We're continuing our conversation about demon possession and in the last episode I talked
about the idea of the Greek word dimonosomai meaning possession in the King James Version
and even in the New King James Version, but that rather today I think the word is actually
archaic for what it means in Scripture and I'm using the word demon-influenced, demonized,
influenced by demons, I mean those kind of phrases are more accurate and asking the
question can a Christian be demon-possessed and the answer is yes and no.
No if we're saying that a Christian can be owned by, completely possessed by a demon.
I don't believe that's possible. I do believe though with a big resounding yes that we can
be influenced by and I shared in the last episode the fact that the epistles in the
New Testament are constantly talking about demons and Satan and those epistles were
all written to believers. They wouldn't be a subject matter if it wasn't relevant to
their own lives. So I want to begin this session talking about one of the key verses that really
had a big influence in my life in understanding how we can be influenced by the demonic. This
is Ephesians 4, 26 and 27. Paul writes, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go
down on your wrath, verse 27, nor give place to the devil. Interesting word for giving
place to the devil. You'll find in some translation the word is foothold. Do not get a foothold
for the devil. It's the same Greek word as a stirrup on a saddle. So it's the idea don't
give the stirrup of a saddle to someone you don't want to get on the horse. So that's
the imagery. That's the metaphor behind it. So what he's saying here is and he's talking
here about anger and he's talking about wrath. So obviously the context here someone who's
in anger they struggle with anger and that if you're not careful you're giving a place
to the devil. And that's really important in understanding how we can be influenced
by the demonic. In Matthew 16, 16 through 23, Peter has just confessed Christ to Christ
that Jesus confessed to Jesus that he's the Christ. And then turns around and tells him
don't go to the cross which then Jesus says to him that he's filled with demons. And that
Satan the dark one is speaking to him and he rebukes the devil in Peter. So isn't that
crazy? So obviously he's being influenced by Acts 5, 1 through 11, Ananias and Sapphira.
Now there's no doubt that we don't know whether Ananias and Sapphira were believers or not.
But we would tend to believe from what we see in Acts chapters 4 and 5 that they were.
And again in this case Peter actually says and I think it's interesting it's Peter because
Jesus says to Peter get behind me Satan. And then Peter's saying to Ananias and Sapphira
that Satan has filled their hearts. And so they actually literally are killed at that
point pretty little bit drastic never seen anybody killed in a deliverance session. But
they were. So see Peter Wagner in his book The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit says this
in my research I have noticed several things. For one almost all those who themselves are
actively involved in a ministry of exorcism or deliverance affirm that Christians can
be demonized. Those who deny it by and large have had little or no direct contact with
the demonic. For another I have discovered that several Christian leaders have changed
their opinions on this matter over the years. But the changes I have found have all been
in the same direction. From once denying that demons can harm Christians to now affirming
that they can and do. As of yet I have not known of those who have changed from believing
that demons harm Christians to not believing it anymore. And then he actually gives an
example of someone. So that's totally my story too. I can't tell you how many times I've
been with Christian leaders in large organizations that I worked for or helped out in some way
with either consulting or knowing the top leader who in one session maybe years ago
said no way I don't agree with this stuff. And then their daughter goes through something
or their son goes through something or they have a best friend that has something happen
to them and they move.
in the direction of believing that, yes, we can be influenced by the demonic.
Galatians 5, Paul writes, I say to you then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are
contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law.
So Paul is clearly expressing, in Galatians 5, that there's this battle going on with
the flesh, that old man, is what he says in Romans, Romans 5, 6, and 7 especially, and
this new man in Christ.
There's a fight that goes on.
Now the reason that's important in our case is because that's where demonization happens.
That's where demonization happens.
It's that foothold that comes through our flesh.
Now Paul names some of those sinful flesh tendencies that all of us have struggled with,
at least some of these.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you before,
and just as I also told you in the past, those who practice such things will not inherit
the kingdom of God.
So this feeding on, this feeding on the flesh is where the demonic works, and that's Ephesians
24, 26 and 27, be angry, do not sin, do not let the sun go down in your wrath, nor give
a foothold to the devil.
So how do people get demons?
How do people begin to be demon influenced in their life?
It's through this, it's 99% the sins of the flesh, and so the best way I can describe
it to you is using my hand as an example.
So every one of us struggle with the sins of the flesh.
Sometimes we're angry and we shouldn't be.
Sometimes we struggle with lust.
Sometimes we struggle with gossip, or envy, or strife.
And we have, you know, this battle that I wish we could be free of, but we won't be
free of until, you know, we meet the Lord, and we're in the millennium with Him, and
we're living with Him in that kingdom.
But we're going to struggle with it.
So we know that we've got an area that we're weak in, we struggle with, but when we confess
it, when we repent of it, we're back to walking in the Spirit.
Now here's where the problem lies.
There's also corresponding demonic spirits of strife, and lust, and envy, and gossip
that are in this fourth dimensional world.
I don't understand it all, but it's obvious in Scripture that they're there.
Like I said before, it's kind of like, it's like radio waves.
I mean, radio waves are flowing through here, but if you get the right antenna, you know,
you can pick up a radio signal that's flowing through here.
Fourth dimension is similar.
So these spirits are here, and they're looking for a host.
Demons are always looking for a host.
And so an individual who's just hooked on porn, and the spirit of lust, there is a corresponding
demon that at some point locks in on that.
And you're now not just dealing with the sin of the flesh, you're also allowing a foothold
of the devil.
Now I don't mean literally the devil, Satan, capital S.
I'm talking about devil influence, which would be the ground level army of Satan or
demons and they lock in.
So now you're dealing with not only a lustful spirit that is from the enemy, but you also
have now habit patterns in your life.
So that's what I mean.
That's why I said earlier about truth encounter and power encounter.
