you a position of leadership, it isn’t a sin to exercise that position. It only becomes sinful if you try to go outside your designated position. But it’s important to recognize that going outside your position isn’t limited to trying to go too high; it also includes trying to go lower than what’s been assigned. By that I mean, if you’ve been assigned a job to do but you refuse to do it because you don’t want to appear “proud”, then that too is being sinful.

We humans were created to be sons and daughters of God. This is how God referred to Adam and Eve.

It was also reflected in His assignation to them to “rule” the Earth, and all that was in it. After the two of them were tricked by Lucifer into losing their position of rulership, God believed restoring them to their lost position was so important that He was willing to sacrifice Jesus’ life to achieve that.

Thus, now that Jesus has completed His sacrifice and won back for humankind the right to be restored to authority, He wants us to actually return to that standing and occupy our rightful place. So to then tell Him we don’t want to accept that which has cost Him so much because we don’t want to appear proud, is actually an insult to Him. And it’s wrong to characterize this refusal as “humility”.

DEMONS: RANKS

III.

Angels in Heaven, and also demons around Earth, are arranged into a hierarchy of ranks. Those with lots of power and strong personalities are in positions of leadership; while those with less power and reticent personalities fill supporting positions.

As you pray with various people to address their problems, you will encounter demons of varying strength. So you need to recognize this and be prepared. Also understand that even though your original intent is just to deal with a disease, there will very likely be demons present. This is because most diseases are brought on by demons. And even if the origin wasn’t demonic, a condition can be worsened by demons trying to take advantage of someone in a weakened state.

There will be occasions when you are praying with someone and you sense a demon’s presence. You address the demon and command it to leave, and surprisingly it goes right out. The prayer recipient feels better immediately. And you are impressed with yourself and how easily you prevailed. You then hope that every situation will be resolved so quickly.

This was a low-level demon with little power, low authority, and a weak personality. It had no desire to fight you or resist your command. So it went out quickly.

There will be other occasions when the demon doesn’t go out right away. Instead it feels like he is challenging you and questioning your authority. Maybe you don’t audibly hear it arguing, but you know it’s saying, “What right do you have to tell me what to do?” I like to equate these mid-level demons to sassy teenagers.

When you hear me make such a semblance you may be tempted to think, “Why in the world would demons want to act like teenagers?!” If they wanted to imitate some human trait, it seems they would choose something menacing rather than something vexatious. Well to think that demons are mimicking teenagers is to have it backwards. It’s the teenagers that are being led to act like demons. You see, demons developed this annoying attribute long before teenagers were invented.

Demons became rebellious back while they were still in Heaven. God would give them some tasks to perform, and they started to talk back and disobey. This attitude grew and grew until at last they were in open revolt. It finally reached a point where God said, “If that’s going to be your attitude, then go to the place of separation and think about how you’re behaving, while I consider how to punish you.”

Later, when they began corrupting humans, they found teenagers were especially open to being influenced because of the hormonal upheavals which were destabilizing their physical, mental, and emotional states. In other words, teenagers were easy to manipulate into having the same attitudes the demons hold. These behaviors then became engrained in their personalities and carried into adulthood.

Seeing the similarity between these attitudes, you can begin to understand how to deal with mid-level demons. These demons, when you order them out, won’t go quietly. They’ll wait to see if you truly know your own authority. Only then will they consent to comply with your demand. So you need to take the same demeanor you use when talking with teens.

Allow me to illustrate. I knew a married couple about ten years ago who bought a house in a middle class neighborhood. This was shortly after the housing crash and the home they bought was a bank owned foreclosure which had been vacant for several months. After the closing, the wife went to the house to clean it up in preparation for moving in. She did this while her husband went to work.

She is short, lightweight, and very shy. But since she locked herself in, she didn’t mind being alone. A few hours into her chores she heard something in the back yard, so she looked out the window. There she saw five or six teenagers standing in the yard. This house was on a corner lot, so it was easy to get into the back yard from the sidewalk. Also, just behind the house was a retention pond for rainwater; and it was this the kids were looking at.

The wife built up her courage and went out to talk to them. She politely asked them to leave, stating there was a playground just a block away they could use. But instead of just leaving, the ringleader decided to challenge her. “Who are you? What business is it of yours what we do?”

