When An Evil Spirit Returns With His Brothers
It’s a sad case when as unclean spirit is delivered from a weary soul but then can return with seven more to reoccupy that life. This is one of Jesus Christ’s most powerful warnings. There are billions of fallen angels and everyone of them is a devil/demon. They have paranormal powers far superior to man. We are helpless when we have broken God’s laws and neglected Jesus Christ. Here are the very words of the Son of God. “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none , Then he says I will return into my house from whence I came out and when he is come, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goes he, and takes with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” (Matt. 12:43-45) There can be no question that this individual had been delivered from the powers of darkness. After their freedom was gained, they went back to their previous careless living. The world re-stole their heart and the soul was no longer occupied with the protection they had in Christ. The devil is never willing to give up a person he once controlled. This unclean spirit kept a watch on this life and the day came when the unprotected life was vulnerable. The demon went quickly to the dormitory of fallen spirits and found seven ready to partner with him. It’s a dark picture to see what happened to that once pure and free life. There are multitudes all about us in this same condition. Most of them will never be free again.
Please listen carefully. If your heart is ready there is victory in Jesus Christ.
Ed Wood
I have often puzzled over this parable, Pastor Joseph, and your explanation does fit. I have also considered that it might also be telling us that when a demon is cast out of a person, unless the void is filled by the Holy Spirit, it will be reoccupied by not only the spirit that was cast out, but the allies he brings along with him. I don’t think this is a metaphor or an allegory, but a statement of fact.
I suspect,too, that anyone who has not accepted Jesus – and as a result has not had the Holy Spirit take up residence within – still has within him or herself a spiritual vacuum that they will try unsuccessfully to fill with material goods, drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. even if something as drastic as demonic possession doesn’t occur. The downward spiral of this will, if not halted by turning to Jesus, will lead in a person’s total destruction in this life and worse, in the life to come.
Brian P
Hi Joseph,
Just curious, where is the scriptural reference for “billions” of fallen angels. There are many no doubt, but how do we number them?
thanks,
brian
Pastor Bob Gardner
Great article, I have no problem with the Billions of demons, I am sure
there is one for every person, and maybe seven for certain people. I am
so glad that we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and the presious Blood
of the Lamb to fight our Battles. Even so Come Lord Jesus.
You are a blessing. Bro. Bob
Karlien Oosthuizen
That means i am lost there must be billions of demons in me I was delivered from smoking completely and then I started again – returning like a dog to its own vomit! I many times wondered bout this. Although I believed I had the Holy Spirit , but He probably wont dwell in a unholy or unclean temple!? How does one get free again? I also struggle with anger, impatience, no self control, drugs, lust and fornication and I tend to be a peoples pleaser. I get manipulated easily and find it hard to say no and maybe have fear of rejection. I steal and lie and am self centred. I need God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit without Him there aint any hope for me!! I am sick of my double life and want to be free! I need more personal real relationship and love for Christ. I want Holy, healthy fear for God and to be healed and free and complete! Nothing will ever satisfy me but to be in Gods perfect will and to please Him alone! But I struggle with my own self will! I need a revelation of God real intimate stuff!!! Personal ! I want to love Him with all my heart, mind, spirit, soul, body etc. I need More of Him ! thank God for His grace and unconditional love and mercy which i dont deserve!!!!
Harring
Are we talking about a believer or an unbeliever out of which the demons went?
jaimie
Dear Pastor Chambers
That made me take stock within myself, do i pray every day for myself , my children , the sick, my friends, Pastor Chambers, our church, Yes i do.
Jesus wants me to trust him like a child, Oh Lord Jesus shall rebuke the Satan. We shall meet At the Cross in the Blood Amen. Till He comes for us.
God Bless my Christian Brethren
jaimie
Howard Hicks
I still say that a fallen angel is a fallen angel, and a demon is a demon. If I read the
scripture right there are fifty million fallen angels. The rest are demons that are
disembodied sprits from Noah’s time. Angels can have a body if they want one but demons are
are always looking for one.
Bro. Gary - Wilson NC
Bro. Chambers, you hit this one on the head…I really needed to read this. This was a message from God to me, with God using you with the message. Thanks for the early wake up call before it was too late! God is merciful. Please forgive me Lord. Thank you.
