Demons and Evil

So I said it's... For some reason, when bad things are happening to people, you know when you see bad things in the world, it makes you think about this evil in the world. And for some reason, it helps me to understand it, to have an analytical, academic grasp of what's there. So let's look at that today. Now, the Bible indicates that God made a large number of spirit beings that we commonly call angels.

Our English word, angels, comes from the Greek, angelos, and its strict definition means messenger. And it's very close to the Hebrew word, malak, also means messenger, or it can mean one who's sent, one to stand. And there are lots of examples in the Bible of angels acting as messengers, carrying a message from God to someone. But there's evidence that they can do some other functions as well. Now, we don't know for sure how many there are, but if we turn to Revelation 5, we can get a general idea. Revelation 5, in verse 11, here, of course, the Apostle John is seeing this great vision of end time, prophecy, and he also has visions of God's throne in heaven.

And here in Revelation 5, 11, it says, Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, the elders. The number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands and thousands. This is the New King James version. I know some put it in other words, but ten thousand times ten thousand, by calculator, didn't have enough zeros. So I'm not sure if that goes into the millions or billions. But then thousands and thousands beyond that.

It makes me wonder, was John, did he have an exact number that was revealed to him, or was he just using the biggest numbers that he could write to convey the idea that there were a lot? A lot of angels. And it's interesting, out of all those, the Bible only refers to three of them by name.

In many places, the Bible refers to angels symbolically by using the word stars. Now, we could derive from the context that a lot of places where it says stars, it means angels. But let's turn back a few pages while we're in Revelation. Revelation 1 and verse 20 makes it clear that it's not just by implication or guesswork that often it was says stars, it means angels.

So here, Christ is interpreting, or an angel, interpreting the meaning of a vision. It says, the mystery of the seven stars which you saw on my right hand in the southern golden lampstands. The seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches. So angels equals stars in this case. Now, we know what they're called in many places, and I wanted to confirm this before we go to Job 38 to answer another one of the questions we had. One of the questions I had was, how many are there?

Well, there's more than we could count. Job 38, beginning in verse 4, will give us an answer to, when did they come on the scene? When did God create these angels? Well, we can see by this that He created them before He created the earth, perhaps before any physical existence, but at least before the planet earth. And that goes back millions of, we both scientists believe, billions of years.

Job 38, beginning in verse 4, here God is answering Job and showing how great his creation was. So He's questioning Job. He says, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Well, who stretched out a line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

That's something that tells us that the stars, the angels were in anticipation of God's great creation. And when they saw it, they shouted for joy and they sang together. Now, we know it here, as I said, we already saw in Revelation where it says, stars as a symbol for angels. It also, you might wonder where it says, sons of God. We need to understand that the Bible does in a few places refer to angels as sons of God. Because they were directly created by God. But they are not sons of God and not begotten sons of God the way mankind was created to be. We'll see, actually, as we look further in the scripture, that angels don't have what Mr.

Armstrong called the incredible human potential. I like that phrase, the incredible potential to become spirit-borne children of God. And it will go back to the book of Hebrews, is where Paul makes that fairly clear. Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews 1, beginning with verse 5. So, angels are a son of God in the same way that, as I said, he created them, but he did not beget them.

And we see a distinction. Hebrews 1 and verse 5, and quoting from the Psalms, to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son, this day I have begotten you? And you could say this is a rhetorical question. The answer is, well, none of them. And I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. But when he says, but when he again brings a firstborn into the world, he says, Let all the angels of God worship him, that's referring to Jesus Christ.

And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. This is showing that the angels were created spirit beings, but on an entirely different plane or level than Jesus Christ. Now, God is on one plane, angels are spirit, but a different level. We are to worship Jesus Christ.

But we have been given that destiny of being able to be moved into that plane. Let's continue on the next chapter, shows us a little bit more. Hebrews 2, verse 5. Hebrews 2 says, So we see that God intended all along a different purpose and different goals for angels than for mankind. Now, I wanted to note also where it says, he has not put the world to come and subjection to angels.

That's interesting. The world to come, not put subjection in the subjection of the angels. That might leave a question, does that mean there was a world that was, that was under the subjection of angels? Or even perhaps the world that now is? Now, it leaves that open, and we'll see, I believe, there's a strong indication that God did have a world that was subject to angels.

