TTTTHHHHEEEE CCCCHHHHRRRRIIIISSSSTTTTIIIIAAAANNNN HIS ENEMIES and HIS ARMOUR Bryce Hartin ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bryce Hartin is an ordained Minister of the Gospel accredited with the Baptist Union of Queensland. He has undertaken studies at the Sydney Training Institute, Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, U.S.A. and Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, Canada. He has served in Pastorates for 12 years and in Bible teaching and Evangelism for 28 years. He has travelled extensively, conducting crusades and speaking at conventions throughout Canada, U.S.A., India, South East Asia and the Middle East and has ministered in some of largest churches in these countries. Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 1 Acknowledgments It is with deep gratitude that I acknowledge the invaluable help and suggestions given by many friends in the preparation of this book. Firstly, my gratitude to Dr Allen Hall for many helpful suggestions and for the typesetting of the manuscript. I am also indebted to Pastor Ron Baker for his valuable advice regarding some of the more sensitive material incorporated in this volume. Again, I owe much to my wife, Ruth, for her encouragement and for the numerous hours she has spent in typing and proof reading. Bryce Hartin PREFACE Many disturbing features characterise the times in which we live, but the most notable feature is the dramatic upsurge in demonic activity. The whole of society appears to be seething with wickedness of one kind or another. Who could fail to notice the vast increase in immorality, homosexuality, lesbianism, criminal offences, disease, suicides, drug abuse, drunkenness, as well as a whole range of psychic phenomena. In the midst of this seething cauldron of humanity are the Christians, many of whom are endeavouring to "war a good warfare" and "contend for the faith", sometimes against almost overwhelming odds. It seems that in this "pressure- cooker" type society, many a servant of the Lord finishes up slumped over the ropes like a "punch-drunk" boxer. It is the sincere desire of the writer to aid his fellow believers in the spiritual warfare in which we are all engaged. The writer feels that perhaps the greatest assistance he can offer is to give some Biblical instruction on the Christian's enemies — what they can and cannot do, and on the Christian's armour and how to use it. This book is a compilation of notes, some written many years ago, but now sent forth in book form with the prayer that they win help many of the Lord's people to be victorious in battle and to be able to say with Paul: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love His appearing." 2 Timothy 4.7-8. BRYCE HARTIN Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 2 CONTENTS Chapter Topic Page 1 The Christian and his Enemies 4 2 The Christian and his Enemies (cont'd) 13 3 The Christian and Demonic Invasion 22 4 The Christian and Spiritual Warfare 34 5 The Christian and his Armour 38 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Bryce Hartin. Unless otherwise identified, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible: Authorised Version. First Australian edition: April, 1988 Printed and bound in Australia by: Mission Publications of Australia, 19 Cascade Street, Lawson, NSW 2783. Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 3 Chapter One THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS ENEMIES During the last few years of our work in conventions and crusades, we have constantly been called upon to counsel people who were troubled. Many of them showed signs of being in great distress. Their family or friends had already taken them to spiritual leaders in the hope that they would find release from their bondage, but in many cases, their condition did not change. We have pondered over this problem for a long time and have prayed much and often that the Lord would open it up to our understanding in order that we might be able to assist the ever-increasing number of people desperately crying out for help. WIDESPREAD IGNORANCE Gradually, over a period of some years, we began to see that the cause of the problem was ignorance on the part of Christians concerning demons and their work. It seems that in a great many churches, no instruction is given at all on this vastly important subject and even in many Colleges, the subject is not dealt with, or else treated as relatively unimportant. The result is that students graduate and are sent out to pastor congregations, only to discover that they are not equipped to handle one of the major problems that exists in our churches today. They are unable to give practical help to people who are "oppressed and afflicted by the devil." Now this series of studies is designed to impart Biblical knowledge to Christians — knowledge of demons and what they do to people. Counsellors must learn to recognise the symptoms of demonic oppression, also the cause of it, or that which has brought it about and finally, how a person may find deliverance. It is not our purpose here to give an in-depth study of Satan himself. That must be reserved for another occasion, but we will observe some of the things that the Bible reveals about demons and, having absorbed this information, we will, I'm sure, more readily understand who is behind all the trouble we see in society