Creflo Dollar - The Reality of Satan and Demons - Part 1
Tonight, we're going got to talk about "The Reality of Satan and Demons". "The Reality of Satan and Demons". Why would you want to talk about something like this? Well, if you look at the behavior of the world, over 2000 fights on an airplane, mass shootings, murders, something's going on. And I think what happens with Christian people sometimes is we just, we forget about that there is a spiritual world, and we forget about that supernatural things are going on in that spiritual world to impact this physical world. And again, as a born-again Christian, this is nothing for you to be afraid of because you've been given authority over this. And so, when you mention demons, people think about horror stuff. Horror movies and all that stuff, no, no, no, no. You must understand that which you have an authority over. You have authority over the devil, and the Bible calls demons unclean spirits.
So what I want to do is, first of all, give you a recognition of what the Bible has to say about this, just to talk about the reality of it. The greatest victory Satan can obtain is a victory where we as believers don't believe that Satan exists, that we don't believe that there are unclean spirits, and yet Jesus dealt with it over and over again. It's kind of like part of the scriptures that Christian people just want to kind of like, you know, blot out, don't want to have anything to do with. Now, everything's not a demon, but there are a lot of things that are. Lot of disease, you'll find out tonight how demonic activity is over that, but now some of them are not. And so, as Christians, you've got to learn how to discern. So here's a question you need to ask yourself, am I being influenced by unclean spirits in any area of my life?
Now, some of you will say no because you don't recognize what those things are, what to look for. You would think, "Well, I'm not spitting up, I'm not doing cartwheels, I'm not doing growling and stuff". And yet Jesus rebuked Peter. We'll see that tonight, and he wasn't doing any of that. You got to learn how to recognize the devil when he show up, all right? So let's just, you know, every now and then, we need to have an intense Bible study. Let's do that tonight, and I just want the scriptures to speak to you. Let's go to and begin tonight in John chapter 10, John chapter 10 and verse 10. And then I'm going to run through some scriptures real quick, and then I'm going to show you the different ways that unclean spirits will inflict harm upon people in the world today. John 10:10, he says this, "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".
Now here, the thief refers to Satan, Satan is the thief. Say that out loud, "Satan is the thief". Well, you know it's not talking about God, God's not a thief. You know, why does he have to steal anything? He made everything, you know. "The thief comes," and here's the assignment of the devil. He wants to steal, kill and destroy. That's the assignment of the devil, to steal, kill and destroy. Now, as Christian people, you have an adversary, please understand that. You have an adversary that is against you. He wants to make it hard for you, he wants to bring destruction in your life, he wants to literally destroy things that are going on in your life, okay? So John 10:10 says, and makes a distinction between the one that wants to kill, steal and destroy, versus Jesus who said, "I want you to have life, and I want you to have it more abundantly to the full till it overflows," amen.
Now, go to Ephesians chapter 6 in verses 10 through 12. We're going to take a little journey here. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12. Now, there is a devil loose, not like when the thousand-year period where Satan will be loosed upon the earth to have a thousand years to do what he does and then afterwards, he'll be thrown into the lake of fire. That's kind of coming in our end-time teaching. But here, notice in verse 10, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might". Now, how am I to be strong in the Lord and in the power of God's might? By being mature and strong in God's Word. See, God's Word is the key to my victory. God's Word is the key to my victory. And when you lack understanding of that Word, or you lack awareness of that Word or participating in that Word and living by that Word, you're not going to be strong in the Lord. Verse 11, he says, "Put on the whole armor of God".
And somebody says, "Well, I don't know how to put on the whole armor of God". Very simple, put on the Word of God. Put on the Word of God. Put the Word of God on. Dress yourself up in the Word; you dress yourself up in the armor. "Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to," do what? "Stand against the wiles of the devil". Now, notice what he says, "Put the Word of God on so you can stand against the wiles". Another translation says, "that so you can stand against the strategy". Please understand Satan has strategy. He has a strategy meeting for every life, every born-again life, every life on the planet, he has a strategy to kill, steal and destroy. And the Bible says what we should do is put on the Word of God and make the Word of God priority in our lives so you can withstand and stand against the strategy. One translation says, "the trickery". Another translation says, "The wiles of the devil".
There's a devil loose, and he's your adversary, and he's trying to come up with ways to trick you and deceive you to destroy you and to steal and to kill in your life. And that's happening, but there's just so many people that don't credit the devil. They always going around talking about, "I don't know why this happening," or "What's wrong, how come that's going on"? And I'm telling you, there's a devil loose who has a strategy against your life. All right. Now, go to verse 12. He says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood". Our wrestling match is not against people, okay? It's not against people. And that's what's happening in this day and time. Everybody is fighting one another. There is something behind the people behavior. There's something behind racism. There's something behind your boss mistreating you. There is a spiritual influence behind all of the stuff that you encounter from people, all right.