So we know God made many angels. He made them for particular reasons and purposes. But it becomes evident that some of those angels sinned and were punished. And that's where we're going to. Let's go to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2 and verse 4.

It says, And delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment. That parallels what we could see a few pages over in the book of Jude. In the book of Jude, verse 6. Jude and 2 Peter actually parallel each other pretty closely. Jude 6 says, That's the new King James. The original King James said that their first estate.

So they didn't keep their first estate, their proper domain, but left there in the road, where He has reserved them in everlasting chains, under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

The indication that the angels who sinned had prior to that sin had some dominion that they left or gave up could be connected with that statement I was pointing out where it said, The world to come is not subject to angels. That indicates, though, that perhaps before these angels sinned, they were over the world that did exist then.

Perhaps even the world before the creation of Adam and Eve was subject to these angels.

But, as we can see, the implication is that when they sinned, they lost the right to that dominion.

And that fits well with what we understand about Satan the Devil.

The Bible indicates that it is the chief of these fallen angels.

We'll see that the demons, as evil as they are, have a leader to whom they are subject.

But I want to note, and I'm going to make this point in Scripture, that even though they have a leader who is a rebellion to God, the demons still must obey God.

There's a greater power that they cannot go beyond what He allows. Let's turn to Luke 11.

In verse 14, When we go through the gospel accounts, it seems Jesus dealt with these evil spirits on a number of occasions.

And they can be instructive to us in knowing who and what they are and what the properties we need to know about them.

It says, Because you say, I cast out demons by Beelzebub. But if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they'll be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, and that can be translated the power of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

This passage in Scripture can indicate a couple of things that we want to note. One is that it's here clearly shown that the demons have a ruler, someone that they follow.

But it also shows that God has an even higher power that they must obey.

Now, some have had the question of, well, who is this Beelzebub fellow? Is this someone different from Satan?

And I looked in it, because that would cross my mind occasionally, but actually it seems to be not at all. And commentaries show that Beelzebub is a Caledean name from Babylon. They believe that it's just a different name applied to Satan the devil. And that Jesus knew this. That's why in the passage he says Satan is divided against himself. So he doesn't say if Satan is fighting against Beelzebub as though they are two different people. It's very clear there is one ruler, so to speak, over the demons. Whether we call him the devil or Satan or Beelzebub or whatever other title. It's evident that he has power. 7 Corinthians 4-4, which I'm not going to turn to, though, but it says he is the God of this world.

What I find interesting, if you think of this concept, okay, is it an effective, well-ordered, harmonious government? Almost certainly not. The way I envision the demons, even though they have a ruler, it's almost a theme on a pirate ship. Perhaps where order is maintained by fierce power, a fear, subjection. Not, you know, loyalty or love or, you know, allegiance to law. But rather, clawing and fighting, and perhaps they're fighting amongst each other to have position. And those who have greater strength impose their will on others. As I said, I see that as a pirate ship, where many of them would love to be able to assassinate the captain and take over themselves. That's probably the way Satan rules the sword and those who are under it. But if Satan had this power all along, let's note what he did with it. We'll turn back to Revelation 12. There's a scripture I'm sure many of you have thought of already. And it does show us something that gives us a good indication of how the world got to be in this state. Revelation 12. John, once again, is seeing a vision. It says, Now we'll see later on that the dragon is Satan the devil. It'd be easy to argue about this if it weren't for just a few verses later, they'll tell us this. It also says, We've already shown that stars equal angels. And this dragon took a third of them and threw them to earth. We have also already read that the angels had to leave their former domain and were put in prison. Let's move down to verse 7.

I mentioned only three angels that we have names for. If Michael, other places Gabriel was mentioned, and Lucifer is the third one. Of course, that name Lucifer was... he stopped being known as that when he became Satan. But Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail. No, there was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent bold, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So this is... oh, well...

Well, yeah, I want to know here, something else we see about Satan that's sort of an aside, but he's called the accuser of the brethren. That's one of his roles as he's accusing, trying to convince God to take away his mercy from us, which of course he won't. But as I said, if we connect this with the passages we've already read, we see that sending angels were imprisoned, and it becomes obvious then that earth is the prison. They have no more place in heaven, thus they're confined to this globe. Perhaps the only exception we might note is if and when God calls them to appear before him. God sets the rules, he can make exceptions, and we see that happen in the book of Job. I want to go to the book of Job, the first chapter.

