Demonic Warfare

By Bob Seward

People in general have absolutely no concept of the evil spiritual forces arrayed against them, and until comparatively recently, neither did I. Because demons are spirit beings, they cannot be seen (unless God permits), so consequently evil spirits are not even considered by the majority, or they are reduced to something of no real consequence in people’s minds. You cannot see the wind, gravity, or radioactivity, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist, or can’t be dangerous. The devil is very happy for you to consider him a creature to be ridiculed, with horns and a tail, when in fact he is an immensely powerful fallen angel, and far too strong for us without help from God’s Holy Spirit.

In the Bible passages of Revelation 12, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 you read about the devil and his angels being cast out of heaven and may ask the question, “What relevance does this have for me, and how does it affect my daily life?” Well, whether you realise it or not, it affects everybody, without exception. No one can claim immunity from demonic attack, and when some calamity strikes a person or a whole nation, what is generally referred to by the media as an “act of God” is usually an act of the devil.

However, before going into a subject like demonic warfare, I need to set the scene so that you are aware of God’s plan for us in general terms. A plan which we are free to accept, or reject.

Since the fall into sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve could not pass on to their progeny a sinless character because they no longer possessed it, and no one since, except Jesus, has been without sin. At Mount Sinai, God gave Moses His Commandments for Israel to live by as a basic standard of right conduct and to teach the world about the one true God. Israel failed miserably. The trouble is that because our hearts are naturally sinful (Rom 3:23; Rom 7:14-19), no one can perfectly keep the Commandments God gave. It is impossible for us in our fallen state, and since the wages of sin (breaking God’s Commandments) are death according to the Bible (Rom 6:23), we are all under the death sentence. The self-righteous Jews thought that they could obtain righteousness before God by keeping the law in a legalistic way. But it was actually given to point people to their need of a Saviour. An analogy of this is like looking at your dirty face in a mirror. The mirror tells you that you have a dirty face but you can’t clean it with the mirror, you need soap and water.

What we couldn’t do for ourselves, God, in His great love for fallen humanity, did for us. Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, and paid the penalty for all our sins on Calvary. All who believe in Jesus and sincerely repent of their sins are forgiven and counted righteous before God, as though they had never sinned. The Bible says that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). I encourage you to stop for a moment and reflect on the immense love of God. We cannot imagine the glory of the heavenly kingdom, but God’s Son was prepared to risk it all to die for us, so the communion which was lost in Eden could be restored through Him, and the promise of eternal life becomes a reality. Consider all the temptations, all the rejection, all the pain and suffering He went through for us. One sin from Jesus would have been all it took to confirm the death sentence on us all. God intends that those who have His Spirit living inside them through faith in Jesus will inherit everything (Eph 2:8-10; 1 Cor 15:40-57) which Satan lost through disobedience (Ezek 28:13-17). They are the Father’s sons and daughters, and Jesus is their brother.

The devil knows the ultimate destiny of those faithful to Jesus far better than we do. That is why he is filled with rage and it is increasing in intensity, because he knows that his time is very short. He wants to kill or ruin us before we accept Jesus. And those who have already accepted, or are reaching out to Jesus, are made his top priority – his main targets!

Now to the spiritual demonic forces arrayed against us. Please read Daniel chapters 9 and 10. In the 10th chapter, we are given an insight into the spiritual warfare going on. Daniel is in captivity in Babylon (present day Iraq). He knew, from Jeremiah’s prophecy, that the 70 years of their captivity and banishment from Jerusalem were coming to an end (Jer 25:11). He prayed a prayer confessing his and Israel’s sins, and for their restoration (chapter 9). God had given him a vision involving a long time period leading up to the time of the end, a vision which troubled him greatly. God sent the archangel Gabriel to help him understand, but note what it says in Daniel 10:13-20. The demonic princes of the kingdom of Persia (modern day Iran) withstood (battled against) Gabriel for 21 days before he could reach Daniel in answer to his prayer. Gabriel also needed the help of Michael, another of God’s archangels, to win that battle. We also read that Gabriel was going back to fight again with the demon prince of Persia, followed by the demonic prince of Greece.

Now I ask you: if it took God’s mightiest archangels to overcome the demonic forces of Persia so that Daniel’s prayer could be answered, and if ONE angel could kill 185,000 of the Assyrian army arrayed against Israel (see 2 Kings 19:35), how much trouble do you think we are in if we don’t rely on God’s care and protection? This is the reason the world is in the state it is in now. Comparatively few people truly surrender to God’s will for their life. God lets them have their way, because He won’t force anyone, and so the demons just flood in.

Also, nations who do not follow Godly ways are subject to demonic control as God withdraws His protection from them. This is happening to Britain and America now. We used to be God-fearing countries, but no longer. You only have to pick up a newspaper to see the prophecy of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 coming true before your eyes.

