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Dickson Biblical Research Library, www.africainternational.orgSatan And Demons - Roger E. Dickson, ©1998, 2018: Africa International Missions, Hutchinson, Kansas U.S.A., Philadelphia, South Africa

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Contents

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Philadelphia, Western Cape, South AfricaCopyright 1998, 2018, Africa International Missions

Scripture quotations from New King James VersionCover Theme: DANGER (Sutherland, South Africa, R.E.D.)

Satan and DemonsRoger E. Dickson

CONTENTS

Preface – 3

Introduction – 5

1 – Biblical Condemnation Of Occultism – 8

2 – Occultism Versus Truth – 18

3 – God’s Source Of Truth – 23

4 – Free-Moral Choice – 27

5 – The Omnipotent God – 31

6 – The Finality Of Death – 36

7 – Biblical Eschatology – 40

8 – Demon Possession – 46

9 – The Purpose Of Demon Possession – 51

10 – Exorcism – 56

11 – The Realm Of The Miraculous – 63

12 – The Disarmed Devil – 69

13 – The Bound Devil – 77

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PREFACE

We believe there are only sixty-sixbooks that compose the canon of Bible books.We believe that these books, or letters, cameto us by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thehands of men were guided by the Holy Spiritin order to guarantee that they inscribe Biblebooks that were without error in the originalautographs. In this way, the original authorsrevealed the truth without error, as well asdocumented accurately events that transpiredin history. We thus believe in, and followonly these sixty-six books as the final author-ity upon which we base our faith.

But many of those to whom this book isdirected have added more books to the canonof the sixty-six Bible books. They have doneso either willingly, or without knowing whatthey have done. Thousands of books havebeen written by deceived authors through-out the last two centuries. These books con-tain a great deal of theology and commentaryon the Bible itself. These are not the booksabout which we are concerned. What is ourconcern are those books that have been writ-ten by men who claim to have experiencedsome supernatural event in their personallives. They have written of these events as iftheir books should be considered with theinspired testimony of miracles that are re-corded in the Bible. As a result, thousands oftheir readers have accepted as truth that aboutwhich these deceived authors have written.

The readers have thus, either con-sciously, or unconsciously, added the testi-mony of these biographical books to thebooks of the Bible. Every book that has beenwritten with the testimony of some resurrec-tion from the dead, demon possession, orsome other supposedly supernatural experi-ence, have been accepted by gullible readersas if the events actually happened. In fact,these readers have accepted these books with

the same credibility as the Holy Spirit inspiredbooks of the Bible. In this way deceived read-ers have added scores of books to the sixty-six books that compose the cannon of theScriptures. It is as if these deceived readersare more excited about the accounts of someauthor’s modern-day supposed experiencesof a resurrection, or demon possession, thanthey are about the resurrection of Lazarus andJesus.

We are not referring to those goodbooks that teach great spiritual lessons,though we would caution readers that suchbooks, as this one, are only the writings ofman. We are discussing those books thatdescribe supposed experiences of the super-natural. Any book of the personal experiencesof supposed supernatural events should al-ways be highly suspect. If one accepts theaccount of the supposed supernatural expe-riences of another that is written in a book,then that reader is not heeding the warningof Jesus that we are not be deceived. Even ifwe hear of supposed supernatural happen-ings by word of mouth, we should be verycautious.

We have found that those religiousgroups that do not focus on a study of theBible are the most receptive to these experi-ential biographies about things beyond thephysical world. It is as if the members of suchgroups vigorously digest the supposed su-pernatural experiences of men that are re-corded in books. When one has divorced him-self from the restrictions of the Scriptures,he leaves himself open to believe anything.

This is the problem with those religiousgroups who do not focus on allowing the Bibleto be the final authority in defining any per-sonal experience of any man. If the Bible isnot our final dictionary, then deceived mencan assume that their experiences can also be

Preface

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added to the final dictionary of the Bible indefining spiritual occurrences. And whenmen do this, and write a book, then to somethat book becomes the same authority in theirfaith in conjunction with the Bible. And thus,the reader who has forsaken the final author-

ity of the sixty-six books of the Bible, hassubsequently added another book to theBible.

It would do us well to read again thefinal warning that the Holy Spirit gave to allof us at the end of the Bible:

“For I testify to everyone whohears the words of the prophecy ofthis book, if anyone adds to thesethings, God will add to him theplagues that are written in thisbook” (Rv 22:18).

Preface

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SATAN AND DEMONSWe live in a world that has been led astray by countless imaginations of menwho have long forgotten the word of God. The world is filled with religionsthat have been created after the desires of men who have submitted to theirown religious inclinations. Satan, therefore, is alive and doing well throughthe deception of men who have rebelled against God. Though the gospelhas bound Satan in the lives of Christians, he is still roaming among those inthe world through the power of deceptions that religious men use to pro-mote and control the lives of the innocent. It is the responsibility of Chris-tians, therefore, to arm themselves with the sword of the Spirit. This is thetime for Christians to arise to the occasion of preaching the truth of God’sword throughout the world in order to defeat the stranglehold that Satan hason the world. This is the time for boldness in standing for what the Biblesays. It is not a time to relinquish to the influences and teachings of thecultures in which we live. It is a time to take a stand for truth in the midst ofcountless deceptions that exist throughout the world.

We live in an existence of the su-pernatural. It is necessary, therefore, toreap from the word of God the strugglethat exists between good and evil. Mostpeople are good students of God the Fa-ther, Son and Holy Spirit. But when dis-cussing the realm of the “underworld,” itseems that there is a great dearth ofknowledge concerning what the Bibleteaches.

Most people who buy and read bookson the subject of Satan and demons arelooking for answers in a mystical worldthat has too often been the creation offertile imaginations. If you are readingthe misguided authors of mystical studiesin order to justify the imaginations of thosewho have long ignored the Bible, then thisbook will not give you any peace of mind.It is not our purpose in this book to sur-vey through the misguided religious inven-

tions of men in order to excite our curios-ity, and stimulate through fear that oneturn to God. It is our purpose to bring ourattention again to God’s word in order todiscover a biblical definition of this sub-ject that has challenged the thinking ofmen for centuries. Therefore, prepareto be challenged to study the Bible. Wewill repeat this challenge throughout thechapters that follow. We will repeat itbecause men are too quick and excitedabout dreaming up imaginations that aretotally foreign to what the Scriptures teachon this subject.

In Matthew 24:4 Jesus warned,“Take heed that no one deceives you.”No greater statement could have beenmade concerning an introduction to thesubject of this book. We live in a worldin which many in the “Christian” religiousworld have been deceived concerning

Introduction

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matters of Satan and his host of angels.Many have been deceived because theyhave given themselves over to leaderswho know little or nothing about the Bible.It is for this reason that we must forceourselves to stay absolutely with what theScriptures say on this subject.

Throughout the world today, noth-ing seems to captivate the imagination ofmen more than the supposed mysteriousworkings of supposed evil spirits roam-ing through rocks, trees and mystic in-cantations in order to inflict pain and fearon some unfortunate human being. Feel-ings are usually intense on this subjecttoday in those world cultures where mys-ticism is commonly practiced. In fact,those cultures that commonly practiceritualistic ceremonies of the “underworld” seem to “experience” a greateramount of “demon possession,” and otherso called activities of the spirit world, thanthose cultures that have long given up suchbeliefs. In those cultures that are con-sidered “the developed world,” the prac-tices and beliefs of the occult appear tobe less prevalent. One reason for this iscertainly evident. Imaginations of menrun wild when captivated by the deceit-ful workings of witch doctors, wizards andenchanters. In other words, supposedmysterious activities of the spirit worldseem to be prevalent where thesethings are practiced. Our experiencein traveling throughout the world has cer-tainly proven this to be true. When menwant to believe in the mysteriousmeanderings of spirits, they will invent forthemselves a host of ghosts and suspi-cious beings to satisfy their misguided

desires for an exciting religiosity. ButGod’s people must not be deceived.

In studying this subject, we must firstcontend that the Bible will be our onlyaccepted authority to approach the phe-nomenon of demon possession in the firstcentury and the mystical claims of theoccult today. Secular experiences out-side the Bible must always be examinedin view of biblical definitions. In otherwords, demon possession, or any otherpractice of the occult, must be examinedand defined according to the Bible, God’sinspired “dictionary.” We cannot tag abiblical name or phrase on a phenomenonabout which the Bible speaks nothing. Inthe course of this book, therefore, one ofour tasks will be to develop a biblical defi-nition of demon possession in order thatwe not be deceived by the imagina-tions of religious speculators.

Men have a tremendous abilityto deceive men. We would also saythat men have a tremendous ability to bedeceived. This is Satan’s most powerfultool to lead men to destruction. But thecareful student will not confuse Satan’sdeceptions with biblical truth. Neither willhe confuse the invention of deceivedminds with that which is real. In otherwords, the modern-day psychologicalphenomenon of deceived men should notbe confused with biblical demon posses-sion. We cannot allow self-deceived mento justify a false belief by tagging on to ita biblical name. Because God knew thatmen would do such things in order to jus-tify their wicked religious inventions, Hewarned us not to be deceived.

We do not presume to know every-

Introduction

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thing in the Bible concerning the first cen-tury phenomenon of demon possession.However, in our study here, we must limitourselves to the best source of study wehave on the subject, that is, the Bible. Ifour resources stray to secular history orthe modern-day speculations of religiousexperientialists, we subject ourselves tothe most powerful tool of Satan. Thattool is deception. We must strive, there-fore, to heed the warnings of the NewTestament writers not to be deceived.

Occult practices have been withmankind since the time men gave up aknowledge of God. They will surely bewith us until Jesus comes again. In rec-ognizing man’s vulnerability to such prac-tices, God placed stern warnings in Hisword against involvement in occult prac-tices. Such warnings were not givenbecause of the reality of the incanta-tions produced by the occult, but be-cause of man’s ability to deceive him-self into believing those things thatwould lead him away from divine di-rection.

Therefore, we must not allow our-selves to believe something to be realwhen it is actually a production of craftymen who have exceptional abilities ofdeception. God’s people should be skep-tical concerning such workings simplybecause God has told us beforehand thatSatan works through the minds of twistedreligionists in order to deceive the heartsof the innocent and ignorant. Therefore,in recognizing the vulnerability of the in-nocent, God warns us not to be de-ceived.

It is the purpose of this book, there-

fore, to bring us out of the world of spooksand goblins, of spirits and hearsay aboutmysterious happenings that seem to havealways occurred somewhere else. Wehave never ceased to be amazed in ourtravels by the number of people whocome to us and say, “Did you hear ....”Or, “We have heard that ....” When wewere children, hearsay of “magical hap-penings” flourished throughout that timeof our lives. Such talk excited our imagi-nations. Stories of lights in haunted hutsand creepy noises in cemeteries gener-ated a childish fantasy in our minds tobelieve such things to be actual and thereal meanderings of the spirit world.However, most of us have come to heedthe words of the inspired Paul, “When Iwas a child, I spoke as a child, I un-derstood as a child, I thought as achild; but when I became a man, I putaway childish things” (1 Co 13:11). Itis time to use our Bibles in our investiga-tion of so-called mysterious phenomenonthat many claim to exist today. We musttrust in the inspired word of God to beour only guide to direct us in any investi-gation of that which exists. In His wordwe discover numerous warnings not tobe deceived.

Do not misunderstand, however, thatwe should believe that Satan is hidden offsomewhere in the universe. He does nothide. He hinders. He is at work in thelives of those who have given themselvesover to deception. He still goes about asa roaring lion in the world of unbelief,seeking those whom he may deceive intobelieving in nonexistent mysterious things.It is not that God has put into Satan’s

Introduction

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realm of influence miraculous and sub-jective power in order to conquer accord-ing to his own will. His power lies in thewillingness of men to reject God and fol-low after deception. And all who wouldreject God, subject themselves to the wild-est imaginations that prevail throughoutthe world.

Satan needs no miraculous powerto accomplish his program of capturingthe world. He does not need to workthrough any demons today. There isenough unbelief in the world today to sat-isfy the rebellion of any who would refuseto serve God. And look at what prevails.Satan by far has in his grasp the vastmajority of the world’s population. Withsuch an upper hand in the world, he needsno miraculous manifestations. He needsno legion of demons to go forth and re-cruit. He simply works through thosewhom he has now deceived.

What is important to understand,

therefore, is to know Satan’s limits thathave been put on him by God. We mustknow how he works. Once we under-stand this, then there is no room nor needfor fear. We must realize that we aremore than conquerors through Him wholoved us. And because we are more thanconquerors, there is nothing that we can-not conqueror through Jesus. If there isstill fear in us concerning those things wecannot understand, then we are still weakin our understanding of the power of Godthat works in us to give us victory overfear. With this objective we launch intoan investigation of God’s instructions andexplanations concerning the work of Sa-tan, knowing that in the Bible God hasrevealed to us all we need to know con-cerning those things that are beyond ourexperience. He has revealed to us allthat we need to know in order to distin-guish between the imaginations of menand that which is reality.

Occultism is a general term that re-fers to many practices and teachings.The word “occult” originates from a Latinword that means “to cover up,” “to con-ceal,” or “to cut off from view.” Themeaning of the word emphasizes thatwhich is secret or mysterious. It is a gen-eral term that we apply to specific reli-gious practices and beliefs as astrology,fortune telling, satanism, spiritism, witch-craft and many other similar beliefs thatare too numerous to mention. Many ofthese practices or beliefs have teachings

that overlap. There are basic teachingsthat are characteristic of each group thatidentify the religion as a separate sect.

Astrologers teach that heavenlybodies control and determine the desti-nies of human events. Astrologers teachthat the movements of the sun, moon, starsand planets can be used to predict thefuture. They believe that one’s destiny isset in the heavenly bodies.

Fortune telling, or divination, is thebelief that one’s future can be foretoldby reading the “psychic waves” that ev-

1 - Biblical Condemnation Of Occultism

Chapter 1

BIBLICAL CONDEMNATION OF OCCULTISM

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ery person is supposed to emit. As as-trology, it is deterministic, that is, thefuture fate of individuals and events areset and cannot be changed.

Satanism teaches that God is an im-personal force and equal in power withSatan. Satanists contend that sin andprayer are meaningless in reference tothe individual’s life and destiny. Theyoften teach that there is no existence be-yond this life and that man should aban-don morality and give himself over to sat-isfying the lust of the flesh. The beliefsand practices of those who adhere tosatanism are represented in the follow-ing statement that is taken from the Sa-tanic Bible:

Satan represents indulgence, instead ofabstinence .... Satan represents ven-geance instead of turning the othercheek .... Satan represents man as justanother animal, sometimes better, moreoften worse than those that walk on allfours .... Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical,mental, emotional gratification.

Spiritism, or spiritualism, is prima-rily centered around the practice of sup-posedly communicating with the dead.(This is called “necromancy” in the KingJames Version.) Some spiritists do notbelieve in the deity of Christ and some donot believe in the existence of hell. Spir-itists believe that the wandering spirits ofthe dead can be called upon to acquireknowledge and guidance.

Witchcraft is basically the practiceof trying to acquire knowledge from ex-

traterrestrial sources. Witches, or sor-cerers, contend that there are many godsand many spirits. By controlling thesegods and spirits, knowledge can be ac-quired.

Astrology, fortune telling, satanism,spiritism and witchcraft have many teach-ings that are similar. However, otherforms of occult practices are expressedthrough Black Mass, Ouija Boards, TableTipping, Levitation, Tarot Cards, DreamAnalysis, Scientology, Numerology, Horo-scopes, Kabala, Seances, Fetishes, Palm-istry, Phrenology, Extra Sensory Percep-tion, Transcendental Meditation and TeaLeaf Reading. This list could go on asmen unceasingly invent for themselves anunending assortment of imaginations in or-der to satisfy the minds of those who haveeither given up a knowledge of God orsought to subsidize the word of God.

An umbrella movement in recentyears, that includes many of the abovebeliefs, is the New Age Movement.This is a diverse movement because ofthe desire on the part of the adherents tobring together or regenerate a host ofspiritistic beliefs that come from the mys-tical archives of human imaginations.However, all of the various beliefs of themovement are simply a neospiritism ofthe developed world’s effort to find an-swers through a humanistic approach tolife. The primary emphasis of this move-ment is to concentrate on the individual’sability to heal himself or herself both spiri-tually and physically.

The best way the Bible student candeal with the above teachings is to un-derstand basic Bible principles that con-


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tradict the concepts of these occult be-liefs. In the points of this chapter, there-fore, our task will be to concentrate onthose teachings of the Bible that refutethe central teachings of the above beliefs.

There seems to be a continuousstroke of condemnation that runsthroughout the entire Bible against thebeliefs and practices of occultism. Thiscondemnation begins in the Old Testa-ment and continues throughout the NewTestament. The reason for these con-demnations was that God sought to warnbelievers to avoid the crafty deceptionsof wicked men. We must remember thatit is not that the Devil actually producesmiraculous activity through wickedpeople. The point is that God knows howcrafty men can produce those things thatappear to be supernatural. Since God cre-ated the mind of man, then we can un-derstand how He knows how easy it forone to be led astray who has given up aknowledge of the word of God.

A. Old Testament condemnation ofreligious imaginations:

The Old Testament strictly con-demned occult practices among the Jews.Fortune telling was considered to be fool-ishness by God’s prophets because theimaginations of such was only of humanorigin. Isaiah mocked the sorcerers andwizards of Israel. In the time of Israel’scalamity, these false prophets did not helpIsrael. Isaiah chided both the false proph-ets and those who gave heed to theirprognostications. Isaiah wrote,

Stand now with your enchantments andthe multitude of your sorceries, in whichyou have labored from your youth. Per-haps you will be able to profit, perhapsyou will prevail. You are wearied in themultitude of your counsels; let now theastrologers, the stargazers, and themonthly prognosticators stand up andsave you from these things that shallcome upon you (Is 47:12,13; see vss14,15).

Hosea accused Israel,

My people ask counsel from theirwooden idols, and their staff informsthem. For the spirit of harlotry hascaused them to stray, and they haveplayed the harlot against their God (Hs4:12).

Astrology is a form of idolatry. It isidolatry because it is a worship of heav-enly bodies. In the early beginning of thenation of Israel, God warned Israel aboutgoing astray in considering that the move-ments of the heavenly bodies affected theaffairs of man.

You shall not make for yourselves anycarved image, or any likeness of any-thing that is in heaven above, or that isin the earth beneath, or that is in thewater under the earth; you shall not bowdown to them nor serve them ... (Ex 20:4,5).

Moses warned,

And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to


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heaven, and when you see the sun, themoon, and the stars, and all the host ofheaven, you feel driven to worship themand serve them ... (Dt. 4:19).

God considers foolish all imagina-tions that the heavenly bodies affect theaffairs of man. Isaiah wrote that God“frustrates the signs of the babblers,and drives diviners mad ... turns wisemen backward, and makes their knowl-edge foolishness” (Is 44:25). Of thisidolatrous spirit, Zechariah said, “For theidols speak delusion; the diviners en-vision lies and tell false dreams. Theycomfort in vain” (Zc 10:2).

The desire of Israel to create a godafter her own image in order to justifyidolatrous religious behavior that con-doned the satisfaction of the lusts of theflesh, led her into idolatry. Israel’s thirstfor that which would please her lusts ledthem from the will of God.

So they left all the commandments of theLord their God, made for themselves amolded image and two calves, made awooden image and worshipped all thehost of heaven, and served Baal. Andthey caused their sons and daughters topass through the fire, practiced witch-craft and soothsaying, and sold them-selves to do evil in the sight of the Lord,to provoke Him to anger (2 Kg 17:16,17;see 2 Ch 33:6).

When God brought judgment on Is-rael, He “cut off sorceries from” theirland (Mc 5:12,13). He executed swiftjudgment against sorcerers (Ml 3:5). This

judgment reveals God’s opinion of divin-ers and sorcerers. Those who involvethemselves in such things are leading boththemselves, and those who follow them,away from God.

God knew that the above practiceswould lead Israel away from the truth.Therefore, He gave a stern warningagainst anyone who would give them-selves over to occult practices. In Deu-teronomy 18:9-14 Moses pronounced thewarning:

There shall not be found among youanyone who ... practices witchcraft, or asoothsayer, or one who interprets omens,or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells,or a medium, or a spiritist, or one whocalls up the dead. For all who do thesethings are an abomination to the Lord.

God frankly told Israel, “You shall not... practice divination or soothsaying”(Lv 19:26). Israel was to “give no re-gard to mediums and familiar spirits;do not seek after them, to be defiledby them” (Lv 19:31; see also Dt 4:15-19;18:9-14).

God knew that the ability of men wasstrong to deceive themselves into believ-ing that which was false. Therefore, Is-rael was to give no audience to those whowould deceive themselves into believingthat they had special powers.

The Jews were divinely instructedthat sorcerers, witches and astrologerswere to be stoned (Ex 22:18; see Lv20:6,27; Is 47:9). After many years ofhistory, however, Israel did fall away tothese practices. But at one time during


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their history, the righteous King Josiah ban-ished witchcraft from the nation duringhis righteous reign in an effort to turn theJews back to God (2 Kg 23:24,25). Hedid this because he knew that the law ofGod firmly taught against the existenceof occultism among the people of God.The purpose for the warnings againstthese practices is seen in the result ofIsrael’s apostasy to such. They wereled away from God.

The Old Testament also teachesthat fortune tellers, enchanters, sorcer-ers, soothsayers, or any one that prac-ticed augury (the use of omens in divina-tion), were not to be found in Israel(Dt 18:10,11; Mc 5:12). It must be notedthat the people of Israel were judgedfor sacrificing to demons (Ps 106:37;Dt 32:17). They wrongfully served andworshiped the stars of heaven (See 2 Kg17:16-18; 21:1-3; 23:5). But prophets asIsaiah prophesied against astrology andthose who practiced such things (Is 47:12-15). The Israelites were warned not toturn to mediums and wizards (Lv 19:31;20:6,7; Dt 18:10,11). Obedience was tobe given to God and not to those whowould lead them into all sorts of hideouspractices.

One often wonders why Israel wasso eager to accept the practices of oc-cult belief. The answer lies in man’s will-ingness or eagerness to form a reli-gion after his own desires and createa god after his own image. We mustkeep in mind that Israel remained religiousin her apostasy. She simply acceptedthose religious practices that allowed herto do what she wanted to practice. This

was particularly true concerning the lustsof the flesh. One wonders why ancientreligions developed the practice of forni-cation as a part of their religion. Whenwe understand the tremendous urge ofman to do as he pleases, we can under-stand that men will always digress to theplace in their religious practices to dothose things that satisfy even their mostbase desires. Israel even digressed tosacrificing her own children (See 2 Kg23:10; Jr 7:31; 19:5).

Because God created man a free-moral agent, He knew that within themakeup of free-moral agency there hadto be a wide berth of freedom. The partof man that would go away from God to-ward evil had to be measured by the sideof man that would move him toward Godand righteousness. And since man candraw nigh unto God, so can he draw nighunto that which is contrary to all that Godwould have us be and do. Therefore, Godknew the limits to which men could andwould deceive themselves.

Before the flood of Noah, the ex-tent of the wickedness to which mankindhad drifted was expressed in Genesis 6:5:“Every intent of the thoughts of hisheart was only evil continually.” Af-ter their deliverance from Egyptian cap-tivity, God was sending Israel into a landwherein a culture dwelt in Canaan thathad digressed into wickedness as thewicked culture that existed before theflood of Noah’s day. Therefore, Godcommanded Israel to destroy all the in-habitants of the land because they haddigressed beyond spiritual repair. But inher disobedience, Israel did not destroy


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all the inhabitants of the land. As a re-sult, the hideous beliefs of the diabolicalreligions of the Canaanites infected Is-rael throughout her history. God knewall this would happen, and thus, placed inthe Sinai law injunctions against becom-ing involved in such religious imaginations.Of course, Israel did not give heed to suchwarnings. The nation was thus destroyedbecause they gave up a knowledge ofGod and ran after the religious imagina-tions of the culture they did not destroy(Hs 4:6).

At least one lesson is learned fromIsrael’s history. Men have an unceasingdesire to invent their own religions. Godwarned Israel against doing such. How-ever, the urge was so strong in Israel, thatthey ignored the commandments of Godin order to invent religions that wouldsoothe their consciences in practicing themost hideous sins against God. There-fore, because they failed to heed the warn-ings of God, they paid the price. So willwe if we fail to heed the same warnings.

B. New Testament condemnation ofreligious imaginations:

The New Testament warningsagainst occult imaginations is based onthe foundation of Old Testament warn-ings. Warnings against occult practicesin the Old Testament must be carried overinto this era. God has not changed Hismind about people creating religious be-liefs after their own imaginations. There-fore, we do not forget what happened toIsrael. We do not forget the influencethe culture of the unbelieving world can

have on God’s people at any time in his-tory.

