(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, we're in Revelation chapter 18, look down at your Bibles at verse number one. It says, and after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon, the great is fallen, is fallen and has become the habitation of devils and of the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. And what I'm going to preach on this evening is the subject of demonology. We're going to talk about demonology 101 and I'm going to show you what the Bible says about demons or devils. Now, one of the reasons I want to preach this is because today is Halloween, of course, and we don't recognize this day as being a celebration of darkness or Halloween, but there's plenty of people out there that do and they have this obsession with darkness, they have this obsession with Satan and obsession with demons and it can cause people to search the internet, you know, in regards to, you know, to find answers of what the, what God says or what the Bible says about demons. And unfortunately there's a lot of stupid stuff out there when it comes to demonology. You know, they, they name all these demons and they, you know, they, they, they put rules and give all types of information that's not found in the Bible. We're going to show you what the Bible actually says about demons and there's quite a bit in the word of God regarding this topic. And so we're going to get right into, I'm gonna give you a lot of verses. I'm not sure how we're going to be along, we're going to be tonight, but it might be this time. It might be a long one. Okay. And so hopefully you guys stay awake and if not, I'm still going to preach this. So we're going to come back to revelation 18 at the end of the sermon, cause I'm gonna explain to you what this particular verse in revelation 18 is actually referring to, but I'm going to wait off on that until the very end of the sermon. So there, you know, kind of keep you, you know, kind of, you know, just wondering and, and attentive. All right. So Isaiah chapter 14, if you would, Isaiah chapter 14, we'll come back to revelation 18 at the end. So what is a demon? Well, our English Bible doesn't use the word demon, but demon does come from the word that is actually commonly found in Greek. And so it almost sounds exactly the same and the same thing with the devil, but really demon is just synonymous with devils or evil spirits. These are all synonymously used in the Bible as meaning the same exact thing. To explain it simply, first and foremost, a demon is a fallen angel. Okay. Now what is an angel? Well, an angel, we know this to be sure is that it's referring to a messenger and more specifically a messenger of God. Okay. So they're sent forth by God with a message to God's people, to a prophet in times past, and that's what they're there for. And in fact, the term gospel in Spanish, for example, is evangelical, which is where you find the term angel in it. And in fact, when you think of an evangelist, you also have the word angel in there because it's a person who's bringing the tidings of great joy, the good news to someone. So an angel is a messenger of God. Well, in like manner, a fallen angel is actually a messenger of Satan. Okay. Someone who works for Satan. And in fact, when you think of the apostle Paul, when he's talking about how, you know, so that he's not exalted above measure, he talks about how he's received the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him. So there it's actually referring to that fallen angel who was a messenger of Satan, sent forth to buffet, to torment, to kind of cause anguish to Paul's life there. And that we see that in second Corinthians chapter 12, a fallen angel is a created spirit that chose to follow Lucifer in his rebellion against God. Now look at Isaiah chapter 14 and verse number 12, we see the fallen state of Lucifer himself when he became Satan. It says in verse number 12, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the Mount of the congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Yet thou shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. Now go to second Chronicles chapter 18, second Chronicles chapter 18. Now most people refer to demons as fallen angels and there's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it's not a term that's found in the Bible other than what we see with Lucifer. He says, how art thou fallen from heaven? And the implication there is that he's no longer a part of God's heavenly host. You understand? It's not necessary that he's cast out of heaven because throughout the word of God, you actually see examples of our demons, Satan himself, these devils who still come before the presence of God. And in fact, look at second Chronicles chapter 18. It says here in verse number 19, we're given this visual aid of this spiritual interaction that's taking place in heaven. It says in verse 19, then the Lord said, who shall entice Ahab king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? So what is he talking about? Well, God wants Ahab to die, believe that or not. There's times when God actually desires for certain people to die. And he's having this conversation with these hosts that are in heaven and he's putting forth this question. He's like, who wants to take the responsibility of causing Ahab to go up into this war to actually fall by the sword and perish? And it says, and one spake saying after this manner and another saying after that manner. Verse 20, then there came out a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith? And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, thou shall entice him and thou shall also prevail, go out and do even so. So what do we see here? We see that this lying spirit, which is not an angel of God, by the way, because an angel of God is holy, it's a messenger of God. He's not going to be sent forth to become a lying spirit in the mouth of prophets. A lying spirit is referring to a devil, okay? Which is proof of the fact that angels, excuse me, fallen angels, demons or devils still have access to the presence of God. And here's another proof of that. When you read the story of Job, you have Satan coming with the sons of God to present themselves before the Lord. What does he do? He comes to accuse Job before God in order to find a reason to destroy him, et cetera. And in fact, in the book of Revelation, we see that Satan is called what? The accuser of the brethren who accused them before God day and night. Now, obviously we don't know what this looks like because we don't necessarily know what heaven is like, okay? What we do know is that demons, evil spirits, devils, Satan himself, they frequently take trips