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The following document is designed to help you understand and defeat demons.
Many people in the secular world like to put labels on people who hear voices, calling it schizophrenia, a label that is demeaning and damaging to a persons selfesteme, however it is quite common for Christians to hear voices as I will discuss latter. In the secular world, there have been many theories built around this so called illness, based largely on evolutionary theory, and not on the soundness of the Word of God. The secular community feels that the way to deal with schizophrenia or the hearing of voices is to treat it with medication. It is believed that medication can restore the so called chemical imbalances in the brain that they believe cause schizophrenia, or the hearing of voices.
However most of the people who make these theories are not Christians, have never heard a voice, have never encountered a spiritual battle with satan, in essence have not experienced the so called disease. Yet it surprises me how readily the Christian and church community goes along with the non-believing world view that Schizophrenia is caused by chemical imbalance in the brain. Maybe, as a joke, they should experience it, to see what is really going on. Well fortunately for the reader you don’t have to. As all good chefs say “Here is one I prepared earlier”. I have experienced the hearing of voices, at various times through out my life, have come to understand what is going on, and how to beat it.
Now get ready for the truth about schizophrenia, and demonic activity.
1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
The above verse alludes to the fact that the unbeliever, or even lukewarm Christian, will not be able to understand the things of the Spirit of God, nor the Spiritual realm, why, well they can only be discerned by being connected to God. The reason why there is so much error in the world and the church is primarily due to the fact that the church, and the world, do not seek God, or rarely seeks Him enough to have any Spiritual dicernment. Many live purely in the natural realm, living the natural life, and are separated from the wisdom and understanding that comes from God.
The only way to really overcome any spiritual foe is to be persistently and continually seeking God, through Jesus for His support. Support that you will find is available to you. The problem is that many people have been brain washed into thinking that only the medical profession can help in these matters. Advice that I feel is at times miss-guided. A Christian experiencing a minor demonic attack, or cutting their teeth in the Spiritual realm should not be counselled to seek medical help, as medication, or being committed to a mental institution for observation will only add to the persons discomfort and anxiety. Very few Christians who start to explore the realm of the Spirit, or are attacked by satan in their mind will need medical help. As they will be able to get through it through good Christian advice or council.
You might say “Why mess with the professionals”, well a degree or doctorate does not give anyone a right to say they know, if they have not experienced something. As I said the medical profession base their theories on naturalist views not biblical views. But again some will say “But you are stopping people from getting the help they need”. Wrong again. I have been under the mental health system for many years, after an incident that I will discuss latter. I can assure the reader that the mental health system is very limited in the help it offers. I will discuss what the system is good for and what it is not good for. In extreme cases the mental health system offers the community safety from people who have lost their mind, and are no longer able to control the drive of voices, however the majority of Christians experiencing voices do not fall into this category, but if they are taken to the mental health system will be tabled as a risk, and may be committed to institutionalised care. The system of locking people away for a time until they can regain composure however is a good thing if a person can no longer be trusted to safely live in society, it offers protection to the wider community. The mental health system allows people time to reflect on their actions and readjust their thinking, primarily due to the fact that people hate being committed to institutionalised care and will do anything, including settling down to escape it. However where the system falls down is that it relies solely on medication to try to beat schizophrenia. Medications which from first hand experience, result in excessive weight gain, often times trembling uncontrollably, and at one point facial movements similar to a stroke. There are other side effects also, and they vary from person to person. Personally I don’t believe medication holds any solution for the hearing of voices. On the country for a Christian they are pointless, and counter productive. I often hear Christians saying, “Oh the voices are just biological, there is nothing I can do to stop it, I will just have to live with it”, or “The medication seemed to help, it must be biological, oh well I must just be sick”. I see this as a strategy of Satan, he knows that if he can convince a person it is biology, and can’t be helped, they will not try to defeat it but let it run it course often suffering horrible side effects in the course from the medication, and the torment will continue.
So you may be asking what do I think voices are if not chemical imbalance. Well firstly I will discuss my journey with voices, over coming them. I know from experience voices are external, reasoning, and intelligent, in a kind of destructive way. These reasoning forces are in the bible described as demons, real living entities capable of human conversation, with the ability to communicate with us. The fact is that every person from time to time will be influenced by a demon. Most just don’t know it. Demons operate in the realm of thought, they can give thoughts directly into a persons mind. They may also give feelings that go with that thought. One fear that many Christians have is that if they start to hear or feel things in the Spirit realm they think they are demon posessed, however having thoughts and feelings enter our mind is not demonic possession, it is just demonic communication, it is certainly not biological schizophrenia, it is the hidden work of demons. Common subtle attacks by demons may be to give you negative thoughts about a person, to get you to think badly of them. Other times it may be they inject a picture in your mind that encourages you to sin. All of these subtle workings of demons happen every day, and most people are not aware it even takes place. The bible actually says that unbelievers are to a degree controlled by Satan, even though they don’t know it.
Ephesians 2:2 wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind
As a Christian matures they will become aware of the simple working of demons and know how to beat them, learning to fight back at these thoughts, ejecting them from their mind.
So what is full blown Schizophrenia, it is the point where reality is lost and a person believes the working of the demons more than the reality that is around them. What are demons again? They are voices, feelings, and images injected by Satan. Demons love to mess with the mind. If they can get a person thinking the wrong way then they can use them for harm.
The bible says Satan is the father of lies, and there is no truth in him. It also says that he is the accuser of the brethren, and he accuses us before God both day and night. This insight into the character of the devil should empower us as Christians to know how he works. Firstly he will lie to us, and secondly he will accuse us.
