A pastor tells an amusing story about a man who was on his way to attend a costume party one Sunday evening. He was wearing a red suit with a tail and a skintight mask with horns. He looked like the false, but widely accepted picture of the devil. As he hurried along, he was caught in a sudden rainstorm, so he took shelter in a church where the service was just ending. As he entered the building, he shocked the members who thought he was the real thing. A flash of lightning and a clap of thunder added to the illusion. The congregation panicked and rushed for the exits. The intruder thought the church had been struck by lightning and was on fire, so he raced after them. Everyone got out except an elderly lady. Turning in fear, she stretched out her hands and pleaded for mercy, “Oh, devil, please don’t hurt me. I know I’ve been a member of this church for 30 years, but I’ve really been on your side all the time.”
Sadly, many church members have no more insight as to who their greatest enemy is. There are certainly extreme views on the devil and his demons.
1. One extreme view on demons is to obsess over demons.
An example is “deliverance ministries” as represented by Frank Hammond’s book Pigs in the Parlor: A Practical Guide to Deliverance. According to Hammond, nearly every problem in life can be attributed to a demon. Hammond has a three-page list of three hundred demons:
demons of resentment
stubbornness
bickering
faultfinding
envy
procrastination
pride
self-righteousness
greed
gossip
shyness
daydreaming
discouragement
headache
retardation
forgetfulness
heartache
embarrassment
sexual rigidity
intellectualism.
Hammond also teaches that demons enter a person before birth or during infancy. A child’s stuffed frog could attract demons. Robert M. Bowman, Jr. states Hammond’s book is a very influential manual among the deliverance ministry genre (Kenneth D. Boa, Robert M. Bowman, Jr. Sense & Nonsense About Angels & Demons. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007, 130).
Jimmy Swaggart had the so-called demon of lust cast out of him by Oral Roberts only to fall back into that sin again. Oral Roberts said he saw demons with long fingernails digging into Swaggart’s flesh and had cast them out (Huntsville Times, Huntsville, Alabama, AP report, March 31, 1988; reported from Calvary Contender, April 15, 1988). Three years later Swaggart was stopped by police in Indio, California, on a traffic charge and found that the woman riding with him was a prostitute. The devil and demons get falsely accused a lot.
A past earthquake in Haiti was blamed on the devil by Pat Robertson who said the Haitian slaves made a "pact with the devil'' and have been cursed ever since. Jesus' attitude more accurately is seen in Luke 13:1-5.
2. The other extreme view on the devil and demons is to deny their existence.
A 2023 Gallop poll (click to open) revealed that of those polled 74% believe in God, 69% in angels, 67% in heaven, 59% in hell, and 58% in the devil. Belief was greatest among frequent churchgoers, Protestants, and Republicans.
Sigmund Freud said the devil was a personification of evil. He took the “D” off of the devil. Stephen F. Noll wrote that “people are now talking about angels. But does anyone think about them seriously?” Other scholars consider angels “superstitious nonsense” and “endangered species” (Bowman, 15).
3. The Biblical view is that the devil and his demons exist and can be resisted in God's strength.
Paul writes his most extensive treatment of them in Ephesians 6:10-20 and informs and challenges the church to resist them in God’s strength.
The method for resisting the devil and his demons is not exorcism in Ephesians 6.
In contrast to Paul, theologian Wayne Grudem explains five steps in exorcising demons (Systematic Theology, 431-432).
Mark Driscoll lectures on Spiritual Warfare and gives intricate details on casting out demons. Both Grudem and Driscoll refer to Ephesians 6:10-20 as a text that justifies exorcism. In Ephesians 6, Paul explains seven pieces of spiritual armor to wear to defeat Satan and his organized army. No steps or intricate instructions on exorcism are ever mentioned in the Epistles.
The battle is real and urgent as described by Paul in Ephesians 6:11-20. Paul begins this final section in Ephesians on spiritual warfare with “finally brethren.”
In Ephesians 1-3, Paul defined doctrines that teach the unity love can bring to a church:
1) The doctrine of the Trinity (Ephesians 1)
2) The Church (Ephesians 2-3).
If an individual believer or church teaches and holds to sound doctrine, there will be demonic opposition. The devil doesn’t beat a dead horse. On the other hand, if a believer or church is weak doctrinally, they will become easy prey for the devil. Paul made this very clear in Ephesians 4:11-14. If believers do not study seriously God’s Word they will be undernourished and spiritually gullible. Jesus said it this way, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
In Ephesians 4-6, Paul showed how doctrine must be practiced in his Five "Therefore Walk" sections.
1) Therefore Walk in Unity (4:1-16)
2) Therefore Walk not as the Unsaved (4:17-32)
3) Therefore Walk in Love (5:1-6)
4) Therefore Walk in the Light (5:7-14)
5) Therefore Walk in wisdom (5:15-6:9)
If we walk our talk we will also incur the wrath of Satan. The early church was not persecuted just for what they believed but for what they lived out in the marketplace. On the other hand, if we fail to live doctrine we can "give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:27).
Paul began Ephesians exulting in our spiritual blessings we enjoy in Christ in "heavenly places" in Ephesians 1:3. Paul will mention "in the heavenlies" five times in Ephesians. The Trinity has bestowed upon believers on earth spiritual not necessarily material blessings as a result of their involvement in our salvation.
We also can experience the same spiritual power on earth that resurrected and exalted Christ to the right hand of God the Father in "heavenly places" according to Ephesians 1:18-23.
Paul continues developing the theme of "heavenly places" by reminding us in Ephesians 2:6 that positionally believers are seated together with Christ in "heavenly places." Positionally in Christ we are "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion" (1:20-21) which includes evil and good angels. Because we are positionally above evil angels we do not need to be defeated by them.
The new truth that all believers are equal in the Body of Christ that was uniquely revealed to Paul and other apostles by God, called the mystery of the church, was not revealed to angels. Angels "in the heavenlies" learn this great truth by observing the unity in the local church on earth in Ephesians 3:10.
But in the last section, Paul also warns that our enemies are in "heavenly places" in Ephesians 6:12. Like our blessings, power, and position, our enemies are spiritual rather than physical or material. Their goal is to rob us of our spiritual blessings, power, and position.
In Job 1, Satan goes to God in the heavenlies for permission to attack Job on earth. In Daniel 10, God sent an angel to answer Daniel's prayer which was intercepted by an evil angel. Michael the archangel intervenes so Daniel's prayer on earth can be answered. There is a spiritual warfare waging in the heavenlies that impacts us on earth. But greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Paul is going to equip us to do hand-to-hand, face-to-face combat with our arch foe and defeat him in the power of God’s might.
Paul begins the final section of Ephesians by instructing us how to resist the devil.
First, by depending on God's strength in verses 10 and 11a.
There is a very important balance in these verses. We are made strong with God's might. When Paul wrote "be strong in the Lord" he employed the passive. Be made strong by the Lord. We can only be victorious with God's strength and help. The same power that resurrected and seated Christ in the heavenlies is resident in us. We must, however, appropriate that power.
Next, Paul commands, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Did you catch the balance? We must put on what God has provided to stand in the battles of life. When Jesus was tempted for 40 days he stood against Satan by quoting Scripture he had committed to memory. He had on the belt of truth and He wielded skillfully the sword of the Spirit. Jesus stood. He did not retreat. He did not sit down nor did He lie down in defeat. Are you taking advantage of every opportunity to be skillful with God's Word to stand in the battle?