How do demons enter people? (Part 2)

 BY Argie Simonis 

Truth is like soap. You may have lots of soap in your house, but if you don't use it on yourself, you will continue to stink. You are not cleansed by the soaps presence, but by its application. It is not the prsence of the truth does that casts down  strongholds, but the application of it.

The people of Israel had God's Law and commandments. Their problem was not that they did not have God, but that God did not have them. So how do you take down these strongholds?

The same way you demolish a house. Time consuming process and dirty work.

Have you ever had to evict a tenant? He may have not being paying your rent, causing problems and damage to your house. It may be a store that you rent to him and you may legally evict him, but that doesn't mean that the building has been demolished, and the sign he had with his company name is still hanging over the main entrance. So when the tenant leaves, it doesn't mean that your shop has automatically been renovated. This is something you have to do:

"And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Rom. 12:2

As long as a demon dwells in you, it not only attacks you, but at the same time builds you up. So when it is gone you continue to suffer unless you start going to your local church, start studying God's word and join a Bible study group where you will apply the truth of God's word to renew your mind and your thoughts. If you don't do this, you may not be demonized, but you will continue to suffer and feel like you are demonized.

So if our only concern is to cast demons out of people without leading them to Christ and the study of the Bible, without leading them to a local church where they will sit and learn in a safe spiritual environment with proper teaching, with mature spiritual people around them to be able to counsel them, if we don't encourage them to memorize scriptures and join some biblical discipleship, then they will experience the same thing that happened to the people of Israel. They came out of Egypt, but Egypt did not come out of them. Pharaoh was gone, but they continued to suffer and act like slaves, talk like slaves and carry the same label of slavery that they had in Egypt. Everything remained the same.

The problem is not so much about delivering someone from a demon. Demons leave as fast as they entered and in the previous message we saw through the word of God examples of deliverances, where demons left with many strong manifestations.

But what ultimately matters is what happens after the deliverance when you return home? What kind of thoughts do you have? I already said that evicting a bad tenant is not difficult if you have a good lawyer. But do you know how much trash you have to throw away to renovate the space that tenant used to live in? Throwing in a grenade and knocking everything down is not a solution. You have to clean, tidy up and rebuild something new.

THIS is the meaning of casting down strongholds. You cast down all those wrong thoughts that the demons built inside your mind while they were there.

So, demons are cast out, strongholds are cast down, and this removal is a time-consuming process. It takes hard work and discipline.

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- Mental illnesses are not always demons.

I believe that a mental illness can sometimes be the result of sin. We see King Nebuchadnezzar developing a mental illness because of his pride:

"At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?

While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from you.

And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make you to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will.

The same hour was the thing fulfilled on Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." Daniel 4:29-33

We see King Saul having a combination of mental illness with an evil spirit attacking him in 1Samuel 16:14

We also see the demoniacs in Gadara. From the description we read in Matthew 8:28-32, I believe they were suffering from some kind of schizophrenia, WITH severe demonization. It wasn't just mental illness and it wasn't just demonization. I will explain it:

If these two people were examined by a doctor today, I believe they would be diagnosed with schizophrenia. They heard voices, screamed like crazy and lived naked in the tombs.

And yet we see that they were demonized, and when Jesus cast out the demon called Legion (because they were many), in the account of the same story in Mark we read that their mind was also healed:

"And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid." Mark 5:15

Your mind is like a pianist and your brain is like the piano. Your mind does the thinking, but uses the brain as an execution instrument. Is there a chance that the piano (the brain) can break? Of course. If a string is not tuned or broken, the piano cannot produce the correct sound. In this case the problem is not with the pianist, but with the piano. When the brain is damaged, it cannot carry out the commands you give it.

The perception that dominates especially in charismatic Christian circles, is that everything can get sick, except for the brain. In the world on the other hand, they completely ignore the spiritual world and there is a perception that everything (depression, suicides, etc.) is solely due to brain problems. I'm not disputing that mental illness has its share of blame for this, but it's NOT the only thing.

Especially for suicides, in most cases those who have taken their own lives have had a demon along WITH a mental illness.

So can do you tell the difference?

Since I am not a doctor or an expert, I will quote the opinion of someone who specializes in this matter. His name is dr. Steven Waterhouse and is a pastor and teacher of the word of God, holder of a Phd in theology, with degrees in social sciences and a keynote speaker for the "National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)" conventions in America.

While in the deliverance ministry, his brother Mark's diagnosis of schizophrenia at 17 inspired dr. Waterhouse to write the book "Strength for His people" to comfort the families of those suffering from mental illness. All this information is very easy to find on google.

Among his other remarks, dr. Waterhouse mentions some signs that you can tell schizophrenia from a demon. Here are some of them:

- Aversion to religion.

Mentally ill people are attracted to the Christian faith, while demons hate it. So when you see a schizophrenic for example, usually that person loves God. Demons on the other hand always have an issue with God:

"You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils also believe, and tremble." James 2:19

- Irrational speech versus rational speech.

A mentally ill person usually talks nonsense. What he says makes no sense. Demons speak in an intelligent way. Unmedicated schizophrenics talk nonsense and jump from one topic to another, unrelated topics, which a demon does not. Most of the time a demon speaks clearly, but he will try to distract you and waste your time on meaningless things.

