Demons - What Do We Believe?

Where is the Messiah said:
Yeah I just watched the conjuring which they say was based on a true story. That's why it had me wondering what other Christian believe about demons and how much power that have
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Not a bad movie. I think there are some truths in there, but then again, I wasn't there so I'm not going to discount what they saw/what they experienced.

Their experiences may be genuine, but sometimes the way they go about deliverance does more harm then good.
 
Euphemia said:
The spirit is the part of us where Holy Spirit comes to dwell. It is our "temple" if you will. The soul is the seat of the mind, will and emotions of the individual. It is the personality, the part that reveals his personhood. When we receive Jesus Christ, He comes to dwell in our spirit, and form that point on, we are His, lock stock and barrel, but any demonic strongholds are still in the soul and need to be kicked out. Often a person has deliverance right away, repenting of certain things that they cam attached to, but many, many times a believer's stronghold goes into hiding until growth in Christ encroaches on its territory, and a crisis will ensue for it. That is where many people will seek out help and the right people will be able to detect a demonic stronghold and help be rid of it immediately. Others are not so fortunate, and struggle a long time or for the rest of their lives without receiving freedom.


Here is a small excerpt from http://www.spiritualwarfaremanual.com/sample-chapter/

Paul talks about such things in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

1. erroneous beliefs, persuasions, and teachings that lead to “acts of disobedience” (verse 5)
2. religious lies and deceptions the enemy uses to enslave us to his ways of thinking, his attitudes, and actions;
3. false arguments and pretensions that come against a true understanding (the knowledge) of God.

How do we know when we are faced with a stronghold, yoke, or bondage? They reveal themselves through our words and lifestyles:

  • We are constantly critical of everyone and everything.
  • We minimize or negate true or positive things said about us by others.
  • We hide our bad habits.
  • Certain thoughts fill us with shame, guilt, or condemnation.
  • A particular behavior worsens over time.
  • We are driven by our impulses and desires.
We are unwilling to give up particular mindsets because we find security and protection with them. They are familiar to us and we believe there is “truth” in them.

Strongholds, yokes, and bondages can vary from minor to moderate to severe. Extreme forms include mindsets that greatly hinder us spiritually, socially, or physically, such as an addiction. Moderate strongholds may limit our fulfillment in life, yet we can still function effectively. For instance, if we believe that poverty equates to pious humility, we may give all of our money away. Minor thoughts such as the need to protect ourselves by lying can be eradicated through conviction from God, leading to our confession and repentance.

Here is a good description of what a stronghold is: http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/strongholds.php
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Okay, thank you. However, I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on this. Light and darkness cannot coexist. If God's inside us, demons can't get in., spirit or soul.
:love:
 
Patricia Dalmadge said:
Okay, thank you. However, I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on this. Light and darkness cannot coexist. If God's inside us, demons can't get in., spirit or soul.
:love:
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Howdy sister...how do you explain what happened to Simon Peter when Jesus said "Get behind me Satan"?
 
SergioL said:
I have also read the transcript of the exorcism performed to Anneliese Michel, the girl who inspired the film "The exorcism of Mary Rose". It is quite clear why the exorcism failed. The priests actually worshiped the virgin Mary, whose arrival was, supposedly, announced by Anneliese herself. The priests also encouraged the demons to worship the virgin Mary, and the demons' response was a chuckle and something like "I can't believe the things you come up with" (the real reply was much more harsh and blasphemous, but the meaning is what I wrote).
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Movies are meant to entertain. They usually are not factually accurate, this one in particular was not.

Roman Catholics do not worship the Virgin Mary. That is a gross misrepresentation of the facts.
 
Patricia Dalmadge said:
Good question. I don't think He was calling Peter Satan. I'm no bible scholar, (I'm still learning about God's word).
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No worries, I'm still a youngin' in God's word as well. You're right, He wasn't calling Peter Satan, he was rebuking the words coming out of Peter's mouth as they were not his, but of the enemy. Meaning the enemy must have been able to influence Peter to say those things.
 
Brian Kurkjian said:
Howdy sister...how do you explain what happened to Simon Peter when Jesus said "Get behind me Satan"?
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If Peter was possessed by a demon Jesus would have exorcised Peter and Peter would have fallen to the ground screeching and twisting. That's not what happened. Peter was tempted by Satan to suggest something ungodly to Jesus. Jesus looked at Peter and immediately recognized what was going on. That's why he addressed the tempter and not the tempted. Christians can be tempted by Satan (we all know that), but there is a huge difference between being tempted and being possessed.
 
