It was overseas that I first encountered the demonic
and the satanic world of the occult
and different religions and the effect
and impact it had on people.
So when I was growing up in my Christian life,
I had all these opportunities to go on the mission field.
So I'd been all over Asia, smuggled Bibles in Europe
when it was a closed country under the old Soviet Union,
then smuggling Bibles in China and then landed in Japan
and spent about 10 years a missionary in Japan.
But it was overseas that I first encountered the demonic
and the satanic world of the occult
and different religions and the effect
and impact it had on people.
So I had this experience one time in my apartment in Tokyo
where this guy that I'd been kind of working with
in a Bible study was having these suicidal thoughts.
So he was considering committing suicide
and he kept talking about how these voices
were talking to him.
Well, I didn't know hardly anything.
I'd maybe read a little bit about the satanic,
demonic world in the Bible.
I'd read, I think, one book on spiritual warfare
and I made the mistake of asking this demon
to manifest itself not even knowing it was a demon.
I thought it was just this guy's got psychological problems.
And then suddenly this demon just starts speaking to me
with a different voice and in perfect English.
And this guy did not have perfect English.
Let me just say that.
He didn't speak to me in Japanese,
he spoke to me in English.
And I was like, hello, this is a different world.
I don't know what I'm getting myself into.
And so over the next three hours,
I didn't know what I was doing,
but this guy, he was a fourth degree black belt in karate.
In English, in America, we say karate,
but in Japan, it's called karate.
And so it was quite a pitched battle in more ways than one.
But eventually I cast out these three demons
and he was set free.
That was my introduction to the world
of Satan and demons on the earth.
And they are definitely on the earth.
And so here today, I wanna talk about
how the demonic world intersects with our world.
And what I'm trying to do with all of these messages
is really solidly build a foundation that's from the Bible.
Because it's easy to get emotional.
It's easy to start taking all kinds of crazy theories
that are out there about the demonic and satanic.
And I don't wanna do that.
I wanna ground it in the word.
So if you have your Bibles, look at Revelation 12, seven,
and I wanna just read this
because this is one of the key passages
that opens up to us what happened in a time immemorial.
We don't know when this occurred,
where there was a battle in the heavenlies with Michael,
one of the archangels of God and Satan and his angels.
So let me just read this.
This is Revelation 12, seven through nine.
And war broke out in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought with the dragon
and the dragon and his angels, that's important,
fought but they did not prevail
nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
So the great dragon was cast out,
that serpent of old called the devil and Satan
who deceives the whole world.
He was cast down to the earth
and his angels were cast out with him.
So Satan was, there was some kind of a battle
in the heavenlies.
We talked about the origins of sin
and the origins of Satan in an earlier talk
but there was this battle between the archangel Michael
and his angels where Satan and his angels,
which we're gonna learn about are demons,
were cast down to the earth.
So the angelic world has intersected our world
and Satan and demons are now upon the earth.
Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 writes,
but even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing,
whose minds the God of this age has blinded,
that's the key operable word,
the God of this age, speaking of Satan,
has blinded who do not believe
lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ
who is the image of God should shine on them.
Now this is important as 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4
because in my conservative evangelical background,
I just felt like people needed to hear the gospel clearly spoken and that's what they needed and then they would receive Christ
I didn't think in terms of there actually being a conflict
Within the spiritual rim where demons are actually blinding their eyes and that was revolutionary for me
Because then it changed how I prayed it changed how I presented the gospel
But the scriptures are clear that the God of this age has blinded people from hearing
listening and understanding the gospel of Christ
Ephesians 2 1 & 2 we read and
You he made alive who are dead in trespasses and sins in which you also walked according to the course of this world
According to the Prince of the power of the air
The Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience
So there is this Prince of the power of the air
There's this God of this age that is blinding and hindering people from hearing the gospel
And this is actually why I believe prayer so important why we when we pray we should pray
God's kingdom come God's will be done on people because we are actually praying
By praying to God we're praying against demonic powers that are
Powers working in those who are disobedient to the gospel. They don't even know anything
I'm not saying people are everybody out there that doesn't have the gospel and hasn't received Christ
Is somehow demon-possessed not saying that at all
What I am saying though is that the God of this age the God of the power of this air is
hindering them from believing
Revelation 12
Tells us that Satan is the accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12
we read then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and
strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the
Accuser of the brethren or our brethren who accuses them before God day and night has been cast down
So a couple thoughts on that is it?
