ISRAEL IN BIBLE PROPHECY | home
Demons in the Church | Publisher's Note | Dedication | Contents | Proverbs 24:11-12 | Introduction | The Battleground | First Encounter | Old Testament Typology | Battle Doctrine | Who Says It's Legalistic? | Hazardous Theology | Spirits In My House | Lying Spirits | Magic Show | Witchcraft | Mediums & Psychics | Deceiving Spirits | Satanic Visions | Facing Reality | Epilogue
Demons in the Church
The Battleground
CHAPTER ONE
The Battleground
One of Satan's goals today is to lead Christians so far from the
basic truths of the Bible that they can be brought under the
influence or control of evil spirits. Only a generation ago, that
idea would have seemed absurd; but now it is a sober reality
with which the church must deal.
For nineteen and a half centuries the Western Church has
been a bastion of the Christian faith, but now it has lost its
momentum. The zeal of the great reformation is past; the
martyrdom of the saints of the middle ages is all but forgotten;
and the church drifts aimlessly in a sea of lukewarm indiffer-
ence. In a trans-denominational poll taken this year by David
Wilkerson:
"Four out of five (Christians) told us they were dying
spiritually: their churches were dead or dying, and their
pastors were so concerned about their own security that they
were afraid to offend anybody...
Many hundreds of letters from concerned saints said over
and over again, we need to hear the truth - we hunger for
straight convincing messages that provoke us to righteous-
ness... but God has shown me there are many who cry for
truth who will not receive it when it comes."2
Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? But that's reality. Most of
us don't have a Bible college background, and are not ordained
of men; so we think there is little we can do about it. That's
a lie of the devil! That's just what Satan wants you to think.
This is not a physical war, and we don't need material weap-
ons, not even a pulpit. We are not fighting against men, but
against "spiritual wickedness in heavenly places," EPH 6:12.
__________________________
2 David Wilkerson letter, 917/1992, (World Challenge, Lindale, TX)
_________________________________
The Battleground 17
We are fighting the evil spirits which influence the minds of
men. And for this battle, the Lord has provided us with one
special spiritual weapon which the church has forgotten all
about:
In this book you will learn that by obeying one little
New Testament ordinance, you will stir up a hornet's
nest in your church, and be up to your neck in a spiri-
tual battle that (up until now) you thought was just
theoretical!
And here is what you'll be up against. Careless Bible inter-
pretation, coupled with a misconception of the implacable
nature of the enemy, has led to a new kind of satanic attack.
A new spiritual covert action against scriptural truth that is
meeting with more success than any other assault made
against the church during the whole Christian Era. To put it
into one sentence: Major denominations are unknowingly
flirting with pre-christian mystery religions, the occult, and
demonism!
Believe it or not, you can have a real impact against these
heresies, no matter how unimportant you consider yourself to
be. By obeying just one little command, and without saying a
single word to anyone, you personally can start a battle! In
short order, the enemy will come against you. Those in your
church who belong to Jesus will stand forth, and the servants
of the enemy will be revealed. It's easy. But before we discuss
HOW to fight this battle, we need to take a look at the
battleground itself.
Only a generation ago the church was different. Most
pastors were men of God who were afraid to deviate from the
Bible. They took God's warnings about departing from Scrip-
ture seriously, and the every-day Christian knew the Word so
well that the heresies now being openly professed by "church
leaders" would have never gotten by the first reading. False
prophets were soon exposed, and expelled from the church.
But with the advent of mass media and other time-stealing
amusements, individual believers and local pastors are spend-
ing less time in the Bible. Instead, for their doctrines they are
depending upon commentators, denominational headquarters,
or highly visible tel-evangelists, many of whom are openly
apostate. As a result, an ever-increasing number of so-called
evangelical churches are saying that feelings, personal prophe-
cies, or the charismatic experience can be placed equal to or
18 Demons in the Church
above the Bible itself.3 That is not a new delusion in the
church. The same error was in Germany some 600 years ago:
Some, calling themselves brethren and sisters of the Free
Spirit, acted on the assumption that their own feelings were
the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and gave themselves over to
outrageous folly and sin.4
Many of today's "church leaders" are teaching the same here-
sies. They are servants of the enemy, and by their disregard of
the Bible, they have invited a demonic invasion of the church.
