"Specialist" Demons
Have you ever heard a person with an alcohol problem be referred to as having an "alcohol demon"? Or a person with a problem with sexual lust being said to have a "lust demon"? Do you know that the idea that there are certain, specific demons that "specialize" in certain types of sin is not an idea that can be supported by Scripture?
There is a sense in which it isn't really wrong to say things like this. If we want to say that a person has an envy demon, we probably know what we mean to say, and those we speak to may understand on some level what we mean, that the person has something in him or her that ought not to be in a Saint of the Most High God. But there is also a sense in which this kind of thing can be dangerous. First of all, we should consider that nothing is either true (spiritually) or essential if it cannot be solidly backed up with Scripture, or if it at least can be reliably shown to be edifying to a person or to the Body of Christ in general. Second, we have to realize that Jesus has established that sin results from a condition of the heart. Actually, Jesus did not establish this; it was established by God Himself in Genesis 6:5, when He saw that the imaginations of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. He did not blame this on a demon, but on the growing wickedness of men because of their own sinful nature. James also said in the first chapter of his letter that sin is the result of temptation, and temptation arises from being drawn away and enticed by our own lusts, not from being under the control of any demon. This is not to say that demons are not real, for certainly they are. The point is that the Bible does not support the notion that there are "specialist" demons. There are demons that are responsible for some physical conditions, such as the "dumb spirit" that Jesus cast out of the young man in the 9th chapter of Mark, but demons being directly responsible for men's acts of sin is not Biblical. Another danger of this thinking is that it tends to minimize the responsibility we take for our sin; we may not repent of something we ought to repent of because we have been convinced that the fault lies with the demon that specializes in the sin we can't stop committing.
There is an internal battle going on within the Saint; the flesh warring against the spirit, the law of sin battling the law of righteousness, creating a situation in which we desire earnestly to always do that which is good and right, but are unable to find a way to do it. Paul expressed his personal frustration with this very thing in the 7th chapter of Romans, but in the 8th chapter, he describes how to be victorious! Jesus said that sin is a heart condition, not the work of specialized demons, James said temptation sprang from our own lusts, and Paul said that there is a battle between the fleshly nature and the spiritual nature that brings us into captivity to sin. None of these Biblical concepts in any way indicate that demons are selectively used to make certain people vulnerable to certain sins. Demons are just unclean and ungodly spirits, the Bible does not define them as any more than that, and whatever evil is in our hearts, they will attempt to magnify and influence us to follow.
We can say (figuratively) that there is a "spirit" in certain things, such as drugs. There is, in fact, a spirit in drugs, in the sense that our flesh and our minds can be enslaved by them. There are other activities as well, such as gambling, that have the ability to entrap a person and resist that person's ability to control the doing of them, and in this sense we might say that there is a "spirit" in these things. What we mean is that the devil will use these things to weaken and bind a person and keep him in captivity to sin. But God is greater and is just as able to deliver from something like this as He is able to give us power over demons in general.
Saints must rely completely on the Bible for understanding all things, and seek God through the Holy Ghost for rightly dividing the Word, in other words applying it properly to the various situations and circumstances we face in life. Christianity, in spite of what some might say, is not a superstitious set of beliefs, it is a lifestyle of seeking and obeying the true and living God, and living within His will so that we might be justified in the Day of Judgment. If we hold to supertitious beliefs, we might not only deprive ourselves of the fullness of the reality of God, but we may also allow our faith to be lumped in with other belief systems that are superstitious, like numerology and astrology, and even other false religions. God has commanded, through Jesus, that we do not give that which is holy to dogs, or cast our pearls before swine. We are to hold our beliefs, and the truths of Scripture, in the highest regard. To allow them to become banal by adding unnecessary and unsupported superstitious ideas harms that high regard and may even belittle the name of God.
There is a sense in which it isn't really wrong to say things like this. If we want to say that a person has an envy demon, we probably know what we mean to say, and those we speak to may understand on some level what we mean, that the person has something in him or her that ought not to be in a Saint of the Most High God. But there is also a sense in which this kind of thing can be dangerous. First of all, we should consider that nothing is either true (spiritually) or essential if it cannot be solidly backed up with Scripture, or if it at least can be reliably shown to be edifying to a person or to the Body of Christ in general. Second, we have to realize that Jesus has established that sin results from a condition of the heart. Actually, Jesus did not establish this; it was established by God Himself in Genesis 6:5, when He saw that the imaginations of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. He did not blame this on a demon, but on the growing wickedness of men because of their own sinful nature. James also said in the first chapter of his letter that sin is the result of temptation, and temptation arises from being drawn away and enticed by our own lusts, not from being under the control of any demon. This is not to say that demons are not real, for certainly they are. The point is that the Bible does not support the notion that there are "specialist" demons. There are demons that are responsible for some physical conditions, such as the "dumb spirit" that Jesus cast out of the young man in the 9th chapter of Mark, but demons being directly responsible for men's acts of sin is not Biblical. Another danger of this thinking is that it tends to minimize the responsibility we take for our sin; we may not repent of something we ought to repent of because we have been convinced that the fault lies with the demon that specializes in the sin we can't stop committing.
There is an internal battle going on within the Saint; the flesh warring against the spirit, the law of sin battling the law of righteousness, creating a situation in which we desire earnestly to always do that which is good and right, but are unable to find a way to do it. Paul expressed his personal frustration with this very thing in the 7th chapter of Romans, but in the 8th chapter, he describes how to be victorious! Jesus said that sin is a heart condition, not the work of specialized demons, James said temptation sprang from our own lusts, and Paul said that there is a battle between the fleshly nature and the spiritual nature that brings us into captivity to sin. None of these Biblical concepts in any way indicate that demons are selectively used to make certain people vulnerable to certain sins. Demons are just unclean and ungodly spirits, the Bible does not define them as any more than that, and whatever evil is in our hearts, they will attempt to magnify and influence us to follow.
We can say (figuratively) that there is a "spirit" in certain things, such as drugs. There is, in fact, a spirit in drugs, in the sense that our flesh and our minds can be enslaved by them. There are other activities as well, such as gambling, that have the ability to entrap a person and resist that person's ability to control the doing of them, and in this sense we might say that there is a "spirit" in these things. What we mean is that the devil will use these things to weaken and bind a person and keep him in captivity to sin. But God is greater and is just as able to deliver from something like this as He is able to give us power over demons in general.
Saints must rely completely on the Bible for understanding all things, and seek God through the Holy Ghost for rightly dividing the Word, in other words applying it properly to the various situations and circumstances we face in life. Christianity, in spite of what some might say, is not a superstitious set of beliefs, it is a lifestyle of seeking and obeying the true and living God, and living within His will so that we might be justified in the Day of Judgment. If we hold to supertitious beliefs, we might not only deprive ourselves of the fullness of the reality of God, but we may also allow our faith to be lumped in with other belief systems that are superstitious, like numerology and astrology, and even other false religions. God has commanded, through Jesus, that we do not give that which is holy to dogs, or cast our pearls before swine. We are to hold our beliefs, and the truths of Scripture, in the highest regard. To allow them to become banal by adding unnecessary and unsupported superstitious ideas harms that high regard and may even belittle the name of God.
posted by The Preacher at 10:45 AM
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