Paul labeled sorcery as a “workof the flesh” (Gl 5:19,20). He said thatthey “who practice such things will notinherit the kingdom of God” (Gl 5:21).John said that in eternity the sorcerers“shall have their part in the lake whichburns with fire and brimstone, whichis the second death” (Rv 21:8; see22:15). In Acts 13 the apostle Paul toldthe sorcerer Bar-jesus—remember thatsorcery is a form of astrology and witch-craft—that he was “full of all deceit andall fraud;” that he was “a son of thedevil,” an “enemy of all righteous-ness,” and that he was perverting “thestraight ways of the Lord” (At 13:6-12).This should leave no question in our mindsconcerning what God thinks of thosepractices in which Bar-jesus involved him-self.

In 1 Corinthians 10:19-22 Paulequates idolatry with demon worship. Heasked the Corinthians a rhetorical ques-tion: “What am I saying then? That anidol is anything, or what is offered toidols is anything?” (1 Co 10:19). Theanswer is that there is nothing in the idol,nor is that which is offered to the idol ofany value. Here is Paul’s answer. “ButI say that the things which the Gen-tiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demonsand not to God, and I do not want youto have fellowship with demons” (1 Cor10:20). There can be no harmony andfellowship between believing and trust-ing in God and union with what demonsrepresent. “You cannot drink the cupof the Lord and the cup of demons; you


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cannot partake of the Lord’s table andof the table of demons” (1 Co 10:21).The citizens of Corinth had created idola-trous religions. The Corinthian Christianshad been converted out of such religions.However, it seems that some of the dis-ciples in Corinth were still lingering in fel-lowship with some of the ceremonies sur-rounding the pagan idol temples of Corinth.Paul commanded that they must disasso-ciate themselves from such.

It is important to notice also thatwhen the Ephesians obeyed the gospelthey gave up their occult practices.They ceased their magical arts andburned their magical books, having real-ized that such practices were false andsuperstitious deceptions of Satan. Lukerecorded the following concerning theincident:

And many who had believed came con-fessing and telling their deeds. Also,many of those who had practiced magicbrought their books together andburned them in the sight of all .... So theword of the Lord grew mightily and pre-vailed (At 19:18-20).

There are three important cases inthe New Testament where the truth ofthe gospel confronted the occult world ofimaginations. One is the previously men-tioned case of the Ephesians. Others arein reference to Simon, the sorcerer andBar-jesus. These three cases are re-corded in the book of Acts.

In order to understand why Lukementioned these cases, it is necessary tounderstand why he wrote the two docu-

ments of Luke and Acts. Both documentswere directed to the Most ExcellentTheophilus (Lk 1:3; At 1:1). These twodocuments were written as defense docu-ments on behalf of Paul who was on trialfor his life before a Roman court. Theinformation Luke provides is evidence toprove that what Paul believed andpreached was the result of a personalencounter with God. He was not preach-ing myths, fables or legends. The teach-ing he proclaimed was from God, not man.In this context, Luke provided Theophiluswith information to contrast the truth ofthe gospel that Paul preached with thosereligions of the Roman Empire that werethe superstitious inventions of men withgreat imaginations. In the document ofActs, therefore, Luke presents threecases where there is a confrontation be-tween the falsehoods of the religionistsof the Roman Empire and the truth of thegospel.

1. The case of Simon (At 8:9-25):Luke’s statements concerning the workof Simon, and his subsequent “conver-sion,” constitute a Holy Spirit inspired dic-tionary of what Simon was doing. It wasthe intention of the Holy Spirit to guideLuke into giving us a dictionary by whichwe can identify true miraculous works inthe context of those who seek to performtricks to make us believe that they havecontrol of the supernatural.

Luke first stated that Simon prac-ticed sorcery (At 8:9). One does notpractice miracles. The Holy Spirit, there-fore, wants us to first know that whatSimon was doing was a practiced trade.


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As a sorcerer, he was commanding nomiraculous power. However, the decep-tive power of Simon’s work was strong.All the people of Samaria were aston-ished at his workings, “claiming that hewas someone great” (At 8:9). To him,“they all gave heed, from the least tothe greatest, saying, ‘This man is thegreat power of God’” (At 8:10).Simon’s deceptive abilities were good.For a long time, the Holy Spirit says, “hehad astonished them with his sorcer-ies” (At 8:11).

Then there was a change in the cityof Samaria. Luke changes the subject inhis record of the events by using the word“but.” He now records that the man ofGod, Philip, exposed all the deceptivework that Simon had been doing in thecity. Philip manifested the deception ofSimon by working true miracles in thepresence of those who had been deceivedby the tricks of Simon. When Philip cameto town, they believed him for he preached“the things concerning the kingdom ofGod and the name of Jesus Christ” (At8:12). But why did they believe Philip?Verse 13 says, “Then Simon himself alsobelieved.” Luke points out that evenSimon “was amazed, seeing themiracles and signs which were done”(At 8:13). Luke wanted us to know thatSimon himself is a witness to the trueoccurrence of a real miraculous work.

The Samaritans and Simon believedbecause they saw and heard the miraclesthat were worked before their eyes bythe hand of Philip. Now herein is thepower of Luke’s proof that Simon workedno miracles. Simon, a master of occult

trickery, was amazed when he saw realmiraculous work. His amazement was atestimony to the falsehood of the sorceryhe had practiced. The reaction of theSamaritans is a testimony that the wholecity was able to distinguish true miracu-lous workings from the trickery of a sor-cerer.

When Peter and John came downfrom Jerusalem, the Samaritans “sawthat through the laying on of theapostles’ hands the Holy Spirit wasgiven” (At 8:18). When Simon sawwhat the apostles did, he saw an oppor-tunity to work real power because he alsosaw a source of miraculous power inPeter and John. In his zeal for recogni-tion, he asked, “Give me this power also,that anyone on whom I lay hands mayreceive the Holy Spirit” (At 8:19).

Luke’s argument is sound. Simonhad previously never worked any miracu-lous power. The case of Simon is a de-fense of Christianity in that all supposedmiraculous power that is to have beenworked through other religious leaders isfalse. Luke’s defense is based on thefact that what Simon and others like himwere doing, were deceiving the peoplethrough magic and trickery. They wereworking no miracles. They were simplydeceiving the people. On the other hand,Luke’s defense is that what Paul, andother New Testament evangelists wereboth teaching and doing, was real. Pauland Philip’s work was from God, and notthe invention of men.

There are many Simons at work to-day throughout the world. They are do-ing their magical tricks in order to deceive


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people into believing that they have mi-raculous power. Unfortunately, there area number of Christians out there whohave been deceived by such men. Theyhave been deceived into believing thatthese sorcerers and witches are actuallyworking miraculous wonders by thepower of either God or Satan. They areas the Samaritans who for a long timehad been convinced that Simon was work-ing miracles. We have often wonderedthat if some today lived in Samaria whenPhilip came to town, that they wouldrefuse to believe Philip because theywanted to continue to believe Simon be-cause of his so-called “miraculous” won-ders.

Keep in mind that if Simon were ac-tually working miraculous wonders, thenthe miracles of Philip would have had noimpact on the Samaritans. Since bothSimon and Philip would have been work-ing miracles, then there would have beenno reason for the Samaritans to believethe message of Philip. Neither wouldthere have been a reason for Simon tobelieve. Therefore, one should be verycautious about believing those things to-day that are claimed to be miraculous.Lest one be deceived, he or she shouldconsult the Bible for all definitions con-cerning what is a confirming miracle.There are many religious workers todaywho are very clever in their art of doingwondrous things. If one approaches suchdeceivers with an innocent heart and ig-norance of the word of God, then cer-tainly he or she will be led astray by thecraftiness of men.

2. The case of Elymas (At 13:4-

12): On the first missionary journey ofPaul and Barnabas, the two evangelistscame to the island of Cyprus. There theyfound “a certain sorcerer, a falseprophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-jesus” (At 13:6). When Sergius Paulus,the proconsul, sought to hear the word ofGod, Bar-jesus withstood Paul and Barna-bas (At 13:8). However, listen to whatPaul said of Bar-jesus: “O full of alldeceit and all fraud, you son of thedevil, you enemy of all righteousness,will you not cease to pervert thestraight ways of the Lord?” (At 13:10).This is the Holy Spirit saying that this sor-cerer was full of deceit and fraud. Bar-jesus, therefore, was not workingmiracles. The Spirit of God labeled hiswork as fraudulent. When Paul struckBar-jesus blind, the proconsul believed“when he saw what had been done ...”(At 13:12). The power of the miraclethat Paul worked, therefore, confirmedto the proconsul that Bar-jesus was afraud. If Bar-jesus had been workingmiracles in the presence of the procon-sul, then we would certainly not expectthe proconsul to turn so suddenly to whatPaul was saying and doing.

3. The case of Ephesus (At 19:11-20): In Ephesus “God worked unusualmiracles by the hands of Paul so thateven handkerchiefs or aprons werebrought from his body to the sick andthe diseases left them and the evil spir-its went out of them” (At 19:11,12).

There were some false exorcists inthe city of Ephesus who had not been ableto cast out demons, so they tried to dosuch by calling on the name of Jesus (At


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19:13). However, “the evil spirit leapedon them, overpowered them, and pre-vailed against them” (At 19:16). Whenall of this activity became known to theresidents of Ephesus, “fear fell on them,and the name of the Lord Jesus wasmagnified” (At 19:17). The fear cameupon the residents because they had neverbefore experienced such events as thatwhich took place at this time in the his-tory of Ephesus. If miraculous workswere a common thing in Ephesus, and hadoccurred by the hands of the sorcerers inthe city, then certainly the impact of thetrue miracles of Paul would have had littleimpact on the residents.

Acts 19:18 is significant: “And manywho had believed came confessing andtelling their deeds.” What they con-fessed was the falsehood of their decep-tive deeds. “Also, many of those whohad practiced magic brought theirbooks together and burned them ...”(At 19:19). When they realized the greatpower of God that was manifestedthrough Paul, their deceptive magic wasexposed. They realized that their prac-tice of sorcery was useless against whatthey witnessed through Paul. There isonly one conclusion one can make fromthis incident. Those in Ephesus whoclaimed to work miracles were actuallypracticing trickery. Thus the Ephesuscase teaches that false religion is exposedas such in the presence of the true mi-raculous work of God.

Luke’s defense of Christianity onbehalf of Paul in the document of Acts iswithout question one of the most power-

ful arguments in the New Testamentagainst those who profess to be workingconfirming miracles today. False religionsof men stand no chance against the mi-raculous witness that God gave to theearly Christians to confirm the preachedword (See Mk 16:20; Hb 2:3,4). Suchconfirmation is a forceful denial of thepractice of those men who lead others tobelieve that the supposed existence of su-pernatural powers is worked through theirhands.

God’s warning to believers againstoccult practices in both the Old and NewTestaments was not given or recorded inorder to affirm that such practices arethe manifestation of real miraculouspower. He gave the warnings becauseHe knew the great imagination of men.He knew the willingness of men to for-sake a knowledge of the truth in order toscurry after their own desires. The warn-ings, therefore, were in reference to menconjuring up deception or believing thedeceptions of those who had given them-selves over to falsehood.

We live in a world today wheremany have invented similar false religiousbeliefs as in the days of the Old Testa-ment. Thus the warnings of God in theBible are still valid today. Once one de-nies the reality of God and the authentic-ity of His word, then there is nothing leftto guide his religiosity. He will simplydevelop some religion after the fantasiesof his misguided mind. For this reason,Christians should heed the warnings ofGod’s word not to believe in or becomeinvolved in such religions. Neither shouldthey believe the deceptive practices of


18


such religionists who claim that they arecommanding the power of the supernatu-ral. When one believes that false reli-gionists as Simon are working miracles,then he is being deceived as those in Sa-

maria and Ephesus. If Christians do nottake a stand against false religionists, thenwe are no better than those in Samariaand Ephesus who for a long time weredeceived by the religious practitioners.

2 - Occultism Versus Truth

God knows that man is religious. Hecreated man to be a religious being. Heknows, therefore, that we have a desireto create a religion after our own de-sires. In Exodus 20:1-5 God warned Is-rael against the practices of idolatry,which in our terms would be false reli-gion. Idolatry is not simply the practiceof making images or idols out of woodand stone. The images and idols are onlythe manifestation of religion that has beencreated after the desires of a misguidedworshiper. Because of man’s desire toseek his own will, and not the will of God,God warned that Israel not create a reli-gion that catered to their sensual desiresand false ideas. For this reason, thereare numerous warnings in the Old Testa-ment against the practice of idolatry.

God also knows the vulnerabil-ity of people. He knows that people aresusceptible to believe almost anything.Therefore, He warned against those whowould deceive innocent people into be-lieving that they possessed great magicalpowers. However, many of God’s peoplehave in the past been led to believe thatcertain men have control over supernatu-ral powers. They have been led astrayby these men who are crafty in their ef-forts to deceive others.

The fact that the Bible says thatpeople were deceived is evidence tothe fact that what deceived them wasfalse. If the supposed “supernatural pow-ers” were real, then those who believedthem could not be accused by the Bibleof being deceived. They would have onlybelieved that which had actually occurredand was in fact real.

God knows the ability of people todeceive and to be deceived. He knewthat if the Israelites went into Palestineand dwelt among the Canaanites, theywould eventually adopt the false religionsof the Canaanite culture. He thus in-structed Israel to annihilate the Canaanculture. This would be the only way topurify the land, and thus, preserve a seg-ment of society for the bringing forth ofthe Savior into the world.

We know the rest of the story ofIsrael’s possession of the land of Canaan.Israel did not destroy the inhabitants ofthe land. Consequently, they did adoptthe religion of the Canaanites. All Israel,except for a remnant, subsequently paidthe price for being deceived into believ-ing false religion. Throughout their his-tory, Israel struggled with false religion.The lure of such was too great for themto resist. They succumbed to the decep-

Chapter 2

OCCULTISM VERSUS TRUTH

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tion of running after those religious be-liefs that appealed to the most base de-sires of men.

Though God warned Israel aboutbeing religious after her own desires, shepersisted in going her own way. This wasa gradual apostasy. Throughout the yearsof Israel’s history, Israel accepted reli-gious practices of those nations aroundher. Israel’s religious leaders were atfault. Instead of keeping the people fo-cused on the will of God, they led meninto error by accepting the desires of re-ligious people who were bent on con-structing their own religion.

A. Israel was led astray.

Israel as a nation was strictlywarned against being led astray by falseprophets who claimed to proclaim futureevents. The people were to “give noregard to mediums and familiar spir-its; do not seek after them, to be de-filed by them” (Lv 19:31). Moseswarned that if there arose those who said,“‘Let us go after other gods which youhave not known, and let us serve them,’you shall not listen to the words of thatprophet ...” (Dt 13:1-5; see Jr 14:14; Ez13:22,23). Moses warned that manywould be led astray by such practices aswitchcraft (Dt 18:9-14). Regardless ofthe many warnings, this is exactly whathappened in the history of Israel (2 Kg9:22). Manasseh, and other Israelitekings like him, “Practiced soothsaying,used witchcraft, and consulted spirit-ists and mediums. He did much evil inthe sight of the Lord ...” (2 Kg 21:6).

Israel’s apostasy to spirits and gods theyhad created after their own imaginationscaused them to forsake truth and the onetrue God.

Though there were numerous warn-ings in the Sinai law concerning occultpractices that would lead Israel awayfrom God’s law, Israel ignored the warn-ings and became self-deceived in prac-ticing sorcery, divination and other occultpractices. What they did as a nation cer-tainly illustrates the powerful sway thesedeceptive practices have in influencingthe lives of men. This should be a warn-ing to Christians today not to believe thedeceptions of men. Christians should takeheed to God’s admonition to stay awayfrom the religious inventions of man.

The extent of Israel’s apostasy is evi-denced by the extent of Josiah’s reformin 2 Kings 23. In the historical context ofthe reform, a copy of the law was foundin the reconstruction of the temple. Jo-siah read it. It frightened him when hediscovered how far Israel had digressedfrom the will of God in order to followafter the religion of Baal.

Josiah commanded that they ...

... bring out of the temple of the Lord allthe articles that were made for Baal, forAsherah, and for all the host of heaven;and he burned them outside Jerusalemin the fields of Kidron, and carried theirashes to Bethel” (2 Kg 23:4).

Josiah tore down all the idols andimages of Baal. He killed the unrepen-tant priest of Baal. Israel had strayed sofar from the truth that they did not know


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the difference between Baal and Bible.However, once a sincere and God-fear-ing young man found the Bible, that wasthe end of Baal.

The lesson from the case of Josiahis twofold. First, when men give up aknowledge of the word of God, they areled by their own imaginations. And theimaginations of men to construct religionare very fertile. Secondly, the only waymen can find their way back to God isthrough His word. Those who have nodesire to go to the Bible for direction, willnever find their way out of false religiousbeliefs. This is exactly what Paul had inmind when he wrote,

... and with all unrighteous deceptionamong those who perish, because theydid not receive the love of the truth, thatthey might be saved. And for this reasonGod will send them strong delusion, thatthey should believe the lie, that they allmay be condemned who did not believethe truth but had pleasure in unrigh-teousness (2 Th 2:10-12).

B. Israel’s King Saul was led astray.

It is important to note that when KingSaul was righteous before God he “putthe mediums and the spiritists out ofthe land” (1 Sm 28:3). But when he hadbeen caught up in sin and degradation, hesearched them out. 1 Samuel 28 is arecord of where Saul sought the servicesof a medium to call up the soul of Samuel.The facts surrounding what actually hap-pened teach some very interesting thingsconcerning the relationship of Saul with

witches before and after his fall into sin.1. The event of the calling up of

Samuel was unique. At the end of Saul’slife, he sought to have the witch of EnDor call up the soul of Samuel. But thisunique event in the Bible was obviouslyaccomplished by the power of God. Godallowed this event to happen in order tomanifest the fallen nature of Saul and tomake known to Saul his future death,which Samuel had already revealed toSaul while he was still alive.

It is evident that the witch of En Dorhad never before done something asthis, for when she saw Samuel she“cried out with a loud voice” (1 Sm28:12). Therefore, she had never workednor experienced something as this beforethis occurred.

It must also be remembered that thistype of event is found nowhere else inthe Bible, though the Bible records nu-merous activities of witches and sorcer-ers. The important thing to rememberabout the life of Saul is that the Bible sayshe died because he trusted not theword of God, but consulted a medium(witch). 1 Chronicles 10:13 states, “SoSaul died for his unfaithfulness whichhe had committed against the Lord, be-cause he did not keep the word of theLord, and also because he consulted amedium for guidance.”

2. Saul saw nothing of the spiritworld. During the actual event ofSamuel’s coming forth, it seems that Sauldid not actually see Samuel. He askedthe woman, “What did you see?” (1 Sm28:13). She responded, “I saw a spiritascending out of the earth” (1 Sm


21


28:13). Thus in her mind God allowedher to see the spirit of Samuel. She thenexplained what she saw and Saul “per-ceived that it was Samuel” (1 Sm 28:14).Saul was present, but saw nothing, indi-cating that nothing was actually hap-pening in his presence that could beempirically perceived. He had to com-municate through the woman in order tocommunicate with Samuel. The pointhere is that Saul was experiencing noth-ing. God gave the witch a vision of Samuelcoming up and communicating to Saul.

3. Samuel did not reveal any newtruth. One other point to remember inthis incident is the fact that Samuel didnot communicate any new truth to Saul.Saul was told nothing that he did not al-ready know. He knew that the kingdomwas to be taken from him. He knew hewas rejected. God had departed fromhim. He knew he would die. All thesefacts had been previously communicatedto him while Samuel was still alive.

When people wonder concerningspirits beyond this world, the case of Sauland the witch of En Dor are always dis-cussed. Since we cannot understand allof what happened during this event, weshould be cautious not to read into theevent preconceived ideas. It was an eventthat is unique in the Bible. And since itwas unique, it should not be used to estab-lish something that would happen on aregular basis. There is no truth in the be-lief that Christians should consult witchesin order to communicate with the dead.There are absolutely no instructions in theword of God to encourage such beliefs andbehavior on the part of Christians.

C. Satan leads men astray by de-ception.

Satan’s weapon that he uses to leadpeople away from God is deception. Heuses the deceptive teachings and prac-tices of occultism in this manner. Israelof old fell because of the deception ofSatan. God said, “The prophets proph-esy lies in My name. I have not sentthem, commanded them, nor spoken tothem; they prophesy to you a false vi-sion, divination, a worthless thing, andthe deceit of their heart” (Jr 14:14).Israel was led astray through the lies ofdeceived men. This is the power of Sa-tan in the lives of those who do not havea love of the truth.

Satan is the great deceiver “whodeceives the whole world” (Rv 12:9;13:14). For this reason, the New Testa-ment gives many warnings directed toGod’s people that they not be deceived.These warnings are numerous in the NewTestament because Satan’s work throughdeception is powerful in the lives ofpeople. Paul warned, “Do not be de-ceived” (1 Co 6:9). “Do not be de-ceived, God is not mocked” (Gl 6:7).“Beware lest anyone cheat youthrough philosophy and empty deceit...” (Cl 2:8). “Now the Spirit expresslysays that in latter times some shall de-part from the faith, giving heed to de-ceiving spirits and doctrines of de-mons, speaking lies in hypocrisy ...”(1 Tm 4:1,2). “The coming of the law-less one is according to the workingof Satan, with all powers, signs andlying wonders, and with all unrigh-


22


teous deception ...” (2 Th 2:9,10). Johnwarned, “For many deceivers havegone out into the world ...” (2 Jn 7).The point of these warnings is clear. Donot be deceived. (More on this later.)

Satan is a deceiver, for he fashionshimself “into an angel of light” (2 Co11:14), and “with all unrighteous de-ception” leads those astray who do “notreceive the love of the truth” (2 Th 2:10).

Satan works “with all power, signsand lying wonders” (2 Th 2:9). Theterm “lying” in this particular passageapplies to the three words “power,”“signs” and “wonders.” The Greek textallows this understanding that is consis-tent with all other Bible teaching on thismatter. In other words, what this pas-sage is saying is that the man of sin worksno real miracles. This text would literallyread, “In every power and sign and won-der of falsehood.” The power, signs andwonders of Satan are all falsehoods.They are not real miracles. They onlygive the pretense of being real becauseof those who have given themselves overto be deceived into thinking that they aretrue confirming miracles.

God will allow people to be deceived.If people do not want to hear the truth,God “will send them strong delusion,that they should believe the lie, that theyall may be condemned who did notbelieve the truth but had pleasure inunrighteousness” (2 Th 2:11,12).

Satan performs works of deception.His works only appear to be real miracles.If his works were real miracles, then wecould not determine if a miraculous workwere actually from God or from him. God

will not allow Satan to work miracu-lously today in order to nullify Hismiraculous works that were workedin order to confirm the word and workof God in the first century. If Satancould work real miracles, then his workswould not be deceptive. They would bereal. Men would then be justified in be-lieving them. One is not deceived ifhe believes that which is real. There-fore, Satan’s works are not real. Thisis why they are classified by the Bibleto be deception. All deception belongsto Satan, and nothing could better describethe works of occultism.

Throughout the Bible there are com-mands that state we must trust only inGod and His word, and not in the thingsof this world (Ps 40:3,4; 62:1,2; 64:10;84:12). Solomon exhorted, “Trust in theLord with all your heart, and lean noton your own understanding” (Pv 3:5;see Is 26:4). The joy of the man of God“is in the law of the Lord; and in Hislaw he meditates day and night” (Ps1:2; see 4:5; 37:3). The word of Godshould be the lamp unto our feet, the lightunto our paths (Ps 119:105; see Pv 6:23).The word of God is able to thoroughlyequip us “for every good work” (2 Tm3:16,17). Therefore, “if any man speakslet him speak as the oracles of God”(1 Pt 4:11). Peter concluded, “His di-vine power has given to us all thingsthat pertain to life and godliness,through the knowledge of Him whocalled us by glory and virtue” (2 Pt1:3). If one would follow God, then hemust abandon the superstitious beliefs of


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occultism. He must trust in the word ofGod. One cannot believe in the lies ofdeception, and at the same time, acceptthe truth of God’s word.

The Christian should look to Jesus,not mediums, as the way to knowledgeand salvation. He should be “lookingunto Jesus the author and finisher ofour faith” (Hb 12:2). Jesus taught theapostles to ask of God only through Him(Jn 14:13; 15:16; 16:13). Jesus, not thespirits, is our only mediator throughwhom we have access to God (1 Tm 2:5;see Rm 8:34; 1 Jn 2:1,2). If we inventspirits as supposed revealers of wisdom,then we deny God’s command that weshould ask directly of Him for wis-dom (Js 1:5,16,17). Prayer to God in theNew Testament is addressed directly toGod and in the name, or by the authority,of Jesus. This is why the emphasis in theChristian life should be to “grow in thegrace and knowledge of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pt 3:18). Anyteaching that is contrary to these Bibletruths is false.

Great emphasis is placed in theBible on studying the Bible in order to findtruth. When one’s desires are turnedfrom this objective, he will venture intothe extremities of his mind. He will in-vent deceptive religious practices and callit religion in order to justify his carnal in-clinations. Such digression from God hasled to the most horrific of religions in thehistory of mankind.