to heaven to go before the presence of God in order to accuse us before God, okay? So they still have access to heaven. And the reason that's important to notice because there's a teaching out there that says, well, Satan and his devils were cast out forever. They have no place in heaven. And that's why when the Bible talks about the sons of God in the book of Job, it's actually referring to angels. Well, that's not true at all, okay? You know, sons of God is only referring to believers. The Bible tells us, but as many as receive them, to them give you power to become the sons of God, even unto them that believe on his name. Unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, to thee have I begotten thee. He hasn't talked to any angel in that manner. Angels are created by God, but they're not his sons. They're just his creation. They're his messengers. But here we see in 2 Chronicles 18 that a lying spirit comes and says, I'll take responsibility of that. I'll take responsibility from a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets. Now I don't want to get ahead of myself. Well, look at verse 22, now, therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee. So this is actually a vision that Micaiah sees, who's the prophet that Ahab hates. And he's putting forth this prophecy and he's letting them know, hey, you know, you have these prophets that you are trusting in actually have a lying spirit. So when you look at these false prophets out there, these false teachers preaching a false gospel, they're teaching crazy stuff, just mark it down, they have a lying spirit. They're possessed by a spirit of divination. Go to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter number 12. And so a demon is simply a fallen angel, someone who has chosen to rebel against God. They're no longer referred to as angels. In fact, now they are known as the messengers of Satan instead of angels. They're messengers of Satan. They are evil spirits. They are devils. Let me read to you from Revelation chapter 12, verse seven, it says, and there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not, neither was there a place found any more in heaven. The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Now when you read Revelation chapter 12 and you actually look at the chronology of what's taking place, Revelation chapter 12 actually takes place 75 days prior to the second coming of Christ, because it's at that time when Satan and his angels are cast out permanently from heaven that they come down to the earth and it's when the antichrist begins to make war with the saints and to overcome them. That's when he really begins to make war with them, to persecute them, to put them to death. And of course we see in chapter 12 that he begins to do this because he knows he has but a short time. He knows he's going to be cast into hell soon. What are demons? Well, we see that they're fallen angels, but they're also referred to as unclean spirits. You're in Matthew chapter 12, why are they called unclean spirits? Well think about this, when you study the word unclean in the Old Testament, it's often in reference to the laws, right? The purification laws, don't touch unclean body or unclean animal, why? Well because if you touch a dead body, you then become unclean and what it's referring to is the fact that you become defiled, you become contaminated, you understand? So any of these things that he would tell you not to do because they are unclean, he would tell you don't touch it, don't eat of it because you will become contaminated and or defiled. Well an unclean spirit is a spirit that what? Contaminates this world, contaminates the individual that it comes in contact with. Look at Matthew 12 and verse 43, it says, when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out and when he has come he findeth an empty, swept and garnished, then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. Now what I believe this is referring to is an individual for example, that cleans up his life. You know, this is a person who might believe like a false gospel, okay? They believe in this repent of your sins gospel, right? So you got to clean up your life in order to be saved, how do you know this is not referring to a saved person? Well because saved people can't be possessed by devils. Because a saved person is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and that Holy Spirit dwells within that person, sealed within that person unto the day of redemption. It's the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession, that's what the Bible says. This is referring to a person who potentially, you know, believes in a false gospel, begins to clean up the demon, it is an evil spirit, it is a devil, it is an unclean spirit. Matthew chapter 10 verse 1, you're in Luke chapter 6, I'm going to read to you from Matthew 10 verse 1, it says, when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. So obviously we know that sicknesses and diseases are often a result of our sin nature, right? But when you study the gospels, you see that sometimes they're actually closely related to demonic oppression, demonic spirits. Because you often see Jesus Christ rebuking the fever, right? And often when he talks about these unclean spirits, it's often coupled with a disease, it's often coupled with some sort of uncleanness or manner of sickness, okay? Look at Luke chapter 6 and verse 17, he says, and he came down with them and stood in the plan in the company of his disciples and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed and the multitude sought to touch him for there went virtue out of him and healed them all. So uncleanness, you know, obviously we see it used interchangeably with sicknesses and diseases but more often than not, uncleanness in the Bible is often also referring to sexual sins or perversions, okay? So this would indicate that demons actually aid mankind in these types of acts, you know, they promote sodomy, they promote fornication, they promote adultery, they promote pedophilia and all this filth and nonsense, that's where it comes from. Now obviously we know that demons don't make people do things, you know, sometimes people want to accredit demons for every little sin that they do but people have a free will, folks, people choose to do this. Now I do believe that Satan and his demons can orchestrate a situation to cause you to be tempted, you know, in order for you to give in to something and, you know, give in to uncleanness, some sexual perversion, some sexual sin of that nature, okay? Go to Daniel chapter number 10, Daniel chapter number 10. So a demon is a devil, it's an unclean spirit, this is why