 Okay. So I would like to request one of us to lead in a word of prayer. Anyone? I see only a John and Aradna have joined so far. So one of you maybe and then we will... Sure person, sure. Father, we thank you for this morning. We pray that today you would speak to us and help us to understand your word in a better way, Lord Jesus. We submit first Nancy to your hands, anoint her with your word of God. And we pray that this session would be beneficial for us in every way, Lord Jesus. Help us to understand the authority that you have given us and help us to walk in that Lord God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you John. So in the last class, we saw how, you know, we saw the origin of Satan. We saw the angel Lucifer who rebelled against God and who took one third of the angels and he was thrown, he was cast out of heaven. And we also know, you know, how he has now established a structure to continue to interfere with the affairs of man here on the earth. We saw how originally as an angel Lucifer was created for worship, he was so perfect. He was well-versed in several things. He was beautiful. He had wisdom and, you know, he was anointed and so many marvelous things about Lucifer. But then, you know, his deception and the deception that came through pride caused his downfall. So we recognized that this enemy, this enemy is someone who we cannot ignore. We have to acknowledge this enemy, but at the same time, the consciousness of this enemy shouldn't become too much. You know, we shouldn't be overly involved, overly concerned about the enemy as well. So these are all things that we have understood. We also, from the first chapter of believers authority, we understood that man is originally the one who has rulership here on the earth and man is supposed to be a representative of God, not just, you know, in the kind of nature that man carries, but also the authority that man carries. So we studied about power. We talked about, you know, delegated authority, exosia. We talked about dunamis, like the supernatural power of God, which is at work. All of this has been redeemed. Man originally had it. He lost it in the fall. But then, you know, the Lord Jesus became our sacrifice on the cross and he bought it back for us. So these are all some of the concepts that we have understood. Now we are going to move forward from there. And today, once again, we are going to touch on the nature of Satan, the nature of demons. And this is just for our understanding. All right? So that's what we are going to look at. Now coming to the very first thing, we have, you know, this curiosity about demons and what we wonder. Who are demons? What is their intrinsic nature? These are questions that we carry. So demons are disembodied spirits. What are demons? Demons are disembodied spirits. Now, Matthew chapter 12, verses 43 and 45, I think it will be good if one of us can read it and from there we can move forward. So Matthew 12, 43 and 43 to 45. Can one of us read it please? Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits, more wicked than itself. And they go in and leave there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation. Yes, yes. So thank you John. Here it's quite clear that demons that occupied an individual when they are cast out. What do they do? They are out for a while but they are seeking another place of habitation or they are looking for a dwelling place. And that is why we call them as disembodied meaning they don't have a body of their own. They are disembodied. They are spirits. They are spirits. So they go around looking for a place to dwell in. Now if you recall the story of the possessed man of Gadarenes, he was also completely possessed by the legion. Legion has many, many, many spirits dwelt in him. Now if you go back to that story, you see even there that they were dwelling in a human being. And when the Lord Jesus wanted to cast these spirits out, what happened? They asked him to send them into pigs because they needed a place to dwell in. So you see there that they are looking for a place to live in. Generally these are bodies. So human beings are a good dwelling place for these spirits, animals. We saw how they were cast into pigs. So demon spirits can possess animals as well. And when we began our class, we also saw how there can be spaces, there can be things, there can be certain objects. That is why all of this would be very helpful when we are ministering deliverance to people. Sometimes you find some small objects, some charms, things amulets, people have something tied on their hands. There are things that people carry or keep in their homes. You travel somewhere and you pick up something. For us it could be an object of interest, it could be an object of art, maybe a painting. We bring it back with us and we keep it in our homes. But if at all, not all objects, not every object carries demons in it, that is not what I am saying. But there are certain objects, it is quite obvious that it was part of a ritual or something like that. So people bring back such objects and they keep it in their homes but we know that demons attach themselves even to objects. So that is how demons really work and that is the reason we call them disembodied spirits, wise