Demonology (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry, and it's Mike Havendroth.

Welcome. I declare that you will live as a healer. You are sensitive to the needs of those around you. You will lift the fallen, restore the broken, and encourage the discouraged. You are full of compassion and kindness.

You won't just look for a miracle. You will become someone's miracle by showing God's favor and mercy everywhere you go.

I have no words. That is affirmation number 18. I heard there's a cube for Joyce Meyer as well, but I don't have that, nor will I buy it. I'm waiting for one of you to send it to me. If you send it, I'll give you your name.

I'll state your name, social security number, and I'll play it a few times. On the front of that, it just says Joel. I thought it was a Bible chapter or something. It's like Hosea, Joel, Amos, Mike, Hosea, Jonah.

I worked a little bit more this morning on the book, Cancer is Not Your Shepherd, a 31-day guide to suffering. I think 16, maybe 17 chapters I wrote, unlike Gospel Assurance. I only wrote the intro, not one chapter.

So, I hope it'll help. It all was kind of spurred on by the show I did a few weeks ago, You Have Cancer, and sitting around with taking pills, going to the doctor's offices. In some ways, life, I don't want to say revolving around cancer, like cancer-centric, but just have to deal with it a lot.

I thought, I just need to pour out my mind and my heart on the page and send it out. I honestly know I'm not the best writer, not a best paperback writer, as they say, but that's okay. Somebody said, did you read Don't Waste Your Cancer by Piper before you wrote it?

I said to my wife, I purposely didn't read that. I mean, I read that 10 years ago, maybe, 2015, when I first got cancer. I thought it was pretty good, but I didn't want it to influence what I would say.

So if there's a confluence, congruence, an overlapping, no plagiarism here. Maybe it was still stuck in my mind from 10 years ago. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio, what are we supposed to say on podcasts?

Give us five stars, pat me on the back, and send money to Jesus. Here's my address. I think we're up to 11 Patreon supporters, so I'm very thankful for that. We don't have a lot of cost here, but we do have some.

I have a friend, and he's on radio, and the one station in Los Angeles that he's on, KKLA, one station, one ping and one ping only, I want to say it's 550 ,000 to be on that station daily for 30 minutes, Monday to Friday, Monday through Friday.

We're on Belize for nothing, Anchorage, Alaska for nothing, and Powell, Wyoming for nothing. Ain't that something? Jesus is the gospel, as Sinclair Ferguson has reminded us via John Owen, that we do not want to separate Jesus and what he's done, because the person who does accomplish salvation is the Lord Jesus.

And so, totus Christus, we want to have the whole Christ, all of Christ. And what I love about the gospel of Jesus, according to Luke, is that a lot of it, most of it, is not showing you his substitutionary death.

Oh, it might show suffering, right, his life of suffering. It might show him obedience to the law, right, earning our salvation. So, there's that, obviously, but you just get to see how he acts, and you get to see his heart toward those that are broken and wounded.

For those who are self-righteous, for those that are needy, you just get to see how he acts. And so, the great spotlight is on the Lord Jesus, and for all of us as Christians, we read the gospels with admiration and thanksgiving.

And out of all the saviors in the world and shepherds in the world, aren't we glad Jesus is our shepherd? And so, we get to see Christ, and we get to know him better in these gospels. And there's a certain brilliance that is on display when you watch the Lord Jesus.

Jesus' Authority Over Demons in Luke 4

Last time, I talked about Jesus over demons, power over demons, authority over demons. And in Luke 4, 31 and following, that's important, because in Luke, the first miracle written in the gospel of Luke, although not the first miracle ever done, but the first one in Luke is for a purpose, and I think the purpose is if Jesus is powerful over demons, that he's powerful over everything else, and you can trust him.

I mean, who is it that can cast out demons with a word? Who's the one that can suppress demonic forces? It has to be the Lord Jesus, and if it's true, and it is, then you should be very confident in other areas of your life, because if Jesus can take care of those problems and powerful enough to take care of that, then he could certainly take care of sickness or disease or whatever else ails the Christian.