You know, I think as you're as you struggle in your own life with shame and with issues of
Personal
Feelings of inadequacy
Maybe being reminded of mistakes you've made sins you've committed
Wrongs that you've done. That's Satan. That's that's demonic powers
Accusing you to create within you a lack of confidence
But the the operable word here is they're cast down to the earth. So here's some of the names of Satan these names
describe the character of Satan Satan means
adversary
Lucifer is a word used for Satan to day star son of the morning
accuser a
Polly on he's called a Polly on which means the destroyer murderer
Beelzebub Lord of the house of bondage
Belial
worthless one old serpent father of lies
tempter
roaring lion
dragon destroyer devourer of men and
Deceiver so these this is the character that we're dealing with with Satan and that same character is the character of the demonic
World these this one-third of the angels of heaven that were cast down to the earth
What is Satan's destiny revelation 2010 the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone
Where the beast and the false prophet are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever
So Satan is doomed to hell. He's doomed to eternal bondage and I think
Satan seems to know this and we'll look at that in another message about these demons and satanic powers seem to know
about their
Destiny
So I want to talk about 13 characteristics 13 characteristics of demons
Let me go back to Revelation 12 again
The war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon the dragons and his angels fault
But they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in in heaven any longer
So the great dragon was cast out
That serpent of that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives all world and he was cast to the earth and his
Angels were cast out with them. So here's 13
Characteristics that we see in the Bible about demons number one. They are fallen
Unconfined angels, so they're spiritual beings. They're not like us
Okay, so so I think it's possible
And the reason I'm going to say this is because I think it's possible for angels
to impersonate people to look like a person and I have
A few, I believe, angelic encounters in my life
that there's no explanation for, but that they were angels,
but they looked like regular people.
Well, I think demons possibly,
say possibly because no way to prove this,
it's kind of a mystery,
but it seems as though that ability that angels have
as unconfined spiritual beings
is also still true with demons
as they rebelled against God.
Number two, they always,
they always, literally always oppose God's work.
Number three, they've been kicked out of heaven.
Number four, they deceive the whole world.
They are Satan's workers.
They are Satan's foot soldiers.
Number five, their habitation now is not in heaven.
Their habitation is here on the earth
in the fourth dimension.
Number six, they accuse, they tempt,
they say lies about us.
They are a part of the character of the father of lies.
They lie constantly.
So when I've cast out demons,
I have at times asked for their name
and I have forced them to tell me their name.
I have heard from other men and women
who deal in the demonic that they never ask for their name
because they're, they lie.
And I think that's true.
But I have at times felt the authority and power
to command them to tell me the truth.
And they've done that.
Number seven, and this is a really,
this is kind of a weird one,
but this is Genesis 6, 4.
And to quote part of this says,
"'The sons of God came into the daughters of men.'"
So it seems as though demons
can actually have sexual relations with people.
And there is evidence in the Old Testament
of the descendants of Anak
or the descendants of the Nephilim
that they actually had offspring.
And there are these demonic giants in the land.
I'm not gonna do much more on that
except to say that's probably another message
that we could break down on the Nephilim.
Luke 11 says,
"'When an unclean spirit goes out of a man,
he goes through dry places seeking rest and finding none.
He says, I'll return to my house from which I came.
And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.
Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits
more wicked than himself.
And they enter and dwell there.
And the last state of the man is worse than the first.'"
So number eight, they have degrees of power.
So there are demonic spirits of power.
That we don't completely understand,
but they have degrees of power.
