Things to remember about demons:
1. Their ubiquity: they are everywhere. Nature is filled with them. The idols of the nations are demons. Our battle is against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12)...
Nature is filled with them. James 3:15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. See also Paul’s complaint about his thorn in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 12:7 So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.
The idols of the nations are demons. Paul compares true religion to false in 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? See also Revelation 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.
False teachers are allied to demons. 1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. See also 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2. There is both voluntary and involuntary servitude to demons. Voluntary is idolatry and occult practice. Involuntary is what the Bible refers to as demonization or having an unclean spirit.
3. Demonic influence is manifested in a variety of ways: muteness, throwing into the fire, paralysis, seeking the dead, fits of rage, feats of power, foretelling the future, a combination of both physical and mental symptoms, either separately or in conjunction with one another.
4. Demonic influence can wax and wane. In Saul's case the spirit comes and goes, in other cases it appears that the demons go quiescent at times.
5. Demonic influence is under God's control.
6. Demons and paganism are often thought to go hand-in-hand. There is little evidence to support this in Scripture--Scripture reveals great demonic activity in the heart of Pharisaical Israel, hardly a hotbed of paganism. Instead, what we find in Scripture is that demons are bolder and more recognizable in two specific situations: in the presence of the occult practices of animists and spiritists who more explicitly acknowledge the reality of demons AND in the presence of Christ and the ministry of His Word.
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