pornography exists, this is why people are involved in fornication and adultery, obviously we know that those things come from the heart and that's something that, you know, sinners naturally have the desire to do or are attempted to do but demons aid in that process, you understand? They place a, or should I say they construct a world where those things are readily available where someone can be tempted and sinned and become an unclean person, okay? How do they operate? So that's a demon, how do they operate? Well, you know what, demons actually have a hierarchy because when you think of demons it's like, oh, it's just a chaotic world in the spirit realm or something, right? But actually that's not the case, there's order within the demon realm, okay? There is a hierarchy in the demon realm and why is that? Well think about this, the reason there has to be an organization or a system in place for demons is because Satan is not omnipresent, God is omnipresent, God sees everything at all times, you know, he's omnipresent, he's omnipotent, you know, he's omniscient, he knows everything, he is all powerful, almighty, Satan is not. Satan can only be at one place at one time, he knows what he knows at that point, he doesn't know what's going on, you know, here in this church at this point right now, he's not necessarily here, you know, he's ruling somewhere else potentially, you know, he's oppressing another nation or something like that but so what does he do? Well he has an organization or a system set in place so that his demons are running certain areas, okay, oppressing certain people, attacking certain Christians, this is why a hierarchy is necessary in a sense in the demon world because Satan is not omnipresent. Look at Daniel chapter 10 verse number 12, let's show some proof of that, it says in verse number 12, Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou did set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before God, thy words were heard and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. Now the prince of Persia is not referring to a physical prince, although it could be representative of a physical prince, he's actually referring to another spirit because this is an angel who's talking to Daniel here and he's saying that the prince of Persia is the one who is resisting this angel so that this angel is not able or is being hindered in a sense from bringing the answer to the prayer that Daniel has. He says the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days but lo Michael, one of the chief princes, this is referring to Michael the archangel, came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. So there's a lot going on here. First of all there's this entire war that's taking place behind the scenes. I mean when you have Michael the archangel getting involved and this angel is fighting against the other kings of Persia, there's an entire war taking place in a realm that we can't see, it's in the spiritual world. Which by the way, side note here, that's why you should never grow weary in prayer. You're praying for something, you're praying for some sort of provision, you're praying for something, you know that prayer is often on its way but there's like a spiritual battle taking place behind the scenes. And sometimes people give up in prayer too fast and it's just like well we didn't make it in time and he already gave up praying and he doesn't want this anymore or he's sidetracked or whatever it may be. Whereas what we see here is that Daniel's patient, he's remaining instant in prayer, he has importunity in his prayer, the answer to the prayer is coming but there is a spiritual warfare taking place. But what I want you to notice is that this particular demon is actually in charge of Persia. I mean think about that. So there is some sort of demon at this time that is in charge of, you know, he's ruling over this physical land known as Persia at that time, okay. Look at verse 20, then said he knows thou wherefore I come unto thee and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia and when I am gone forth lo the prince of Grecia shall come. So the faggot demon's gonna come, you know, because during this time, you know, the Greeks, they're into that stuff. So you know the prince of Grecia's gonna come. So you have someone, an angel ruling over or a demon ruling over Persia but you also have a demon ruling over Greece as well, you understand. And I don't believe this is something that is only isolated or subject to this time period. I believe this is how it's always been. So that means today, in 2021, there is some sort of demon running the United States of America. I mean, and you know what, other than Biden obviously, oh wait, it's the dumb spirit, right? Yeah. I beat you to the punch. Yeah, there's a dumb spirit ruling over the United States of America, his name is Biden. Okay. Man, I mean, what does that say of the United States of America when Satan's like, send the dumb spirit over there. Good night. I believe all nations in this world are ruled by some sort of demon. They're in charge of that particular nation. Okay. And you say, well, what is it that they're doing? What is it that they're in charge of? Well, look at verse 21 says, but I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth and there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael, your prince. So obviously, you know, the angels of God are not necessarily ruling over nations or watching over nations, they're actually watching over what? People. Okay. There are angels, there are ministers unto us, and they're there to help us. But these angels of darkness, these fallen angels, these unclean spirits, they're ruling over nations because they have a specific agenda they're trying to carry out. Go to Luke chapter eight, if you would, Luke chapter eight. And we see this being carried out in the New Testament because the Bible tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against what? Principalities, powers, and the rules of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places. And you know what? This is important because sometimes, you know, we as Christians, we want to get into that physical fight. We want the fight to become physical. We want it to be physical, we want to do something about it in a physical way, but the Bible tells us here that we can't physically fight demons, folks. We're not Pentecostals here, okay? We're not charismatic, you know, flinging your suit coat or whatever, Benny Hinn style. No, this is a spiritual battle. And the moment you start thinking that it's not a spiritual battle, that it's a physical battle, you know, the moment you will begin to