spirits. Lucifer, he was cast out of heaven with one third of the angels. So essentially these spirits are those rebellious angels. And what are angels? Angels are spirits, they are spirit beings. They are spirit beings. They are not like human beings. Human beings, what is the difference? We have a body. What about these demon spirits? They don't have bodies but they are looking for a body. It can be a living person, it can be an animal, it can be objects, it can be spaces. They are disembodied spirits. So that is the description of demons. So animals, people or inanimate objects. Another thing that we can understand about demon spirits is that they have an hierarchy. Any of us who understand the army or the navy or the air force, you generally have hierarchy there. You have somebody who starts off as a Javan and then maybe they go on to becoming something else. So they move up the ranks, you have ranks like a colonel, you have a lieutenant, you have a major general. So you have all those ranks, isn't it? In the armed forces. And similarly, when you look at the kingdom of Satan, you notice that there is an hierarchy. Could somebody please read from Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12 please. Ephesians 6 and verse 12. Farah's struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Yes. Thank you. Thank you John. John, was that NKJV? This is NASB. That's what NASB. Okay. Great. So can someone read from NKJV please. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual halls of wickedness in the heavenly places. Okay. Yeah. So thanks John and Zellie Tolle. You know, in both of the versions that you read, it's quite clear there are different kinds of spirits engaged in different kinds of activities. It's a little more clearer in the NKJV version and that's why, you know, I asked for that to be read. So in the NKJV version, the terms that are used would be principalities. Okay. Principalities refers to the chief rulers. So in the Iraqi, you know, if you have like a major, you know, a major, major general, they rule over an entire army of, you know, different sections of soldiers. In the same way, you have the principalities or the chief rulers who rule over great forces of demons. Okay. So you have principalities. You also have something known as powers. Powers would be, if you go back to the root word, exusia. You remember, we said exusia refers to delegated authority. So there is authority granted to certain classes of demons. They are your powers, powers, delegated authority, demonic authorities. Okay. So you have principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, rulers of darkness. This is another section of demon spirits that are ruling spirits. Okay. Ruling spirits over regions of darkness and then you have spirits of wickedness. Again, these are to do with promoting wickedness. So you have certain spirits that promote wicked activities. So this is for us, you know, a simple basic understanding of the kinds of levels of demonic spirits that exists and you know, the spiritual atmosphere that surrounds the earth. Okay. So spirits of these kinds engage with the earth, with the people in the earth and you know, they interfere with the purposes of God. They interfere with the original intent of God and which is why we are saying that this earth is a battleground for us to think that, yeah, we can just, you know, coolly slide through life and very easily accomplish God's purposes not happening because there is a very real opposition that man has and that is Satan and his demonic authorities. So for us, why are we even trying to talk about this? You know, some people get scared and they say, oh, we are believers. Jesus has already overcome the enemy and every demonic spirit. Now don't talk too much about, you know, demon spirits. We don't need to talk about it. But you know, if you don't understand how they operate, then how can we take our position against them? You know, that is the reason why we are talking about demonic spirits and trying to understand them. Okay. So that is why, so there's no need to get worried or get scared. Oh no, I really don't want to talk about demons. No, let's have knowledge and let's have wisdom. Use that knowledge against the enemy. Okay. So we've understood now. Okay. There are many levels of demonic authorities and they function in an orderly way. Okay. We got that. Now, let's try and understand a little bit more about these demonic spirits. You know, we notice that these demonic spirits are somewhat specialized. Okay. So specialized meaning when you go to the hospital, if your condition requires special attention, then you would look for a doctor that deals with that system of your body. For example, if I have an issue with my ear, I'll go to the EMT doctor. Or if I have a specific issue with my heart, I'll go to the cardiologist. Okay. So like that, when you look at the demonic kingdom and the way the spirits function, they're very specialized. And that is why you hear terms like spirit of infirmity. The task of that spirit is to bring sickness, infirmity upon a person. Or you hear things like mute spirit. You hear things like unclean spirit, seducing spirit. So what do they do? They have a role to play and that's exactly what they