Demonology
Spiritual Building-Stone No. 142

St. Mark 16:9, "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils."

When God created me, William Branham, I was before the foundation of the world; He made my being, my spirit. I wasn't conscious of anything as far as I know of, but... I was there (Job 38:4-7; Prov. 9:22-31). Oh, I don't believe you're getting it. But now, just a minute, Jesus told the disciples that He knew them before the foundation of the world; and Paul said here that He chose us in Him before the world began (Eph. 1:3-4). Now, there was some part of me, Orman Neville, and the rest of you all here, that's in Christ Jesus before the world ever began. And here's to my analysis of that: I think that the people today that are possessed with this Spirit, or the spirit, a part of these angelic beings, spirits which rotated off of God, that never fell in the beginning and resisted the Devil's lie in heaven... (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:11-19).

And two thirds of the earth is in sin, and more than that, which two thirds of the angels was kicked out (Rev. 12:3-4). And those demon spirits come into people and habitate their body. See what I mean? They're demons that once... They was once existed and they come into the people and give them a nature.

Jesus cast seven of them out of Mary Magdalene: 1) Pride, 2) boast (big people, you see?), 3) unclean, 4) filthy, 5) vulgarity, 6) emulations, 7) strife, all these things (Luke 8:1-3; Mark 16:9-10).

These demons are in the spirit realm. We can call them also nervousness, depression, arrogant spirits, sullen ungodly spirits, insanity, worldly spirits, spirit of darkness, drinking, smoking, bad habits.

Jesus called them a devil. Now, anybody knows that the word „devil” means a tormentor. A fellow that torments is a devil, an evil one. All sickness is of the devil. You can’t pin that on God. See? It’s of the devil.
The Prophet of God named some other demons in the physical realm called tumor, cancer, pneumonia, arthritis, cataract, rheumatism, tuberculosis, epilepsy, asthamatic conditions, germ deseases, ulcer, deafness, blindness etc.

In the religious (spirit) realms he named unclean spirits (Acts 8:7), spirit of doubt, superstition, unbelief and sin. They come in the form of religion many times. Did you ever see a person, demons impersonating Christianity? So demons can work right among Christians - and they impersonate. They are very religious. They are lying (I Kings 22:19-29) or come with a false doctrine (Gal. 6:6-10; II Cor. 11:1-4).

And we have to cast them out, to rebuke them and to adjure them, to leave the person. Because in the authority of the Name of Jesus Christ, every demon in hell is subject to that Name (Mark 1:27-34; Acts 3:16; 4:12).

The Prophet of God said: And now I curse this demon called cancer in the Name of Jesus Christ, may it come out of him.
But now, what starts this sickness? Now, the first thing, it's a spirit before it becomes a disease, just the same as you was a spirit before you become a human being.

Sometimes tumors are lopsided this way, long, oblong, and everything. They have no form, because they're after a spirit which has no form. But it's a developing of cells; it's a bunch of cells that. Say in you right now is a tumor or a cancer just developing cells, growing, growing, growing; it's eating, sucking your life from you; it's living on the bloodstream. Cataracts take the mucus of the eye and grows right over it, covers hisself over, shut your eyes off. Some of them comes and never gets... Like tubercular, that comes just in little small germ. There's nothing to the size of it. The same size germ makes an elephant, makes a chigger. See? Nothing to the size of the germ.

And some of them take body form, some never does. And some never goes into cells. Some becomes spirit, torments the soul. We'll try to get that part in. I'll leave that part for tomorrow afternoon, if I can, where that soul-spirit comes, and how down under here it in...

Each person setting here's filled with something (Eph. 2:1-2). You're filled with something. You can't set there without being full of something. Now, you can't stand neutral. You just can't do it. You've got a life in you. That life governs you, and that life is governed by a spirit. Now, you might be full of the world, loving the world or the things of the world (I John 2:15-17). God be merciful to you. You might be full of creeds from some church, some little prayers that you say, you think that it's going to--or pray to some dead person, or make some kind of a sign across you. God be merciful to you.