- Natural knowledge versus supernatural knowledge.

Demons possess knowledge that a demonized person could not have. The mentally ill does not have the ability to know things that has not acquired in a normal way.

- Normal and paranormal manifestations. 

In schizophrenia, the manifestations that exist are limited only to the affected person, while if you see a little girl beating up 5 body builders, that is not normal. We see something similar in the book of acts with the seven sons of Sceva:

"And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." Acts 19:16

You won't see this happening in people who only suffer from mental illness.

- They claim to be possessed.

Many people with mental illness claim to be possessed. One of the reasons they do this is that they are suffering so much from their illness, from the inside, that they are trying to find some kind of relief.

Could some of them ALSO have demons? Of course YES, but it is important to understand that demons try to hide and work behind the scenes. They don't like to show their cards. They don't usually come out on their own to tell you they are there. As I said, they are thieves, and a thief always tries to work secretly, behind the scenes.

That's why when someone comes to me saying "I have a demon", I always start with the questions I mentioned earlier in the message.

- What makes you think you have a demon?

-- I have strange thoughts

- Have you been to the doctor? What did he tell you? Have you received any medical diagnosis? Any medication?

You know, there are cases where some have been injured in the past. Brain injuries. And because they're literally missing certain chemicals from their brains, it causes certain reactions.

 

There are for example people who before coming to the Lord were drug users and some of these substances they used burned their brain and there is permanent damage. What they need is medical help and systematic counseling to stay sane.

The same can happen to someone who lost a leg in war. When that person later came to Christ, did he also get his leg back? 

Sometimes you stay with one leg or one arm until the second coming of the Lord.

The brain is no different than any other organ in our body, and when we treat it differently than we treat the rest of our body, it limits us from helping someone effectively.

Every human being is a complete entity, not just a person with a demon. Every human has a brain that can be hurt and damaged.

I have emphasized that we must be careful because if deliverance is all we think or do, we will see demons behind every corner. We live in an environment that is subject to both physical and spiritual laws and we need to know them in order to know how to respond to each situation.

This is done only through the study of the word of God, where we will know all the truth and find all the answers we need.

--- An important advice:

Many people in their despair they are looking for comfort, for support, and they get attached to other people in a way that God does not want. It is good to have spiritual people around us from whom you can receive comfort or advice when you need it, but when these people take the place of God in your heart, you can unintentionally put yourself under a curse:

"Thus said the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD." Jer. 17:5

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- Soul ties.

Among people we have ministered to, we have seen the following problem: Soul ties. These ties are like invisible chains that keep you tied to a person. They are not exactly demonic spirits, and we will examine this in the light of Scripture:

"Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life;" Gen. 44:30

We see Jacob's soul being bound to his son Benjamin. This probably happened because Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, had died in childbirth.

Let's look at another example with David and Jonathan:

"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." 1Samuel 18:1

A soul tie is when your soul (not your spirit and I have explained the difference between soul and spirit in a previous message) is connected to the soul of another person.

Let's look at an example from the people of Israel:

"So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah joined to their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem." 2Sam. 20:2

The word "joined" here has the same meaning as what we read about King David and Jonathan.

Parents can have strong bonds with their children. Friends can have such bonds (mental and emotional) with each other. And people can have similar bonds with their leaders, with people in authority, teachers, pastors, prophets, etc.

Let's look at another example:

"And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.

And his soul joined to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spoke kindly to the damsel." Gen. 34:1-3

Here we see that there was rape (he slept with her, and humiliated her). In other words, they had sexual intercourse and something happened.

We need to be careful here. During sexual intercourse, soul ties are created. They are not necessarily created by sex alone, but also by a sick obsession you may have with a person, or something you experience with a person, like David with Jonathan.

The same with Jacob and Benjamin that I mentioned above. This kind of father-son bond was not healthy, because the rest of Jacob's children saw that if Benjamin left, their father would die.

   

God's word also speaks of a man and his wife having this special relationship.

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall join to his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Gen. 2:24

Do you see the bond here? The two in one flesh. And in the message "Carnal and Spirit Man" I have explained that our flesh is not only our body, but also our soul. This is a healthy mental bond, but only within marriage, which is the holiest institution introduced by the Lord himself.

Therefore, when we come to soul ties, there are good soul ties (healthy) and bad soul ties (sick), where there is binding, imposition and manipulation. Maybe your past is binding you and preventing you from moving forward in your life, maybe you are stuck with an old relationship that is holding you captive from finding a mate for example and getting married.

Another example:

"​That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;" Col. 2:2

This is a bond that we should all have as Christians with each other. A bond of love in Christ. No manipulation, guilt, imposition or criticism.

If you, in any way, have fallen into the trap of a sick soul tie, God can heal you and bring restoration to your soul.

"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Μatt. 22:36-40

I will close the message with the words of our Lord:

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

Amen!

How do demons enter people? (Part 1)

 BY Argie Simonis 

My wife and I do Βiblical marriage counseling and we have seen and heard a lot. Everything I speak today is through our experiences from our ministry and always through the light of God's word. Over the years we have heard incredible testimonies about how the devil  attacks marriage and I hope these will help some of you who are facing similar problems.

There are three main ways entry:

- Inheritance

- Invasion

- Involvement

I will take them in order and please pay attention because some of them you may recognize in your own life. Half the solution to a problem is to recognize the problem you have:

1. Inheritance

There are demons that are passed down from generation to generation. How exactly it is done, I don't know.