Because of the history of distortedreligions that have been invented by men,we wonder why men do not stay close toGod’s revelation in order not to turn onhimself in the name of religion. We mustbe cautioned that as long as men desireto satisfy their own lusts, and do their ownthing, they will create religious beliefs andpractices by which they will condone un-godly behavior.

God has revealed His existence andpower through the creation of the galax-ies (Rm 1:20). He has revealed His char-acter and the gospel through the Bible.The Bible is thus the source of truth fromGod. Through its pages are revealed thenature of the One who is above nature.Since most of the world has long sincediscarded the Bible as the final source oftruth concerning the nature of God, theworld has sought after a knowledge ofGod through other means, . People havehad enough sense to realize that this world

is not all there is. However, they havenot had enough sense as to where to findthe final source of truth. Therefore, theyhave given up their senses by going afterevery imaginable source other than theBible in order to discover what is beyondthis life.

One practice of occultism is to seekknowledge and truth from terrestrialsources in order to understand the natureof the extraterrestrial world. However,the Bible teaches that one need not andcannot acquire spiritual truth from terres-

3 - God’s Source Of Truth

Chapter 3

GOD’S SOURCE OF TRUTH

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trial sources. That which is of this mate-rial world can reveal nothing about thespiritual world.

Terrestrial refers to the physicalheavenly bodies of the universe, suchas the sun, moon, stars and planets.Extraterrestrial refers to that which isbeyond the physical world. This is thespirit world of the nonmaterial. There arethose who contend that knowledge canbe acquired from the sun, moon, stars andplanets in order to understand the spiritworld. It is affirmed by some that thisknowledge should be sought in conjunc-tion with the knowledge that is revealedthrough the Bible. However, most as-trologers believe that knowledge from theheavenly bodies is to be sought insteadof Bible knowledge.

One must compare the precedingbeliefs with what the Bible teaches. Indoing so, we must always consider theBible above the religious inventions ofman. If we do not, then there can be nofinal standard of authority by which tojudge all that man considers truth. Wecan have no final standard simply becausemen who reject the Bible constantlychange in their religious beliefs and be-havior.

God seeks to lead us through Hisword of revelation. He seeks to draw usto Him in order that He lead our lives.The following are sources of revelationthat lead us to God’s standard of truth:

A. Revelation of God’s existence:

Paul affirmed in Romans 1:20, “Forthe invisible things of Him from the cre-

ation of the world are clearly seen, be-ing understood by the things that aremade, even His eternal power andGodhead ...” (KJV). God has indeedset His glory “above the heavens” (Ps8:1) in order to reveal His power andGodhead. David said, “The heavens de-clare the glory of God; and the firma-ment shows His handiwork. Day untoday utters speech, and night unto nightreveals knowledge” (Ps 19:1,2).

The creation reveals knowledge inthe sense of how God challenged Job.“Listen to this, O Job, stand still andconsider the wondrous works of God”(Jb 37:14; see Jb 12:7-9; Ps 111:2). Godthen proceeded to remind Job of the de-tails of creation. His purpose was not toreveal hidden truth, but to remind Job thatthe One who could create such marvel-ous things could surely have the situationof his life under control. God’s revela-tion through the created world is given tous as a witness to His existence andpower. His character, however, must berevealed through direct revelation, or spe-cial revelation.

B. Revelation of God’s character:

Special revelation refers to Goddirectly revealing His character and willthrough special people. The Hebrewwriter defined special revelation as fol-lows, “God, who at various times andin different ways spoke in time past tothe fathers by the prophets, has in theselast days spoken to us by His Son ...”(Hb 1:1,2). Jesus said, “He who has seenMe has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9).


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Therefore, Jesus was a special revela-tion of the Father. Also, special revela-tion is the Father’s inspiration through theHoly Spirit to lead men as the prophetsand apostles into revealing His will toman. This is why we have the inspiredBible. The Bible is a special revelationof God to man by inspiration (2 Tm3:16,17).

Jesus had promised the apostles, “...when He, the Spirit of truth, has come,He will guide you into all the truth ...”(Jn 16:13). The Holy Spirit “will teachyou all things” (Jn 14:26). Truth, there-fore, comes through the inspiration of menwho were carried along in writing by theHoly Spirit to reveal God’s will (2 Pt1:20,21).

The Bible affirms that through in-spired words, God has “given to us allthings that pertain to life and godli-ness, through the knowledge of Him[Christ] who called us by glory and vir-tue” (2 Pt 1:3). Through the knowledgeof Jesus, therefore, one can acquire allthat is necessary for godly living. TheBible is God’s final action of revelationuntil Jesus comes again (See Jd 3; Gl 1:6-9; Rv 22:18,19). It is final in these timesbecause it is sufficient to supply the manof God unto every good work. Becauseit is final, men do not need other sourcesof information in order to guide them-selves in a way that is pleasing to God.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 states that manshould give heed to God’s word. Paulstated to Timothy,

... and that from childhood you haveknown the Holy Scriptures, which are

able to make you wise for salvationthrough faith which is in Christ Jesus.All Scripture is given by inspiration ofGod and is profitable for doctrine, forreproof, for correction in righteousness,that the man of God may be complete,thoroughly equipped for every goodwork.

Since all Scripture is given by inspi-ration of the Holy Spirit, man should notadd to or subtract from revealed teach-ings by the addition of traditions or out-side so-called extra terrestrial revelations(See Mk 7:6-9). Any teaching that saysthe Bible is not a sufficient guide to leadus to salvation and holy living is contraryto the teaching of the Bible. The gospelis our motive for godly living, and the gos-pel is revealed through the Bible.

The clear declaration of 2 Timothy3:17 is the all sufficiency of God’s rev-elation to man (see also 2 Pt 1:3; Jd 3).Revelation was given and chosen menwere inspired to write in order “that theman of God may be complete, thor-oughly equipped for every goodwork.” This fundamental truth is con-trary to the concept that extra truth mustbe sought from the terrestrial world. Infact, special revelation was accomplishedin a sufficient manner in order to satisfyman’s desire for answers. The Biblegives man every answer to questions heshould ask concerning reality. The Bibleanswers the questions we have concern-ing our origins. It answers questions con-cerning our purpose here on earth. It alsoanswers questions concerning where weare going.


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Answers to questions concerningour existence that do not have the foun-dation of God’s revealed truth should behighly suspect. It is by the truth of God’srevelation that the minds of men are con-trolled and directed. When men reject orignore the truth of God, they will certainlydrift away to destructive philosophies.This was the purpose for which Paulwrote the Colossians. “Beware lest any-one cheat you through philosophy andempty deceit, according to the tradi-tion of men, according to the basicprinciples of the world, and not ac-cording to Christ” (Cl 2:8). For thesame reason, he warned Timothy to avoidthe “profane and vain babblings andcontradictions of what is falsely calledknowledge” (1 Tm 6:20).

Those who accept the Bible as theword of God are not antagonistic towardknowledge that is acquired through sci-entific investigation. It is only their con-tention that the purpose of knowledge isto be determined first by a knowledge ofGod. The principles of God’s word de-termine if the discovered knowledge ofnuclear power is to be used for generat-ing power to cook food or the power tobuild bombs. When one gives up theknowledge of God’s special revelationthrough the Bible, he is headed on acourse of life that has no moral direction.

C. Understanding God’s revelation:

The Bible teaches that man’s gain-ing of knowledge from the physical uni-verse is acquired through one or more ofthe five senses. The five senses are

hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling and tast-ing. The Psalmist wrote, “When I con-sider your heavens, the work of Yourfingers ...” (Ps 8:3; see 19:1). Paulwrote, “For the invisible things of Himfrom the creation of the world areclearly seen, being understood by thethings that are made ...” (Rm 1:20). Inother words, God’s existence can be per-ceived, or considered. This perception,however, comes through the five sensesof man, and is, therefore, limited tothose five senses.

If one reasoned that there was aspirit world above or beyond the physicalworld, then it would be reasonable to con-clude that the spirit world was greaterthan the material world. If this weretrue—and it is—then we would wonderwhy those of the spirit world could notbypass the physical world in order to re-veal their existence and nature. Whywould God resort to revealing truththrough the guesswork of understandingthe stars and planets when He could sim-ply reveal truth through special revela-tion? Of course, this is what He has done.He has revealed truth through the Bible.He expects us, therefore, to learn aboutthose things that are beyond this physicalworld through a study of His revelation(the Bible).

Why do those who believe in ter-restrial revelation endlessly seek the signsof the times through terrestrial investiga-tion when they could simply find answersin the Bible? It is certainly logical to be-lieve that there is a Supreme Deity greaterthan our world. However, if this Beingcannot reveal Himself except through ter-


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restrial means, then there is no “supreme”to Him at all. In fact, we would concludethat He is no greater than the materialworld. What we have now done is limitGod to our own imagination, if not elimi-nated Him altogether. In other words,investigation of the terrestrial for truth issimply one step toward atheism.

The answers sought for the ques-tions of stargazers can arise only fromtheir experiential world. The terrestrialworld can lead only to those conclusionsthat are empirically perceived. This istrue because man’s empirical perceptionis limited to the material world. There-fore, investigation of the terrestrial worldwill reveal only that which arises out ofthe nature of man himself.

The terrestrial world reveals thatthere is a Designer greater than the ma-terial world. However, the character ofthat Designer cannot be discovered fromcreation.

The investigator would do well tocaution himself at this point. Some have

affirmed that God’s love is discovered byinvestigating the material world. Wewould challenge this thinking on the basisof the preceding point. The investigatorwould should be cautioned about readinginto his conclusions of terrestrial investiga-tions his own character, and thus createa god after his own image. In otherwords, we would not conclude a Designerfrom the created world, and then, importour character and nature into this De-signer. Terrestrial investigation concludes,“He exists. Look for a greater and moreexact revelation.”

We thus seek for revelation that isabove and beyond the terrestrial world.We then discover the Bible. And in theBible, we discover a loving God who ex-ists above this world. In this way we arealways driven toward revelation from theCreator. This guards us from ourselves,and thus, guards us from creating a godafter our own image. We would not beidolaters by rejecting the revelation ofGod.

In the context of studying the workof Satan, we must have a clear under-standing of the free-moral agency of man.A fundamental teaching of the Bible isthe nature of man in reference to makingfree choices. This is an obvious and nec-essary teaching that must be true becauseof Bible teachings concerning God’s jus-tice, man’s repentance, and the nature ofthe gospel plea to the sinner to repent. A

call for repentance would be foolish if thedestiny of individuals is sealed and can-not be changed. The justice of God wouldfall if individuals were predetermined todisobey, and thus, be cast into hell. Therewould also be no need for a gospel pleafor salvation if individuals could not re-spond in a way to save themselves fromcondemnation. These and numerous otherbiblical teachings would collapse if our

4 - Free-Moral Choice

Chapter 4

FREE-MORAL CHOICE

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future were sealed and unchangeable.Many of the beliefs of the occult are

centered around the teaching that one’slife is relegated to fate, that is, events inlife occur regardless of the free-moralchoices of the individual. If such weretrue, then there is no such thing as free-moral agency in reference to one’s indi-vidual responsibility for his own life.

The occults of astrology and fortunetelling contradict the Bible teaching con-cerning the free-moral agency of man.It is taught by many of those of the oc-cult that man’s future is set in the starsand cannot be changed. It is taught thatthe environment in which man lives con-trols the future of man. The Bible, how-ever, presents a different view of man inhis environment. This is the view thatman has the power of choice in an envi-ronment that allows him the opportunityto make choices. He can determine hisdestiny by the choices he makes in rela-tion to God’s law in the present.

A. The free-moral agency of man:

Free-moral agency means that weare able to make choices of good or evilin an environment that allows us to makesuch choices. We are not programmedas a computer and we are not controlledlike robots. We are allowed to commitgreat sin, but we are also capable of do-ing great good. We have the power todetermine our future by choices we makein the present. The fact that God allowsus the opportunity to make choices in theenvironment in which we have beenplaced is evidence that we are free-moral

agents. And it is also evidence that Godexpects us to make correct choices.

1. God gave man the ability tochoose. If men have no right to choose,then there can be no one who can be lost.If one were lost to some type of punish-ment when he or she had no choice inthe matter, then how could we believe ina God who would allow such to happen?Could God be just by allowing such tohappen when one had no choice aboutthe matter?

Think also of the mental ability ofman in reference to choice. If we havebeen programmed to make certainchoices, then we cannot be held account-able for the bad choices we make. If wedo not have the mental ability to makechoices, then we are as robots in an ex-istence of chance, wandering about asmachines in collision with one another.

The fact that we have the ability tochoose, makes feelings as compassion,kindness, love and mercy mean some-thing. If we do not have any such abili-ties or emotional capacities, then we areas robots. In fact, we might say that be-cause we have emotions and feelingsmeans that we are free-moral agents. Wemust choose how to express or controlour feelings and emotions.

2. God placed us in an environ-ment to make choices. There is no suchthing as a free-moral agent who has nooccasion or opportunity to make choices.Adam and Eve were placed in an envi-ronment wherein existed two trees thatpresented an opportunity for choice.They were not to eat of the tree of the


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knowledge of good and evil. The pres-ence of the tree offered them a choice ofeither doing right or wrong. Every free-moral agent must be in an environmentthat allows such choices. There must bethe choice of the greatest good. Theremust also be the choice of the greatestevil. We must consider how much painand suffering we inflict upon ourselvesand others because of our bad choices.

3. God expects man to choose.God expects man to choose between goodand evil. “Choose for yourselves thisday whom you will serve ...” (Js 24:15).Joshua called on Israel to exercise theirfree-moral agency in order to decide tofollow God’s will. Moses exhorted, “Icall heaven and earth as witnesses to-day against you, that I have set beforeyou life and death, blessing and curs-ing, therefore choose life, that both youand your descendants may live” (Dt30:19; see also Pv 1:29; Hb 11:25; 1 Co10:13).

If man is a free-moral agent—andhe is—then he cannot be cursed bysomeone else. In other words, no onecan take away the free-moral agency ofany man by placing a curse on him. Thewill of one man cannot be miraculouslyexercised over another individual.

The practice of “cursing” is an ef-fort of one person attempting to exercisesubjective power over another. Such ispossible in a psychological sense, if theone cursed chooses to give up his will toanother. However, if the one who iscursed refuses to submit his will, then theone who places the curse has no influ-

ence over him whatsoever. The one whocurses cannot have any subjective influ-ence over another if one does not chooseto psychologically submit to another. Thisis why those in Ephesus who believedfound freedom from magical arts and thetrickery of men. Luke records that theword of God prevailed in the commu-nity (At 19:20). The word of God pre-vailed because men believed it and notthe false and pretentious deception of thesorcerers. Psychologically, the peoplewere delivered from the oppression of de-ception. We must keep in mind that it isthe deception of clever men that is usedto oppress the hearts of the ignorant. Itis through the word of truth that we gainknowledge of how God actually allowsSatan to work.

B. Harmony between the materialworld and free-moral agency:

The material world does not workagainst free-moral agency. God createdthe heavenly bodies as part of an envi-ronment in which man could exercisefree-moral agency. This environment wasnot created to destroy free-moral agency.It was not created to subjectively influ-ence or take control of the future of manin any way. Man’s future is changed bythe environment only when one voluntaryreacts to historical or natural happeningsin his or her life. In other words, if anatural tragedy happens in one’s life as atornado or earthquake, his free-moral re-action to the event will affect the rest ofhis life. How we react determines theeffect of the event on ourselves.


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The purpose of the heavens is to tes-tify concerning the glory and existenceof God (See Ps 19:1-6; Rm 1:20). Theheavens were not meant to determine thefuture of individual lives as astrologersaffirm. Neither were they created as ameans for man to predict the future. Itwas through Jeremiah that God said notto be dismayed by any happening thatoccurs in the heavens. Jeremiah wrote,“Do not be dismayed at the signs ofthe heaven, for the Gentiles are dis-mayed at them” (Jr 10:2).

If evil destinies of individuals are setin the stars, and there is no way to avoidsuch destinies, then why struggle to livea good life in the first place? Israel wasdeceived into trusting in the vain pro-nouncements of astrologers and stargaz-ers. But these misguided counselorscould not foretell Israel’s certain doom(See Is 41:23,26-29; 42:9; 47:12-15). Ifthey could not foretell the most signifi-cant historical events in the nation of Is-rael, then certainly they were false proph-ets.

The above principle is still true to-day. When major historical or politicalevents happen today that bring surpriseto all, then where are the prophecies ofthose who claim to be prophets? Greatearthquakes, hurricanes and volcanoeserupt without any so-called propheciesbeing made by self-proclaimed prophets.Great national events happen without oneword from any of these self-proclaimedprophets. A man by the name of Kabilain 1997 swept through old Zaire in Africain a matter of weeks and overthrew anentire nation. Where were all the proph-

ets who would foresee such an event?In 1995 over 500,000 Rwandans wereslaughtered in five weeks in an hysteri-cal killing mania of a nation. Where wereall the prophets to foretell such a geno-cide? When the Berlin wall fell as a sym-bol of the collapse of communism, wherewere all the prognosticators who shouldhave foretold the event? The point is ob-vious. No movements in the stars pre-dict these or any other historical events.There are no prophets who can foretellfuture events because there are no proph-ets today who can know the future.

Only God knows the future. No oc-cult practice can reveal such. One is self-deceived if he or she believes that thefuture can be seen in the stars. There-fore, man should not seek for the thingsthat God has chosen not to reveal, for “thesecret things belong to the Lord ourGod” (Dt 29:29). And the future is asecret thing that belongs to God alone. Itis wrong to seek a guide unto eternal lifeother than the guide God has provided forman to follow, that is, His revelation, theBible (See Ph 3:18,19; Cl 2:8; 2 Tm3:16,17).

One must remember that Paulstepped into a world of mystics andwitches when he evangelized the Gentileworld. Not for one minute did he givecredit to any so-called miraculous pow-ers that were supposedly being exercisedby witches and mediums. In fact, the in-cident of the evil spirit of Acts 19:11-17proves that supposed exorcists had nomiraculous power to cast out “left over”demons. The fact that Luke’s statement


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in Acts, “The word of God grew might-ily and prevailed,” emphasizes the factthat truth conquered erroneous beliefs.This is the answer to those of the occultworld who claim magical powers. TheBible is truth. It brings freedom to thosewho are captured by the fear of decep-tive workers and their works.

God has created man a free-moralagent who has the ability to choose free-dom in a world of misguided beliefs.Those who choose God can deliver them-selves from a world that is tossed to andfro by every mystical belief that is con-jured up in the minds of misguided de-ceivers who have forsaken a knowledgeof God. This is what the Ephesians, who

lived in a culture of mysticism, did whenthey put their faith in God and His word.Through inspired apostles and prophets,God delivered His word to them in orderthat they “should no longer be chil-dren, tossed to and fro and carriedabout with every wind of doctrine, bythe trickery of men, in the cunningcraftiness by which they lie in wait todeceive” (Ep 4:14).

If God’s revelation to man is truth—and it is—then anything that would con-tradict it in the spiritual realm is only the“cunning craftiness” of men who seek todeceive. We have a choice as to whetherwe accept the word of God, or turn tothose who “lie in wait” to deceive.

The Bible teaches that there is oneeternal and all-powerful God. However,one of the principle teachings of satanismis the concept of dualism. This is thebelief that God and Satan are equal inpower and eternal existence. It is af-firmed that these two equal powers havebeen battling one another for eternity.

The dualist affirms that Satan, whois eternal, exercises indigenous super-natural power that is independent fromGod. In other words, Satan does not needGod in order to have supernatural power.Because Satan’s power is indigenous andindependent from the existence of God,it is claimed that he can function as hewills in the affairs of men.

One immediate question that arisesout of the claim that Satan has indigenous

power, and can so exercise such at will,is the question as to why he does not.Why would he not unleash every so-calledsupernatural power he has in a constantattack against the saints of God? Whydoes he not possess every person withdemons? If one says that God has lim-ited him, then we must wonder how muchhe has been limited. This is the point.

5 - The Omnipotent God

Chapter 5

THE OMNIPOTENT GOD

DUALISM

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We must determine how much God haslimited Satan and in what way. (More onthis later.)

A biblical world view sees God asthe source of all power that is beyond thisnatural world. No supernatural powerexists except that which originates fromGod who is the creator of all things. Sa-tan would not exist if God did not exist.Therefore, Satan is subject to God in ev-ery way.

Satan is not eternal, but originatedin one form or another from God who cre-ated all things through the creative workof God the Son. If one wonders fromwhere Satan originated, the answer is inColossians 1:16 where Paul wrote ofJesus, “For by Him [Jesus] all thingswere created that are in heaven andthat are on earth, visible and invisible,whether thrones or dominions or prin-cipalities or powers. All things werecreated through Him and for Him.”

Jesus created Satan when thosethings that are invisible to our eyes werecreated. We do not assume that Satanwas evil when he was first created. Webelieve the concept of “fallen angels” isa valid biblical teaching and one that isexpressed by Jude. “And angels whodid not keep their proper domain, butleft their own habitation, He has re-

served in everlasting chains ...” (Jd 6;see 2 Pt 2:4). We would include Satanamong those who fell from their properhabitation. They left that which was theiroriginal existence and fell into the dark-ness of evil. Therefore, Satan originatedas part of the good things that were origi-nally created in the beginning, but he laterfell into rebellion against God.

The point is that Satan had a begin-ning and he will have an ending (See Mt25:41). Therefore, supernatural powerin eternity does not originate from Satan,for he originated from the One who isall-powerful. Satan can exercise super-natural power in the created world onlyas God permits him. He does not havethe right to do what he wants to do withhumanity.

A. There is only one all-powerfulDeity.

The Bible teaches that God is om-nipotent, that is, He is all-powerful (SeeGn 17:1). This means that He alone isthe ultimate and final power. He is thefinal authority, for “with God nothingwill be impossible” (Mt 19:26). Godsays, “I am the Lord, and there is noother. There is no God besides Me”(Is 45:5). There is, therefore, only oneGod. The fact that God is one excludesany other gods. The point is that therecannot be two Gods, while there is onlyone God. It is right to conclude, there-fore, that there is no one like God. He isall-powerful and Satan cannot be consid-ered a god and also all-powerful. If weconclude that God is the sole all-power-


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ful and eternal Supreme Being, then wewould conclude that Satan is not the sameas God. Understanding God’s omnipo-tence is essential to understanding the lim-ited influence of Satan. The followingscriptures emphasize the omnipotence ofGod in relation to all things:

1. There is one God (Dt 4:35; 32:39; Is

44:8; 45:5,14,18)

2. God is all-powerful (Gn 18:14; Jb 42:2;

Jr 32:17; Mk 10:27; Rm 1:20; Rv 19:6)

The importance of the “one God”teaching of the Bible is in the truth that“one God” excludes the existence of anyother being as God. There cannot be twoall-powerful Gods. If one has all power,then the other cannot. Therefore, sincethe Bible teaches that there is one all-powerful God, then Satan is excluded fromthe realm of being all-powerful. If onebelieves the omnipotence of God, he can-not be a dualist. This point is very signifi-cant when studying the teachings of oc-cult religions. It is important becausemost occult religions misunderstand thepower and influence of Satan.

B. All power originates from God.

If God is all-powerful, then He hasthe power to limit Satan and allow him todo only certain things. All power meansHe has power over all things, includingSatan. This fact is evident from God’scontrol over Satan in the hardships thatHe allowed to be brought upon Job bySatan. Satan could afflict Job only as Godsupplied and allowed His supernatural

power to be used in the life of Job (ReadJb 1:9-12; 2:3-6).

Satan said to God, “... stretch outyour hand and touch all that he [Job]has ...” (Jb 1:11). Therefore, God relin-quished supernatural power to Satan, andthus said, “Behold, all that he has is inyour power [or, ‘hand’]” (Jb 1:12).When Job was tried by Satan, he remainedfaithful, though as God said to Satan, “...you incited Me against him, to destroyhim without cause” (Jb 2:3). The pointof the testing of Job clarifies the fact thatall supernatural power originatesfrom God. Without God no such powerwould exist. Any power that Satan wouldhave, therefore, must originate from andbe regulated by God. Satan can do noth-ing apart from God’s source of power.(More on this later.)

Because there is only one God,and that God is all-powerful, thenthere is the necessity that all super-natural power originate from that God.If supernatural power originates fromSatan in and of himself, then he would bean eternal Deity as God. But this beliefwould be contrary to the Bible teachingthat God is the Creator of all thingsthrough Jesus, both in the physicalworld and in the spirit world (Cl 1:16-18).

By way of summary, the followingpoints reveal why Satan is not omnipo-tent:

1. The Lord rebukes Satan. Ze-chariah wrote, “And the Lord said toSatan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan!The Lord who has chosen Jerusalemrebuke you!’” (Zc 3:2). Therefore, it is


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the Lord rebuking Satan, not Satan re-buking the Lord.

2. Kingdoms have been given toSatan. Luke recorded the words of Sa-tan in reference to Satan’s temptation ofJesus, “All this authority I will give You,and their glory; for this has been de-livered to me, and I give it to whom-ever I wish” (Lk 4:6). Notice that theauthority of the kingdoms had been de-livered to Satan. But who gave this au-thority to Satan? The answer is that Godgave and Satan received. The conclu-sion is that God has all authority, and thuscan give some to Satan.