The lady felt nervous. She usually tried to avoid confrontations. But she didn’t want to be pushed around in her own home. So she said firmly, yet without raising her voice, “I just bought this place, so this is my house and my yard. And I’d like you all to leave.”

They looked at her a minute, a couple of them even appeared embarrassed, then they all turned to go. After a few steps the ringleader turned back, tried to smile, and asked somewhat apologetically, “Would it be ok if we stay? We’ve made this our hangout.”

She thought about it for a few seconds. Maybe they wouldn’t hurt anything; but then maybe once they saw they could get their way, they would start taking advantage. Besides, she had been rubbed the wrong way with their initial attitude — “Who are you?!” So she told them no. They didn’t say anything else, they just left and she didn’t see them anymore after that.

The point is, that many mid-level demons will challenge your authority in a similar manner. So it is important for you to know your position. You don’t have to be loud; but you do have to be sure of yourself. This is your domain; not theirs!

Finally, you need to know that there will be occasions when you encounter a high-level demon. These have a lot of spiritual power and a strong will. They also have a lot of experience facing down prayer warriors. Although the power God has made available to you is stronger than any demon’s, it isn’t there automatically. We have to know how to draw on it.

Mt 17:21, “This kind (of power) flows out only through prayer and fasting.” So this is where many prayer warriors fail. The prayer warrior doesn’t know how to use God’s power, while the high-level demon has a lot of practice making people doubt themselves. They often do this by reminding people of their own sinfulness.

A TRAGIC LESSON

IV.

For illustration let me use the example of King David. Perhaps you are aware that the customs of politics in the Middle East of 1000 BC are not like our customs today.

In those days most kingdoms were not as big as our countries today. Many were no larger than our modern cities or counties. So small kingdoms were in constant fear of larger kingdoms trying to conquer their territory. To defend against this, kings would make alliances with other kings to provide each other mutual support.

At the time of King David, Israel was very large and powerful. So all the small kingdoms around him sought to make treaties with him. A primary way of doing this was for a king to not only make a gift of a lot of money, but to also make a gift of one of his daughters to become his wife. The idea was that if David married the princess, then he’d be obligated to help, if his father-in-law’s kingdom was attacked. This was how David ended up with more than a dozen wives and an unknown number of concubines.

We read in the Bible (see 2 Sa 11) there came a time when David’s army went to war with another kingdom, but David didn’t want to go personally; so he just sent his general to take care of it. While David was staying at home, one day he looked out of the window of his palace and he saw into the house next door. There he saw a beautiful young lady taking a bath; and he became enamored of her. Yes, he had a lot of wives and concubines available with which to satisfy himself. But, no, he must have that girl! So he sent his servant over to fetch her.

When she came to the palace David learned her name was Bathsheba. But he also learned she was already married, and her husband, Uriah, was away fighting in David’s army. That news didn’t deter David. He pressed his way and they had an affair. A few weeks later Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant.

David thought and thought. How could he fix this? He soon came up with a plan. He would call Uriah to come home on some pretext. Certainly while back from the war on a furlough he would spend some romantic time with his wife. Then later, once Uriah learned Bathsheba was pregnant, he would assume it was his own child. Unfortunately, David’s plan didn’t go as desired.

Uriah was sent home under the belief that David needed him to carry a message. But even though he was home on break, he didn’t sleep with his wife. When David heard this he asked Uriah why. Uriah said, “All of my fellow soldiers are still out at war. How can I have fun at home while my brothers are risking their lives? No. I won’t make merry until we are all back home and can celebrate together.”

When David saw he was foiled by Uriah’s integrity he hatched a new plan. But this next one was despicable. David wrote a message to his general, sealed it closed, then gave it to Uriah to deliver. The message inside read, “General. Place this man on the front lines of battle and leave him there. Let me know once it’s finished.” Thus David was asking Uriah to carry his own death warrant to the man who would ensure it was done.

A few days later David received word back that Uriah was dead. So David then brought the widow Bathsheba into the palace and made her his new wife. Although David hoped he had successfully pulled off his ruse, it soon became widely known what he had done.

A number of years later there occurred another trial in the life of David. (see 2 Sa 13) David had a large number children borne to him by his various wives. And although they were all full children of David, they were half-brothers and half-sisters to each other.

