 Hello, this is David Diger Hernandez and you are watching Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. I want to talk to you about something today that is rarely talked about anymore. Even in the church, this subject is all too often ignored. But I want to tell you the truth. Demons are real. Demons still exist. They are not analogies for evil. They are not figments of superstition. Demonic beings actually exist and they are filled with hate. Hate that is aimed at God's beloved creation and demonic beings still to this day possess people. So I want to show you from the scripture how to identify the demon possessed that you might minister freedom and deliverance to them. But first, Stephen Mock the Zuma is here with me. He's going to lead you in some worship. Prepare your heart and then we're getting right into this message here. It's Stephen Mock the Zuma. Hope of a life spent with you. Step down into darkness. Oh, let me see that me. This heart spent with you. Here I am to say that you're my fault too. You're all together and I'm there to see my sin. How much to see my sin. So I want to begin this message by first saying that when we talk about the demonic, we must avoid superstition. What I call charismatic superstition, especially surrounding this subject, there is a lot of misinformation that goes around all over the internet. We live in an age where conspiracy theories rise to the top simply because they're sensational. But we cannot become superstitious. We must become spirit led. We cannot rely on hearsay and old wives tales and man's observation and man's experience. We must rely on what the scripture tells us concerning these subjects. When I talk about demon possession, it's important that we, A, put aside superstition. No, you're not going to become demon possessed if you click on the wrong website on accident. No, you're not going to pick up a demon if you accidentally rub shoulders against someone who's demon possessed and for some reason maybe you didn't pray that day. We must avoid that sort of nonsense that breeds paranoia. If you live in fear, if you live in paranoia, you are not living in truth. You are living in superstition and we must, again, as I said, come back to biblical truths so that we may be grounded as we approach these subjects. We must not venture into the weird and the bizarre world of paranoia and superstition. Now, having said that, we also must not, how do I word this, obsess over specifics. Whenever I talk about the demonic people will interject, oh, you forgot to talk about this or you forgot to talk about that. Don't forget, brother David, demons can enter through video games. Don't forget, brother David, demons can enter through certain types of relationships or these certain types of sounds or these certain types of songs or these certain types of cultural acts. Whatever you may have been taught on the subject, I can assure you of this. The only truth that can be relied upon is the word. The reason I'm beginning with such a combative approach, it's not because I'm combating people, it's because I'm combating an ideology and this ideology will keep you from coming to true understanding surrounding the subject of spiritual warfare and the demonic. Now, I have a lot of teaching that's available on the demonic but for this particular message, all I'm focusing on here, all I want to talk about is how to identify the demon possessed. I'm not going to be talking about how to cast them out. I'm not going to be talking about who gets demon possessed. I'm not going to be talking about certain open doors. I'm just specifically talking about right now, how to identify a demonically possessed person. Now, it's important that we realize that not all the signs I'm giving you are definite cases. For example, one of the signs that I'm going to bring to you today concerning demonic possession is morbid thinking. In other words, obsession with death, obsession with darkness, obsession with things like this. Now, someone may have morbid thinking but this doesn't necessarily mean that that alone is the one and only clue that we need to demonstrate that they are in fact demon possessed. These are just clues. They are not an all case, every sign type of situation. So, not all signs are definite cases and not every case has all the signs. So, it's important that we make that distinction there. So, I want to tell you a story here before I begin to get into the scripture. By the way, I'm going to be in Mark chapter 5. Now, this very peculiar instance took place in the Midwest. I was ministering there at a youth service. The power of the Holy Spirit moved so tremendously that people did not want to leave the building until one in the morning. Now, I'm not saying that was coached. I'm not saying it was the type of service where God is moving. You better reverence it and stay. It wasn't like that at all. We didn't even realize what time it was. We were just so raptured in the presence of God. No one pointed it out. No one encouraged people to stay. No one tried to make people obligated to stay. They just stood because nobody wanted to go home. And nobody realized that we had gone over well past our time. And it was about one in the morning. And I'm going down this prayer line praying over different people. And I made eye contact with this one girl who was standing in front of me as I was praying. And she was looking at me and something in me knew that this girl was demon-possessed. And as soon as I made eye contact, I saw in her the hate. I saw the darkness. I saw the demonic influence. And I felt this boldness rise up within me. And I said, I said, this girl has a demon in her. I turned to one of the youth leaders that this girl has a demon in her. And I don't remember even trying to be polite about it. It just, it was just a boldness that came. And I said, this girl has a demon. And this lady next to me said, no, she can't be demon-possessed. That's one of our youth leaders. I said, I don't care who she