Devil Doctrine
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If in some of our large cities, the death of fifty people should be reported to the city authorities, due to some mysterious gas found in various parts of the city it would only be a matter of hours until every newspaper would be headlining this matter, every radio station would be giving out bulletins and every health authority would be alerted. If one hundred and fifty people in the average city should suddenly become violently ill, due to deadly germs of mysterious origin, the city water supply would be checked, food supplies examined and all other precautions would be taken.
Yet, far more than fifty or� one hundred people in the average city are dying, being murdered, raped, becoming victims of cancer, epilepsy, tuberculosis or insanity, due to the presence of something more realistic, powerful and deadly than germs or poisonous gas, yet there is no mention of this vital matter on our radio stations or in the headlines of our newspapers, nor are the health authorities concerned and the saddest thing, even the ministry, in the main, is not on the alert regarding these matters.
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The above results are being caused by powerful, invisible forces bombarding human beings, young and old, saved and unsaved, without regard to color or creed, called in the Bible demons, devils, spirits, unclean spirits, evil spirits, foul spirits, powers of darkness, principalities and the rulers of this world order.
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In Ephesians Paul warns us of these demon forces in these words 6:12
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
If it were only a matter of matching our wits and putting our strength against tangible forces of flesh and blood, we would have an equal opportunity to win, but since these forces are invisible, energized by their directing head and leader satan they have ever advantage.
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It is supposed by some that to believe in the doctrine of devils and to teach concerning the ministry of demons, one must be fanatical, demonstrative, weird and emotional. We assure you such is not the case.
These truths concerning demon activities are just as much a part of the Bible as salvation, baptism and the return of the Lord. If we claim to believe all the Bible we certainly must believe these truths and teach them with intelligence, dignity and culture. Many have asked why the truth concerning these dark, demonic, spirit forces has not been taught universally by the clergy simply because of prejudice, ignorance and lack of understanding of the Bible as a whole.
There are some ministers teaching that God's Divine law has been done away with, but this does not make it so. Others teach that God does not heal people today as in the New Testament times but this doesn't make it so. The overwhelming majority of ministers never mention the work of demons and devils as exhibited in human beings, yet this does not eliminate these facts and truths nor does it stop the activities of these demon forces.
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There are those supposedly the intelligentsia, who refuse to believe anything could be as powerful and destructive yet invisible, as evil spirits are. May I ask have you ever seen the wind? Yet you have surely seen the disastrous and destructive results of the activities of the wind in which giant trees have been uprooted, cars overturned, cities and towns completely leveled.
Even so demons, though invisible, are equally as destructive, deadly and powerful, causing people to go into raging fits, causing others to become morbid, jealous, angered and diseased, while they cause others to become raving maniacs. If these forces are this powerful, and they are, and the results are as destructive as just described, and they are, then every child of God should become alerted, every minister should be sensitive to the presence of these forces and should have a workable knowledge as to how to combat the deadly work of such powerful invisible forces.
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������������������������������������������������� Insanity
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There is no doubt that certain types, to say the least of it, if not all, insanity is due to the powerful, destructive work of demons in the minds and bodies of human beings. We have not always known these truths if we had, we could have been a more useful servant to Yahweh, a more helpful friend and could have many from agonizing experiences.
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We are not guessing at the matter when we say that insanity, or at least certain types of it, is caused by an evil spirit present in the mind of the victim. We quote the following example which occurred in the earthly ministry of our Lord, as proof positive of these statements: Matthew 17:14 to 18,
"And when They were come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatic, and sore vexed; for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, 0 faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And JESUS REBUKED THE DEVIL; AND HE (the devil) DEPARTED OUT OF HIM; and The child was cured from that very hour."
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Can you not see in imagination the thing that occurred as described in the above Scriptures a man approaches the Lord, having with him his son. The son is insane he is possessed of demons. As the result of this demon possession, his mind has not only been destroyed, but it has affected his body, he has becorne violent. I can imagine this father, having a neighbor or two with him to help hold his son to keep him from doing violence to those about him.
Naturally, the father was chagrined, humiliated and heartsick however, he had the faith to bring his son to the world's greatest physician, Jesus the Healer. After looking at him for a second, we can imagine Jesus' compassionate, kindly eyes falling upon the lad and His recognizing immediately the cause of this insanity the presence of demons! Jesus, with full and complete authority, rebuked the devil and the devil left the boy at once and the results were glorious, "The child was cured from that very hour."
If doctors, nurses, hospital attendants and ministers knew about demon activity and were regenerated, filled with the Spirit of God, and knew the power of Jesus' name, they could empty our institutions that are filled with insane people, in a few days. The demons of insanity would be cast out and millions of people now mentally sick would become well again.
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������������������������������������������������� Diseases
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Not only does the presence of evil spirits cause insanity, these foul, evil, unclean spirits also cause unclean diseases to be present in the bodies of people, such as cancer. Mind you, we are not stating this is the only cause of cancer, but according to the plain teachings of the Scriptures, it is certainly one definite cause of cancer.
The same term unclean is used in connection with these evil spirits as is used in connection with scavenger meats mentioned in the Bible, which God tells us is unfit for human consumption, that which if it is consumed will cause people eating such things to have all the unclean, vile diseases that the people of Egypt used to have.
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Cancer, as is well known, is not a disease of the body; it is something separate and apart from the body and feeds upon the body like a leech or a parasite. We can imagine there being a person with such an unclean disease in the audience on one occasion when Jesus went into a synagogue to teach the Scriptures.
The following thing occurred: Mark 1:23‑26,
"And There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out. Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had heard him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him."