3. Satan must ask permission.Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon! In-deed, Satan has asked for you, that hemay sift you as wheat” (Lk 22:31).Notice that it is Satan who must ask. Hedoes not have the power to take some-one against their will.

4. Satan cannot take Jesus’sheep. Jesus said, “My sheep hear Myvoice, and I know them, and they fol-low Me. And I give them eternal life,and they shall never perish; neithershall anyone snatch them out of Myhand” (Jn 10:27,28). Therefore, it is notwithin the power of Satan to snatch awaythe sheep of Jesus against their will. Ifthe sheep choose to remain with Jesus,then Satan cannot take them.

5. Satan can be resisted. Jameswrote, “Therefore submit to God. Re-sist the devil and he will flee from you”(Js 4:7). Therefore, if one will resist Sa-tan, he will flee. This does not sound likeSatan has the power to overcome any-one he so chooses. He can be resisted

by those who have chosen to submit tothe will of God.

6. Satan will be cast into hell.Jesus said that Satan and his angels willeventually be cast into eternal hell (Mt25:41). John revealed, “And the devil,who deceived them, was cast into thelake of fire and brimstone ...” (Rv20:10). It is the all-powerful God whowill decree the casting of Satan into de-struction, thus Satan will stand helplessin the end before the all-powerful God.

Any teaching that assumes that Sa-tan stands alone in reference to super-natural power is in conflict with the Biblethat teaches he does not. There is onlyone eternal and all-powerful God.

C. Jesus is incarnate Deity.

Jesus is incarnate Deity who wasproven to be the Son of God by the res-urrection from the dead. Paul wrote thatJesus was “declared to be the Son ofGod with power ... by the resurrectionfrom the dead” (Rm 1:4). This biblicalconcept is probably one of the principalcontradictions between many segmentsof the occult and the gospel. The denialthat Jesus was the only begotten and in-carnate Son of God permeates almostevery facet of satanism, astrology andspiritism. Therefore, the denial of thedeity of Jesus is directed at the very coreof gospel. In reference to this denial,therefore, there are two serious consid-erations that must be maintained in ref-erence to the gospel: The first is that Jesusis incarnate Deity, and the second is that


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He was declared to be the Son of God bythe resurrection from the dead.

1. Jesus revealed the invisibleGod. “In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God, and theWord was God” (Jn 1:1). The Word waswith God and then “became flesh anddwelt among us” (Jn 1:2,14) by takingthe “form of a servant, and coming inthe likeness of men” (Ph 2:7; see 1 Jn1:1-3). Jesus was with God in glory be-fore the creation of the world (Jn 8:58;17:5). But He “came down fromheaven” (Jn 6:51,62; 3:13; Ep 4:9). Pe-ter confessed concerning Jesus, “You arethe Christ, the Son of the living God”(Mt 16:16). And John wrote that “who-ever confesses that Jesus is the Son ofGod, God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:15).Those who do not confess Jesus as suchare “not of God” (1 Jn 4:3).

While Jesus was on earth, He wasGod who came in the flesh of man, forJesus said, “He who has seen Me hasseen the Father” (Jn 14:9; see 12:45).Jesus was “the image of the invisibleGod” (Cl 1:15), “the express image ofHis person” (Hb 1:3). Paul taught thatin Jesus “dwells all the fullness of theGodhead bodily” (Cl 2:9; see Cl 1:15-19; Jn 1:1-18). In other words, Jesus wasthe expression of Deity on earth. If onewants to know God, he or she must lookto Jesus. One cannot approach God with-out going through the medium of the per-son of Jesus.

2. Jesus was resurrected to givehope. If Jesus were not the Son of God,then we would have no hope. This is a

second consideration that must be facedby any who would deny Jesus as the Sonof God. If Jesus were not the actual Sonof God, then He was the greatest de-ceiver who ever lived. Millions have be-lieved His lies for centuries concerningHis claim to sonship. If He were not theSon of God, then all humanity will be sub-jected to the dismal certainty of eternaldoom. Each person is left to his or herown superstitious inventions of religiousguilt and fear.

Paul explained the above in 1 Corin-thians 15:12-20. If Jesus were not raisedfrom the dead, then we could not con-sider His teaching any more authoritativethan Muhammad’s, Confucius’ or anyother non-Christian religion. We couldnot trust the divine origin of His example.If we cannot find a divine standard ofmoral law in Jesus, then which supposedmedium, witch, or lurking spirit are we totrust in order to find truth? If we cannottrust Jesus and His word, then mankindis left with a hopeless trust in the con-fused imaginations of wondering witches,presumptuous prophets and meaninglesswizards and mediums throughout theworld. And in the contradicting world ofoccultism, one is thus driven from oneseance to another in an exasperated ef-fort to find something onto which one canfind emotional and spiritual security in life.

But if Jesus was resurrected, thingsare different. He is the Son of God, andthus, we can have hope. We have a wayto truth and knowledge. We have aglimpse of life at the end of a dismal tun-nel of religious confusion and satanic dark-ness brought on by the relentless decep-


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tions of Satan. If Jesus is the resurrectedSon of God, then He deserves to be heard.And when Jesus is heard, the “prince ofthis world” is cast down in the lives ofmen (Jn 12:31).

The gospel message, therefore, isthat Jesus is the resurrected Son of God.When Paul was converted, Luke wroteof his first preaching as follows: “Imme-diately he [Paul] preached the Christin the synagogues, that He is the Sonof God” (At 9:20). He could preach thisbecause God “has raised up Jesus” (At13:33; see Ep 1:20ff). Jesus, therefore,was “declared to be the Son of Godwith power ... by the resurrection fromthe dead” (Rm 1:4).

We must remember that there can-not be two all-powerful Deities. One all-powerful Deity excludes any other. Sincethere is only one God who is all-power-ful, then all supernatural or miraculouspower must originate from this one God.This reduces Satan to have no more su-pernatural power than what is issued tohim by the one true God.

In order to emphasize that all poweris from the one true God, Jesus came intothis world. Since He was declared to bethe Son of God by the power of the res-urrection, then we conclude that thepower of resurrection originates onlyfrom God. Jesus even said to the Jews,“Many good works I have shown youfrom my Father ...” (Jn 10:32). Jesus’works were from the all-powerful God.

If I do not do the works of My Father, donot believe Me; but if I do, though youdo not believe Me, believe the works thatyou may know and believe that the Fa-ther is in Me, and I in Him (Jn 10:37,38).

We know and believe in Jesus be-cause Jesus unleashed the power of Godthrough confirming miracles. His worksoriginated from the all-powerful Father.For this reason, we believe the Son. Inthis way God revealed to Peter and allwho witnessed the work of Jesus, thatJesus was as Peter confessed, “TheChrist the Son of the living God” (SeeMt 16:16,17).

The fundamental meaning of theword “death” is separation. James ex-plains this in James 2:26 in reference tothe death of the body: “For as the bodywithout the spirit is dead, so faith with-out works is dead also” (See Lk 8:55).In death the spirit leaves the body andreturns to God (Ec 12:7).

In separation by death, something is

always lost or terminated. Somethingcomes to an end. In spiritual death, one’srelationship with God comes to an end(Rm 5:12). Such can be restored only bythe grace of God that comes through thesacrificial redemption of the blood ofJesus (Rm 5:1,2). In physical death, thephysical body returns to the dust and canbe restored only by the power of God who

6 - The Finality Of Death

Chapter 6

THE FINALITY OF DEATH

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will raise the body and reunite it with thespirit (Jn 5:28,29; 1 Co 15:50-54). How-ever, the physical body as we know it willhave terminated for we will be raisedwith a changed body (2 Co 5:1-8).

Between death and resurrection, thebody has returned to the dust and the spiritto God (Ec 12:7). In this state of exist-ence, God keeps the spirit of all the deaduntil the final resurrection. It is our taskto investigate the supposed communica-tion of the spirits of the dead in referenceto the living. Since there are those whoclaim to have communicated with thedead, then we are obligated to determineif the Bible teaches this is possible.

The Bible teaches that one cannotcommunicate with the dead. However,one of the primary beliefs of spiritism isthe practice of attempting to call up thedead in order to communicate with them.However, there are some important teach-ings in the Bible that rule against this be-lief.

A. Israel erroneously sought thedead.

The nation of Israel fell because itreverted to occult religious practices thatled them away from God. Isaiah con-demned Israel’s apostate search for an-swers from the dead instead of findinganswers in the word of God.

And when they say to you, ‘Seek thosewho are mediums and wizards, whowhisper and mutter,’ should not a peopleseek their God? Should they seek thedead on behalf of the living? (Is 8:19).

Isaiah’s question firmly states thatone should seek God, not the dead. Hecontinued, “To the law and to the testi-mony! If they do not speak accordingto this word, it is because there is nolight in them” (Is 8:20). One will neverbe able to find answers to life’s problemsby searching for such from the dead.

Isaiah 8:19 explains the problemwith those who seek communication fromthe dead. His question reveals the prob-lem. “Should not a people seek theirGod?” Seeking advice from the dead isa manifestation that one has given up onadvice from God. Those who seek com-munication from the dead are searchingfor answers in the wrong place. Theyfeel there is no God who has communi-cated instructions to them. Therefore,they run after phantoms in the dark, in-venting whispers of communication thathave only been the imagination of a self-deceived mind.

Isaiah’s second question is a deroga-tory statement concerning the foolishnessof those who seek communication fromthe dead. “Should they seek the deadon behalf of the living?” In otherwords, how can we expect the dead tocommunicate any more or better infor-mation to us than a living person who isstanding beside us? Isaiah is actually stat-ing the foolishness of the practice of self-deceived minds that seek to communicatewith the dead.

B. The rich man could not commu-nicate with the living.


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In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus taught thatthe dead are not allowed to communicatewith the living. In this story of the richman and Lazarus, the rich man desiredthat Lazarus return to life in order to warnhis brethren of their doom if they did notrepent. But Lazarus was not permit-ted to do such (Lk 16:31). The rich manwas told, “They have Moses and theprophets; let them hear them” (Lk16:29). In other words, they shouldseek God’s word. All that was neces-sary for the brothers to “avoid this place”would be found in the word of God.

It is significant to note various de-tails about what happened at the time ofthe death of both Lazarus and the richman. These details plainly teach that thespirits of the dead are in a “place” andare not roaming around in space, de-tached from the place where they arereserved by God. When Lazarus died,he was “carried by the angels toAbraham’s bosom” (Lk 16:22). He wasnot left to float in spirit among the livingor anywhere on earth.

When the rich man died, he foundhimself “in torments” (Lk 16:23), in aplace to which he had gone (Lk 16:28).He did not want his five brothers to“come to this place” (Lk 16:28). There-fore, he was somewhere away from hisbrothers where he could not communi-cate with them. The very fact that hemade a request of Abraham concerningthe sending of Lazarus to his brothers isevidence that he realized he could not gohimself. He could not go to Abraham’sbosom because of the Great Gulf that wasfixed between him and Lazarus. He could

not go back to earth. He was thus ‘re-served under darkness’ until the end oftime and the resurrection (See 2 Pt 2:4;Jd 6).

God has left no spirits of the dead towander among the living. All spirits ofthe dead are gone from the earth. Therighteous have gone to paradise(Abraham’s bosom). The lost have gonefrom the living in order to begin their pun-ishment for sin they committed on earth.God has confined the spirits of all the deadto their respective destinies.

Luke 16:19-31 reemphasizes the ba-sic teaching that when one dies his spiritreturns to God who gave it (Ec 12:7). Thatspirit cannot return and speak the secretthings of God (Dt 29:29). God will notallow such. God revealed all things nec-essary for life and salvation to the apostlesand prophets (Jn 16:13; Ep 3:3-5). “Allthings that pertain to life and godli-ness” (2 Pt 1:3) have once and for alltime been “delivered to the saints” (Jd3). Therefore, God will not allow the deadto return to reveal anything else to man.There is no need that they should. Spiritsand demons would not and could not re-veal any more truth than that which hasalready been revealed. Bringing backdead men’s spirits could not accom-plish anything toward the salvation ofa man’s soul. It is obedience to the gos-pel of Jesus that saves one from sin andgives direction to life (Js 1:21; 1 Pt1:22,23).

It is interesting to note what Abra-ham said to the rich man of one returningfrom the dead to speak concerning whatis after death. “If they do not hear


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Moses and the prophets, neither willthey be persuaded though one rise fromthe dead” (Lk 16:31). The fact is thatJesus was raised from the dead, and manydo not listen to him today. During Jesus’ministry He raised Lazarus who was thebrother of Mary and Martha (Jn11:43,44). However, the Jewish religiousleaders sought to murder him because hewas a living testimony to the power ofJesus (See Jn 12:10). The religious lead-ers had no desire to listen to Lazarus, thebrother of Mary and Martha, who hadbeen raised from the dead.

Abraham’s point is true. Those whopractice communication with the dead donot lead repentant lives. They do not seekthe one true God in order to glorify HisSon Jesus Christ. They continue on aself-deceived life of creating imaginaryreligious beliefs after their own desires.If they desired to deter their destinationfrom the same place as the rich man, thenthey must go to Moses and Prophets.They must turn to their Bibles and under-stand what God would say to them. Itwould not be a time to search around forsome man-made solution for their salva-tion. It would be a time to search out theword of God and read.

C. The dead communicated withJesus.

At one point during His ministry,Jesus took Peter, James and John to amountain in northern Palestine in orderthat they witness His transfiguration. Wedo not know exactly what transpired onthe mountain where Jesus was transfig-

ured (See Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36). Matthew simply records that Jesus“was transfigured before them. Hisface shone like the sun, and His clothesbecame as white as the light” (Mt 17:2).We do know many specific facts sur-rounding this unique visionary happening.

1. Jesus was transfigured. Hisform changed. Mark says that “Hisclothes became shining, exceedinglywhite, like snow, such as no laundereron earth can whiten them” (Mk 9:3).Luke writes that “the appearance of Hisface was altered” (Lk 9:29). It is clearthat Jesus changed form for the purposeof meeting with Moses and Elijah in thevision.

2. Only Jesus communicated withthe dead. The texts state that Mosesand Elijah were talking with Jesus, notwith Peter, James and John who werefast asleep at the time. When they wereawakened, “they saw His glory and thetwo men who stood with Him” (Lk9:32). “And it happened, as they[Moses and Elijah] were parting fromHim,” that Peter suggested to Jesus thatthree tabernacles be built (Lk 9:33).Therefore, neither Peter, James norJohn communicated with eitherMoses or Elijah. Neither did Elijahand Moses communicate with them.Peter related many years later that theonly communication they received fromanyone other than Jesus was a voice outof heaven saying, “This is My belovedSon, in whom I am well pleased” (2 Pt1:17,18).

It would be presumptuous, therefore,


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to use this unique visionary experience inthe life of these three disciples as proofof humans communicating with the spir-its of the dead. No one communicatedwith the dead on the mountain exceptJesus. And Jesus was at that time trans-formed Deity. This would at least indi-cate that flesh and blood would have tobe transformed in order to be in a statethat would be able to communicate withthe dead.

Throughout the Bible the concept ofdeath means the termination of a particu-lar state of being. Something ceases.That which ceases is the living’s relation-ship with the living world. The cessationof this relationship is the termination of

communication with the living. The deadmove into another realm or state fromwhich they are not allowed to communi-cate with the living. They do not need tocommunicate facts about this realm orstate because enough has been revealedin the Bible to satisfy our intellectual andemotional needs in the present. Oneshould seek in the Bible for knowledgeconcerning the afterlife, not from thedead. If one seeks to know things con-cerning what will come after death, thenhe or she should seek the one who wasraised from the dead, that is, Jesus. OnlyHe has the key to hope for what lies be-yond the grave, for He has the key toliving the abundant life before the grave.

The word eschatology refers to thestudy of last things. These are those thingsthat will occur when Jesus returns. Wewould include the last things in our per-sonal lives, for we will all eventually dieand face judgment (Hb 9:27).

The teachings of occultism contra-dict many fundamental Bible teachingsconcerning biblical eschatology. TheBible defines the journey of our spirit fromthe time when God created our spirit andgave it to us at conception. It will abidewith our body until the time when we con-clude our journey on earth. As individu-als, and in order to complete our journey,we are made up of body, soul and spirit(1 Th 5:23). At the time of death, the bodyreturns to the dust of the earth, but the

spirit, and the soul that is the result of thespirit within man, will continue on in thepresence of the Lord. Though the de-tails of our afterlife are not clearly re-vealed in the Bible, there is enough infor-mation that is revealed to know that oc-cult teachings contradict the Bible in manyareas. There are some basic Bible teach-ings concerning biblical eschatology in ref-erence to the final coming of Jesus andeternity that each Bible student must un-derstand. (More information, see Book8, The Christian’s World View, atwww.africainternational.org.)

A. Journey of the spirit and soulfrom birth to afterlife.

7 - Biblical Eschatology

Chapter 7

BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY

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1. Birth: When one is born, he isborn with a created spirit (Zc 12:1) whichis formed by God (See Nm 16:22; 27:16;Is 42:5; 57:16; Ec 12:7; Hb 12:9). Thisspirit is created in the spiritual image ofGod (Gn 1:26; Jn 4:24) and given to ev-ery person. The Bible does not say thatour spirit is inherently eternal. In otherwords, the spirit of man does not existseparate from the existence of God. TheBible simply says that God creates ourspirit that is clothed in a physical taber-nacle throughout our earthly existence.

As the electricity creates light in alight bulb, so thespirit of mancreates the soulof man. Thesoul of man isdependent onthe existence ofthe God-createdspirit. There-fore, the soulwill exist within an individual as long asthe spirit is there also.

The body of man is the mediumthrough which the spirit generates soul thatcommunicates character and personalityto other spirit-filled individuals. However,there is a dimension of communication thatis beyond the confines of the body, for therewas communication between the rich manand Abraham in the hadean realm of ex-istence as explained by Jesus in Luke16:19-31. Their bodies were in the grave,but in some way, they were still able tocommunicate with one another.

2. Death: Death is the terminationof that which was living. It is a termina-

tion because the spirit is separated fromthe body (Js 2:26). In reference to ourphysical body, therefore, death is the ter-mination of our physical body. When onedies, the body “returns to the earth as itwas, and the spirit will return to Godwho gave it” (Ec 12:7; see Gn 3:19). Thespirits of men return to God to dwell inone of two different places: (1) The righ-teous go to paradise, or Abraham’s bo-som (Lk 16:22; 23:43; 2 Co 12:4). (2)The wicked to go and are reserved in tor-ments (Lk 16:23; 2 Pt 2:4; Jd 6).

It is important to remember that indeath there is a separation of the bodyand the spirit (Js 2:26). In reference tothe righteous, they, as Lazarus, are “car-ried by angels to Abraham’s bosom”(Lk 16:22). Our spirits go to some spe-cific destination. We are not left to floataround in space, seeking for someone orsomething in which to dwell. The richman in Luke 16 was also in some place(Lk 16:28). He did not want his five liv-ing brothers to “come to this place” (Lk16:28). The spirits of the unrighteous arealso not floating in space, seeking toindwell either animate or inanimate ob-jects. Neither are they seeking to becalled from the dead. God is in control inplaces wherein are all the spirits of thedead. There is no such thing as wander-ing spirits of the dead who are detachedfrom some place.

3. The last coming of Jesus:When Jesus comes again, “all who arein the graves will hear His voice, andcome forth ...” (Jn 5:28,29). There willbe a bodily resurrection of all the dead(See 1 Th 4:13-18).

SPIRIT

Body

SOUL


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The body of the Christian will beraised in the last day. However, it will bechanged. It will be a “same-changed”body. John, who personally handled andsaw Jesus’ resurrected body, did not un-derstand the nature of this resurrectedbody. Many years later he wrote, “It hasnot yet been revealed what we shall be,but we know that when He is revealed,we shall be like Him, for we shall seeHim as He is” (1 Jn 3:2). Therefore, weshall be like Jesus when we are resur-rected, though we do not fully understandthe nature of this body.

We can only assume that Jesus’ res-urrected body immediately after His res-urrection is the body into which we willbe changed. After His resurrection,Jesus said, “Handle Me and see, for aspirit does not have flesh and bonesas you see I have” (Lk 24:39). Jesus’statement was in the context of the dis-ciples’ proclamation out of fright that Hewas a spirit. But He was certainly morethan a spirit according to His statement.He was in the glorious body into whichPaul affirms we will be transformed?Paul wrote that Jesus “will transformour lowly body that it may be con-formed to His glorious body” (Ph 3:21).From this statement it seems that we willbe transformed into the same body inwhich Jesus now dwells. This is the bodythat the disciples handled, and in whichbody Jesus ascended into heaven. In thecontext of Luke 24:30, Jesus wanted thedisciples to understand that He was bodilyraised. He was not raised as a spirit. Healso bodily ascended and will bodily comeagain.

Paul stated that our “body is sownin corruption, it is raised in incorrup-tion” (1 Co 15:42). It is buried a bodythat decays, but it will be raised a bodythat cannot decay. He continues, “It issown a natural body, it is raised a spiri-tual body” (1 Co 15:44). It is buried aphysical body, but will be raised a bodythat is changed to exist in a changed en-vironment that is different from thisphysical world. Paul continued, “... fleshand blood cannot inherit the kingdomof God” (1 Co 15:50). Therefore, “thetrumpet shall sound, and the dead willbe raised incorruptible, and we shallbe changed” (1 Co 15:52). Our mortalbody will become immortal. Our corrupt-ible body will become incorruptible. Thisis truly, as Paul said, a mystery. It issomething beyond our present experience,and therefore, beyond our present vocabu-lary to explain. This is why John couldnot explain to us the nature of the bodyof Jesus. Paul could not explain the na-ture of our resurrected body. There areno earthly words to explain thatwhich will be beyond this earthly ex-istence.

When Jesus comes, He will bringwith Him the spirits of those who are deadin Christ (1 Th 3:13; 4:14). The saintswill be coming for their resurrected bod-ies. They are coming to be embodiedagain for heavenly dwelling in the newheavens and earth (2 Pt 3:13).

4. The last judgment: After thefinal coming of Jesus, “we must all ap-pear before the judgment seat ofChrist, that each one may receive thethings done in the body, according to


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what he has done, whether good orbad” (2 Co 5:10). Paul does not say inthis statement when judgment will takeplace in reference to each individual. Hesaid in Acts 17:31, “He has appointed aday on which He will judge the worldin righteousness by the Man whom Hehas ordained.” We could assume thathe is here talking about the last day ofhistory. On the last day there will be thefinal assignment of those who had alreadydied and been judged before that day. Itwill be the day of last judgment for thosewho are alive at the time of Jesus’ com-ing. However, it will not be a time ofjudging again of those who have alreadydied before Jesus’ coming and have beenreserved in either paradise or torments.Such people will have already beenjudged. Those in torments do not have asecond chance for salvation in anotherfinal judgment in their existence.

We must keep in mind that finaljudgment has already happened in the ex-istence of those who have already died.Hebrews 9:27 indicates that judgmenttakes place immediately when one dies.“And as it is appointed for men to dieonce, but after this judgment.” This iswhat happened in the existence of the richman, for when he died he found himselfin torments (Lk 16:23). Lazarus wasjudged and found in Abraham’s bosom(Lk 16:22). There will be no changing ofdestiny after this final judgment. If onefinds himself in torments after death, thenhe or she is destined for the certain de-struction of the gehenna that is especiallyprepared for the Devil and his angels atthe end of time (Mt 25:41). There is no

hope for the lost after death to receiveanother opportunity to be judged at thecoming of Jesus.

5. Eternity: After the judgment ofall mankind, the Bible says that thewicked will suffer a just punishment thathas unending consequences (See Mt10:28; 18:8; 25:41; 2 Th 1:9; Rv 19:20;20:14,15; 21:8). On the other hand, therighteous will go into an existence thatdoes not fade away (See Mt 25:46; 1 Co15:42,50; Cl 1:12; 1 Pt 1:4; Rv 14:13; 21:4).

The above is a brief picture of thejourney of the spirit of man from creationto final destination. This is not the generalview of those who believe and practiceoccult religions. Many sects of the occultbelieve that the spirits of the dead are in astate of limbo, that is, they are detachedfrom a place. The Bible teaches that thespirits of the dead return immediately toGod at the time of death. Many cults be-lieve the spirits can communicate with theliving. However, the Bible teaches thatneither Lazarus nor the rich man couldcommunicate with the living. The fact isthat the spirits of the righteous are withJesus (2 Co 5:8; Ph 1:23). The spirits ofthe unrighteous are reserved in torments.

If one contends that the dead cancommunicate with the living, then we mustwonder what it is they can communicate.What greater information can the deadcommunicate about life and death thanwhat has already been communicated toman through the Bible?

B. Occult beliefs contradict princi-pal Bible teachings.


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There are several teachings in theBible that contradict the teachings andpractices of the occult. A few of theseteachings are listed below. This contrastof teaching gives us some idea of the vastamount of Bible teaching that is againstthe deceptive teachings that are associ-ated with the religious beliefs of the oc-cult.