In other words, you can trust him, and you don't have to be afraid of the future of your life, of your church, of your health, because Jesus is powerful, and you can trust him. I talked a little bit about demons and questions we have about demons today, and I'm not sure how much I said, because how can I remember?

It was just yesterday. That's exactly right. Of course, demons still exist, yet, I think I did talk about this, there was extraordinary demon activity while the Son of Man was on earth, accomplishing redemption, accomplishing righteousness, accomplishing what his Father sent him to do.

If you take a look at the Bible and you look for cases of demonic oppression, possession, casting out, demons controlling people, if you look at that, you're going to find it not very many cases outside of Jesus in the Gospels.

You will see the Philippian servant girl in Acts 16. You'll see the sons of Sceva in Acts 19. And where else would you find that? I don't think you're going to find it anywhere else in the New Testament.

I think you're going to have deceiving spirits in the mouths of Ahab's prophets in 1 Kings 22, and Saul having demon issues in 1 Samuel 16. So, the question is, why so much demon activity while Jesus is on earth?

Well, Satan knows what's going on. Satan would like to make Jesus impotent. Of course, Satan could not get Jesus to sin, although he tempted him many times, including the three that are written about in the Wilderness Temptings.

And he doesn't want the Lord Jesus to do what he's supposed to do. Submergence said the best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. And I think that's very apropos because that's what's happening here in the Gospels.

Jesus is ruling and reigning and, okay, ruling and reigning in terms of sovereignty, right? He's the one who is there, and Satan's going to do everything he can to stop it. All the powers of hell unleashed.

Demons as Promoters of False Doctrine

I also talked about last time, where do demons spend most of their time today? And the answer is not possessing people, inhabiting people, throwing people into the fire like we see in Scripture, but promoting false doctrines.

And those false doctrines, those doctrines of demons, Paul said in 1 Timothy 4, 4 are forbidding marriage and advocating that you should abstain from certain foods. And so, basically, what God meant for good, Satan means for evil.

He thinks it's evil. In other words, if you are to receive these created by God for good things and not to reject them, 1 Timothy 4, 4, and receive them with gratitude, Satan doesn't want you to see marriage as exalted as it is and food as appropriate as it is, because they're sanctified by the means of word of God and prayer.

You think, well, I don't really need to know some of this stuff, 1 Timothy 4, 6. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, constantly nourished on the words of faith and of sound doctrine, which you have been following.

And then we looked at how demons take care of or promote other things like idolatry and ambition and just a general waging war against God, Ephesians 6. Question three, what authority do Christians have today over demons?

I think this is where we left off in the charismatic world, the Pentecostal world, the four square world, even in the name and claimant world, a lot of miracles, tongues, healings, and casting out demons.

So, Christians, authority over demons is a question. And I just want you to know that you're not Jesus, you're not an apostle, and you have no authority to cast out demons anywhere. Did you know every time the demons were dealt with in the book of Acts, they were dealt with by apostles that had seen the risen Lord commissioned by Jesus himself.

And when that happens, the apostles dealing with demons, that's to, of course, help the person that was demon possessed, but also to authenticate these apostles are sent by God, and therefore you should recognize them as such and recognize that what they say is also from God.

Confirmation. Right now, we know that you're surely a man of God, the widow at Zarephath said to Elijah. Did you know we have nothing in the Bible that teaches us how we should deal with demons? I mean, don't you think that would be probably found in 1 Timothy or 2 Timothy or Titus?

Don't you think that would be good for pastors to know? How can I be equipped for everything pertaining to life and godliness? How can I be equipped for things pertaining to training in righteousness, 2 Peter chapter 2, chapter 1, and 2 Timothy chapter 3?

How can I do that when I'm not told how to take care of demons? That argument of silence is a loud, loud argument. We have no authority given by Christ to cast out anything, let alone demons. And where would you cast them anyway?

That'd be another good question. Question four, speaking of questions, should Christians practice exorcisms today? Well, I think question three answered that, and the answer is no. But that doesn't seem to stop anyone, now does it?

I've read on the internet, after calling each demon or group of demons out, take a deep breath and blow out through your mouth. Demons can come out through tears, air passages like your mouth. If you cough, yawn, have your nose running, they come out through the skins, are no visible signs at all.

