The earth which was made an habitation for man (Gen. 1:26. Isa. 45:18) has now become the abode of Satan and his demon host. Instead of man having dominion over the earth as intended by God, Satan has become the world’s unseen ruler. Satan, called the god of this world by Paul (II Cor. 4:4) and prince of this world by Jesus (John 14:30) is indeed the head of this whole world system.
Behind the governments of the world, including the political and religious systems, are the unseen rulers of darkness headed up by Lucifer. There is not a government or political or religious philosophy in the world that has not been corrupted by Satan. In fact many of them are his inventions from start to finish to lead men astray. Though we look upon and blame human personalities behind these systems, the real enemy is Satan and his demon host.
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The amplified translation states it thusly: “For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood -- contending only with physical opponents -- but against the despotisms, against the powers, against (the master spirits who are) the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.” Moffatt’s translation is also interesting. “For we have to struggle, not with blood and flesh but with the angelic authorities, the potentates of the dark present, the spirit forces of evil in the heavenly sphere.”
From these translations, we learn that our real enemy is not man but forces of evil, called powers, principalities, master spirits, world rulers, spirit forces, angelic rulers, angelic authorities and potentates. These are all living and operating from the supernatural invisible realm of darkness. Webster defines the word “principality” as a prince of a territory. It is evident from these scriptures that Satan’s kingdom has many fallen angelic spirits of a very high order, called world rulers, master spirits, and princes over vast territories.
We are prone to think of Satan’s emissaries as living only in a disembodied state, hovering around in space and whispering evil into our ears. It is true, there are literally billions of evil spirits living in the atmosphere around the earth, tempting, deceiving, harassing, and vexing mankind. But the devils that we need most to be on the alert for are those who are trying to influence us through man. This is where Satan through his demon host does his greatest damage in leading men to ruin. As folks used to say when I was a little boy, “the devils you need to watch out for are the two-legged ones.”
Though we do not wish to minimize the need for guarding our minds against the enemy that whispers in our ears, we must also be on the alert against him deceiving us through man. This type of deception may be on a much higher plane, but it is just as destructive and can lead into a morass of spiritual and moral corruption that brings forth death.
Demons’ greatest work of deception and evil is accomplished as they project themselves through the life and personality of the person they indwell. Their evil spirit nature is actually imparted or ministered in this manner, even as God’s spirit of rightousness and life is ministered to man through human vessels. As the word of God is the vehicle or means through which God enters a human life; Satan’s word, the lie, is the means used to enter and destroy man.
Religious, political, or philosophical delusion is actually the worst type of demon possession. First of all it is not considered demon possession because those possessed are otherwise normal and sane. The only abnormality recognized by the world is extreme insanity that requires a padded cell.
Demon possession that causes the victim to beat his head against a wall is minor in comparison. There is actually more hope for one obviously demented than for demon deluded people who are considered perfectly sane.
Once men have received a religious, political, or philosophical spirit (demon) they are positive they have the answer to the world’s problems. Rather than feeling any pain or need for themselves they are convinced it is the other fellow who needs conversion. All deluded people are absolutely sure they are right; otherwise they wouldn’t be deluded.
Satan’s kingdom gospel is being faithfully proclaimed by such demon anointed preachers, philosophers, teachers, political figures, and just plain witnesses. It is believed in far more than the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It consists of any religion, political belief, philosophy, or way of life apart from God’s eternal plan and purpose through his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. It is in this manner that evil angelic beings of great power and authority sway and influence mighty nations.
Men such as Hitler, Karl Marx and others have been possessed by master spirits that actually inspired and anointed them for the evil work they have done. Demons who are responsible for all false philosophy also anoint men to preach Satan’s lie.
Much of the inspiration responsible for Nazi Germany came through the demon inspired writings of H. S. Chamberlain. According to the book “The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich” by William L. Shirer, pages 104-113, Kaiser Wilhelm and Adolf Hitler both considered H. S. Chamberlain Germany’s prophet. Quoting from the book we find these interesting things about Chamberlain.
