Interest in the supernatural may be at an all-time high level (just look at the number of TV shows about witches, magic, vampires, UFO’s and all sorts of other unexplainable happenings). So, I’ve fielded lots of questions about spirits, angels, and all things supernatural lately.

First, "What are demons?" Demons are "fallen angels." Spirit-beings that were created by God to serve his good purposes, but who followed Satan and rebelled against God and now seek to hinder every good purpose of God’s.

A quick glance at any of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and we discover some very basic things about demons:
1) They are not rare but numerous. Jesus was constantly encountering people who were possessed by these evil spirits.

2) They are very powerful and capable of ruining people’s lives.. Acts 19 records a case of a demon beating seven men.

3) They always recognize Jesus and are afraid of him (and why not - they knew him in eternity before he came to earth, and they know he has power over them)

4) Jesus ALWAYS has power and authority over the demons. He simply had to command them to leave and they had no choice. He didn’t always command, sometimes he just willed their departure without speaking - and they left.

Some other passages and what they show us:
Ephesians 6:10-19 Demons don’t have to "possess" a person to have an influence on them. They have been around since time began and they know human beings "like a book." They know how to get to us. They know the "right buttons to push." They constantly work behind the scenes targeting our selfishness with their lies. But God gives everything you need to resist their attacks and even defeat them: faith, His Word, his truth, assurance of salvation, the Gospel message and his righteousness.

1 Timothy 1:4 They work through people to deceive and teach false things to try to draw us away from God.

Revelation 16:14 Demons are able to perform miraculous signs in order to deceive.

Acts 16:16 Demons can sometimes enable people to predict the future.

Mark 9:15-29 Jesus gave his disciples authority to cast out demons, but when they tried to do it on their own without praying and looking to Jesus for their power to do it - they failed. They cannot be gotten rid of without prayer calling on Jesus and in His name for HIS power.

Acts 19:13 Some men who didn’t have faith in Jesus tried using the same words his disciples used to cast out demons - but they failed. Faith in Jesus is required to get rid of demons. You can say, "In the name of Jesus I command you to leave" all you want, but without faith in Jesus it won’t work - it may even backfire!

Thanks for asking,
Pastor Dave