Jim S
Dear Pastor Chambers: Your warnings about genuine believers losing their salvation are, although persuasive and sobering, inconclusive at best. The whole counsel of God is required to see truth about a matter (Acts 20:27). I have looked at both sides of the argument for eternal security and find that the verses suggesting believers can lose salvation are in essence warnings to professing (nominal) believers to continue in the truth until they are converted from sinner to saint. Think about it. The apostles walked with Jesus for three years until they were born-again. Judas abided in truth for three years but fell away before his conversion. Judas returned to his vomit.
You said any argument against your theological position on the security of the believer would not convince you. Although your commitment is admirable, you are partly correct in you view. Paul Enns was quoted to have said, “For a believer to lose his salvation would demand a reversal and an undoing of all the works of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The key issue in the discussion of the believer’s security concerns the issue of who does the saving. If man is responsible for securing his salvation (as you teach), then he will lose it. If God secures the person’s salvation, then the person is forever secure.”
As for me, I am placing my faith in the finished work of the cross and daily applying the shed blood of Christ to the doorway of my heart. Jesus imputed his righteous to me, and by faith, I accept it and stand boldly before my Father in heaven. Yes, I am in Christ and have victory over sin; I am forever secure and He is my first love now and forever.
Linda Joy Adams
Thanks! We forget too easily what is around us. Isn’t this why its so important for there to be ‘ body of praying believers’ for each of us to be part of?
Jim S
Dear Amos33, I read the scripture you cited. When the unclean spirit returned to the house (the person made clean), he found the house empty, swept, and garnished (verse 44). What is interesting to note about this verse is the house was empty of any spirit including the Holy Spirit. The person Jesus cited in the parable was unsaved and consequently an open vessel for evil spirits to reenter. Jesus expanded the analogy to include the nation of Israel who he called a wicked generation because they would not receive His spirit of truth; and, so it is with so many professing believers today. They profess Christ but they do not know Christ. A professing believer is an empty house and can fall away into demon possession. If you think about it, the twelve disciples were not saved until John 20:22. The disciples abided in truth, the very presence of Jesus Christ for three years. Just prior to that, Judas fell away and was posses by a demon. Judas too abided in the truth but was never saved; and, so is it with many professing believers today.
melvin meyers
Your right about keeping Yahushua commandments [Torah]. For those poor chtristians that are still keeping the catholic and Pope tecahing of the Babel sundays and babel easter, christmas and other beliefs that are not of Yahushua or His Father. Are in keeping with the fallen angels. So I’m Keeping Passover and Yahushua other teaching.
Steve
@ Jim S – Your view is common but it overlooks the obvious. The letters of Paul and the other epistles were never written to nominal believers. There is no evidence of that at all in the Bible, it is a fallacy. The letters are are written to: “To God’s elect” (1 Peter 1:1), “brothers and sisters” (Galatians 1:11), “holy brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 3:1), or words to that effect. No new testament writer ever wrote “now to you who almost believe or are almost saved.” They did write to the (for example) “church of God in Corinth”, but even then they were writing to born again believers in the Lord Jesus. The word church in those instances meant an assembly of “people called out from the world and to God.” Even when the letter is addressed to a “church”, there is still the absence of any language the would suggest that Paul or any other writer were speaking to two different groups of people, the saved and the unsaved.
You and other followers of Calvin are completely wrong and I pray the Lord’s grace for you. Because I fear there may be millions of people who are living sin with no conviction that they must repent, who spend eternity in hell, because they feel secure due to being taught eternal security.
You might say they are not truly saved, but it is due to that heresy eternal salvation that many are not.
You might quote fine words like “For a believer to lose his salvation would demand a reversal and an undoing of all the works of the Father, Son, and Spirit.” But in order to believe that you must ignore that Israel lost their promises due to the fact that they turned from God just as believers today turn from God. God is does not have multiple personality disorder He is the God of grace in the OT as He was in the NT. Israel rejected God’s grace, Adam and Eve did the same and Christians today reject it as well.
Hebrews 3 was written expressly to “holy brothers and sisters.” v.1 They were warned “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” v.12 Why were they warned? Because those who once believed and then turn away for God will not enter God’s rest. v.18-19 This chapter alone proves that everything you wrote to be in error! It’s as if the writer of Hebrews knew (and the Holy Spirit who guided him did.) that one day there would a teachers of the eternal security fallacy.