lose the fight, because all of this is fought in the spiritual realm, you understand? And so, and by the way, you don't want to go toe-to-toe with an angel anyways, because they're greater in might and power anyways. You don't want to go toe-to-toe with any demon or any angel, why? Because they're physically, spiritually stronger than you anyways. I mean, there's one angel that just killed thousands of soldiers of the Assyrian camp in the Old Testament in one swipe. Not very difficult for them to just, you know, take you out or something like that. You know, our wrestling, our spiritual warfare is against principalities, against these powers, the rules of the darkness of this world. There's people that, you know, they're running Brazil, right? They're running Central America, they're running Canada, Russia, Europe, Africa, China. I mean, Satan is putting in a lot of work, making sure that these areas are covered. This is why the Bible says that he is the god of this world, okay? And so the hierarchy is obviously that you have all of these nations being ruled by some sort of principality, some sort of prince, some sort of ruler, and of course, on top of them is Satan himself, who they probably check in with and make sure everything is running smoothly, so to speak. Let me read to you from Ezekiel 28, verse 12. It says, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, thou sealest up the sun full of wisdom and perfect and beauty, thou hast been in Eden in the garden of God. Now think about this, Ezekiel is the only prophet where God says, okay, you can preach against Satan, because this is actually referring to Satan, because he's talking about the prince of Tyrus, obviously he's moving around during his time, and he's the ruler of that superpower of that day, so to speak, and God goes to Ezekiel and says, deliver this message unto the prince of Tyrus, which is actually referring to Satan, and the reason we know it's Satan is because he says, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God, and the person that's referring to is the serpent, that old serpent, the devil, that's what he's talking about. Every precious stone was thy covering, the Sardis, Topaz, and diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, and gold, the workmanship of thy tabards and of thy pipes were prepared in thee in the day that that was created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth and have set thee so that was upon thy holy mountain that was walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire that was perfect in thy ways from the day that that was created till iniquity was found in thee. Okay, I want you to remember and keep in mind that it says that he is the anointed cherub, like a cherubim, okay? And we're gonna need that piece of information at the end of this sermon. So just keep that in mind. Look at Luke chapter eight. So I don't believe that these demons, devils, unclean spirits, stay in one place because superpowers change over the years. Different people become stronger, different nations become stronger than others, and they're simply kind of, you know, modifying everything, making sure that this nation becomes powerful and that they have influence over this leader, et cetera. Look at Luke chapter eight and verse 26. So there's a hierarchy. You have princes over nations. Now look at verse 26. It says, and they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee, and when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and wear no clothes, neither a boat in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him with a loud voice said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God of most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean spirits to come out of the man, for oftentimes it had caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters, and he break the bands and was driven to the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus asked them, saying, what is thy name? And he said, legion. Now I don't really believe that this is his actual name. Okay, I don't believe he's like, you know, just call me legion. I think what he's referring to here, he says, because it says legion, because many devils were entered into him, he's basically stating, we can't name all of us, so it's a legion of demons that are within this person. Now legion in Roman days was 3,000 to 6,000 soldiers. I don't know if it was 3,000 to 6,000 demons that were in this guy, but there's a legion, which if the demon is saying, you know, we are legion, it's an indication or it's showing forth that, yeah, there is a hierarchy in the demon world. There's legions of angels, there's legions of demons, okay, that are in charge. You say, well, you know, why is it that, you know, this guy is possessed with so many devils or so many legions? Well, you know, the legions, I would consider them to kind of be like the pawns of the spiritual realm. Okay, because this guy, you know, the maniac of Gadara, he's not necessarily a guy who's going to influence people not to get saved or something, he's not a false prophet. The demons are tormenting this guy's life, okay, he's tormenting this guy's life. And when I think of this, I think of, like, you know, people who are in downtown L.A., for example. Those people are possessed. Maybe not all of them, but I guarantee you, the vast majority of those people are possessed. Okay, and I know they're doped up and they're doing crack and heroin and they're doing all manner of wickedness there and they're involved and all that, but I guarantee you, there's legions and legions and legions of devils there. You say, well, what are those legions for? It's just to subject human beings, mankind, and cause them to be enslaved by sin so that they don't come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, okay? That's what I believe. Because if you ever talk to a drug addict, for example, you know, a demon-possessed drug addict, it's kind of hard to even get anything, you know, across to them. It's hard to talk to them. They have a lot to overcome. Well, like what? Like a legion? You know? And so, you know, before you start criticizing whatever drug addict is walking down the street, obviously there's a potential that person is a reprobate, but we don't know for sure. Some people are just like this guy, okay? Before you criticize that person or mock that person, just remember this. That person is probably possessed with a legion, okay? And you know, it's Satan investing a legion of his soldiers in order to subject that person and cause them not to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's how far he's willing to go. You know, it should be that