"For we wrestle not against people," flesh and blood, "but our wrestling," he says, here's what's we should be combating, "principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places," now, what is that? Those are the four classes of unclean spirits. Those are the four classes or categories of demon spirits. The first class of demons spirit, which is the lowest class, principalities. The second class: powers. The third class: the rulers of darkness of this world and this world system. And the fourth class is spiritual wickedness in high places. All right, so I don't know what else did you think this was? We're wrestling against the four classes of demonic spirits that have a strategy to kill, steal and destroy in your life, all right? Verse 13, let's look at that just for a moment, that's good. Let me move on to this next scripture.
Now, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. Now, the strategy, one of the strategies of demonic spirits since Satan has been defeated and Satan has been stripped of all of the authority that Adam gave him in the garden, you see, when Adam gave the authority to Satan in the garden, Satan became the god of this world, small g. So there were certain things that God could not do because Adam turned the authority over to him and made him the small g god of this world. Literally, gave Satan some authority that was stripped from him, and thank God Jesus came and whipped him real good, okay, stripped him of the authority, made an open show of him, okay. And so, one of the things he uses now is the power of suggestion. You got to understand how your enemy operates. The power of suggestion. In other words, what unclean spirits will do is they'll get involved in your thought life. They will make one suggestion and then another suggestion. And if those suggestions are not confronted and dealt with, they will be like lumber delivered to a building site that will be used to build a fortress in your mind.
And that's how the enemy works. He's going to make a suggestion. He's going to build a stronghold in your mind. And when that stronghold has been built in your mind, it'll seem like the most correct thing ever. You know Satan has built strongholds in the minds of people and has influenced them to kill themselves. And if you could talk to people who are unsuccessful about suicide, they'll say, "I don't understand. Something just came over me, and I just... it was like I was being moved to do this". So that something is those strongholds that you built in your mind which granted him access to come in and begin to influence your life. Your thinking is now influenced because you would not cast down every thought. Every thought and suggestion that comes from the devil that you fail to deal with is like lumber at a construction site that he will use to build a fortified place or a fortress in your mind. The mind is the arena of faith. It is the place where the initial contact will take place for conflict in your life. "As a man thinketh in his heart," what, "so is he".
So everything is right up here, and we still don't get it. And we continue to fill our mind with all the wrong stuff. We listen to wrong words, we listen to wrong music, we listen to perverted ways, perverted wisdom. We're listening to this stuff, and we tell ourself it's all right. You ever heard some of the stuff you just listen to? You tell yourself it's all right, and that's influenced by the devil. He wants you to say it's all right so he can continue to deliver the construction equipment to build a fortress and a stronghold in your mind to kill, steal, and destroy. If you understand that, say, "Amen". So now, look at this in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 4 through 5. He says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God, and the weapons of our warfare will pull down strongholds". So when a thought comes into your mind that does not line up with the Word of God, you need to use the Word of God to pull that thought down, all right? And he goes on, and he says, "Casting down". So he tells you how to pull down strongholds. "Casting down the image maker or cast down the imagination".
Now, this is so interesting because when you fail to deal with these thoughts, then eventually, those little suggestions will become little pieces that will create pictures, and you'll start seeing it. And there's something about once you can see it in your imagination, the potential for it to be manifested is greater at that point. Once you can see yourself doing something stupid and see yourself doing the stuff you been listening to and see yourself doing the stuff you been manifesting, you been imagining, then your imagination will build an image. Do you remember in the book of Genesis, where they got this idea that we're going to build a tower that will reach heaven? And they said because whatever... God showed up, and he says, "We got to stop this," because God knew this about a man, "Whatever he can imagine to do, he'll do it". So he had to come and scatter the language.
Now, I'm telling you, that's pretty powerful that God would respond because he knew man had it in his imagination. Now, that can work in a great way for us too. If you can take the Word of God and build an image of that Word in your image maker, glory to God, every man got one. Take that Word and build an image, you can see it come to pass. I could see myself healed, praise God. And if I can see it, I'm like the battle's over. 'Cause once you can see the Word, once you can get enough Word that it produces an image of it, oh my goodness. That's why it says, "Meditate in the Word day and night," why? So you can get it in your image and have an inner image of the promises of the Word of God. But Satan too uses this same imagination to try to kill, steal and destroy, that's his objective. "Casting down imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God".
So the high thing would be you're going to die of cancer. You're like, "Oh, I got to cast that down. I will live and not die". You follow what I'm saying? You have to become a good custodian over your thought life. He says, now notice this, he says, "And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ". Now God's not going to do that. Bring every thought into captivity. Satan's most powerful weapon is the weapon of suggestion, and you're just letting those thoughts just maintain its position in your image maker and in your mind. And he says to bring every thought into captivity. How do you do that? By speaking the Word of God out of your mouth. Brother Hagan, a lot of folks used to say this, but he says, "You can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair". So you will have different thoughts that will go over, but you don't have to open your mouth and take it.
