Moral Frailty Demons: Don’t write off sex demons so fast!
It is easy to convince somebody of the demons which we find in the Bible (divination, infirmity, fear, deaf and dumb, and so forth). But sometimes, people wonder how we can go about casting out spirits of lust, perversion, anger, and so forth. Are we seeking to avoid personal responsibility of our sins, by blaming them on demons? If you read my teaching on Flesh and Demons, it will show you how this is not true at all. We can’t go around blaming demons for our failures. However, having a spirit of lust or perversion, can make it miserable on the person to resist those types of sins because of the intense pressure that is put upon them. This is the purpose of casting out such spirits, it is to relieve the person from such pressure or tendency to sin. People who have been delivered of such spirits will likely tell you that there is a big difference between being tempted from the outside and being driven pressured from the inside.
Often, a person who has a spirit of lust or perversion, for example, will feel an unusually strong draw towards those weaknesses. Somebody who has a spirit of addiction will often find it very hard to break off from whatever they are addicted to, and if they do break off, they will soon become addicted to something else (exchange a bondage to smoking, for an eating disorder). On the other hand, there are cases that are much more severe. I’ve worked with women who had what is called a spirit of incubus (some call it a spirit husband). It is a sex demon that will stimulate the woman sexually at night, as if it were a man. These women will often tell of how this thing appears to them at night, holds them down in bed, and rapes them!
How can a demon hold a person down physically and stimulate their body? Well, we see cases in the Bible where demons are known to take control of the physical body, cause it to foam at the mouth, and all sorts of things (see Mark 9:17-18). We also see God’s holy angel (who are without a physical body), physically wrestling with Jacob (see Genesis 32:24-26 & Hosea 12:4).
Where does the Bible clue us in on these demons?
While the gospels were too brief to cover many stories of healing and deliverance, it makes it clear that deliverance and healing ministry were taking place at alarming rates:
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 4:24
But we don’t hear much detail on what types of sicknesses, or what types of spirits that were dealt with. We do know that there are numerous demons out there, and the Bible is clear about a demonic hierarchy. That is an entire teaching by itself. We do know that one man that Jesus ministered to, had a legion (which is several thousand) demons in him. I think it would be insane and impractical to claim that the demons he had were all the same types of demons. If demons could cause the things that we see in the Bible (epilepsy, blindness, muteness, self-harm, divination, anger, etc.), then how many other cases of demonization did Jesus tackle, which affected the people in other ways or areas of their bodies, minds, or lives? It is a Biblical fact that Jesus did scores of deliverances and healings during His few years of earthly ministry, and we only know about a small handful of those stories, and the ones that we know are all unique. How many other deliverances did Jesus do, that was unique?
Near the ending of the gospel of John, we find that the book was never meant to be a detailed manual, but rather enough stories for us to believe in Jesus, the Son of God:
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
John 20:30-31
Later on, in the final chapter of John, he tells us that the vast number of miracles which Jesus did, were enormous. Jesus healed so many sick people, cast out so many demons, and did so many miraculous things, that recording them all would have been an enormous undertaking:
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
John 21:25
So with that said, we are naturally going to encounter sicknesses that were never mentioned in the Bible, and also evil spirits that were never mentioned either. I mentioned above the spirit of incubus… is it any less genuine evil spirit, even though it wasn’t mentioned in the Bible? Not at all! There are many spiritual things which take place in the occult, that it would have been impossible to include it all in the Bible. Abortions are not found in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable (considering other scriptures which tells us that life begins in the womb). The Bible doesn’t tell us accounts of people’s hair falling out, but I’m sure it happened back then, just as it does today.
We have to remember the goals of Satan and evil spirits. Jesus told us plainly what the devil was here to do:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
Whatever way that the devil can find to kill us, steal from us, and destroy us, you can bet he is interested in. I think most any believer will agree that Satan is actively tempting men to commit adultery, fornication, and so forth. Those are sexual related temptations, and they come from evil spirits. I have a teaching entitled Our Direct Enemy, which goes on to explain how it is not Satan who goes around tempting or harassing us, but his demons, for he is not able to be in more than one place at a time. It is, therefore, evil spirits that tempt men and women to commit adultery and fornication. God’s Word tells us that if we are married, not to give Satan (who uses evil spirits as his messengers) an advantage by withholding sex from our spouse:
Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan [by means of evil spirits] tempt you not for your incontinency.
1 Corinthians 7:5
If you read my Our Direct Enemy teaching, you will see that it is not Satan, but Satan’s messengers (evil spirits, or demons) who are doing the tempting. Therefore, I believe it clear that God’s Word tells us that evil spirits are very much interested in destroying a person’s life by means of sexual weaknesses. Demons are very much active in the realm of sex, and God’s Word supports this fact.
Now Paul made it clear that when a person sacrifices unto an idol, it is sacrificed unto a demon behind that idol. The idols themselves are nothing, but the demons behind those idols are very real and powerful evil spirits.