1. The Bible says that we shouldnot worry about tomorrow (Mt 6:34; Rm8:23). Occultism says we should. Thereason why many of those of the occultworry about tomorrow is because of theiruncertainty of life, but specifically, theiruncertainty of life after death.

2. The Bible teaches that weshould trust only in God for guidance(Ps 48:14; Is 58:11; At 17:28). Astrologysays we should trust in the stars and plan-ets, for in them it is believed, one can findguidance in life.

3. The Bible teaches that theword of God is the Christian’s strength(Ps 119:1-8; 2 Tm 3:15-17). Occultismsays to depend on anything but the Bible,for those of the occult have usually givenup on the Bible as a standard for moraldirection.

4. The Bible teaches that there ispower in prayer to change the future(Js 1:5; 5:15). Occultism says that thefuture is unchangeable. Many of thoseof the occult usually believe that all thingshappen as the result of unchangeable fate.

5. The Bible teaches that God ac-tively works in the affairs of man (At17:28; Rm 8:28; 13:1,2). Occultism saysthat the destinies of men and nations are

unchangeable. All historical events hap-pen as a result of fate.

6. The Bible teaches that theChristian has all things necessary forgodly living (2 Tm 3:16,17; 2 Pt 1:3).Occultism says we need knowledge fromstars and spirits in order to direct our livesor determine the future.

7. The Bible teaches that God willwork on behalf of the Christian in sup-plying his needs (Mt 6:25-34; Ep 3:20).Occultism says trust in other things thanGod. It is certainly not the belief of thoseof the occult religions to trust in a Godwho works in our lives. Those of theoccult seem to put their faith in every-thing other than God and His word.

8. The Bible teaches that Chris-tians should have a spiritual charac-ter and their minds should be set onthe things that are above (Mt 16:23; Jn4:24; Rm 12:1; Ph 3:20; Cl 3:2; Js 1:14,15;4:4; 1 Jn 2:15). Occultism says trust inthe horoscope, signs of the times, andhappenings of this material world. Theworld view of many of those in occultreligions stress those things that are ofthis world. Their obsession with the thingsof the world takes their minds off God.

9. The Bible teaches that mandoes sin against God (Rm 3:23; 6:23; 1Jn 3:4). Satanism says there is no suchthing as sin. Those of satanism do notbelieve in the concept of sin because sinassumes there is a final authority beforewhom all will eventually give account.

10. The Bible teaches that manis to give glory to God and condemnsthe worship of nature (Dt 7:25; Rm 1:18-32; Ep 1:12). Astrology says to give hom-


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age to the stars and planets. Becausethose of occult religions place much em-phasis on the events of the world, theirthinking is centered around the world.

11. The Bible teaches that manshould not live after the lust of the flesh(Rm 8:6-8; 14:8; Gl 5:19-21). Satanismsays we are not subject to any unchang-ing moral code, and thus, are free to ful-fill the lusts of the flesh according to ourindividual choices.

12. Satanic teachings contradictthe following Bible truths concerningthe attributes of the nature and beingof God:

a. God is loving (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:8,16).b. God is merciful (Lm 3:22,23; Ps 116:5).c. God is our Father (1 Jn 3:1).d. God hears our prayers (Js 5:16).e. God is holy (1 Sm 2:2).f. God is longsuffering (2 Pt 3:9,15).g. God is just (Ps 89:14; 119:137; 1 Jn

1:9).h. God is a savior (Ps 27:1; 37:39; Hs

13:4).

13. The Bible teaches that Satanis the opportunity for sin in the lives ofmen. However, the advocates ofsatanism affirm that what Satan does isright, and thus, the following would beacceptable in their eyes:

a. Satan corrupts purity (2 Co 11:3).b. Satan corrupts the mind (1 Jn 3:8).c. Satan corrupts the body of man by

causing man to reap what he sows(Gl 6:7).

d. Satan teaches that we should live for

ourselves and not totally love God(See Mt 6:24; 22:37-39).

e. Satan is the father of deceit and en-courages deceit (Gn 3:1,4; Jn 8:44; 2Co 2:11; 2 Th 2:9-12; see 2 Co 11:13,-14).

f. Satan says to live after the flesh (1 Jn2:16; 1 Pt 1:13-15; Jd 18,19).

g. Satan’s teachings are always contraryto God’s teachings (1 Tm 4:1).

We must remember that there areseveral general condemnations in theBible against the beliefs and practices ofoccultism. These warnings are there be-cause occult beliefs and practices leadone away from God. We must remem-ber that the Bible is all-sufficient in guid-ing one in his or her spiritual life. In fact,we can have hope and security in this life,and salvation in the life to come, by trust-ing in and obeying only the Bible. There-fore, the search for wisdom, direction andknowledge through the incantations ofoccultism is useless and unnecessary.

The heavenly bodies cannot revealdirection for individuals. Man is a free-moral agent and has the ability to makechoices in order to affect his own future.Man was created by an all-powerful Godwho controls the universe. He revealedHis Son Jesus and thus expects all mento approach Him through the Son. Jesuswill come again to judge the world. Theonly standard by which He will judge theworld is His word (Jn 12:48). Therefore,we must seek to be submissive to Hisword. Every recourse that is given byGod to deal with Satan and his work isfound in the word of God.


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Adventurous wanderers have al-ways searched for answers to questionsthat excite their imagination. When theydo, they seem to always go to extremesin their search. Astronomers gazethrough telescopes in order to discoversome new secret that might answer theriddle of life. However, the telescopesare never large enough to satisfy man’sdesire to go to the extreme. Others willkeep sending probes and space ships intodeepest space in order to seek eitherknowledge or life or both. Geologistskeep digging deeper into the earth’s sur-face, hoping that they will uncover somefragment of the ancient past that will shedlight on man’s history. Men continuallybecome doctors of philosophy, hoping thatthey will come up with some new truth.Man has always had a desire to uncoverand discover that which he does not fullyunderstand, and too often, cannot under-stand. His inquisitive nature has alwaysdriven him to the limit of his senses. Heis the same with his religion.

In the religious world, many peoplehave for centuries sought to understandthe spirit world. Hearsay and phenom-enal “experiences” of supposedly wan-dering spirits and lurking demons have onlyexcited our imagination to visualize thingsthat go beyond the facts and beyond oursenses. Our mystic inclinations havemoved our minds beyond Bible facts. Toomany emotional adventurers have roamedbeyond reality into a world of self-decep-

tion and fantasy. Our concern here iswhat the Bible says about these things,and especially, what does it says concern-ing the subject of demon possession. Thissubject seems to fascinate the mysticallyexcited and often biblically misguided re-ligionist who cannot seem to place his faithin God’s word alone.

Those who believe in modern-daydemon possession contend that demonshave the power to voluntarily and sub-jectively indwell and control any personthey so choose. It is also believed bysome that these demons can workmiracles through those over whom theyexercise control. As demons possessedindividuals in the first century during theministry of Jesus and His disciples, so itis believed that they possess people to-day. As they were cast out in the firstcentury, so they must be cast out today.

It is not our purpose here to studyeither the history of or the current eventssurrounding the subject of demon posses-sion that are commonly circulated amongexcited and misguided religionists. Ourpurpose here will be to study the sub-ject in the Bible. From this study wecan then determine whether “modern-daydemon possession” is the same as thatwhich is explained in the Bible. If it isnot the same, then it must be calledsomething else.

There are specific definitions in theNew Testament that identify true demonpossession. The Christian does not want

8 - Demon Possession

Chapter 8

DEMON POSSESSION

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to allow himself to be deceived by themodern-day psychological phenomenathat people claim to be demon posses-sion. Therefore, we must seek to under-stand the characteristics of demon pos-session only as it is defined in the NewTestament.

True demon possession must bedefined by the Bible. It is erroneous toassociate New Testament demon posses-sion with a modern-day psychologicalphenomenon, as the self-hypnotic tranceof some witch or charmer, or the hysteri-cal fit of some uncontrolled neurotic wor-shiper. It is wrong to identify epilepsy orphysical sicknesses we observe today asthe demon possession that is identified inthe New Testament. In other words, wemust never define demon possessionin the New Testament by what we mayclaim to be demon possession today.We must do the reverse. We must firstgather as much information as possiblefrom the New Testament cases of de-mon possession in order to construct adefinition of what true demon possessionis. We would approach any subject ofthe Bible in this manner, and thus we mustdo the same when studying demon pos-session.

With the above in mind, the follow-ing points and chapters give a brief de-scription of the characteristics of demonpossession in the New Testament. Wemust remember, however, that we do nothave a complete picture of what occurredin every case of New Testament demonpossession. When we combine all thecases of possession, we are still leftwithout information that would allow us

to have a complete picture of this firstcentury phenomenon. However, the NewTestament does give sufficient informa-tion to identify first century demon pos-session to be different from the psycho-logical phenomenon that we see today thatis often called demon possession.

The following is a list of demon pos-session cases in the New Testament. Aswe survey through these cases, there arespecific things that are mentioned in eachcase that help us formulate a definitionof the characteristics of true demon pos-session. One should not simply considerone case of possession. Consider all thecases together in order to develop a com-posite understanding of the nature of truedemon possession.

CASES OF DEMON POSSESSION1. Matthew 8:28-33; 9:32-34; 12:22,23

(15:21-28; Mk 7:24-33)2. Matthew 17:14-18 (Lk 9:37-43; Mk

9:17-29)3. Luke 4:33-37 (Mk 1:21-28,32-34; Lk

8:1-3,30-38; Mk 5:1-20)4. Acts 8:7; 16:16-18; 19:11-16

From the above recorded cases ofdemon possession, consider the follow-ing characteristics or situations that sur-rounded the possession. These are im-portant guidelines we must use in deter-mining what true demon possession was.

A. The beliefs of demons:

Demons had an intellectual ability tobelieve in certain things. They were notraging characters with hideous animalis-


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tic manifestations that often characterizethe descriptions of those who believe inthe modern-day demon possession of Hol-lywood films. Their characteristics as de-fined in the New Testament do give us aglimpse of the hideous world of Satan andhis hosts. Keep in mind that it was notthe work of demons to strike terror in in-dividuals. It was their purpose to leadthe possessed from God and to manifestthe wretched world of Satan.

1. Demons recognized the finaljudgment. One demon replied to Jesus,“Have you come here to torment us be-fore the time?” (Mt 8:29; Mk 1:24).Demons, or the devil’s angels, know thatthey are destined for a final judgment anddestruction that is “prepared for thedevil and his angels” (Mt 25:41). De-mons are evidently fallen angels, and thus,have now been “reserved in everlast-ing chains under darkness for thejudgment of the great day” (Jd 6). Theyare now “reserved for judgment” (2 Pt2:4), after which they will face their de-struction. They intellectually know theirdestiny.

2. Demons believe in God. Inview of the demon’s recognition of theone God, James wrote that “the demonsbelieve—and tremble” (Js 2:19). Theybelieve in one God and are not polythe-ists, that is, they do not believe in manygods. The Gadarene demoniac con-fessed, “What have I to do with You,Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (Lk8:28). It appears that demons are morewilling to confess their belief in God thanmany of the world today.

3. Demons recognize the deity ofJesus. In reference to their recognitionof Jesus, demons cried out, “What havewe to do with You, Jesus, You Son ofGod” (Mt 8:29). One demon cried out,“I know who You are—the Holy Oneof God” (Mk 1:24; see Lk 4:34). De-mons certainly recognized the virgin birthof Jesus and His heavenly origin. Theyknew that all things had been deliveredinto Jesus’ hand, for He had power overtheir destiny (See Jn 3:35; 13:3; 17:2).

4. Demons recognized the powerand authority of Jesus. In recognizingthe sovereignty of Jesus, several demons“begged Him that He would not com-mand them to go out into the abyss”(Lk 8:31). Jesus had the power to in-stantly condemn demons to confinementin the abyss (See Mt 8:29; Mk 5:7). Be-cause the demons recognized this, theyunquestionably subjected themselves toJesus. Mark 5:6 describes the reactionof a demon possessed individual when thedemon recognized Jesus: “But when hesaw Jesus from afar, he ran and wor-shiped Him.” Demon possessed peoplein the first century recognized the powerand authority of Jesus. The demons didnot move the one whom they possessedto attack Jesus. They moved the pos-sessed to fall down before Jesus.

5. Demons recognized their end.When demons were confronted by Jesus,they recognized that their end was near.The unclean spirit in Mark 1 asked Jesus,“Did you come to destroy us?” (vs 24;see also Lk 4:33-36). The answer to thequestion was, “Yes!” Jesus did come todestroy their human possession and to


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keep them cast “down to hell [tartarus]”and delivered “to chains of darkness,to be reserved for judgment” (2 Pt 2:4).Because of this power that Jesus exer-cised over demons, they totally submit-ted to His will, pleading as one did, “Ibeg You, do not torment me” (Lk 8:28).

Knowing that their end was immi-nent, the demons of Luke 8 “begged Himthat He would not command them togo out into the abyss” (Lk 8:31). In-stead, they asked Jesus for permission toenter a herd of swine (Lk 8:32). Theymade this request in view of the factthat their days for possessing humanswere drawing to a close during theministry of Jesus.

One important point that is under-stood from the demon possession caseof Luke 8 is that spirits seek to be em-bodied. The demons of Luke 8 chose toindwell the bodies of pigs over being dis-embodied. Paul related that the final de-sire of Christians is not to be disembod-ied (unclothed), “but further clothed,that mortality may be swallowed up bylife” (2 Co 5:4). “For in this we groan,earnestly desiring to be clothed withour habitation which is from heaven”(2 Co 5:2).

We do not want to exist apart frombodily presence. Neither did the demons.For this reason, God allowed demons tohave a brief taste of what could havebeen in their case in reference to theirproper habitation (Jd 6). He allowedthem to briefly indwell bodies in historyin order to give us evidence of their real-ity, but also to manifest the great desireon the part of spirits to indwell a body. It

also reveals to us the great privilege thatwe have to indwell a body in the pres-ence of this physical environment. It alsogives us encouragement concerning thenew habitation that we will receive in ourchanged body in which we will dwell inheaven to come (2 Co 5:1-8).

B. Characteristics of demon pos-session:

When we consult the dictionary ofthe New Testament, there is definitely adifference between a Bible definition ofdemons, and those fantasies of demonsthat are conjured up in the minds of imagi-native men.

BIBLE DEFINITION OF DEMONS1. Demons could comprehend the

prophecies of their doom (Mt 8:29).2. Demons could speak (Mk 1:34).3. Demons could carry on a coherent

conversation with the living (Mk 5:7).4. Demons could obey (Mt 8:16; 17:18).5. Demons could entreat (Lk 8:31).6. Demons had intellectual abilities (Mt

8:29; Mk 1:24).7. Some demons enhanced the physi-

cal strength of those they possessed(Lk 8:29).

8. Some demons evidently causedphysical deformities (Lk 13:11-17).

9. Some demons evidently caused oneto be mute (Mt 9:32,33).

10. Some demons evidently caused onenot to be able to speak (Mk 9:17,25).

11. Some demons evidently drove the in-dividual they possessed to suicidalmania (Mk 9:22).


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12. Some demons evidently caused men-tal disorders (Mt 8:28,29; Lk 8:26-36).

13. Demons could easily be cast out bythe word of Jesus (Mt 17:18; Lk9:41,42).

14. Demons could easily be cast out byJesus’ disciples (Lk 10:17; At 16:16-18; 19:11,12).

15. Demons could pass through “water-less places” and not find rest (Mt12:43-45).

16. Demons could leave men and enteranimals (Mk 5:12-14).

17. Demons indwelt those who did notpractice occult religions that pro-moted psychological and mental con-trol that they called demon posses-sion. (This seems to be the case ofMark 9:14-29. This possessed sonhad been cursed with an uncleanspirit from childhood.)

18. Demons recognized and confessedthe Son of God (Lk 8:28).

19. Demons confessed the one true God(Lk 8:28).

In the New Testament, demons arereferred to as “devils,” “demons,” “evilspirits,” “unclean spirits” and the “angels”of the Devil. Demons had certain beliefsand characteristics. They caused cer-tain effects in the individuals they pos-sessed, but they did not cause a personto be diseased. Demon possession wasnot a disease.

Any so-called “possessions” todaymust be defined by the cases of demonpossession we read about in the NewTestament. Any effort to use a modern-day phenomenon to explain Bible revela-

tion is unwarranted. The same would betrue concerning the practices of witchesand enchanters during the time of Jesus.Any effort to use the beliefs and prac-tices of sorcerers today to define thedemon possession of Jesus’ timewould be using a deception of Satanto explain the reality of evil thatJesus personally confronted. Jesusconfronted and conquered the real pow-ers of Satan that God allowed at that timeto be unleashed. Jesus did not show Hispower over Satan by confronting thetricks of some deceptive sorcerer of Pal-estine. The battle between the superpowers was fought in Jesus’ day betweenthe real powers of the unseen world.Jesus won the battle. The victory wasrecorded. God does not have to provethat victory again by allowing demons tocarry on today as they so desire.

We must remember, therefore, thatthe Bible must define true demonpossession. This is true because of thewild imaginations of those who are seton deceiving both themselves and others.The above list of characteristics of de-mons and their possession of individualsis taken from an overview of New Tes-tament cases of demon possession. Wemust study these characteristics closelyand then compare them with what is calleddemon possession today. In doing thiswe discover that the phenomenon that iscalled demon possession today is not thesame as the true demon possession thatis recorded in the New Testament.

It is far too easy to allow modern-day psychological experiences, that wemay personally not understand, to influ-


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ence our understanding of demon posses-sion in the New Testament. It is not rightto label with a Bible word or phrase some-thing that is entirely foreign to the Bible.Such is commonly practiced in the reli-gious world today. The Bible alone mustbe used to define true demon possession.If we do not do this, then we are subjectto stealing from the Bible any word orphrase we might so desire in order to“make biblical” some religious invention

we might conjure up. T h eBible is our only dictionary when discuss-ing those things that relate to the spiritworld. For this reason, we will contendthat we first define and identify all thingsby what the Bible says. We will refrainfrom reading into the Bible those thingsthat we experience of this world, lest wecreate a religion after our own experi-ences.

God does things for a purpose. Hisfinal purpose is to get prepared people toa prepared dwelling in the new heavensand earth (2 Co 5:5; 2 Pt 3:13). There-fore, when considering the demon pos-session of the New Testament, we mustremind ourselves that there was a pur-pose for which God allowed demons topossess people in the first century. Un-derstanding this purpose helps us to un-derstand why God limited the time whendemons could possess people.

We must recognize that demonpossession was actual and real during theministry of Jesus and the early disciples.But this was a unique period of God’swork in the world. God allowed demons,who were representatives of Satan, topossess people for specific reasons.When we understand these reasons, thenwe will understand why demons have notbeen allowed to possess people today.

A. Demon possession existed in or-der to demonstrate Jesus’ authority

and power over Satan.

Jesus came in order to “destroy himwho had the power of death, that is,the devil” (Hb 2:14). He came to crushSatan (See the prophecy of Gn 3:15). Heaccomplished this work at the cross,“having disarmed principalities andpowers, He made a public spectacleof them, triumphing over them” (Cl2:15; see Mt 12:28,29; Lk 10:18; Jn12:31). Therefore, God allowed de-mons to possess people during thelife of Jesus and His disciples in or-der that He might openly manifest forus the power and authority of Jesusand His disciples over Satan and hishosts. Every time a demon was castout it was a demonstration of the forcesof righteousness over the forces of wick-edness (See Mt 9:33; 12:22,23,28,29; Lk10:17-19). Once this demonstration wascompleted and recorded, there was nomore need to openly and visibly manifestthe power and authority of Jesus over the

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spirit world of Satan and demons. OnceGod proved the superiority of Jesus, theenvironment in which the spiritual battlehad taken place was forever changed.The enemy would never again be allowedto make himself visibly known through thepossession of people. He would be ableto make himself known only through theobsession of those who would seek to doevil.

It is very important that we clearlyunderstand the above purpose of demonpossession in the first century. When Godaccomplished this purpose in allowingdemons to possess people, He terminatedthis open manifestation of the power andwork of Satan. Once the purpose wascompleted, there was no more a neces-sity to prove the point.

Satan is “the prince of the powerof the air” (Ep 2:2). All demons are sub-ject to him. Jesus came in order thatthe works of God might be mani-fested in Him (Jn 9:1ff). In order forthis to be done, God had to allow Satanthe opportunity to manifest his delegatedpower and authority in an open mannerduring the ministry of Jesus as Jesus wasthe revealed power of God among men.Therefore, God allowed Satan to de-velop an environment in the land ofPalestine that would allow Jesus toprove His power over Satan. WhenJesus came, therefore, He came todemonstrate His power and authority overthe kingdom of Satan. This is what Jesusmeant when He said, “Or else how canone enter a strong man’s house andplunder his goods, unless he first bindsthe strong man? And then he will plun-

der his house” (Mt 12:29). God allowedthe strong man (Satan) the opportunity tobuild his house in order that Jesus plun-der it. We would never have known thatJesus had absolute authority over all thatSatan represented if God had not allowedSatan to manifest his most wicked be-havior.

Satan was the strong man in thestatement of Jesus in Matthew 12:29.Jesus was the one who plundered thestrong man’s house. John wrote, “Forthis purpose the Son of God was mani-fested, that He might destroy the worksof the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). Jesus did this inorder to bring salvation to mankind and inorder that John and the other New Tes-tament writers could write encouragingwords as, “He who is in you is greaterthan he who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4).When Jesus destroyed “him who had thepower of death, that is, the devil,” Hedespoiled Satan’s works, including demonpossession (Hb 2:14).

Luke recorded that Jesus had andhas greater power over the power ofSatan.

When a strong man, fully armed, guardshis own palace, his goods are in peace.But when a stronger than he comes uponhim and overcomes him, he takes fromhim all this armor in which he trusted,and divides his spoils (Lk 11:21,22).

Jesus was stronger than Satan.Even in His “humbled state” of incarna-tion, Jesus had absolute power over Sa-tan. In order to prove such, God alloweddemons to possess people during Jesus’


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ministry in order that we might have arecord of the authority and power of Jesusover all things (Mt 28:18).

We would never have knownJesus’ total authority over the realmof Satan if demons had not been per-mitted to possess people during theministry of Jesus. After the resurrec-tion and ascension of Jesus, a few repre-sentative cases of demon possession lin-gered in order to prove that Jesus’ del-egated authority did not cease with Hisascension to heaven. The prophecy ofMark 16:17 was thus fulfilled in the livesof those who believed. The disciples, asJesus promised, did cast out demons.They continued to prove apostolic author-ity on behalf of Jesus throughout the earlyministry of the disciples.

The primary purpose of the early dis-ciples was to represent the One whomanifested power over Satan while onearth. Their mission was to preach thegospel that was all-powerful over theworks of Satan (Rm 1:16). God hadproved Jesus’ authority and power dur-ing His personal ministry. He proved thecontinuation of that power and authorityin the disciples’ exorcism of demons af-ter the ascension of Jesus. That proofhas been recorded for us in the Scrip-tures. There was no need, therefore, forGod to allow demons to continue to pos-sess people after He had proved Hispoint. If we do not accept the Scripturesas sufficient proof of God’s final author-ity over all things, then we are doubtingGod’s invested authority in the Scriptures.

B. Demon possession demon-

strated the hideousness of sin.

God allowed demon possession inthe first century in order to inform allChristians of all time that ...

... we do not wrestle against flesh andblood, but against principalities,against powers, against the rulers of thedarkness of this age, against spiritualhosts of wickedness in the heavenlyplaces (Ep 6:12; Gl 5:19-21).

This statement by Paul to the Eph-esians defines the true nature of theChristian’s enemy. However, Paul’s de-fense mechanism for Christians in Ephe-sus, as well as for us today, was not thepower of exorcism, but the power ofthe gospel and the word of God (SeeRm 1:16; Hb 4:12).

Paul’s defense against the tempta-tions of Satan is the word of God. InEphesians 6:10-18 he exhorted Christiansto free-morally “be strong in the Lordand in the power of His might.” Chris-tians must “put on the whole armor ofGod” that they “may be able to standagainst the wiles of the devil.” This issomething that Christians must do. Theymust choose to act by submitting to theseinstructions of Paul and the other NewTestament writers.

God wants us to realize that Satanis real and that his nature is hideous. IfSatan were allowed to exercise his fulldesires upon humanity, the result wouldbe far greater than the wretched state ofindividuals who allowed demons to pos-sess them in the first century. Though


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we do not struggle against demon pos-session today, we do struggle against thedeceiver who has desires far beyond whatGod allows him to exercise in our presenttime. The only way Satan can get to Godis by inflicting humanity. Because of hisevil nature, he would destroy all human-ity if he could, just to make an attackagainst God. He did such before in thedays of Noah, and he would do it again.

