Spirit Soul and Body — Evil Spirits

Part 1 of the Spirit, Soul and the Body series examined the spiritual ‘organs’ God has provided to us within our “Inner Man“, as revealed in scripture.

This article examines how EVIL SPIRITS influence our spiritual ‘organs‘ and how they sometimes affect the functions and controlling controlling of our body. It also looks at how our Spirit can oppose and overcome these influences.

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

The highlighted section of the image below represents the “evil spirits” that can adversely affect our wellbeing. These affect our health, our emotional welfare and our spiritual relationship with our Creator.  We will also look at how evil spirits communicate with certain spiritual ‘organs’ within us during their enticement of us to commit acts of sin.

Some commonly held fallacies about ‘Evil Spirits’

The most common fallacies I am aware of are these:

Claim: Evil spirits do not exist

Jesus spoke to evil spirits on several occasions as recorded in the Bible.  Two of these events are reproduced below.

“For he [Jesus] said unto him [the chief demon], Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.  9 And he [Jesus] asked him [the chief demon], What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is LEGION: for we are many.”  (Mark 5:8-10)

"Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God [said the Chief Spirit of the evil spirits]…26 And when THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT had torn him [the boy], and cried with a loud voice, he [the unclean spirit] came out of him [the boy].” (Mark 1:24-26)

Claim: Evil spirits are fallen angels

This claim cannot be supported in the Bible.  A higher form of creation such as an angel cannot transform itself to become a lower form of creation – meaning, a devil (an evil spirit), or a human being.

Claim: Christians do not need to worry about evil spirits

Everyone needs to “worry about evil spirits”! This is because evil spirits are Satan’s most effective means of subverting the truth that “Saves” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Evil spirits often inflict pain and suffering upon humanity as a whole, and they especially try to inflict such suffering upon God’s people.

The above three examples illustrate the point that there is a lot of misinformation circulating today about evil spirits.

Where did evil spirits originate?

In my YouTube video titled ‘How To Endure To The End To Be Saved’, I covered a variety of topics, especially—how Satan has regularly tried throughout world history to corrupt and destroy what God has established.

In this video, I describe how Satan sent his “evil angels” to fornicate with the women throughout the Earth both prior to and following Noah’s Flood.  He did this so that his angels would produce giant offspring stated in the Bible as being “men of renown” (Gen 6:4). 

The purpose of Satan to produce giants on the Earth

Satan produced his giants so they would ultimately dominate the world; and in doing so with their superhuman power, kill off the Adamic race. Doing this would then prevent the “seed of the woman [Jesus from] bruising the serpent’s head” [that represents Satan’s authority over the Earth]” (Genesis 3:15).

To prevent this from happening, God destroyed the entire population of the Earth in Noah’s Flood.  Therefore, God killed both the giants and anyone else containing Adam’s genes who had been corrupted by the giants.

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no [other] god with me: I KILL, and I MAKE ALIVE; I WOUND, and I HEAL: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.”  (Deuteronomy 32:39)

Death then Judgment

The points to note are these.

The Bible records that after we die, a judgment eventually follows that determines our eternal destiny:

“And as it is appointed unto men ONCE TO DIE, but after this THE JUDGMENT:”  (Hebrews 9:27)

This means that after we die, we each go to a place in the Spirit realm where we wait for THE DAY of our Judgment:

God’s people who have met the requirements for Salvation go to Heaven and wait within their “mansion” (John 14:2) until the First Resurrection occurs (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). This is where they each receive their new, glorified resurrected body that will enable them to live forever (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). There is also a Judgment of Rewards associated with the First Resurrection (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

Satan’s people includes every Christ rejecting individual — especially multitudes of Jews and Christians who have been deceived by Satan. At their death, the spirits and souls of these people will go to the Hades compartment of Hell. They will wait here for their judgment at the “Great White Throne Judgment” (Revelation 20:11-15). This will occur at least 1,000-years from now (Revelation 20:5). Each person attending this judgment will then be cast into the “Lake of Fire” for becoming deceived by Satan and in doing so become an enemy of Christ:

“He that is NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST ME; and he that GATHERETH NOT with me scattereth abroad.” (Matt 12:30)

“And whosoever was NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE was cast into THE LAKE OF FIRE.” (Revelation 20:15)

Where do the the Giants races go after they die?

Scripture indicates that God has not appointed a spiritual place for any of the souls of the deceased giants to go to at their death.