That would be a reckless statement to make, if it could not be
directly supported from Scripture:
2CO 11:12-15 ...they...are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising
themselves as apostles of Christ And no wonder, for even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising
if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness...5
1TI 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will
fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and
doctrines of demons.6 (NASB)
_______________________
3 Within the confines of this book, the term charismatic will broadly
identify all who believe in a second "work of grace" subsequent to
salvation as evidenced by some spiritual phenomenon. The term
Pentecostal will identify Protestant charismatics. Because of the
stigma attached to the above terms, new labels such as The Third
Wave are now being coined to describe this position. But these "new"
movements are still charismatic in doctrine, and will be so identified.
4 E. H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church, (Basingstoke, Banta, UK,
Pickering & Inglis, 1981) ppI12-118.
5 Unfortunately, the Elizabethan English of the King James Version
is almost unintelligible to many modem readers. As a result, Bible
quotations in this book are taken from the very conservative New
American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted. Since this book is
written to the church at large, it seemed wise to quote from a transla-
tion of the Bible which could be understood by all.
6 In this and many other Scripture quotes which follow: Bold face is
added to emphasize some doctrinal point, or to bring attention to a
central verse or phrase. No such emphasis exists in the original texts
of the Bible.
_____________________________
The Battleground 19
Unbelievable as it may sound to some, today there are
church authorities who are filling those scriptural shoes, right
up to their knees. They are teaching "doctrines of demons." In
the past, false doctrines which permitted church demonization
were in relatively few congregations or denominations. Now,
as evidenced by a disregard of biblical ordinances, these here-
sies are spreading throughout the whole church. Down
through the ages, Satan has fought his most violent battles
against the ordinances:
In the 14th and 15th centuries the fight was over the
ordinance of communion. A million saints died for the privi-
lege of partaking of both the bread and the cup.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the fight was over the
ordinance of baptism. Millions more died because they
rejected infant baptism as practiced by the Roman Catholics,
and believed instead that they should be baptized subsequent
to salvation.7
The full importance of these ordinances, and the reasons for
the enemy's vicious attacks against them will be discussed in
later chapters. But today, the fight is against another ordin-
ance. The ordinance which visibly displays to the angelic hosts
that the church is in submission to the Lord Jesus, through His
written Word. Through the seven churches of Revelation, the
Lord described these coming errors for us in advance. The key
phrase to all the seven churches was: "to him that overcometh."
So what was the Lord commanding those 1st Century saints to
overcome? To five out of the seven, Jesus brought to light some
sin within their own ranks. Some sin within the church itself.
So it was the sins within the church that the Lord was telling
those early Christians to overcome. A church like each of those
apostolic churches can be found in the churches of today; and
through their example, we likewise are commanded to overcome
the sins within our own church, within our own lives.
REV 2:20, 24 (excerpts) But I have this against you, that you tolerate
the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches
and leads My bond-servants astray... But to the rest who are in
___________________________
7 Though the author differs with them, the covenantal view of infant
baptism held by Evangelical Presbyterians is totally diverse from the
Roman position.
___________________________
20 Demons in the Church
Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the
deep things of Satan... (NASB)
"The deep things of Satan..." the doctrines of demons! In our
own day, we are again rebelling against God's governmental
order, God's authority; and the church is again playing with
the occult. The Lord has given us time to repent of interacting
with demons, but we don't want to, and Christian after Chris-
tian is unknowingly coming under satanic influence. The
enemy has attacked in the same way a spider ensnares a
butterfly that has blundered into its almost invisible web.
Because Satan is a master of delusion, escape is almost impos-
sible, as he winds his cocoon of false doctrine ever tighter
around the souls of the spiritually unwary.
Though Satan is a totally defeated enemy who has no au-
thority over obedient saints, it is now a matter of historic
record that demons can enter, and even control, the lives of
rebellious Christians. An ever-increasing body of documentary
evidence shows that this invasion is far more than just an
"influence" or "strong oppression." Grossly sinning Christians
can literally have demons in residence. This demonic presence
within Christians may not be outright "demon possession" in
the classic sense, known to befall those involved with satanism
and the occult, but from a behavioral standpoint there is little
discernible difference.