do. You know, a blind spirit of blindness. Maybe it's just bringing blindness over a person or, you know, a spirit of what can you say, a foul spirit. So you have all these names to indicate the activity of that particular spirit. So they also seem to have what we term as a personality. They have a personality and a name. You know, if you recall when Jesus, he casts out that legion spirit. He says, okay, who are you? They say, oh, we are legion. There are many spirits within this man. So they have a personality and they have a name. This is just for our understanding. Now we'll also see later on that it's not to engage. You know, when we're casting out demons, some people get very caught up in, you know, what kind of a spirit is it? Who are you and all that. But you know, if it is helpful in casting that spirit out, then you go ahead and do your research of finding out what spirit are you and, you know, more details on that. But it may not be necessary at all times, but it's enough for us to know that demon spirits have a personality. They have a name. They have a specialization. So this helps us. For example, if I am ministering to somebody, maybe a insanity, this person is acting weird and all that. And as you're praying for this individual, you realize that this is not a physical condition that the person has, but it is a demon spirit. When you cast out the spirit of insanity, what happens? The person is able to think better. So it is helpful in that sense. Mute spirit or this spirit or that spirit. You know that once you cast out that spirit, the person will be able to function better in that area. So that is how it really helps us to know these things. So demon spirits can be very specialized and have a particular activity that they are engaging in. It can also be territorial. Now if some of you have pets, you understand what I mean. Isn't it? Like, you know, if you have a dog, then that dog establishes that, like, you know, territorial authority over the place and it wouldn't want any other dog to come into your home, into your campus because it has established its territorial authority over that place. And similarly, you find that demon spirits have territorial authority over places. They rule and reign over certain regions. Now how do they gain access over those regions? We have seen, you know, engaging the spirit world, maybe through rituals, through sacrifices, you know, through certain practices. People have engaged the spirit world and they have given that authority to the demon spirits over the region. And so you find that these demon spirits have territorial authority and they rule and reign over a region. Now how does this, you know, help us as believers? Sometimes when you look at a certain place, you recognize that no amount of, you know, logical research, no amount of changing policy, regulation, education, none of that is really helping change the behavior of the people or the attitudes of the people, maybe. I'm not saying, again, don't use all this information to always come to the conclusion that something is demonic or, you know, that everything is demonic. Everything has to do with demon spirits. No, if we are going to respond and react like that, we are wrong. Everything is not demonic. However, there can be, there can be outcomes that are due to demonic activity in a given region. For example, let's say violence, murder, you find that in some regions there's a lot of this going on. You know, crimes are going on and the authorities are doing their best but crimes are not coming down. It could have to do with, you know, territorial spirits that are instigating people. There can be, you know, violence. There can be prostitution. Some places you find that there is just, the government is doing their best. NGOs are doing their best but still something, something is off. What is this? It could be a demonic stronghold. You have territorial spirits that rule and reign over that region, alcoholism, right? Widespread alcoholism. You know, many such things over a given region and one of the things that you can trace back to is demonic strongholds over that region and territorial spirits that have gained authority over that region. So, you know, these are all things for us to understand. So, we are saying that demons have hierarchy. They are specialized. They have a personality. They are also quite, you know, attached to the regions where they dwell or they operate. They can also, okay, fine. So, this is something that, you know, it's a little bit of understanding about the kingdom of darkness that is ruled by Satan. Now, we also know that Satan is the commander-in-chief of the kingdom of darkness. So, you have all these principalities, rulers, spirits of wickedness. Satan is the one who is commanding them and guiding them on how and what needs to be done. In scripture, we see that Satan is also described with several names. So, what are all these names that are given to Satan? You know, Satan is called the adversary. First Peter, you remember, the adversary, the devil, he is like a lion. He's going about like a roaring lion is what we read. So, he is the adversary. His adversary is he. He is God's adversary. He is the adversary of mankind. So, he is in opposition to us, right? So, these