Job 1, verse 6. I'm going to come back to this later. I could go to some other places. So if we want to leave Job, you want to stick a finger or a marker in here, that might help. So, there came the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the eternal, and Satan came among them. Now, we mention here, this is one of the places where angels are called, sons of God, even though they're not begotten. But we know this is not mankind, because later in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, it tells us, No man has ascended to heaven.

So these are not men, it's not men who died and became angels. That doesn't happen despite what some Sunday keepers believe. These are angels that presented themselves before God. And Satan was allowed to be there also. For a very strong particular purpose, God wanted Satan there, so that he could work with his servant Job in a particular way.

And the eternal said to Satan, where do you come from? Satan answered the eternal and said, come on, turn and throw onto the earth, walking back and forth in it. And I say it in that way, I think Mr. Armstrong probably was accurate. He always said, he believed that Satan was probably given a smart, eloquent response. You know, where do you come from? Well, you put me on this earth, I'm walking back and forth in it. You know very well where I've been. Satan isn't respectful to God, as he should be. But we might have this one question I thought of. I'm going to come back to this, but we know the wages of sin is death, and we know the angels of sin.

Why weren't they killed rather than being imprisoned? Now, the Bible doesn't give us a particular answer, but the implied answer is that because they're spirit beings, they can't be killed. As I said, we're going to come back to Jure, but if you want to turn over to Luke chapter 20, we do see something that supports that idea.

Luke 20, in the beginning of verse 34. Now, I'll mention, I'm looking for something different than what this passage was intended for. This is breaking into somewhere where the Sadducees were questioning Jesus. They set up a hypothetical situation about a woman who married seven brothers in a row and didn't have children by any of them because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.

So they set this up as a riddle, thinking, well, we're going to show the resurrection can't be right, because who would she be married to? Christ called them out and shows that they didn't really understand what they were talking about. So in Luke 20, in verse 34, Jesus answered them and said, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.

But those who are counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. In other words, spirit beings aren't going to have male or female gender. So even as Moses showed in the burning bush, oh, I'm sorry, I skipped that verse.

Lord, can they die anymore? For they're equal to the angels and are sons of God being sons of the resurrection. And I think equal there would have been better translated like, because it doesn't mean exactly equal.

We've already seen that angels are on one plane and God on another, that His begotten children will inhabit. But it goes to show, it seems to say, if those resurrected can't die anymore because they're spirit, if that tells us that because angels are spirit, they can't die. And this scripture makes that seem pretty solid. The only alternative would be that if they can be killed, then God is reserving that punishment for a later time in the future. And the only reason I mention that, some people have speculated, how could God create anything that He couldn't cause to cease to exist?

Well, the Bible doesn't give an answer to this, but it does show that the angels are spirit, and they seem to still be alive, and perhaps will always be. There's a strong indication of that. But before we proceed, let's summarize what we've discerned so far, because, in just looking at a few scriptures, we've learned a lot about demons and angels that the majority of people don't seem to know.

It's amazing how many people, if you bump into them in the street, if they believe there are evil spirits, sort of have this fear, and they think it's all a big mystery. But we've seen evil spirits do exist in the world. We know that they're angels who have sinned. They're in rebellion against God. We know they account for about one-third of all the angels, which means there are twice as many good angels as there are demons. That's something that should be comforting. We know that they're ruled over by Satan, and yet still subject to the higher authority of God Himself.

And we know that they're imprisoned on this earth.

Now, that's where we could have some pause. They're imprisoned, restricted to this earth. But earth is where we live. That means we're sharing this planet with a large number of evil, wilt beings who have no reason to like us, and perhaps would want to hurt us. Should this worry us? Do we need to be afraid? I asked that question earlier. Let's consider what the Bible says about human interaction with evil spirits.