C. Demon possession demon-strated that Jesus and the dis-ciples were from God.

The scribes condemned Jesus bysaying, “He has Beelzebub, and by theruler of the demons He casts out de-mons” (Mk 3:22). But Jesus answered,“How can Satan cast out Satan? If akingdom is divided against itself, thatkingdom cannot stand” (Mk 3:23,24).“And if Satan has risen up against him-self, and is divided,” Jesus continued,“he cannot stand, but has an end” (Mk3:26). This brief conversation betweenthe scribes and Jesus, therefore, openlymanifested the proof that Jesus was notfrom Satan. Jesus’ casting out of demonsdemonstrated that He was from God. IfHe had been working for the kingdom ofSatan, He would not have been doingthose things that destroyed Satan’s workamong men.

In preparation for one of theirpreaching tours, Jesus gave authority toHis disciples to cast out demons (Lk10:17). Therefore, their authority overthe realm of darkness was visually mani-fested to all as Jesus’ exorcism of de-

mons manifested His authority over Sa-tan and his angels. These cases of Jesusand the disciples’ power and authority overSatan were recorded in the New Testa-ment. Therefore, we have a record thatwe must believe in order to trust in God.God does not need to continue this visiblepower over Satan today.

The power of Jesus and the disciplesover any power Satan is allowed to havehas been manifested. The manifestationof this power has been recorded for all tosee. Therefore, we must read the record,the New Testament, in order to gain faithin the power of Jesus over Satan.

D. Demon possession demon-strated that God’s people canovercome anything of Satan.

Paul said that when God seatedJesus “at His right hand in the heav-enly places,” He wanted all Christiansof all time to realize that Jesus is “aboveall principality and power and mightand dominion and every name that isnamed, not only in this age but also inthat which is to come” (Ep 1:20,21).Therefore, God put all things under Jesus’authority “and gave Him to be headover all things” for the sake of thechurch (See Ep 1:22). Peter recordedthat Jesus “has gone into heaven andis at the right hand of God, angels andauthorities and powers having beenmade subject to Him” (1 Pt 3:22).

Jesus’ open manifestation over Sa-tan during His personal ministry on earthclearly demonstrated His authority andpower over Satan. This demonstration


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of power continued in the lives of the earlydisciples as they commanded the super-natural in the working of miracles and thecasting out of demons (See Mk 16:17).Christians today must answer Paul’squestion that “if God is for us, who canbe against us” (Rm 8:31)? The answeris, no one. Paul’s conclusion to this mat-ter is expressed in the words of Romans8:38,39.

For I am persuaded that neither deathnor life, nor angels nor principalitiesnor powers, nor things present northings to come, nor height nor depth,nor any other created thing, shall beable to separate us from the love of Godwhich is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christians must be confident thatJesus now has authority over all things.God had given all things into His handswhile He was on earth (Jn 13:3; 17:2).He is now at the right hand of God withall authority.

Christians have an inspired recordof the victory of Jesus over Satan. Theymust trust in this record and believe thatthey “are more than conquerors”through the One who loved us (Rm 8:37).John summed up the matter in Revela-tion 17:14: “These will make war withthe Lamb, and the Lamb will overcomethem, for He is Lord of lords, and Kingof kings; and those who are with Himare called, chosen, and faithful.”

We must believe these words.When it comes to anything that we can-not explain, we must resort to the wordof God for an explanation. If we do not

do this, we will be led astray by the de-ceptions of Satan. We must stay withthe sixty-six inspired books of the Bible.If we read books that report contrary in-formation to what is reported in the Bible,we must not add to that which is writtenin the Bible (See Rv 21:18,19). In a worldof misguided religionists, we must searchonly the Scriptures for evidences of God’spower and authority. Though the universemanifests that there is a great God outthere (Rm 1:20), one must discover therevelation of this God in the Bible in or-der to understand His nature and char-acter. It is the Bible that reveals this onetrue God and how He has worked in thelives of men.

We should not allow ourselves to bedeceived into believing modern-day de-ceptions of deceived men who seek afollowing in order to enrich their bank ac-counts. We must not allow ourselves tobe deceived by the clever of men asSimon, the sorcerer. Concerning Simon,Luke wrote,

To whom they all gave heed, from theleast to the greatest, saying ‘This man isthe great power of God.’ And theyheeded him because he had astonishedthem with his sorceries for a long time(At 8:10,11).

Throughout the world there aremany crafty men who have held captiveby their deceptions many innocent vic-tims who are ignorant of the Bible. There-fore, we must remember Jesus’ admoni-tion, “Take heed that no one deceivesyou” (Mt 24:4).


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Because demons were allowed topossess individuals in the first century,Jesus and the disciples were given theauthority and power to cast them out. Noone could cast out demons in the firstcentury other than Jesus and His dis-ciples. If unbelievers could cast out de-mons either in the first century or now,then Jesus’ power over the influence ofSatan would be nullified. In other words,if a sorcerer could actually cast outdemons, then the power and author-ity of Jesus and His disciples overSatan would be brought to naught. Itwould certainly be confusing if God al-lowed false teachers to cast out demonstoday. Nevertheless, there are those to-day who claim to be exorcists with theability to exorcise their make-believe de-mons. According to the word of God,however, the modern-day rituals and in-cantations of deceived men contradict theNew Testament examples of casting outdemons.

We maintain the proposition thatonly Jesus and His disciples could exor-cise demons in the first century. If suchwere true in the first century, then it wouldcertainly be true today in the presence ofany so-called demon possessed people.Exorcism is classified as a miraculouswork in Acts 8:6. And only Jesus andHis disciples could work miracles. If weclaim, therefore, that one casts out de-mons today, then we must affirm that theexorcist is a Christian and that he has

authority over the supernatural. How-ever, from our understanding of how onecomes into a covenant relationship withGod through obedience to the gospel (faith,repentance and baptism), we would af-firm that such modern-day fakes are notChristians. Therefore, they are not cast-ing out demons because they are notChristians.

The real work of Satan is in the livesof false exorcists who teach the doctrinesof demons. These false teachers existedduring the time of Jesus and the early dis-ciples as in the case of Simon, the sor-cerer of Samaria. Such false teachershave always existed. This is why thereare so many warnings against such in theNew Testament. Paul warned, “Now theSpirit expressly says that in latter timessome will depart from the faith, givingheed to deceiving spirits and doctrinesof demons” (1 Tm 4:1).

These deceiving spirits are the realinstruments of Satan. These are thosewho are practicing the deceptive prac-tices of trickery in order to lead people tobelieve that they have control over thesupernatural. Those who teach the illu-sion of demon possession today are teach-ing the doctrines of demons. James ex-plained this. “But if you have bitter envyand self-seeking in your hearts, do notboast and lie against the truth. Thiswisdom does not descend from above,but is earthly, sensual, demonic” (Js3:14,15). This is why John said, “Be-

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loved, do not believe every spirit, buttest the spirits, whether they are ofGod, because many false prophetshave gone out into the world” (1 Jn 4:1;see vss 2,3).

Satan and his hosts work todaythrough the deceptive teachings of falseteachers. Christians who believe theirfalse practices of exorcism and falseteachings are being deceived into believ-ing the doctrines of demons. They arebeing deceived by wisdom that Jamescalls demonic.

This is precisely what Jesus warnedin Matthew 24:23,24. Before the destruc-tion of Jerusalem, Jesus knew that therewould be those who would seek to de-ceive the disciples into believing that theywere the Christ. Jesus’ instructions toHis disciples concerning such false christswas, “Do not believe it.” He said thatthese deceivers would show “great signsand wonders, so as to deceive, if pos-sible, even the elect.” The deceiverswould pretend to command the supernatu-ral. However, their great signs and won-ders were only tricks, set forth to deceive.Jesus said, “Do not believe it.”

When we hear of supposed miracu-lous wonders here and there, we are safeand confident to follow Jesus’ advice.Even if such things are written in bookswith appealing covers, it is the Bible thatmust be our final authority to determinethat which is miraculous. This is neces-sary for there are those who are eager toread of fantastic stories of this or that sup-posed miraculous work of some deceiver.

This is illustrated in Jesus’ messageto the churches of Asia in Revelation 2

and 3. There was a group of false Jew-ish teachers in Ephesus who Jesus called“a synagogue of Satan” (Rv 2:9). Bytheir blasphemy, they led others into theirfalse teachings. Among the disciples ofThyatira, there was the sinful apostateChristian named Jezebel “who calls her-self a prophetess, to teach and beguileMy servants to commit sexual immo-rality and to eat things sacrificed toidols” (Rv 2:20). This false prophet wasteaching the doctrine of Satan (Rv 2:24).Those in Philadelphia were undergoing asimilar attack by those of the “synagogueof Satan” who were teaching lies (Rv3:9). Satan was not miraculously work-ing among the disciples of Asia. How-ever, he was working. He was workingthrough his most powerful medium,through the lives of self-deceived individu-als who have given up a knowledge ofthe truth and have run after the workingsof error (2 Th 2:9-12). Satan’s greatestworkers are self-deceived religious lead-ers of this world.

What was going on among the dis-ciples in the Asian is the same thing thathas continued throughout history. Satanwas venting his frustrations against theearly Christians through lies and immoralinfluences. John pictured this war of Sa-tan against the church in Revelation 12.In verse 17 John wrote,

And the dragon was enraged with thewoman, and he went to make war withthe rest of her offspring, who keep thecommandments of God and have the tes-timony of Jesus Christ.

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It is evident, therefore, that Satan’swar against the church is through decep-tion and evil influences. We must not beled astray by the demon theology of mod-ern-day witches and religionists who seeka following by preaching doctrines of fearto innocent victims.

It is important for every Christian tounderstand the true practice of exorcismas it is explained in the New Testament.This will help us separate what is truefrom that which is deceptively practicedtoday by false teachers who are teach-ing doctrines of demons.

As in defining true demon posses-sion, so we must understand the exorcismof demons by allowing the New Testa-ment to be our only dictionary. We mustnot allow the deceptions of modern-dayexorcists to define for us what exorcismis. We must go to the New Testament inorder to discover what actually went onwhen a demon was exorcized from some-one. In an indirect way, this also helps usto understand the true nature of demonpossession.

A. Exorcism was in the name ofJesus.

In the New Testament demonswere always exorcised by the disciplesof Jesus in His name, that is, by His au-thority. When the seventy disciples re-turned from their mission to which Jesushad sent them in Luke 10, they reported,“Lord, even the demons are subject tous in Your name” (Lk 10:17). In Phil-ippi, Paul cast out a spirit of divinationfrom a young girl by the same authority.

Paul said to the spirit, “I command youin the name of Jesus Christ to comeout of her” (At 16:18). There was no“exorcism formula” performed here byPaul or any of the other disciples. Thedemon was simply cast out by the au-thority of Jesus’ name.

One of the first indications of falsedemon possession and exorcism today arethe formulas or rituals supposed exorcistsgo through in order to cast out their imag-ined demons. When compared to the ex-orcism of real demons in the first cen-tury, such modern-day rituals and formu-las appear ridiculous. In the first cen-tury, exorcism was simply in the name ofJesus. This was the only authority thatwas needed to get the job done. Thepower was in the name of Jesus.

B. Only Jesus and His disciplescould exorcise demons.

In the case of demons in Matthew9:32-34, it is clear that only Jesus couldcast out demons at this particular time inHis ministry. The actual casting out ofdemons had never before been seenin Israel. Notice what the observers ofthis event stated, “It was never seen likethis in Israel” (vs 33). Later in His min-istry, Jesus gave the power of exorcismto His disciples (Lk 10:17-20; Mk 16:17).Those who witnessed Jesus’ casting outof the demon in Matthew 9 had thus neverseen such before. This is clear evidencethat the practice of real and actual exor-cism had never been successful beforeJesus came. We would conclude, there-fore, that only Jesus at the time of the

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events of Matthew 9 could cast out de-mons.

Since Matthew 9:33 is stating thatsuch had never before happened in Is-rael, then it is logical to conclude that suchhas also not happened since the close ofthe first century. In other words, one isnot being objective if he contends that de-mon possession and exorcism have oc-curred since the first century. This istrue simply because we have noknowledge that such had occurred inthe history of the world until the firstcentury.

This also helps us understand the ab-sence of discussions concerning demonpossession in the Old Testament. If de-mon possession were as common in theOld Testament times as some claim it istoday, then we wonder why there is nodiscussion of such in the Old TestamentScriptures. Why are there no recordedcases of exorcism in the Old Testamentby the prophets of God?

The case of demon possession andexorcism of Mark 9:38-41 is often usedto argue that people who were not dis-ciples of Jesus were able to cast out de-mons. John said to Jesus, “Teacher, wesaw someone who does not follow uscasting out demons in Your name, andwe forbade him because he does notfollow us” (Mk 9:38). In John’s state-ment the problem is revealed. He said,“... follow us.” There seems to havebeen some sectarian pride manifestedhere on the part of the disciples. Johnshould have said, “Follow You.” Thepoint is that the one who was castingout demons was following Jesus, for

he cast demons out in the name ofJesus. He was just not in the inner circleof disciples where John and the other dis-ciples thought he should be in order tocast out demons. Therefore, Jesus saidto all the apostles, “Do not forbid him,for no one who works a miracle in Myname can soon afterward speak evilof Me” (Mk 9:39). Jesus’ statement con-cerning what the man was doing, verifiesthe fact that he was a disciple of Jesus.He was casting out demons in the nameof Jesus.

There were many disciples of Jesuswho were not of the immediate innercircle of followers. In Luke 10, authorityhad been given to seventy disciples to castout demons. Therefore, not only did thetwelve disciples have such authority tocast out demons, others did also. But theirauthority to exorcise demons was givento them directly by Jesus. The discipleof Mark 9 could have been one of thesedisciples who was originally a part of thosewhom Jesus sent out to preach.

C. Exorcism was by word only.

Jesus “cast out the spirit with aword” (Mt 8:16). The casting out of de-mons simply by a spoken word manifestedHis unquestionable power over the de-mon world. This leads us to believe thatthose who go through exhausting perfor-mances are actually trying talk the pos-sessed into coming to his or her senses.This point again proves the argument thatif one uses rituals or ceremonies to castout demons, then that which is being castout is not a demon. Exorcism is not a

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mental process through which one mustgo in order to come to his or her senses.It is an instantaneous action on the partof the one who has the authority to castout demons.

D. Exorcism was by the finger ofGod.

Jesus’ authority was manifested inthe fact that He cast out demons by thefinger of God (Lk 11:20). The term “fin-ger of God” is here a metaphor that wouldrefer to the smallest effort on the part ofGod to accomplish a particular work. IfJesus had used the metaphor “arm ofGod,” then emphasis would have been onthe great power of God. But in the caseof demons, there was little power that wasneeded to cast them out in reference toany power the demons had.

Because of His authority over Sa-tan, Jesus gave power to the seventy dis-ciples in Luke 10 to also cast out demons.Therefore, the casting out of demons isassociated only with the working of Godthrough Jesus and His early disciples.The miraculous authority given to themwas given in order to manifest the insig-nificant power of demons, for the disciplesalso cast out demons by the “finger” ofGod.

E. Exorcism was by command.

In Acts 16:18 it is recorded that Paulwas able to cast out demons by a simplecommand. Luke recorded, “But Paul,greatly annoyed, turned and said tothe spirit, ‘I command you in the name

of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ Andhe came out that very hour.” Paul didnot use long involved rituals. There wereno ceremonies performed. He simplyspoke the word and the demon departed.

The emphasis in the New Testamentwas that Jesus and His disciples had in-stant command over the demons. Thereason for this was to prove that therewas absolutely no contest between theauthority of Jesus in relation to any pow-ers of Satan’s world. Power and author-ity that were manifested in Jesus weremeant to prove to us that Jesus reignssupreme over all principalities and pow-ers of the underworld.

By understanding the little powerthat is needed to cast out demons, webegin to understand the purpose why Godallowed demons to possess people in thefirst century. The purpose lies in the factthat God wanted to reveal to us that thereis no comparison between His power andauthority and that of Satan and his de-mons. Jesus and the disciples simplyspoke the word, and the demons vanishedfrom the presence of those in whom theydwelt. There was no struggle. Therewas no confrontation between the Chris-tian exorcist and the demon. There wasno fear involved on the part of the pos-sessed or the Christian. The word wassimply spoken. The demon immediatelyleft the possessed. This is certainly a dif-ferent picture than what we see todaywith those who promote demon posses-sion and other abnormal human behav-ior.

There are no cases of ritualistic ex-

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orcism in the New Testament. Exorcismwas by command, not by potions and ritu-als. In Acts 19 there were some Jewishexorcists who attempted to assume theauthority of exorcism that had been in-vested in Paul. However, their attemptedexorcism went wrong when the man inwhom the evil spirit dwelt, leaped on them.

The Jewish exorcists of the Acts 19context represent false exorcists wholived at the same time Paul lived. How-ever, their false exorcism was unfruitful.This is evident in the fact that they sawwhat Paul was doing in casting out de-mons was real and actual. Becausethey had no faith in their own prac-tices, they resorted to calling on “thename of the Lord Jesus over those whohad evil spirits ...” (At 19:13). If theirprevious rituals and practices hadbeen effective, then they would nothave tried Paul’s practice that didwork. It is evident that they recognizedthe authority and power of Paul to begreater than anything they pretended todo.

The evidence in the text that theseJewish false teachers were presumptu-ous and had no authority to do as Paul, isproclaimed by the demon possessed manhimself. He said, “Jesus I know, andPaul I know; but who are you?” (At19:15). This seems to indicate that sim-ply using the name of Jesus in exorcismwas not enough. Authority had to begiven to the exorcist in order for himto be able to cast out demons.

Modern-day exorcists have not beendivinely commissioned to cast out demons.Their false teachings confirm that

their exorcism is false. Therefore,Christians should not be deceived bythe false claims of religiously mis-guided and self-appointed exorcists.Why would any Christian want to believethe declarations concerning supposed de-mon possessions today that are made bythose who are not Christians and whohave no understanding of demon posses-sion as it is defined in the Bible?

Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 6:10-18 is to trust in the word of the Spirit. Heexhorts us to have faith and believe thegospel. Faith and gospel are theChristian’s defenses against Satan.Throughout the New Testament, exhorta-tions are given to Christians in order thatthey arm themselves against the work ofSatan. In view of Satan’s work, how-ever, there are no New Testament in-structions or exhortations given toChristians that they must practice ex-orcism in order to fight demon pos-session.

We must conclude that exorcismwas not to be a continuing practice amongJesus’ disciples. Since this were true, thenwe would rightly conclude that God wouldnot allow demons to continually possesspeople as they did in the first century. Thiswould leave one without any biblical au-thority for the practice of exorcism to-day. And indirectly, this would leave onewithout any biblical evidence for a beliefin a continued real and actual fact of de-mon possession after the manner bywhich demons possessed people in thefirst century. In other words, becauseGod was going to terminate demon pos-session, He knew there would be no need

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to give Christians instructions on exor-cism. The practice of exorcism, and thefact of demon possession, existed togetherin the first century. Both passed awaytogether after the first century.

It has been argued that it is one ofSatan’s deceptions to lead people to be-lieve that there is no such thing as demonpossession today. But we would ask,What would be the purpose of such pos-session? We would also ask, Why wouldGod allow Satan to continue to manifestthe underworld in only random areas, forsuch “possessions” are prevalent wherethey are believed and practiced? Couldwe not also respond by saying that itis a deception of Satan to lead peopleto believe that demons actually pos-sess people today in order to keeppeople in fear?

Satan works in order to control usthrough fear. If our life is controlled byfear, then we have not yet been madeperfect in love. “There is no fear inlove; but perfect love casts out fear,because fear involves torment. But hewho fears has not been made perfectin love” (1 Jn 4:18).

Only Jesus and His disciples couldcast out demons in the first century.Therefore, if a so-called demon possessessomeone today, then only a disciple ofJesus can cast out that demon. If wehear of a demon being cast out by someindividual, then that exorcist must be aChristian. If it turns out that the exorcistis not a Christian, but a teacher of falsedoctrine, then we affirm that the exor-cism he did was false. The demon hesupposedly cast out was also false. It

was not a true case of demon posses-sion. There was no demon and there wasno exorcism. Everyone involved in thesituation was deceived. The question iswhether Christians will become involvedin such deception in order to spread thelie. If one does not have a love of thetruth, then God will send him strong delu-sion in order that he believe the lie (2 Th2:10-12).

The miraculous authority of exor-cism does not continue with the churchtoday. We concluded from the preced-ing chapters that God does not allow de-mons to possess people today becauseHe has not continued the authority andpower through Christians to cast themout, for only the true disciples of Jesuswere invested with the authority andpower to cast out demons in the first cen-tury. In fact, this was one of God’s proofsthat one was a true disciple. “In Myname they [Jesus’ disciples] will cast outdemons ...” (Mk 16:17). If we believethat a certain individual casts out ademon, we must be prepared to ac-cept the fact that that person is a dis-ciple of Jesus, preaching the truth ofGod’s word.

Since Jesus said that only those whowere of the group of His disciples couldcast out demons, then only those whowere of the group of His disciples castout demons. If such were true in the firstcentury, then such would be true today.Therefore, we must caution some in theireagerness to accept the exorcisms thatare supposedly carried out in some vil-lage or town across the country. If anexorcism is supposedly carried out, then

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we must assume that Christians are atwork. However, in order not to be de-ceived, we must take our Bibles with uswhen we go and check out the supposedexorcism. If the teaching of the exorcistis contrary to the word of God, then we

know that no exorcism took place. Wemust remember the exhortation of Jesus,“Be not deceived.” If one is willing tobelieve the fantasies of men, then he willbe deceived.

11 - The Realm Of The Miraculous

Chapter 11

THE REALM OF THE MIRACULOUS

Miracle refers to the realm of thesupernatural that is unleashed into therealm of the physical. Supernatural re-fers to that which is above this physicalworld of physical, or natural laws. Thesupernatural, or that which is above thenatural, is the realm of God. It is the realmin which disembodied spirits are kept byGod until the time of embodiment. It isthe realm where the physical does notexist, and thus, the realm of no physicallaws.

We live in the natural world that iscontrolled by the physical laws of nature.The realm of existence that is not physi-cal is governed by laws that are of thesupernatural realm. When those laws arebrought into contact with the physicalworld in which we live, miracle occurs.

During each particular period of hu-man history, God has allowed the super-natural realm to be manifested in ourworld of natural laws. He did this in or-der to remind us that we are the productof a Creator who exists beyond this physi-cal world. When Jesus came, the worldneeded proof that He was from the Fa-ther (Jn 3:2), but also that He had author-ity even over the supernatural realm ofspirits. Therefore, Jesus came working

the works of the supernatural world. Hecame working the works of the Father.

It is important to understand that ex-orcism belongs to the world of the super-natural. For this reason, exorcism is amiraculous work. In the incident of Mark9 when another disciple was casting outdemons, Jesus said of the exorcism, “Donot forbid him, for no one who worksa miracle in My name can soon after-ward speak evil of me” (Mk 9:39; seealso At 8:6,7). Jesus identified thedisciple’s work of exorcism as a miracu-lous work. Therefore, when we discussthe cessation of confirming miracles, wemust understand that this includes the ces-sation of exorcism.

Demons belong to the spirit realm.The Bible teaches that demon possessionwould not continue indefinitely becausethe time in which Deity would provesuperiority over Satan through exorcismwould pass away. Therefore, there wouldbe no more need to openly and miracu-lously through exorcism, prove Jesus’power and authority over the spirit world,and particularly, over the spirit world ofSatan. Miraculous workings as exorcismby Jesus and the first disciples had a spe-cial purpose. When that purpose was

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accomplished, confirming miraclesceased, demon possession ceased, andexorcism ceased.

A. God worked confirming miraclesfor specific purposes.

In the first century, the realm of thesupernatural was manifested throughJesus and the early Christians. The pur-pose of this manifestation was to provethat Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.Some disciples were allowed to work con-firming miracles in order to prove that theirword was from God, not from Satan.

The purpose of confirming miraclesis clearly defined in the New Testament.Mark said that the early disciples “wentout and preached everywhere, the Lordworking with them and confirming theword through the accompanyingsigns” (Mk 16:20). Nicodemus said toJesus, “no one can do these signs thatYou do unless God is with him” (Jn 3:2;see 10:37,38). Jesus commanded the mi-raculous in order that we might believethat He “is the Christ, the Son of theliving God ...” (Jn 20:30,31). Therefore,Jesus was “attested by God to you bymiracles, wonders, and signs ...” (At2:22). Concerning the early disciples, Godbore “witness both with signs and won-ders, with various miracles, and giftsof the Holy Spirit” (Hb 2:3,4).