are all names that also help us understand the personality of Satan. He opposes us, okay? He is known as the enemy. Why? Because he is working against us. He is working for our destruction. So, Satan is called as the enemy. I'm not taking us through every reference here because otherwise it will take a lot of time but you can look up the references. He is known as the adversary. He is known as the enemy. He is known as the slanderer. The slanderer is people who speak ill of, you know, another person. So, Satan speaks ill of us. Now, God says that you are a child of God. What did he do in the garden? He went against what did God really say? He will try to twist truth and speak against God's people. So, he is a slanderer. He speaks all kinds of wicked things about God's people. Who we are in Christ Jesus. That is why it's so important for us to affirm who we are in Christ Jesus because if we don't, we can give in to the slanderer of the enemy. He speaks wild things about us but we must speak what God says about us and declare who we are in Christ Jesus. Now, he is called as Satan. In many places we see this name that is used. So, Satan is one of the names of Lucifer. We know his activity of posting. He is often termed as the oldest friend. Does that mean he is a snake? Every snake is the devil? No. That's not what it is. But, you know, in scripture you have symbolism. So, there are certain characteristics of an animal or a creature or an object which is used to describe the activity. So, you find that Satan is termed as the old serpent and also the dragon. Now, we can associate serpent, dragon, something harmful. Something that we are not comfortable with. So, these are all pictures, symbolism. So, in the book of Revelation 12.9 is where he is known as the dragon. He is also known as the deceiver. Now, that's quite understandable. If you go back to the Garden of Eden, what he did was deception, isn't it? He told Eve, if you have this fruit then you are going to be like God. Now, that is, you will have knowledge of good and evil. Now, maybe there is a certain element of truth in what he is saying but invariably. If, you know, what he is communicating is a big lie. Now, Eve followed what Satan said, you know, that serpent in the Garden said and what happened? Sin came into the world. There was like major consequence to the action of Adam and Eve. So, what happened to them? They got deceived, isn't it? They went after something but they got something completely different and Satan continues to do that today. He is a deceiver. Now, he would say, ah, you will get pleasure out of this or, you know, your life is going to be so much better if you get this object or you are friends with so and so and we are thinking that's the result we are going to get and we are heading in that direction but then, you know, the complete opposite happens and that is deception, isn't it? So, we are getting some other results as compared to what we were promised and that is the work of Satan and therefore, Satan is called as the deceiver. He is also called as, you know, the adversary and the roaring lion. Now, I told us that symbolism that doesn't mean every lion you see is Satan or demonic. No, it's a picture. Why? Because when we talk about a lion, if one is, even by mistake, you are in a lion's den what are the consequences? You know, that animal or that creature or that person gets eaten up, right? So devoured. There is no mercy. The lion will just gobble you up. So, in the same way, when you look at the personality of Satan, he has no mercy. He's ready to destroy it, ready to kill, right? Ready to devour. And all these names, mind you, they are just giving you an idea of the personality of Satan. So, you can understand how wicked, you know, this individual is Satan, adversary, the old serpent coming, deceiver, the roaring lion. These are all terms to understand the personality of Satan. Another name which is given is the tempter. You remember? Even Jesus, he didn't spare Jesus. And we read about the life of Jesus that he became a man to fully experience what it is to be like you and me. And which is why scriptures tell us that Jesus understands us. He became that high priest who can sympathize with us. Even Jesus was tempted to the extreme. Jesus was fasting 40 days and here goes Satan. Giving him all kinds of ideas. You know, if you worship me, I will give you this world. If you worship me, I will make you the king. So, there is temptation coming in, right? He is the tempter. Now, as Jesus tempted in every way, scripture says, yes, every way, all kinds of temptations. And Satan continues to do that in our lives. Every season in our lives there is temptation for money, for popularity, for pleasure, for this, for that. And he is constantly trying to derail us. Trying to cause us to sin. Because what is temptation? Temptation is... Excuse me. Temptation is, you know, him working on our minds to make us sin, to draw us away from God. And that is Satan's work. And each one of us, we do come under temptation in this world because that is the activity that our enemy is engaged in. So, tempter. He is known as the tempter. Also, he is known as the accuser. Accuser of the brethren. You know, once again, I told that he