generally and in the Church in particular. So this Chapter is about the Christian and his enemies. WHAT ARE DEMONS? The simple answer to that question is that they are disembodied spirits. The Bible reveals that when Lucifer, who was originally an archangel of great beauty and power, rebelled against God, he was cast out of Heaven and one third of the angels who sided with him were also cast out. Many Bible scholars believe that these fallen angels are now the disembodied spirits that we call demons, or evil spirits. Quite a number of scholars interpret Rev. 9.1-11 as indicating a great army of demons being released from the bottomless Pit, and that these demons, under the leadership of Satan, will make a final onslaught on the Church, just before the Return of our Lord. In these verses, namely Rev. 9.1-11, reference is made to locusts, but we must remember that this is a prophecy and it is veiled in symbolic language, as is the case right through the book of Revelation. Many Bible scholars believe that the reference here is not to literal locusts, but to spirit beings or demons who will come out of the bottomless Pit in plague proportions and will torment men and women in these last days. Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 4 PROPHECY NOW BEING FULFILLED The enormous upsurge of demonic activity in recent years has led many Christians to believe that this prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes. We shall have more to say about this later. In the meantime, let us very briefly consider some facts from Scripture about Satan himself and later on, we shall give a more detailed study on him. Firstly, Satan is not Omnipresent — that is, he is not present everywhere at the same time, as God is. I find many Christians mistaken on this point. They give to Satan the same attributes that God Himself has. Secondly, Satan is not Omniscient — that is, he does not possess all knowledge as God does. Having said this, I presume that all of us have vastly underestimated the knowledge that he does possess. Thirdly, Satan is not Omnipotent — meaning he is not all-powerful. He is powerful, but only God is all-powerful. SATAN'S SPIES So he cannot be present everywhere at one and the same time, nor does he possess absolute knowledge, nor does he have all-power, but he does have a network of demons under his command. These demons inhabit the atmosphere immediately above the earth and can travel at speeds yet unknown to man, because they are not limited to a material body like man. They can come from any part of our planet and convey information to Satan concerning everything that is happening everywhere. This is without doubt the most highly efficient intelligence service ever organised. I know it sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but in actual fact, it is far beyond the wildest imagination of all science fiction writers. The Bible on this, and all other matters, is more up to date than next century's newspapers! THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS Now let us examine in more detail several things revealed in Scripture concerning this army of demons that work under Satan's leadership. Turning to Ephesians 6, you will notice in verse 12 that they are divided into various orders and these orders or ranks of demons are without doubt the real enemies with whom every true Christian has to contend. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." It seems that Satan has patterned his kingdom on the Kingdom of God, because in God's kingdom, there are beings of varying rank and power such as Cherubs, Seraphs, Archangels and Angels who minister to the saints on earth in various ways, as well as guardian angels and so on. In Eph 6 verse 12, we observe that in Satan's kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Darkness, there is a hierarchy of beings, varying in rank and power. 1) We see for instance reference to principalities. This word 'principalities' or its equivalent, appears in various forms in the New Testament. Here, in Eph 6.12 it applies to the highest order of beings under Satan's command. A principality is an area ruled by a Prince. These prince-demons in Satan's Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 5 kingdom have many lesser demons under their command. Other references to prince-demons can be found in Eph 1.21 and 3.10 but especially in Col 2.10,15. 2) Note also in Eph 6.12, reference is made to powers. The two words 'principalities' and 'powers' are generally linked together in Scripture. You will observe this in the references already given. So these 'powers' would seem to be the next in rank below that of a prince. 3) The Greek word /diamon/ is translated 'devil' throughout the New Testament. It would seem that this word would have been better translated 'demon' and these demons are lower still in rank to that of the principalities and powers. 