Demons Among Us

Have you noticed it? We are facing an onslaught on evil. Yet, what we facing isn’t only evil; rather, its origin is demonic. Unfortunately, much of the Church is unable to recognize the demons among us. Yes, Satan is working in plain sight in our world today. Further, there is little, if any, resistance to his work. While the Church talks about deliverance, and it appears to deliver some from demons, the reality is, the Church is losing this battle when it comes to our worldview versus a demonic worldview. As such, we have more and more demons among us. That’s what I’d like to talk about in this post.

As an example, recently, I was watching someone who was promoting a Christian worldview, and yet, he swore like a drunken sailor. While what he said was well thought out, his use of swearing to get his point across, weakened his overall arguments. From his perspective, he doesn’t want to be a namby pamby Christian. And I get it. What guy really wants to be effeminate? Just ask Bud Light. Not many! Thank God! Yet, the false theological perspective of Jesus as a man has caused real harm of men regarding the Christian faith, including the example that I’ve given here of this gentleman. Men don’t need to swear to get their point across. It actually lessens them. That’s what the Bible teaches.

Why did I use that example? To point out how the demonic influences our worldview without us even knowing it. This man, although espousing Christ and the Christian worldview, has succumbed to demonic influence. The worst part, he doesn’t know that he’s being influenced by demons, disregards what he claims are namby pamby Christians who don’t swear to support their position, and is leading other men away from a godly swear free environment. In the end, he has cheapened the Christian faith by failing to recognize the demons influencing his thoughts. And that happens all the time — to Christians and non-Christians alike. 

             “Yes, demons are working in our world today. Demons are among us. We must                             learn to recognize them, fight them, and defeat them. We can do that                                                        with the Holy Spirit’s help.” —Scott Wallis        

Yes, demons are active among us. I first began to recognize demons among us when I was in college. I remember having dreams where a particular demon would enter my dream, I would try to rebuke it in the name of Jesus, but I couldn’t speak. This happened on multiple occasions. Finally, one night, I was able to say, “Jesus!” (just barely). From that point, I have not had that demon enter my dreams. That demons is no longer able to enter my dreams. Whatever power he had in my life was broken. Irrespective, since then, I have faced numerous demonic encounters. I will share a few to help you understand just how often demons influence us and we don’t even realize it.

When I first accepted Christ, besides a particular demon entering my dreams, which I described above, I had an experience one night in my parents’s house. I was lying in bed, and getting ready to go to sleep, when, all of a sudden, I had a terrible fear of death come over me. It seemed unshakable. When this happened, I felt powerless to confront what I was facing. Almost immediately after this happened, a scripture entered my mind, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”. (John 11:25, KJV). I started saying out loud, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”. I did that a number of times and was able to fall asleep. When I woke, that fear of death was gone. From that, I learned about spiritual warfare, demons, how they operate, and how to defeat them.

In another experience, I was visiting the home of a Christian man, who had an angry streak in him, and appeared to be violent. Now, he didn’t exhibit any violent behavior with me. But his dog did, and it extremely violent. Further, I began talking with his wife in their home. When I did, we talked about the Bible. As we were discussing the Bible, she asked a question straight from the Bible: If a woman has had several husbands, “whose wife will she be in the resurrection?” (Matthew 22:28, NLT). She didn’t know what she asked was in the Bible. Again, I learned demons can influence animals and people. Here, a spirit of violent anger entered the man’s dog and a demonic spirit was influencing his wife. And it was easy to identify the demon, for that demon could be seen influencing the Sadducees in the pages of the Bible.

Right there, I learned about how demons can and often do influence people. Yes, demons affect the decisions people make, including their belief structures. Whole belief structures are under the control of demons. Demons can affect (or, in some cases, possess) animals, people, circumstances, or dreams. Unfortunately, the Church is largely ignorant of those demons among us: What they do, How they operate, and just how much trouble they can cause in our lives. I’m going to say this: Demons are affecting your life more than you realize. Even if you think you know about spiritual warfare, you don’t really have an inkling to the scope of the battle we are facing. 