is the adversary. He speaks opposite to what God speaks. And you know, he is the deceiver. He will deceive us by saying all kinds of things. Now, accuser. We have to be so firm in who we are in Christ Jesus. Otherwise, what happens? He'll put thoughts in our hearts and he'll say, You're so bad. You're so evil. You think you can serve God? What makes you think you can serve God? What makes you think you are holy? What makes you think you can go into God's presence? What makes you think that God will hear your prayer? What is all this? It's accusing us. It is accusing us with false... You know, false things. God is saying that we are washed by the blood of Jesus. God is saying that I am a child of God. God is saying, you know, he has good plans for me. He has a good future for me. But Satan will come and he will put those wrong thoughts. And he'll say, Oh, really? You think you're good enough for God to bless you? You think you're... So, his constant work is accusing, putting us down and saying the opposite of what God says about us. And that is once again, you know, a good thing for us to know. Because every time we have thoughts like this, we have to bring ourselves back and say, No, you know, I know that God is for me. God is for me. Who can be against me? You know, we go against the accusations of the enemy against us. So that is his nature. And sometimes we find ourselves with these accusations in our minds and we can immediately pick it up and say, No, this is not from God. This is not the word of God. And I am just going to go by what God says about me. So Satan, he is an accuser. He's also the God of this world. We are told God of this world meaning small God. Obviously, remember, we brought that understanding and we said that it's only our God. Who is the creator of this world? And Satan is but a finite created being. So he can be a God in that sense. But to express that he is the ruler of this world, the term small g, God of this world is used. So he has, you know, for now, for the time being, he does have a stake. He is, you know, manipulating and going about doing things here in the world causing destruction. So in that sense, he is the God of what? The universe? No, only of the world or the earth for right now. He's also termed as the prince of excuse me. He's also termed as the prince of the air, the prince of the air. So what do we understand by that? You see, this is when we talk about all these principalities, you know, powers of darkness, spirits of wickedness. Many a time we have this understanding that they are in a realm. They are in a spiritual realm. They are in an atmosphere. Sometimes people use that term. They are in an atmosphere surrounding the earth. And so to kind of describe that, you know, we use prince of the air. So he is the ruler of that atmosphere that consists of the hierarchy and the structure of the demonic kingdom. So he is known as the prince of the air. He is known as the angel of light. Angel of light. Again, this is the same as a deceiver. Angel of light is as if, you know, he appears as if he is bringing us the truth. He appears as if he is doing us good. You know, he appears as if, you know, he has come to bring us the good message. But obviously, you know, when you go with the word that he is speaking, you end up deceived and that is why he's also termed as the angel of light. And it's like a warning, you know, Satan is the angel of light. He may appear good, but we have to be cautious and we have to discern that we must not go by his instructions to us. So the angel of light. He's also known as Beelzebub. Beelzebub in scripture. Beelzebub is the exact translation of that is the lord of dung, you know, cow dung. The lord of dung or the lord of filth, the lord of flies. Now, it's not pleasant at all. It's very disturbing, isn't it? To know that there is the lord of sort of garbage, okay? And the lord of the flies. Where do flies come? Flies come when I'm just giving you an example. Let's say, for example, there are flies where we live and we've left some food on our plates and we've not cleared it for a very long time. What can we expect? The flies come. They kind of, you know, hover on the old food there. Satan, he's not clean. Okay, he's not about the truth. He's not about goodness. He's not about, you know, our welfare, but it's all filth and wickedness and lies and, you know, sin and things like that. That he's attracted to. So one of the things that we can take back from this is, see, the flies come where there is leftovers and, you know, a filth. But if you clear the filth, there's no requirement for a fly to come there, isn't it? So flies don't come to clean spaces generally or let's say sanitized spaces. They generally don't come. So in the same way, when we keep our lives clean of sin, you get rid of sin in your life, you walk righteously with God. There's no door of entry for a fly or the demons of Satan or Satan to kind of show up and do their work in our lives. So Beelzebub is the lord of the flies, the lord of filth, the lord of tongue and that is another name which Satan has. He's attracted to places of sin and wickedness. Belial is another name which is given to Satan and that means worthlessness, without profit, destructive, so on and