THE TRUTH ABOUT SPIRITUAL WARFARE
By Richard Burkard
Long-time members of Sabbath-keeping Church of God groups have heard hundreds, if not thousands of sermons. The topics can become so familiar that the most memorable moments come when ministers make comments which are incredibly bold, if not outlandish.
Take the Associate Pastor I heard as a "prospective member" in the 1980s. Michael Jackson's moves in music videos had made "breakdancing" a trend among young people. But during a sermon, this minister warned dancers who spin around on the floor are "inviting demon-possession."
I don't recall the minister ever citing a Bible verse to back up that statement. But I was reminded of it decades later at a Night to be Much Observed dinner. A young man came with all sorts of Bible questions - and one of them involved what is the difference between simply led by Satan to become a "slave to sin" (Romans 6:16) and being outright demon-possessed.
No ordained minister was at the dinner to answer this question - but I've heard many share fascinating stories about encounters with demons, even on the campus of "God's college" (as in Ambassador). Those stories can be interesting, and even entertaining. Yet what does the Bible inspired by God have to say about such things? Is it more than a coincidence that spinning rhymes with sinning? And are all unusual spirits automatically the work of the devil?
What They Are
Before we get to those questions, let's address the skeptics. It could be that you're doubtful about this entire topic. You don't think spirits exist - good, bad or indifferent.
It takes faith to believe in things we cannot see, as Hebrews 11:1 points out. That's true with things of this world, as well as heavenly things. I write this less than a week after the announcement that Usama bin-Laden was killed by U.S. Navy Seals in Pakistan. Some people (perhaps recalling the "birther" controversy) demanded President Obama provide proof of the murder. Yet he decided against releasing photos of bin-Laden's dead body or burial ceremony -- and a few days after the President's announcement, al-Qaeda admitted bin-Laden was dead.
Another verse in Hebrews calls God "the Father of our spirits...." (12:9) This refers to "the spirit in man" which provides life and conscience (I Corinthians 2:11), as well as living spirit beings.
The Bible tells of several spirits around God's throne in heaven. Zechariah 6:5 indicates there are four -- yet Revelation refers to seven, which serve as Jesus's eyes watching the earth (Rev. 1:4, 5:6). (Both cases seem to be based on visions, so God may have revealed different things at different times.) Psalm 104:4 further reveals God "makes his angels spirits" (KJV). In fact, they're "ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation...." (Hebrews 1:14)
But sadly, II Peter 2:4 notes angels can sin. Bible scholars commonly understand such "fallen angels" to be demons (Matthew 25:41), serving "the spirit of this world" (I Corinthians 2:12). Moses talked about some people who actually "sacrificed to demons, which are not God" when they worshiped false gods (Deuteronomy 32:17). Those people, perhaps without realizing it, are serving a Satanic spirit.
Revelation 18:2 adds an interesting detail, speaking of end-time "Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit...." In other words, a demon and an "evil spirit" can be different things. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance suggests the latter can refer to a "mental disposition" which is impure or unclean.
A Friend of Demons?
Demon possession of a person seems to be a step beyond mere service to the devil.
Jesus uttered a bold statement to His disciples: "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil" (John 6:70). Notice carefully the wording, in which all major translations agree. Judas Iscariot (identified in verse 71) doesn't simply have a devil. He is a devil -- or better put, a demon!
Yet I was stunned to review another statement of Christ, as Judas came with arresting officers in the garden of Gethsemane. "Jesus replied, 'Friend, do what you came for'" (Matthew 26:50). What sort of a "holy one" would call a demon a friend?
We need to understand the Greek word for "friend" there is different than what Jesus used at the Lord's Supper/Passover when he said, "You are my friends if you do what I command" (John 15:14). Jesus called Judas hetairos - a "comrade," or a kind way of addressing someone.
What Brings Them On
So the Lord clearly believed demons existed - just as demons believe in God (James 2:19). Jesus dealt with many while walking the earth. In fact, some people were plagued by "many" demons at the same time (Mark 5:9). But how did the demons get there in the first place?