God's people are willing to send out a legion of soul winners, amen? The churches should send out a legion of soul winners to get people saved. I mean, Satan is willing to do the same. Send out his legion of Satan's messengers in order to keep people blinded, okay? Go back to verse one of chapter eight of the book of Luke. So this proves that there is a hierarchy in the spiritual realm, the demonic realm. You have princes, you have principalities, you have powers, you have rulers, you have legions, okay? And so there is an organization in the spiritual realm because of the fact that they're trying to keep people from getting saved. That's the main objective. How else do they operate? Well, as I mentioned, demons will possess the unsaved, okay? Look at verse one, and by the way, these two stories that are found in this chapter is proof that demon-possessed people can get saved. There's a lot of them that maybe are not able to, but we have examples of people here that do get saved. Look at verse one. And it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the 12 were with him. And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, you see how they're used interchangeably? Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils. So Mary was actually possessed with seven devils, okay? And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod, Steward, Susanna, many others, which ministered unto them of their substance. Go with me if you would to, let's see here. Go to First Samuel chapter 16, First Samuel chapter 16. I'm going to read to you from Mark 1 32, it says that even when the sun did set, brought unto them all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. Now this is real, folks. Demon possession is a real thing, okay? Now the reason, you know, a lot of Baptists don't really like to talk about demonic possession is because we have this knee-jerk reaction because of the Charismatics and the Pentecostals, you know, who are actually demon-possessed. You got some fool up there just like speaking in tongues and holla shalaballa in a six-pack dala, and habaranisana shalabarahanda or whatever, they start saying all this nonsense, that dude's possessed, okay? And we have this knee-jerk reaction to that type of ministry or that type of thing that's going on, and so we kind of have a tendency to go to the extreme and not even want to deal with that, not even want to talk about that, but the reality is there are people out there who are demonically-possessed, they have demons inside of them, okay? And let me just say this, let me give you an example of this, okay? Because I've run into demonically-possessed people, where it's just like, this person's possessed. I've met them out soul-winning, I've met them just in public, in the beginning of the year we had a group of people who were demonically-possessed outside of our church, I mean if you don't believe in demonic possession, I'm sure you believe it now, since the beginning of January, every single sodomite was possessed by a demon, you know, and any of you who actually went out there to behold them, you know for a fact these people are possessed with the devil. Let me give you a recent example of this, okay? Since it's Halloween, no I'm just kidding. Everyone wants to hear a scary story and all that. So recently we had the fire-breathing Baptist Fellowship at Pastor Shelley's church, right, in Hearst, Texas, and me and my preacher friends, we were there ripping face and you know, just do what we do, you know, just ripping on reprobates and talking about, you know, just preaching God's word and doing all that. And man it was a great turnout, the conference was huge, it was a huge success, a lot of people came, a lot of people getting saved. And Pastor Shelley, he's like, you know, one of the evenings that we were there, he's like, all right, I'm taking all the pastors out to eat. So we drive like, I don't know, like 40 minutes away from the church or something, just somewhere real far, and he has protesters at his church right now. As far as I know, I think they still have protesters. And we travel about 40 minutes out, we go to this restaurant and I'm there, Pastor Thompson is there, Pastor Berzins is there, Pastor Jimenez, Pastor Shelley, I think that's pretty much it. All my pastors were there, and we're in this private room, right, because he kind of just, you know, he chose that room so we can all be there with our families. And I didn't know this initially, but Pastor Berzins was telling me that there's a guy who just came to the window, some random guy just came to the window, and he just like looked inside the whole time, just like, kind of just like dogging all the pastors. I didn't know because I was eating, so I was just like, just talking up or whatever. But these guys saw it, he came into the restaurant, and he came into the restaurant, and he basically just looked at all the pastors and their families the entire time he was there. He sat at the bar, and all he did was look at us the entire time, just kind of dogging us the entire time, right? And I didn't know this until later, and I'm like, because I hear commotion between the pastors, I'm like, what are you guys talking about? This guy, you know, the guy who was at the window, now he's over here, you know, he was following Pastor Berzins to the restroom, and you know, the guy looks like he just wants to fight or something. We don't recognize him. And to be honest, he doesn't look like a sodomite or anything like that, he just looked like a normal person. So you know, party's over, we're done, time to go home, and I get up and I take my family and I say goodbye to everyone, and we're walking out, and as I walk out, he's right there, and he's looking right at me, and I look back, I'm like, is that the guy? And they're like, yeah, that's him. And then, so I take my family, and we're walking out, and I look through the window, by the way, it's a true story, you can validate this with all the pastors, okay, this really happened. And I look through the window, and he's literally looking at all my friends, and he's just going like this. I don't know if he's got something stuck in his teeth or something, or, you know, but he's kind of like just like gnashing, you know, like gnashing with his teeth kind of thing, you know. And he's kind of doing that, and I tell my wife, I was like, I can't leave. Like what if this guy gets all crazy, I got to defend my friends, we might have to like jump this guy, you know what I mean? Me and Pastor Amanda's going to have to stomp this guy out, you know. And then my spiritual side is like, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, Pastor, you know. So, but