And you may be full of religion; and that's worse yet. That's right. That's right. The Bible said in the last days they'd be very religious, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away (II Tim. 3:1-5). If you're full of religion, you're miserable: just religion, that's all. If you're full of creeds, you don't know what you're talking about. If you're full of the world, you're blind.

You know what God did for Saul? God gave him a evil spirit to lead him (I Sam. 16:14-15). So, when a man rejects the leading of the Holy Spirit, or any person rejects the leading of the Holy Spirit, you’ve got a devil on you to lead you. That’s exactly the Bible.

If a man is led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14), God’ll make Hisself known to that person. Yes, sir. God promised to. So, in doing that we know then that the Holy Spirit leads the people, and God takes care of it.
Then I’d like to say another thing, that evil spirit begin to lead Saul, and it led him. And today when the Holy Spirit’s rejected... what will it do? You’ll get an evil spirit to lead you. Now, listen. I don’t want to hurt you, but I want you to get this, see. Just as it was in them days, so is it today. They don’t want the Holy Spirit to lead them so they get a evil spirit. What takes place with the evil spirit? The evil spirit wants to lead them then.

And now watch. They didn’t want God to be their judge. And people today don't want the Holy Spirit to judge them. That's the reason they turned Samuel down (I Sam. 8:1-22), because his judgment was of God; it was Scriptural. And they don't want to be led by the Spirit. And they turned it down for an ecclesiastical man. And what did they get? A evil spirit to lead them. Now, the people today don’t want to be led by the Holy Spirit. They don't want the Holy Spirit to judge them. Now, that's true, friends. They don't want the Holy Spirit to judge you.

So all these things that you see taking place on earth, they begin in Genesis, for Genesis is the seed chapter of the Bible, the beginning. So you see, those spirits was upon those men back in those days, still live on men today. See? Satan takes a man, but the spirit lives on.

God takes His man, but the Spirit lives on. That makes Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). He took Christ Jesus, but the Spirit, the Holy Spirit come back, and has been upon the people in the church all down through the ages, because God takes His men, but not His Spirit. Satan takes his man, and you find them same spirits; watch their nature.

For example: When you see a person like in Luke 8:26-39, don't never think that it's the man; it's the devil that's in the man. Now, that maniac on the platform that night was going to kill me up in Oregon... But it was that devil in him that was doing that.

And you never cast a devil out by the wrong attitude. It takes love to do that. And love is the most powerful force that there is in the world (I Cor. 13:1-8). Now, if you notice, a devil is always hate. Hate is of the devil. And when people hate someone, remember it is a terrible devil to despise or dislike. You mustn't do that.

Now, in that man (there in Oregon) was some of these spirits that was cast out of the swine in Gadara (Luke 8:26-39; Mark 5:1-20). Some of those poor people are out here in the insane institution beating their heads against padded bars, cells. Remember, devils never die. Devils always live, but there will be a time where devils will have to die. They will become totally annihilated (Rev. 20:10). But now they are alive, and they work from generation to generation upon human beings. Some of them is in the form of cancer; some is in the form of epilepsy; some is in the form of tuberculosis. They get into the flesh, but seemingly they are powerless until they can get into a person. They have to operate through a person, which brings to another thought, that the Holy Spirit is--covers the earth but It is almost helpless until It gets into you and to me.

Now, when the meeting going on, a evil spirit is in the meeting, that spirit is almost harmless until it can catch somebody that it can work through. Then when it can work through, it'll certainly do damage, because it is a evil spirit. And the Holy Spirit is here, trying to find somebody to work through, and when It finds somebody to work through, It can do good.

See, the two spirits, their motives, objectives? Watch how it is. Watch their works. Watch their fruits (Eph. 5:9; Rom. 6:21). Then you can see what spirit is on you.

You are motivated by spirit. If you have no spirit, you're dead. And if you have a spirit, it motivates your life. And if your life bears the fruit of a Christian (Gal. 5:22-23), it's a Christian Spirit.

