Demon Encounters

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Welcome back to Have You Not Read. I'm Dylan Hamilton, and with me are.

Michael Deere.

Andrew Hudson.

Demons Are Real but Not a Spectacle

Today we are filling a question about demons. Over my lifetime, I've heard a few demon encounter stories. Most of the people recounting these stories seem to believe they have actually encountered a demon and even describe in detail what it looked like or sounded like.

Even with these details, I always have a hard time believing any of these stories are true. How much do demons interact with our world today? Is it possible for humans to have interactions with demons?

Michael?

So, most of the demon stories are the ones that are sensational. So, the ones that get passed around, the ones that get shared are the ones, the ones that I've heard growing up and still hear today are the ones that are the most sensational.

So, I think that there's two things right out of the gate. One is, of course, we are promised that the devil and the demons are going to meet their everlasting fiery end in the lake of fire. Since we have not arrived at the great last day yet, we know that the demons are still active.

Okay, so we can say that for sure from scripture. We can also say that there are all manner of demonic activities going on today that don't get talked about in terms of, humans being influenced by interacting with being affected by demons.

So, what we need to do is think about the way that the scripture talks about it. And there are many encounters with demons where Jesus goes throughout his ministry in Galilee and Judea and he casts out demons.

And these are stories that fire the imagination and we see very powerful, radical deliverances time and again. And then we see stories like this as well in Book of Acts. And then we have, more than that though, we have descriptions of how demons are active in other ways.

What Scripture Shows About Demon Activity

So, do we have any stories in the scriptures? Do we have any evidence in the scriptures wherein demons are seen? Wherein there is some sort of physical, visible manifestation of them? No, no, we're not given that.

We have stories wherein somebody who is demon possessed act in ways that are not natural, that are abhorrent, that are horrifying. And then we have the deliverance, their deliverance, and often someone will convulse and come back to themselves.

We do have the story of the man, he was running around naked in the tombs and breaking chains. And when Jesus delivered him from a legion of demons, they all entered a herd of swine, ran down the hill and died by drowning.

So, you have evidence, some sort of physical manifestations of the fact that demons do act, but you don't have actual visible manifestations of demons in the scriptures. So, the scriptures are normative for our, are regulative for our understanding, our faith, our practice, how we're going to understand what goes on in the world today.

I think the one thing that pops up time and again in the Bible is that the demons are deceptive, that they're doing the work of Satan. And the work of Satan is to steal, kill and destroy and to deceive, the father of lies deceives.

1 Timothy 4, one gives warning about deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons. Revelation nine talks about those who worship demons, meaning idols of gold, silver, brass and stone and wood, which are the senior here in our walk.

Well, what's the power behind idols? The Bible tells us demons are the power behind idols, behind the pagan worship practices, both in terms of the deception and in terms of the ensnarement and enslavement of those who engage in that.

So, the Bible is not shy about talking about demons, but also there's not a great fixation on demon hunting, shall we say, or attributing all ills to demons as if demons were the means of Satan's sovereignty in the lives of everyone, including Christians, wherein bad things happen.

Ah, this is Satan using his demons to bring bad things into our lives. Wherein Satan, everything bad and unpleasant and sorrowful and difficult in our lives is attributed. And this is a danger people fall into this trap of attributing all of that to Satan.

And then they look at the particular problems they're having, oh, it must be a demon.

Giving Satan much too much power.

Yes, it's exactly. Now, the testimony of the word is that Christ binds the strong man. He steals the possessions away from the devil, that the devil is on a short leash, a chain. He can't deceive the nations like he once did.

The gospel breaks forth and are demons still active? Sure, Satan's still around, sure. But we are told time and again as believers that when we encounter various trials, difficult times and so on, that we're to look to our heavenly father who is doing his perfect work in us.

That we are not to think first, think demons first, to think devil first. But the fear of the Lord means we think of him first and we think of him most. And we recognize in Christ our victory over these forces of darkness.

Avoiding a Mysticism That Chases Experiences

So you talked a little bit about like the always thinking about supernatural reasons why things are happening. Is there also a tendency currently or in our quote unquote modern age to dismiss all supernaturalism?

No, absolutely.

So this brings me back to my first distinctive, is that when demon stories get told, it's like this fantastic, sensational kind of story. The stories that we should be telling about how demons are active in this world are the stories that we handle like on our This Week in Witchcraft sessions.

Wherein there's deceiving spirits that are enslaving people with lies. Are people engaging with demons on a daily basis today?

You bet.

But it doesn't look like a zombie apocalypse. It looks like people believing lies and raging against Christ.

So we had just mentioned about legion and I believe the term that's used here is unclean spirit in the New King James Version. Is that synonymous with demon?