The Bible says, "Take no thoughts saying". So how do you take a thought? By saying. And so what happens is if you spend enough time listening to what the devil is saying and then it comes out of your mouth... my grandson came over to the house one day, and he says something. I don't know what he was talking about, but he was laughing, and he said, "Ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm dead". I was like, what? "Ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm dead". Does anybody here understand that? Have you ever heard that before? Y'all have? That blew my mind. I said, "So wait a minute". That's a saying right now, right? He says, "Yeah, it means this". I said, "Boy, boy, boy". I said, "Listen to me, boy. Don't be stupid. Don't say that". I said, "'Cause if you say that, we're going to be burying you one day. Don't say 'Ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm dead,' boy. Can't your mind tell something dumb about that"? "No, it's just a saying". "No, it's not just a saying. It is something that is being embedded into your thought life. You're not taking authority over it, and you think it's all right to just say, 'Ha, ha. I'm dead,' you're taking the thought, 'I'm dead.' You're taking the thought, 'I'm dead.'" Then something happen, you have a wreck.
And you know that boy had a wreck on a golf cart and almost died. I'm like, "God, dog. See that, 'I'm dead.'" You got a devil loose who wants to what? Kill, and what? Steal, and what? Destroy. Let me show you something in Matthew chapter 16, verse 21 and 23. I want to show you how subtle the enemy can come in. Peter had just received revelation of who Christ was. Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God". And man, the disciples, you know, Jesus said, "Peter, you know, flesh and blood hadn't shown you this, but my Father showed you this, boy," whoo, Peter. And from this point on, they called him, his name was Simon, the son of Jonah, Simon bar Jonah. He said, "But from this point on, your name will be Peter, and on this rock," and he wasn't talking about Peter, but he was talking about the revelation that came through Peter, "I'mma build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail". And all of the disciples were like, "Oh, Peter boy, you're the man now". You're the man now, Peter. You're the man.
And look, right after this situation, look what happens. Verse 21, "From the time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples," Jesus was showing his disciples, "how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests and scribes and how he was going to have to be killed and then be raised again the third day". All right, now watch this. Next verse. "Then Peter took him," took Jesus, "and began to rebuke Jesus saying, 'Be it far from thee Lord. This shall not be onto thee". That sounds real normal, right? I mean, you and I will read that and think, "Oh man, Peter, you got his back. You got his back". And look what Jesus did. "But Jesus, he turned to him, and he said unto Peter, 'Get thee behind me, Satan".
Where was Satan in what he just said? See, he was saying something that was God's plan to deliver all mankind, and Peter didn't even recognize that was the devil. He said, "Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me". Whoa. "For those savoreth, not the things that be of God but those things that be of men". He says, "You don't care about the things that be of God. Me coming here and me having to suffer and me dying, that is of God. You're more concerned about, you know, about man". Look at the Amplified real quick in verse 23. I want to look at the Amplified 23 and then the NLT in verse 23. I want to show these different versions here of what Jesus was saying about him. He said, "But Jesus turned away," in the Amplified, "from Peter and said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan. You are in my way: an offense and a hindrance and a snare to me. For you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God but you're minding what concerns man".
And look at the NLT here. See, you got to recognize, any time any voice that goes against the Word and the plan of God, that's the devil. You understand that? That's the devil. We're not talking about spitting up green stuff. We're just talking about contradicting the Word of God. But how will you know if it is a contradiction if you don't get in the Word? So it could be he'd been contradicting you for the last 20 years, 'cause you're not concerned about coming to church, getting no Word. You want to feel something when you come to church. "Hey. Oh, la, la". No, no, no, no, no, you need to get some Word, why?
So you can recognize that little slithering snake when he shows up with a suggestion, and you can say, "Wait a minute, that ain't God. Get behind me, Satan". "Jesus turned to Peter and said, 'Get away from me, Satan. You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from a God point of view'". You're seeing things from a human point of view and not from a God point of view. Isn't that the issue right now in the society we have now? We're not looking at things from a God point of view. We're looking at things from a human point of view. And what God is trying to say here is that be careful that you don't look at things from a humanistic, human point of view and not a God point of view.
Man, that's spiritual maturity. We got to grow up. We're giving Satan inroads into our lives because you let human beings tell you what's right or wrong, human point of view, and not look at it from a God point of view. What God had to say about it is the most important thing. Not what a group of people have to say about it. And our world is riddled, our society has been so riddled with the human point of view, and look where we are now. Oh my goodness.