It appears that these disembodied spirits have been allowed to roam the surface of the Earth since the first of them died before Noah’s Flood. If this is the case, it means that ALL of these disembodied spirits have inhabited many “host” bodies over the millennia.

To somewhat confirm this claim, Jesus said this:

“When THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT [of a deceased giant] is GONE OUT OF A MAN [after deliverance ministry - Mark 16:17], he walketh through DRY PLACES, seeking rest; and FINDING NONE,

he saith, I will return unto MY HOUSE [or the human body] whence I came out.  25 And when he cometh, he findeth it SWEPT and GARNISHED.

26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him SEVEN OTHER SPIRITS MORE WICKED THAN HIMSELF; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26)

What the Bible reveals about Evil Spirits

From Luke 11:24, we can see that:

• evil spirits can either depart a human body once it dies, or
• the evil spirit can be cast out anytime prior to death (Matthew 9:33)

If the body’s owner (or ‘host’) has accepted Christ as their Savior, the following scenario can be assumed to take place. This is to conform with Christ’s requirements above.

After being cast out, this means the evil spirit no longer has the necessary warmth and the moisture he obtained from dwelling within the host’s body.  He then becomes cold and unhappy in much the same way as any human would if they were cast out of their home on a cold day without any warm clothes.

He is no longer able to communicate directly with the man or any other spirits that shared their ‘joint accommodation’.  In other words, the evil spirit becomes lonely and uncomfortable.

He then “walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none” just as any outcast from their very familiar home might do.

However, he then says “…I will return unto my house whence I came out”. He then attempts to be invited back in. He does this using enticements (or sinful suggestions) that the ‘house’ owner succumbed to previously — but these no longer work!

What happens when “he” returns?

In verse 26, it says that when he returns back to his “house” (or ‘host’) he discovers it has been “swept and garnished”.  This indicates that the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit that forced him out remained in his former “home”.

After the evil spirit realizes he is unable to repossess the man’s body, he using employs another tactic. He then confides with seven other evil spirits “more wicked” than himself (Matthew 12:45). Their aim is to overcome the hosts resistance. Once the man succumbs to allowing one in via temptation to sin, the rest eventually follow. This situation occurred because the new Christian had fallen back into his old sinful ways through temptation. He had forgotten Jesus Christ (Proverbs 14:14; James 1:13).

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and THE POWERS OF THE WORLD TO COME, IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”  (Heb 6:4-6)

Finally, Jesus says that “the last state of that man is worse than the first”. This means that if the man initially had an addiction (say) caused by drugs, the man could have other problems. This means other evil spirits mentioned in scripture of “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, Idolatry, drunkenness, etc…” (Galatians 5:19-21) need to be cast out.

How to keep one’s ‘house clean’

It is the Holy Spirit who “sweeps and garnishes” the man’s “house” (meaning his BODY) from evil spirits. This is just as Jesus stated below:

“But if I [Jesus] CAST OUT DEVILS by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”  (Matt 12:28)

“But if I with THE FINGER OF GOD cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”   (Luke 11:20)

It appears that the wild man at the Gadarenes (mentioned in Mark 5:1-19) had 6,000 demons residing inside of him.  Once the Holy Spirit had cast them all out, the Bible says he was then in his “right mind”.  

This indicates is that once such a large quantity of evil spirits inhabit anyone, the result is insanity.

Does the Spirit World operate under any authority?

Throughout the Spirit world, a hierarchy structure of authority exists.  Each hierarchy has its own authority.  From this, we have the following hierarchies mentioned in scripture:

The Godly Line of Authority: 

In this, Jesus identified this command line beginning at God the Father and ending with the “wife of the husband”. This is because humanity is created in “the image of God” as stated in the scripture verses below:

“So God created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE, in the image of God created he him; MALE and FEMALE created he them.”  (Gen 1:27)

“But I would have you know, that THE HEAD of every man is CHRIST; and THE HEAD of the woman is THE MAN and THE HEAD of Christ is GOD.”  (1 Cor 11:3)

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  23 For the husband is THE HEAD of the wife, even as Christ is THE HEAD of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.  24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”  (Eph 5:22-24)

The Satanic Line of authority: 

When Lucifer inhabited Heaven, scripture indicates he had authority over one-third of the angel population.  When he was cast out of Heaven, he drew that ⅓ of the angel population with him to the Earth:

“And he [Jesus] said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”  (Luke 10:18)

“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth…”   (Rev 12:4)

From here, the Bible indicates that Satan now walks “to and fro upon the Earth”. It also indicates Satan’s ‘evil angels’ are the rulers of the darkness of this world). These are those who inhabit the Heavenlies (or the unseen ‘Second Heaven’) above the Earth:

“And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”  (Job 1:7)

“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 [in the governments of this world].”  (Eph 6:12)

“I knew a man in Christ…such an one caught up to THE THIRD HEAVEN.”  (2 Cor 12:2)

Therefore, Satan is the “head” of all the evil occurring in this world.  His ‘evil angels’ have rankings, just as in an army.  Every evil angel will be tried and proven by Satan before being given authority to direct others.