- Sometimes it can be done during deliverance, where they are transferred from one family member to another.

- Other times they are transmitted through generational curses. Here I will be more specific with an example:

Here in Norway, we have a brother, long in the Christian faith, who asked me and my wife Peggy to meet and pray.

He told us that his mother had chronic celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that causes chronic diarrhea, difficulty in growing (for children), and fatigue. It is also called gluten enteropathy because it causes disturbances when the person eats anything that contains gluten. It causes pallor (paleness) and weight loss. It is a very bad thing. This brother had all these symptoms.

He told us that the day his mother died and he went to say goodbye to her on her deathbed, he felt something "came" inside him. Since then he started having the same symptoms as his mother. And this has been happening for years. We rebuked this spirit of sickness and the brother was set free! He even got us his doctor's report, who basically couldn't explain what happened because the only effective treatment forthis sickness is a lifetime gluten-free diet.

  - There are testimonies of people who felt that something came inside them in the cemetery, when they buried a relative. 

You know, spirits don't die . They usually go to the nearest relative and if this relative is not a believer, does not live for Christ and has not renounced the curse that runs in his family they find an entrance door.

- Some have demons that, as I mentioned in the previous message, live hidden in their basement (in their bodies) and begin to manifest and harass these individuals immediately after a traumatic experience or a major change in their life.

Another example:

A girl had come and asked us for prayer. Her friends had pressured her into bungee jumping. She was afraid to do it, but she finally went. She told us that when she jumped she felt such horror that she started having chronic phobias and nightmares.

A word of advice for married people, and especially for men: If your wife is being attacked by evil spirits, your first concern is not to try to cast them out every day, but to love her. And I say this because if you spend more time in delivering than loving your wife, there is not a single reference in the Bible that says 

"husbands deliver your wives". 

-- Don't get me wrong, deliverance has its place, and I'll explain that later.--

But your first mission is to love her, to pray for her, and when she is ready and asks you, then you do it.

In the previous message I spoke about the strongholds that the devil build in a man's mind. Even when the demon is gone, these strongholds must be pulled down. And this only happens when the person knows the truth:

"and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." John. 8:32

Marriage is like a garden. To thrive, there are three basic principles:

- Plant seeds,

- Pull out the weeds

and

- Kill the snakes.

When some do not understand how deliverance ministry works, instead of killing the snakes, they kill the wife. To kill the snakes you have to attack the spiritual forces that are behind those snakes.

You have to learn

- how to build a person

and

- how to fight the dark forces that keep it bound, and those are two different things you have to learn to do.

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Another way demons are inherited is within the mother's womb and this usually happens when the child is conceived out of wedlock and is not wanted.

Another case is when the pregnancy is the result of rape, and during it there is hatred, anger and various other negative emotions.

Even if there was no previous rape, the mother may begin to speak negatively and repeat expressions such as

- "I didn't want to get pregnant,"

- "I don't want this child".

Do you know what's usually going to happen? A spirit of rejection finds an open door and enters, and when that child reaches adolescence, this rejection also invites rebellion, and parents wonder why their child has turned into a rebel. Rejection always attracts rebellion and often passivity.

But the good news is that

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1John 1:9

If something like this has happened to you as a parent, it is never too late to repent and ask for forgiveness from God and from your child.

That's why it's very important when you get pregnant, be very careful with your words and your moods. I know it's not easy, but remember that your words have power and you would never want your child 20 years from now to have to deal with things that you allowed in their life.

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Let's go on to the second method of entry:

2. Invasion

This usually happens to a child at a very young age. I will give an example:

 

When the parents divorce, a child's soul is not ready to face such a heavy burden. It causes great pain and confusion. Something inside it breaks and becomes vulnerable. Some kids may get over it, but some may not. At that very vulnerable moment, something enters them, that later in their lives will begin to manifest.

Here I want to explain something. Demons are thieves and they come to steal your life. A thief will not try to enter your home through the armored door you have at the main entrance. He will look for an open window or an easy lock to break into the back of the house or warehouse. He will look for something that he can easily access.

For demons, this easy access is when you are small and vulnerable and will pick on your greatest moment of weakness. If a child is in a spiritualy healthy environment, has support and is raised properly by the parents, then that child can withstand many hits.

But some children do not belong to this category, and as soon as something traumatic happens to them the enemy invades and gradually all these behaviors that I described before, slowly begin to manifest over the years .

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Another way evil spirits invade is through sexual abuse or sexual harassment. Rape is in the first place here.

Someone may think this is not fair at all, and I completely agree. But the thief won't feel sorry for you when you forget to lock your car door, because a thief doesn't think like you do.

Demons think with perversion and seek to find legal rights over your life. They don't care about your traumatic experiences, or your tears, or how hurt you are.

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3. Involvement.

In the previous message I referred to the example of the owner who rents one or some of the rooms of his house to tenants, who sign contracts and have the keys to the house to enter in and leave whenever they want.

If you get involved in witchcraft and the occult, you signs contracts with the devil. Magic and the occult have become so popular in our society today that they are considered innocent.

