There is woefully little useful teaching about the demonic realm in the church today. God’s people are ignorant about the ways and means of the demonic realm and fall easy prey for destruction (Hosea 4:6).
This article summarizes, from my perspective as a Christian counselor and deliverance minister, five common misconceptions Christians have about demons.
I had to cull the list down; there are others, but five represents a good start. It also complements an earlier article I published on “5 Misconceptions Christians Have About God.”
- Demons have no power
Some make this dangerous claim using Colossians 2:15 as their point of reference. Errors ensue when one builds a theology around one Scripture alone. The church does have power and authority over the demonic realm to drive out demons and also to resist them. While ignorance and fear truly do empower the demonic realm, one does not need to look far to see the destructive power of demons in the church and world today.As Christian counselors and deliverance ministers, we see every day the destructive power of demons at work in people’s lives. - Christians cannot have demons
Deliverance ministry is the driving out of demons. It is one of the signs to follow believers (Mark 16:17). We (and countless other pastors and ministries) have many articles on this topic, but it continually amazes us as how to much ignorance there is in this area. Christians cannot be demon-possessed because we are, by definition, God-possessed when we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. - Do not talk about demons
Some people, operating under the error in point 1, declare that because demons have no power, they should be ignored or even mocked as a defeated foe. Jesus defeated Satan on the cross but warfare (driving out and resisting demons) will continue until Jesus’ return. Ignorance does not lead to bliss, and it is not helpful to be unaware of how the demonic realm operates. We are called to resist demons (James 4:7) so they will flee. How does one discern spirits if you haven’t learned their ways? - We are battling Satan
God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Satan is not. He is a uniquely created being who comes and goes. His finiteness limits hims in all endeavors and he must work through a demonic hierarchy in the heavenly realm (Daniel 10:13) and here on earth. The simple reality is that we, as individuals, are battling individual demonic spirits, with names like rejection, fear and anger, that are working a concerted plan for our life to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). God and Satan are not equal opposites. We have already note that demons are limited in every way, so we must not make our tormentors giants in our own eyes as the people of Israel did. - Be careful what you speak to keep demons in the dark.
Demons have minds, although they cannot read ours! They see everything we do and hear everything we say. Don’t you think they already know a lot about us? If you had a 24/7 bodyguard, that person would learn a lot about you and would not need to be a mind reader to be very knowledgeable about you and your ways. I cringe when people lower their voice, look around furtively, and then whisper that they don’t want to speak something out so that Satan will hear it! That’s not how it works. “No fear” should be more than a catch phrase for us when dealing with the demonic realm. Whatever you are afraid of speaking, they most assuredly already know!
The Body of Christ does need to be Christ-focused and committed to developing an intimate relationship with Him. Spiritual warfare is still to be waged and solid intelligence and knowledge of one’s enemy is essential to secure victory in life situations. I hope this article helps to bring light and enlightenment to those who want to progress in this area.
If you want to become more aware, you’ll need to do some research. You would also want to attend a church that actively educates on deliverance ministry and spiritual warfare but the list of candidates in any region is very small! Here are some resources I recommend:
- Blogs and articles on our website
- Healing Through Deliverance, Vols 1&2 by Peter Horrobin
- They Shall Expel Demons, by Derek Prince
- Deliverance From Evil Spirits, by Francis MacNutt
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Hi Don.
Do demons play around with many Christians? I see, particularly in Africa, so called “deliverance”pastors, bishops, apostles, what ever they want to call themselves casting out demons, screaming, carrying on and raking in the cash. They use the name of Jesus and the demons put on a show. They are mostly of the Charismatic variety. I also see, specially in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, priests (or fathers? – call no man father) casting out demons out of Charismatics in the name of St. Mary, in the name of St. Mathew, and the demons put on the same show they put on for the Charismatics. There is a counterfeit Messiah either here on on his way; is there a counterfeit Holy Spirit playing games with people who believe they are Christians… People who have bought an incomplete version of the Gospel tarnished by the doctrines of men, taught by men and that do not know the Holy Spirit, just think they know Him because someone (often well intentioned) told them so? Out of the people who believe they are Christians that you see in your practice, how many aren’t really saved, just think they are?
You asked a lot of good questions, Louis! Certainly some number of deliverance ministries use a very dramatic process that contrasts with our approach of preparatory teaching followed by a typically much quieter and gentler deliverance session. The fundamental question we believe should be: is there good fruit coming forth. Does the ministry walk in integrity? Salvation status is a tricky issue. Only God knows a person’s heart for sure but we can quickly discern if someone is coming to us under duress or pressure from someone. If they profess Christ (and we always lead the person again in a prayer of repentance and acknowledging JEsus as their Lord and Savior before ministering), then we are prepared to proceed and see what the Lord does. Thank you for your post.