“... Chamberlain was given to seeing demons who, by his own account, drove him on relentlessly to seek new fields of study and get on with his prodigious writings. One vision after another forced him to change from biology to botany to the fine arts, to music, to philosophy, to biography, to history. Once, in 1896, when he was returning from Italy, the presence of a demon became so forceful that he got off the train at Gardone, shut himself up in a hotel room for eight days and, abandoning some work on music that he had contemplated, wrote feverishly on a biological thesis until he had the germ of the theme that would dominate all of his later works: race and history.
“Whatever its blemishes, his mind had a vast sweep ranging over the fields of literature, music, biology, botany, religion, history and politics. There was, as Jean Real has pointed out, a profound unity of inspiration in all his published works and they had a remarkable coherence. Since he felt himself goaded on by demons, his books (on Wagner, Goethe, Kant, Christianity and race) were written in the grip of a terrible fever, a veritable trance ....”
It was this man and his book “Foundations of the Nineteenth Century” that provided much of the inspiration for Nazi Germany’s rise to power. It is also evident that Adolf Hitler was inspired and anointed by a demon to lead Nazi Germany at that time. It is evident from Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” that he believed he was to lead Germany in conquering the world because the German people were destined to fulfill their purpose as the world’s master race.
Beyond doubt Satan’s kingdom is a vast organized conspiracy with master spirits located in strategic places throughout the earth. It seems each earthly kingdom or domain is ruled over by these evil princes. God’s messenger to Daniel was hindered from coming to Daniel for twenty one days by the Prince of Persia who was evidently one of Satan’s evil princes over this earthly kingdom. Daniel (10:1-13). Michael the Archangel, called “one of the chief princes” in God’s kingdom, came and fought against the prince of Persia thus enabling the messenger to get through to Daniel.
It will also be noted from verse 20 that the prince of Grecia was expected to come after the messenger departed to fight with the prince of Persia. This prince of Grecia was no doubt another evil potentate probably indwelling the human king over Grecia who would come on the scene later. The thing we need to see from these scriptures is that human personalities under the control of evil master spirits were actually involved. The kings of Persia referred to in verse 13 were no doubt also men under the control of evil spirit personalities.
All this simply bears out the great truth that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but powers and principalities. Though often hiding under the cloak of human flesh it is evil spirit beings who are our real enemies. From this we also learn that God’s princes among men and angels (Daniel and Michael) can expect to be bitterly opposed by Satan’s princes. We also learn that Christ and his holy angels are working with God’s people against Satan and his evil host. Above all we must begin to see that human personalities, high and low, are merely powers of Satan in his battle against Christ and his kingdom.
Such evil potentates as these master spirits would not bother with some lowly individual. Spirits of lesser power and intelligence would be dispatched to take care of them. Under the jurisdiction of each of these master spirits there are millions of demons of every conceivable kind that prey upon mankind. Some of these are vastly superior in strength and intelligence to others.
The stronger ones look with contempt upon the weaker spirits. The weaker spirits envy the stronger and wiser spirits. All recognize Lucifer as their supreme ruler and master. Though they all hate each other including Lucifer their king they respect authority and will help each other. When under attack they are obligated to rush to the aid and rescue of their fellow demons.
For this reason demons associate together to draw strength from each other. It is demon spirits that cause certain types of humanity to associate with others of the same spirit. Did you ever notice how town drunks or alcoholics like to get together usually in a certain place known to all of them. This is also true of dope addicts, homosexuals, gamblers, criminals, harlots, and whoremongers. It is also this same principle (spirits) that bind people together in religious movements that close their minds to progressive revelation and the work of the Holy Spirit.
There are three general categories or divisions that all demons belong to. The first one we consider are those that afflict men morally in leading them into sin and rebellion against God. These are the spirits that work through and in the base nature of man. They are responsible for various forms of lust, jealousy, envy, hate, suspicion, deception, distrust, dishonesty, pride, and greed. These demons take advantage of man’s depraved nature to gain control of his life.
The second type we consider are the spirits that work upon the mind, such as fear or hallucination, apart from moral issues or principles. These spirits which are legion do not necessarily seek embodiment through the weakness of man’s base nature. Although the mind is involved in most demon possession including moral issues and physical affliction, this type spirit seeks to mentally derange, bind, blind, and destroy man.
In this category there are hundreds of different spirits that affect the human mind in different ways. In the religious realm alone there are demons for every sect and religion on earth. This includes heathen idol worshippers and most of the so-called Christian world with its hundreds of denominations, cults, and sects. Demons are responsible for every false religion and philosophy upon the earth. They are also responsible for all religion devoid of the Holy Spirit regardless of how fundamental and orthodox it may be.