If you talk to the dead, if you consult mediums, astrology, tarot cards, movies or videos about spells and magic, atsral projections and the like, you are exposing yourself to the demonic realm and getting involved in very dangerous things.

In other words, what happens when you deal with such things is that you enter into an enemy territory and give the enemy the legal right not only to tempt you, but to torture you.

Let me give an example:

Have you seen the "Beware of the dog" sign on the outer gate of a house?

This means that there is a guard dog in the house which is usually quite ferocious. In order to avoid accidents, most of the time this dog has its house out there in the yard and is restrained with a chain that keeps its reach only to the main entrance of the house, in order to discourage potential thieves, but also to avoid an accident to some visitor who will come.

Let's take the scenario where the dog sleeps inside his house and is out of sight. If a child now goes into the yard to pick up a dropped ball or a toy, ignores the warning sign, walks up to the dog and wakes it up, can you imagine what might happen? There are many such incidents in the newspapers.

Now let's take it practically. The devil hates us:

"... He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44

and

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:" 1Peter 5:8

But he cannot swallow whoever he wants. If he could, there would be no living man on earth. There are spiritual laws that restrain him, like a chain to a dog. He can't torture everyone, which means he can't bite everyone.

But he can bark, bringing temptation to everyone, as he tempted Jesus Himself in the desert.

What does the barking do? It brings accusations, doubts and negative thoughts. It's definitely very annoying, but not super painful.

However, it is very different when he bites you. Here comes demonization, where it doesn't just harass you, but will make you bleed. Do you know when this happens? When you enter a forbidden area that you knew God's word warned you not to. You don't have to be a super Christian to know this. How many times have you known in your conscience that what you were not supposed to do what you've been doing?

- "I shouldn't be talking to my dead grandmother."

- "I shouldn't be reading that book of spells I found on the internet."

"But that's just white magic"...

There is no white and black magic. There is just magic. Remember the expression "curiosity killed the cat?"

Many times curiosity, combined with the "open mindness" in today's society that promotes the tendency to be "open minded" and to respect all cultures without exception, good or bad, can bring disaster.

For example, we don't want to make our neighbor who practices yoga feel bad, and instead of warning him that this practice is spiritually dangerous, we hang out with him and learn to align our chakra with Brahma and the third eye, because we want to experience other cultures.

When my wife went to Bergen for a few days to a clinic as follow-up and for physiotherapy after her spine surgery , the doctors there were teaching -medi yioga-, thinking that the word -medi- comes from the word -medical-. In other words, they thought they were teaching medical yoga. But if you google it, that's actualy meditation yioga, which means that you learn hoe to meditate through yoga. 

In short, what they did was teach you how to "empty" your thoughts and how to see with the "third eye". Yoga includes exercises for the physical condition of the body, but who examines the spirituality and the demonic roots of this practice that originates from old Hindu rituals? Do you understand how dangerous this can be spiritually?

Fortunately when Peggy explained this to the supervisors, they took it very seriously and said they would revise their entire program because there were also many Christians there at the clinic who refused to take yoga classes.

You don't need to put your hand in the socket to see if electricity kills. Some experiences should be avoided. So when you see some people entering such fields, you can say:

"No thanks. This is not for me and my family".

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4. Demons are cast out and the flesh is crucified.

I referred  on this on my previous message. Here I will get deeper and explain:

The opposite cannot happen. Our flesh does not leave with the demons. Demons are not crucified, but cast out, and our flesh is not cast out, but crucified:

"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Gal. 5:24

One might ask:

How do you tell if the problem is the flesh or a demon?

Very good question, and I'll explain:

My approach on this is very simple. Jesus said:

"And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell." Μatt. 5:29

"Why if your hand or your foot offend you, cut them off, and cast them from you: it is better for you to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." Μatt. 18:8

Of course here Jesus is not literally talking about either willful blindness or mutilation. What He means is that if something you see offends you and makes you sin (pornography, horror movies, violence, magic) stop watching them, and stop doing things you shouldn't do.

So if you have "taken out" your eye and something continues to see, then you have company. If, for example, you have stopped watching pornography, if you have stopped undressing with your eyes every woman who passes in front of you, and yet you continue to see inappropriate images either in your sleep or even imagine them when you are awake, then you have company.

If you have "cut off" your hand (you have stopped bad habits for example) and something keeps touching you, then you have company.

Let's get to the practical part now. Someone comes and tells me that he has a spirit lust and wants deliverance.

My first question is:

- Have you sacrificed anything? 

- Are you abstaining from pornography? 

- Have you stopped sleeping around? 

- Do you practice discipline in your life?

In other words, what have you done to fight the desires of the flesh?

Notice, lust can be both a desire of the flesh and a demon.

- Before we even get into the deliverance process, we start with four basic questions:

- Do you read the Bible? 

And that's because, even if do deliverance, you HAVE to read the Bible.

- Are you fasting?

- Do you pray regularly? 

And I don't mean praying for hours. Do you spend time with the Lord? Do you abide in His presence?

- Have you set limits on your use of social media, the internet and anything that might lead you to pornography?

It is very important to understand that if you don't do your part (according to all these questions I mentioned), chances are that even if you get rid of the demon that is creating these problems, you will soon find yourself having them again.

So I'll ask you: Are you sure you want to get rid of this demon since you're not willing to stay clean? Even if you get rid of it, it won't make any difference.

