Hi Mike,

It’s been a while since we last talked via the wonderful internet, hope you and your family are well. Anyway, I’ll be brief as possible. Could you give me your clear biblical opinion on demons, i. e, what are they? How do they operate? And are there really such things as curses that can bring calamities on families. I’ve been asked these questions by a concerned close friend of mine who thinks that his present partner may be in some sort of wiccan religious coven. It appears one tragedy after another seems to befall them, and he’s worried he might be next. I told him that demons in the main are false doctrinal heresies that we choose to believe in against the plain and consistent drift of scripture. I’d be most appreciative for any of your wise council you can give me on this subject, Mike and any further reading you might suggest that could be useful to me getting a better grasp on this subject. He is insistent that he gets his house cleansed by a pastor. He is also somewhat superstitious, although he insists he believes in Jesus as the son of God. Thanks, Mike, and as always there’s no offense taken if you’re too busy to reply. If this letter and your response is of any help to others, you may put it on your site by all means. I feel this is a subject many, including myself, know little about. May God keep you and give you His speed. His will be done.
J____,

Hi J____,

What you told your friend is exactly right. Christ has been given power over all the power of the enemy.

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Either Christ really is “working all things after the counsel of His own will” or He is not. The truth is, He is working all things after the counsel of His own will:

Luk 4:36  And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word [is] this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

If your friend has a minister of Babylon coming over to “cleanse his home,” he is doing nothing less than allowing the fox into the hen house. You do not cast out Beelzebub with the power of Beelzebub. While it is true that Protestants and Catholics often kill each other, this is all God who outwardly makes wicked men for the day of evil:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Satan is not “divided against himself.”

Luk 11:14  And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.
Luk 11:15  But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.
Luk 11:16  And others, tempting [him], sought of him a sign from heaven.
Luk 11:17  But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house [divided] against a house falleth.
Luk 11:18  If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
Luk 11:19  And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast [them] out? therefore shall they be your judges.
Luk 11:20  But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

Dumbness, blindness and all diseases scripturally are the works of evil spirits sent by God to work His will. Those spirits have no more understanding of why they are doing what they are doing than Joseph’s brothers did who thought for sure that selling Joseph into slavery was their own idea. In reality “it was not [they] but God who sent [Joseph] into Egypt.”

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I [am] Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years [hath] the famine [been] in the land: and yet [there are] five years, in the which [there shall] neither [be] earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8   So now [it was] not you [that] sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

“It was not you that sent me here, but God” tells us that God sent an evil spirit to entice Joseph’s brothers to do their dirty work. This Truth is later confirmed in what the scriptures reveal was King Saul’s reason for seeking to kill David. Saul, of course, thought that all of this was His own idea, but this is the Truth of the matter:

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Read the book of Job. Satan himself comes when God summons him. He takes everything Job has, including all of Job’s children, but he does so only because God told him to do so.

It is presented to us as though Satan provoked God to do this:

Job 2:3  And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou [Satan] movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

What is not said in this verse is that taking down the hedge was God’s doing. As long as God maintains a hedge around anyone, they are protected. Satan cannot touch anyone God does not want touched.

Job 1:9  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

So while mankind may be confused as to who it is who is calling the shots, Satan has no doubt. He does exactly what he is sent to do; no more and no less:

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand . So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Job 2:7  So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

I tell you all this simply to demonstrate that if indeed your friend believes that he is under some kind of curse through his association with his partner, whom he believes is under a curse, then he is indeed under a curse, and it is all being accomplished through an evil spirit sent from the Lord to trouble him:

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

2Ch 18:21  And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice [him], and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so.

Isa 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

So that is how demons operate. There are no exceptions. All demon oppression, all diseases such as dumbness and blindness and issues of blood and epilepsy are evil spirits sent by God to accomplish a purpose you and I cannot imagine or second guess. We simply accept His Words as Truth.

Exo 4:11  And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

How does He make them dumb and deaf and blind?

Mar 9:20  And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things [are] possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mar 9:26  And [the spirit] cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27  But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

There is very much ado these days about casting out demons. Christ Himself tells us that even the sons of his detractors were casting  out demons:

Luk 11:19  And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast [them] out? therefore shall they be your judges.

What is seldom brought to our attention is this section of God’s Word:

Luk 11:24  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
Luk 11:25  And when he cometh, he findeth [it] swept and garnished.
Luk 11:26  Then goeth he, and taketh [to him] seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first.

“When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man” he goes out because God has seen fit to eject that spirit. “God is working all things after the counsel of His own will.” However, as this section of scriptures shows us, God wills for some people to become worse at their end than at their beginning.

What we should learn from this is that we ought to be far more concerned with filling our spiritual houses with the spirit of God’s Word than with the theatrics of casting out demons. Otherwise we could well end up looking like the sons of Sceva:

Act 19:13  Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Act 19:14  And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15  And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16  And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Act 19:17  And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

“A Jew and chief of the priests” is just another way of saying the spiritual leaders of that day. So it is with the spiritual leaders of today who talk about casting out demons and don’t even acknowledge that every false doctrine out there is a demon which needs desperately to be replaced with the Truth of God’s Word.

A love of the Truth is essential to casting the “man of sin” out of the temple of God:

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [restrains the coming of Christ in each of us] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming [within]:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

The greatest demonic enemy any of us must face is the one we see in the mirror every morning. He gets his “power and throne and great authority from the great red dragon:”

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

So, our warfare is all being fought within each of us. It is not the demons in others with whom we need to be concerned.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [Christ coming to each of us] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

When Paul was with these Thessalonians, he had told them that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are spiritual to the pulling down of strong holds within each of us:

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of [spiritual] strong holds [within each of us];)

I pray this all is of some assistance to you in your desire to help your friend, but I must tell you that from what you have told me, your friend has not yet been given a hunger for truth which would lead him to ask you if his Pastor is in any position to be casting out demons. It is simply not possible to be filled with false doctrines and cast out a demon and keep that demon out without bringing back seven demons worse than the first.

I hope this helps you to see just what a curse and a demon really are. If it does not, and if I have overlooked something, please let me know.

Mike