The Demonic Line of authority: 

There are groups of demons who enter into a person – many of which have ‘ranks’. These ‘ranks’ are similar to that of General, Colonel, Captain, Sergeant…etc. that any army has.

The following groups of demons have been identified by published authors who have had experience in these matters. 

The name of the CAPITALIZED evil spirit shown will be the dominant spirit among the others in each grouping.

The purposes of Evil Spirits

The power and dominance in the darker side of the spirit world is by covert, tough, ruthless spirits all working together as an army. Their aim is to destroy their human host. This is because every human is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). 

It is also their aim to have their Christian ‘host’ die a sinner and NOT SINLESS!  This is because he or she would not appear before God the Father in the image of Jesus Christ their Savior, but as a sinner like Satan and his angels.

“My little children, these things write I unto you, THAT YE SIN NOT. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…”  (1 John 2:1)

“He [meaning ANY Christian] that committeth sin IS OF THE DEVIL; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.”   (1 John 3:8)

“IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, he is faithful and just to FORGIVE US OUR SINS, and to CLEANSE US from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:9)

The Bible provides an example of the lunatic man at the Gadarenes where the chief demon named “Legion” spoke to Jesus. During his plea on behalf of the other demons, he asked Christ to NOT judge them before the appointed day, and to let them come out of the man and go into the pigs feeding nearby.  Jesus agreed to the demon’s request as recorded in the verses below:

“And when he [Jesus] was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him TWO [men] POSSESSED WITH DEVILS, COMING OUT OF THE TOMBS, EXCEEDING FIERCE, so that no man might pass by that way.  29 And, behold, THEY [the dominant devils within the men] CRIED OUT, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us BEFORE THE TIME [appointed]?  30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.  31 SO THE DEVILS BESOUGHT HIM, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.  32 And he said unto them, GO…”  (Matthew 8:28-32)

Do demons have legal rights? 

Yes!

If a man invites a demon into himself (say) by practicing witchcraft or (say) using an Ouija board, he automatically attracts demons associated with that pagan practice.

When that man dies, the demons who associated with that occult practice will then move out of his dead BODY and possibly into that man’s children. This is because of a curse associated with such practices.  In this, a curse always brings the accompanying ‘legal rights’ with it.

The only way an inherited (or generational) curse can be broken is for the child to confess the sins of their parents to Jesus Christ. Naturally, all children must repent of them. Each child needs to ask Jesus to help set them free from the curse:

“And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and CONFESSED THEIR SINS, and THE INIQUITIES OF THEIR FATHERS."  (Nehemiah 9:2)

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, BEING MADE A CURSE FOR US: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”  (Galatians 3:13)

“But now being made FREE FROM SIN [through true repentance from sinning, together with the blood of Christ covering our sins], and become SERVANTS to God, ye have YOUR FRUIT UNTO HOLINESS, and the end everlasting life.”   (Romans 6:22)

Anyone suffering from demon infestation from an inherited or generational curse only has to apply the above process to be set FREE! 

How to keep one’s ‘house’ clean!

As we saw in Luke 11:24-26, the demon’s former “house” must be kept “swept and garnished”. This is achieved by maintaining the Holy Spirit’s presence inside after the curse has been broken. If this fails to happen, the evil spirit that was cast out may bring his ‘friends’ back to his former home to enter back in.

In the areas of children having evil spirits, the Bible is clear that the child’s authoritative ‘Head’ — the child’s father, MUST plead to Jesus on behalf of the child. This is required to remove the tormenting spirit, as shown below:

“And straightway THE FATHER of the child CRIED OUT, and said WITH TEARS, Lord, I believe; HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF.”  (Mark 9:24)

Finally, if anyone chooses to ‘host’ an evil spirit; that choice must be respected.  However, if the victim is a young child, there are ways for the parents of the child to overcome its presence.

Can evil spirits exhibit superhuman strength in their victims?

Yes, as shown here!