4) We also observe in Eph 6.12 reference to rulers of the darkness of this age. Now this should be sufficient to show that Satan has a kingdom. It is referred to as the Kingdom of Darkness. It is made up of evil spirits who vary in rank, some of whom are beings of great power and knowledge, far superior to that of man. Thus, the Bible helps us to understand more clearly something of the nature and characteristics of our enemy. GET TO KNOW YOUR ENEMY This should explain to all thoughtful Christians why the organised church is in such chaos today. Most Christians do not seem to know their enemy, who he is, or much about him. We cannot hope to overcome an enemy if we cannot identify him and are ignorant of his methods. An important part of winning this war against Satan and living as a victorious Christian is to study carefully what God reveals to us in His Word about this hierarchy of spirit beings who are constantly plotting our downfall. In our ministry, we are frequently called upon to help deliver people from the power of demons. It is quite common for those engaged in a deliverance ministry to hear the defiant voices of these demons as they try to retain control of their victims. It is also common for these demons when commanded to come forth and identify themselves, to put forth one of lesser rank first. The princes, or more powerful ones, do this to try and fool the Lord's servants by concealing their own presence. AN EXAMPLE FROM SCRIPTURE We have observed that often a number of demons will inhabit the one person. They form a group or unit headed by one or more powerful demons. This can be understood more clearly if we observe the use of the singular and plural personal pronouns in the story of Legion. This story is found in Mark 5.1-14. The Bible says that this man was possessed by 'an unclean spirit'. When our Lord asked him his name, he answered "My name is Legion, for we are many!" Note the change from singular to plural: "My name is Legion" for "we are many!" In this incident, one chief demon is speaking on behalf of a great number. We see here again that there are definitely ranks of authority amongst demons. The Lord has also shown us that demons sometimes fight amongst themselves. For instance, hereditary demons resent the intrusion of 'occult' demons who enter the person at a later time in his or her life. Any person who has this war going on inside him will certainly be in a terrible state and it will need a great deal of prayer and much discernment to deliver such a person and expel all these demons from what they regard as "their house". Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 6 Now let us look briefly at the various areas where demons can attack. 1) One area that needs a great deal of study is the Mind. Some demons seem to specialize in attacking the mind and emotions of people. These demons can be very powerful and I believe that they are responsible for putting many people in mental institutions. There would be, no doubt, many mental patients who do suffer from some disorder or deficiency that can be understood and explained by medical science, but I am now convinced that the real problem with some of these people falls into the realm of the demonic. What I am saying here is that there are many people in our institutions who, if they were delivered from the hold that demons have on them, would be perfectly normal. UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM Doctors and Psychiatrists have researched the problem of mental illness for a long time. No doubt they have laboured to the limit of human knowledge, but some readily agree that they do not fully understand the nature of the problem. In the jargon of medical science, the term 'schizophrenia' is sometimes used. The term is used to describe a person who appears to have a split personality. In the light of all that is revealed in Scripture, I am now of the opinion that in many cases, it is not a case of split personality but dual personality. In other words, two personalities in the one body — sometimes the person's own personality comes through, but on other occasions, a resident demon takes over and projects his personality. More and more we are coming into contact with people who have this problem. In some of the more severe cases, I fear that the problem is wrongly diagnosed and the patient may then be certified and locked away. This to many is the only course of action to take when the rest of the family can no longer cope. Counsellors may sometimes observe such things as extreme withdrawal, severe emotional problems, mental instability, periods of fantasy, delusions, varying degrees of depression, inability to make decisions, unexplained pain, unnatural fear etc. These and many other disorders are very often brought about by a concerted demonic attack on the mind. 2) Demons can attack the body. The Bible also reveals that some sicknesses and diseases can be attributed to the work of demons. For instance in: Luke 13.11-16 In this passage, Luke, who was himself a physician, tells of a woman who had a 'spirit of infirmity' for 18 years and was so bent over that she could not lift herself up. Our Lord spoke of this woman as one 'whom Satan hath bound.' So the woman's physical problem was directly linked to Satanic power. Matt. 12.22 In this verse, Matthew tells us of a man who was deprived of both speech and sight. This man's sad state had apparently been brought about by a demon who was directly responsible for these afflictions. We are distinctly told that the man was 'possessed with a devil'. Mark 9.14-29 Here we have the touching story of a young boy who was in terrible torment. He was controlled by an unclean spirit (v. 25). This demon tried often to kill the boy (v.22). The same demon had apparently bound the boy to such an extent that he could neither hear nor speak (v.25). When we examine the narrative carefully, we cannot help but draw the conclusion that this was a particularly powerful demon, because in v.28 the disciples admitted that they could not dislodge him and in v.29 our Lord Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 7 said THIS KIND will only be removed by prayer and fasting. The use of the term 'this kind' reinforces the fact that there are various kinds of demons. Matt. 9.32-33 In these verses, we are told about 'a dumb man possessed by a devil'. When this man was brought to our Lord, the demon was cast out and then the dumb man spoke. So apparently, there was nothing physically wrong with this man, the reason for his inability to speak being that his vocal chords had been bound by a resident demon. 