Satan and his fallen angels, Biblically known as “devils,” inhabit the air surrounding human beings.  They are, as noted earlier, confined to the earth and the heaven above it.  We know that there are at least three layers of what is called heaven.  Jeremiah 4:25 and Ezekiel 31:6 tell us that the first heaven is where birds fly and build their nests.  This is where Satan, who was created as Lucifer, and his millions, perhaps billions of fallen angels reside and from where they attack human beings.  In a later series I will explain who Satan was initially, the job he and 1/3 of God’s angels had been assigned to do, their rebellion, the destruction of the universe during their war with God and His angels, the recreation of the earth as pictured in Genesis 1, etc.  For now, we will focus on what they do relative to mankind.

Satan can and does cause people to act and speak in certain ways.  A prime example of this fact  took place when Jesus told His disciples that He would soon suffer and die at the behest of the Jewish priesthood.  Peter vehemently refuted Him, proclaiming that He was wrong, that He would not die.  Jesus recognized the voice of Satan coming from Peter’s mouth and addressed him as Satan (Mat. 16:23) who had entered into Peter and was speaking through him.

Satan’s devils, commonly known as “demons,” can and sometimes do speak through people whom they inhabit and in some cases, totally possess.  I have dealt with such demons, conversed with them and cast them out of people whom they had been controlling.  Among the few church people who understand the presence and work of demons there is a common belief that, as I have heard many times, “A Christian can’t have a demon,” or “can’t be possessed by a demon.”  The issue concerns the definition of “Christian.”  Catholics and Protestants are church christians, not Biblical Christians.  They are counterfeit christians whom Satan has deceived into believing that they have been saved and born again.  Read Hope and Salvation and Born Again.  Key words–Hope and Again respectively.  I can’t recall ever dealing with a demon that was not inhabiting a church  christian.

Before continuing, I need to clear up a misunderstanding relative to the term “Christian” as applied to a religious person.  Anciently, people who believed and obeyed the teachings of Jesus Christ were called “Christians.”  The first known incidence of this characterization took place in Antioch.  A good, though worldly example of he use of such a descriptive term is found among the disciples of Sigmund Freud, the famous psychiatrist.  Those who believe in his theories and apply them as he did in his psychiatric practice are called “Freudians.”  In the same way, those who believe Christ’s Words and strictly apply them to every aspect of their lives are known as “Christians.”  However, as this website has repeatedly pointed out, calling oneself a Christian and being a Christian are two totally different things.  In the vast majority of cases, they bear no resemblance to each other.  Over 2,ooo,ooo,ooo people call themselves, and are called by others, Christians.  They have been awarded this label for having completed a prescribed ritual and voiced a prescribed mantra.  However, according to the Biblical definition, only a few thousand people living today are God-defined Biblical Christians.  In today’s liberal church world, anyone who has ever completed the ritual and proclaimed Christ as his Savior is labeled a “Christian.”  A prime example of such heresy is dominating the national news now (4/1/2021).  A man who was arrested for trying to pass counterfeit money, had cocaine in his system, had a packet of cocaine in his possession, had illegitimate children and had spent several years in prison for a variety of crimes has been labeled a “Christian” simply because, many years earlier, he had performed the prescribed act and uttered the prescribed words that had supposedly “saved” him.  This man died at the hands of a policeman whose trial is taking place now.  In spite of the man’s continuous sinning his pastor announced that “… his Daddy (God) has called His boy home (to heaven).”  This fornicating, drug addicted, drug trafficking, counterfeiting ex-con was, in the eyes of his churchmates around the world, a “Christian.”  A 5X sized mural of him painted on a building in his neighborhood shows him wearing a halo.  Such is the case with the word “Christian,” which today means anyone who is, or has ever been in any way connected to a religious body that calls itself a church.  My childhood Sunday School teacher, a deacon in the church, was an adulterer.  So yes, one designated by the church as a “Christian” can have a demon.  In fact, he/she is controlled by one or more.  Otherwise he/she would not be associated with what the religious community calls a “church.”  He/she would have come out of “her” (the church).  In 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 God commands those who truly seek Him to not only “come out of her,” but to “touch not that unclean thing.” As the passage states, God and Satan have nothing in common and have nothing to do with each other.  I once cast 33 demons out of a pillar of “the church.”  Ironically, it was the same denomination in which I grew up.  As I said earlier, every demon I have ever cast out was a church member whom the demon(s) had convinced to believe Satan’s lies being preached by his ministers, who themselves are controlled by demons.

Satan uses his devils/demons to do most of his deceiving, deluding, lying work relative to mankind.  Neither he nor they have the power to force their host to sin.  Therefore, they do their work through temptation, suggestion, situational manipulation, etc.  And their work is not limited to the physical realm.  Many mental and physical problems experienced by humankind are the result of demonic activity.  I have seen all manner of physical infirmities removed by having a demon, or demons, cast out of the afflicted person.  The same is true of mental aberrations as the Lord frequently demonstrated while on earth.  Recall that He cast a demon out of a boy suffering from what we call epilepsy, instantly curing him (Mat. 17:14-21).  Such infirmities as cancer, arthritis, heart, lung, kidney problems, etc. are often the result of demonic activity within the person.  When dealing with such problems God’s man must rely on the Holy Spirit to tell him how to handle the situation–whether to cast out a demon or to ask the Lord for healing.  I have done both many times.

Demonic activity also operates in the realm of witchcraft.  I was once in a home meeting with a woman who defecated small snakes in her stool.  God gave me a vision of a woman bringing her and her husband food on a tray covered by a white cloth.  I asked them about it and they confirmed that a neighbor lady did indeed bring them food on a tray covered with a white cloth.  God told me that the woman was using witchcraft to curse the food so as to kill the woman in hopes that the afflicted woman would die so that she (the witch) might have her husband.  I did not tell the couple about the husband part.  I simply told them what the Lord had shown me about the woman and the food.

Satan and his demons can only be overcome and defeated by the power of the Holy Spirit.  I once cast a demon of drunkenness out of an inebriated man using only thought.  Because we were in a public place surrounded by people I mentally commanded the demon to come out of him.  He was instantly sober.  I once cast out the same kind of demon over the phone.  The woman on the other end of the line sobered up instantly.

It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that demons, and Satan himself can be controlled.  As I have reminded demons, they have no choice but to obey me.  They know I’m right and do as I command them to do.  Demons often inhabit animals.  These demons can also be controlled by the power of God.  Jesus said to those who believe and obey Him: “Behold, I give you power over ALL THE POWER of the enemy (Satan and his angels)”–Luke 10:19.  God’s chosen vessels use that power for the good of the people and to the glory of God.  L.J.