As far as any contact or dealings with evil spirits, we only need a couple of scriptures to show very clearly that we should not try to contact them. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 20. This is one that is very clear. Leviticus 20, verse 27. We shouldn't try to contact the spirits, and neither should we have any dealings or association with any people who do. When God was giving a law to the nation of Israel of how to set up their religious worship and how to govern their nation, He said this class of people shouldn't exist in this nation. Revelation 20, verse 7, He says, Consecrate yourselves there. Oh, I'm sorry, I meant verse 27. Is that what I said the first time? Revelation 20, verse 27. On the animal woman who is a medium or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones, and their blood will be upon them. And that's why medium or familiar spirits is referring to someone dealing with the spirit world. And we know angels only come and go as directed by God, so these people are dealing with demons. And God says, No, you don't allow them to exist in your kingdom. God's Word makes it clear that anybody that has spirit contact, they're not dealing with so-called souls of people who have died. Ecclesiastes 9, 5, and many other places make it clear when a person dies, their consciousness leaves them.

So, it's not that they're in heaven or hell and can come back and visit us. We know that. But, evil spirits can and sometimes do impersonate someone who has died in order to deceive and harm people. This was almost certainly, well, I'd say uncertain that it was the case in the famous story of King Saul, when he was worried he wanted to contact Samuel, who had already died, so he traveled to visit what was known as the Witch of Endor.

I'm not going to turn there because I think we're familiar with it and we could drag out the story, but I will point out that this woman said, oh, I see something, and it says, Saul perceived that it was Samuel. So, Saul didn't see it, but he was trying to reach Samuel, so Saul said, oh, this must be Samuel. And then this evil spirit impersonated Samuel and told Saul things that a human being wouldn't know.

But our attitude should be that we should never seek guidance from either someone who has died or evil spirits. Let's go to Isaiah 8.

This scripture, Isaiah 8 and verse 19, makes a clear distinction of where we should seek guidance from and where we should not. Isaiah 8 and verse 19... Connor, you need...

Okay, go with money.

It says, when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper in mutter. Shouldn't other people seek their God? The obvious answer is, yeah, you should seek your God, you should not seek mediums.

Those who whisper in mutter. Should they seek the dead on the capital living? Well, of course not. And that says, to the law and the testimony. God's Word is where we should seek. If they don't speak according to this Word, it's because there's no light in them. This indicates that we don't need any other spiritual guidance than what we can find here in God's Word. It's complete. Matter of fact, I'll make a reference. Hebrews 1, the first verse, in the introduction to the book, it says, God in past times, in various times and ways, in the past, spoke to the fathers by prophets. But it says, but in these last days, they've spoken to us by His Son. So the opening of Hebrews indicates that God used to contact people and send messages. Now He's talked to us by His Son, and that era of human history is closed. The Bible now is all that we need. After Jesus Christ came in with the last revelation that was given to the Apostle John, we don't have to seek spiritual, you know, we don't have to seek spirits to come and speak to us again. We have what we need.

One thing I mentioned, of course, as I said, Saul didn't see the spirit, the witch said she saw something like an apparition. If you look through the whole Bible, and I actually had to double check it, is that right? And I checked it's true, in many places, angels have appeared to people in bodily form, and they look like a man. And interestingly, never as a woman, but I'm not sure if, you know, the reason behind that, I'm guessing, well, the angels don't have any gender, but angels have appeared in bodily form as men. Demons are never shown in the Bible to do that. Demons never take on a bodily form. It doesn't say whether or not they can or not, but the indication is perhaps they cannot. They can really communicate through another person, either whom they're, you know, seeing as a vision or giving a voice, or perhaps, in some cases, someone that they've taken possession of. But we have clear instruction to stay away from that. Don't try to establish communication. Now, the question is, do we have to worry about them attempting to communicate with us, or to take control of us? I don't think we do. I think the answer to that is no. They are under certain restrictions. And this is where I want to go back to the book of Job and see this example. Here we know that, as we said, God allowed Satan to appear before his throne, but normally he's not able to. Let's pick up the story just a little past where we left off in Job 1, verse 8. After, of course, Satan gave probably a smart aleck of answer to God. God says, Well, have you considered my servant Job? There's none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil. So Satan answered the eternal, said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven't you made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. So then, of course, he fears you. Look at all the stuff you've done for him. But now, stretch out your hand and touch all that he has. Surely he'll curse you to his face. So Satan is, he just thinks, Let me at him. I want to give me a chance. I'll turn him against you.

