Episode 137: The Schemes of the Devil (2 Cor 2:11, Eph. 6:11)

Awareness of & Standing Against  “the schemes
of the devil”



2 Corinthians 2:11 - 11 in order that Satan might not
outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.



Ephesians 6:10-12 - 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and
in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over
this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly places.


1 Corinthians 12:10 – “to another the ability to
distinguish between spirits”


“He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a
message is from the Spirit of God or from another
spirit.”


“…the ability to tell the difference between gifts that
come from the Spirit and those that do not”



A Vision for Freedom



Luke 6:17-18  - 17 When Jesus had come down from the
hill with the apostles, he stood on a level place with a large
number of his disciples. A large crowd of people was there from
all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal cities of
Tyre and Sidon; 18 they had come to hear him and to be healed of
their diseases. Those who were troubled by evil spirits
also came and were healed. 



ROCK OC = A PLACE FOR ALL TYPES OF HEALING!!



Origin of Demonic Realm - Satan



Satan’s Fall – Who? When? What?


Ezekiel 28:13-15 – 13 You were in Eden, the garden of
God… 14 You were an anointed guardian
cherub. I placed you; you were on the
holy mountain of God.  15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in
you. 


Isaiah 14:12-14 - “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day
Star/shining one/O Lucifer, son of Dawn!


“...When he saw man made in the image of God, he [Satan]
broke forth into jealous and malevolent envy. ...How great an
evil it was, beloved brethren, that caused an angel to fall!”
Cyprian (AD250)



The devil was one of those angels who are placed over the
spirit of the air. ...However, becoming envious of man, he was
rendered an apostate from the divine law. Irenaeus
(AD180)



Origin of Demonic Realm - Fallen Angels &
Demons



•Fallen Angelic Beings – “Sons of God”/ “Watchers” /
“elohim” - embodied


•Nephilim -
LXX –γίγαντες
(gigantes) = Demons
(disembodied spirits)



Genesis 6:1-4 - When man began to multiply on the face of the
land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that
the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their
wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not
abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120
years.” 4 The nephilim were on
the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God
came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them.
These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of
renown.



Psalm 82:1, 6-7 – 1 God
[elohim] has taken his place in
the divine council; in the midst of the gods
[elohim] He holds judgment…6 I
said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; 7
nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any
prince.”



Origin and Schemes of the Demonic Realm



The angels transgressed this appointment and were
captivated by love of women. And they begat children
[the nephilim], who are those
who are called demons.  Justin Martyr (AD 160)



These angels, then, who have fallen from heaven, and
haunt the air and the earth, and are no longer able to rise to
heavenly things, and the souls of the giants
[nephilim], who are the demons
who wander about the world, perform similar actions. 
Athenagoras (AD 175)



Furthermore, we are instructed by our sacred books how
from certain angels, who fell of their own free will, there
sprang a more wicked demon brood, condemned of God along with the
authors of their race. ...Their great business is the ruin of
mankind. So, from the start, spiritual wickedness sought our
destruction. Accordingly, they inflict upon our bodies diseases
and other grievous calamities. And by violent assaults, they
hurry the soul into sudden and extraordinary excesses. ...By an
influence equally obscure, demons and angels breathe into the
soul, and rouse up its corruptions with furious passions and vile
excesses.  Tertullian (AD 197)

“…the demons…No doubt, they are very kind, too, in regard to the
healing of diseases! For, first of all, they make you ill. Then,
to get a miracle out of it,...they withdraw their hurtful
influence. Supposedly, then, they have wrought a cure!” 
Tertullian (AD197)



The angels transgressed this appointment and were
captivated by love of women. And they begat…certain wicked demons
(so to speak, of the race of Titans or giants
[nephilim]) who have been
guilty of impiety towards the true God and towards the angels in
heaven. They have fallen from it, and they haunt the denser parts
of bodies. They also frequent unclean places on the earth. Since
they are without bodies of earthly material, they possess some
power of foretelling future events. So, they engage in works of
this kind, desiring to lead the human race away from the true
God. They also secretly enter the bodies of the more predatory,
savage, and wicked of animals and stir them up to do whatever
they choose, whenever they choose. They can turn the fancies of
these animals to make flights and movements of various kinds, in
order to entrap men by such power of divination.  Origen (AD
248)