Given the above example in Daniel, and that of Mark 5:1-13, it seems that demons are organised in the same way as an army is. The unclean spirits coming out of the man in the above Mark example called themselves “Legion”. In the Roman army, a legion consisted of between 3,000 to 6,000 foot soldiers plus cavalry, which were divided into ‘Cohorts’ and sub-divided into ‘Centuries’. So you can see that Satan has his followers very organised, and we take him lightly at our peril.

After Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist, He was immediately led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for forty days and nights where He fasted and engaged in spiritual warfare with the devil. The devil tried to seduce Jesus from His allegiance to God, but with each temptation Jesus met Satan with the Word of God. This shows the power of scripture for us in battling satanic forces, but we need to know it and live it to be able to use it. The devil really messes with your mind. He knows the individual sins each of us is liable to commit, and loses no opportunity in placing them before us in our mind. Each of us has a mental battle to go through in resisting temptations. The key to our victory is given in James 4:7-10. “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” As we show our desire and will to put out the effort to resist demons, God comes through with His Spirit to help us achieve victory. Proud and self-centred people have no desire for humility, so they have little defence against satanic attack.

God will not permit satanic forces to tempt or distress you beyond what you are able to bear (1 Cor 10:13), but He will sometimes allow Satan to take you to the limit of your endurance. He has also given precious promises of signs which will follow those who believe the gospel, one of which is to cast out demons (Mark 16:17-18).

God has also placed in His church people to whom He has given special spiritual gifts. One of these is the gift of intercession. In basic terms, this is the clearing away of demonic oppression through the power of the Holy Spirit. This could mean clearing demons oppressing individuals, or clearing them away from whole areas, to allow God’s will to prevail in that area.

You may ask that if God is so powerful, why doesn’t He sort the demons out? Well, it seems as though God wants His people to discover the malevolence of these demonic forces for themselves, but under His control. It is a stepping stone to achieving the holiness (sinlessness) which God requires of His people. We learn that all sin encourages demon oppression, and God wants us to shun all wickedness. It also appears that God often allows righteous people to suffer for the sins of others. I don’t pretend to fully understand this, but I know that God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone (Ezekiel 18:23). We are not here talking of natural death, but the second (and final) death of unrepentant sinners. If people don’t repent of their sins during their earthly life, and have not received God’s forgiveness before they die, they will see in their life review in the spirit realm, how their sins caused pain and suffering for other persons. If they sincerely repent, I believe God will forgive and save them, but if they won’t repent they will be lost, like Satan and all the demons (Ps 92:7).

God has given two of my friends intercessory gifts, but in different ways. Both push the demons out with their minds, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  One of these individuals can actually see the demons, the other can’t, but can sense them and their strength.  My friend which can see them says that they come in all shapes, sizes, and colours. He sees the demons which have attached themselves to people. He confirms that they have a command structure like an army has, and talks regularly of his battles pushing them away from family members who have not yet fully accepted Christ. They vary in power; some are relatively easy to dismiss by the Spirit of God but some are really powerful and difficult to overcome. He makes us laugh sometimes because after overcoming the more powerful demons, his shirt is often soaked with perspiration: he says it’s better than a workout at the gym! God also gives him visions of areas of the earth and the various demonic strongholds. These strongholds show up as dark colours in the visions. He also has visions showing areas which have been cleared, or are being cleared of demons through spiritual intercession, and they change to lighter colours in the vision. He is also made aware of areas which have been re-infested by demons because people have not changed their ways. This confirms the scripture of Matthew 12:43-45: please read it for yourself.

Demons cause havoc. They cause people to have accidents, troubles, eating disorders, obsessions, phobias, family rows, and illnesses. They encourage pride, murder, rape, greed, selfishness, stubbornness, adultery, deceitfulness, self-harm, suicidal tendencies, alcohol dependency, depression, sexual depravity, promiscuity and delinquent behaviour. They oppress people by dependency on prescription and illegal drugs. They make us forgetful and uncaring. They steal away God’s spiritual promptings from us. (God speaks to us at many times if we are prepared to listen to His ‘still small voice’. ) Demons delight in war, because they know it brings out the worst in human behaviour. They encourage self-serving, pompous dictators to oppress their people. Saddam Hussein, Robert Mugabe, and Syria’s president Bashar el Assad are prime examples.

One other main avenue the devil attacks us through is music. Some ‘rock’ music’s incredible power and rhythmic beat is like a battering ram that smashes into your mind and spirit, often carrying subliminal satanic messages into the brain. Similarly, certain ‘classical’ music can encourage depressive moods that are equally harmful to a balanced, positive, mental state. Conversely, music can have a positive or soothing effect. The distress of Israel’s king Saul was relieved by David’s music on the harp (1 Samuel 16:23).