Although Satan’s master spirits oversee false religion and philosophies there are millions of demons that indwell men upon conversion to them. This is why people are so frequently zealous to promote and convert others to their religion or philosophy. They are actually demon anointed and inspired. This explains the sacrifice, the zeal and the dedication of these people.
No doubt about it, demons are in the ministry. Religion is Lucifer’s number one business in this world to deceive and destroy man. The Bible is filled with warnings of false devil-inspired religion. (I Timothy 4:1). Under the guise of an angel of light Satan has fathered every false religion and corrupted many others. Lucifer’s ministers are actually a class of demon spirits that transform themselves through men as ministers of righteousness. II Cor. 11:13-15.
In this category you also have the demons of insanity which are responsible for many forms of mental derangement and intellectual extremes. Delusions of grandeur, depression, vexation, hallucinations, manias, obsessions, fear, nervous breakdowns, epilepsy, loss of speech and body coordination are caused by these demons that prey upon the mind.
The third and final category we consider are the spirits that cause many forms of physical affliction and disease. Though we can’t positively link the mind to many of these physical ailments, I feel the mind controlled by demons of fear often paves the way for such spirits as demons of cancer. We know from the Judy Clevenger case that certain spirits make chain smokers out of people for the express purpose of giving them lung cancer.
The fact that demons cause cancer first came to my attention around fourteen years ago as I observed the late William Branham minister to a woman in Macon, Ga. As this lady who had cancer came before him he looked to his left out in the audience and described a certain lady who also had cancer. Then he told the two ladies, neither of whom he knew anything about, that they both had cancer.
Through the amazing gift of God operating in his life he could see and hear the spirit of cancer running from the woman who stood before him to the one in the audience screaming for help. And, of course, those who followed Brother Branham’s ministry know that God enabled him to see such things as this, literally thousands of times.
No doubt many diseases and bodily afflictions are caused by evil spirits of some kind. From the scriptures we know that a spirit of infirmity caused a woman whom Jesus healed, to be bowed over as if with a rheumatic condition. (Luke 13: 11-16). We also have the record of one possessed with a devil that was blind and dumb whom Jesus healed. (Matthew 12:22). One day we may discover that demons are directly or indirectly responsible for all of earth’s moral, mental and physical ills.
Even great wars that kill, destroy and bring so much suffering to mankind are caused by wicked spirits in high places of authority. (Rev. 16:13-14). These are often spirits that indwell important military and governmental leaders who are not aware of being used by demons.
Yes these master spirits are the inspiration behind the great doctrines, philosophies, and religions of the world that blind men to true spiritual reality. Any religious doctrine, or political philosophy that seduces and captivates the mind of man apart from the work of the Holy Spirit is the work of devils. It is simply a part of the great conspiracy to blind and enslave men lest the light of the gospel should shine unto them and they be set free.
I Timothy 4:1 says, “Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils....”
Although these seducing spirits and doctrines of devils primarily have reference to false religions, is there anyone more religious in the belief and practice of their philosophy than the communists? Since the takeover of Russia by Lenin and a small but dedicated group in 1917, Communism has become the most widespread political philosophy in the world.
Like a flaming revival this cleverly designed satanic substitute for the kingdom of God has swept the earth. By 1950 one third of mankind was under the rule of communism. Today [written in 1968] the greatest part of the world is under the control of communism.
Likewise the false religious cults have swallowed up millions while the organized church has stood by helpless to do anything about it. Actually the church having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof is responsible for the rise of so many false cults.
Doctrines of devils and demon inspired philosophies have reached unprecedented proportions in these last days. All of this is preparation for the visible reign of Anti-Christ that will soon take over complete control of the political and religious world.
This has been Satan’s objective since he was cast out of heaven originally. He wants to be worshipped as God over his own personal world of men and demons. And for a short while it will seem he has accomplished his purpose as all the world of lost mankind actually worships him. Rev. 13:8.
But praise God his time will be short as the God of heaven comes forth through his people and smashes Satan’s kingdom and sets up his eternal kingdom of peace and righteousness. Daniel 2:44.