WHAT ARE DEMONS?
SCRIPTURE 1 JOHN 1:7 "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light. We have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Demons are like air.
They are usually expelled by the exhaling of breath. This can be by yawning, coughing, deep breathing or gentle exhaling of breath. Demons can have nests in the body which have substance. They are usually expelled by blowing the nose, coughing up phlegm or vomiting. Don't feel bad when this happens. For instance, it is beautiful to see a cancer vomited out of a person during deliverance.
Paper towels and waste cans are provided for this reason. Demons can temporarily take over your body and manifest their characteristics. They can look through your eyes, cause the body to assume grotesque shapes, temporarily paralyze the body, throw the body on the floor and cause it to squirm around, and talk using your voice.
(A Definition from Derek Prince)"Demons are invisible spiritual entities with minds, emotions and wills of their own, in league with and under the control of satan. They are out to do his bidding and to torment the people of God.”
Demonic Oppression
Many Christians do not realize that they can be oppressed by demons. As a result, they do nothing to stop this oppression, which leaves them at the mercy of the Devil. God wants us to come into maturity in our understanding of satan and his demons.
He wants us to enforce His victory over their kingdom of darkness. He wants us to know the Truth and the Truth shall make us free. He wants us to grow in maturity and faith and to appropriate His freedom by casting out the demons. Many people question whether Christians can “have” a demon. A Christian cannot be possessed by demons because possession implies ownership.
A Christian is “owned” by god. God tells us that we were bought with a great price. However, Christians can be oppressed by demons if they have provided any open doors or legal ground through which demons can work. To stop demonic oppression, the legal ground must be reclaimed. Demons are evil spirits who chose not to serve God. They chose to disobey God and side with Satan, the Devil, and were thrown out of heaven and down to the Earth. (Revelation 12:9). Demons are also called spirits, ghosts, unclean spirits, evil spirits, haunts, spooks, specters, and devils.
They can make people sick with any and every possible disease. They can make people die a slow painful death or a sudden unexplainable death. Demons can make it impossible for you to pray they can block your mind when you are trying to talk to God and can even put horrible thoughts in your head. Have you ever had a horrible thought in your head that you couldn’t get out? Evil spirits can plant ideas and thoughts in people’s minds, even give them dreams of bad things happening or bad memory flashes of what happened in their past. Demons are the cause of all bad things that happen in the world. Demons also have names like you and I, we have to know what we are dealing with here, they are living creatures and they talk, walk, fly, smell and breathe. Demons have many powers and are highly intelligent creatures. The flesh and demons are working hand in hand, the two work together to enable the devil and his demons to carry out Satan's plan for our lives.The flesh is the gateway to the demonic. Many times (unless it is generational, etc.), it is through the flesh that demons gain entrance into a person's life.
We are first tempted by demons (the enemy works through his army of fallen angels) because they are seeking to gain entrance into our lives or carry out a plan to kill, steal or destroy us (see John 10:10), then once we give in, they become welcomed into our lives, and once they enter, they will serve as bad friends who will constantly seek to negatively influence us.
An example is to have a spirit of lust it will be like working in an adult bookstore, it will work to wear you down and get you to give in. Without having that spirit, it is much easier to resist the temptation. There is a VERY big difference! If you simply feel a little temptation once in a while and find it very easy to resist, then you are likely experiencing simple temptation from the enemy and your goal is to resist it and move on. However, if you feel driven to lust or pornography (or other sinful behavior such as anger, hate, rage, etc.), then you likely have a spirit that must be driven out.
As I said earlier, the flesh is the gateway to the demonic. Demons cannot simply walk up to us and enter... they must be welcomed, and our flesh is their tool to get the job done. If they can tempt us to sin, and our flesh opens the door, then they will have 'permission' to access our souls and/or bodies. This is why you cannot effectively minister to a person who is not ready to let go of their bondage. If somebody is not willing to give up lust, then even if you do get them delivered (by casting out all spirits of lust, addiction, etc.), that person will likely (without even knowing it) re-open that door all over again and the demons can come right back.
Sin is a work of the flesh. Is it possible for a demon to take complete control over a person, and cause them to murder, rape, etc.? Yes! But in most situations, that is not the case. Unless the demon takes complete control over the person, it is the flesh that commits the sin. Take for example a person who has a spirit of lust and then commits adultery... it is their flesh that has sinned, but it was coaxed along (or pressured) by the spirit of lust (or similar spirits). Having a spirit of lust can pressure us to sin, but it cannot force us to sin. This is why the Bible still refers to various sinful acts as 'works of the flesh':
Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. "Demons are like bad friends so what if you have a spirit of rage, and you are driven to violence?
Wouldn't at least some of it be the demon's fault if you fell into that type of sin? Having a demon is like having a bad friend who has access to your mind and can sit there and inject thoughts or feelings in your system day after day. If you hang around bad friends all the time, what happens? You begin to become like them... they will wear off on you! That is what happens when a person has a demon; the demon's ways will wear on that person's flesh and break it down... making it hard to resist temptation and sin! Can a demon take control over a person and use their body to commit gruesome acts of murder, etc.?
While it can happen, it is rarely the case. Demons are great at working the flesh up to the point of sin and putting pressure on them that can be very hard to resist. This is usually how they do their dirty work in our lives. The flesh is the open door to the enemy, and the demons are here to ruin our lives. The two work together to carry out Satan's plan to destroy us! The flesh must be crucified (or consider ourselves dead to sin - see Romans 6:11), and demons must be cast out.
It is vital that we accomplish two things when seeking deliverance:
A) Make sure that our flesh is not joining hands with the demon or giving it any permission;
B) Get rid of any unclean spirits that may be working against us.
It is pointless to constantly discipline the flesh yet allow the demons to remain, and it is also useless to cast out the demons, but allow the flesh to re-open the doors to them again.
Demons have superhuman strength.
1. Demons are shapeshifters: they can look like anyone or anything.
2. Demons can create smells, music, colors, fog, smoke, sounds, light, and shadows where there are none.
3. Demons can put ideas in your mind.
4. Demons can make you remember or dwell on things you try not to think about or want to forget.
5. Demons can be invisible.
6. Demons can go into people or influence people to talk or act a certain way.
7. Demons can move, break, or hurt physical objects and people.