The devil has infiltrated just about every single Christian denomination by subtly perverting the faith once delivered by Jesus and the apostles to the early church. Most Christians do not realise that not only are they not worshipping God at the appointed times He has chosen (see Leviticus 23; Acts 2, etc.), but they are observing unholy days originating from paganism. In fact, the devil will do his utmost to separate us from a meaningful spiritual relationship with Jesus and our Heavenly Father.

I have personally found that when feeling low, as everyone does from time to time, reading an appropriate Psalm from the Bible, whether silently or out loud, helps greatly. We are reaching out to God for help in our situation and He will not let us down, provided we want to do His will. Many Psalms express the deepest spiritual passions of humanity. There is no situation in our lives that they do not cover. They lead us through the peaks and valleys of human experience, but in the end they guide us to the praise of our loving Creator.

Be under no illusion: the devil and his demons are real and worse is to come. I can’t go into too much detail in this short piece but if you read Revelation chapter 13 you will see that Satan’s power and authority are given to the ‘Beast from the Sea’. In the ‘end time’ context this beast is the final president of the government to arise in Europe shortly. The way things are going in Europe at the moment this seems difficult to believe but something catastrophic will happen which will project this person and the union he represents into world prominence. The world will look to him for leadership and the Bible says that he will have authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation. The dragon (Satan) gives him this power and authority. This beast is the CIVIL power. The ‘Beast from the Earth’ who has two lamblike horns yet speaks like a dragon is the false church, whose leader will exercise worldwide SPIRITUAL authority, and back up the civil beast. This false church is identified as the spiritual prostitute who sits on seven hills (Rev 17:1-9). So, with world civil and ecclesiatical authorities under the control and direction of Satan, God’s truth and His followers will be of no consequence to these ‘monsters’. That is why God refers to these human powers as beasts.

It is clear that extremely challenging times lie ahead for Christians who want to live their lives in accordance with God’s truth, as revealed in His word and by His Spirit. But God knows everything about us. He knows where we are every second of the day, and the trials we are facing. If we trust, and have confidence in Him, there is nothing to fear. In Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:31-39) he expounds on the immense love of God, and encourages us to believe that no matter what the devil and his demons throw at us, we are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us”, and that “nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. May God help us to understand and believe this great truth. And may we never forget that for the natural mind without the Spirit of God, it is as easy as breathing to let demons influence you.

14/03/2012

Further Reading:

More about the influences of demons and how to counter them are provided in these publications:

DEMONS… (£1)   |   Casting Out Demons (£2)

(Figures in brackets are suggested donations only)

Angel Came To Deliver From Demons

16th August 2011

I am a 33-year old widow having two sons and a daughter all schooling. My daughter [Salin], who is now 13, began to be sick at the age of 5. She would laugh and behave unreasonably with unseen people [demons] to whom she talked loudly. Every time that happened she would fall badly, eyes looked big, wide open, and teeth tightly put together. She would stay like that for an hour. Lastly she would vomit a full dish of foams and was then relieved. She has been declared mad because she called teachers bad names sometimes.

I have tried every kind of treatment and hospitals but nil. The last episode was on 12/8/2011.

I was away at a funeral and a man who was passing, riding a bicycle, heard loud wailing in my home. The daughter had completely died two hours earlier. I was 9½ miles away. This time schools are closed for a terminal leave, so that the teacher residing near me was present in my home. I was told [by the teacher who was at Margaret’s home at the time] that when the man on the bicycle heard that the child had died, he rushed to the home; he prayed to the God of Elisha, Elijah and many prophets and spoke in a strange language.

[A short while later, as they were going to the hospital, her daughter was brought back from death and completely delivered of demons.] They rose up and praised God with him. My daughter is totally in her senses and I have no word to add! The teacher asked to know the name of the man and his contact but he fully declined. He said all Glory is Jehovah’s [Yahweh’s, God’s] and the address is [Malcolm’s e-mail address]… Salin is improving and will be a good family member…

Margret Akinyi, Ndhiwa, Kenya

CONFIRMATION of the above miracle came later to Malcolm Heap:

17th April 2012

Greetings to all…

I hereby appreciate your contacts and Margret’s which God made through His marvellous way. I am heading the school where Salin the daughter of Margret is learning, and the miracle, as was related to you, occurred while I was taking the girl to the hospital.

It was a pitiful day for me and the whole school when we carried a dead body home while the mother was away. As the miracle was performed by a man, Phillip with Midnight Ministries, we were to give credit and due respect to God and the ministry for helping that brave preacher to reach that standard of faith. From thence we have been close to that family but the astonishing thing is that as the books began to arrive after your connection, more strange [and very wonderful] matters started to happen very quickly. Margret and her brother-in-law, who were bitter enemies, reconciled and it is a miracle which God did through court of law as well as jail.

Charles Okeyo Osutwa, Kenya