“...there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, EXCEEDING FIERCE.”   (Matthew 8:28)

And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and IT TEARETH HIM that HE FOAMETH [at the mouth] again, and BRUISING HIM hardly departeth from him.”  (Luke 9:39)

“...my son: for he is LUNATICK, and SORE VEXED: for ofttimes HE FALLETH INTO THE FIRE, and OFT INTO THE WATER [and appears to want to kill himself].”  (Matt 17:15)

How do evil spirits affect the unseen ‘organs’ of our ‘Inner Man’?

The presence of any indwelling evil spirits within a person’s body allows them to impress their will upon the individual’s SPIRIT, MIND, SOUL or their HEART.  Obviously, when the “Spirit of Infirmity” is present, some form of an illness will be apparent within the person’s physical BODY.

God has allowed evil spirits to motivate the individual (whether Saved or Unsaved) to temp him or her to commit an act of sin.  The result could simply be that of hating another person. Succumbing to this causes the sin of “murder” (1 John 3:15) to occur. Such a sin will keep a Christian out of Heaven.

Or, it could be an action that breaks one of God’s laws such as an act of Adultery (Matthew 5:28). Below are listed the names of evil spirits recorded in the scriptures as, “The spirit of…”.

Therefore any un-saved individual has one or more evil spirits dwelling within them. This is the Spirit of Unbelief. 

Naturally, this is where the battle rages within people between the “lusts of the flesh” and their personal SPIRIT.  

“For THE FLESH [and the sins it indulges in] lusteth against THE SPIRIT, and THE SPIRIT against THE FLESH [by the Spirit reasoning the benefits of eternal issues]: and these are CONTRARY THE ONE TO THE OTHER: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”  (Gal 5:17)

Chart explanation

The chart below attempts to explain how the Holy Spirit and evil spirits influence the decision making processes within people.

BLUE lines illustrate the pathway in which the Gospel message passes through the listener’s senses and into their SOUL and spiritual organs of the HEART and the MIND.

GREEN lines illustrate the Holy Spirit’s influence on the preacher and his listener.

RED lines illustrate the influences that the EVIL SPIRITS have upon the SOUL and other spiritual organs within the listener.

PURPLE lines illustrate their influence the SOUL and the organs have on the listener’s MIND.

How does God help us eradicate demons?

When Jesus came to the Earth, He cured many people of their sicknesses and diseases by casting out evil spirits:

"But the Pharisees said, HE CASTETH OUT DEVILS through the prince of the devils”  (Matt 9:34)

Jesus always expects His disciples to do the same “works” as He did (John 14:12). However, when a man brought his son to be delivered from a devil, His disciples could not do this. (Mark 9:18). 

Therefore the father brought his son to Jesus.  When Jesus heard that His disciples had failed to cast out the devil, He said to them:

"O FAITHLESS AND PERVERSE GENERATION, how long shall I be with you? HOW LONG SHALL I SUFFER YOU? bring him hither to me.”  (Matt 17:17)

In this, Jesus has given every disciple of His the following power to destroy the works of Satan.  If Christ’s “disciples” fail to utilize this “POWER”, one might then appreciate the anger Christ expressed towards His disciples.

"Behold, I give unto you POWER to TREAD ON SERPENTS and SCORPIONS, and over ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY: and NOTHING shall by any means hurt you.”  (Luke 10:19)

One of the “signs” that accompany any Disciple of Jesus Christ is that they are able to “cast out devils”:

“And THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW THEM THAT BELIEVE; In my name shall they:
— CAST OUT DEVILS; they shall
— speak with new tongues; 18 They shall
— take up serpents; and
— if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
— they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)

Every Disciple of Jesus Christ should be able to demonstrate one or more of the above list of requirements. This is to prove that he or she is truly a “son of God”.

“But as many as received him, to them GAVE HE POWER to become THE SONS OF GOD, even to them that believe on his name:”  (John 1:12) 

“That ye may be BLAMELESS and HARMLESS, the SONS OF GOD, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”  (Phil 2:15)

To view an internet Bible study of this subject, please watch this YouTube video.

Invitation

I encourage you to share this article with your pastor and your trusted church members. This is to determine for yourself whether the claims in this article are true or not.

On the contrary, if this article has caused you any concern about your Christian faith, feel free to post a comment or question in the Comments box below. If you prefer to ask me a private question, feel free to contact me using my website’s Contact form.

Other articles in this ‘Spirit, Soul and Body‘ series are:

• The Inner and Outer Man
• Our ‘Spirit’
• The MIND
• The HEART
• Evil Spirits (this article)
• Communicating with God