No one knows all the answers, but I do know when you blow out, it helps dislodge demons. If you go to church history origin, you call the name of Jesus and you call the name of the martyrs to get rid of the demons.

In Hellenistic exorcisms, you would extract the demon from the nose of the person with a ring. Some rabbis use torch lights and amulets and hell broths, fumigations. There are some exorcism prayers in case animals are afflicted by demons.

And if you've got an ox or a horse or a donkey, there are certain things that you can say. Probably the most popular exorcists these days, so-called exorcists, are the Roman Catholics. And if you have permission from your bishop and you're mature and you're a virtuous person, you can cast out demons.

It says on the internet for the Roman rite of exorcism, the possessed should hold a crucifix in his hands or have it in front of him. Whenever available, wherever available, the relics of the saints can be placed on his chest or on his head.

The Holy Eucharist should not be placed on the head or anywhere on the body of the possessed. There is danger that it will be treated irreverently. The exorcist should perform and read the exorcism with command, authority, great faith, humility, and fervor.

And when he sees that the possessing spirit is being tortured mightily, he should multiply all these efforts at pressuring it. Whenever he sees some part of the oppressed person's body moving or pierced or some swelling appearing, let him make the sign of the cross and sprinkle holy Wasser, holy water.

Latin, what's the word for water? I think Greek, it's Nero, right? Wasser in German, agua in Spanish. What is it? I think Greek is Nero. Yeah, I think that's right. I think that's right. I don't know what it is.

I've already forgotten what it is in Hebrew, but I'm sure someone will tell me. So, does that sound right? I don't think that sounds right at all. How do we know? They're just making it up. We're not told in the New Testament.

We see Jesus do it and he has authority and he does it with a word, but we don't know what to do. I mean, what would Jesus do is not the best question to figure out what to do. It says Jesus tells them to be quiet and come out of him, right?

Be silent and come out of him. That's all Jesus said. No Latin, no rites, no this, no that. Be silent and come out of him. There's a litany of the saints, rite of exorcism, Roman Catholic Church, summoning of the evil spirit.

Here's what you're to say. Unclean spirit, whoever you are and all your companions who possess the servant of God, by the mysteries of incarnation, the sufferings and death, the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sending of the Holy Spirit and by the coming of our Lord into last judgment, I command you, tell me with some sign your name, the day and hour of your damnation.

Obey me in everything, although I am an unworthy servant of God. Do no damage to this creature or to my assistants or to any of their goods. I exercise you, most unclean spirit, invading enemy, all spirits, every one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, be uprooted and expelled from this creature.

He who commands you is he who ordered you to be thrown down from the highest heaven into the depths of hell. Here, therefore, in fear Satan, enemy of the faith, enemy of the human race, source of death, robber of life, twister of justice, root of all evil, warp of all vices, seducer of men, traitor of nations, insider of jealousy, originator of greed, cause of discord, creator of agony.

Why do you stay and resist when you know that Christ our Lord has destroyed your plan? Fear him who was prefigured in Isaac and Joseph and the Paschal Lamb, who was crucified as a man and who rose from the dead.".

Now, that's a mouthful. And you know what? Most of it's true. Right? Most of it's true. But we're not called to talk to demons. We're not called to exercise demons. We're not told to do any of that. It's not in the Bible.

So, you have to make it up. Which leads me to the next question, number five. What should you do if you ever meet a demon-possessed person? I frankly don't know how you're going to know if they're demon-possessed or not.

Do I think they exist? Yes. Do I think you're going to know? Maybe. I've heard stories of well-respected pastors that see people with supernatural strength and talk in a different voice and know things that they're not supposed to know.

Those are simply anecdotal. I don't know of those. I hear of them. That's all. But the good news is if you meet someone who's demon-possessed, if you preach the gospel to them and it is the Lord's pleasure to save them through preaching, then the demons go.

Right? The demons go. Because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. You would then become the temple of the living God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. You would be sealed for the day of redemption.