Hold on to your chair for this - the Bible indicates God put some of them there! How can I say that? Because an Old Testament prophet named Micaiah did:
"I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his life. And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there.' One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, 'I will entice him.' 'By what means?' the Lord asked. 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said. 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the Lord. 'Go and do it.'" (I Kings 22:19-22 and II Chronicles 18:18-22)
God approved a lying spirit? That's what Micaiah said -- and he declared this "the word of the Lord," which led to punishment from King Ahab. But even if the prophet simply saw a vision, other verses back up this approach by God.
"An evil spirit from God is tormenting you," an attendant once told King Saul of Israel. I Samuel 16:14-23 indicates that diagnosis was accurate - a different spirit entered after "the Spirit of the Lord.... departed" from the king. In a similar way, God "stirred up.... the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians" against King Jehoram of Judah - and II Chronicles 22:16-17 shows it was a spirit of stealing and pillaging.
Isaiah provides other examples of this. In ancient Israel, "The Lord has brought upon you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers)," says Isaiah 29:10 (see also Romans 11:8). And upon local leaders of Egypt, "The Lord has poured into them a spirit of dizziness...." (19:13-14). With all respect to that Associate Pastor we mentioned earlier, this is the closest verse we could find to breakdancing spins in the Bible - and God caused the dizziness (CEV "confused"), not the dancers themselves.
Yet don't get the wrong idea - the presence of evil spirits is NOT 100-percent God's fault. In fact, God warns several times: "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them" (Leviticus 19:31; see also Deuteronomy 18:11, Isaiah 8:19, etc.). The King James translates this as "familiar spirits"; Gesenius's Lexicon indicates it can mean a "soothsaying demon." You might assume the "defilement" mentioned here includes evil spirits or demons entering someone, but we found no Scripture specifically stating this.
Psalm 106:37 recalls how some people in ancient Israel "sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons" -- just as pagans did (I Corinthians 10:20), and some may yet do in the days before Jesus returns (Revelation 9:20).
Related to this is the idea of the person who gives "any of your children to be sacrifices to Molech...." (Leviticus 18:21 and 20:2) Molech was the main god of the Ammonites - yet I've heard Church of God ministers stretch these verses to apply to everything from abortion to children appearing in TV commercials.
Dirty Deeds Demons Do
One of Jesus's most famous warnings to His disciples was: "....many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many" (Matthew 24:5). In fact, the end of the age will include "spirits of demons performing miraculous signs...." (Revelation 16:14) So it is no wonder that I John 4:1 warns believers, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God...."
The apostle Paul warns in I Timothy 4:1 against following "deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." Yes, demons can teach things - heretical things. Like what? Verse 3 gives an answer: "They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods...." As you might guess, some have used that verse to argue for an end to "clean and unclean" meat laws in the church; we have a separate article analyzing that issue.
In extreme yet more familiar cases, demons can drive people crazy -- such as a man prone to self-mutilating rages in Mark 5. And it's noteworthy that in Jesus's day, children sometimes had demons. A boy with seizures is cited in Matthew 17:14-15. This was well before breakdancing, video games or even motion pictures.
(That boy has sparked debate in our day about whether young people diagnosed with epilepsy have a physical illness or a spiritual problem. We do NOT claim expertise in this area, so we'll leave that issue to others.)
How to Get Them Out
The Bible records Mary Magdalene became a follower of Jesus after having seven demons removed (Mark 16:9/Luke 8:2). Yet the issue of removal today can go to two extremes: scam artists and denial.
As I'm writing this section, the morning radio news has mentioned a criminal fraud case in Florida where women may have demanded gifts to have evil spirits removed. One woman allegedly even asked a client for a Rolex watch! We could crack old jokes here about whether Jesus would wear a Rolex; instead, we'll refer you to Simon the sorcerer's offer of money for the Holy Spirit in Acts 8.
At the other side is the surprising statement I heard from the leader of a Church of God-related ministry. He told during a sermon of encountering a man with two demons on the Ambassador College campus in Pasadena, California - and being told by God in a quick prayer merely to order the man off-campus. The Lord supposedly wasn't interested in removing those demons from the man completely!
Yet in the same sermon, the minister said believers don't seek God's intervention often enough for healing. And he actually turned to John 14:12, where Jesus declared His followers "will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these...." A colleague later explained God gave guidance about demons in Pasadena for that individual case - but a question remains: why would Jesus mention demon removal as a sign of His disciples (Mk. 16:17) if God doesn't want it done?
The Biblical reality is that Jesus gave His disciples "authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness" (Matthew 10:1) -- and they did it (Mark 6:12-13/Acts 5:16 and 8:7). At first the disciples had some difficulty, as Jesus noted in Matthew 17:20-21 some demons required extra "prayer and fasting" seeking God's help in faith.
But after that great day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell, the apostles didn't even have to be present personally. Acts 19:11-12 describes what church members would call "anointed cloths" from the apostle Paul: "....even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them."
But What About Them?
But here we get into a tricky area - because the Bible indicates evil spirits can be removed by people who are not necessarily Christ's disciples. One of the original disciples was puzzled by this. "'Teacher,' said John, 'we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us'" (Mark 9:38). In fact, Luke 11:19 suggests this may have a common practice in Jesus's day.
How did the Lord answer this? Did He borrow a line used by His critics, and declare the other man was utilizing "Beelzebub, the prince of demons" (Mark 11:15)? Did He call the actions a scam? No, quite the contrary. "'Do not stop him,' Jesus said. 'No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us'" (9:39-40).
This passage reminds me of the years when the Worldwide Church of God boasted of being "the one true church" and the only group keeping God's Sabbath and Holy Days - until thousands of Sabbath-keepers were discovered in Ukraine. The New Bible Commentary: Revised bluntly says regarding Jesus's reply, "There is no more forthright rebuke of ecclesiastical intolerance than this" (pg. 871).
Yet Jesus also indicates people who seem to have power over evil spirits are not guaranteed a place in His Kingdom. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not.... i your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:22-23) Keep in mind some Jews who tried to remove evil spirits invoked Jesus's name, yet wound up physically wounded (Acts 19:14-16).
What makes the difference? Jesus seems to answer that question in Matthew 7:21. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." What does it mean to do God's will? We also have an article studying that from a Biblical perspective.
Filling the Hole
It's also important to note a "spiritual vacuum" can exist if a demon or evil spirit leaves someone. It needs to be replaced with God's Holy Spirit. Jesus explained what could happen otherwise.
"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first" (Luke 11:24-26).
This is a potential risk in the common teaching of Church of God groups that the Holy Spirit is only with prospective members, but is not in them until baptism (based on John 14:17). If someone has a demon removed, shouldn't the top priority be to replace it with something holy as soon as possible - instead of subjecting the convert to a lengthy series of counseling sessions and "indoctrination" with church literature? The day of Pentecost described in Acts 2 certainly didn't work that way.
A Higher Priority
Some Christian ministers have made a career out of staging exorcisms and holding dramatic "confrontations" with demons. One man had encounters during a live radio talk show which sounded so frightening that they could have steered drivers off the road into wrecks. (These ministers have critics within the mainstream Christian community, who consider it all an acting job.)
But if the removal of evil spirits is your entire emphasis, Jesus warned you could be misguided. "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). In other words, the book of life matters more than a demon count.
After all, Jesus brought good news that there's "eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). In fact, some demons apparently have been confined for thousands of years awaiting this fate. This is based on the admittedly difficult passage of I Peter 3:19-20, which says Jesus preached to "the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built."
This is a fire Jesus wants you to avoid. You can do that by accepting Christ as Savior, being filled with His Spirit, then engaging in loving righteous acts toward brethren (Matthew 25:34-39). That keeps you close to God - and Paul was "convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons.... will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).
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© 2011, Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.