There came a day when one of David’s sons, Amnon, became enamored of one of David’s daughters, Tamar. A relationship between them wouldn’t be acceptable by society since Tamar was Amnon’s half-sister. But Amnon refused to give up his infatuation, and ultimately he forcibly raped Tamar. David quickly learned about the assault, but he failed to address it; and this led to problems.

You see, I believe there was a high-level demon assigned to stay around David and confound his judgment as much as possible. This perpetual demonic presence had come about as a result of his sin against Uriah. It is generally recognized by Bible commentators that whereas David had been seen as very wise in military and political policies prior to his great offense, his intelligence and insight were significantly diminished afterwards.

Thus, when David had to consider what to do about Amnon’s crime against Tamar, the demon caused him to freeze up and do nothing. I imagine the demon said something along the lines of, “You can’t condemn Amnon for a sex crime when you’re guilty of the same thing. Are you a hypocrite?! Will you condemn your own son for doing nothing worse than following his father’s example?” Thus, by jabbing David’s guilty conscience the demon was able to make David waver in his judgment. And by doing nothing, David appeared weak and unfair to his family and to his people.

A short time later, once it was seen that David wasn’t going to do anything, Tamar’s brother decided it was up to him to get justice for his sister. Tamar’s full brother was Absalom; and like Tamar, Absalom and Amnon were half-brothers to each other. Absalom arranged a meeting, and once they were together Absalom murdered Amnon.

But following this crime too, David did nothing in response. Perhaps his demon said to him, “This was your fault. You didn’t punish Amnon yourself, so Absalom had to do it. You can’t punish Absalom now just for doing what you failed to do. If you had punished Amnon it wouldn’t have resulted in death. But because of your failure, one son is gone and another is in danger of his life.”

Still this wasn’t the end of David’s troubles. (see 2 Sa 15-17) A year later Absalom came back and wanted his father David to retire and make him king instead. Absalom was impatient and didn’t care to wait for his father to die.

[You can see something of this type of situation in modern times with how long Prince Charles had to wait for his mother to turn over the throne of England.]

David wasn’t ready to retire yet. So Absalom went out, found a sympathetic general, and raised an army to help him depose David. Once Absalom was prepared, he marched on Jerusalem to attack David and force him to abdicate or be killed.

When David heard of Absalom’s approach with an army, he knew he couldn’t raise an army for himself on such short notice. Besides, he didn’t want to fight his son and risk harming him despite his son’s treasonous actions. So David quickly gathered a few things and fled the palace. He went to a place of refuge where he could be safe and make preparations for dealing with Absalom.

When Absalom reached David’s palace he found his father gone, but everything else was in place; including the palace servants and even David’s concubines. So Absalom took possession of the palace and declared himself king. He also decided that as the new king he had a right to David’s harem.

To publicly confirm his claim to kingship he let it be known that David’s women had become his own. He knew this would be viewed by the people as disgracing his father; but he felt this would burn the bridge against any attempts to reverse the situation.

It didn’t take long for David to raise an army. Although the public liked Absalom and had been viewing him as the likely successor to David, they did not like his act of treason and his public disgracing of their beloved king. So most of the public rallied to David’s side. Once he had an army ready, he returned to face Absalom.

Yet once again David’s demon manipulated his guilty conscience. Although Absalom had committed outrageous acts to publicly disgrace David by taking his throne and taking his concubines, David chose not to denounce him. Perhaps the demon said, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Absalom has taken your wives just as you took Uriah’s wife. You can’t fault him for that. It’s just karma coming back to you. You can’t speak out against Absalom without publicly condemning yourself.”

So David gave instructions to his army to not hurt Absalom, even as they were fighting to restore David to his rightful place. This directive from David really rankled his men. Because it made them fear what David might do to them if Absalom were harmed.

Even seeing an army coming against him, Absalom was not willing to give up and try to reconcile with David. He viewed his father as weak and unworthy of remaining king. So with his army, Absalom attacked and tried to conquer David’s army. But he couldn’t prevail and his army was routed. In the end Absalom was killed while fleeing the battle.

