Demons are involved in carrying out Satan’s evil plans (2 Cor.11:15). What Satan is said to be doing (see above) is their work directly.
1. Demons promote idolatry (Lev.17:7; Deut.32:17; Ps.106:36-38). This activity is blatant in primitive cultures.
2. Demons are active in hindering the spiritual progress of believers every way they can (see Satan’s activities). They are deliberate and organized in these attempts (Eph.6:10-12).
3. Demons promote false teaching (1 Tim.4:1).
4. Demons can possess and afflict people (see article on Deliverance).
(a) They cause physical ailments (dumbness – Matt.9:32,33; blindness – Matt.12:22; convulsions – Matt.17:15-18; Mark 9:20; self-injury – Mark 5:5; 9:22).
(b) They cause mental disorders (withdrawal, nudity, filth, irrational behavior – Luke 8:27-29; suicidal mania – Mark 9:22).
(c) They inflict problems upon believers as well, if allowed by God (Job’s troubles – Job 2:7-9; Paul’s “thorn in the flesh: – 2 Cor.17:7).
5. Demons promote selfishness and division in the church (James 3:13-16): “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”
This article is written by: Sid Litke, Th.M., a 1984 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, currently pastoring the Open Door Bible Church in Port Washington, Wisconsin: http://www.odbcport.org/index.htm
Persecution Live 