It's like having a debt of 52,000. Even if I give you the 2,000 (meaning you get rid of the demon), you still owe 50,000.

So in this case, hold your demon because first, you are not sure whether it is a demon or your flesh that is causing the problem. Begin with the basics, with Bible study, prayer and fasting and keep away from sinful practices.

You may feel weak, but so will the demon, -IF- it is a demon. If it is NOT a demon, putting discipline in your life and following God's instructions through His word, then the problem will go away. It will be over, done deal.

But if it IS a demon, be sure that this demon will be provoked and you will understand it as clearly as when you watch a high definition movie on TV. 4K HD!

If you are not sure right now whether the problem you are facing is your flesh or an evil spirit, it means that there is no discipline in your life.

For example, you struggle with depression.

- Do you have a job? 

- No, but I have a spirit of depression.

Ok, but the word of God tells us that we should work and not be lazy. The apostle Paul even writes:

"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies." 2Thes. 3:10-11

Do you see that even gossip can bring depression?

So instead of being lazy and gossiping others, why don't you go get a job first? After 8 hours of hard work, most probably your number one problem will not be depression, but fatigue.

UNLESS you have a demon. In this case the job may not solve your problem, but it will help you understand what you are dealing with.

Going straight to deliverance without even addressing the issue of the desire of the flesh, (because as I said we all have flesh), will not solve your problem.

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5. Demons are expelled, but strongholds are pulled down.

In the previous point I showed that demons are cast out, but the flesh is crucified.

Now I will explain that  The opposite cannot be done. You can't pull down demons, or expell strongholds.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" 2Cor. 10:5

Open doors are how demons enter, and strongholds are how demons stay. The mission of a demon has a dual purpose, like the two sides of a coin:

- First, they want to destroy your life,

 

and

- second, to build a stronghold. Do you know why; Because when they build that stronghold in your mind and thoughts, even when you drive them out you'll still feel demonized even if you're not. Your own thoughts will torment you and continue to do the work of this demon you harbored within you.

This is exactly what happened to the people of Israel when, after leaving Egypt, they continued to suffer in the desert. While they were enslaved to the Pharaoh and were building him pyramids and whatever else he asked of them, the Pharaoh was also building something inside them, inside their minds.

I've watched tv shows from dog trainers on how to train your dog to follow you without a leash for example. You start with a short leash, and for quite some time you walk with your dog in circles in your yard. He'll try to get away, run off to do his own thing, but you hold him by the leash while you walk and he's forced to follow you. 

He may bark, protest, try to get away, but you continue.

You stop regularly, and he is forced to stop with you. At some point, after you keep doing it for days, you take off the leash and keep walking as normal. Guess what will happen? The dog will walk and stop with you without the leash!

When I saw it, I was very impressed, but do you know that something similar happens to us? You repeatedly try to do something and fail.

For example, you struggle with a spirit of sickness and you have not experienced the healing you hope for. This over time begins to build within you a train of thoughts that intensify and begin to dominate your mind.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12

"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he..." Proverbs 23:7

When you succeed in driving the demon out, this does not mean that your victory is complete.

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36

Combine this with something Jesus says just above:

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

Do you know what's happening here?

- Jesus casts out demons, meaning that the demons obey to His name and come out, 

and

- the truth pulls down the strongholds in your mind.

It is not the truth you hear that will pull down these strongholds, but the truth that you will know personally, the truth that will be revealed to you.

To be continued...

How do demons affect your life?

 BY Argie Simonis 

We continue the "Mind of Christ" series. In the previous message that I recommend you see, I gave an introduction to the ministry of deliverance. Using examples, I explained its character and how it works. 

Today I will go deeper and explain how the devil and the demons bind and torment people. What should we know as Christians and how to resist?

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- 1. We do not know for sure the origin of demons.

But we know for sure where they are going. As for their origin, there are 4 popular theories.

- A pagan theory holds that demons are spirits of wicked people who roam the earth (known as ghost stories). This has no Biblical support because in Hebrews we read:

"And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Heb. 9:27

Therefore the spirit of a dead person does not roam the earth and if you ever had a conversation with your dead grandfather or saw your dead aunt in your dream, be sure it wasn't them. It was a spirit. Your grandfather and aunt are gone and they can neither visit you nor talk to you in your sleep. The one who visited you was someone else, with whom you should not be talking.

- Another theory holds that demons are disembodied beings (spirits) from a pre-Adamic race. It is based on the gap theory between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2, meaning that there was a great gap from the time God created the earth perfect and then the devil came and spoiled it all. God destroys the earth, and then from the book of Genesis chapter 1 and verse 3 up to chapter 2 and verse 3, God no longer creates the earth, but reforms it.

Although in some circles this is a fairly popular theory, there is really no Biblical support for such a thing.

- The third theory claims that demons are fallen angels who, together with the devil, were expelled from heaven, before the temptation of Adam and Eve. This theory is based on the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse and was popularized by the book "Paradise Lost" by the English poet John Milton, published in 1667.

Its theme is the loss of Paradise, both by the first human couple, Adam and Eve, and by the rebel angels led by Satan.

and

- Finally, the theory that is starting to gain ground lately is that demons are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim, giants who perished in Noah's flood. (Genesis chapter 6)

Wondering what I believe?