And the indication is he couldn't. He was not able to do those things to Job that he's saying, Here, you can do things. And he'll curse you. So then, in verse 12, the eternal says, Okay, behold, all that he has is in your power. Obviously, what he had was not in his power before then, even though Satan is the most powerful demon there is. He says, Only do not lay a hand on his person. So Satan went out from the presence of the eternal. And essentially, as soon as God said, Okay, you can do this, Satan went out and did it.

If you read through the rest of the chapter, suddenly, all of Job's livestock are killed. His servants are murdered. Even his children, their lives are taken. But Job was unharmed. Just in case, these Satan and the demons are powerful. They have the power to do these things, yet they must obey God. It's not that they're waiting for an opening for us to let our guard down and they can hurt us.

It's not us that we have to rely on. If God does not give them permission, they can't cross any of the boundaries that he sets. We can see that further if we move to the second chapter of Job. Because Satan did all those things, and of course, the story says Job held fast to his integrity. He said, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, praise God.

And he suffered and he was sad and learned, but he didn't blame God. He said, I came into the world naked and naked I'm going to leave. So Job 2 and verse 2. Okay, in this case, God summons the angels before him and allows Satan to come. And the Eternal said to Satan, Where do you come from? Satan answered, Life and going to and for all they are, walking back and forth on it. The Eternal said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?

None like him on earth, blameless and upright man, who fears God and shuns evil. And he still holds fast to his integrity, although you incited me against him. Interesting, God says you incited me against him. God took responsibility for the things that Satan did because he was doing that under the Eternal's responsibility. So it wasn't God saying, Oh no, I can't believe you went this far. I didn't mean that. God took responsibility. We did this.

And of course, responsibility for those children who were killed, that God knows he'll raise up in the resurrection. And their next moment would be in God's kingdom. Or, well, at least in the moment, in a world ruled by God and not Satan. And they said, We don't know that they were called or not. So Satan answered the Eternal, Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has, he'll give for his life. You stretch out your hand now and touch his bone in his flesh and he'll curse you to your face. And the Eternal said, Okay, he's in your hand, but spare his life.

And Satan went out from the presence of the Eternal and struck Job with painful boils from the soul of his foot, the crown of his head. And I wonder how much time span there was in between. Perhaps a fraction of a second, even. You know, angels can move probably faster than the speed of light. So God said, Okay, you have permission to go this far. Satan was there and came up with this miserable thing to do to him.

But he didn't kill him. And that's an important lesson. As I said, I think Satan and the demons probably would love to kill us all. But they don't. If they were allowed to, probably there's why I say, we don't have to be afraid. Because if they were allowed to kill us, we'd have already been dead a long time ago.

So they're under a restriction. They can't go beyond what God allows. Let's read another place where we see God's authority, Matthew 4. See, there wasn't just one rare occasion. It's always this way, Matthew 4 and verse 8. Here, of course, is when Jesus was about to begin his ministry and he fasted forty days and forty nights and Satan came to test him. And towards the end of this he says, The devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory, and said to him, All these things I'll give you if you'll fall down and worship me.

But Jesus said, Away with you, Satan, it's written, you shall worship the eternal your God and him only you shall serve. And the devil left him. The angels came and ministered to him. Now, as I said, I always like, Mr. Armstrong had a good way of describing this. Satan tempted him and Jesus snapped out a command, Get out of here! And Satan had to obey. He didn't have a choice. He didn't say, Well, now let me tempt you with this, or let's do that. He was under that authority. Let's notice another example. Now, let's go over to Mark chapter 1. It's always encouraging to see that.

Remembering those stories of how much evil there is in the world. And yet, remember, they can only act only as far as God will allow. He has that power and authority. Mark chapter 1 and verse 21.

Let us alone! What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God! So the demons recognize that. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet and come out of him. And the unclean spirit convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. So, he had a little bit of a fuss in doing it, but he didn't have any choice. He had to obey. This re-emphasizes that demons are under God's authority. Under restrictions imposed by him, and they have to obey. They don't have a choice. It's not, you know, if and when, but they can only do what God allows. Now, we do see from this example that demons can and do possess people. But there we must say that must be within the restrictions that God allows. That doesn't just happen indiscriminately. It seems that demons can't just go out and possess anyone at any time that they want. Now, perhaps they would like to. I'm sure they'd love to get control of any of us in this room, but they're not allowed to. So, restrict it. And we can see that there's another well-known account. Let's go over a few pages to Mark 5. Mark 5, and we'll begin in verse 1.