Let me give another example to help you discern how demons can operate among us. This incident took place in the mid-1990s. I was living in a house with a fellow believer. He had invited me into his home when I had no where else to go. It was a nice home on the Gold Coast of Elgin, Illinois. It overlooked the Fox River. I paid rent monthly. The gentleman I was living with struggled with depression. I would say it was more likely oppression. One day, while sitting in my room, which was located on the upper level of his home, I saw a demon. It caught me by surprise. It looked like a rattlesnake. I immediately discerned what it was — the spirit of anger. Later, after having that vision the gentleman who owned the house had become very angry at me, almost violently angry at me for a decision I had made to attend a Christian conference at Morningstar Ministries. Then, he angrily asked me to leave his home, which I did. Thankfully, I knew what was happening behind the scenes: a demon had influenced him to do what he did. Years later, he apologized. He didn’t know he was being used by the devil. 

Is what I’m saying scriptural? Yes, according to Jesus, the Apostle Peter, while he was an Apostle under the tutelage of Christ, was influenced by the Devil. Jesus, in fact, confronted the Apostle Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:23, NKJV). The Apostle Paul states plainly that “the princes of this world”, (1 Corinthian 2:8), were behind the crucifixion of Jesus. But, we see people crying out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21, Berean Standard Bible). The scripture plainly states, “the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.” (Luke 23:23 KJV). And right there, we just how much sway demons can have in our world; they can and do influence people. In fact, of the Apostle Judas, the scriptures say, “Satan entered him.” (John 13:27, NKJV). 

Yes, demons operate among us. Oftentimes, we don’t recognize what they’re doing. They can harm us, if we fail to take into account their presence and their reality. Not everything that happens in life is free from demonic forces influence, even after the cross. Yes, Jesus defeated Satan at the cross. Yet, that defeat doesn’t stop him from attacking believers today. And we must become more aware of those demons who are operating among us. Demons can and do influence theology, politics, business, relationships (especially marriages and children), and a whole variety of areas in life. And like happened in my life, someone may become angry for no justifiable reason, or adulterous or promiscuous, even though they love Christ, divisive, even spreading rumors and gossip, to divide churches, businesses, or families. Yes, demons can and do operate in our midst.

How should we handle situations like those I’ve mentioned? 

ONE: The number one and most important thing is to discern. We must discern when, where, and how Satan is operating. Jesus did. The Apostle Paul said of Satan, “we are not ignorant of his (Satan’s) devices.” 1 Cor. 2:11. The Apostle Paul pointed out that Satan was trying to “get an advantage of us”. Ibid. The Apostle Paul said, “I do not fight like I am beating the air.” 1 Cor. 9:26, Berean Standard Bible. Unfortunately, too much of our spiritual warfare is exactly that, beating the air, as John Paul Jackson pointed out in his book, Needless Casualties of War, where he talked about believers “throwing axes up in the air at the Devil”. Yes, dumb. But…

TWO: We must remember what the Bible teaches about our authority and immunity to Satan’s attacks, especially as ministers of the Gospel. In (Luke 10:18, 19, KJV),  Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” The seventy disciples had returned from their respective preaching tours when Jesus said that to them in response to their joy over “even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” (Luke 10:17 KJV).

THREE: We must pray. Prayer gives life and breath to all we say and do. And yes, Satan does try to stop us from praying. It’s likely that’s why “when he rose up from prayer, and had come to his disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow”. (Luke 22:45, NKJV). Their inability to stay awake and pray made them “sitting ducks” to the enemy. We must pray, learn how to pray, and become more effective in prayer. Oftentimes, that’s where battles are won (and lost). 

Yes, demons are working in our world today. Demons are among us. We must learn to recognize them, fight them, and defeat them. We can do that with the Holy Spirit’s help. Thankfully, He’s always there to help us battle what we cannot physically see. But just because we cannot physically see it, doesn’t mean we cannot fight what Satan is doing. We can. How? Through discernment, preaching the Gospel, and much prayer.

Let us Pray!

— Scott Wallis