God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and
healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. (Acts
10:38 ESV)
The spiritual perspective of the New Testament acknowledges
the existence of Satan (the devil), his works, influence, and as above,
oppression. Scripture also speaks of the
existence of demons and demon possession.
The passage above indicates that Jesus took a therapeutic approach to
demonic activity. That describes the problem of evil as a contagion, the
spread of spiritual diseases associated with the devil and that people may be
sick in various ways as a result of his evil designs. We see this same complex of spiritual and physical
infirmity in Luke 8:1-3, where it says Jesus “cured” several women of evil
spirits. The pastoral office has been called a curate, refering to the cure of moral and spiritual illnesses. A healing ministry, including
spiritual healing, requires, therefore, compassion, along with the power that
the Spirit gives to overcome evil.
Additionally, this world belongs to the devil, who offered
all its riches and powers to Jesus in exchange for worship, which Jesus refused
to do (Matthew 4:9/Luke 4:7). This world
is Satan’s realm and prison and asylum (1 John 5:19). He is called the god of this world (2
Corinthians 4:4) that “blinds the mind of unbelievers.” This makes us all extremely vulnerable because
of environmental issues that must be considered. All around us are temptations and pitfalls.
Year ago when I worked on a difficult and dramatic
counseling case with Fr. Mancini of Malvern, Arkansas, who was an official
exorcist in the Roman Catholic Church, he taught me the difference between a psychiatric
disorder and demon possession. Malachi Martin's HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL and M.
Scott Peck, a psychiatrist, in PEOPLE OF THE LIE, also speak about the
difference. In fact, an exorcist must eliminate all other explanations for aberrant
behavior before going to work to treat a demoniac, who in the end must want and
seek deliverance. One thing that Fr. Mancini said, for instance, is never to
underestimate the depth of human depravity, which often looks like something
from hell.
Neither can we dismiss the extent to which human ignorance
affects our life, relationships, and society.
But one of the ways the devil oppresses us is by capturing and infecting
our intellect with doctrines of demons (I Timothy 4:1), of which I will name a
few:
Atheism
Humanism
Unitarian Universalism
Modernism
The Higher Critical Method
Marxism/Socialism
The Social Gospel
Multiculturalism
Antinomianism
Double Pre-destination
Dispensationalism
The Prosperity Gospel
I mention these because they are so prevalent, even in the
Church, and most of them enjoy an academic reputation, especially in what
Harvey Cox calls the secular city. Some
are liberal doctrines and others evangelical.
All are base-less fallacies, completely without merit in their
foundational premises, according to Scripture and reason. As with other forms of captivity one must be
willing to set his mind free for God. Jesus
said, for instance, when he was noted for not having any formal education:
My teaching is not mine,
but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether
the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one
who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the
glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. (John
7:16-18 ESV)
This blog is not about the last days but the following passage
reveals how the devil works though falsehood and what might be the cure for it:
The coming of the
lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and
wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing,
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends
them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order
that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 ESV)
Paul said that we should be aware of the "wiles of the
devil" (Ephesians 6:11). Where better to hide, for instance, than at the
highest levels of a Church and among those that deny the devil’s existence? How
better to mislead folk than to quote Scripture along with lies? How better to further sin than to say in the
most pious way that God doesn’t see us do it?
John wrote, for instance:
Little children, let
no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is
righteous. [8] Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for
the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God
appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. [9] No one born of God
makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep
on sinning because he has been born of God. [10] By this it is evident who
are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does
not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his
brother. (1 John 3:7-10 ESV)
Once they gain entry and take over the thinking of an
individual the *ideas* of that individual can become a doctrine of demons. Those *ideas* are then passed on to corrupt
and distract from the wholesome and saving doctrines of the Lord, which we have
in the New Testament, which is the apostolic witness. No one is truly ordained
of God if he or she does not abide by the apostolic witness, for the anointing
does not rest on those that are heretics and apostates. But the truly ordained
of God, who follow the New Testament without doubt or mental reservation, are able
to take power and authority over the haunts of the devil. Demons tend to react
in fairly consistent ways, with rage for instance, when challenged. Being disembodied spirits, demons need
willing persons, social systems, and institutional power to accomplish their
evil designs. So, when exposed as liars,
they engage vicious forms of counter-attack, drawing upon powerful psychic,
social, and institutional resources to maintain control of occupied territory,
of the mind or heart or will. Yet,
behind the alien personality manifested is one for whom Christ died.
Throughout the world the Church Militant is on the march
against strongholds of the devil, despoiling Satan of captives, setting them
free. The promise of Christ is this,
that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, which is the
pillar and bulwark of truth (I Timothy 3:15).
Therefore, a refuge for us is a Church that avoids error, which preaches
and teaches sound doctrine. Individually,
as soldiers and servants of God, we must love and believe the truth, and with
courage follow wherever it takes us.