Since the miraculous work of Godis a central subject in the Bible with ref-erence to His work, it is logical to under-stand that there are reasons or purposessurrounding this work of God. Modern-day religionists who claim to work

miracles usually ignore this point. Thereason they often ignore this point is thatthe purpose and work of miracles at par-ticular times in the history of God’s peopleproves that God has ceased working insuch a manner today. If there is purposebehind the work of confirming miracles,then it is imperative that we understandthis purpose or purposes. When we un-derstand why confirming miracles wereworked, much of the proof for the cessa-tion of miracles is understood. There-fore, with this in mind, consider the fol-lowing points:

1. Signs would follow the dis-ciples. Concerning the disciples, Jesussaid that “these signs will follow thosewho believe: In My name they will castout demons; they will speak with newtongues ...” (Mk 16:17,18). This wasJesus’ promise that the early discipleswould be able to work miracles and castout demons in order to confirm the mes-sage they preached. Some have had dif-ficulty understanding this early confirma-tion of the word of the disciples becausethey have failed to understand the rea-son why the signs were to follow the dis-ciples in the first century. We must firstunderstand that God does nothing with-out purpose. There was a purpose whythe miraculous signs followed the earlydisciples. When we understand this pur-pose, we will then understand why God’smiraculous confirmation is no longerneeded in the following centuries.

2. Signs confirmed the word andwork of the disciples. The Lord workedwith those disciples by “confirming the


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word through the accompanyingsigns” (Mk 16:20; see 1 Co 12-14). Godbore witness “with signs and wonders,with various miracles, and gifts of theHoly Spirit ...” (Hb 2:4). In other words,God proved that the disciples representedHim because of their authority to com-mand the supernatural. For this reason,we affirm that no representative of Sa-tan has ever worked miracles. Godwould not allow Satan to do anything thatwould offset the work of the early dis-ciples. Why would God allow Satan towork signs through his disciples if thepurpose of the signs was to indicate su-pernatural authority that was standingbehind the disciples of Jesus? (More onthis later.)

3. Exorcism confirmed the powerof God in the disciples. God alloweddemons to possess people during the min-istry of Jesus in order to present an op-portunity where Jesus and His disciplescould manifest power over Satan (See At16:18). Some demons were left as a rem-nant after Jesus’ ascension in order to al-low the disciples an opportunity to mani-fest their divinely given authority andpower.

God wanted the world to know thatJesus’ conquest continued through thework of the disciples. In every place andon every occasion Jesus’ disciples wereable to conquer the powers of Satan inorder to prove Jesus’ continuing powerover the world of demons. These casesof exorcism by the disciples have also beenrecorded in order to prove that Jesus’ au-thority and power did not cease with Hisascension.

One might look at this from an op-posite position. What if Jesus did not castout demons? If He did not, then wewould conclude that His authority was lim-ited. If Jesus had not cast out demonswe would have never known that He hasall authority (Mt 28:18). We would neverhave known that the Father delivered allthings into His hands (Jn 13:3; 17:2). Itwas necessary for our benefit, therefore,that God present a stage where Jesus andthe early disciples be openly shown tohave authority over the work of Satan.

Herein lies the purpose for demonpossession. Demons did not possesspeople on their own power. The one whowas possessed in some way had to vol-untarily submit to the work of the demons.There were no demons floating around,arbitrarily selecting innocent victims inwhom to dwell. The point is that Godallowed the demons to possess people inthe first century. Those who were pos-sessed also allowed the demons to pos-sess them.

God accomplished His purpose forallowing a few demons to possess peoplein the first century. This was the onlytime in history when men experienced thisphenomenon of the spirit world (Mt 9:33).But keep in mind that this was the onlytime in the history of the world that Goddetermined to reveal His Son and estab-lish the church.

4. Miraculous confirmationceased. After God had confirmed thespoken word by the miraculous work ofthe Holy Spirit, the miraculous confir-mation was needed no more. Whenthe complete will of God was delivered


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to man, the miracles were terminated.This was why Paul wrote, “But whetherthere are prophecies, they will fail;whether there are tongues, they willcease; whether there is knowledge, itwill vanish away” (See 1 Co 13:8-12).The point is that when God accomplishedHis purpose through the miraculousmanifestation of the supernatural, themanifestation of the miraculous was doneaway.

When the disciples received all truthfrom the apostles, that truth was eventu-ally recorded in order that all baptized dis-ciples come to a unity of the faith (Ep4:11-16). Our faith is complete whenbased on the word of God (Rm 10:17),and thus, we no longer need the miracu-lous confirmation of what we believe (Jd3). After the word of God was confirmedto be of divine origin, then there was nomore a need for miraculous confirmation.When the word of God was confirmed,the miraculous confirmation ceased.Christians now have the inspired andconfirmed record of God’s powerover Satan. This record is “profitablefor doctrine, for reproof, for correc-tion, for instruction in righteousness,that the man of God may be complete,thoroughly equipped for all goodwork” (2 Tm 3:16,17).

God has proved the power of Jesusover the powers of Satan. This conquestwas recorded for our admonition andfaith. We must trust in the confirmedrecord. In other words, we must studyand trust our Bibles. If our faith is basedon the word of God, then God is pleased(See Jn 20:30,31).

There are those who still crave amiraculous confirmation of their faith.Such is an indication of a struggling faith.We must remember the case of Thomas.After Jesus’ resurrection, He appearedto the disciples when Thomas was notpresent. They eventually told Thomasof the appearing, but he would not be-lieve them. He said, “Unless I see inHis hands the print of the nails, andput my finger into the print of the nails,and put my hand into His side, I willnot believe” (Jn 20:25). Thomas wouldnot believe unless he could walk by sight.Many today are the same. They struggleto walk by faith. They must see, hearand touch in order to believe.

Eight days after Jesus had appearedto the disciples without the presence ofThomas, Jesus again appeared to the dis-ciples. However, Thomas was present.Jesus told Thomas to “reach your fin-ger here, and look at My hands; andreach your hand here, and put it intoMy side, Do not be unbelieving, butbelieving” (Jn 20:27). When Thomas didsuch, he said, “My Lord and my God!”(Jn 20:28). And then Jesus made a mostinteresting statement to Thomas. “Tho-mas, because you have seen Me, youhave believed. Blessed are those whohave not seen and yet have believed”(Jn 20:29).

Those who are seeking miracles to-day are asking God to take away theirblessedness, for if we see, then we areno longer more blessed than Thomas whodid see. Those who cry for the miracu-lous today are as Thomas. They will notbelieve unless they can walk by sight. The


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cry for confirming miracles today, there-fore, is not a manifestation of faith, but adesperate plea of those who lack of faith.

B. The miracle of exorcism came toan end.

Though God continues to work in ourlives today, the age of confirming miracleshas passed because God proved His pointwhen He confirmed the spoken word inthe first century. He does not work in amiraculous manner today as He did in thefirst century to confirm His spoken wordsimply because He does not have to.Once He proved His point in the confir-mation of His word, He does not have tocontinue doing the same thing throughoutthe centuries.

This is also true concerning the sub-ject of casting out demons. The follow-ing points emphasize the teaching that de-mon possession cannot exist today be-cause God does not work in a miraculousmanner today through exorcism:

1. Miraculous power was givenby God. It was by the authority and mi-raculous power given by God that allowedJesus and some of the first disciples tocast out demons in the first century (Mk16:17,20; Hb 2:3,4). Exorcism was con-sidered miraculous, and thus, was themanifestation of miraculous power fromGod (Mk 9:39; At 8:6). It must be em-phasized that this power was given in or-der that men might know that Jesus andHis disciples were sent by God (Jn 3:2;20:30,31; Hb 2:3,4). It was an authorityand power that Jesus had, and it was an

authority and power that Jesus gave toHis disciples. Only Jesus and the dis-ciples manifested this authority to com-mand the supernatural in order to exor-cise demons (Mk 16:20).

2. God has terminated the openmanifestation of confirming miracles.Today, God does not give confirmingmiraculous power (gifts) as He did inthe first century. He does not openlymanifest His work in order to offer mi-raculous confirmation of His word or Hispeople over the powers of Satan.

The record of the exorcism of de-mons is recorded in the New Testament.Men have this record as evidence for allhistory of the divine origin of Christianity.John wrote that the miracles of Jesuswere written “that you may believe” (Jn20:30,31). Satan’s power has been shownto be insufficient. In the New Testament,we have the record of Jesus’ devastationof Satan’s power. This is why Peter saidof the word of God. God’s power “hasgiven to us all things that pertain tolife and godliness, through the knowl-edge of Him who called us by gloryand virtue” (2 Pt 1:3).

3. God does not allow modern-day demon possession. Our conclusionis that God would not allow demon pos-session today without also giving Chris-tians the power to cast them out, sinceonly Christians could have such author-ity. God would not allow His Son’sdemonstration of power over Satan in thefirst century to be nullified today by per-mitting demons to possess people with-out the miraculous power of Christiansto cast them out. But if Satan has again


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arisen in power to possess people afterJesus crushed him in the first century, thenJesus did not actually accomplish a com-plete victory over him in the first century.But why would God allow Satan to havemiraculous power today if He limits Him-self and does not give His people thepower of exorcism?

Those who believe that the HolySpirit continues to work in a miraculousmanner today are often easily deceivedinto believing that demons also work insuch a manner. Such people are gener-ally psychologically prepared to acceptthe belief of modern-day demon posses-sion. We have found that the more onebelieves that confirming miracles continuetoday, the more he or she will believe inthe modern-day miraculous workings ofSatan. Both beliefs lead one away froma Bible-based faith, because both lead oneto base their faith upon a search for mi-raculous happenings rather than the re-vealed word of God. Inevitably, both leadone into a religion that is subjective. Butif one understands the temporary natureof the miraculous works of God, it is easyto understand the cessation of demon pos-session.

We must not forget that when theNew Testament was not yet written, Godconfirmed His presence among Hispeople, the church, through empiricallyconfirmed miracles. But when His wordwas written by the Holy Spirit, there wasno longer the need for the empirical con-formation of His word or people. Theconfirmation is in now recorded in theNew Testament.

Keep in mind that we are not say-

ing that God does not work today. Heworks, but His work is not of an empiri-cally revealed manner as it was in thefirst century. His work today is in a provi-dential nature. He works behind thescenes of that which we observe in or-der to work out His plan and good in thelives of His people (Rm 8:28). There-fore, we must not over react to a biblicalteaching that God does not allow confirm-ing miracles today as that miraculouswork that is defined by the Bible. Godworks. He simply works in order to bedetected by faith, not by sight. Such isthe difference between the empiricallyidentified miracle and His “miraculous”work today that is perceived by faith.

C. Christians can resist Satan.

Today, God balances the temptationsof Satan by offering to the Christian away of escape. Paul wrote, “God isfaithful, who will not allow you to betempted beyond what you are able, butwith the temptation will also make theway of escape, that you may be ableto bear it” (1 Co 10:13). Christians mustremember this promise. Satan, however,is still a persistent deceiver (2 Co 11:13,14;2 Th 2:9,10; 1 Tm 4:1,2; Rv 13:14). Hegoes about as a roaring lion “seekingwhom he may devour” (1 Pt 5:8). How-ever, God has promised, “Resist the deviland he will flee from you” (Js 4:7).Therefore, the Christian is “able to standagainst the wiles of the devil” (Ep 6:11),as long as he or she stands upon the foun-dation of the gospel (1 Co 15:1,2).

Satan does not have the power


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to subjectively bring someone underhis control. He can bring one undercontrol only through the deceptive doc-trines of demons (1 Tm 4:1). It is withinthe power of every individual, therefore,to resist the deceptive teaching of Satan.No one is tempted beyond his power toendure the deception of Satan.

God has never allowed Satan to vol-untarily control people against their ownwill. Upon the volition of certain individu-als, demons subjected people in the firstcentury. However, one would be hardpressed to find a conceptual teaching inthe Scriptures that such possession be-gan as a result of demons involuntarilysubjecting an individual against his will.All Scripture affirms the proposition thatthe possessed individuals must have first

allowed demons to possess them. Afterthe possession, the individuals were sub-mitted to unfortunate circumstances.

If demons could possess peopleagainst the will of the people they pos-sessed, then the world of the first cen-tury would have been a world of darkestfear and rampant possession of demonsthroughout the world. If demons subjec-tively possessed people today, the samewould exist. If demons did so possesspeople apart from the free-moral choiceof individuals, then we wonder why therewere not more people possessed in thefirst century, especially religious leaders.Could not Satan just crush the work ofreligions by simply submitting the religiousleaders to the possession of a few withhis demons?

12 - The Disarmed Devil

Then consider the work of Satan indeceiving the world. The power of de-ception is much more effective than de-mon possession. Only a few were de-mon possessed in the first century. Onthe other hand, millions throughout theworld were under the deceptive influenceof Satan. The Pharisees, Sadducees andscribes, with other religious leaders aroundthe world, were all under the deceptionof Satan. Why would Satan need to workany miracles today since he already hasthe majority of the world under his de-ception. It seems ridiculous to think thatGod would allow Satan all the miracu-lous power some think he has when healready has led to hell the vast majority

of the world’s population without the useof a single miracle.

The results of deception, therefore,are always greater than miracles or de-mon possession. Deception is Satan’sgreatest weapon against truth. We wouldbe wise not to succumb to false religiousbeliefs that are propagated throughout theworld in order to lead even the righteousastray.

More happened with the conquestof Jesus over Satan at the cross than weperceive. There was a struggle going onbeyond the limits of our perceptions thatbrought to finality much of the power ofSatan in reference to his work to deceivethe world. It is not necessary for us to

Chapter 12

THE DISARMED DEVIL

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understand every implication of the con-quest of Jesus over the power of Satanin order to appreciate the great victorywe have in the cross. What is within ourability to understand has been revealedin clear words. What is not within ourrealm of understanding is not revealed.At least, it is not revealed in a way wecan understand, for there are some thingsconcerning Satan’s work beyond thisworld that are not within the realm of ourunderstanding. We should not be pre-sumptuous, therefore, to claim that weunderstand all of God’s work with Satanthat has taken place behind the curtain ofour empirical awareness.

When we study the subject of thischapter, there are certain things that aredifficult to understand. However, throughfaith we understand that Jesus took careof Satan and his host in a way that settledsome old scores. Satan has been castdown. He does not now reign as he didbefore the cross. Demons have been ledinto captivity. Therefore, we must notunderestimate the victorious conquest ofthe cross in reference to the work of Sa-tan. When Jesus said that the prince ofthis world (Satan) has been cast down,there is more to the story than an offer-ing for our sins on the cross. Somethinghappened in the realm of the spirit worldthat we cannot fully comprehend. Wesimply assumed that Jesus accomplisheda victory over Satan that had from thetime of Satan’s rebellion in heavenlyplaces, been waiting to happen. Morehappened on the cross and in the resur-rection than the atonement for our sins.Satan was dislodged from his throne of

power. He was cast down.There are three important subjects

to consider in examining Jesus’ conquestof Satan: (1) Jesus came to disarm Sa-tan. (2) Jesus has bound Satan by thepower of the gospel. (3) The only powerthat Jesus will allow Satan to have todayis the power of deception through falseteachings.

A. Jesus disarmed Satan.

The disarming of Satan must beviewed in the context of Old Testamentprophecies. The prophecy of Psalm 68clearly states that Satan’s influence wasgoing to change when Jesus came.Things would be different after the cross.To what extent the change would be, wemight disagree. However, the fact is thatthere would be and was going to be achange. This change had eternal conse-quences, not only for man, but also forSatan.

1. Prophecy of the captivity of“captivity”: In its historical context,Psalm 68 is a victory psalm. While seatedin the historical context of David’s victo-ries over his enemies, the prophecy ofverse 18 reached many years into thefuture. David said, “You have ascendedon high, You have led captivity cap-tive, You have received gifts amongmen.” This was a prophecy of the com-ing downfall of Satan. Verse 18 isquoted by Paul in Ephesians 4:8 inreference to the ascension of Jesus.

When Jesus ascended, He sent theHoly Spirit in Acts 2. The gospel was


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preached by Peter and the church beganwhen men submitted to the kingdom reignof Jesus. In Acts 1 Jesus ascended tothe Father and in Acts 2 the Holy Spiritwas given to men. After the coming ofthe Holy Spirit, Peter stated, “Thereforebeing exalted to the right hand of God,and having received from the Fatherthe promise of the Holy Spirit, Hepoured out this which you now see andhear” (At 2:33). But Peter also said thatthe gift of the Holy Spirit was to all whowould submit to the gospel by immersion.

Repent, and let every one of you be bap-tized in the name of Jesus Christ for theremission of sins; and you shall receivethe gift of the Holy Spirit. For the prom-ise is to you and to your children, and toall who are afar off, as many as the Lordour God will call (At 2:38,39).

Ephesians 4:11 again refers to Psalm68 in reference to Jesus’ setting forth“gifts” of ministries among the disciplesin order to edify and build up the church.These ministries referred to teaching min-istries as apostles, prophets, evangelists,teachers and shepherds. Such ministrieswere set forth by Jesus in order that ...

... we should no longer be children,tossed to and fro and carried about withevery wind of doctrine, by the trickeryof men, in the cunning craftiness bywhich they lie in wait to deceive (Ep 4:14).

Therefore, in the prophecy and ful-fillment of Psalm 68:18, God was sayingthat the time would come when Satan

would be led away into captivity by theempowerment of His people. This wouldhappen when Jesus ascended on high (Ep4:8). Satan lost his powerful influenceover men when God’s people were em-powered by the Holy Spirit who taughtthem all things concerning the truth (SeeJn 14:26; 16:13,14). Satan could no longerlead people away from God as he so ledthem before the coming of Jesus and theHoly Spirit. The only work of Satan thatwas left is the power of deception. Thepower of the gospel has conquered thepower of Satan (Rm 1:16). For the childof God who trusts in the word of God,this power is unlimited (See Hb 4:12).Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesianswas centered around their prepara-tion to combat false teaching, notdemon possession.

When Paul wrote the Ephesian let-ter, he stated, “I, therefore, the prisonerof the Lord, beseech you to have awalk worthy of the calling with whichyou were called” (Ep 4:1). His empha-sis in the Ephesian letter was to fine tunetheir understanding of the body in refer-ence to its head, Christ. He wrote that“we should no longer be children,tossed to and fro and carried aboutwith every wind of doctrine, by thetrickery of men, in the cunning crafti-ness by which they lie in wait to de-ceive” (Ep 4:14). Could he have statedmore clearly the danger of crafty mendeceiving the hearts of the innocent?Certainly not! The deception of practicesas astrology, spiritism, voodooism, witch-craft, and the other religions of the oc-cult, are simply the crafty practices of


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men to lead people from the truth. TheNew Testament was given to us that webe not led astray after these deceptivepractices of men.

Now consider specifically thepresent-day practice of or belief in de-mon possession. If demon possessionwere to continue past the first century,we would think that Christians would bearmed and prepared by the Holy Spirit tofight such with instructions on exorcism.We would even assume that examples ofexorcism would be included in the epistlesof the New Testament writers. But thoseexamples or instructions are just not there.This is a most significant fact to recog-nize in studying the epistles. There areno exhortations in the New Testa-ment letters to the disciples concern-ing demon possession. There are norituals or ceremonies given to guidethe disciples as to how to cast out de-mons. There are no warnings againstdemon possession. This is a devastat-ing argument against the present-day be-lief and practice of demon possession.

The majority of the New Testamentletters were written in the 50s and 60s.In A.D. 70 the Jewish state was de-stroyed by the destruction of Jerusalem.Since there are no references to demonpossession in the epistles that were writ-ten to exhort the disciples, then we couldconclude that the last remnants of demonswere carried away with the last exorcismthat was worked by a disciple of Jesusbefore the destruction of Jerusalem. Thesilence of the epistles concerning both de-mon possession and exorcism leads us toconclude that this activity of the first cen-

tury had passed away by the time of thedestruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

2. Prophecy of the “uncleanspirit”: Zechariah prophesied that Godwould cause “the unclean spirit” todepart from the land of Israel (Zc 13:2).Within this prophecy was the promise thatSatan’s kingdom would be devastated bythe taking of demons from the land. Ze-chariah recorded,

“It shall be in that day,’ says the Lord ofhosts, ‘that I will cut off the names of theidols from the land, and they shall nolonger be remembered. I will also causethe prophets and the unclean spirit todepart from the land” (Zc 13:2).

Jesus came to accomplish the de-struction of Satan and to fulfill the aboveprophecy. The ministry of Jesus beganthe fall of Satan. Jesus said during Hisministry, “Now is the judgment of thisworld; now the ruler of this world willbe cast out” (Jn 12:31). One indicationof this fall was proclaimed by the sev-enty disciples in Luke 10 who had goneforth to preach, heal and cast out demons.When they returned, Jesus said, “I sawSatan fall like lightning from heaven”(Lk 10:18).

Jesus came to destroy the house ofSatan (See Lk 11:21-23). John wrote,“For this purpose the Son of God wasmanifested, that He might destroy theworks of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). In a spe-cific way, therefore, Satan’s work wasbeing destroyed by the ministry of Jesus.The destruction of Satan’s work beganduring the ministry of Jesus and was cul-


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minated at the cross. This certainlywould not refer exclusively to Satan’swork of deception, for he continues todeceive the nations. He goes about as aroaring lion, seeking whom he may de-vour (1 Pt 5:8).

There is a meaning in the prophecyand fulfillment of Zechariah 13:2 that tookplace behind the curtain of our empiricalperception. It was the gospel of Jesuson behalf of men in sin that brought downthe house of Satan. There was a scoreJesus had to settle with the rebelliousSatan that had destructive consequencesin relation to the existence of Satan whenall things are finalized. Satan had broughtdown Jesus’ creation of man in the gar-den of Eden (Cl 1:16). But it was at thecross that Jesus brought man back upthrough His blood offering. And in theend, the final score will be settled whenSatan is cast into the flames of eternaldestruction.

A very important passage to remem-ber on this point is Colossians 2:15. OfJesus’ work, Paul wrote, “Having dis-armed principalities and powers, Hemade a public spectacle of them, tri-umphing over them in it.” The Greekword that is here translated “disarmed”in some translations is defined by Greeklexicons to mean “to strip off one’s mili-tary arms.” The Revised Standard Ver-sion also translates the passage with theabove emphasis. “He disarmed theprincipalities and powers and made apublic example of them, triumphingover them in him.” In other words,Jesus disarmed the power of Satan.

Though we may not understand all

the implications of Paul’s statement inColossians 2:15, at least one thing is clear.In some way Jesus kicked Satan out ofrank and demoted him from a previouslyheld position or work. Some would ar-gue that this is solely in reference to man’ssin problem. This is certainly true in ref-erence to Jesus’ redemptive work at thecross. However, Colossians 2:15 seemsto be stating something specific concern-ing the principalities and powers that en-slaved men. Something more than re-demptive work seems to be in Paul’s mindwhen he writes the scripture.

However, in reference to salvation,man’s salvation has always been by gracethrough faith (Hk 2:4; Rm 1:17; Gl 3:11;Hb 10:38). Abraham was saved by faith.Paul was saved by faith. And we aresaved by faith. The grace of God madethe saving blood manifest (Ti 2:11), butthe blood produced redemption before theactual pouring out of blood on the cross.Paul wrote that God set forth Jesus “tobe a propitiation by His blood, throughfaith, to demonstrate His righteous-ness, because in His forbearance Godhad passed over the sins that were pre-viously committed” (Rm 3:25). Andagain, “He is the Mediator of the newcovenant, by means of death, for theredemption of the transgressions un-der the first covenant ...” (Hb 9:15).

Here is the point. Retroactive re-demption happened before the act of re-demption by Jesus in the first century onthe cross. Abraham, David and otherswho lived by faith before the cross wereredeemed by the blood of Jesus at thecross.


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When it came to defeating Satan inreference to man’s sin problem, such hadhappened in God’s predestined redemp-tion in Christ (See Ep 1:3-6). Jesus wascrucified before the creation of the world(Rv 13:8). However, the open manifes-tation of such was made known on thecross. It was at the cross that Godopenly proclaimed salvation by grace (Ti2:11). It was at the cross that God openlymanifested the destruction of Satan’sreign of sin in the lives of men.

“When He [Jesus] ascended onhigh, He led captivity captive” (Ep 4:8).Through His death and resurrection,Jesus destroyed “him who had thepower of death, that is, the devil” (Hb2:14). Peter adds, “Who [Christ] hasgone into heaven and is at the righthand of God, angels and authoritiesand powers having been made subjectto him” (1 Pt 3:22; see Ep 1:20-23).Jesus has disarmed Satan by relieving himof his reign over man. That which ledmen captive has been led captive byJesus.

The disarming of Satan at least in-cluded binding him from open manifesta-tion of power through demon possession.Jesus took “captivity,” or “the spiritual hostof captives,” into captivity. Jesus’ death,resurrection and ascension to power didnot automatically cast out those demonpossessed people with whom neitherJesus, nor the disciples before the cross,had made personal contact. There wasa remnant of demons who were eventu-ally cast out by Jesus’ disciples after thecrucifixion and ascension (See At 5:16;8:7; 16:16ff). There are no state-

ments, however, of demon posses-sion in the epistles as a problem thatfaced the early Christians. This wouldindicate a declining activity of demonpossession after the ascension of Jesus.

The emphasis of the epistles is thatour struggle is against “principalities,against powers, against the rulers ofthe darkness of this age, against spiri-tual hosts of wickedness in the heav-enly places” (Ep 6:12). These powersoriginated in the heavenly places, not onthis earth. This is the wickedness of Sa-tan as it is manifested in the wickednessof men.