Yes.

Okay, in 1 Kings 22 we have the account of Micaiah warning Ahab and there's a prophecy that comes to Ahab through his other prophets. And starting in verse 19, it goes into the scene in the heavenly realm.

In verse 22, it talks about being a lying spirit. Is that also a synonymous term for demon?

So is it 1 Kings?

1 Kings 22.

So yeah, when we read in the New Testament and other places, demons are called deceiving spirits. So in this particular case, in 1 Kings 22, we have the story wherein God shows his sovereignty over the forces of darkness, these demons, that God has absolute sovereign rule over them, right?

And orders that the king would, or that the prophets would be filled with a deceiving, lying spirit. And thus, this was a form of judgment against the king whom the Lord has obviously identified as his enemy, right?

So we have in the scripture the commandment, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Why not? Because you're not at war with your neighbor, you're at peace with him. Now in the case of Abraham saving himself and his wife from death and capture, they're not going to tell the truth.

The Pharaoh, Pharaoh ain't your neighbor. The midwives don't tell the truth to Pharaoh, Pharaoh is not their neighbor. Rahab does not tell, this is interesting, Rahab does not tell the truth to her fellow people in Jericho because they are no longer her neighbors because she is turned to the Lord and feared in the Lord.

So what we have time and time again is that if you're at war with someone, lying to them is most likely required at some point. And God by sending a lying spirit to these prophets whom he has already condemned and the king whom he's condemned shows that he is at war with them.

So with this lying spirit, deceiving spirit would be in this case a demon.

It's interesting you say that. Sun Tzu in the art of war, I think he makes the claim that all war is deception.

Yes.

And that it's interesting how that kind of basic wisdom and knowledge made it that way. Obviously because Sun Tzu is not a believer but just kind of noting that connection there. And as I'm like flipping through all the references to demons, it seems that some of the encounters we hear about that are sensationalized.

Are demons separate of a vessel or separate of this seemingly parasitic nature that they have because they always seem to have a host even when cast out, right?

Yes.

Even when cast out, they must find a new host or a new house to invade. And so these sensationalized stories don't seem to comport with biblical stories about demons. And I'm not saying it's like, it's not the best argument for these sensationalized stories not being about demons but it doesn't seem to look like the same type of characters we're dealing with in scripture as we are with the sensational stories.

Right, and I'm not saying that all the sensational stories are untrue but there is a temptation to live, to try to fall into a mysticism wherein experiences are everything. But in fact, we're told that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God that we are to be living our lives according to the scriptures, according to this bread of life given to us, that we are to understand the experiences we live according to the standard of God's word.

And there is a temptation to live our lives according to impressive experiences and even to feed off the tales of these experiences from others. Like, oh, this is where real spirituality is. And I think that we receive warnings in the scripture against that so that when the disciples come back from their tour of ministry and tell Jesus all these things that happen, including the casting out of demons, he says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Like, this telling of stories is not the important thing. Come aside now. We have Peter talking about the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration but then says, but the scriptures is where we have the word made sure.

This is where we need to live our lives according to the word of God, not by our mountaintop experiences. So with that caveat made, obviously God is free in his sovereignty to deliver people who are possessed by demons in his good way.

But it's about his sovereignty and his freedom and not some kind of formula or some kind of possessed, controlled power wielded by some kind of sage, Christian or otherwise. To think that we can have a formula by which we can cast out demons is very foolish.

Just ask the sons of Sceva.

Some of that control over demons has come through Jewish mysticism. Their attribution to Solomon as being lord over the demons and his signet. So some of that could be coming through there.

Andrew, your insight is very helpful. The things you bring up, I have no idea that that stuff is out there. So I appreciate that.

Always bring in the niche.

Yeah.

Well, I think that about wraps us up today with the question about demon possession. What are we thankful for, Michael?

I am thankful for answered prayer. I am thankful for God showing mercy and compassion on us in his good way and his good timing. He knows best how to answer prayer. Not according to my timing and my details, but according to his timing and his mercies.

Andrew?

I'm thankful to God for, it might sound strange. My daughter has recently switched over to having solid foods. And it's been a rough go with her using the restroom. And I'm glad that that is working out.

And praise the Lord.

Amen. I'm thankful for the deliverance that we have in Christ. Usually when we're talking about people who are demon possessed, they're enslaved people. And at one point I was enslaved, deeply enslaved to many things, including and especially my own pride.

But I was delivered from that. And it was Christ who did it. And I praise him for it.

And that wraps it up for today. We are very thankful for our listeners and hope you will join us again as we meet to answer common questions and objections with Have You Not Read?