is, this girl has a demon in her. Now people started to come around me and say, you know, Brother David, you've missed this one. No, no, this is a good girl. And as soon as they began to try to defend her, this girl just began to laugh with this very sinister, very loud, very maniacal laugh. She begins to laugh. Her head went backwards. She fell to the floor and she began to slither on the floor like a snake. She began to writhe and to move and to hiss and to growl and to laugh at me. And I looked at her. I said, the girl who told me the girl wasn't demon-possessed. I said, can I cast the devil out now? She says, okay, go for it. So we prayed for the girl. She ends up getting delivered. But this led me to begin to think about this. I thought, how was it possible that all of these people around her missed the signs of demonic possession? How is it possible that they put this girl in leadership in the church missing the fact that she was under a heavy demonic influence? I said the church, everything in me, knew that the church needed more discernment. And I think that applies to the church at large. The church needs more discernment. Let me tell you the truth. There are some preachers who are on television. They'll never say the name of Jesus and they won't say the name of Jesus because they're demonically influenced themselves. There are people who can appear to have a form of godliness, but they in fact are under the heavy influence of some demonic being. And no, this is not crazy talk. No, this is not something that can be ignored. This is the biblical truth, my friend. And this is a reality and we need to wake up because there is influence out there and we need to break that influence. When is the last time you saw a demon cast out? I'm somewhat considering now showing some of the footage to you of the demons that come out of people in our services. We cast out devils at our services. We don't always put it on the internet or on television because I want to be sensitive to the person who's being delivered. How would you like it if you got set free from a demonic being and then all of a sudden your videos being shown everywhere? I don't know. I don't think you would like that. So we try to be sensitive to these people, but we see demons cast out all the time. When's the last time you saw a demonic being cast out? When's the last time a demon manifested around you? And I'm not saying this to shame you. I'm saying this to get you thinking, to get you to realize that the church has backed away from this subject because it's a little bit scary or it seems a little bit strange to some people. But we have to rely on the scripture. Again, not on our opinions on the scripture. So I want to show you how to tell some of the signs of demonic possession, how to tell that somebody has a demon in them. I think it's time that the church hears this message. I'm going to be in Mark chapter five. I'm going to read verses one through 16. And this portion of scripture is about a man who had about a thousand demons inside of him is what scholars believe. So they arrived at the other side of the lake in the region of the garrisons. When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles, as he often was, he snapped the chains from his wrist and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones. When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him and bowed low before him. With a shriek he screamed, Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God I beg you don't torture me. For Jesus had already said to the Spirit, Come out of the man, you evil spirit. Then Jesus demanded, What is your name? And he replied, My name is Legion because there are many of us inside this man. Verse 10, Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. Send us into those pigs the spirits begged. Let us enter them. So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus and they saw the man who had been possessed by the Legion of Demons. He was sitting there, fully clothed and perfectly sane and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. So I want you to take a look here. In verse number three you're going to notice something. In verse number three you're going to notice that the man is spending time among the burial caves. In other words, he's spending time at a graveyard. So here is one of the first signs of demonic possession is morbid thinking. They're obsessed with darkness. They're obsessed with death. They're obsessed with violence and murder and things that have to do with decay and this sort of darkness. Because this man was obsessed with morbid things, he spent his time near graveyards. Secondly, I want you to notice that he was able to break the chains with which they tried to restrain him. Anytime they put chains on this man, whenever they would do this, and it says this often happened, he had such ability, such power that he was able to break those chains right off of his wrist. Now this is a powerful demonstration, though it is demonic power, it is still a powerful demonstration of supernatural ability. So those who are demon possessed can often demonstrate some type of supernatural ability. This is the truth with psychics. This is the truth with fortune tellers. This is those who are empowered by the demonic forces that push false religions and push false doctrines. They too have power. They too have ability, and often they can mimic, not duplicate, but mimic what God's people are able to do. I want you to notice that he was very violent and very barbaric. People who are demon possessed have this drive in them that's angry and full of violence and barbaric. Often you'll see people like this in mental institutions and in prisons. Right now in our culture, I don't know why, but there is this fascination with serial killers as of late. And I believe that those who are cult leaders and serial killers and such, they are driven to this violence because of the demonic spirit in them. I want you to think about this. Demonic