In part one, we talked about what demons were and a possible explanation of where they come from. In this article, we'll discuss what they can do, or to put it another way, how we can identify them and their actions.
Have you ever done or said something and then looked back on it, not only regretting it but wondering why you did/said it? Have you had things that are almost uncontrollable, like getting overly angry at something minor, or maybe doing things that you know are wrong but you rationalize it to make it seem ok? Have you been tempted, and a voice or thought in your head encourages you to do the thing you were tempted to do? Likely, if you experienced any of these situations a demon, or demons, were influencing, or attempting to influence, you.
There are a few general activities of demons that we can see. I lean very heavily on Derek Prince's study and real-life experiences for this, but there are a few that I know first-hand he is completely right about and as a result I have reason to believe he's also correct about the ones I haven't experienced.
Enticement: They persuade us to do evil. When you hear something in your head trying to convince you it's ok to do something you know is wrong, it's a demon. You can either listen to it, ignore it, or tell it to shut up!
Harassment: They influence situations and confluences of events to give them an opportunity to take up residence in you. Ever had a day where it just seemed nothing was going right? Sometimes it culminates in an angry outburst, or just a desire to crawl into bed and sleep the rest of the day away, or whatever. That's when they've slip in.
Torture: In Matthew 18:34-35, Jesus warns of being delivered to the torturers if you do not forgive others for their trespasses against you. This can be physical torture, like arthritis for example, mental torture, like uncontrollable fear of something bad happening to you or a loved one, or accusatory torture, like being told you're not good enough, or what you've done is unforgivable.
Compulsion: They compel us to do things like compulsively smoke, consume an excessive amount of alcohol, talk excessively, gossip, criticize, etc. We need to ask ourselves if what we're about to do, or what we're doing, is out of compulsion or not.
Enslavement: They enslave us to do things repeatedly that we look back on and hate ourselves for. We say we can stop whenever we want, and find ourselves doing it over and over again.
Addiction: Compulsion and enslavement combine to form addiction. This comes in many forms, and usually has an underlying cause, an opening that the demon slipped in through. Paul gives a scriptural definition in 1 Corinthians 6:12, when he talks about things being lawful but him not being under the power of them because they are not helpful. I think everyone can agree that addiction has power over a person, and is not helpful to that person in one way or another.
Defilement: Perhaps the best indication that demons defile someone is that they are called "unclean spirits." They defile our thoughts, imaginations and even speech with impurity by projecting things into our minds we didn't want to be there in the first place, or influencing us to speak obscenities every other word without us even thinking about them.
Deception: This one is pretty self-explanatory. 1 Timothy 4:1 warns us of deceiving spirits and demonic doctrines in the "latter times." This deception can be as obviously wrong as someone claiming to be the Messiah, or as sly as a claim that some, or all, of scripture was not inspired by God, or that in certain non-parable-like verses we must interpret allegorically vice literally, thereby keeping us from discovering the true meaning of the verses. Make no mistake, these and other deceptions will come with some very convincing evidence, but we must not be deceived.
Physical Attack: They make us sick, tired, and give us pain. We can stay up until all hours binge watching The Fringe, but when we crack open the Bible or try to pray we start to feel tired and yawn. They make people blind, deaf and mute (Matt. 9:32-33, 12:22, Luke 13:11-16), give spinal curvature, or scoliosis (Luke 13:11-16), etc., and even cause death (remember, death is a spirit cast into the lake of fire in Rev 20:14).
This gives us a picture of what effects we can identify as demonic. Next week, we'll talk about what demons can influence specific areas in our bodies, and possibly (if the article isn't too long) how to get rid of them!
Love you all and God bless you!
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