Christian Demons
If you read the title of this essay carefully you might have
wondered how a demon could ever be a Christian. "Demons", you might
say, are evil and rebellious, while "Christians", good ones that is,
are obedient and Godlike. That is why we have two different words - one word
for each kind of being, otherwise we would need only
one word to describe both things.
The very word "demon" by its association
with the rebellion in heaven, the wild man in the tombs, the son who threw
himself repeatedly to the ground, and the beings who shouted "My name is
Legion, for we are many!" means an enemy of God. It was demons
which constantly opposed the Lord Jesus throughout his ministry, twisting
people's hearts and contradicting the words of the Master.
So how can there ever be such a thing as a Christian
demon? Am I suggesting that some demons become Christians? Not at all, but I am
proposing that demons often practise the dramatic
arts, and instead of a stage in a theatre, they use everyday life, and turn on
such an act as to fool and bewilder all but the most discerning. Demons know
how to dress up as Christians, and speak, act and even teach like Christians,
yet their aim is to destroy the Christian faith.
1.
One example of this kind of thing is the theology student
who goes right through training and comes out with a sheet of paper which
qualifies him or her to lead a fellowship - and from the pulpit this
representative of God teaches evolution, humanism, compromise with the world,
and a whole bag of false doctrines.
Another example is the rock group which takes on
Christianity, and then portrays Christ as a rock musician, complete with long
hair, swearing, drugs and screaming on stage.
In both cases the world finds 'Christ' attractive, and the
minister or rock musician finds the blending of false with true extremely
convenient, because nothing has to be forsaken, and people enjoy his sermons,
or his music.
Further down the scale there are many different shades of
this mixed worship, this demonic charade, this blending of darkness with light,
this worldliness with Christ added - as if God would really share His Throne
with Satan (!) - but the further down the scale we
come, the more subtle the blend of false notes.
For example :
Exodus 20:1-7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD
your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name
in vain". Exodus 20
"All false oaths are forbidden. All light appealing to
God, all profane cursing, is a horrid breach of this command." (Matthew
Henry's Concise Commentary)
"This means to swear by God's name that a false
statement is actually true. It could also include profanity, cursing, or
swearing to a promise and failing to fulfil it."
(Believer's Bible Commentary by William MacDonald)
How reliable are we as Christians? Do we always keep our
word? Can people trust us implicitly? The very fact that we claim to be Christians places us on a pedestal above the crowd, and all
eyes are on us - will we represent Jesus and honour
his Name, or will we behave like demons - unreliable, dishonest, unpredictable?
2.
Another form of Demonic Christianity happens when what is
actually ungodly, and un-Christlike, is presented as
Christian simply because it has the name 'Christian' pinned to it. One
excellent Bible example of this principle is in Ex.32:1-6. Aaron the
high priest, and
Nehemiah comments on this incident : Nehemiah 9:18
"They . . . made them a molten calf, and said, This is your God that
brought you up out of
"They made a calf in Horeb,
and worshipped the molten image.
Thus they changed their glory (God) into the similitude of
an ox that eats grass". Psalm 106:19,20
Christians may fall into the trap of reducing God to
some Manmade formula, or to representing Him in ways which do not match the
Bible description. God, obviously, is not an ox, nor is He any other kind of
animal, such as a lion, lamb, or goat. Nor is He a Watchmaker, or a Cosmic
Consciousness. Some Christians see God as Santa Claus, or Indulgent Father, or
Slot Machine, or Passive Observer, or Radical, or Liberal, or even as a
Revolutionary who condones Crusades and guerilla warfare.
"God . . . gave them up to worship the host of heaven;
as it is written in the book of the prophets, O . . . house of
3.
When Elijah came to demonstrate the power of the true God
before the people, he said : "How long (must you) halt between two
opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. 1Kings
18:21
The word "halt" in Hebrew is 'pasach'
meaning "to leap, or pass over. What the people were doing was leaping, or
passing over from Baal to God and back. They were trying to jump both ways.
I remember, when I was in my early teens, I did a fair bit
of leaping between Creation and evolution. Lack of understanding and lack of
careful Bible study, put me in the ridiculous position of saying evolution was
true, but so also was the Bible - despite the fact that the two views were
mutually exclusive.
Christians ought to beware of placing one foot firmly in
error and the other in truth. The acceptance of cult teachings can do this, and
so can blind obedience to priests, pastors or some other church leader. Truth
is absolute. It can never change. It is the standard by which everything must
be measured - not the other way round. Satan would have us place opinions, or
Manmade teaching beside truth - but we know that Satan and Christ do not sit on
the same throne.
4.