 - I don't know, and I don't think it would matter if I knew. -

Jesus never mentioned it, nor taught on this subject.

There are some writings, the so-called "apocalyptic", which supposedly reveal to the readers mysteries that concern them as God's people and are going to happen in the end times. Examples are the Book of Enoch and the Book of Giants, but they remained (and I personally believe this was the right thing to do) outside of the Old Testament.

Honestly, no matter what happened, whatever the origin of the demons is, it is not important in the ministry of deliverance. Jesus never thought it was necessary to give any teaching to His disciples upon it. What matters is knowing that demons are bad and must be cast out from humans. The Lord is clear that the place they will end up is the lake of fire:

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Rev. 20:10

So what we need to know is that we belong to the good team that at the end of the story wins.

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- 2. Demons cannot possess a person, but one can be demonized.

Let me explain this.

The word -demon possession- is nowhere to be found in the New Testament. "Demon possession" as a term is confusing, and when people hear that someone is possessed, their mind immediately goes to the movie "The Exorcist".

There is not one verse in the entire Bible that tells us that the devil has possession of anything. Even the demons that are with him are not his property. God created them, as did with Lucifer, and they rebelled against God. But everything belongs to God and HE has the last word. The devil may be the ruler of this world, but God's word tells us that:

"... the prince of this world is judged." John 16:11

Notice, here it says that the devil is the ruler of this world, but nowhere does it say that he owns this world. He owns absolutely NOTHING!:

"The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods." Psalm 24:1-2

But can the devil enter and dwell somewhere? Of course yes. I will explain it with an example:

When a mouse enters your house, it does not mean that it becomes the owner of your house, as with any pest that enters. it may live in your house, but your house does not belong to it.

The same goes for the devil. To give him this big value, that a man can literally be the possession of the devil, this is unbiblical.

The word used in the Bible is the word "demonization", and this term does not have the meaning of possession by the devil or by demons as it has been given in some interpretations. Not even the demons working with satan are his property, much less a human!

In some Christian circles the terms are divided into two categories:

- demonic possession

  

and

- demonic influence,

in the sense that the Christian cannot be possessed by demons, but only be influenced or tormented by them, and that only a man of the world who has sold his soul to the devil can be possessed by demons.

I understand that this view may sound more appealing and may be easier to digest for someone who will hear it, but it is something that is not supported Biblically. I emphasize that the Biblical term is "demonization" and not "demonic possession" in the sense of property as I mentioned earlier.

There are 4 expressions used in Scripture:

1. A person who HAS a demon, and is mentioned 16 times. A typical example:

"For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say, He has a devil." Luke 7:33

2. A person INDWELLED by a demon.

3. A person WITH a demon

4. A person who is VEXED by unclean spirits and mentioned only once in the book of Acts:

"There came also a multitude out of the cities round about to Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one." Acts 5:16

All these expressions used in the New Testament mean one thing: They are talking about a person indwelled by a demon. The degree to which demonization is experienced varies in each case, and we must be very careful before labeling someone as demonized. If we see a crazy person walking down the street, it does not necessarily mean that this person is demonized; it might be, but when we take the bulldozer and start calling demonized

- those who speak strange,

- those who are psychotic

and

- those who behave strange,

it is like saying that a person without legs is demonized because he was born with some deformity in his body.

Some people are literally missing chemicals from their brains. The brain is an organ, like the heart, legs, arms and all other organs and parts of the body, and because there is a lack of understanding of mental illness, many Christians, especially in charismatic circles, see it all as demons. Such a thing is neither spiritually, nor Biblically, nor medically correct.

I'll say it again: A man can be demonized with the concept

- of residence,

- of influence,

or

- harassment by evil spirits,

but that does not mean that this person is possessed by demons in the sense of propery. What this means is that evil spirits can dwell within them affecting their lives to some degree, and usually their presence manifests in moments of weakness or in areas where that person has given place to the devil.

How many times have you heard someone say:

"I lost control of my actions"

If you lost control, it means someone else took it.

-- Who was that?

Another example:

"I lost control and I hit my wife. I don't know what happened to me."

Some people, when they hear something like this, immediately jump into conclusions and say:

"He blames the devil again..."

And yet, it is not so. This person is describing something that happened to them, a reality that they experienced. In other words it says someone sitting in the back seat took control of the steering wheel. And this happened because most of the time when a person loses control like this, at some point he was playing games with the devil, and at the right moment the devil took control of him and pushed him in the direction he wanted.

Although the responsibility for this of course lies with the person himself, and when he, (as we all will) come before God will give an account for what he did, it is wrong to say that the devil has NO responsibility for causing this person to do such a thing.

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As Christians we are not called to accuse the devil, but to fight him. If the serpent had not existed in the Garden of Eden, man would not have sinned. Adam and Eve had it all. They felt no lack, until that voice came and said to them:

"... has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Gen. 3:1

This external pressure they received caused them to sin.

- The devil is always involved in such situations. -

Deliverance ministry does not teach people to abdicate their responsibilities and the authority they have. Both of these are very important and have a place in our lives, but when you are dealing with evil spirits inhabiting a person, there will be times when that person will temporarily lose control of certain actions or thoughts, and he will be harassed and tormented.