And it says, And it says, And it says, And it says, Even though we have every reason to think that will be their ultimate fate.

So, I'm going to read on in verse 11.

And the herd ran violently down in the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. Now, as I mentioned, they had to have permission from Christ into the pigs. Does God give demons permission to possess people? Obviously, they couldn't do so. They couldn't possess anyone if God never allowed it. But that doesn't necessarily mean that God gives individual permission in each individual case. And here, I'm speculating, we can get certain things that we can see from the Scripture, and then make inferences. One of the things I infer is I don't believe that demons are permitted to possess animals, except in particular cases. Maybe that's because animals don't have any control. They don't have the self-control over their own consciousness. They have instinct. They don't have minds the way we do. So, an animal can't choose to either resist a demon or not. I think there's a difference with mankind. God gives us free will. We have a mind, and we can think. We can make decisions. And perhaps, that's where God makes it somewhat up to individuals to decide whether they'll leave themselves open to a demon's possession or influence or not. Now, I'm not saying that. You wake up one morning and say, Well, I think I want to have a demon in me or not. But, people make decisions that influence their consciousness and perhaps make them more available. Let's look back to Luke 11. Sometimes, people might make a decision unknowingly because they don't know where it would lead. But people make decisions and sometimes deal with the consequences. Luke 11 and verse 24. I'm going to refer to this again later to draw some more out of this, but it says, Here's a famous case of Christ says, When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, so the spirit leaves a person, he goes through dry places seeking rest. And this seems to support the idea that the demons want to inhabit a body, they're seeking rest. And finding one says, I'll return to my house, meaning the human body, in which I came. When he comes, he finds it swept, put in order. So he finds this basically empty room, so he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself. And they enter and dwell there, the last aid of the name is worse than the first. That swept and put in order seems that it's indicating empty, not occupied by something else, not engaged in any other useful purpose. And maybe this jumps to mind because when I taught wrestling at summer camp, I would teach it this way. I told the kids, wrestling is all about control. You have control, you're trying to gain control of your opponent. And if you don't take control of him, he's going to take control of you. And I think it's that way with our minds. If we give up control of our minds, there are probably evil spirits that are more than happy to step in and take that control. Now, there are different ways that you could give up that control. I don't think it necessarily comes easy that obviously excessive use of drugs or alcohol, you could give up control of your mind. Perhaps people with this transcendental meditation where they sit and look at their neighbor and try to empty their mind, I'm always afraid of any time where it might be you talk about emptying your mind, because if you empty your mind of your control, as I said, it could be inviting something else to come in and take control. Let's back up to see a contrast. We're here in Leviticus 11. Let's go back to verse 18. Here, we read this earlier, but it says, If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say, I cast out demons by Beelzebub. If I cast them out by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they'll be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of power of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

So, Jesus is talking about the authority of God, that it's supreme over the spirit world. It can litter them around. And then he goes on in verse 21. He says, When a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. Now, he's been talking about demon possession before, and he continues, so this is still in that context. When a strong man guards his palace, his goods are in peace. But when stronger than he comes along and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me. Whoever does not gather with me scatters. I think this was Jesus's way of, in a sense, flexing his muscle. You know, sometimes, well, I don't watch professional wrestling, but I've seen the commercials, where they hold up their arm and they point at their bicep. And Jesus was saying, I'm the strong man. He didn't cast out demons by any kind of trickery or things like this. He was just plain more powerful than them. He could make them do what he wanted to, and not let them do other things that he didn't want them to. No trickery, no magic wand or anything. Just Christ had the power, and he has the power. And so we have a choice in this. We can be on Christ's side or not. I would certainly want to be on the side, but the moment has the power.

As I said, it's clear demons, they cannot do anything that God does not permit. So we don't have to trust in our own strength. We don't have to trust in our own ability to ward off demons. We only need to trust in God's power. And he doesn't have any trouble. It's not facing all, I wish I could protect him, but I'm just about worn out, or I could only protect so many at a time. No, God can do it easily. It's effortless to him.