I tell her, I was like, we can't just go, because I don't know what this guy's going to do. He does look crazy, and he's like making all these facial expressions, and so all my pastor friends are coming out, and I go in, and I'm like, man, this guy's acting weird, they're like, yeah, he's acting weird. So I just went up to him, and I went up to him, and I was just like, what's up, man? And he looked at me, and he just went like this, and he went, peace. He's all peace, peace, peace, and he just kept repeating that over and over again. And I'm like, yeah, that's right, that's right. No, I didn't say that. And I just asked him, I was like, what's your name, and he told me his name, and he's like, I live right here across the street. He didn't say legion. And then the closer I got, he just put up his hands, and he just saluted me, and he said peace. And he put his face down when he would do it. And I was like, all right. So we all walked outside, because we didn't know if he was going to do something, so we all walked out to the parking lot, and Pastor Burzins was like, that guy's possessed. That guy is demonically possessed. And Pastor Jimenez told me, he said, look, you can't have something like this, like a conference like this, without having demons recognize you in public. And he said, is that even biblical? Well, didn't the demon say Jesus I know and Paul I know? Jesus I know and Paul I know. And so it's my personal opinion that I believe demons know who God's people are. When someone's possessed with seven devils, they're possessed with the legion, they recognize God's people, and more specifically, they recognize the ones who are on the front lines. This demon's probably like, these are those hate preachers. These are the ones who are turning the world upside down. I hate them, but I can't do anything to them because God won't let me. It's probably what he's thinking. And so I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that that guy was possessed. And I remember when we were in El Monte, before the bombing, when we were in El Monte, there was a possessed guy, if you guys remember, he would walk for miles up and down the street over and over and over and over again. And there was a time when he even tried to jump me, if you guys remember, you know, the guy was just possessed with the devil, okay? Go to Deuteronomy chapter 18. So what's their mode of operation, will they possess people in order to keep them from the knowledge of the truth? It's not necessarily because they want to keep them heroin addicts or crack addicts. They're doing that to keep them in darkness so that they don't come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ because all of those things cloud their mind. They're not reasonable people, you understand? And I've spoken to demon possessed people and they like normalize when I begin to talk to them and I got them saved, but there's been other times when it's just like this person's too far gone, they can't even really, they're not comprehending what I'm telling them right now and so I can't get very far with them and then I'll just move on to the next person. So they possess people, they influence world affairs as I mentioned, the Bible talks about Satan being the prince of power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, but I also believe that they oppress saved people, okay? They don't possess saved people, but they do oppress saved people, okay? Look at 1 Samuel chapter 16, it says in verse 13, then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward so Samuel rose up and went to Ramah, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and Saul's servant said unto them behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Now I don't believe Saul lost his salvation because you can't lose your salvation. When it says that the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, you have to take into account that this is the Old Testament before the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, okay? When a person gets saved, yes, the sealing of that salvation is the fact that the Holy Spirit is sealed until the day of redemption, but right when salvation takes place, the Holy Spirit actually regenerates the dead spirit of that individual and brings them to life. That's the thing that really saves the person, okay? What saves the individual is the fact that the Holy Spirit regenerates the dead spirit of a person, you understand? It's just that in the New Testament, now he dwells within us because we are the temple of the living God, okay? We're bought with the price and now we're the temple of the Holy Ghost and just as the physical temple housed the spirit of God in the Old Testament, our physical bodies spiritually speaking house the Holy Ghost, you understand? So what we see here is that Saul lost the power of God and what do we see? An evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and we're not going to go throughout the whole story but you see Saul trying to kill David. I mean the guy is like prophesying naked. He's doing weird stuff. He's not really behaving like a child of God, although he is a child of God. He's saved, but what do we see? An evil spirit is troubling him. So this would indicate that demons can oppress safe people, okay? Hey, I know some pastors who are being oppressed by evil spirits. He's like, uh, now you're taking it too far. Folks, Saul persecuted David, tried to kill him, hated David. What do we see here? What do we see today? We see pastors, safe pastors attacking safe pastors, railing against them, attacking them, hating them, seeking to destroy their ministry. Why? Because an evil spirit is troubling that person. And the proof of that is the fact that there is no, there is no proof for what the Israeli accusations that, for example, Grayson Fritz came up with. Right? Oh, you're saying that he's possessed. No, because I think he's saved. I just think maybe an evil spirit is troubling him because the guy is speaking like a Saul. And you know what? I think church members can become oppressed like that too, where an evil spirit can come upon a church member and become bitter towards someone, angry towards someone. They can influence them to, you know, be like a Saul. You understand? And so, you know, don't think, well, I can never be possessed by a devil, therefore I'm not worried about it. Yeah, but you can still be influenced by a devil. You can still be influenced like Saul was influenced, you know? And obviously, it's not just like you're just going to catch a demon somewhere. It's not like a cold or something, you understand? It's not like some sort of sequence where you just catch a flu or