Evil Spirits & “Ghost” Stories

Posted On October 31, 2021

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”

Matthew 3:11 KJV

It’s Halloween. So it seems like a good time to talk about evil spirits and “Ghost” stories (the Holy Ghost, that is). We’ll start with a discussion of evil spirits, also known as demons. According to the Bible, demons are angels who turned against God:

“Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”

Revelation 12:7-9 NIV

Are Demons Real?

“For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment.”

2 Peter 2:4 NLT

These fallen angels, including Satan, are spirits created by God. Out of pride and arrogance they chose to rebel against God. And as a result they were cast out of heaven. So do demons really exist? Yes. They are evil. They are powerful. And they want nothing more than to offend God by attacking His children.

“The scary thing about all this is that it’s true. It’s not a horror movie, it’s not make-believe, it’s not mythology, it’s not superstition. It’s the Christian faith. Human beings are the principal target of the devil and his demons.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

The Attack Is Psychological

Despite how they are normally portrayed in movies, demons don’t usually want to make their presence known to us. In fact, they are happy if we don’t believe in them at all — because if we don’t believe in them, it’s a lot easier to convince us not to believe in God either. Since they can’t hurt God, they try to lash out at Him by coming after us. Specifically, they try to persuade us to turn away from God or to doubt His existence altogether. Like angels, they have the power to influence our thoughts and motives. And as this scene from The Exorcist warns, demons are liars.

“Since demons are fallen angels, they have great intellectual as well as supernatural powers, including the ability to manipulate human beings, psychologically, and the ability to propagate widespread falsehoods.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

Have you ever been attacked by a demon? Don’t be too quick to say no. You may have been without even realizing it. Have you ever found yourself on a spiritual high one minute and then full of doubts about your faith the next minute? Have you ever made significant progress in your spiritual journey only to immediately stumble back into sin? If so, there could have been some demonic influence at work. This seems to be the way they like to operate:

“I began to notice a recurring pattern. I began to notice that it was after those times when I was feeling most spiritual — after I had been praying, or had attended church services, or had received communion — that I felt most tempted to go out and sin! At first I thought it was just a coincidence. But then I realized that it couldn’t be. It was happening too much.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

Now, I’m not saying we can just claim “The devil made me do it!” and let ourselves off the hook every time sin. We can’t blame every evil thought in our head on demonic influence. Human beings are very capable of sinful thoughts and actions with no outside help. But I think it’s important to be aware of the way demons operate. I have begun to notice the same pattern in my own life that Anthony DeStefano talked about above. More than once, after feeling like I’ve just made a breakthrough in my faith, I have immediately faced doubts, fears, and even depression. I have been overcome with feelings of failure and worthlessness and started to think “What’s the point of even trying?” I have been tempted to just forget it all: no more devotionals, no more Scripture, no more prayer . . . . Then I came to my senses and realized what was going on. I was being attacked.

“Maybe I just didn’t have what it took to be a good Christian. This kind of thinking began to seriously shake my faith. . . . It hit me one day that I was on the road to real spiritual despair, that I was losing hope in the possibility of my own salvation. And why should that be? . . . It was then that I realized that I was being duped. It was all a tactic. It was all a lie.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

So how do we protect ourselves? God doesn’t leave us helpless. As we’ll see, once we learn to access the power living inside us, the demons are no match for us.

“God has given us all the spiritual weapons we need, not only to defend against evil, but to triumph over it, to obliterate it.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

“Ghost” Stories

The fantasy series Supernatural is about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who travel all over the country in their 1967 Chevrolet Impala fighting demons, ghosts, vampires, monsters, and all kinds of evil creatures. Because demon possession is apparently a common problem for characters on this show, the brothers had to get special tattoos (shown in the photo above) to protect them from getting possessed by demons. While this show is fun to watch, it’s obviously just fantasy and not at all biblical. But it got me thinking about what actually does protect us from demons. It’s not a special tattoo, but a Ghost: the Holy Ghost.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 KJV

The Holy Ghost, also called the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of God Himself. He is the third member of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is full of “Holy Ghost” stories which describe the supernatural power given to those He indwells. The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to everyone who professes faith in Christ. This means the all-powerful Spirit of God now dwells inside every believer.

“When you became a Christian, you were sealed into Christ. . . . The primary benefit of the seal is protection. . . . When God looks at you, He sees the Holy Spirit within you. The presence of the Holy Spirit is a permanent reminder of God’s promise to finish what He has begun in you. It is also a sign to the principalities and forces of the spiritual realm that you belong to the Lord.”

Charles F. Stanley, The Spirit-Filled Life

“Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world.”