Glomung said:
Movies are meant to entertain. They usually are not factually accurate, this one in particular was not.

Roman Catholics do not worship the Virgin Mary. That is a gross misrepresentation of the facts.
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Yes, I know that they don't worship the virgin Mary (at least they don't use the word worship), but these two priests did worship the virgin Mary during the exorcism. What I said about them was not based on the movie, but on the transcripts of the real exorcism. These two priests were chosen for this task because they were involved in the case from the beginning, but they weren't exorcists. I know that true Catholic exorcists act in a very different way (always relying on Jesus) because of what I read in "Hostage to the Devil". However, these two priests didn't rely on Jesus, they relied on Mary and even knelt in front of the possessed Anneliese. That's the only reason why this exorcism failed and the girl died. What amazes me is that they didn't replace these priests with real Catholic exorcists.
 
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Patricia Dalmadge said:
Okay, thank you. However, I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on this. Light and darkness cannot coexist. If God's inside us, demons can't get in., spirit or soul.
:love:
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That is a deception. Light and dark can exist in a person. Don't believe everything you hear. We can allow demonic things to invade us when we give them rights to. Many people do it unknowingly.

A demonic stronghold is anything compelling enough or convincing enough to hold you in its power; to keep you from receiving God’s love and truth. When a stronghold has been built in you, the Strongman arouses a defensive posture that causes you to “rationalize” your current situation. (Surely we can agree that we have met with and dealt with many of these kinds of believers in life. On a large scale we rub shoulders with those in the homosexual agenda who claim to be Christians and this sort of rationalization is a stronghold right in our faces.) He will often use your pride to hide any weaknesses from those around you.

The existence of a stronghold can be recognized because it will be that area of your life in which you consistently have problems and cannot live in victory. You can tell one is established because a habitual pattern of failure or hopelessness exists in that area of your life.

Sources are often temptations or deception (a lie of Satan), habits, or traumas or wounds--or brokenheartedness..

Below is a short list of tragedies the enemy uses to leave people brokenhearted:
Rape
Accident
Abuse
Trauma
Rejection
Divorce
Molestation
Death
Abandonment
Disappointment

Strongholds of Temptation can be defined as:
A persistent sinful opinion or behavior believed and practiced which questions, violates or defies God’s Word. In this way, the demonic has a protected place to live and work in the believer's live.

Strongholds of Torment would be defined as:
An emotional state, mental disorder or physical infirmity resulting from demonic oppression and harassment in a believer’s life.
 
Euphemia said:
That is a deception. Light and dark can exist in a person. Don't believe everything you hear. We can allow demonic things to invade us when we give them rights to. Many people do it unknowingly.

A demonic stronghold is anything compelling enough or convincing enough to hold you in its power; to keep you from receiving God’s love and truth. When a stronghold has been built in you, the Strongman arouses a defensive posture that causes you to “rationalize” your current situation. (Surely we can agree that we have met with and dealt with many of these kinds of believers in life. On a large scale we rub shoulders with those in the homosexual agenda who claim to be Christians and this sort of rationalization is a stronghold right in our faces.) He will often use your pride to hide any weaknesses from those around you.

The existence of a stronghold can be recognized because it will be that area of your life in which you consistently have problems and cannot live in victory. You can tell one is established because a habitual pattern of failure or hopelessness exists in that area of your life.

Sources are often temptations or deception (a lie of Satan), habits, or traumas or wounds--or brokenheartedness..

Below is a short list of tragedies the enemy uses to leave people brokenhearted:
Rape
Accident
Abuse
Trauma
Rejection
Divorce
Molestation
Death
Abandonment
Disappointment

When I meant light and darkness, I meant God and Satan, respectively. I don't think demons can possess or inhabit the soul. Your talking about oppression and influence. No offense...I just can't agree with this.

That's all I'm disagreeing with, the possessing the soul part. Demons can use anything to keep us from continuing in our faith.


Strongholds of Temptation can be defined as:
A persistent sinful opinion or behavior believed and practiced which questions, violates or defies God’s Word. In this way, the demonic has a protected place to live and work in the believer's live.

