Spiritual Warfare - Lesson 25

Dr. Gerry Breshears
Spiritual Warfare
th251-25
Conclusion to Spiritual Warfare
Lesson Transcript

So, postscript to what we've done, I just want to come back and deal with a few questions and give you quick answers to them. One of the questions is because the United States is a Christian nation, that means demons don't do stuff here. I've heard folks say that. Demons may work in Africa, Philippines, but not in the United States because we're a nation founded on Christian principles.

I just got to say that's absolutely false. I mean, how Christian the United States is, is a point of debate. But there's nothing about a Christian nation protecting us from the work of demons. I do think that demons work differently here because to be effective here, they say, "There's no demons here," and we believe them. If you're in Africa, "I'm a demon and I have control," so I think that's the thing. But there's nothing because we're a Christian nation or a Christian Church that means we're protected from demons. Meaning if they can attack Jesus, they can attack anybody.

Another thing is, are demons fallen angels? Well, there are fallen angels. I mean, we looked at some of those in the Biblical theology side. We see the imprisoned spirits, the angels that are in Tartarus. But what happens, the Bible never says demons are fallen angels. In the way I put things together, there are higher ordered territorial spirits. Prince of Persia, Artemises, God of Ephesus, that sort of thing. There are lower level demons that Paul kicks out of believers without going after Artemis. So, I have to say, I don't know if demons are fallen angels or not.

And people say, "Well, if they're not fallen angels, what are they?" My answer is, I don't know. They're personal. They hate Jesus. They want to destroy His works and bring defilement into His goodness, and disorder into His shalom. But exactly what they are? Scripture doesn't say, and let's leave it at that. They are personal. It's not just cultural influences, but I don't make the point that demons are fallen angels. Could be. I don't say they're not. There are fallen angels. I mean, we know that. But what are demons? Except being personal, malevolent things we just don't know. So I leave it at that.

There are those who say, "Well fast, and it gives you more power over the demons," because Matthew or Mark 9, "This kind comes only by prayer and fasting." And if you know a bit of textual history, you know that the "and fasting" is probably a later addition to that text. I think fasting is a good thing. It's one of the fundamental spiritual practices. It's one of the things that Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount when He talks about three practices, giving prayer and fasting. And it assumes we will do fasting, and that can help our relationship with God. But I don't think we need to do prayer and fasting specifically before we deal with demon stuff who are less powerful. I think those spiritual practices should be a regular part of our lives. And what I do is the Ephesians 5:8, "You were dark as you are, light in the Lord, therefore live as children of light."

I take that central phrase, and I try to live my life every day as I want to "lighten up". I want to confirm the reality, I'm a child of Lord most high. I'm called to be pastor of pastors, and I have authority. I'm seated with him the heavenlies, and that's "lighten up". Confess and make into present reality the fundamental truths of scripture, and have that be my identity and that be my process. So, when I come into these kinds of things, whatever it is, I'm coming as child of the Lord Most High. Lord of the Rings films are among my favorites. And there's a scene in the first one where Gandalf faces the fire monster in the mines of the dwarves, and the fire monster is coming and Gandalf is on the bridge, "You will not pass."

And they end up dying together as they fall into the abyss. Of course, Gandalf resurrected. But that kind of thing is my reaction to demons. You will not. Why? Because I stand the name in the power of Jesus, and that's the hope and courage I bring to these kinds of things.

Can the devil read my mind? And the answer is, I don't know. I mean, I honestly don't know whether he can or not. What I do know is that my pretty wife can know what's going on in my life, unless I want her to read my mind and somehow she doesn't know what I want her to know. But I think friends can know what's going on inside. My base thing is I can't hide something from a demon by not speaking it. So I just leave it at that. And I just assume the demon knows basically what's going on, but I don't count on it either direction.

Another common thing, we've talked about it several times. Unconfessed sin gives a demon legal right to invade and indwell and inhabit. I absolutely reject that. That is not legal ground. It's not a foothold. It's not a place for a demon to stand, and I've got to get rid of that before I kick out the demon. But, sin in my life is an opportunity for Satan to put energy into it. To exploit my sinful patterns, my fear patterns, whatever it is. And he will take advantage of all kinds of stuff in my life. So, I think bringing my life into maturity and wholeness in Christ's likeness is essential in spiritual warfare. And Satan will give us, by temptation, accusation, deception, try to impede that progress. I think that's really true. But it does not give him ground to stand on that I have to deal with before I can deal with him. Jesus kicks demons out all kinds of people, and never cancels ground before He does it. So, unconfessed sin gives him opportunity, but that's not legal ground as I understand it.