So someone comes to me and they're struggling with a spirit of lust, and let's say I struggle
with lust or I'm struggling with porn, they probably don't call it a spirit of lust yet.
But in my mind, I'm thinking probably there's a demonic spirit of lust here.
What do I do?
Well, we can go into my office or we can go behind the stage at church and we can cast
out a demon lust.
That's like not even hard to do.
The problem is that if I don't change the habit patterns of the individual who's demonized,
man, they're all coming back.
And as we talked about earlier, that house has been cleansed, that's not replaced with
the power of the spirit.
And I would actually say habits, habits of the spirit, it's going to be seven times worse.
So what do we do?
Well, what do we do is we have a truth encounter instead of a power encounter.
So I'd rather sit down with the person and say, look, what's the issue with porn?
So they start sharing with me how they get into porn.
when they look at porn, why they look at porn,
and we begin a process called discipleship,
called empowering that person to self-deliver.
When we start working on that,
that's when things really begin to cook.
That's when freedom really starts to happen,
and it's longer, I hate to say it, it is longer.
They're gonna have to be in a small group,
they need some bloodstained allies,
they need some other men in their life
who maybe have had similar struggles
that can help them be accountable in the area of loss,
and there will be a process in which that demon does leave,
or it's so deep that they do need me,
or they do need someone to come in and cast out that demon,
but they've built enough good habit patterns,
they've built enough strong discipleship tools
in their life of, we call it PB&J, prayer, Bible,
and journal, where they're praying, they're in the word,
they're journaling, they're listening to God,
they're learning how to worship,
they're learning how to pray, all those things,
then it's just, honestly, it's easy-peasy
to cast out the demon at that point,
because it doesn't even hardly have anything
to hold onto anyway, and so it's,
the way I've thought of it is like a ring.
So this is my wedding band,
and I place that wedding band on,
and you know, or maybe you don't,
because I don't know where you're listening from,
but if you live in Colorado,
you know that your wedding band is looser in the winter,
because it's colder, so you tend to expand
with your fingers and stuff,
they tend to expand more in hot weather,
but if you get in colder weather,
they tend to shrink a little bit.
So what you're doing is he's shrinking
the influence of that demon by living the kingdom way.
The kingdom way, there's no foothold, there's no strength,
and so if I come in, or someone comes in,
whoop, just comes right off.
It's right there, it was easy.
Because, and I think in a lot of cases,
it's more like this, it's more like,
it just comes off, they don't even know when it left them,
because they're no longer struggling
in that habit pattern anymore,
because they've been discipled out of it.
That's a truth encounter versus a power encounter.
Many cases, both are needed.
But that's the key to getting set free,
is to give people a truth encounter
that they have what it takes within them
as a Jesus follower to be set free.
And that's what, that's really what
the epistles are all about.
The epistles are all about that truth.
So, before I leave, before we're done with this,
I wanna just say this, that the common ways
that I think most people get demons is through the flesh.
But also, I wanna give you a list of some other ways
that you may not be aware of, that I think
are actually more common than we'd like to believe.
Indulging in a particular sin, talked about that,
but dedicated to pagan gods in a temple.
And I believe demons are involved in that,
and that was my experience a lot in Asia,
less so in America.
Religious spirits, through a fixation
and legalistic understanding of religion,
can be, I think a religious spirit
can be some of the most difficult spirits to cast out.
Prolonged drug and alcohol abuse.
Pornography and sexual sin.
Uncontrollable anger, violence, and lust.
Sexual abuse as a child.
Illicit sexual relationships.
Involvement in occult practices.
Injustice committed against the person,
especially as a child.
Unforgiveness is huge.
Unforgiveness is probably the most dangerous
because most people feel they're justified in it.
But unforgiveness is huge.
Idolatry, yes, even in the West.
I mean, I think there can be an idolatry
toward movie stars or athletes, idols in our life.
Lust for riches and having more stuff.
1 Timothy 6, but having food and clothing,
with all these we shall be content.
But those who desire to be rich
fall into temptation and a snare,
and to many foolish and harmful lusts
would drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil
for which some have strayed
from the faith in their greediness.
So I mean, it's pretty obvious
he's talking about demonization there.
Jealousy is huge.
I mean, I could go through all these lists.
My point is this.
Anything in our life that we're indulging in
that's not submitted to the authority
and the power of the kingdom of God
and Jesus Christ has a potential
to begin to be a hook that drives us.
Yeah, and so I challenge you if there's an area of your life that you're struggling with that you constantly can't seem to get free from
It could be from a demon and I would encourage you to begin to think this is this is huge
Think in terms of the opposite of that. So you struggle with anger. What's the opposite of anger?
Well, the opposite of anger would probably be
kindness and love so start to pray
Kindness and love and you ask others to pray kindness and love in Europe. You're a greedy person. You're always thinking about money
You're just driven by the lust for money
Maybe you need to learn how to be generous
Maybe you need to start praying for a perspective of even giving away a lot of what you have to break
The power of materialism over your life, you know, I know I've known a lot of people that struggle with gossip
They just talk about people all the time and and it's and it's an insecurity in their own life
By which they somehow feel more important by talking down on others
well
maybe that person needs to begin to think about saying positive and good and beautiful things about other people and
Building up their reputation and that'll break that power of gossip in their life
so these are some of the tools that I've found that have worked over over the years and are super powerful and
People can self deliver. I think self deliverance is the I think it's the most important way to be delivered because
You can't self deliver without new habits being developed that are of the kingdom way. So I hope this has been helpful to you
I hope that the whole series has enabled you to understand the power of God
The power that you have and now even realizing that it's pretty important that you walk in holiness
And you walk as a disciple of Christ and you have blood-stained allies in your life. God bless you. Thanks for listening