My first experience with hearing from Satan came as a early Christian, I did not know much about God, and when I was led to sin in an emotionally challenging situation, it gave Satan a chance to accuse me. He began to say I was unsaved due to my sin, and would end up in hell. This led to many horrible thoughts, like suicide, revenge. It eventually led to thoughts of wanting to serve Satan, and to rape, as the devil would tell me I would never marry, as the devil said God would not allow me to marry. During this time every time I would read the bible he would constantly bombard me with scriptures that seemed to condemn me. Every time I had a positive thought it was swallowed up by him bringing to my memory negative thought and scriptures. Note here the two fold purpose of Satan, to deceive, and to accuse. Accusation leads to low self worth with in turn leads to destructive behaviours. Now a person may not be a Spiritual person, nor be focused on the bible to receive this condemnation. An unbelieving person may be told they are ugly, worthless, or like wise. This may lead to thoughts similar to the ones I had. Where a demon will attempt to get a person to rape (to fulfil and unmet need) or kill (to have revenge for their injustice).
If you are having trouble with your thoughts, think for a moment how many of them are condemning. How many make you feel bad. As a Christian if you experience these things it is most probable that you are being told you have a sin that separates you from God, the reality is it probably does not. This is why it is important as the bible says to “confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another”. Confession to some one who is mature in the faith often uncovers simple traps laid by satan. The bible says that the devil goes about like a raging lion seeking who he may devour. He will daily quietly test a persons thoughts, seeding questions into us. Like “do you really think God will forgive you for not witnessing hard enough”, or “will God really forgive you for marrying rather than serving the LORD”, or “it is sinful to listen to your rock music”, or “it is sinful to play computer games”, or “God hates your prayer life”. All of these things are not sin when looked at by an external person. However if satan can find something that you think “could be sin”, any doubt, he will use it to bombard a person into thinking they are unloved by God. Then starts his second strategy, to seperate you from God, to get you thinking God can not love you. A person who is hated by God has no hope. A person at this stage may fall in an out of sin, feeling they have no worth. Satan will then try to say he owns you, and try to get you to serve him instead of God to have your needs met. The past example is only one way that satan works, but the process is always the same. He silently test the mind of believers, looking for weakness and access points. He could seed false revelation to bring embarrassment to the church through a believers life, through false dreams and visions, trying to convince you to act strangely in the name of Jesus, to turn people away from Jesus, or to damage your witness.
So what is the strategy for a Christian to overcome these things. First you need to not seek God alone, you need to be under wise council. The bible says that God has given overseers who look out for your souls. People who are pastors often have had years of experience in God’s word, and spend a lot of time in prayer, getting to know God’s heart. As believers we often think we don’t need these people, however it is important when experiencing troubling thoughts to discuss it with your pastors. Don’t hide your sins. There may be sins you need to deal with,things you need to remove from your life to gain victory, and other sins you will find are not sins at all. Don’t be too proud to seek advice, and listen to it.
Secondly you need to know that God is forgiving and gracious. The blood of Jesus was shed to cover all of our sin from the day we were born to the day we die. The bible says “As it is appointed for men to die once, so Christ died once for sin”. Your life time of sin is covered. Any real sin you confess and forsake is forgiven. The devils condemnation that God won’t, or does not desire to forgive you is wrong. There is not one of us who are perfect, or fully obey every desire of the Holy Spirit. The bible however has given us provision for these things. Stating “You have been called to liberty, only don’t use liberty as an excuse to indulge the flesh. Liberty is perfect freedom, freedom that says you can’t be condemned when in Christ. As the bible says “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Our right standing with God comes 100% as a result of the shed blood of Jesus not our works. The bible says:
Galatians 5: 3-6 you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
We as Christians don’t work our way to heaven, but rather get filled with God’s desires (by the Spirit), which leads to good works. There is no condemnation for you if you are failing today, for as Jesus said “the flesh is weak”. How do we overcome the weakness, not by our own might, but by seeking God’s face daily. Jesus:
Mark: 14: 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Persistant prayer is the key to change in any situation in life. The Spirit, being in God’s presence, strengthens you internally to live out life. As Jesus said “seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all other things will also be added to you”.
Now I will leave you with one last key. The bible says “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you”.
Submit to God - obey in every thought and deed the written word of God the bible, don’t let any thought country to it enter your mind. As the bible says “take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ”, Jesus when tempted by Satan quoted the bible, we need to get used to quoting the bible to every thought that enters our mind. We need to daily study God’s word to get to know the nature of God. By knowing his nature we will avoid all extremes. This need not be a verbal declaring of God’s word, rather an internal agreement and acknowledgement of God’s truth. It is important to recognise this, as power comes not from the forcefulness of your words, but the inner trust in God’s word.
As an example as a man you may be tempted to use porn, even have positive feelings about it. However we need to quote God’s word “he who looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery” - we don’t want adultery in our lives, so we need to push away the thought. In a situation like this there is no need to run around the house shouting “Get behind me satan”, we just need inner confidence to obey God’s word in our mind. If you have sinned by using porn, resolve in your self to remove it from your life today.
The problem with most demonic activity is it is hard for the person experiencing it to beat it, as I mentioned Satan scopes out our weaknesses before attacking our minds. For this reason again I can not stress enough the need to seek the council of those who have spent time with God, like your pastors. Don’t rest until you get peace, for you can have it today.
