The 28th chapter of Ezekiel contains a veiled description of Satan as the god of this world (1 Jn 5:19) who rules over Tyre, a city pursuing wealth but lacking concern over suffering caused to others. He’s seen as having once been a “model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. For you were in Eden, the garden of God…You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God….You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you….Your heart became proud because of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth…” (28:12-17).
The 12th chapter of Revelation contains an even more specific reference to the enemy we face. “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (12:7-9). It is considered that Satan once occupied an anointed position among the angelic hosts, only to be expelled because of pride and then using his power to bring about the Fall of man and oppose God’s redemptive mission.
Satan has an army of angels who joined him in rebellion against God (Revelation 12:4,9) and they comprise an organized kingdom (see Eph 6:12) working in opposition to God’s will. Conflict with this demonic kingdom is often referred to as warfare and it works in every conceivable way against our welfare. We should never dismiss the deceitfulness of Satan when we consider that he was able to convince a third of the angels to abandon their allegiance to God and join his rebellion after once living in the majestic presence of Almighty God. So it is Paul warns that Satan “masquerades as angel of light” and also has helpers (false prophets and teachers) who “masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor 14:14,15).
The heavenly realms (or places) described by Paul in Ephesians 6 doesn’t refer to the first heaven of sky around planet earth. Nor does it refer to a third heaven where God dwells to which Paul was caught up as we find described in 2nd Corinthians 12:1-4. The heavenly realms or places to which Paul refers is a second heaven or spirit realm surrounding our consciousness where good and evil forces contend for the souls of men. This spirit realm is frequently referred to in Scripture. One example is where the angel Gabriel was sent by God to answer Daniel’s request for understanding of what God had been revealing. This angel of God was detained in the second heaven for twenty-one days by the “prince of the Persian kingdom” until assisted by the archangel Michael (see Dan 10:12-14).
Paul speaks of Satan’s highly organized kingdom in Ephesians. There are rulers (NIV) or principalities (KJV) of evil that appear assigned authority over large territorial areas. The above passage in Daniel mentions a “prince of Greece” to come (Dan 10:20) and we know from history that Persian rule over that part of the civilized world succumbed to Greek rule, later to be followed by the Roman empire. These demonic princes or rulers seem to exercise wide influence under Satan’s authority in the spirit realm and under them in the chain-of-command are forces referred to as powers or authorities respectively in the KJV and NIV which perhaps exert influence over smaller areas like cities or neighborhoods or even local churches.
These higher orders of spiritual forces under Satan’s command are not expelled or “cast out” in the usual fashion described in the New Testament. They act more like generals reporting to Satan, being given responsibility for directing the forces of evil under their command. They are displaced or rooted out only when people in their sphere of influence live in submission to the lordship of Christ and are effectively resisting their intrusion (see Jas 4:7). Then we have what one might label as the ground troops of Satan’s army. These are the forces of evil (NIV)and spiritual hosts of wickedness (NKJV) which affect people. These are as varied in assignment as one can imagine and Scripture defines many of these either directly or indirectly according to their activity such as fear or infirmity.
Evil spirits or demons have all the characteristics associated with personality. We see this in Jesus’ description of an evil spirit coming out of a man (Mt 12:43-45). This spirit does not find the rest it desires and returns to the “house” it had left (i.e., the man). Finding it unoccupied, it takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself and the final condition of the man is said worse than at first. Here we see the evil spirit showing intelligence and a will in deciding to return after observing that the man had not filled his life with the will and Word of God. James 2:19 also tells us that demon spirits have emotions in that they “shudder” in their awareness of God. And several passages note their speaking through the voice of those under their influence (e.g., Mt 16:21-23).
This brings us to the manner by which evil spirits gain influence. This is not complicated! If a “house” representing man’s spirit and soul is filled with what pleases God and one is living in obedience to the lordship of Christ, “armor of God” described in the next lesson is effective in counteracting demonic attacks. On the other hand, the enemy is constantly watching for cracks in one’s spiritual armor. “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you” (Gen 4:7). God’s warning given to Cain precedes later warning issued by Peter: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Family backgrounds can open a door to the occult (a word from the Latin meaning concealed). Disobedience to God by involvement in false religions or groups such as freemasonry which require secret oaths appealing to false pride can bring curses for generations (Deut 11:26). A negative prenatal influence (like an unwanted pregnancy) can result in a child being born with a spirit of rejection that is later expressed by anger or depression. The same is true of pressures in childhood such as lack of love, demand for perfection, abuse of any type or bitter conflict between parents. God strongly warns about divination (gaining knowledge supernaturally) such as fortune telling, palm reading, use of horoscopes or other means where guidance is sought by other than the Word of God or the Holy Spirit.
Repeated sinful acts or habits such as addiction open doors to demonic activity, and this includes dependency on prescription drugs (GK pharmakeia is translated as witchcraft). Immorality of any kind including pornography; overeating (a spirit of gluttony); lack of truthfulness by exaggerating opens doors to lying spirits where what is false is thought to be true because of constant repetition. Demons may even temporarily attach to unclean objects. Care must be exercised at to what we bring into our homes from travel or from neighborhood garage sales. This is particularly true when objects are representations of what is worshipped as false gods in other cultures. Enough caution cannot be exercised as to what we allow to be present in the confines of our homes (or enter through TV).
