Demons can make you go naked or cause you to wear clothes that sweep the ground. They make some people commit suicide and others become so jealous they have no peace day or night. They can be responsible for placing you behind prison bars or in the insane asylum. A person can be demon possessed and still be very intelligent. They can preach sermons and sway multitudes by their doctrines.
By Marcella Wilhoit
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LESSON TEXT: II Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Mark 5:12-13; Luke 8:2; Acts 10:38; Luke 13:11-13; John 5:14; Mark 16:17-18; I Kings 22:2122; II Thessalonians 2:10-13; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Romans 1: 24-28; II Timothy 1:7; Luke 12:4-5.
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none Then goeth he, and taketh with himself 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…” (Matthew 12:43, 45).
LESSON AIM: To study the characteristics of demon spirits and how to prevent them from making their abode in the Christian’s heart.
THE ORIGIN OF DEMON SPIRITS
The origin, nature and form of these dwellers of darkness is a rather obscure and unfathomable subject. Most scholars maintain that fallen angels are properly styled “demons.” Some are imprisoned in the abyss (II Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6), while other legions are free to carry out the will and purpose of the “prince of demons.”
Whoever they are, they belong to the Empire of Satan. It appears that they are unembodied spirits who kept not their first estate (Jude 1:6). They constantly seek embodiment in the bodies of men, or even beasts (Matthew 12:43-45; Mark 5:12). They are not disembodied spirits of dead persons, but fallen, degenerate angelic beings.
We have also learned there are vast numbers of demons and that they can move into a person (as an inside force) and encourage him to do the wrong thing and discourage him from doing the right. A demon also has power to work and operate as an outside force, which is called “demon oppression.”
As great armies they sweep throughout the whole earth, anxiously looking for a dwelling place on earth. Nothing is more congenial to them than a human soul; therefore they are described as wandering through the earth, seeking a resting place in the human spirit.
Demon spirits are exceedingly numerous; in some cases a whole troop crowded into one person. The demoniac of Gadera had enough demon spirits to enter two thousand swine and send them running violently to their death in the sea (Mark 5:13). Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out of her (Luke 8:2). So we see there is no shortage of helpers for Satan.
The same demon spirits that were cast out of the man at Gadera are still at work somewhere in this world. The same spirits cast out of Mary Magdalene are with our generation today. Since these spirits do not cease to exist with the death of a human, they merely take their flight and look for other bodies to inhabit.
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