1 John 4:4 CEV

Weapons Against Evil

“Despite the great power of the devil and his demons, we’re still the ones who possess the heavy artillery. We’re still the ones who have the benefit of grace. This amazing invisible force has the ability to vanquish the devil. . . . in the presence of grace, evil flees, cowers, melts, and withers away into nothing.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

The Winchester brothers travel with a variety of weapons in the trunk of their Impala. They’ve got all kinds of stuff for fighting evil, including guns, knives, angel swords, magic spells, salt, and holy water. They are prepared! Thankfully, we don’t need such an arsenal. Our greatest weapon in the fight against evil is the grace of God. My study Bible defines grace as “God’s free and unmerited favor toward sinful humanity.” It’s God’s grace that gives us salvation through faith in Christ, and it’s God’s grace that gives us the power to live the way God wants us to live.

“How does grace help us to keep from being devoured? It’s purpose is to transform our lives so that we can function at an entirely new level — a much higher level. It’s not really natural at all, but supernatural. In other words, grace involves the elevation of our natural abilities so that we can act more in accordance with the way God wants us to act.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

So how do we access God’s grace? We access it first of all through faith: turning from sin and embracing Christ. Other means of grace are Scripture, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and Christian sacraments such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Basically, anything that draws us closer to God allows Him to work within us so that we can become who we were always meant to be.

“Grace, at its deepest level, isn’t just help from God — it’s God himself. It’s God living inside us. And it’s this presence of the Holy Spirit inside our souls that transforms everything, permeates everything, and shapes everything we do. When grace is operating in our souls, it doesn’t just mean that God is helping us to do certain things or to live in certain ways. It actually means that God is doing these things himself, and that he is involving us in the process.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

When we stay connected to God, we stay connected to His power. The more we learn about Him in Scripture, the more we learn to recognize His voice. Staying rooted in the truth in God’s Word keeps us from falling for the lies that Satan and his demons try to make us believe. The more we ask Him for help, the more help we will receive.

“I will always feel the pull of temptation. My old tendencies will be awakened and will want to sin. But I have the Holy Spirit within me, a more powerful principle or force . . . . If I cooperate with Him and turn to Him for help, He will give me the power to resist temptation. He will make me stronger as a result of every test.”

Billy Graham, The Holy Spirit

How Jesus Performs an Exorcism

Most exorcisms I have seen portrayed in movies and television are elaborate rituals involving holy water, crosses, and speaking in Latin. They are long, scary, dramatic experiences. I thought it would be interesting to compare this idea to the way Jesus casts out demons. Here is a scene from The Chosen which portrays an exorcism Jesus performs on a demon-possessed man who is attacking one of the apostles. You really only have to watch the first 12 seconds of the clip:

“With merely a word he commands demons to come out and they obey him!”

Mark 1:27 TPT

Demons are powerful, but they are no match for Christ. He merely speaks a word and they must flee. He has authority over all creation, including Satan and his demons. And that power is what resides in us as followers of Christ. We can banish evil spirits from our thoughts with a single command: “In the name of Christ, I order you to leave!” And they will. They have no authority to stand against the powerful name of Christ. Christ defeated evil once and for all when He offered Himself for us on the cross. Satan is fighting a losing battle.

“Yes, it’s true that the devil is very powerful; yes, it’s true that he hates God and wants to destroy human beings. And, yes, he and his demons spend a lot of time, trying to tempt us to sin and discourage us. But the fact is that, in the overall scheme of history, the devil and his demons are the ones who are on the run; they’re the ones who are losing; they’re the ones who are afraid.”

Anthony DeStefano, The Invisible World

They’re the ones who are afraid. They’re afraid we’ll realize they have no real power over us. They’re afraid we’ll stop listening to their lies. They’re afraid we’ll call on the almighty power of Christ to banish them from our presence. They’re afraid. . . .

They should be!

“We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.”

1 John 5:18 NLT

This week’s Scripture passages remind us that the power of the Holy Spirit within us gives us everything we need to overcome Satan and his demons. As we call on the name of Christ and put on the full armor of God, we are strengthened with weapons of divine power to resist the devil and stand firm in the faith.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

James 4:7 NIV

References:

• Chronological Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 2012.
• “THE DEMON IS A LIAR…TACTICS OF THE COINTELPRO….” YouTube, uploaded by angrynhpatriot, 26 February 2013, https://youtu.be/qAJSgw0nfJ4.
• DeStefano, Anthony. The Invisible World: Understanding Angels, Demons, and the Spiritual Realities That Surround Us. Kindle ed., Doubleday, 2011.
• Graham, Billy. The Holy Spirit. Word Books, 1978.
• “John the Baptist says YEAH! Full Scene.” YouTube, uploaded by ScotsMaiar, 30 May 2021, https://youtu.be/pNkzXgHrXxg.
• Stanley, Charles F. The Spirit-Filled Life: Discover the Joy of Surrendering to the Holy Spirit. Nelson Books, 2014.

Images:

• Holy Ghost featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay (edited by me)
• Creepy Forest image by barnabasvormwald from Pixabay
• “Supernatural” Tattoos image from “sam & dean | supernatural // ink.” YouTube, uploaded by actual losechester, 9 November 2015, https://youtu.be/qndqwCo6sNI.
• Bible image by cgrape from Pixabay
• Jesus on the Cross image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay (edited by me)
• Cross image by sspiehs3 from Pixabay