Many of the churches in America....their focus is distorted and the true vision of the church: to set people free from the grips of satan and bring them to Christ, has been taken away.  Very few churches have spiritual warfare training; most have no intercessory prayer team and no deliverance ministry.  People come to church sick and go back home in the same condition because their church wants to live in the modern world of entertainment, with no backbone.  That's not the church of Jesus Christ.  I plead with the church today to get back to the blueprint of the early church, to cast out demons, heal the sick, baptize the people, and bring the people into salvation and discipleship.  This is the true Church of Jesus Christ.[1]

Did you know that the bible teaches there are two different baptisms?

Acts 1  (v. 4) And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father.... (v. 5) for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

When the Lord first led me into study of spiritual warfare, I was chagrined by the lack of preparation I had received through my academic training.  Though having graduated from Bible College and seminary, my understanding of the believer’s warfare with satan’s kingdom was almost nonexistent.  I have discovered that I was not alone.  In talking to numerous missionaries through the years, one discovers that most of them were sent out to the mission field with very little, if any, training in spiritual warfare.  The resulting wounding has sometimes been disastrous.  Pastoral leadership in our country is equally lacking in training and understanding of the believer’s warfare.  How often I hear telephone callers lament, “My pastor has no understanding of the fearful struggle I am facing.”  It ought not to be that way.[3]

...."And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" [Mark 16:17, 18, 20].  The words spoken to the disciples are spoken to us also.  None need think that the day for working as the apostles worked is past.  Men and women today can work as Christ has given them example.  To all will come opportunities to minister to sin-sick souls and to those in need of physical healing.  Physical healing is a science of heavenly birth, bound up with the gospel commission.  We have a work to do that we have not done.[4]   

There is in fact, a strong tendency among many Christians to be naive concerning their arch foe, satan and his demon assistants....to be ignorant or misinformed on this subject is weighted with dire risks....Yet believers sometimes display an obvious disinterest in what the Bible reveals about such a study.  This apathy or dread is almost as perilous as the opposite extreme of fanatical occupation with evil....these aberrations are a delight to satan.  They prove the subtlety of his stratagems by which he outwits his opponents and gains advantage over them.[5]

We are soldiers of Christ; and those who enlist in His army are expected to do difficult work; work which will tax their energies to the utmost.  We must understand that a soldier's life is one of aggressive warfare, of perseverance and endurance.  For Christ's sake we are to endure trials.  We are not engaged in mimic battles.  We have to meet most powerful adversaries; for "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12).[6]    

There is no doubt that satan and demons attack Christians.  They seem to be special targets of the enemies of God because they are the children of God and hated as God is hated.  Some do not recognize the full range of activities leveled against the children of God because they think that salvation automatically protects us from all sorts of evil....This simply is not so.  The Scriptures make it quite clear that God’s children, upon entering their position in the heavenliness of Christ (Eph 2:5-6), also enter a battle royal with the forces of wickedness (Eph 6:10-12).[7]

The bible says that the devil and his angels were cast out of heaven.  What are they doing here on this Earth?  Certainly not to enjoy a long vacation.  No!  They are here to attack you and to rob you of a relationship with the Creator God, who made the Heavens, the Earth, and the Sea, and everything that is in them.  Click on the button below, to read about what they are doing to you!

Rev 12  (v. 7) And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, (v. 8) but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. (v. 9) So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (v. 12) Therefore rejoice, Oh heavens, and you who dwell in them!  Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!  For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.

I believe without a shadow of a doubt that christians can have demons indwelling them and tormenting them in various areas of their lives.  We believe this both from our study of Scripture and from our experiences with hundreds of counselees....[8]   It must be stressed that demons cannot indwell a christian in the same sense the Holy Spirit indwells.  God’s spirit enters a believer at salvation....A demon by contrast, enters as a squatter and an intruder and is subject to momentary eviction.  A demon never rightfully or permanently indwells a saint, as the Holy Spirit does....[9] 

Acts 16  (v. 16) Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us.... (v. 18) ....But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”  And he came out that very hour.

“....Often in the days of His earthly ministry the Saviour met His adversary in human form, when Satan as an unclean spirit took possession of men.  Satan takes possession of the minds of men today.  In my labors in the cause of God, I have again and again met those who have been thus possessed, and in the name of the Lord I have rebuked the evil spirit.”[10]

Luke 10  (v. 17) Then the seventy returned with joy saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” (v. 19) Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy....

....For three years the disciples had before them the wonderful example of Christ....When the time came for Him to leave them, He gave them power and grace to work as He had worked....The work He had done they were to do.  And this is the work we also are to do in the world....When He sent forth the seventy, He commanded them to heal the sick, and then to preach that the kingdom of God had come nigh unto them. The physical health was first to be cared for, that the way might be prepared for the reception of the truth which the apostles were to proclaim.”[11]

References:

1. John Ramirez, (2015). Unmasking the Devil, p.107, Destiny Image Publishers.

2. E.G. White, The Desire of Ages, p.823-824, par.2

3. C. Fred Dickason, (1987). Demon Possession and the Christian, “Foreword by Mark Bubeck”.

4. E.G. White, Manuscript Releases (vol.19), p.363, par.1

5. Dr. Merrill Unger, (1977). What Demons Can Do to Saints, p.17, Moody Press.

6. E.G. White, Testimonies for the Church (vol.6), p.140, par.2

7. C. Fred Dickason, (1987). Demon Possession and the Christian, p.105-106, Moody Press.

8. George Birch, The Deliverance Ministry, p.89-90.

9. Dr. Merrill Unger, (1977). What Demons Can Do to Saints, p.61, Moody Press.

10. E.G. White, Notebook Leaflets from the Elmshaven Library (vol.1), p.14, par.4

11. E.G. White, The Pacific Health Journal (1 Dec 1901), par.1