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You will note from the above verses that these evil spirits recognized Jesus. They have a violent dislike for Him. They, unlike many Judeo-Christian preachers, also know that Jesus is the Holy One! These evil spirits fear three things; yea, four, destruction through the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus and the torment Jesus is able to inflict upon them by casting them out of human bodies that they might become unembodied, thus unable to do their deadly work.
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���������������������������������������������� Viciousness
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Viciousness, lawlessness, perversion and sadism are other things, which describe the activities of demons, as they possess and dwell in the bodies of human beings.
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It is not an accident that the world is now seeing its greatest crime wave. Lawlessness is rampant, crimes are happening in numberless fashion, sadism is ever increasing, people are becoming more wild, vicious and unnatural daily. These things are true because of the increase of the work of the foul, evil, unclean spirits of the Devil in the lives of multitudes of people in the world today.
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Following is one of the most pathetic yet interesting, stories in the Bible. It deals with what had been an ordinary human being but due to the presence of an unclean spirit in his life, he became a vicious, unnatural, depraved person with a deranged mind, a distorted outlook, who became so unnatural in his habits he couldn't ever live with human beings but made his dwelling in the graveyard!
The presence of this evil spirit did not make him supernatural but did make him superhuman, as was evidenced by the fact that he had such strength he broke all fetters and chains into many pieces and no man could bind or tame him.
These terrible conditions continued, both day and night, for demons do not let up day or night, in fact they seem to increase their activity during the night. This poor man became emotionally unstable, as is evidenced by his cries and even became sadistic and cut himself with rocks and stones. The authentic account follows: Mark 5:2‑8,
"And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no chain could bind him, no, not with chains; because that be had been often bound with fetters and chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetter broken in pieces; neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, be was in the mountains, and in the tombs crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him. And cried with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, That thou torment me not. For He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit."
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������������������� Jesus diagnosed the case, upon the matter being brought to His attention, and realized what every intelligent, born‑again, spirit‑filled doctor, nurse and minister of today should recognize in dealing with such people; namely, that all of these symptoms were due to the presence of an unclean spirit, in fact, many spirits. Jesus rebuked them they had to obey Him.
Since they have to have flesh in which to work, preferably human flesh, but as an alternative they will take animal flesh, they begged Him to let them enter into a herd of swine. The swine reacted with violence and finally ran into the nearby body of water and drowned themselves. Then the result of Jesus' rebuking the demons is seen in the following words: Mark 5:15,
"And They come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid."
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������������������������������������������������� Epilepsy
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������������������� While I was pastor of the Trinity Baptist Church, Abilene,
Texas, during my early ministry, I often visited the Abilene State
Hospital, an epileptic institution, where I saw many pitiful sights;
young boys, little girls, young people, fathers and mothers, in their
right mind one moment, on the ground, foaming at the mouth,
writhing like a serpent the next moment. These things left an
indelible impression upon my mind. Little did I know then what
caused epilepsy. Now, having studied the Scriptures more
thoroughly I believe I know. It is caused, in the main, from the
presence of an epilepsy spirit.
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������������������� The following example furnishes conclusive evidence
that unclean spirits can cause a normal human being to become so
affected that he will foam at the mouth, tear
and bruise his own body. Such characteristics, of course, describe
out modern form of epilepsy. Luke 9:38‑42, "And, behold, a man of
the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon
my son; for he is mine only child. And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and
be suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that be foameth again,
and braising him, hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy
disciples to cast him out; and they could not. And Jesus answering
said, 0 faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with
you, and suffer you, Bring thy son hither. And as he was yet a
coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus
rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him
again to his father."
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��������������������������� DIVINATION
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������������������� We have all to a more or less degree, had experiences
one time or another, with fortune‑tellers, soothsayers, mind
readers and those possessed of the power of
divination. While most people take these matters very lightly, the
matter is treated very seriously in the Scriptures, where God
issues a stern warning to all Israelites to beware of familiar spirits
that give people the power to perform miracles in the matter of
mind reading, deception, ghostly appearances and
reproducing the voices of loved ones who are dead. The penalty for
the violation of this edict of God dealing with such matters was
death!
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������������������� To say there is nothing to these matters, is simply
closing your eyes to facts that are well known by intelligent people.
We must admit there are people who have power to do these
things. The point is where does such power come from? Obviously
by such people being possessed with demon spirits of divination. If
you do not believe what I am writing then consult the Apostle Paul
and I am sure, as the result of the following experiences, he will
confirm what I have just said. Acts 16:16‑18, "And it came to pass,
as we went to prayer a certain damsel possessed
with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much
gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried
saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which
shew us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But
Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in
the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the
same hour."
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������������������� As destructive as these forces have been and as
serious as the situation is now, believe me when I tell you these
conditions are going to get much worse in the
next few months, as we near the final climax, the showdown
between God and satan, good and evil. That is why I am presenting
this message at this time that is why it is of tremendous
importance that we learn how to diagnose our own case, bow to
detect the presence of these evil spirits and, most of all, how to be
able to rid ourselves of these powerful, sinister forces of satan.
>From the following words, it is evident that we may expect
increased activity in this field, as we approach the end of this age:
Rev. 12:12 "Woe to the inbabiters of the earth and of The sea!
For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because
he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
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��������� ���������� I can hear the question, How shall we overcome these
wicked forces of darkness? The answer is simple, so very simple
that most people have overlooked it. There is one way, and only
one way, that demons can be cast out of human beings and that is
through the Name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, Healer, Redeemer
and coming King. To this end, I beg of you, if you are morbid,
depressed, angered, unhappy, sick, to rise up and demand your
heritage, claim the promise, rebuke the evil forces in the powerful,
precious name of Jesus and thus enjoy the glorious, amazing
results that follow! (Taken, in part, from an article entitled �Devil Doctrine, by Rev. James A. Lovell)