Recognizing Our Spiritual Enemies

What we are dealing with is not Satan directly. What we are dealing with is what are correctly called demons or evil spirits. The word demon comes from a Greek word, daimonion, which has a very long history in the Greek language, and it means some kind of a spirit being whom the ancients regarded as half divine and half human, and who was normally worshiped or propitiated in certain ways. In fact, the majority of pagan religions all through human history have centered around the recognition of demons and attempts to propitiate them, or enlist their help, or prevent their wrath. More or less, that’s how you can sum it up.

Now, the other phrase that’s used interchangeably in the New Testament is the phrase “evil spirit” or “unclean spirit.” And when I say interchangeably, in the Synoptic Gospels, where one writer will use the word “demon” telling the same story about the same incident, another Synoptic writer will use the word “evil spirit” or “unclean spirit,” so that these are interchangeable.

And we are not talking about Satan himself, the prince of the kingdom of darkness. We are not even talking about angels. We are talking about spirit beings. As I understand it, they are not angels. Now, this is not essential for your deliverance to know this, but I observe certain distinctions. Angels have their habitat in the heavenlies. Evil spirits are earthbound. Angels apparently have wings and fly. Evil spirits apparently do not have wings and walk. Jesus said,

“The unclean spirit walketh through dry places, seeking rest.”

Angels have bodies of their own and would not feel at home, nor have any reason to desire to be inside a human body. Demons, or evil spirits, are spirits without bodies that intensely crave to be inside bodies. Primarily, they would choose to be inside a human body, but rather than be without a body to inhabit, we find in the Gospels that they would prefer to go into the bodies of pigs.

Without a body, they cannot express their nature. If, for instance, a demon of blasphemy must have a tongue to blaspheme through, a demon of doubt must have a mind to doubt through, a demon of lust must have a body and physical members to lust through, a demon of alcohol must have the appropriate physical organs to crave and to consume alcohol through. They are tied up to the need of a body to express themselves. Now, where demons came from is a matter about which I have opinions after many years, but it isn’t important. Jesus dealt with demons by the thousands, but He never stopped to explain in His public teaching where they came from. And the important thing for you is not to know where they come from, it’s to know how to get rid of them. And that the Bible tells you clearly.

Now, in regard to these, there are certain phrases used in the New Testament, and I’ll enumerate them briefly. The three main phrases used for a person who is in some way under the influence or power or control of a demon or an evil spirit, these are the following phrases: First of all, to have an unclean spirit or a demon. Secondly, to be in an unclean spirit or a demon, when I think modern English would speak about being under the influence of. Thirdly, there is a Greek verb, to be demonized. The Greek verb, if you are familiar with Greek, is daimonizomai, and it means, ‘I am demonized.’ It’s directly formed from the noun for demon. Demon in Greek, daimonion. To be demonized, daimonizomai. See, it’s just a verb formed out of a noun.

Now, in the King James Version, the verb that I have spoken of, daimonizomai, is normally translated “to be possessed with devils.” Now, this translation is a disaster. It has misled more people than it will ever be possible to calculate, because there is nothing in the original Greek, and I challenge any Greek scholar to say to the contrary, there is nothing in the original Greek to justify the use of the word “possess.” And this is what has misled millions of people. You see, the word “possess” in the English language suggests total ownership. If I possess my Bible, then it is entirely mine. And every page in the Bible belongs to me. There’s no shared ownership. No one has a claim over 15 pages in my Bible. I possess it. It is my Bible. Now, people say, “Can a Christian be demon-possessed?” And the answer is obviously, no. A Christian, essentially, is one who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. If he belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, the devil cannot own him. That is absolutely clear. But it doesn’t mean that a Christian cannot have areas in his life which are still under the control of evil spirits. He may belong, by the choice of his will and the surrender of his will in salvation or the new birth, to the Lord Jesus Christ. But though he has given himself generally to the Lord Jesus, it may well be that there are areas within him where the Holy Spirit and the nature of Christ are not in effective control. And you say, “Brother Prince, how do you know that?” Well, I’ve been a Christian over 30 years, and I know it from my own personal experience.

I was baptized in the Holy Spirit about 30 years ago, having found the Lord pre- about 2 weeks previously in an army barrack room. I had a marvelous conversion, a total transformation. But many, many years later, there were still areas in my life where the Lord Jesus was not in effective control.