Merrill Unger in his enlightening book, What Demons Can
Do To Saints, used the word "demonized" to describe this
terrifying spiritual condition. The Bondage Breaker by Neil T.
Anderson is a later and more helpful book on the same subject.
Historically seen only in Africa, South America, and the Far
East, both Unger and Anderson have recorded a number of
cases of this phenomenon in North American churches. Pastor
Bob Dukes of Mississippi wrote:
"You will get a lot of flack for saying that a Christian can
be possessed. Stand strongly in your position on this one!
We are in a spiritual battle with Lucifer and his angels, from
the establishment on the right, to the New Age on the left.
I have seen clear examples of demon possession by those
professing to be Christians. For instance, one young man
picked himself up from a standing position and hurled his
body upward to slam against a locker which was four feet off
the floor, and a foot or so behind him. It left a permanent
The Battleground 21
crease in the locker door. He had other such outbursts of
rage. He was thoroughly demon possessed.
The point is this. He was a professing Christian! He was
also charismatic. His charismatic ministers became so agi-
tated at my suggestion that a Christian in their church could
be demon possessed, that they commanded this young man
to stop working with our ministry. They tried to take over
instead. After three weeks of attempted ministry, in desperation
they threw him out of their congregation; and had
him committed to a psychiatric institution.
Later, the Lord did a tremendous healing on this young
brother. So don't give in to the misguided notion that Christians
can't get demonized."
And we didn't. Since Sunset of the Western Church was pub-
lished, many Christians have told us of their experiences with
these evil spirits, and several like the above are recorded in
this book. Some theoretical theologians declare that Christians
no longer have the authority to cast out demons, but practical
experience in the field shows that view to be incorrect. We are
required by Scripture to help brethren in trouble, and nowhere
are we told to leave out those who have unknowingly permitted
demons access to their lives. Of all the Christians on earth,
those poor oppressed souls need help the most. As Neil
Anderson wrote:
"God has not only equipped you with everything you need to
ward off the attack of the strong man, but He has also
equipped you and authorized you for the search and rescue
of the lives of those who are in the devil's clutches."8
Jesus came to free all who were oppressed of the devil, and
through His name, the Christians are the representatives he
has left on Earth to do it:
ECC 4:1 ...And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they
had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was
power, but they had no one to comfort them.
ACT 10:38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him
with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing
_________________________
8 Dr. Neil T. Anderson, The Bondage Breaker, (Harvest House,
Eugene, OR) p91
_________________________
22 Demons in the Church
good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was
with Him. (NASB)
But any study of the enemy's activity must be kept in
scriptural balance. Some Christians have become mentally dis-
turbed by the errors and superstitions about demonism which
have been taught in the churches. We hear that Satan has
more power and authority than he really does. That is one of
the devil's lies. Satan's power is in the lie... the deception...
the trickery.9
The truth is that Satan was totally defeated at the cross, and
Satan's intrigues are defeated by truth. The truth is that
Jesus bound the strong man. It's not a power struggle
anymore. Jesus won the power struggle through the nail-holes
in his hands. You will read here of the activity of the enemy
and his minions; but Holy Angels outnumber demons by two to
one, REV 12:4, and those guardian angels are far more
powerful than anything the enemy can throw at us. What's
more, Christians have the protection of the indwelling Holy
Spirit.
Nevertheless, there are Christians who have turned away
from the simple truth of the Gospel, and have become demon~
oppressed. To keep it simple, all who were under direct
demonic control (even temporarily) will be referred to as being
"demonized."
To protect the privacy of those involved, most names and
locations have been changed. Other accounts have been edited
for clarity or brevity. None of these reports are hearsay. All
the narratives recorded in this book happened to real people,
personally known to the author, or are from the written
records of credible church historians.
Unfortunately, Christians under demonic influence are not
too hard to find anymore... and therein lies the tale...
__________________________
9 William C. McGrath in his booklet, How Superstitious Preaching
Spreads Panic, (Minerva, OH, Christian Printing Mission, 1992)
recounts how an improper emphasis on demonic activity can lead to
a falling away from the faith.
__________________________