In the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis we find that Adam and Eve’s first son, Cain, has sinned against God.  God is speaking with him concerning his sin, saying to him in verse seven that if he (Cain) truly repented of his sin, God would forgive him and all would be forgiven.  However, if he did not repent, sin (Satan) stood ready to spiritually overtake him, for that is his (Satan’s) desire.  God then told Cain that the choice of whom to obey was his (Cain’s) to make.  The god of this world (Satan) would rule him if he (Cain) allowed him to do so.  However, CAIN COULD RULE OVER SATAN IF HE CHOSE TO DO SO.  In Hebrews 11:4 Paul declares that Abel obeyed God because He was righteous–he CHOSE TO BE RIGHTEOUS.  Adam, Eve and Cain could have chosen to be righteous–obedient to God.  Sin did not slip up on them, they chose sin over holiness.  God is no respecter of persons.  We also have the power of choice.  Read Sin is a Choice.  Key word–Choice.

Cain and Abel, as well as their parents, had the power of choice.  The temptation to sin was present because Satan was present.  One-third of God’s angels succumbed to Lucifer’s temptation to defy God.  In Eden, 75% of mankind decided to follow their lead.  Since that time a much higher percentage of mankind has made the same choice.  At one point only one person on earth–Noah–was found to be obedient to the Lord.  Man’s rebellion against God caused Him to destroy all life on earth except Noah, his family and the animals of the ark (Gen. 6).  As history has shown, Noah’s descendants have followed in the spiritual footsteps of his ancestors.

Scripture reports that God looked ahead to a time when He would raise up a holy church whose saints (a tiny remnant of mankind) would obey Him.  To lead them He would send into the world a Savior Who, through word and deed, would show mankind how to EARN a place in His (God’s) future kingdom through obedience to His Law, which God calls WORKS.  The Messiah would come to earth to “magnify the Law and make it honorable (again)” (Isa. 42:21).  Why do this if His Father was going to nail it to His (Christ’s) cross?

This Savior would come to earth as a man like all other men.  As would be the case with all men, this One would LEARN how to obey Him (God) and would do so.  True followers of the Savior  would follow His lead.  This Savior was written (prophesied) about in Isaiah 7:14-17 where it was written anciently that a virgin would give birth to a son, Emanuel by name.  Notice that Emanuel  (Jesus of Nazareth) would have to CHOOSE whom to obey: “Curdled milk and wild honey (symbolic of hardship) shall He eat (so that) HE CAN LEARN TO REFUSE THE EVIL AND CHOOSE THE GOOD.  FOR BEFORE THE CHILD WILL KNOW TO REFUSE THE EVIL AND CHOOSE THE GOOD,” Israel would split into two separate nations and suffer at the hands of the heathen.  This took place when Israel and Judah split over a taxation issue following Solomon’s reign.

Let it be known that from Adam’s creation to this moment, the forces of Satan have been at work trying to influence mankind.  One of those men was Jesus of Nazareth.  As did the Messiah, so must we decide which god we are going to obey–the god of this world or the God of the Holy Scriptures.  Concerning that choice, it is all or nothing.

There comes a point in a person’s life when he has the mental and spiritual capacity to make such a choice.  This point is known as “the age of accountability.”  From that point on he is held accountable for his actions, thoughts and words.  As parents, we raise our children according to the dictates of the god we have chosen to obey.  In that sense, we are not only “our brother’s keeper,” we are also our children’s keepers (teachers, leaders, models).  However, once they have come to know right from wrong, the choice is theirs.  As long as they are under our authority we are responsible for their teaching and correction them (Prov. 10:13; 13:24; 22:15; 23:13,14; 26:3; 29:15).  But once they are out from under our authority the become free moral agents.  We have done our work.  They are at that point the captains of their own destinies.

This brings up the questions this series asks: what are the forces that tempt man to rebel against God? and how to God’s messengers combat and rule over those forces?  Bear in mind that Jesus dealt with only a tiny percentage of the evil He witnessed.  His apostles, then and now, must follow His example.  He followed the “voice” of God’s Holy Spirit.  “They who are LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD” (Rom. 8:14).  As God’s sons, apostles (“sent ones”) must be led by God’s Spirit when dealing with the “principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and the spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).  We will now examine a few instances in which Jesus and His apostles were led by the Holy Spirit to deal with such wickedness who manifest themselves in the form devils (demons).  These are the millions, possibly billions of angels who followed Lucifer (Satan) in rebellion against God in an attempt to overthrow Him.  Having failed, he and they were cast back down to earth where they live and work today.  It is they who tempt man to do the bidding of their leader–the god of this earth.