You would be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. You would be protected from the evil one. That's what would happen. And so I'm just listening to things in the background here. Somebody's cleaning or something.

That's all I need in my office for today on Saturday by myself, but the cleaners happen to be here. So what do you do? What I would not do is rebuke Satan. I would not cast him out to a city that you don't like.

I would not say the Lord rebuke you. Jude 10 says, but these men revile the things which they do not understand and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

Second Peter 2, 10 and 11, especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desire and despise authority, daring self-will, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

Sounds like I don't want to do what those false prophets are doing. Last question, number six, can Christians be demon-possessed today? Well, I just answered it in some of my answer in the last question.

If a believer is indwelt by God, and they are, if a believer's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and it is, if the believer is the temple of the living God, and it is, if the believers are owned by the Spirit of God sealed for the day of redemption, and they are, if believers are sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, and they are, if they are God's own possession, Ephesians 1, 14, and they are, if Jesus has prayed for them to keep them from the evil one, and he has, then we don't have to worry about it.

We cannot be possessed. And so, we're thankful for that. I think the reason why the question even comes up, not really much in my circles these days, because this is kind of old hat. This is something we learned a long time ago, and we don't run around casting out demons.

But there's certain kind of Christian psychology, and certain people like in the old days, Neil Anderson, bondage breaker, that would basically say Christians can't be possessed, but maybe they'll be oppressed, and they would have some kind of victim mentality when these strong demons are after them.

He said back in the day, Neil Anderson, that 85 of Christians have demon problems. Well, that's a pretty high percentage, and I guess I have demon problems. I just don't know what that is. And therefore, I have to ask the question, well, what would a problem, what would a demon problem be for a Christian?

Well, he says on the bondage breaker, page 179 and 180, anything bad which you cannot stop doing, or anything good which you cannot make yourself do, could be an area of demonic control. And so, he says, well, what would a problem be for a Christian?

What if you do make provision for the flesh by giving Satan an opportunity in your life through sin? Do we have blanket immunity from Satan's invasion? No, that protection is conditional on our responsible participation in God's plan for our protection.

That is really wrong. That just should strike you as Arminian, Arminian, watch out, watch out for people that talk like this. Many so-called deliverance ministries, delivering people from Satan and demons because they are lusting, are murdering, or they're homosexual, or they're fornicators, or whatever, these deliverance ministries seem to shift the blame from the person doing the sins to the demons allegedly inhabiting the person or oppressing the person.

It's interesting because it says the deeds of the flesh in Galatians 5 are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.

Those are the deeds of the flesh. Those aren't deeds of demons. Those are not deeds of demons. And so, what do we do as Christians? We know the devil, our adversary prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but we are to resist him, 1 Peter 5 verses 8 and 9, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

What's the point? The point is, if you have sin in your life, I don't want you to somehow blame a demon. I don't think if you listened to the show you actually would do that. You blame yourself. You read Psalm 51, and you say with David, we're thankful for that Psalm, by the way, and we say with David, everything from against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, to create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me, you're going to be just, Father, as you chasten me, and I'll accept whatever, just help me to sing afterward.

All those things that are in those Psalms, please blot out my transgressions according to your mercy. That's how we deal with our sin. We confess it and run from it and repent from it, and we want to obey God and live honorably and righteously in this wicked age, but we're not going to blame our sin on anything else.

And even for me lately with the medicine I'm taking from cancer, I'm not really as happy as I normally am and excited and enthusiastic and joyful, but when that attitude turns into sin, and I'm sure sometimes it does, I'm not to blame demons.

Pastor Mike has the demon of pre-depression. I don't have depression. I don't have anything close to it, but I just feel like, oh, plus it's gray out, it's cold out, it's windy out. Yes, I'm taking vitamin D with K2.

Please stop emailing me. A lot of people think they want to give me medical advice via email, keto for cancer, don't have sugar, take this supplement, take that. I just say, you know what, people love me when they do that.

That's about it. Anyway, my name is Mike Avendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. When it comes to the Lord, it says in 1 Corinthians, in Romans chapter 16, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. We can trust the Lord, can't we? Jesus is stronger than any demon, so rest assured.