After several years of working with deliverance ministry, It is my opinion that every Bible believing church should have deliverance ministry in place.
So many are hurting and still going to church but with little hope of every really having freedom.
Thanks you for this website and articles.
Thank you for your comment, Julie. We are of like mind and are doing all we can to get the word out so that revelation can come.
Agree totally with this article. Final deliverance after salvation, repentance, renouncement etc. would surely include routing out the demons that are still hanging around in the mind!
Being a non-practicing Christian for most of my life the journey of curiosity got the better of me! I began to seek experiences in the occult and most of which was with various demons! For this letter I will call a non-violent demon a spirit but all are demons so there is no misunderstanding!
I began thru ebay, than on bonanza to meet various people who practice witchcraft, spiritist, and more. The experiences began simply at first to see if it was real. Found out real quick, yes, it is real. But I was assured that they had control over them and I would not be hurt. So for awhile I experienced various types of spirits, different ways they would be sent to me. Some would be like a vapor slowly descending upon me, others would feel as if they would enter into me thru my stomach. Each spirit would have a different feeling! A vampire spirit was a heavier, darker spirit! A succubus would, after several months of bonding, hump on me as I lay on my back in bed. In the beginning all spirits would be removed by the person who sent them.
Until, one day one or more came to me from areas unknown! I thought I was dying! I got my girls together after midnight to tell them goodbye. Then I took them to my parents house and explained to them what was going on. Well that began a very long journey that has been about a year and a half. My problem was that those in my life who know me, believed me! While the church had no idea what to do, I was even told that they could do nothing for me! That was a death sentence and shook my world.
I was re-baptized but still left on my own. My preacher even stopped praying for me at our mens group meeting! Sure I had a few good days, I guess he thought I was cured. So I had to go back to some that I knew from the occult to see if they could get the spirits on me to leave. NO luck but with my warped thinking, knowing there is a hierarchy, sought stronger demons in a manner that they were controllable and being stronger than what I already had would help me to have a moments peace, no terror! But over the past year I had almost 10,000 demons bound to me. That was very overwhelming at times but at least I had some peace. But than again the scripture of a kingdom divided…. so I had them remove them and still have the original ones left!
Various things that have happened. My exwife was visiting and one of them slid down her arm. At work one day one was swirling around my head and so I swatted at it. Not ten seconds later my co-worker started swatting at the air around her head. We were all laughing but I knew what it was. A few weeks ago, in the middle of my family pictures on my cellphone I found about ten pictures of demons. It was startling. I sent them to my friends and family to see what they could make of it. One had a demon holding a baby and smiling at the camera, I had just become a grandpa four weeks ago! My church does missionary work in Haiti where demon possession is rampant with voodoo! One of the ministers was up here a few days after the pictures appeared and I showed him. He looked at them, prayed over them, asked me to delete them, so I did. I also got ahold of everybody and asked that they do the same!
Right now, I am enveloped by demons, they do not hurt me (yet) and their presence has renewed my faith in Jesus and God! I read my bible daily, I pray a lot, my nights are one of activity! From a vapor moving all over my body, to my sleeping on my side so that they wont hump on me, to waking up just in time to hear me say words that I have no idea what they mean. I have a friend who was attacked by a demon and went thru a process to remove it. But I try to explain to her that she was a victim and that I stupidly sought mine out!
But also that I don’t care what the demons do, I care about my relationship with God! Jesus is what is important. I do all that I can and trust in Him! So in a nutshell that is where I am, I have a pressure on my head like I am wearing a tight stocking cap. I weight on my back, feel like I am enveloped, my whole body tingles…
Speaking of that! I am amazed at what righteousness does to demons! When I pray at times, when I speak some scripture outloud, when I sing some praise songs… my whole body shakes! Well its not my body but they shake… there is but one God and yes, demons shudder! My faith, has had to go thru the fire because of it being tainted by the world, by movies! The demons, I wait upon the Lord to have them leave, but this trial is one that I am thankful for because it has brought me closer to Jesus than I ever thought was possible! I never understood how words in a book could actually do anything but His really is a kingdom of power!
Sorry if this is so long! Thanks for listening!
No advice?
Good question, Glenn! I added some suggested resources.
Let me try this again! Where did you put the added resources for me?
Sorry, Glenn. I think I misunderstood your earlier comment and probably wasn’t clear in my response. I added a couple of resources (to learn more about the demonic realm) at the end of the blog. If you need something different, please let me know.