If by the grace of the Lord you have never personally experienced something like this, praise God, but that does not mean that it does not continue to be a reality for some other people. In the Bible Τhere are many references in the Bible of such incidents, where we see another entity living as a parasite inside a person. It has its own mind, its own will, it speaks, and is trying to satisfy its own desires by imposing them on that person.

It interferes with your mind by creating a bunch of negative thoughts that come from within you and not from your external environment. For example, it can be thoughts of lust, addiction, anger, criticism, fear and terror. In the Bible we see people with demons falling into fire and water:

"And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for often he falls into the fire, and oft into the water." Μatt. 17:14-15

Mark refers to it as a dumb spirit:

"And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought to you my son, which has a dumb spirit;" Mark 9:17

We see others cutting their bodies, as in the case of the two demoniacs:

"And when He was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way." Μatt. 8:28

This last is a typical case of severe demonization with a mental illness, because as soon as Jesus set them free, He also healed their minds:

"And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid." Mark 5:15

Here I will emphasize something:

In every deliverance it does not necessarily mean that the mind is also healed, just as every deliverance does not necessarily bring complete physical healing to someone, --- although in many this happens as well. There are testimonies of people who were healed immediately after deliverance, but this can neither be made a rule, nor is it supported anywhere in the Bible.

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3. Can a Christian be demonized?

He shouldn't, but it's something that can happen. And I will explain it:

Do Christians have flesh? Yes, I agree that the old man was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6), but the flesh remains there. In the 5th chapter of the letter to the Galatians, Paul mentions a very long list of the works of the flesh, which if you read it basically describes the C-V of a demon!

I have said many times that everything should be studied in the light of the entire Bible, with at least two or three Bible references that confirm to the subject being considered.

Those who argue that a Christian cannot have demons do so because they isolate specific passages of Scripture and misinterpret them.

If you ask me how I can prove to you that a Christian can have a demon, my answer is this:

-- I don't have to. You just have to prove to me that a Christian can NOT have a demon, and that is something you will NOT be able to do, because it is NOT Biblically based.

Jesus never discriminated who He would deliver from demons.

- Who did He deliver? Those who had them.

- Who did He heal? Those who were sick.

- Who did He save? Those who were lost.

The theology here is very simple:

- The gospel is for the sinner,

- the healing is for the sick,

- deliverance is for the demonized.

How these people got this demon is another topic I will deal with in the next message. But if someone comes and tells me

"I have a demon",

the first thing i will ask is 

"what makes you think you have a demon?".

I do not outright reject a someone's testimony.

When the father brought his son to Jesus to set him free, the Lord did not tell him

"I don't believe you, children can't have demons", nor did He ask him if he has had a medical examination:

"And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought to you my son, which has a dumb spirit;" Mark 9:17

"When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying to him, You dumb and deaf spirit, I charge you, come out of him, and enter no more into him." Mark 9:25

Let's look at another case. When a Canaanite woman came to Jesus and

"And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried to him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, you son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." Matt. 15:22

Jesus didn't ask her "How do you know she's possessed?"

He believed that the testimony of a suffering person was accurate and seeing her faith He said:

"Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith: be it to you even as you will. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." Matt. 15:28

Jesus saw these suffering parents who diagnosed themselves  the problem in their children without being expert doctors or scientists. They saw there is a problem in them that is beyond the physical, a demon. No degree and no school gives you the right to say that this is impossible to happen. So what did Jesus do? He drove it out. -- That simple!

In Matthew chapter 10 we read:

"And when he had called to him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." Matt. 10:1

For those who believe that casting out demons was the prerogative of only the first apostles, or today's  -special- ministers, compare this with the passage in Mark:

"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;" Mark 16:17

Jesus did not say that only a select few can cast out demons, nor do you only cast out demons from non-Christians. He never made such a distinction, because there is NO distinction.

My comment on the issue of demonization is that Christians can have what they WANT or ALLOW to have.

There are people who have left churches where deliverance is taught because they do not agree that Christians can have demons.

But if you ask them about all this bad behavior that many Christians have, they cannot explain it.

But when you ask them:

"Can Christians give place to the devil?"

It is something that of course they cannot deny, because Paul says:

"Neither give place to the devil." Eph. 4:27

The apostle Paul says this to the Church, to believers, and not to the world. In Galatians, Paul speaks of a spirit of witchcraft that operated upon Christians:

"O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" Gal. 3:1

Jesus says something similar about the witchcraft practiced in the church of Thyatira:

"Notwithstanding I have a few things against you, because you suffer that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols." Rev. 2:20

"Neither give place to the devil." Eph. 4:27

So the question here is:

"How can you give place to something you can't have?"

These are simple and very important truths through the word of God and those who do not understand them are in confusion.

The place that Paul refers to in the previous verse from Ephesians, has the meaning of a dwelling place by an occupant.

Let me explain it with a practical example:

There are some who have large houses with extra rooms, and they rent them out. Tenants have the right to use certain areas of the house for themselves. They can also share areas such as the living room and dining room to hang out, but there are areas they are not allowed to enter for any reason, such as the owner's bedroom. These tenants have keys to the house and have signed contracts.

Notice this now: Just because the house belongs to the owner, does not mean that others cannot enter or live there.

God's word describes to us what happens when an evil spirit leaves a house (your body is considered that house):

"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.

Then he said, I will return into my house from where I came out; and when he is come, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished.

