“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.” (Matthew 4:23-24)
The subject of demons is very real in the Bible. Although the King James translation chose not to use the word demon, it is found in practically every other translation of the Word of God. Demon simply means an evil spirit or devil. The word is derived from two Greek words, diamonian and diamon, meaning evil spirits.
The nature of demons are as follows: They are evil, are individuals, have knowledge, have feelings, produce doctrines, have wills, can perform miraculous powers, have emotions, and have desires. The work of demons are as follows: They possess people and work through them. According to the Word of God, they can cause physical sicknesses and infirmities such as dumbness, deafness, blindness, and lunacy. They can make people commit suicide, have fits, lie, so discord, be in bondage, be jealous and lust. Furthermore, they can teach, steal, fight, get mad, tell fortunes, and even speak.
All of that is just general information about demons. But the question that we are after the answer is, how do demons choose their victims? We've all heard that people can be oppressed or possessed by demons. But how do demons actually choose their victims? Why one person and not another?
Man is made-up of a tripartite being: body, soul, and spirit. And whether you know it or not, our battle with the devil involves all three areas of our lives. The devil not only wants to destroy you physically, but also spiritually and soulishly. The body of man is the earthly house of the soul and spirit. The spirit of man is the intellect, will, conscience, and other faculties that make him a free moral agent. But the soul of man is what the enemy is ultimately after. The soul of man is the seat of his affections, emotions, appetites, desires, and all feelings.
References to our soul are used over 250 times in our Bibles. The word soul is used with words such as lusteth, longeth, desireth, abhorreth, hunger, pleasure, greedy, anguish, discouraged, love, grieved, bitterness, hated and weary. Now what does all this have to do with how demons choose their victims? Everything! Everything when you realize that it is your soul that the devil wants the most. The battle is not over whether or not you come to church or read your Bible. The battle is for your soul. Our soul is tied to our minds. The biggest battle in the Church today is for the minds of believers.
Satan is a mind warfare expert. And as such, he knows how to pull our strings. He knows what buttons to push. He looks for people that have emotional scars, that have been inflicted with wounds, through wounds that have been received in battles. He looks for people who have been hurt, bruised, scarred, and battered, for people who have suffered traumatic events. He looks for people that have weaknesses because of past failures. These are his number one targets. These are the ones that he tries to exploit their weaknesses. These are the ones that demons will try to gain access through those wounds, through those scars, through that pain. But take heart, fellow warrior, for Jesus in Matthew 4:24 showed us that He has power over all the power of the enemy. When they brought to Him those that were possessed of devils, those that were tormented in their minds, those that were battling mind warfare, He healed them all!
Additionally, allow me to briefly show you a few of the things that opens the doorway for demonic activity in the life of a human being. Each of these are an abomination to God. Each and every one of these things are 100% demonic and provide inroads to demonic oppression and possession. While there are many other avenues that demons can use to cause you to become one of their victims, this list will at least give you an idea of what we must stay away from. We cannot afford to play games with sin and evil. We must separate ourselves from the evil of this world. I don't care how many people are doing it. I don't care how popular it may be in our modern culture. These things are wrong! And they will destroy you – body, soul and spirit!
New Age movement, sorcery, magic, hypnotism, palmistry, tarot cards, astral travel, ESP, astrology, playing with Ouija Boards, visualization, meditation, channeling, necromancy, seances, hypnosis, fortunetelling, reincarnation, horoscopes, occult practices, satanism, witchcraft, wizardry, psychics, using fetishes and charms, sexual sins, using drugs and alcohol, false religions, Freemasonry, nature worship, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or even watching movies like Harry Potter or any horror films. If you are involving yourself in any of these things, my advice to you is RUN! Run as fast as you can away from such evil filth!
I know that this doesn't get preached on in our churches much any more. I realize that some of these in this list may be a hard pill to swallow. For instance, I know that in our modern culture, even in the church itself, people have convinced themselves that it's okay to drink. There is even a term used for it within the church world – sipping saints. Let me tell you right now, my friend, if you are one of these sipping saints, get some backbone back in you and make yourself an altar somewhere and call out to God for help. Never, and I mean never ever, should you allow your mind to be intoxicated with either drugs or alcohol.
If you are one of these people who read your horoscope – stop! If you are ever tempted to play with a Ouija Board – don't! If someone asks you to let them read your palm – turn away! If someone breaks out a deck of tarot cards – just say no! I could literally go down the list and every time, I would just keep on saying – run! Do not allow yourself to be sucked into believing that any of these things are okay to dabble in. Never ever allow anyone to talk you into getting involved with any of this stuff. Do not expose your soul to the demonic! The Bible is crystal clear on each of these topics. For instance, do you know what the Word of God says about sorcerers, wizards and magicians? You should. You should know what the Bible has to say about each and every one of these evil practices.
Leviticus 19:31, “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 20:6, “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.”
Deuteronomy 18:9-12, “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”
I ask you to please pray – sincerely pray and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you away from such filth. God hates these things and so should you. After all, you did come here because you wanted to know how demons choose their victims didn't you? Well – didn't you?