something. You know, Saul obviously did some things to open himself up to demonic oppression. You know, he opened himself up to rebellion, which is as a sin of witchcraft. Which, what do we see at the end of his life? Who did he go to? A witch. I mean, do we see the tie-in here? Go to Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy chapter 18. So, what is their operation? Well, they have a hierarchy. They possess the unsaved. They oppress the saved. They war against Christians who are serving God via wicked and unreasonable men who have not faith. Because, you know, reprobates are possessed permanently by a devil. Someone who is a reprobate, someone who is beyond the hope of salvation, someone who is a reprobate false prophet, they have a seared conscience, are sealed with the devil until the day of damnation. So, just as we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of God until the day of redemption, they're sealed with an evil spirit until the day of damnation. They're permanently sealed. A reprobate is permanently sealed. They can never be saved again, okay? Not only that, but they blind the minds of the unsaved. We know that. The Bible tells us that he has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. But let me also say this, you know, I believe, and I believe I can prove it based upon scripture that the demons impersonate the deceased. I believe that they impersonate the deceased. Okay? Let me read to you from Luke 24. Now, well, let me read to you from Luke 24, verse 37 says, but they were terrified and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have. So the spirit that they thought they saw is not something that is just conjured up in their imagination like the concept of a spirit just came up in this chapter or something. This is obviously something that existed during that time. I'm not saying that it was common, but they obviously understood that spirits existed. You understand? Job chapter four, let me read to you from Job chapter four. It says in thoughts from the vision of the night when deep sleep falls on men, fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hairs of my flesh stood up. Goosebumps, right? It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before mine eyes. There were signs and I heard a voice saying, shall mortal man be more just than God? I'm going to read to you from Acts 16, verse 16 says, and it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met with us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. Look at Deuteronomy 18, verse 10. So this damsel in Acts chapter 16, her main occupation was divination. Okay? She was possessed with the spirit of divination. Now what is synonymous with divination? Look at Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 10. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, and look what it says, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. So this is referring to people who try to communicate with the dead. Oh yeah, but that was something that like the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Cainites would do. Folks, people are doing that tonight. What are you talking about? People are going to be trying to communicate with the dead tonight. People are going to be communicating with the dead tomorrow and the following day. You know why? Because there's something called Dia de los Muertos, the day of the dead where people literally practice necromancy, seeking to communicate with their lost loved ones, those who have passed away from years past or whatever it may be. That's called consulting with familiar spirits. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 28, if you would, 1 Samuel chapter 28. Now look, you say, well how do you know that demons impersonate the deceased? This still hasn't proved that demons impersonate the deceased. Well, let me say this, when someone dies, okay, they're saved to be absent from the bodies to be present with the Lord. If they're not saved, in hell, they do lift up their eyes being in torment. According to the Bible, it's one of two places a person can go when they die. They either go to heaven if they're saved or they go to hell. There's no purgatory. There's no lost spirits in nirvana and they're just in the middle and they're just kind of wandering. They have unfinished business. They're not like Patrick Swayze in Ghost or something like that, trying to find his murderer or whatever. This is not the sixth sense, folks. You ain't got no sense if that's what you think that's what it is. When a person dies, they either go to heaven or they go to hell. So, if we know beyond a shadow of a doubt according to God's word that when a person dies, they either go to heaven or they go to hell based upon whether they've accepted Christ or not, then the question remains, then who are these people talking to? Right? Because if they're pulling out the Ouija board and they're moving that thing around and that thing is saying a name, they're communicating, they're talking to them and these people believe it's their lost loved ones, but we know it's not their lost loved ones because they're either in heaven or hell based upon whether they were saved or not, then who are they talking to? I'll tell you who. A demon. A familiar, a familia, familiar spirit. Someone who is impersonating the dead. You say, that's stupid. Why would Satan do that? I don't know. You have like millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of people practicing the day of the dead, deceiving people into thinking that, oh, you know, if I die, I'm just going to be like my uncle who died. We're just going to be stuck in this world and, you know, whatever, just not being able to necessarily communicate unless someone pulls out a Ouija board or something like that. For the purpose of just blinding them to the gospel, folks, the purpose of the teaching of purgatory is to damn souls to hell. The purpose of purgatory or whatever holding cell after you die, the purpose of teaching that is not just to be a stupid teaching, though it is, the purpose of it is literally to damn souls to hell because there's people out there who are so gullible, they will believe that. I believe there are certain specific demons that are designated the responsibility of being a familiar spirit. Let me show you. Look at 1 Samuel 28 verse 6. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit. Now, why does he want to consult with the familiar spirit? Because he wants to talk to Samuel. And where's Samuel? He's dead. Where's the spirit? It's in heaven. That I may go to her and inquire of her and his servants said to him, behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor and Saul disguised himself and put on other raiment and he went and two men with him and they came to the woman by night and he said, I pray thee divine unto me by the familiar spirit and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee. So he's literally going there so he can talk to someone who has already died. Saul is gone, man. This guy is like backslidden as the day is long. It's like one of you guys going to some, you know, fortune teller or whatever, you know, and can you tell me who my wife's going to be? Am I going to be successful in my job? It's like, what are you doing? And the woman, verse 9, said to him, behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land, wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die. And Saul sware to her by the Lord saying, as the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Man, I mean, talk about the day that forsake the law, praise the wicked. I mean, he's like, at one time he was casting him out of the land. Now he's just like, hey, nothing's going to happen to you. I'll protect you. And he swore by the Lord. Verse 11, then said the woman, whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel. So obviously, Saul understands what a consulture of familiar spirits is supposed to do. It's bring up the dead, okay? He says in verse 12, and when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, and the woman spake to Saul, saying, why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul, and the king said unto her, be not afraid, for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw God's ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, what form is he of? And she said, an old man cometh up, and he is covered with the mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself. Now, let me give you two possible interpretations of this, okay? Because we see that Samuel's spirit is coming up out of the earth, but Samuel's spirit is not in the earth, right? He's in heaven. It's not in Abraham's bosom or something, you know? So one of two possible interpretations is that this might just be a lying spirit who is sent forth to basically condemn Saul and tell him that him and his sons shall be with him, with Samuel, the next day because Saul was going to die and his sons. So it could potentially be that they actually invoke some sort of spirit, but I think the more probable thing is that it's actually Samuel, okay? As far as why it's coming up out of the earth, I don't know. Maybe that's just the way God wanted it to be, to instill fear in Saul or whatever maybe or for theatrics. I don't know. I think it might be Samuel who's actually coming up, but the point is of the story is the fact that Saul knew what this woman was, you know, what her occupation was. It's not like he thought, you know, oh, you know, I've never even heard of this before. I've never seen this done before. He obviously knew that this woman who consulted with familiar spirits has done this in times past. And look, I guarantee you, you can go to any of these psychics out there. I mean, what's that woman's name? Cleo. Cleo. Call me now. You guys remember Cleo? But there's another one. Mark, you know who I'm talking about. The one. Not because he consulted with her. She died. She's been in hell for like a couple of years. Remember? She was like a, what? Sylvia Brown. Of course Jacob knew. Sylvia Brown. Now, she was obviously, all of these people are, they're phonies obviously, but the fact that they claim to be able to communicate with the dead, I guarantee you she was communicating with devils and demons. Okay. And so, you know, I believe they impersonate these people. I believe anytime someone sees an apparition of their abuelita, you know, I'm fine. Take care of your family or something, you know. I believe that's a devil. I'm not calling their grandma a devil. I'm saying that that apparition that they're viewing is a devil. Because it's meant to deceive. Folks, the reason they're called devils is because their main objective is to deceive and they'll do it by any means necessary. They're familiar spirits who learn mankind, they learn you, and they try to deceive into thinking, I'm okay, you know. Stay in the Catholic religion. Remain a Jehovah's Witness. Moroni? Yeah. Moroni is a devil, right? Yeah. And so this is why I believe that they actually impersonate the deceased in order to deceive people into thinking that there's something beyond the grave that is not heaven or hell. I mean, how many stinking movies are out there about that? They have unfinished business. Bro, their business is done. It's clock-out time. You understand? And so there is spiritual fraud going on, identity fraud, in the spiritual realm, happening on a regular basis, folks. Tonight is a night of spiritual identity fraud, where a bunch of demons are impersonating people's loved ones, you know. Let's see here. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I mentioned this already, but they war against angels as well. Now, what is the extent of their power? Well, as I mentioned, the Bible tells us that angels are actually great in power and might. They're powerful beings. But the Bible also teaches that they can only go as far as God allows them to. And in fact, God has Satan and his demons on a short leash. They literally have to ask for permission to attack us, to attack anybody. They have to. They can't do anything without God's permission. And these people who think, well, God is only love, he's not judgmental, he's not wrathful, they need to read the stories like the one we just saw with Ahab, where he's like, who would be a lion's spirit in the mouth of the prophets so that Ahab can die a right-mouthed gilead? He's like, what? He's like, yeah, I'm looking for something. You know, there's a job opening for a lion's spirit. Who wants to do it? I'll do it. How are you going to do it? That's what he tells them, right? He's like, I'll be a lion's spirit. All right, go do it. And the Lord said to lion's spirit in the mouth of the false prophets. He's like, I'll take credit for that. So before, you know, when people are like, oh, he's only love, he's not judgmental, you better read that story. He says the Lord has sent the lion's spirit. In other words, he permitted it to happen. Okay? Is there an evil in the city and the Lord has not done it? So don't think it's just like God versus Satan. No, God is just God. No one is capable of going against God. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. So don't fear demons, don't fear devils. The one you should fear the most is God. Because he's far more powerful and far more terrifying. He's more terrifying than any demon you'll ever encounter. