Demonology 301

I am reposting this sermon by Yong-Doo Kim, pastor of the Lord's Church in South Korea, because I have benefited greatly from his ministry, and he has years of experience battling demons.  This pastor has been to heaven and hell many times, and has authored five books about his experiences in the series called Baptized by Blazing Fire.  So I think he qualifies as a sort of "subject matter expert" on this topic, or someone with firsthand knowledge, who is not simply an echo for the ideas of other men.

Message on demons, given by brother Yong Doo Kim, May 15, 2011:

Let us be strong in the power of the Lord 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel." (Eph 6:10-19, NASB)

If you read John 12:31, it states that satan is “ruler of this world”. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, satan is expressed as the “god of this world”

John 12:31 (AMP) “Now the judgment (crisis) of this world is coming on [sentence is now being passed on this world]. Now the ruler (evil genius, prince) of this world shall be cast out (expelled).”

2 Corinthians 4:4 (AMP) “For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.”

There is a structure/system within the demonic realm. satan’s organization is composed of many different variety of fields or areas and it is countless. These enormous organizations are endlessly connected to one another. It is a thoroughly built structure. It is somewhat like how a pyramid schemes operates. There are  particular groups that plan events. It is their war department like the Pentagon. These particular groups of demons plan many events and commands. There are other groups that just reports and updates. These groups of demons create strategies, tactics and report things to satan. There are other groups that participate in the actual spiritual warfare. And then there are groups who are responsible for inciting the emotions and temperament of people. The organization is divided into what appears to be countless and endless fields of groups and positions.

When someone is filled with the Holy Spirit, the demons will come and utilize their best strategies by sowing weeds to hinder and break them. When someone is fed God’s Word, the demons will come and plant weeds to prevent the person from being rooted into good soil. The demons will come to hinder and prevent the people who are rooted in good soil from bearing good fruits. When a person is faithful to the Lord, the devil will come and apply strategies to entice the person to quarrel with other Christians so faithful one will leave the church. As people come to apprehend the Word of God, the demons will come to hinder and prevent them from walking in the Word. The demons will attempt [to keep] Christians from walking and applying the Word of God. When it comes to those who are good listeners to God and to those who obey His Word, the demons will come to stir them in an attempt to make them overreact to cause quarrel and strife among the brethren. It is the strategy of demons to make Christians make mistakes. If people are humble, the devil will attempt to make them become passive. However, contrary to passiveness, those who are aggressive, the devil will utilize that trait to cause more quarrel and strife.

satan and his soldiers will observe humans without limits to obtain ways to hinder and attack us. The demons do not roam around without purpose. The demons will generally taunt Christians in such a way.

“Hey! Will you continue to pray even though your situation is not improving? Look at your children, they are still rebellious! Look at yourself! You are still depressed! What is the use of praying?”

There are always demons working behind our negative thoughts. Remember, God has chained satan with utter darkness. He is pure darkness and evil.

Moreover, for example, demons like to stir up people by enticing certain thoughts into our minds such as, “Get on your computer. Watch the lustful videos and pictures. Get angry and fight! Break up, divorce, and leave your husband/wife!”

The outer appearance of satan is very grotesque. He does not look like human nor animal. He is very dirty, eerie and wicked looking. This is the one whom we are fighting against. This is reality. We are not able to combat such a being with our feelings, emotions, or thoughts.

There are different groups in which we spiritually fight against. In Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) [it says], "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

The first group is principalities. The principality group is formed with countless structure/system/organizations. This group is the strongest among the other groups. This group is responsible for delivering reports to satan on a regular basis. They are like staff officers that create tactical strategies. It is a very important group to satan. This group organizes all the plans and methods to carry out the work. This group’s power is very impressive. It is like the brains of the operation. On my 6th book, I level them as a first ranked group. They are right below satan. These are satan’s generals. They are very keen and plan with diligence.

The second group is the power group. They are second in rank. The countless demons in these groups are very active. These spiritual beings roam throughout space. satan will pray a blessing over this group of demons. “Go fill the earth and destroy! Create trials of curses!!” satan dispatches this group after he prays over them. As I was preparing this sermon, a white two headed dragon demon appeared and harassed me. He was very angry. It is like how churches dispatch missionaries. The demons do it in similar fashion.

 “We need more forces for this particular region. Speedily come help us!” When their forces become weak, they will report to satan of their situation. Then satan will fill them up again with strength and reinforcements. satan gives power and strength to replenish them. When they are replenished, they go back and start destroying again. It is like when we do our fire ministry, we can be replenished and recharged with more fire power from above. When we stretch out our arms upward and shout out, “Lord, grant us more powerful Holy Fire!” then the powerful Holy Fire comes down and engulfs us.

The third group are rulers of the darkness and spiritual hosts of wickedness. These groups of demons compete with one another for territories. These demons have their own operating areas. As a result, these particular demons engage and fight with Christians the most. They are in the sense the foot soldiers. However, this does not mean we do not still fight or engage with the other groups of demons. Previously, I had traveled to Corona to hold a fire revival meeting. But the evil spirits that were seizing that particular region pierced my head with (spiritually) sharp thick nails and as a result I was rolling around my bed in so much pain screaming. Even though they are spiritual beings, they can inflict physical pain. It does not matter where you are. All the regions and nations are seized by certain groups of demons. These demons have their own regions. They compete with one another to gain more territory to be rewarded by satan. Humans are the victims of this competition. War between humans are a manifestation of the spiritual competition among demons to gain territory.

Daniel 10:13 (NKJV) “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief [of the celestial] princes, came to help me, for I remained there with the kings of Persia.”

When Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days, the kingdom of Persia withstood him. But at the last day of his fasting, God sent Archangel Michael to open the way and to help Daniel. The kingdom of Persia are rulers of darkness. They do the wicked works.

Mark 5:10 (AMP) “And he kept begging Him urgently not to send them [himself and the other demons] away out of that region.”

These demons had begged Jesus for them not to be sent away. These demons had seized that particular region. There are countless of regions that demons are seizing such as country, city, certain regions, provinces, and even within the churches. The demons will also seize countries with their customs and culture to influence the world or other nations in order to corrupt them.

Previously,  I had visited a museum which was located in the city of On Yang, Korea. This museum has on display many old Korean traditional costumes and cultural historical artifacts. The priests that had worshipped the sea king spirit wore certain costumes or outfits during their rituals. The shamans and the Korean village guardians were also on display. They were life like figures made from wood displayed for the audience. There were so many demon spirits in the museum. I was severely attacked and afterwards I had a difficult time praying. It had broken my normal praying rhythm.

The evil spirits dwelling and roaming in the heavenly places are the most practical workers within the demonic organization. They are the ones who will penetrate into the churches and the believers. These countless number of evil spirits are responsible for stopping the believers from worshiping God in true freedom. They are the ones who will attempt to stop the pastors from working God’s ministry effectively and will attempt to make the leadership complacent and lazy. They are responsible for stealing our joy and the willingness to serve with a grateful and sacrificial heart within the church. They are responsible for taking away the faithfulness in doing God’s work. These evil spirits are the ones that most harass the church and the body of Christ.

What are we to do to repel such attacks? We must arm ourselves with the full armor of God! We must pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty.

Offensive and defensive weapons are at our disposal. The defensive weapons are as follow, Girding our waists with Truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoeing our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and taking the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. The offensive weapon is the Sword of the Spirit or the Word of God! We must pray at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and entreaty.

As some people are only devoted to studying and analysing the bible without much prayer or Spirit, the demons of cult are dispatched to destroy them. When someone in the church is very devoted to self sacrifice in doing God’s work, the demons will stir up other people within the church to become envy and jealous. Once the evil spirits seizes our thoughts, it will be very hard for us to overcome such a trap. The spiritual warfare starts with a thought. We must pray asking God, “Lord! Seize my thoughts!” Then fight continues in the mind. We must have victory in this area. When we have evil things or unholy things in our minds, we must instantly shout out, “In the Name of Jesus! Get out, satan! We must shout out immediately to cast such bad seeds away without hesitation. Lastly, the demons will attempt to utilize our body/flesh to carry out what is in our thoughts and minds. Therefore, we must use our free will very carefully. When the evil spirits attack us, it is not at impulse but a well-orchestrated plan. Before they attack us, they would have already grasped our personalities and activities in all things within our lives. They already know the good and bad within us which may be physical and psychological. They have already thoroughly studied us. This is why we must become skillful soldiers.

There are patterns and flows within the demonic activities. The demons have their own name such as the spirit of lust, violence, hate, and so on. These spirits entice people starting with a thought, to the mind, and then to the flesh to carry out in action. Once a person acts upon it in the flesh, he/she has fallen deep.

We must disclose the activities of the evil spirits. The reason why we must disclose the activities and function of the evil spirits is because many Christians are ignorant in regards to them. Moreover, many Christians are seized by the demons and ignorant to that reality. As a result, the Kingdom of God is hindered by these evil spirits as many Christians do not know the identity and function of evil spirits.

Demons have different activities. For example, the demons will measure our faith to a higher standard of faith than we may actually possess in order to attack us. They may put such a thought as, “Why does your faith not even come close to Job? You must at least have faith like him! Even after we had killed all his children taking everything from him, he did not have any resentment toward God. What kind of faith is yours?”

We must go through many spiritual experiences to strengthen our faith. We do not start out with the faith of Job.

Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.”

Scripture referred to satan as Leviathan. This twisting nature make people misunderstand each other by distorting and confusing many things. Snakes do not move straight but move in a zigzag motion. The demons will twist things within the churches and families. They will utilize the personality and character of a person for their gain. It is difficult for demons to use people who make choices to live holy lives. Such people will gain understanding of the spiritual realm and thus the demons will move on to other people.

If one is depressed, one should not continue acknowledging their situation or status by saying they are depressed. They must instead proclaim that they are not depressed! However, if one continues to say that they have depression and that it is hard and lonely, then they will have attracted many more such demons. Such a person will be filled with depressed demons and the demons will utilize such illness for their advantage.

When a person faithfully follows Jesus, the demons will attack in such a way. “You are no different than any other people. Since you are human and weak, you will fall and become corrupted!” They will attack anyone hoping someone will fall.

We must have the assurance of our salvation but at the same time we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. So many people are losing the battle with themselves, with their surrounding and circumstances. The demons accurately use our personality, character, preferences, emotions, and human nature to defeat us.

I pray that you will have victory and overcome with the full armor of God and with all prayer and entreaty. Have victory and overcome bad seeds of thought, mind and body/flesh!! Hallelujah!!

[End of sermon by brother Kim, Yong Doo, Author of the “Baptize by Blazing Fire”]

Translated by Steve and Yoojin Kim for the glory of God on July 8, 2012

Attributions Notice: Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Some Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible. Other Scripture quotations taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Author's Note: You may also want to see my other blogs, Demonology 201 and Demonology 301. I invite you to visit the Home page for this blog, and you can also find my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."
                             _________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.