so forth. He's also called as the evil one or the wicked one. So evil or wicked is, you know, we understand that when somebody is hurtful, we think, oh, that's so evil what that person has done. Sometimes you have these little kids, they're still growing up and they don't know what to say and they just say something rude. And you tell them, no, that's not right. What you said is very hurtful, but at least their intention is good. They didn't know that they're hurting somebody with their words, but think about Satan, he intends to hurt. He intends to be wicked, he intends to be evil. He wants to make sure that our spirits are broken, our lives are destroyed, that God's purpose is not fulfilled in our lives. So why are we trying to understand? You know, sometimes it makes us angry. When you read about Satan, you're like, I'm so angry that Satan is like this. You know, in a way it's good to be angry because then it kind of drives us to pursue God more, to pursue the truth of God's word more. And wherever Satan is working in people's lives, we don't want that to happen. And I'm reminded of some preachers, now don't go by their example, it's definitely not recommended. But you know people like Smith Wigglesworth, it's told that there was times in his ministry when he would minister. Whenever he would see sick people come to him and there is one incident that I've heard that somebody came with a tumor. And he kind of hit that tumor or something like that. And the person was actually healed, the tumor came off that person and that person was healed and all. But later when asked why are you so violent when you're ministering to people, you can be gentle. So Smith Wigglesworth actually said, I'm not angry person, I'm angry with the sickness, I'm angry with the devil. I'm angry with what the enemy is doing, the wickedness that the enemy is showing on the lives of the people. But obviously it's definitely not recommended to be hitting people and all that. But what I'm saying is in the ministry of that person, devil results, people were healed, people were raised from the dead. The attitude that we can take back is to know that the, you know, it's put like this, God is a good God, the devil is a bad devil. So the attitude we can keep with us is yes, we are facing a bad enemy. So we have to stand on God's truth. We have to see the demonstration of God's power to see people set free in their lives. So that is what we take back with us. But of course, you know, we know better now with scripture that we can't be rough, you know, we can't be rude and hurtful, physically hurtful to people when we are ministering to them. But the simple point is we can understand the enemy for who he is, you know, and it really helps us fight the enemy the way God teaches us to do it through his word. Okay, couple of other names and I think for this session we can wrap up. He's known as a thief, okay, thief, because he doesn't do things rightfully. He trespasses, meaning when there are boundaries put, you know, we have our homes and we have our, you know, walls around our home and the doors and the windows they are shut. Anyone who accesses in a rightful way is part of the family or friends or they are, they have the right to come inside the house. But if somebody jumps into our home late in the night, what would you call that person thief? Because they are trespassing. It's they don't have the right to do that, but they're doing it. That is a thief. And that is who Satan is. And we have to catch him every time when he's trespassing against the promises of God in our lives. We say, come on Satan, you can't do that. Right. So he acts like a thief. He comes to and what, what does it do? It's never pleasant. Right. Steal, kill, destroy. Those are the activities that Satan is engaged in when he trespasses against our lives. He's also known as a murderer, murderer. So that's quite obvious. He's going, what do we know about God? God is the author of life. Zoe life, the God kind of life. Right. I've come that you may have life and have it in abundance. So everything that has to do with life, we associate with God. He's a good God, but Satan, what is one of his names? He's a murderer. He comes to kill. Right. So, you know, we understand the activities of, of the enemy. So he leads us towards destruction. He's also known as the father of lies. What did Jesus say? I am the way, the truth and the life. What about Satan? He is the father of lies. He is a murderer. So, you know, it gives us a good picture of who this devil is, what he is up to and what we must fight against. Okay. And very, oh yeah, I can't be quick here. We have stuff to understand and learn. So we almost through with our first session here, the time is up. So any thoughts, any questions, any additional comments from all of you, we can do that and then go for a break. Okay. All right. So maybe you're thinking about what you have learned for now. That's all right. What we can do is we can go in for a break. For a break. It is 1047. So let's come back at 1057. Is that okay, everyone? 10 minutes. Okay. Wonderful. Okay. I'm glad you're enjoying the session, Subashish. Yeah. All right. Okay. So let's come back at 1058. Okay. Are we going on a break now? See you soon. Thank you.