And I want to turn now to seeing what defense and protection we have from evil spirits in the world. We know that they're under these limitations. We've shown that God the Father and Jesus Christ have absolute authority and power over the demons. What about us? Do we have any authority or power?

Well, I would say not on our own, obviously.

And God does not normally require us or expect us to deal with demons. We know they're out there.

But we read earlier that we're commanded not to have anything to do with them. Stay away from any people that dabble with evil spirits.

But we can rest assured that God can and he will extend to us whatever power and authority we need, if and when the situation should arise. Let's see an example in Acts 16.

Acts 16. We'll begin in verse 16.

Acts 16, 16.

This is the case where Paul is on his beginning. I'll mention, at times, we know Luke was the author of the book of Acts, and at times he was traveling with Paul, and in those cases he writes in the first person, which he does here. That's why he says, we. Now it happened as we went to prayer, a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination. Now that's not a good spirit, this is an evil spirit. Who brought her master as much profit by fortune-telling. The girl followed Paul and us, and she cried out, saying, These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. She did this for many days, but Paul greatly annoyed. Now notice this. Paul, it doesn't say Paul was fearful. He was just annoyed. No fear at all. Just Paul greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very howl. And it's important to note this was not Paul's power or strength. It was the authority of Jesus Christ. His name was invoked. Let's turn over a few pages from Mark 16. We'll see that Paul was not necessarily unique in this. What he was doing was something that Jesus Christ had said his followers would be able to do. Mark 16, verse 17. This is a brief, short account of Christ last appearing to the apostles and giving them his last orders. When he tells them to go out and preach the gospel, then he follows up. And verse 17 says, These signs will follow those who believe. In my name they'll cast out demons. They'll speak with new tongues. They'll take up serpents. And if they bring in deadly, they'll by no means be hurt by them. And they'll lay hands on the sick and they'll recover. So Jesus is saying that his apostles in his name would work these miracles. Of course, it's worth noting that doesn't mean that this is a requirement for every Christian. It does mean that those following Jesus, if the need arises, will be able to call on the name and authority of Jesus Christ to command demons, or to resist harm in other ways. That I'm not required to try to find a demon to cast out any more than I am to pick up a dangerous snake, and let it bite me and see if I live. Of course, I know there are some people in some churches that think that is a requirement. I think they're mistaken, and I don't want to hang around them because I think they're asking me for trouble.

It's important to realize, of course, that doing something in Jesus' name does not mean just pronouncing his name. Let's go back to Acts. Acts 19, we'll see an example of that. It's not just saying the words Jesus Christ. To invoke the authority of Christ means we have to be close to him, living his way of life. Because Acts 19, we see an example of some people who were not followers of Jesus Christ but thought they could just say the name like it was a magic spell, and that would do something. It doesn't work that way.

Acts 19, verse 13. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who have evil spirits, saying, We exercise you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. You know, that Jesus guy that Paul keeps mentioning. And there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Well, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know. I know who Jesus is and I know who Paul is, but who are you? So obviously they didn't have a connection with Jesus. They weren't living his way of life. And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaked on them and overpowered them and prevailed against them. So they fled out of the house naked and wounded. So we don't want to be in that situation. As I said, to exercise authority in God's name requires faith, belief, and humble submission to God. You have to be close to God. Now, in fact, let's go to Matthew 17 to see another example of how we assure that we're close to God and are ready to invoke His authority if and when needed. Matthew 17, we'll begin in verse 14.