3. Prophecy of the kingdom reignof Jesus: Daniel’s prophecy of Daniel7:13,14 refers to the ascension of Jesus.Daniel prophesied that Jesus would as-cend to receive authority of kingdomreign. He would be given “dominionand glory and a kingdom.” In this king-dom reign, “all dominion shall serve andobey Him” (Dn 7:27; see Ps 22:27,28).

When Jesus came, He began thebinding of the “strong man” (Satan). Hecast him down by exercising authorityover his kingdom (Lk 11:20-22). Thecasting out of demons had never beforebeen experienced in Israel (Mt 9:33).Therefore, Jesus’ casting out of de-mons was a sign of His coming king-dom reign. When Jesus ascended tothe right hand of God, “He disarmedprincipalities and powers” (Cl 2:15) and“led captivity captive” (Ep 4:8). He wasseated at the right hand of God “farabove all principality and power” (Ep1:21). He is now reigning as “King ofkings and Lord of lords” (1 Tm 6:15).


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We must not assume that Jesus al-lowed some power or activity of Satan to“slip through His fingers.” All the workthat Jesus intended to do in reference toSatan was accomplished at the cross andascension to the right hand of God. Jesusdid not do an incomplete job in dealingwith Satan. He finished the predestinedwork of redemption. Satan was castdown. Satan was as lightning fallen fromheaven. When the seventy returned froma limited preaching tour, Jesus proclaimed,“I saw Satan fall like lightning fromheaven. Behold I give you the author-ity to trample on serpents and scorpi-ons, and over all the power of the en-emy, and nothing shall by any meanshurt you” (Lk 10:18,19).

The metaphorical statement of tram-pling on serpents and scorpions is thepower of the saints over any power thatwe might perceive Satan to have in thespirit realm. Wicked governments andcriminals may hurt Christians by harmingor killing them. But there is no subjectivepower that Satan may have that can inany way hurt a Christian.

When it comes to the deceptivework of Satan in the world today, Chris-tians must remember the above promise.Christians must not behave with fear ofany supposed mysterious work that goeson among religiously deceived people.“For God has not given us a spirit offear, but of power and of love and ofa sound mind” (2 Tm 1:7). The reli-giously misguided fear because they areoften ignorant of God’s word and the de-ceptive tricks of Satan to keep people inthe bondage of lies. But this is not true

of those disciples who trust in God andHis word.

B. Jesus bound Satan by the gospel.

Jesus came to bind Satan by Hisdeath, burial, resurrection and ascension.He came to die on the cross, “thatthrough death He might destroy himwho had the power of death, that is,the devil” (Hb 2:14). By such, He “di-sarmed principalities and the powers... triumphing over them ...” (Cl 2:15).It was as John symbolically wrote, “Helaid hold of the dragon, that serpentof old, who is the Devil and Satan andbound him ...” (Rv 20:2). When Jesusascended to the right hand of God, Heled a host of demons into captivity (Ep4:8). Thus ended Satan’s reign of fearover all mankind (See Hb 2:14,15).

Satan is kept bound by the powerof the gospel as it is preached andobeyed. Jesus has taken every demonand reserved them “in everlastingchains under darkness for the judg-ment of the great day” (Jd 6; see 2 Pt2:4).

Jesus was given all authority by theFather (Mt 28:18). He has now “goneinto heaven and is at the right hand ofGod, angels and authorities and pow-ers having been made subject to Him”(1 Pt 3:22). We would correctly assume,therefore, that those angels of Satan whoare reserved in chains under darkness arenow under the control of Jesus. We be-lieve He is going to keep them under con-trol until He casts them into destructionwhen He comes again (Mt 25:41). Until


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that time, Jesus, through the Spirit, hasdelivered to His disciples His word in or-der that they fight against the wiles ofthe Devil.

Christians must resort to the swordof the Spirit, the word of God, in order tofight against the deception and false ideasof Satan. Paul exhorted Timothy to “bediligent to present yourself approvedto God” (2 Tm 2:15), and to “preachthe word,” for many “will not enduresound doctrine” (2 Tm 4:2,3). Manywill give “heed to deceiving spirits anddoctrines of demons” (1 Tm 4:1). Thepower of the word of God is able to buildus up (At 20:32). It is effective in guard-ing us against the deceptions of Satan (2Tm 3:16,17; Hb 4:12). Therefore, Chris-tians must be exhorted to depend on theword of God in their struggles against thewiles of the Devil. If they do not, thensurely they will be led astray after everyimagination of man.

C. Satan’s power is through decep-tion.

Before Jesus left this earth, Hewarned that Satan would work falsemiracles that would be so convincing “asto deceive, if possible, even the elect”(Mt 24:24). But these works would befalse. They would be deceptive worksthat God would allow men to believe “be-cause they did not receive the love ofthe truth, that they might be saved” (2Th 2:10). Paul wrote, “And for this rea-son God will send them strong delu-sions, that they should believe the lie,that all might be condemned who did

not believe the truth but had pleasurein unrighteousness” (2 Th 2:11,12). Be-cause Satan “deceives the wholeworld” (Rv 12:9; see 13:14), the constantwarning of the New Testament is, “benot deceived!” (See 1 Co 6:9; Gl 6:7; 2Tm 3:13; 2 Jn 7).

Satan’s power is through deception,not possession. Paul warned that somegive “heed to deceiving spirits and doc-trines of demons speaking lies in hy-pocrisy” (1 Tm 4:1,2). These “evil menand impostors will grow worse andworse, deceiving and being deceived”(2 Tm 3:13; see 2 Co 11:13-15). There-fore, Christians should continue stead-fastly in the apostles’ teaching lest theybe deceived into believing false miraclesand false teachings (At 2:42). They shouldcontinue to do what Paul exhorted theCorinthians to do: “Examine yourselvesas to whether you are in the faith.Prove yourselves” (2 Co 13:5).

Self-examination is continually nec-essary because of the deceptive influ-ences of Satan. Paul warned, “There-fore let him who thinks he stands takeheed lest he fall” (1 Co 10:12). Thoseindividuals who put their trust in God andHis unchanging word are able to standagainst the wiles of the devil. Nothingcan separate them from God (See Rm8:35-39). However, if one thinks he cantrust in his own reasoning, without edu-cation in the word of God, then he is fer-tile soil for the deceptive work of Satan.People will believe anything. And sinceGod knew this, He has exhorted us to con-tinually live by the gospel that is revealedin His word.


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We live in a world where Satan’sdeceptive influences have ravaged theminds of men. Satan needs to be givenno miraculous power simply because hecan win more people through lies andfalse religion than through any miracle hemight perform.

Christians must understand that in aworld that seems to be totally given overto Satan, they are more than conquerorsthrough Jesus who loved us (Rm 8:37).We must remember that Jesus is now incontrol, and because He is in control,Satan has been put in his place.

Satan’s work is through enticementand deception. God will not allow him toemotionally or physically control peopleas he so chooses. Since God does notallow Satan to work without His con-straints , we can trust that God has allthings under His own control. In order togain assurance in God, it is good to un-derstand the limits of Satan’s influence.Once we understand his limits and howhe works, we can guard ourselvesagainst his work.

A. Satan does not have subjectivepower.

Subjective means to have direct con-trol over an individual in the sense thatthe will of an individual is subjected to anoutside force. Satan is not allowed towork in a subjective manner in relation tothe free-moral nature of man. Satan does

not have direct access to the human heart.God has never allowed him the power todirectly change the behavior of individu-als. Satan can only work through temp-tation in order to lead one into sin. This isillustrated in the following cases:

1. The temptation of Eve: Satantempted Eve through the medium ofwords. Genesis 3:4 says, “The serpentsaid ...,” thus words were used to leadEve away. Paul said that it was throughthese words that Eve was “deceived”(1 Tm 2:14). Eve’s reply to God was,“The serpent deceived me, and I ate”(Gn 3:13). Therefore, it was by the wordsof Satan that Eve was led into temptationand sin. It was not by any direct influ-ence upon her heart.

2. The temptation of Israel: 1Chronicles 21:1 states that Satan stoodup against Israel, and moved Davidto number Israel.” Satan workedagainst Israel in this situation through thewrong motives of King David. Joab re-sponded to David, “Why should he[David] be a cause of guilt in Israel?”(1 Ch 21:3). But “the king’s word pre-vailed against Joab” (1 Ch 21:4).Therefore, against the will of God, Israelwas numbered. The nation was numberedbecause of the wrong desires of David,though David later repented (1 Ch 21:7,8).

In this case, Israel was tempted andsinned because Satan worked through thewrong desires of King David. Israel was

13 - The Bound Devil

Chapter 13

THE BOUND DEVIL

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drawn away by the wrong counsel ofsomeone else. Satan “stood up againstIsrael” through the wrong actions ofDavid. He did not stand up in a miracu-lous way in order to lead Israel way.Therefore, the meaning of the phrase“stand up against” refers to a non-miracu-lous activity that is meant to lead peopleastray by the influence of those who dowrong.

3. The temptation of Jesus: Dur-ing the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4,it is emphasized that “the tempter cameto Him and said ....” Satan did not workdirectly on Jesus’ heart. He workedthrough words and ideas. Through wordsand ideas Satan sought to divert Jesusfrom His destiny.

4. The temptation of Judas: Luke22:3 states “Then Satan entered Judas....” But John 13:2 states, “And supperbeing ended, the devil having alreadyput into the heart of Judas Iscariot,Simon’s son, to betray him.” In John13:27 Jesus said to Judas, “What you do,do quickly.” Therefore, Satan enteredinto Judas when Judas submitted to theidea to betray Jesus. When Judas car-ried out his idea, Acts 1:25 reads that “bytransgression” he fell. Satan workedthrough an evil thought of Judas to be-tray Jesus. He did not force Judas tocarry out the betrayal scheme against hisown will. If he had, then Judas wouldhave been free of guilt. He could notpersonally be guilty for that over whichhe was subjected to do. In order for oneto stand before God and still be held ac-countable for personal sins, he must havevoluntarily sinned after his own free will.

We would define the phrase “Satanentered” to refer to one submitting to anidea or thought that works against the willof God. In this way Judas was enteredby Satan. When one so behaves as tocarry out the work of Satan, Satan hasentered that person. Emphasis is not ona literal understanding of the word “en-tered,” but on a metaphorical understand-ing. When one works evil, Satan hasentered his being.

After Satan had tempted Jesus, asrecorded in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, “hedeparted from Him until an opportunetime” (Lk 4:13). That opportune timecame again when Satan influenced Jesusthrough the wrong counsel of anotherperson in Matthew 16. This other per-son was Peter who tried to dissuade Jesusfrom going to Jerusalem where he knewthat bad things were going to happen.Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me,Satan” (Mt 16:23). Jesus called Peter“satan” because he was doing the will ofSatan, that is, to discourage Jesus fromgoing to the cross. Jesus made a similarstatement concerning Judas who actedin the same manner as Peter. To the dis-ciples, and of Judas, Jesus said, “... oneof you is a devil” (Jn 6:70). Judas wasa devil because he did the will of Satanjust as Peter was doing the will of Satanto discourage Jesus from going to thecross.

John 13 was another “opportunetime” when Satan’s plans were carriedout in the life of an individual (Judas) whoworked the will of Satan to betray Jesus.The phrase used in John 13:27 that Satanentered Judas, therefore, simply refers


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to one doing the will of Satan in hisspeech and life. It does not refer toSatan actually and literally coming into thebody of an individual. Figuratively,therefore, one is “satan” or a “demon”when he or she so advises or acts in ac-cordance with the will of Satan.

The above is undoubtedly what Paulreferred to in 2 Corinthians 11:14. “ForSatan himself transforms himself intoan angel [better, “messenger”] of light.”This passage is not saying that Satancan incarnate himself into flesh andblood. God would never allow this tohappen. The word translated “transform”in verse 14 is also used in verse 13 wherefalse teachers transformed themselvesinto true apostles. They did not some-how remold their bodies into bodies simi-lar to Paul, John or any of the otherapostles. They simply assumed the au-thority of the Christ-sent apostles. Itis in this way that the “man of sin,” orlawless one in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, ismanifested. This is not an incarnation ofSatan. Satan is manifested only whenindividuals submit to his will in their lives.He is transformed into a messenger oflight when false teachers with wrongmotives become the proclaimers of hiswill.

5. The temptation of Ananias andSapphira: In Acts 5 both Ananias andSapphira reasoned together in order to lieabout the amount of money they had re-ceived from the sale of their land. Thecouple had “conceived this thing in theirhearts” (At 5:2,4). But Peter said toAnanias, “Why has Satan filled yourheart to lie to the Holy Spirit?” (At 5:3).

When an individual allows thoughtsthat are contrary to God’s will to be car-ried out in his life, he has allowed Satan“to enter his heart.” This is a biblical defi-nition of how Satan enters and indwellsan individual. It is not a literal entry. Satanenters one’s heart when an individual al-lows himself to be deceived into believ-ing lies that work against the will of God.When one carries those lies out in his orher life, then he or she is filled with Sa-tan.

Numerous cases as the above couldbe listed. In Acts 13:10 Paul calledElymas, the sorcerer, a “son of thedevil.” He was not a literal son of thedevil. He was a son of the devil in thesense that he would “not cease pervert-ing the straight ways of the Lord.”Therefore, it was Elymas’s perversionsof the will of God that influenced thedeputy, Sergius Paulus.

In Luke 22:31,32 Jesus said to Pe-ter, “Satan has asked for you.” ButJesus prayed that Peter’s “faith shouldnot fail.” In other words, Peter mustgrow in faith. He had to do what Jameslater wrote, “Resist the devil and he willflee from you” (Js 4:7). Men have thepower to resist, but that power to resistcomes from faith. We must realize that“each one is tempted when he is drawnaway by his own desires and enticed”(Js 1:14). It is through faith that we standagainst the deceptive temptations of Sa-tan. We must remember what Paul saidis the source of faith, “So then faithcomes by hearing, and hearing by theword of God” (Rm 10:17).

Satan influences people only through


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the words and evil imaginations of wickedmen. Jesus said to some wicked Jews,“If you were Abraham’s children, youwould do the works of Abraham” (Jn8:39). These Jews did the works of Sa-tan. Therefore, Jesus said to them, “Youare of your father the devil, and thedesires of your father you want to do”(Jn 8:44). Their father, the devil, “was amurderer from the beginning ... hespeaks a lie” (Jn 8:44). When one doesthe works of Satan, Satan is his father.The evil works of Satan are communi-cated to humanity by the actions of evilmen.

B. We can voluntarily resist decep-tion.

Because man is a free-moral agent,Satan cannot voluntarily control him. Thedoor through which Satan must go in or-der to take control of the life of an indi-vidual is the God-created nature of man.

1. Areas of man’s vulnerability:God has allowed Satan to influence manin an indirect manner. In other words,Satan is not allowed to directly controlman. He can exercise his influence ofdeception on men by approaching in-dividuals in three areas of vulnerability.These are areas of man’s nature that canbe fulfilled in a sinful manner and arementioned in 1 John 2:15,16. Satan caninfluence man only through man’s (1) lustof the flesh, (2) lust of the eyes and (3)pride of life.

Do not love the world or the things in

the world. If anyone loves the world,the love of the Father is not in him. Forall that is in the world—the lust of theflesh, the lust of the eyes, and the prideof life—is not of the Father but is of theworld.

It is interesting to note that Satanapproached Eve with temptations thatwould cause her to be tempted in all threeof these areas (Gn 3:1-7). He also triedto lead Jesus away by tempting Him inthe same areas of influence (Mt 4:1-10).The point is, when Satan approaches totempt man, his temptations must appealto either the lust of the flesh, the lust ofthe eyes, or the pride of life.

Since men are free-moral agents,God will not allow Satan to exercise in-fluence over any individual other than todraw him away by tempting him to sin inthe above areas. As stated before, Jameswrote, “Each one is tempted when heis drawn away by his own desires andenticed” (Js 1:14).

Satan drew Eve away by words. Itwas also by words that he attempted todraw Jesus away from His purpose.Through the medium of words, Satan gavefalse promises and made false statementsboth to Eve and Jesus. After Satan hadenticed Eve with deceptive statements,she willingly allowed herself to submit tothe lust of flesh, eyes and pride of life.She was thus led to sin. James wrote,“Then, when desire has conceived itgives birth to sin” (Js 1:15). This is howSatan wins souls. It is not by an over-powering force by which he subjectivelytakes control of the individual. God does


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not allow him to violate man’s free-moralagency.

2. Man’s avenue of escape: Godhas always provided man with a way ofescape from all of Satan’s temptations.Satan has no deceptive influence overman if man will do the following:

1. Draw close to God (Js 4:7,8).2. Resist Satan (Js 4:7).3. Turn away from Satan (1 Tm 5:15).4. Hear God’s words (Jn 8:47).5. Give no place to Satan (Ep 4:27).6. Put on the armor of God (Ep 6:11-17).7. Choose to escape sin (1 Co 10:13).8. Pray without ceasing (1 Th 5:17)9. Encourage one another daily (Hb 3:13).

The above is what one must do inorder to guard against the deception ofSatan. All these things involve man’sfree-moral agency. God will not allowSatan to have any influence over us out-side our free-moral agency.

C. Satan does not have indigenouspower.

By indigenous, we mean that Satandoes not have miraculous power that origi-nates from himself alone. All supernatu-ral power originates from God alonebecause God is the Creator of allthings. To state that Satan has indig-enous supernatural power is to affirm theteaching of dualism. But there is onlyone eternal God, and all power comesfrom Him.

The following are some commonlymisunderstood cases where interpreters

have been led to believe that Satanworked miracles. However, we must un-derstand these cases in the context thatSatan has been bound. God will not al-low him out of his area of confinement.

1. The case of Job: One wouldsearch in vain in the Bible to find any truemiracle that Satan has performed. Thecase of Job is a good example. It is im-portant to understand that Satan workedthrough circumstances around Job,and not directly upon his free-moral be-havior. And in working in those circum-stances, the Bible does not say thatSatan worked any miracles.

The real power that Satan usedagainst Job in controlling the circum-stances did not originate with Satan. Af-ter Satan had accused God of putting ahedge around Job, it is recorded in Job1:11 that he said to God, “But now stretchout Your hand and touch all that hehas and he will surely curse You toYour face.” Why would Satan requestthat God put forth His hand to destroyJob’s goods if Satan had the power him-self to do such?

But this is not all. After Job had losthis material goods, Satan returned to God.In Job 2:3 God said to Satan that Job“holds fast his integrity, although youincited Me against him, to destroy himwithout cause.” Therefore, it wasGod’s hand that was moved againstJob. But Satan again said in Job 2:5,“Stretch out Your hand now, and touchhis bone and his flesh.” It is interest-ing to note Job 42:11 where all of Job’sbrethren came to him after his great or-


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deal “and comforted him for all theadversity that the Lord had broughtupon him.”

God has all power. Satan hasnothing other than that which is given tohim by God. In Job’s case, God only al-lowed Satan to exercise divinely givenpower in order for Satan to carry out hisafflictions of Job.

The point that is emphasized in thecase of Job is that at that time Satan wasunder control. He was not running looseto do as he desired in the lives of men.Now in this Christian age, Satan is undermore restraint. John recorded that theangel ...

... laid hold of the dragon, that serpentof old, who is the Devil and Satan, andbound him for a thousand years; and hecast him into the bottomless pit, and shuthim up, and set a seal on him, so that heshould deceive the nations no more tillthe thousand years were finished (Rv20:2,3).

If these words teach anything, theyteach that the confinement of Satan inthis age is a real thing. He is not a spiritentity out there subduing people at will.He is only the roaring lion to those whohave given themselves over to his cause.In reference to the life of the Christian,he has been bound.

2. The case of the lawless one:In 2 Thessalonians 2:9 Paul talked of thelawless one whose coming “is accord-ing to the working of Satan, with allpower, signs and lying wonders.” Aspreviously stated, the word “lying” refers

to power, signs and wonders. In otherwords, these are false signs, false pow-ers and false wonders.

The lawless one would not work anyreal miracles. It would be as what Jesussaid in Matthew 24:24: “For false christsand false prophets will arise and showgreat signs and wonders so as to de-ceive, if possible, even the elect.”These were not real miracles, for theywere performed “so as to deceive.” Oneis not deceived for believing that which isreal. If these were real miracles, thenone would not be deceived if he believedthem. So it was with the lawless oneabout whom Paul wrote. Such a oneworked deceiving works in order to leadmen after himself.

Any miraculous activity today thatone would classify with the confirmingmiraculous work of God we read aboutin the Bible should be highly suspect.Confirming miracles of God were visible,instantaneous and carried out to accom-plish specific purposes. Those purposesrule out allowing Satan to also do miracu-lous work. If Satan could have workedmiracles through his agents as God al-lowed the disciples to work miracles, thenthe very purpose of miracles would havebeen nullified.

The supposed demon possession oftoday should be compared with the NewTestament definition of demon possession.Such a comparison defines the modern-day experiences as something differentthan first century demon possession. Godallowed demons to possess people in thefirst century for a specific purpose. When


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the purpose was completed, the posses-sion ceased. Though God allowed de-mon possession in the first century, wemust remember that He also gave powerto Jesus and the disciples to cast out thosedemons. The purpose of miracles andthe power to cast out demons were toprove Jesus’ power over the world ofdarkness. Jesus proved that power. Heeven proved it through His disciples towhom He gave the power of exorcism.Therefore, Jesus disarmed Satan and hisangels. Satan is bound by the gospel.Demons have been reserved in darknessuntil the final judgment. They are not al-lowed to possess people today.

Satan cannot control individuals ashe so chooses. He never has and neverwill. The Bible was written in order thatwe not allow Satan to have “an advan-tage over us.” In 2 Corinthians 2:9-11Paul warned the Corinthians concerningtheir obedience “lest Satan should takeadvantage of us; for we are not igno-rant of his devices.” Therefore, wemust study the Scriptures in order not tobe ignorant of how he works (See 1 Tm5:15).

So what should be our attitude to-ward those reports of “astonishing hap-penings”? Jesus clearly stated, “Do notbelieve it” (Mt 24:23). Even though falsechrists and false prophets perform “greatsigns and wonders, so as to deceive, ifpossible, even the elect” (Mt 24:24), ourattitude as disciples of Jesus must be, donot believe it. Jesus concluded, “See,I have told you beforehand,” (Mt24:25). “Therefore, if they say to you,‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go

out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’do not believe it” (Mt 25:26). In thecontext, these warnings were in referenceto the time before Jerusalem’s destruc-tion in A.D. 70. However, such warn-ings are certainly appropriate for us toheed today in reference to the many falseteachers who are supposedly performinggreat signs and wonders. Jesus still says,“Do not believe it.”

As a final message, or warning, letus not underestimate the ability of the in-dividual to allow himself to be deceived.If one is thoroughly convinced that sa-tanic spirits roam the earth in search ofinnocent victims whom they might pos-sess, then one will do one of two things.Either he or she will become the pos-sessed, or at least, he or she will associ-ate the self-inflicted hypnotic trance orpsychological fit of deceived people to bethe actual workings of the spirit world.

We must affirm that an individualhas the psychological ability to place him-self in an uncontrollable hysterical stateof mind. If one firmly believes that suchis a direct work of the spirit world, thenhe or she can be talked into this uncon-trollable state of mind.

This is a human psychological phe-nomenon. It is one that Satan indirectlyencourages people to do in order to leadthem away from God. This is the workof Satan. He deceives people to do orparticipate in anything that will lead anindividual away from God.

The above psychological state ofbeing out of control should not be con-fused with real and actual demon pos-session in the New Testament. Those


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who claim to be demon possessed todayare simply mentally and emotionally outof control. The answer to such is sub-mission to the word of God. It is this wordthat “is profitable for doctrine, for re-proof, for correction, for instructionin righteousness, that the man of Godmay be complete, thoroughly equippedfor every good work” (2 Tm 3:16,17).

One of the problems that has de-stroyed living by the gospel is the mixingof Bible teachings with the beliefs of in-vented religions. This is the result of thosewho have preached half-truths concern-ing God’s word and filled in the rest oftheir theology with fictitious fantasies.Bible principles have been mixed withnonbiblical concepts throughout the world.What has happened, therefore, is thatmany Bible names have been tagged on


to pagan practices. Self-hypnotic prac-tices of voodooism or spiritism, or what-ever, have been labeled with Bible names.As a result, words and phrases as“miracle,” “demon possession,” “evil spir-its,” “demons,” and others have been de-fined by religionists who have mixed Biblewith Baal.

Bible believers must stand with a bib-lical definition of all Bible subjects. TheBible student must not be dissuaded fromhis or her stand to allow the Bible to beour only source of truth and definitionwhen it comes to defining that which isbeyond this physical world. People needto read more Bible and watch fewerHollywood movies on the subject of Sa-tan and demons. They need to read moreBible and be less influenced by the reli-giously deceived world in which we live.

Documents

Dickson Biblical Research Library, - Roger E ... - Africa …africainternational.org/files/Book 18.pdf · Satan And Demons - Roger E. Dickson, ©1998, 2018: Africa International Missions,