Now, watch this evil spirit. When he goes out, he walks in dry places hunting a place to find rest. The Bible said he could not find it (Luke 11:24-26). So he says, "I will return back to where I come out of." Did you notice the devil went out by his own will and he returned by his own will? He goes back to this person that he was once in, and he finds the house all swept, cleaned up, sanctified, all condemnation gone, oh, just a real happy believer. But it's empty, and he says, "Come here," seven other spirits, worse than he was... Will you please try to get this. The Bible said that's the truth. And he comes back to this house.

Once again: A man who has confessed Christ to be his Saviour, got rid of his wickedness, has quit his drinking, quit his smoking, his lying, his stealing, he has become sanctified, cleaned out. His house is all swept; He feels free. So this evil spirit comes back, and he finds that house. Then he goes and gets seven other spirits worse than he was and comes into this person, if the good man of the house isn't there to hold him off - faith to believe. And the good man of your house is your faith, say "Stay away" (Matt. 12:22-29). That's it. And the Bible said that the last estate of a man is seven times worse than it was at the beginning. Now if this house had already been occupied when he returned, he would not been able to get in.

Satan, restless, demon powers are moving in. Healing, salvation, sanctification last as long as your faith lasts. You lose faith through a negative confession.

Now, friends, I'm not telling this from some kind of a psychologic. I have dealt with demons for years, and you know that. If you only knew the thing, after the services is over at night, what goes on sometimes. You don't know. Remember, when you come against a spirit, you better know what you're speaking about. Just don't stand there and carry on, 'cause it ain't going to do any good. But when actually a demon has to obey you, he'll recognize it. It ain't how loud you holler; it ain't how much oil you put on. It's what's back here that he'll recognize. It's the truth (Mark 6:12-13).

Today is a horrible day. The people are scattered abroad. I stood a few weeks ago where there was a big tent erected, where a man said he could cast out evil spirits, which I have no doubt of that. But evil spirits are not cast out by cruel indifferent living. The most powerful weapon there is in the world is love.

The inside of you is one, one avenue. And that avenue is the same place that God set every man from Adam and Eve: self-will. You will to live or you will to die, either one you want to. It's, you're based on free moral agency, and whatever spirit that you let dominate you will bring forth the fruits, your life will be dominated by the inside. So many people rely upon these five senses on the outside. They're fine, nothing against them, if they agree with this sixth sense (faith). This spirit only can be of two kinds, one of them is the Spirit of God, the other is the spirit of the Devil. You can't serve two masters at the same time (Matt. 6:24). You're wholly given to one or wholly given to the other. And if you got the Spirit of God in you (Rom. 8:9), you've got faith, and you'll believe every Word that God wrote.

Reference:
"QA on Genesis”, par. 21 / „Spiritual Signs of the Time”, par. 67 / „Perseverance” (62-0608), par. 115 / „Stand Still and See”, par. 52 / „God’s Chosen Place of Worship” (65-0220), par. 127 / „Our Hope is in God”, par. 48 / „Demonology 1, Physical Realm”, par. 42/47 / „What the Holy Ghost was given for”, par. 137 / „The Rejected King” (60-0610), par. 90-94 / „Then Jesus Came and Called” (64-0417), par. 10-11 / „Questions&Answers” (59-1223), par. 36-40 / „Oneness of Unity”, pg. 8 / „Investments” (63-0803), par. 59 / „Diseases and Afflictions”, par. 26-28 / „Why are People so Tossed about”, pg. 28 / „Perseverance” (62-0218), par. 23

Spiritual Building-Stone No. 142 from the Revealed Word of this hour, compiled by: Gerd Rodewald, Friedenstr. 69, D-75328 Schömberg, Germany
Phone: (+49) 72 35 76 13, Fax: (+49) 72 35 33 06

There's coming one with a Message that's straight on the Bible, and quick work will circle the earth. The seeds will go in newspapers, reading material, until every predestinated Seed of God has heard It.
[Bro. Branham in "Conduct-Order-Doctrine", pg. 724]