Demons cannot be inside a believer. True or false? Well, I mean, you heard me talk about that. My answer is, I don't know. The Bible never addresses that particular question. But the idea that Jesus, that we're temple of the Holy Spirit, that's true. We are temple of the Holy Spirit, no question about that. But just like there can be demonic stuff in the Old Testament temple, Manasseh puts all kinds of stuff in the temple, 2 Kings 21, that Josiah cleans out as his son, 2 King 23. I think there can be demonic stuff in the Old Testament temple, but I don't know how close that is analogy to the believer's life. So my answer to this question, can a demon inside a believer? My answer is literally, I don't know. I don't think it makes any difference. The physical location of a spiritual being. The point of it is, it's what is authority in my life? What is the influence in my life? Those are critical questions or important questions.

Can believers be influenced by demons? And there, the clear answer is yes, absolutely. Deception, accusation, and temptation are Satan's common weapons against believers, and we can fall prey to any of those. We don't have to, but we can. That's why we pursue Christ's likeness and things around that. No question about that.

Can demons inhabit places and things? Well, places, we see in the Old Testament, the high places that people coming back to, we see that one enigmatic thing in Mark chapter five, where the demons don't want to be driven away from this area. I think demons are localized in many cases. We have the case of like, Artemis is the god of Ephesus, Ba'al in Cana and Asherah, or gods of Canaan. We see that sort of thing happening.

What I find is I think that demons do have particular places that they do. So, I live close to Mount Tabor. Well, Seminary, it's right on the flank of Mount Tabor. And I do know that at Pagan holidays there's stuff going on on Mount Tabor. It's a high place in the city of Portland. And I think that those high places are places where there's particular demonic activity. But I'm not afraid to go up on Mount Tabor because I came to the name of power of Jesus Christ. It's not a risky place for me to be. But if they're having a Pagan festival up there on Halloween or something like that, I don't go up there then. Because that's not a place I need to be. So that would be a question.

Other questions. Can a demon appear with somebody? Do some people see demons? I think that's sensitivity type things. I think there are some people who are much more sensitive to demons. I had one time, I was working with somebody who had been out of a deep occultic background and I was doing work with her, and all of a sudden she got extremely agitated and I said, "What's going on?" She said, "Don't you see it?" And I said, "I don't. What are you seeing?" "Right there!" "Okay?" I believed that she's seeing something. And she described it for me, briefly, and it was ugly and awful.

So, what I did at that spot, I just felt like this deep urge. So, I reached over and I took her hand. We were sitting down. We stood up and I walked directly toward the spot where the demon was. I thought she was going to vomit. She was so scared. And the demon disappeared because he came in the name authority of Jesus Christ. And I was declaring that as we walked toward it. Now that was my, maybe aggressiveness coming out, but the gates of hell will not stand. And I was convinced at that point, it was a moment of the spirit, I think, when we needed to show her whose boss around here. And that was really comforting to her. Though I'm confident she, by herself, she would not walked out the demon.

But that's the sort of thing that comes up. There are a lot of other questions that come up. But the fundamental ground that I want to come from is we're children of the Lord Most High. Jesus is our brother. Holy Spirit is our helper there with us. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And we came to name an authority, and we're come to proclaim deliverance to the captives. Freedom for the bondage. Those in bondage.

And if we do this wisely, and well, and multimodal. Not everything is a demon, but there are some demons. And if you've got a demon around here, I don't want him to be here. And that's the freedom I think we have in Jesus Christ.

So that's a fundamental reality I come to, and coming back to this again, is Jesus Christ came to defeat the works of the serpent. We are working with him as blessful and image bearing covenant partners, and we need to be equipped with confidence and competence to know how to deal with ordinary spiritual warfare. Just like we need to deal with ordinary sin issues. I think all of us can do those kinds of things, though some will be more equipped than others, just in specialization type things. And I'm hoping as result of being through this course together, that you can become a blessable image bearing covenant partner with some extra knowledge and skills to deal with demonic stuff when it becomes more present and more personal beyond the ordinary spiritual warfare. So, I pray deep blessing for you and wish you God's best in God's kingdom. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.