3) There is another type of demonic activity to which I must draw attention and that is in the realm of Morals. This generation, in fact, this and the last couple of generations, have experienced a decline in morals that is nothing short of frightening. We see a marked increase in homosexuality, lesbianism, prostitution, pre-marital sex, inter-marital sex, extra-marital sex and almost every kind of deviation that one can imagine — some too hideous to mention here. True Christians are astonished at the uncontrolled passions of thousands of people in today's degenerate society. Many well-informed Christians now believe without hesitation that this repulsive state of affairs is brought about by demonic activity and if I interpret the Bible correctly, this situation will worsen alarmingly before our Lord returns. THE EROSION OF THE WILL We have sometimes been counselling people who have said "I don't know what made me do it," indicating that a power stronger than their own will seemed to overcome them and force them to act in a certain way. Further questioning invariably reveals that demonic pressure was brought to bear on them and they did not have the will to resist it. Through repeated onslaughts by evil spirits, their will-power had been eroded and they had become passive and of course, when strong pressure is brought to bear on them by these evil spirits, they just give in, almost without a fight. 4) Now the last area of demonic activity that I wish to refer to at the moment is in the spiritual realm. This form of demonic attack on the human race would have to be the most subtle of all. On every hand we hear of an almost endless stream of sects and cults springing up, all clamouring to be heard and gain converts to their peculiar beliefs. Well taught Christians can usually pick these sects and isms because of their denial of the Deity of our Lord and the efficacy of His blood. DISCERNMENT — BUT WHAT TYPE? By far the most deceptive form of demonic activity is in the charismatic movement. The deception is so great in this area that it will go completely undetected except by those who have the Biblical gift known as the 'discerning of spirits'. 1 Cor. 12.10 Notice, it is not discernment in a general sense, but discernment of spirits. In other words, the God- given ability to discern whether it is the Holy Spirit at work or an evil spirit who may be impersonating the Holy Spirit. Time and time again, we come in contact with people who depart from the written Word of God and seek some new revelation or ecstatic experience that will give them an Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 8 emotional 'high' and put them on 'cloud nine'. Demons are quick to take advantage of these people who are listening for voices or seeking special messages, apart from the written Word of God. There are of course, times when God does speak to His people in unusual ways, but we must point out here that these occasions are rare indeed. So Christians should not spend their time listening for some voice or expecting to see some vision. We have the written Word of God to guide us and should not be expecting some extra revelation apart from this. Actually I feel a strong word of warning should be given on this point. It has been our experience that if people are expecting to hear some audible voice, demons are more than happy to oblige! WHAT DEMONS CAN DO! Those who have experience in this field have discovered that demons can and do convey all kinds of messages to people, invariably designed to lead them astray in one way or another. When we observe all the splits and divisions and confusion amongst the Lord's people at this point in time, we cannot help but draw the conclusion that demonic powers are behind all this. As Christians, we should be alert to the fact that demons cause doubt, unbelief, criticism, jealousy, along with a whole host of other things aimed at destroying the fellowship and unity that Christians should enjoy. Demons can often create an atmosphere in a meeting. In fact, sometimes, they can bring a whole town or community under their influence and arouse general hostility toward the Gospel. This kind of demonic activity is well known to missionaries, especially in the emerging Third-World countries. Now to summarise what we have observed and perhaps re-phrase some things to make sure we get hold of them. We made the point that when they fell from favour with God, the angels who sided with Lucifer lost their celestial bodies and took on the nature of demons. Rather than remain disembodied spirits, they have ever since sought to clothe themselves with the