spirits hate God's creation. They hate you. They want to harm you. They want to hurt you, but they don't have the physical body to do it. So when they come to possess someone with a physical body, they turn that person on the people that God loves. They turn that against God's creation. Often you'll see senseless shootings, senseless murders, violent acts that defy explanation. This is the explanation. It is demonic influence. You'll also notice that this man was considered mentally unstable. Now, I want to tread carefully here because I don't believe that all mental illness such as depression and anxiety are necessarily demonic. They can be prolonged, agitated, and intensified by demonic beings, but I've known spirit-filled believers who struggle with depression. That'll give you a little bit of a clue on whether or not I think Christians can be demon-possessed, but I will address that maybe in the weeks to come. But for now, I just want to focus on this very simple thought. Not every struggle in the flesh is a sign of demonic influence. Sometimes the flesh is just the flesh and I want to be sensitive to those who struggle with depression and anxiety. This is not me being sinker-sensitive. This is not me trying to water down the word, to try not to offend people. This is just me giving you the truth. Think about the prophet who was so depressed that God had to send birds to feed him. That depression hit him. So I'm not saying that everyone who suffers with depression or anxiety is demon-possessed. Please hear me on that. But I will say that mostly everyone who is demon-possessed is filled with depression and anxiety. So not everyone who is depressed and anxious is demon-possessed, but almost everyone who is demon-possessed suffers with depression and anxiety. That's a very subtle distinction and I want you to make sure that you've noted that. But moving now even further into this idea of mental illness, this man wasn't just a little unstable. This man wasn't just a little depressed or a little anxious or a little paranoid, or he didn't just struggle with a little bit of OCD. This man was deranged. And often you'll see people like this wandering the streets, talking to themselves. You see them in psychiatric wards. You see them doing very heinous things. And this here, I believe, is a sign of demonic possession. In fact, to be mentally deranged at a certain level is proof that not only do they have a demon in them, but multiple demonic spirits. This man was possessed with multiple demonic spirits and he was out of his mind deranged. So that is another sign that's mental instability or mental derangement. Also, you'll notice that he would hurt himself. He would cut himself with sharp stones. Self-harm is a sign of demonic possession. Now again, guys, I don't want you to rush to superstition. I don't want you to take this as that's it. That's the standard. I can check that off the list and therefore that person is demon possessed. I'm saying that these are signs that will help us to discern whether or not someone has a demon. Ultimately, it's by the Holy Spirit that you discern these things. But these are important clues to look for when dealing with someone who needs deliverance. But self-harm can be caused by demonic influence. And this is something that makes perfect sense when you realize that demonic beings hate God's creation. Next, I want you to notice that this man was tormented in the presence of Jesus. When he came before the feet of Jesus, he said, he said, don't torment me. Why? Because it was the nearness of Jesus. It was just the nearness of his presence that caused him to go into a tormented state, I should say. So they have discomfort in God's presence. So here we see morbid thinking, supernatural ability, violence, or barbaric behavior, mental instability, self-harm, and discomfort in God's presence. Now, I want you to notice here in Mark chapter five verses one through two, these demonic spirits still maintain control, or these people who are possessed by demonic spirits, I should say, still maintain control over their will. It was not the demonic spirits that drove the man to go stand before Jesus. It was the man's desire to be freed that caused him to go and stand before Jesus. The demonic spirits would not have approached Jesus, but the man wanting to be delivered came and approached the Son of God, and the demons were tormented. So you could still maintain some control over your will when your demon possessed. Now, I actually will have to finish up this message in a part two, because there is so much more I want to show you about demonic possession and how to see it, how to discern it. So I will continue with this next week, but I want to pray with you now number one, that God would anoint you to deliver the captives, and that God would cause you to be alert spiritually, aware of the times, okay, because demonic spirits are running rampant right now. And secondly, I want you to be prepared for the season in which we are entering right now. This is a season where the church needs to be supernaturally empowered and ready to face these demonic strongholds because demonic beings have taken their places in high positions of authority and they've taken their places all throughout our culture and our society, and the church has fallen asleep concerning this subject and because of that, demons have become a little more comfortable in the culture. This is because the church needs to wake up to the fact that demons still exist. So I want to pray with you. Let's just pray that God would empower you and that God would give you greater discernment and I will finish this message next week. So Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for that one receiving this now and I ask you, Lord, that you would give them power from on high, anoint them Jesus, cause them to become warriors in the spirit. Father, I pray that the spirit within them, the Holy Spirit, would give them the boldness and the authority to set the captives