What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
1 Corinthians 10:19-20
With that said, we can learn a lot from researching the false gods that are mentioned in the Bible. I just want to point out a couple here though, to give you an idea of what demons are involved in. You’ll find that demons are very much involved with ungodly sexual activity and bondage. If we look into the Old Testament, we all know that Jezebel was an active Baal worshiper. Do you know what the idol Baal looked like? It stood strait up, and had the shape of a male’s sexual organ. Baal was a sex god (demon) to the core, and there’s not a Bible scholar in the world that would argue with that! There are other examples found in the Bible as well, such as the Assyrian goddess of sexuality referred to as the “queen of heaven” in Jeremiah.
The Bible speaks of a fertility goddess by the name Ashtoreth, which in the Greek means, “the Phoenician goddess of love (and increase).”
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
1 Kings 11:5
The Zidonians were worshiping a god of sexual fertility, and the Bible makes clear, this was done unto demons. In the deliverance ministry, it should be no surprise when we encounter a spirit of Ashtoreth possessing a person. It is not unreasonable to say that Satan and evil spirits will use sex as a means to carry out their John 10:10 mission, to kill, steal, and destroy people’s lives.
The spirit of whoredom in Hosea
We find a really good example of a spirit of whoredom (meaning adultery or idolatry), which led God’s people astray. A demon spirit caused (as they gave it access into their lives) them to turn away from God!
My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
Hosea 4:12
What about spirits of anger, hate, rage, and so forth?
We don’t have to look far to find that demons are known to cause uncontrollable anger-related weaknesses in a person. King Saul was a prime example; once the evil spirit entered him, he became fierce and even tried to kill David by throwing something at him.
Another example of anger problems is found in the story of the man at the tombs. Consider this verse:
And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
Matthew 8:28
Yes, it is possible to have a demon behind a person’s uncontrollable anger weakness. A person who has been abused or raped can have spirits such as hate, anger, etc. which has to be cast out. God’s Word warns us not to get Satan get an advantage in the area of our emotions through unforgiveness:
To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11
Where do you get the idea of Moral Frailty Demons from?
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Matthew 8:16-17
In the above passage, we find Jesus casting out demons to demonstrate how He took our infirmities. If you look up the word infirmities in the NT Greek, it gives us the word astheneia, which means, “feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady; moral frailty: – disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.” (Source: The Strong’s Concordance)
With that said, Jesus was addressing demons in people which were causing infirmities in their lives. These infirmities can come in the form of physical infirmities, diseases, moral frailties, and so forth, but are rooted, or caused by evil spirits which Jesus went about casting out. We see Jesus dealing with one woman, who had a demon behind her physical infirmity in Luke 13, whom Jesus said that Satan hath bound.
Let’s not forget what Jesus told us about the thief and what he does here on earth:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
Do we see demons running around with clubs, murdering people? Of course not! But that doesn’t mean what Jesus said is untrue; it’s all in properly understanding what Jesus was really saying. Jesus was telling us that the work of Satan, who’s workers are evil spirits, desire to steal from us, destroy our things (relationships, our joy, families, etc.), and yes, even kill us. Did you know that cancer is almost always demonic? And it’s one of the leading causes of death in this country! Could Jesus’ words be a little more true than we give them credit?
What solid believer in Christ wouldn’t admit that pornography addictions destroy people’s lives, marriages, and families? Is there anything that says that Satan can’t work through an evil spirit within a person, with the intent to destroy their life through pornography? What about masturbation (which brings waves of guilt and shame upon the person)? What about unnatural sexual desires that God’s Word says are not natural?
It is not reasonable to say that Satan, who works through evil spirits, will not use sex as a means to carry out their John 10:10 mission, to kill, steal, and destroy people’s lives?
We are NOT avoiding responsibility
We cannot blame our sins and failures on demons. They are only there to pressure us and entice us to give in. Having a demon of lust sets a person up for horrible pressure to fail in that area of their life. This is far beyond the normal level of temptation that we can always expect to experience. If there’s a driving force within you that does not leave, even after it has been resisted and you’ve drawn near to God, then it’s quite possible that an unclean spirit needs to be cast out.
Therefore, our goal in casting out a spirit of anger is never to get the person off the hook for their failures (by blaming the demons for their sins), but to relieve the severe pressure that they are feeling which is trying to make them angry. Traditional pastors in the church today will make the person’s flesh the whipping boy in cases where demons should have been cast out, and the poor people walk away with no real help or relief. They continue to struggle and live a defeated Christian life because the root of their problem was never really dealt with. It is not normal to have an ongoing bondage to porn or anger. God’s Word tells us that if we resist the devil and draw neigh to God, the devil will flee, BUT that chapter in God’s Word (James 4) is speaking of normal temptation that comes from the outside, it is not talking about internal bondages which involve demons that need to be cast out. I have a teaching on this entitled, “Resist the devil and he’ll flee: Exposing a misinterpretation” which puts the light on how badly this passage has been taken out of context and misinterpreted.
Traditional pastors point the finger at us, claiming that we’re trying to avoid personal responsibility for people’s weaknesses. Those of us who are involved in balanced deliverance ministry know that such a claim is as far from the truth as it can get. We’re here trying to help those to whom those pastors are unable to help. On top of that, what we’re doing WORKS. When the root issues in the people’s lives are dealt with, and the demons cast out, true and lasting freedom is a reality.