In 1 Kings 12:26-29, 32 Jeroboam saw with dismay that
the people were about to walk out of his little northern kingdom and worship
God down south in Jerusalem, so he devised a suitable blend of worship to lure
the people back to his own side.
"The king took counsel, and made two calves of gold,
and said to (the people), It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold
your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
And he set the one in
(so) the people went to worship . . .
And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the
lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
And (he) ordained a feast . . . like the feast . . . in
As a vote-winning policy it worked very well. The people
wanted to worship God and idols. The king provided facilities which
looked like God was there, and stocked them with idols, he built impressive
buildings, made special altars, and ordained priests in clerical costumes.
Outwardly all looked good, and the idolatrous Israelites were satisfied. They
probably really thought, with all sincerity, that the true God was pleased with
their mixed worship - I'm sure Satan was as well, because now Satan was getting
honour and praise (through his idols), and God was
missing out.
5.
One effective way of 'neutralising'
a conquered nation is to shift it into another country. This disorientates the
people, and weakens their resistance to rebel further. This is what the
Assyrians did, when they carried Israelites away, and replaced them with people
from
These immigrants into
"Then the king of
Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from
(And as a result) every nation made gods of their own, and
put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made . . .
And the men of
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the
gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made . . . priests . . . which
sacrificed for them . . .
They feared the LORD, and served
their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from
thence . . .
So these nations feared the LORD, and
served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children:
as did their fathers, so do they to this day". 2 Kings 17:25-41.
Can you imagine parents offering their child to Moloch, and
watching as the priest placed the child in the metal hands of the idol, and
then hearing the screams as the fire burned the child alive . . . and then
worshipping God as if this was pleasing to Him?
But modern-day parents would never do this would they?
Christian parents would never offer their children up on the altar of Moloch .
. . but they would send their children to a Public education system
which is secular, which teaches evolution, and which promotes all sorts of
anti-Christian values. They would allow their children to 'soak up' the
TV world of soaps, fashion and sexual immorality. They would allow their
children to play violent computer games. They would become so busy they
had no time to properly supervise, or spend time with, or nurture their
children in the things of God. Not the same thing, but close.
6.
This last point is very important. True Christianity grows
best when it holds to the standards set by God. What looks like but isn't
Christianity grows best when Christians compromise. Jesus lost many followers
simply because he was dogmatic, but those who did follow him were aware of what
they had committed themselves to, and they made the best followers.
Ezekiel, like Jesus, divided people in much the same way
when he called to the leaders of
"Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned My
holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane,
neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean . . . and
I am profaned among them". Ezekiel 22:26
It is always a good exercise to write down a personal list
of what you, as a Christian, may or may not do, because as soon as you begin to
write the list, you find yourself defining things. As a Christian you
are a priest of God, and as such, you are a sort of mini-Christ, a replica of
the Lord Jesus. It does not matter what people, including other Christians,
think of you, since you are answerable primarily and ultimately to God alone,
but because you are answerable to God, you ought to make sure you are pleasing
to Him.
So where do you stand? If you are a husband, how do you
treat your wife, other women, children, neighbours, the boss at work, and
friends? If you are a wife, how do you treat you husband, children and others?
If you are a child, do you honour your parents as you
should, or are you disrespectful like most of the kids at the school you go to?
If you think you should not be involved in something you know is wrong, are you
staying with it, or leaving it behind? Are you following your convictions, or
helping Satan chalk up yet more victories? In short, are you making a
difference between holy and profane?
From my own personal experience, I can think of several
times when I felt I was being drawn into mixed worship. (I speak only
for myself here).
I have been offered drugs, liquor and cigarettes. I have
been invited to late night parties, rock concerts and questionable company. In
each case I made a personal decision and honoured God
according to my own conscience.
7.
But what can we say about people who claim to be
Christians, but who behave so like people of the world that it is
impossible to tell the difference? Are they fake Christians? Are they
Christians who have never stepped away from the world? Are they Satan's
emissaries to deceive and lead astray true Christians? Sometimes the only
answer to these questions is "Yes". Of course there are fake
Christians in the world. There must be tares in amongst the wheat, otherwise
all the warnings in the New Testament would be nonsensical.
Usually, with these sorts of people, there is an attitude of
"I am not doing anything wrong. God is happy with everything I do. I am
not sinning."
Jeremiah came across this attitude too.
"And it shall come to pass, when you show this people
all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced
all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is
our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
Then you shall say to them, . . .Your fathers have forsaken
me, says the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and
have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you
walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not
listen to me". Jeremiah 16:10-12
Earlier on in Jeremiah's life, he met Christian demons who
said :
"I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim?" Jeremiah 2:23
In other words, they said "I'm OK, I'm innocent! I'm
not bad!" This sounds familiar. There are plenty of Christians today who
claim that they are doing well in God's work, while at the same time they
accept the idea that homosexuals and others should be allowed positions of
leadership in the church, or they encourage ecumenicalism, which means joining
Catholic heresies with Protestant truths, or they are members of the
Stonemasons, or they practise 'New Age' healing
techniques, or eastern-type meditation, or they hold mystical beliefs which are
the opposite to clear Bible teaching. "I am not polluted" they say,
"I'm a Christian, and God is pleased with me."