And it says, Jesus answered, So there are some tough cases out there. The demons are not all the same. And some of them are a little more stubborn, or perhaps more powerful. And they might seem to have different temperament. So if we're going to call on the power and authority of the Almighty God, we'd better be close to Him. And we see here that happens by prayer and fasting. We humble ourselves and we pray. We stay in contact with God. But, of course, we should be aware. There's a big difference between counting on God to protect us from exposure to our possession of the demons, and between that and calling on His power to cast them out. It's not the same level, in my mind. We can always count on God's protection as long as we ask for it, as long as we don't do foolish things to court trouble. That's different than, say, taking the offensive, going against evil spirits. That's when that requires a higher level of closeness to God. And I'll say a level that I don't presume that I'm there. And I don't think I'll ever presume that. If it ever comes up and I have to call on God, I will. But I'm never going to think that I'm ready and say, let me go at Him. I'll defer to someone that's more my senior in that case. That if God ever decides that I'm ready, if He gives me the job, I'll trust in Him. But as I said, we can always trust in God's protection. Even the little children, the babes in Christ, He gives that protection. As I said, otherwise we'd already be dead. Just as in the case of Job, where Job couldn't go one bit further than God allowed, none of the demons can attack or harm any people on this earth without God allowing it. Let's turn to 1 Peter 5. Be reminded that, as I said, we have that protection when we want to be active in the staying away from Satan and his evil. 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. We do want to be aware, as I said in my introduction, we don't have to be fearful, but we want to be aware, we want to be informed, and not ask them for trouble. Peter says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom you may devour. And what's the answer to this? Resist him. Steadfast in the faith, doing the same sufferings or experience by your brotherhood in the world. So resist Satan. Now you might say, how do we do that? There's a similar admonition over in James chapter 4. That's just a few pages towards the front of the book, James 4 and verse 7. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you. Draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. I think this isn't saying two different things at once. Resist the devil and draw near to God. If we're drawing near to God, that's the way we resist the devil. And that forces those evil spirits to keep their distance from us. Doesn't allow them anywhere near. And we draw near to God by repentance, by cleansing our hands, by purifying our hearts, living God's way of life, what we're already studying and doing all the time. So we've been in the process of resisting Satan probably for a long time without always thinking of it in those terms. But we can count on more. Let's turn to Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 10.

This is a well-known passage of Scripture, but we don't always think of this in terms of demons, and yet it is very applicable. Now, in fact, it's very clear that that's part of what it's written for. Ephesians 6, verse 10, says, As I said, if we think of what's going on out in the world, those news stories that I was citing in the beginning that just make your stomach turn about how evil it is, and it's easy to start getting fearful.

You know, what could happen next? But he says, take up the whole armor of God. You don't have to be fearful. You can stand in the power of His might, and then you have the spiritual armor. Verse 13, take up the whole armor. Stand therefore, having gritted your waist with truth. Then put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all taking the shield of faith, with which He will be able to quench all the fiery guards of the wicked one.

Not just of wickedness, but of the wicked one. When He's trying to get at us, faith is our shield. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of the Eternal. So this is a weapon against Satan, one with against ignorance. Pray in all ways with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. These are what we can do to guarantee protection against evil spirits.

If we do this, we have nothing to fear. And one of the things I think is interesting is just about all these things start as gifts from God. When we talk about the helmet of truth, truth reveals the Gospel. God opens our minds. He gives us that. He imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ in our stead. He gives us the faith of Christ so that we can exercise and build. And of course, God gives us the Holy Spirit. We need to use it and not quench it. The one thing He says here that He doesn't just give us is prayer. We have to take the initiative and approach God and pray to Him. But God is always ready to listen to us, always ready to help us.

And He gives us the spiritual armor. We only need to put it to use. But as I was writing this, I thought, yeah, I mean, that's so much better than saying, go out and design and forge your own armor. Now, there's something dangerous out there. You need protection. So go design. No, God, this is here. Here is the armor. I'll give it to you. And, as I said, Ephesians 6.10 said that we could be strong in the power of His might. So if God would give us His strength, He'll give us the armor. And how strong is His strength? Now, remember, Jesus said that a strong man armed is secure in his own home.

So our strength and our arms come from God. So we have nothing to fear. But there is evil in this world. We see it around us. We're reminded of it. You know, there's mass murder. There's killing. There's tragedies that happen. There are angels who left their original positions, and they're now confined to this earth. And they would love to harm us. They would like to possess us, to destroy us.

But we don't need to be afraid of that. We do need to realize who they are. And also, remember that they're the ones who are fearful. James 2.19 says that they tremble at the knowledge and belief in God. Now, he said even the demons know God and tremble. They're fearful. But we don't have to fear. We have access to God. God's Word says, perfect love casts out fear.

So we don't have to fear these evil spirits, because we're God's children. And the Father and Christ have the ultimate authority and power over Satan, and over all the demons. He promises us His protection. He gives us His armor. So we can do exactly what the Apostle Paul said. Having done all that we need to stand, therefore brethren, let's stand, and let's never fear.