Let me begin here by saying how I totally understand why this topic I am wading in to is probably one of the more difficult and troublesome subjects for many people to process, accept, and believe, especially if you have little, if any ‘church’ or Bible background. I would also add that there are many in the church today who would do well to ‘brush up’ and review what I’m sharing here, because it might explain a lot of what you are witnessing, if not experiencing personally in the world today. Let’s not forget that it was God who voiced His sentiments through the prophet Hosea...stating:

“My people...are destroyed for a lack of knowledge...” (4:6).

I also understand why many pulpits would choose to bypass this subject matter, and there are multiple reasons for that as well; one of them being it might make their parishioners ‘uncomfortable’. Friends...it’s time we start talking about ‘uncomfortable’ things. And please keep in mind...these scriptures I will be sharing were written to people who were fully aware of and had witnessed demonic torment occuring on a regular basis. This was not even a point of debate or contention.

These past two days, I shared part of my own personal testimony in how I first ‘came to the Lord’ and what transpired just hours after praying to commit my life to Jesus. Yes, it was a ‘personal experience’ and I only point this out because a personal experience is just that- personal. We can learn from those experiences but we should also avoid building ‘doctrines’ or a belief system around any 'experience'. I do my best to keep things here focused on God’s word; and you are going to get that here today. But if you did read my story (which I invite you to do if you missed it)...it seemed that God chose to use a dramatic ‘encounter’ to be my first critical ‘lesson’ that He wanted me to take to heart after I ‘repented’ or turned... and expressed a desire to follow Him just nine hours earlier.

And what was Lesson #1 He wanted to teach me? We live in a world that very much has a ‘spiritual component’ to it, and to think or believe otherwise would be foolish. If you are waiting for ‘science’ to prove this, it might be awhile. If you depend on human intellect to guide you, you may never see or ‘get’ this. Paul closed out one of his letters with a prayer of blessing that “the God of peace Himself would sanctify us completely, and that our whole spirit... soul... and... body...would be preserved blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ”. (1 Thess. 5:23)

You and I were created by God....as a ‘spirit being’...in His image. And we know that God is Spirit (John 4:24; Genesis 1:26-27). Not only were we created as a ‘spirit’, but we also had a ‘soul’ which we understand to be that part of us that makes up our mind, emotions, our personality, intellect, and will. Then, God formed us that we might inhabit or live in a physical body (Ps. 139:13-16). Adam’s body was made from ‘dust’ before God ‘breathed into his nostrils...the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen. 2:7)

When God placed Adam and Eve into the garden, He gave them just one word of instruction, or command, that came with a warning. Don’t eat off this one tree or you will surely die (Gen. 2:17). The next chapter lays out what transpired and sure enough...they were deceived in to believing something other than what God told them, and they ate of that tree and it did indeed...bring ‘death’.

Now clearly, they continued to ‘live’ as physical beings; but they ‘died’ spiritually because their sin brought separation from God, and apart from Him...we have no true ‘life’. (Isa. 59:2; John 5:40; 10:10; Romans 5:12) 'Life'...is what Jesus came to offer us.

This is also why Paul describes our condition prior to coming to Jesus and how we were ‘dead’ in sins and trespasses...but then were ‘made alive’ (Ephesians 2:1) by coming to Christ. All that to say...the reason most, if not all of us humans have grappled at some point in our lives...with that ‘emptiness’ that we sense, that ‘proverbial hole in our heart’ that we seek to fill and satisfy through various means and pursuits, was left there by God so that we might ‘seek after Him’ (Acts 17:24-27).

How many of us at one time or another...have taken inventory of where we were in this ‘journey’ we call ‘life’. You were healthy, of ‘sound mind and body’...had families and job/financial security...were doing well by all visible standards as you continued climbing that ‘ladder of success’...and yet...you knew you were unfulfilled. You couldn’t put your finger on it...but you knew...something was missing. And it seemed that people found themselves at a fork in the road where they convinced themselves they just needed more money, more cars, bigger homes, more ‘toys’ or vacations...and then they would be ‘happy’ and fulfilled.

Others found themselves going down another path as they sought desperately to fill that void with whatever made them ‘feel good’, maybe carnal pleasures...that led to vices and eventually destructive addictions. Truth be told...there was/is a ‘spiritual force’ at work here that was ‘blinding’ all of us from seeing the one path that would lead to true peace and contentment. This is why God sent Jesus into the world...”to give light to those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:79)

Care to guess who or what this ‘force’ was that was blinding us? Paul refers to him as the ‘god of this age’ in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, who ‘blinds the minds of those who are perishing’ from seeing the light of this gospel.

John describes him as the ‘wicked one who has the whole world under his control’ (1 John 5:19). John would eventually expound upon this even more when writing the Book of Revelation which you can read in chapter 12:7-9 that details how Satan and his ‘angels’ ended up here on earth to begin with, and how they ‘deceive the whole world’.

When Luke penned the Book of Acts, he made sure to include the dialogue that Jesus had with Paul when God sent him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles in order to “open their eyes and to turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God...” (Acts 26:18).

Peter refers to this ‘enemy-the devil’ as a roaring lion who goes about seeking to devour and that we would do well to be vigilant and alert to this very fact. (1 Pet. 5:8).

James would admonish us to ‘resist him’ (4:7) as Paul would exhort us to ‘give him no place’ (Eph. 4:27)

And could Paul have been any more clear when he made it a lengthy point in his letter to the Ephesians where the source of all conflict came from:

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”(6:12- NLT)

Why even a secular world will often refer to people who have their ‘own demons to fight or deal with’. Friends...there is so much more to that ‘figure of speech’ than one could ever imagine. Allow me to finish up today with a quote I came across not long ago, by C. S. Lewis who wrote:

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our (human) race can fall into when it comes to devils/demons. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

I will continue on tomorrow, Lord willing.