free. Lord, send your people forth to deliver the drug addicted. Send your people forth to deliver the oppressed and the tormented. Send your people forth, Lord, to deliver those who are struggling with self-harm and struggling with self-hatred. Anoint us in the name of Jesus. Father, let the captives be set free wherever we step foot in your name we pray. I want you to say it because you agree, say amen. Look, if you're filled with the Holy Ghost, you have the authority and the power to cast out devils. Again, don't fall for that Christian superstition. By the way, I have a lot of teachings on the demonic here on our YouTube channel and on our app. And wherever you're watching this on, you can, Roku, Apple TV, wherever you're watching this, you can get more of my teachings on the demonic. It would be under the Spirit Church category and you have to go back to about a year ago when I did several teachings on the demonic. I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. I love you and I'm praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it and if you like information on how you can join the Spirit family, then go to DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash Spirit Church. Go ahead, subscribe to that emailing list and when you do, when you join the Spirit family, you're going to get a brand new teaching from me every single week, a brand new worship video from Steven Montezuma and you'll be able to reply to that email for prayer support from our ministry staff. So join the Spirit family today, almost 7,000 members strong. I want to get to your comments now and these comments are from my teaching why your prayers aren't answered. Now last week I gave you a very important key to your prayer life that will help you to pray more effectively. But if you'd like me to read your comments next week from this video, then go ahead and leave your comments in the comments section below. If you're watching this on YouTube, that's where you'll see the comments section and I may read these comments from you next week. But for now, I'm going to read the comments as I said from last week's teaching why your prayers aren't answered. The first commenter, Shaila Mary, writes, I was going through spiritual dryness but this testimony renewed and filled me with the Holy Spirit. God bless you, Jess, and your child abundantly. By the way, if you're wondering why they're talking about little Aria, who's my daughter, who will be born April 10th, or so the doctors say, she could come before or after. Go ahead and watch that video because I have a very powerful testimony, a very personal testimony from my wife and I and you'll see why our little Aria is such a miracle. But that's on last week's teaching why your prayers aren't answered. The next commenter, writes, All glory to Jesus. Congratulations, dear brother David. Thank you for not only preaching faith but also exercising faith in your personal life and encouraging all of us to do so. God bless you, sister Jessica, and the wonderful blessed baby yet to come. Our God's always faithful love from India to your family. Javelin Anabhan writes, Thank you, Pastor David, for your encouragement. I am so blessed every time I watch your preaching videos. I felt the Holy Spirit in your preaching. God bless you and your ministry more. Paul Martinez writes, Brother David, glory to God. Amazing, amazing message. God can do all things. Not today, Satan. Thank you for sharing your miracle. We are behind you and your family. We serve a living God. I love you. Keep the word of God coming. Thank you, my brother Paul. And again, we want you to go ahead and be sure to watch last week's teaching while your prayers aren't answered. Leave a comment now. I may read your comment next week. And also, don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Subscribe and be sure to click the notification bell so that you are notified when a brand new video is released from our channel. Now, Paul said something interesting here. He said, Keep the word of God coming. And this is what we want to do. We want to continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, don't change the video don't click away. I want to talk to you for just a second. Listen, if you've been blessed by this ministry, I want to challenge you. Become a $30 a month partner with our ministry. Sign up today. That's just a few dollars a week. That's maybe one trip to a restaurant. If you're a big family, that's one trip to the movie theater. If that, you just give that up once a month. And you can help us spread the gospel all around the world. And we do it through two simple means, events and media. So help us. This ministry is expanding. As you can see, the events are growing. The broadcast reach is growing. You can see that we're doing more events all over the world. Partner with us. Help us today. In faith, step out and say, I want to become a $30 a month partner. You do that today and I'll send you either carriers of the glory, 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare, or encountering the Holy Spirit in every book of the Bible. So that will be our initiation gift to you when you sign up to become a monthly supporter. I'll sign it and send it to you as my thank you. But whether you become a $30 a month supporter or a one-time giver, it doesn't matter. All of it goes to reach souls. Now, we have some people who give $5 and we've had people sew six figures. But the $5 to the six figures and everything in between, all of it counts. All of it matters. So don't withhold just because you say, I can't do $30 a month so I might as well not do anything. No, everything counts. And if you can do more, do more. If you can do less, do less. Whatever you're able to do, do it today. So sew a one-time gift or become a monthly partner. Help support the gospel. Help support this ministry. Help us continue to reach people all around the world. Well, that is it for this edition of Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.