Then goes he, and takes with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also to this wicked generation." Μatt. 12:43-45

Another type of description is that our body is a temple. The temple had different areas. It had the courtyard, the inner temple (the sanctuary), and the Holy of Holies. The  Bible describes that Jesus took the spear and drove out of the temple courtyard the merchants and money changers - that is, people who worked there, in the area of the temple.

In the same way, the Lord drove out evil spirits from people. Therefore, to say that under no circumstances can a Christian have demons goes against what the Scriptures teach us.

I believe the main problem here is not a theological one, but a matter of pride, because for a Christian to admit that there is a possibility he has a demon, that opens a can of warms!

--- What if you do have a demon?

--- And if behind all these strange behaviors you observe in yourself there are some "guests" who have become roommates or tenants, who have a contract and have the keys to your house?

And because they come early in the morning and don't bother you 24 hours a day, but you only see them at night, you ignore them and think it can't possibly be a demon.

--- Why not;

So to conclude my answer to the question "Can Christians have demons?"

I will say this:

When Jesus went to a place where there were demons, they never left on their own. Basically the demons manifested in His presence, but they left only when the Lord rebuked them.

So when someone comes to the Lord, just the fact that Jesus comes and dwells in him does not mean that the demons automatically leave. It may sound like a good idea, but as I said in the previous message, our spirit is what is sealed and protected by God's Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). The flesh (body and soul) continues to be vulnerable.

There is not one verse in God's word that teaches that just the  presence of the Lord automatically casts out demons. His presence stirred them up and caused them to manifest, but His command was what drove them out.

A typical example is when the Lord went to the synagogue:

"And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught." Mark 1:21

"And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with you, you Jesus of Nazareth? are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God.

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him.

And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him." Mark 1:23-26

The synagogue was the type of today's church. And very likely this man was what we would call a Christian today.

If a person had demons before he came to Christ, where did they go when he came to the Lord? 

I will tell you where they went. Either they hid, or the Lord's presence disturbed them so much, that they make your life a daily hell. This also explains the fact that many people who come to Christ feel that their lives are getting worse and not better.

See another example:

"And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand." Acts 28:3

The viper was already hidden there, but it came out and stung Paul as soon as the fire disturbed it.

Thus, many people come to Christ and the first thing they experience is that everything goes for the worse. This is because the demons were disturbed by the fire of the Holy Spirit and came out of their hiding place.

For most Christians, however, these demons hide somewhere in the basement of their home and only show up in moments of weakness. And the wrong theology they have prevents these people from getting rid of them, so these demons  become pets in their lives.

The result is that these people continue to suffer in silence, unable to experience the freedom that Jesus offers them, because they do not want to admit the possibility that they may be harboring dangerous visitors.

--- Let me make it clear here that I'm not trying to convince you that you have a demon. But I am explaining some things that we as Christians need to know.

Some also say that a Christian cannot have demons because light and darkness cannot be together:

"Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?" 2Cor. 6:14

Of course, Paul here is talking about marriage and not about demonization.

But notice that he does not say that Christians CANNOT marry unbelievers, but that they SHOULD not marry unbelievers. In other words, Paul is not saying what Christians CAN NOT do, but what they SHOULD NOT do.

In 1 Corinthians he says:

"All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." 1Cor. 6:12

So if we accept the argument that Christians cannot have demons, then we must also accept that they CANNOT and it is IMPOSSIBLE to marry unbelievers, which you understand is not true.

Paul continues and says:

"... for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?" 2Cor. 6:14

Notice that he's not talking about coexistence here; he's talking about communion. As Christians, in our spirit we are righteous because the Spirit of God dwells there, but our flesh continues to be vulnerable and under perfection:

"Why, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Phil. 2:12

So we have seen that darkness can coexist with light, just as righteousness can coexist with unrighteousness, but they cannot have communion together. They don't hang out for coffee or share common interests. Righteousness and unrighteousness are not friends; they are foes. Light and dark can coexist, but they are not on the same frequency.

Let's look at it a little more practically. Do you work with non-Christians in your workplace? Do you have neighbors who are not Christians? Of course you have. But what you don't have is a covenant relationship with them and that's exactly what Paul says in the passage we read. Do not enter into a covenant relationship with unbelievers.

--- You are on a different frequency and they are passengers in another vehicle. There can be no meaningful communication or communion with them. ---

Do you see how some verses can be misinterpreted and lead to wrong teachings? 

The reason I am proceeding gradually and with caution in this matter is that the devil has built strongholds in many Christians and polluted their minds with wrong thoughts. These strongholds I am trying to destroy with this teaching and strengthen your faith. And when these strongholds are destroyed, freedom comes:

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

It is not the truth that you simply hear that sets you free, but the truth that you know personally.

The mission of a demon is

- first to ruin your life,

and

- secondly, while it is there it makes sure to pollute your thoughts so much and build strongholds in your mind that even when it is gone and you are delivered, you will still feel demonized by all those strongholds and evil thoughts.

- Demons are cast out, but the strongholds are pulled down. -

- The flesh is crucified and demons are cast out. -

The opposite cannot be done. You cannot crucify demons nor cast out the flesh:

On the next message I will continue talking about ways of demonic entry, such as curses, inheritance, psychic bonds and other important issues, so don't miss it!

To be continued...