I have chosen a few episodes in the life of Jesus which will reveal several types of demonic attack modes, their effect on their human hosts and how the Lord and His servants handled them then and handle them today.  Nothing has changed.

In Luke 8:26-33 we find a perfect example of how the Lord wants His men to deal with evil spirits who have taken up residence in various human beings.  Read this segment before continuing.  Here we find Jesus and His disciples arriving in the land of Gadara where they encounter a man who was possessed by some devils which had rendered him mentally deranged.  Also, they had given him some of their incredible power.  Note that one demon speaks for all of the man’s demons, which is usually the case.  He tells the Lord that there are a “legion” of demons in the man.  Note that Jesus does not deal with the man.  Instead, He addresses the demons who totally control the man.  Note that one devil speaks for the group, which is usually the case.  Per their request, Jesus cast the demons out of the man and into a herd of swine.  Note that the demons recognized that Jesus had total power over them (vs 28), and that they had no choice but to obey Him (vs 31-33).  One should not attempt to deliver someone unless one knows that he has been called by the Lord into His ministry.  Read Acts 19:19-16.

Early on in my ministry I was asked to cast a demon out of a woman.  When I commanded the demon to come out he spoke to me using the woman’s voice. which is normally the case.  He replied that that they were not coming out.  I asked him how many demons were in the woman.  He replied: “thirty-three.”  I then commanded all of them to leave her.  Knowing that they had no choice but to obey me because of God’s Spirit in me, they did so immediately.  I saw and heard nothing.  The woman told me that the demons had left out of her right nostril.  That was my first encounter with multiple demons in one person.  I would later have another unique experience which would teach me a valuable lesson.

I was asked by a parent to cast a devil out of their son whose behavior was obviously caused by demonic influence.  This episode, along with the previous one I described, took place early on in my ministry so I was somewhat shocked by what took place.  In this case I went to the family’s home to deal with the child.  He was sitting on a couch in their living room.  His little brother was sitting on the other end of the couch.  Unbeknownst to me, when the demon left the subject it went into his brother, who soon began to exhibit the same behavior as the boy who had been delivered.  Lesson learned.  These episodes of deliverance focused on psychological and behavioral issues.

In another case (Mat. 17:14-21) a man brough his “moonstruck” son to the Lord’s disciples for them to cast it out.  This devil attacked the boy physically, causing him physical harm.  Jesus cast out the demon and the boy was made perfectly whole.  I have been used many time of God to cast out demons that had caused physical problems in their victims.

In Acts 16 we find an episode in which a person has been possessed by a religious demon.  This woman appeared to be led of God.  The Apostle Paul and some of his fellow ministers were in Philippi where they daily walked through the city when going to a place of ministry.  Each day a young woman followed them, crying out and saying: “These men are the servants of the Most High God who show to us the way of salvation.”  What she said was true, but she was a fortune teller (witch)–a servant of Satan.  Paul cast the demon of witchcraft out of her.  The lesson taught by this episode was that things are not always as they appear to be.  One must have the power of discernment in order to tell who is and who is not of God.  Many (99.99% in my estimation) of those preaching wonderful sermons, casting out demons, healing the sick, etc. are not God’s sent ones (apostles).  If one does not obey His Holy Word one is a false prophet, no matter how many people they heal, deliver, raise from the dead, etc.  The fact that he/she performs miracles is irrelevant.  Jesus warned that on Judgment Day people will call Him their Lord and remind Him that they had prophesied, cast out demons and done many wonderful works in His name.  He will say to them: “I never knew you, depart from Me ….”  Why?  Because they were workers of “iniquity”–Lawlessness (Mat. 7:20-23).  Read this passage carefully.

These are a few of many Biblical episodes that reveal how the Lord and His true apostles, deal with Satanic forces that invade and rule the vast majority of mankind.  Other than demonic possession, how else can we explain how a person holding a Bible hears or reads what the Writer of that Bible says concerning, for example, His Sabbath, then defiantly reject His Words and believe the opposite?  Only demons can entice people to commit such sins.  Spirits from the same spiritual gene pool that produces Sabbath deniers (breakers) also convince people to strap bombs to their bellies and blow themselves and dozens of strangers into small pieces, or sacrifice their children, or whip themselves into a bloody mess, or eat other human beings, etc.  All sinners are controlled by demonic spirits and all have the same spiritual father–Satan.  L J.