Steve
@ Karlien Oosthuizen Believe in God’s grace, repent, do away with all influences form the world (friends, tv, music, ect), Submerse yourself in the Bible. Find a church and go to every service, Sunday school, Bible study and prayer meeting. Confess your sins to those in your church. (James 5:16) You can do it, I did.
Sandy
Jim S.,
I had a conversion in 1993. I served God, I walked right, and felt the Spirit with me (convicting me when I made mistakes). There I dwelled a while, but then I started shortening my prayers due to being tired, what have you. While I was around Godly people, I began to find fault because I wasn’t spending time with the father as I should have. I have since fell away. I have been to churches since, but get so distracted by the wordly lifestyle inside the church.
I know it can happen, it happened to me.
Dean
One thing we must all learn about interpreting the Scriptures is to interpret them in the light of their context and not play one text against another. This is where we bring about divisions among the brethren. We must let the Scripture say what it says where it says it. The argument for and against “once saved, always saved” will not be settled in this lifetime. The terms “Eternal Security” and “Once saved always saved” are not scriptural. These terms are not used in the Bible. What is used is “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish” and “whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16). The question is how long is “everlasting?” And how long is “eternal life?” Salvation is not based on good works but on faith, and salvation is a gift from God, (Eph. 2:8-9). It is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy has he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy ghost. Salvation is a gift and the gift is everlasting.
Now everyone accepts the truth that God foreknows everything. He foreknew the end from the beginning. How else could He have given the prophecies of the end time. Or does God just know somethings and not other things? Taking into consideration that God knows everything,would you not say that God foreknew who would be saved and who would not. he foreknew who He would give the gift to (a gift is something you don’t earn)and who He would not. My question is this, if God foreknew who would be saved and who would not, why would he give a gift to someone He knew would not keep it? Now if a gift is something you can not work for or earn, then why would God take it away if His gift did not depend on your good works and your performance. If god took it away because you did not perform well, then it was no longer a gift. This makes someone twisting the Scripture for their own satisfaction.
Steve
@Dean You can’t prove a point by asking questions you have already manufactured answers for.
Jesus himself said “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” This makes it clear that Jesus was warning them that they would have to make a choice whether or not they would endure to the end.
Have you ever known of a person who was given a gift that they later threw away? A gift is a gift, but it only remains your possession as long as you make the effort to keep it. (but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.)
Now remember that Hebrews writer wrote to the “holy brothers and sisters” who he later called”dear brothers and sister” and he said to those saved and holy brothers and sister in Christ “So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.”
As the writer of Hebrews 3 makes clear “holy brothers and sisters” could lose salvation if they returned to unbelief and Paul made it clear in Romans 11 that Israel was cut off due to unbelief. Any person can receive a gift and later reject it. As I said in another post Adam did it, Israel did it, and Christians are able to do it today.
If we applied your question (if God foreknew who would be saved and who would not, why would he give a gift to someone He knew would not keep it?) to Israel and Adam then we would have no Bible at all.
Jim S
DEAR FRIENDS: QUIT DEBATING!! STATE YOUR BELIEFS AND TAKE IT ON THE CHIN WHEN SOMEONE DISAGREES. OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PASTOR CHAMBERS
Steve, I am not a Calvinist. I believe in repentance and holy living. However, there are many verses in the Bible supporting the argument for eternal security. Similarly, there are many verses suggesting a believer can lose salvation. While many verses rise above all others to support eternal security, others tug in reverse to suggest otherwise. The apostle Paul teaches the Holy Spirit places those who are born again of incorruptible seed into the body of Christ, “1Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Jesus promises never to cast out any believer who comes to Him. He gives them eternal life (John 6:37-41). The apostle Paul, again, picks up on the eternal security theme in Romans 8, “14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Paul is so convinced in the security of the believer that he says in Romans 8, “38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” With regard to eternal security, so long as a person is abiding in Christ, is not that person eternally secure? The question is “why would a person want to leave the love of Christ?” We agree when Paul says believers are not to dismiss his warnings randomly. The warnings from Paul make no sense if believers cannot become careless and unfaithful. Why warn a person about unfaithfulness if there are not consequences? We can debate all day about what might be lost from unfaithfulness but what we know for sure is that something will be lost and the consequences eternal (I Cor. 3:16).
Donna
In Response to Brian,
Read Mark 5:1-13 a number is given of 2,000 in one man. They knew at once who Jesus Christ was and asked for mercy. “And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.”
Hope this helps.