Among angels, some are angels of God, and others are angels of
the devil. But among demons, there is no such distinction. For
they are all said to be wicked.  Origen (AD 248)



From the seed [of the fallen angels and women], giants
[nephilim] are said to have
been born. By them, arts were made known in the earth. They
taught the dyeing of wool and everything that is done. When they
died, men erected images to them. Yet, because they were of an
evil seed, the Almighty did not approve of their being brought
back from death when they had died. For that reason, they wander
and they now subvert many bodies. And it is these whom you
[pagans] presently worship and pray to as gods.  Commodianus
(AD 240)

However, those who were born from [the relations of angels with
women]—because they were neither angels nor men, but had a mixed
nature—were not admitted into Hades [when they died]. Similarly,
their fathers had not been admitted into heaven, either. Thus,
there came to be two kinds of demons: one of heaven, the other of
the earth. The latter are the wicked spirits, who are the authors
of all the evils that are done. This same devil is their prince.
...However, grammari­ans say that the reason they are called
demons...is because they are skilled and acquainted with matters.
For the grammarians think they are gods. In truth, the demons are
acquainted with some future
events, but not with all. For He has not permitted them to know
entirely the counsel of God. ...As I was saying, these
contaminated and abandoned spirits wander over the whole earth.
They console their own ruin by destroying others. Therefore, they
fill every place with snares, deceits, frauds, and errors. For
they cling to individuals and even occupy whole houses, from door
to door. ...And since spirits are without physical substance and
cannot be held, they slink into the bodies of men. Secretly
working in their inward parts, they corrupt the health of these
persons, bring on diseases, terrify their souls with dreams, and
harass their minds with frenzies. They do this so that by these
evils, they may cause men to come to them for aid. 
Lactantius (AD 304-313)



Summary of the Schemes of the Demonic Realm



Seduction & secret knowledge (fallen angels)


Haunt the air and the earth (both)


Business = ruin of humanity (demons)


Inflict bodily disease (demons) – ‘calamities’?


Soul into sudden & extraordinary excesses
(demons)


Rouse corruptions, passions, vile excesses
(both)


Illness & then demonic healing (demons)


Haunt denser parts of human bodies (demons)


Hang around “unclean places” (demons)


Disembodied (demons)


“Some power” of foretelling future (demons)


Lead humanity away from God/deception (demons)
Possess animals, affect behavior to entrap us (demons)


All wicked (demons)


Arts revealed (demons? fallen angels)


Source of idolatry & false religions
(demons)


Wander & subvert bodies (demons)


Worshipped as false gods (demons)


Authors of ALL evils (demons)


Devil = their prince (both)


Sow snares, deceits, frauds, and errors (demons)


Nightmares (demons)


Work secretly in our inward parts (demons)


Harrass minds (demons)



MODERN APPLICATIONS



Mental Health issues – anxiety, paranoia


Addictions


Sexual perversions, abominations


Channeling – Sex Magick, spirit guides


Reincarnation


Yoga (false religious ideas/practices)


Fortune Telling


New Age ideas


Horoscope (Astrology)

SUMMARY OF DEMONIC SCHEMES - "THE WATCHERS"

“…the same angels who rushed from heaven on the daughters of
men. ... they laid bare the operations of
metallurgy, divulged the natural properties of herbs, promulgated
the powers of enchantments, and traced out every curiosity, even
to the interpreta­tion of the stars. They conferred
appropriately—and as it were, peculiarly—upon women that
instrumental means of womanly ostentation: the radiances of
jewels,...the dyes of orchil with which wools are dyed, and that
black powder itself with which the eyelids and eyelashes are made
prominent.  Tertullian (AD 198)



“those angels—the deserters from God, the lovers of
women—were likewise the discoverers of this curious art
[of astrology]...For we know the mutual alliance of magic
and astrology.  Tertullian (AD200)

Secret Knowledge (forbidden)


Art of seduction (make-up, jewelry)


Advanced Technology 


Astrology


Magic


pharmakeia (herbs)



Future Deception?? 


Alien agenda? “as in the days of Noah”


Medical? – Rev. 18:23 - …your
merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were
deceived by your sorcery (Gk. pharmakeia).




RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY



Demons – documentary -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H41Lw2YEY74 


Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness –
Michael Heiser


The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the
Bible – Michael Heiser