bodies of humans and even animals. We see this point brought out clearly in Mark 5.1-17. When the legion of demons were evicted from the human body in which they had resided, they requested permission to enter a herd of swine. They much preferred the body of an animal for a 'house' than to remain disembodied. THE NECESSITY OF A SANCTIFIED MIND We have also observed that demons can and do attack the mind, causing evil thoughts, accusations, doubt, fear, pride, unbelief, disobedience to God, depression, insanity and even suicidal tendencies. It may be helpful to point out here that the only safe way to guard against this kind of demonic attack is to make sure that we have a sanctified mind and a will surrendered to do all the revealed will of God. If we do not remain in this sanctified state, we shall most certainly leave ourselves open to attack and possibly even invasion by these powers of darkness. We will have much more to say later, on the way to victory and peace, but because this subject is of such immense importance to all Christians, we could not do it justice by passing quickly over it here. MISTAKEN VIEWS LEAD TO WRONG DIAGNOSIS Some Christians, and unfortunately even some spiritual leaders, hold the mistaken belief that once a person is born of the Holy Spirit, they automatically have immunity to demonic invasion. However, since the last World War, this mistaken belief has pretty well been discarded, certainly by highly experienced counsellors working in this field. Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 9 I am in touch with over 50 counsellors around Australia who work in the field of demonic deliverance and we have all found that demonic invasion amongst Christians is very common. In fact, if the symptoms of demonic invasion were better understood, it would be readily seen that it exists in a great many churches, even in some conservative evangelical churches. The problem is that they expect to see people being thrown on the ground or frothing at the mouth or acting in some violent manner, as they do in pagan countries. Many Christians do not realise that demonic invasion here in Australia mostly takes on a far more sophisticated form. In fact in the western world, demons go to great lengths to conceal their presence. They are aware of the fact that if their presence is detected, they may well be evicted and cast into the Pit and the very thought of this strikes terror into them. Perhaps we could clarify this matter here by saying that we have in the past wrongly defined the word 'possession'. Scripture seems to convey the idea that possession can be in varying degrees. In other words, whatever amount of ground is given to the forces of darkness, either knowingly or unknowingly, that ground is then theirs. In other words, they possess that ground legally by virtue of the fact that it was given to them. Whether the demon is resident in the body of a person or operating from outside the person does not seem of great importance. The thing which is of paramount importance is the fact that the demon has control over some part of the person's life. The person concerned will never know real freedom in their Christian experience until this demon is driven off the ground he now occupies. This can only be done by us taking our position with Christ and using the authority that Christ has given us and commanding the invader in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to leave. Now we shall make some observations at this point from Scripture so that those who counsel in this field will have clearer knowledge of what to look for. For instance, in Matt 15.22 we read of a distressed woman who said that her daughter was "grievously vexed with a devil," but when we read Mark's account of the same incident, Mark says she "besought Him that He would cast the devil out of her" and afterwards our Lord said "The devil is gone out of thy daughter." You will find Mark's account of this in Mark 7.26-29. So we need to observe that this girl who was 'grievously vexed' by a demon was in fact actually demon possessed. This is seen by the fact that our Lord said "The devil has gone out of thy daughter." WHAT TERM DO WE USE? When dealing with the fact of demonic influence, some people use the term 'obsessed'. I personally do not feel that this is the correct word to be used here. I cannot recall any place in Scripture where this expression is used. We use the word obsessed correctly when we say for instance "he or she seems to be obsessed by this or that idea" meaning that they have a 'fixation' about something, or to use a modern expression, they 'had a hang-up' or their mind was so taken up with something that they could think of almost nothing else. Used in this sense, we could say that some people are obsessed with demons — meaning that they have a 'fixation' about demons, or they 'have a hang-up' — in other words, they can think of nothing else but demons. However, when it comes to determining the degree of control that demons have over a person, there are two words that we need to keep in mind: OPPRESSION and POSSESSION Oppression is a biblical term. It is for instance used in Acts 10.38: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." The fact that the word 'healed' is used here would Downloaded from www.christianissues.biz/thechristian.html © Bryce Hartin. Available by his kind permission 10