Daniel 10 is a great example of that
where there's this communication with God
through an angel in which an angel comes to Daniel
and says, I couldn't get to you
because the Prince of Persia hindered me.
And he also talks about the Prince of Greece there.
So it seems as though there's principalities and powers
which are covered in Ephesians 6, 10 through 18
over nations.
And then there's levels of gradations underneath them.
So I'll give you an experience I had.
I was in Okinawa, Japan.
I was a missionary there.
And I was asked to come into a situation
with a captain in the military.
And he had tried to commit suicide twice.
He had already killed a couple people.
And he was into a high level of spirit mediums
that he would use, especially among temples.
And I won't go into the whole detail of it,
but he would go into these temples.
He would get filled with these demonic spirits
and he would take photographs.
And he became an award-winning photographer
in Okinawa, Japan.
And he didn't know the first thing about photography,
but the spirit spoke to him.
He did what they told him to do.
And what was interesting is he didn't take pictures
of landscapes.
He didn't take pictures of the beautiful ocean.
He didn't take pictures of the beautiful islands
or sunsets and all the things that would be a part of it.
He always took pictures only of temples,
Shinto temples, Buddhist temples,
or Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples.
And that's all he did.
And he won these awards.
But when I began to minister to him
in the power of the spirit, I realized very quickly,
this guy has super high-level spirit.
And I could not get the demons to come out.
This was another category that I wasn't prepared for.
At one point.
He told me later, he actually levitated off the ground,
about three feet off of the ground,
and was slammed up against the wall
by this demonic spirit that he was casting out.
I told him, look man, I don't think you're ready
to be set free from these demons,
and I certainly can't work against your will.
And so I backed off at that point.
But later, he was personally ready,
his faith was built up,
and he cast several demons out of himself.
But that was a level, a demonic level
that I wasn't used to at that time.
Number nine, demons can produce heresies,
deception, and false teaching.
It says in 1 Timothy 4.1, latter times,
some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits
and the doctrine of demons.
So there are religions, there are false teaching,
there's even Christian, quote unquote, Christian cults
that are led by and are inspired by demons.
James 3.15, this wisdom does not come,
does not descend from above, from God,
but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.
So heresies and deception and false teaching
come from demons.
Number 10, demons are strong,
physically strong and powerful,
even stronger than men.
In Mark 5, it says,
when they came to the other side of the sea
to the country of the Gadarenes,
when he had come out of the boat,
speaking of Jesus,
immediately there met him out of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit
who had his dwelling among the tombs
and no one could bind him,
not even with chains.
So there is a strength in certain cases
where someone has given themselves over to such a degree.
I would say this is demon possession.
This is not just demon influence,
it's demon possession,
where demons can be very, very strong.
Number 11, they can cause disabilities.
Matthew 9.33, and when the demon was cast out,
the mute man spoke.
So it can cause people to not hear.
Matthew 12, then one was brought to him
who was demon possessed, blind and mute,
and he healed him so that the blind and mute man
both spoke and saw.
So it came from demons.
Matthew 12.22, then one was brought to him
who was demon possessed, a blind and mute man,
and he healed him so that the blind and mute man
both spoke and saw.
So demons can cause physical maladies
like blindness and muteness.
They evidently can cause deaf and dumb spirits also.
Number 12, demons can cause sickness and disease.
And I'm not gonna go through all the verses,
but that was really a mainstay of Jesus' ministry
was casting out demons that cause sickness and disease.
And then 13, and lastly, they're doomed to the pit
and they even know it.
So Matthew 28 and 29 is very interesting.
When Jesus had come to the other side
of the country of the Gergesenes,
there met him two demon possessed men
coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce,
so that no one could pass that way.
And suddenly they cried out saying,
what have we to do with you, Jesus, the son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the time?
So demons seem to know that there's gonna be a day
where they're cast into the pit and tormented.
So Satan and demons are on the earth.
And as we move along in this study,
we're gonna start talking about
how they work individually in our lives.
But I hope this challenges you,
helps you understand biblically
what we're dealing with with Satan and demons.