8.
Paul knew about Christian demons. He wrote Galatians, partly
to warn the Church about them.
"I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you,
and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please
men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:6-10
The word "accursed" in Greek is 'anathema', and it
has a number of meanings. Originally it meant something devoted, or specially
picked out for destruction, such as an idol or a city (Deut.7:26, Josh.6:17),
later it came to mean something which God could not smile upon (Zech.14:11).
Anyone who denies the truth about Jesus and God's plan of redemption, is
actually cursing themselves, because they place themselves outside of God's
saving grace.
Are there any Christian demons around today? Plenty! The
Mormons, for example, claim to have received their version of Christianity from
angels. Other cults claim divine perfection for their founders. Popes are said
to be God's faultless spokesmen - even when (as has happened in the past) there
are two popes reigning at the same time, and both contradicting each other.
Many founders of pseudo-Christian movements, such as Mary Baker Eddy of
Christian Science, or Joseph Smith of the Jehovah's Witnesses, or Herbert
Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God, have actually claimed to have been
divinely inspired, and far too many people are ready to believe such claims. In
some cases their followers have made the claims, and the leaders have not
contradicted them - a passive form of taking the deification.
But Paul says he does not want to please men. This is a
crucial statement, because it is the men-pleasers who stray from, and lead many
from, the truth. Today's rash of fake miracles (i.e. gold fillings, gold dust,
angel feathers and hundreds of 'visions', plus vague, contradictory predictions
and prophecies) are all part of the men-pleasing ways of Satan. Misguided,
sincere, dedicated Christians are continually being sucked in. False is being
placed beside true, and God's Word is being read along with Satan's lies.
A ship, tied to a wharf, is held to the side of the wharf by
large, strong ropes. If these ropes are untied, the ship does not suddenly race
away from the harbour, in fact, it may stay close to
the wharf for quite a while before gradually moving away.
It is the same with Christians when they begin to allow
compromise and error into their lives. The ropes tying them to the truth have
been slipped, but no obvious move away from following Jesus is apparent. For
weeks, or even months the Christian may appear to be close to God, but
gradually, as the tide sucks gently, that soul will move away. At first the gap
is small, and at some distance there may even be the thought that the soul may
return, but eventually the ocean swallows them up.
9.
Finally, the Lord Jesus Himself speaks to the modern-day
Church with a severe warning, in Revelation 3:14-22. He uses the word
"lukewarm" to describe the state of Christendom, but what exactly is lukewarmness?
To make something lukewarm, you need a mixture of two
temperatures - hot and cold. It seems that Jesus sees both hot and cold as good
things, in the sense that he wants Christians to be something definite - either
strongly defined one way or the other.
But when he looks at Christendom he sees compromise. "Warm"
Christians, who claim to be followers of Christ but who are doctrinally messed
up, and worldly, and immoral. Instead of being God's spokesmen, they are
pathetic, flip-flopping between the Bible and the wisdom of the world.
In the past, God spoke through the prophets. The
prophet's mouth was the Lord's mouth, so what the prophet said
was powerful. The Church today is supposed to be the representative of Jesus
Christ, so when it speaks, (that is, when individual Christians speak), what is
said should be in line with what the Bible says - so in this sense the Church
is God's prophet for today.
In Revelation 3 Jesus addresses the Church as a whole. There
are always exceptions, but the overall tone of today's Church is brought
together in this one line :
"So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will spue you out of my mouth".
Revelation 3:16
We should not be surprised at this. Would God allow Satan to
represent Him? Would God be content to have Satan speaking through the mouths
of His Old testament prophets? Of course not - so it is hardly surprising that
God is angry with today's Church, His modern-day mouth. Lukewarm Christians
(Christian demons) will be vomited out of God's mouth.
While there are many Christians who live zealous lives for
Jesus, there are also many who do not. Their sorry state is pictured in
Rev.3:20, which, despite popular usage is not addressed to unsaved
individuals, but to Christendom. Jesus is seen standing outside His own
Church, knocking to be let in.
"Behold, I (the Lord Jesus) stand at the door (of the
Church), and knock". Revelation 3:20
Which side of the door are you on?
Further references :
Luke 13:25-27, Deut. 12:32-13:1-8, 2Chron.33:16,17, Judges
17:3, 1Chron.13.