Strongholds of Torment would be defined as:
An emotional state, mental disorder or physical infirmity resulting from demonic oppression and harassment in a believer’s life.
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When I meant light and darkness, I meant God and Satan, respectively. I don't think demons can possess or inhabit the soul. Your talking about oppression and influence. No offense...I just can't agree with this.
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But they do. They did me and my children, and others I know. Powerful demons were cast out of us and we were born again long before.

That's all I'm disagreeing with, the possessing the soul part. Demons can use anything to keep us from continuing in our faith.
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Demons do live in the minds of many Christians That's why deliverance ministries are so big.
 
Euphemia said:
But they do. They did me and my children, and others I know. Powerful demons were cast out of us and we were born again long before.



Demons do live in the minds of many Christians That's why deliverance ministries are so big.
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Alright sis. I'm still not agreeing. Maybe we should leave it at that....
:love:
 
There's a song that means a lot to me right now. It has copyright restraints on it, so I can only tell you some of the words; they are relevant to this thread, in my opinion

WHATEVER IT TAKES

There’s a voice calling me from an old rugged tree
And it whispers
“Draw closer to Me . . . ."

For whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord
That’s what I’ll be willing to do
And whatever it takes to be more like You . . . .

I’ll trade sunshine for rain, comfort for pain . . . .
For whatever it takes for my will to break
That’s what I’ll be willing to do . . . .
© 2014 Heritage Singers. All Rights Reserved. Gospel Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization sharing the gospel through the Heritage Singers.

It may look like melodramatic, but sometimes, people can be drawn to the state this song (hate to use this word, but) exudes. I strongly dislike emotional religion, but sometimes, I am called there.
 
This pastor I know shared a story with me about this lady. He said this lady would always get this really bad pain in her leg and only at night. She went to the doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong. She is a Christian so she just wanted the pastor just to pray over her. He prayed for her but nothing happened. So he kept praying and I can't remember the exact words he said but he basically started commanding any evil that was causing it to leave. And a demon responded to him. Hold on I'm driving
 
Where is the Messiah said:
This pastor I know shared a story with me about this lady. He said this lady would always get this really bad pain in her leg and only at night. She went to the doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong. She is a Christian so she just wanted the pastor just to pray over her. He prayed for her but nothing happened. So he kept praying and I can't remember the exact words he said but he basically started commanding any evil that was causing it to leave. And a demon responded to him. Hold on I'm driving
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The demon was driving? Lol jk
 
Where is the Messiah said:
This pastor I know shared a story with me about this lady. He said this lady would always get this really bad pain in her leg and only at night. She went to the doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong. She is a Christian so she just wanted the pastor just to pray over her. He prayed for her but nothing happened. So he kept praying and I can't remember the exact words he said but he basically started commanding any evil that was causing it to leave. And a demon responded to him. Hold on I'm driving
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Really now. Oh brother. LOL
 
Patricia Dalmadge said:
Wait, what's the difference between the soul and the spirit? I don't mean to stray off topic, but I want to understand Euphemia's point of view.
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I will give you my opinion on the difference between spirit, and soul. When God formed Adam,s body, and breathed into him the breath of life, a third component was created a "soul". Man was now spirit, soul, and body. Adam was very conscience of his physical surroundings because of his physical body, yet at the same time Adam was very conscience of his spiritual surroundings because of his spirit. The soul of man is were man is conscience of both worlds at the same time. When Adam sinned he lost the ability to be aware of his spiritual surroundings because his spirit died. Now he was forced to lean solely on his flesh to make choices. When we become born again our spirit is now exchanged with Christ who is now our new life. Man is now restored back to his ability to be conscience of both spiritual ad physical worlds.
The soul is where man,s will, conscience, and emotions reside. The soul receives input from the body, and the spirit of man, and then the soul of man makes his choices as what to do. The soul does not make any independent inquiries on it,s own, it simply uses input from the body and spirit to make it,s choice. Man now has a spiritual mind that dwells in his spirit (heart) not his physical brain. He also has a physical mind (brain) that allows him to operate in the physical world. The mind of Christ does not reside in the physical brain, it only resides in the heart of man. To be carnally minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The word "repent" means to "change your mind". It does not mean to change what you thinking about, but to change from the carnal mind to the mind of Christ.
 
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