David then returned to Jerusalem and reclaimed the throne. But instead of showing appreciation to the soldiers and people who helped him return, David publicly mourned the death of his treasonous son. This made the people fear they would soon be punished by David for Absalom’s death; and their feelings began to turn against him. So once again David’s poor judgment caused him problems. No doubt this was the work of the demon still stabbing David’s conscience.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

To give a rough idea of what it’s like to deal with the different level demons I like to compare them to students of various levels. For example, elementary students, high school students, and college students. By this I don’t exactly mean their level of intelligence, or maturity, or sophistication; but rather something like their strength of will.

To help you understand more clearly, allow me to give an acting demonstration.

* “Hey; low level demon. You have to leave now.” “Awww, but we’re still having fun.”

* “Hey you; mid level demon. You need to leave now.” “What? Who are you to order me?”

“I’m a son of God, I’ve been given power over demons, and this is my territory. So you have to go.”

“Alright”, grumbles and turns to go. Then turns back with a big smile, “Hey. How about if I promise to leave your friend and never bother them again. Can I then stay here on Earth rather than go to Hell? I could, um, I could go into those pigs over there,” and gives expectant look.

Thinks a moment. “Pigs? Umm, no. I don’t think so. The last time someone allowed that, the pigs committed suicide rather than be possessed by your kind. Pigs are smart, you know. So just go off to Hell now, and think about all the trouble you’ve caused.”

* “Hey; high level demon. Get out, now. And don’t return! … Excuse me. I’m talking to you.”

“You’re talking to me! What give you the right?”

“Because I’m a righteous son of …”

“YOU?! Righteous?! Don’t make me laugh. When I heard you were coming I looked up your record. You’re FAR from righteous. I know everything bad you’ve done your whole life.”

“God has forgiven me for that.”

“Oh? Well, maybe for the past. But what about what you did last night? Hmm? Or even what you said to that other driver while driving to church today? You’re still a sinner. You have no power.”

“Shut up! Quit it. Quit it. Quit it.” (covers ears and whimpers) (looking up) “God, help me.” (relaxes)

“It doesn’t matter what I’ve done yesterday or today, or even tomorrow. Jesus is perfectly righteous! And He has given His righteousness to me so that I can deal with demons like you!” (more confident) “I stand against you. And I rebuke you. And your pitiful power is nothing compared to the power of Jesus that I use against you! Get out! Now!! And don’t ever come back.”

(demon falls back and back, crying “ow, ow, ow” as he goes)

* This concludes the demonstration portion. But I’d like to give you a few final thoughts.

FINAL THOUGHTS

VI.

Although I’ve been speaking in terms of fighting demons, you won’t typically be in an open confrontation with them. You will, however, be working against diseases. And you may sometimes find them resistant to being healed. It is when a disease is being difficult that you need to remember there is likely a demon behind it; and then begin addressing it accordingly. In other words, when dealing with a difficult disease, it will require a two-step process. First, dealing with the spiritual aspect, then addressing the physical aspect of the problem.

To once again give an acting demonstration; you might speak something like this.

“You! Demon of Cancer. Get out of this body right now! And never come back; to this or anyone else. Get out of this body, out of this world, and into the Pit. You, cancerous cells: your life is ended. Shrivel up and die; then be expelled from this body. You have no more place here!”

Being able to stand against high-level demons and prevail requires truly knowing your authority. The Bible advises (Ja 4:7), “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” But this doesn’t mean just standing up to them will make them flee without a fight. It just says that if you are strong in your resistance, you’ll ultimately prevail. Also, it doesn’t say this won’t be hard.

Remember, even though David was the legitimate king of his country, that didn’t prevent his authority from being challenged. He had to fight to enforce his right to rule over his domain. Likewise, we can expect the same.

We find another example in the life of Jesus. Although He is the rightful Lord over all Creation, that didn’t stop Lucifer from challenging Him. This happened first in Heaven, then again on Earth. Lucifer lost both times, yet he still keeps trying. Jesus then warned us we can expect the same to happen to us. Jn 15:20, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.”

These demons are strong willed and even violent. So it takes people who are brave and forceful to stand up to them and drive them out. Weak minded people just lay down and cry, “Why doesn’t God help me?!” It is up to us to be strong: to not only drive the devil away; but to also show our fellow Christians how good it is to be empowered sons of God. In this way they’ll want to be empowered too.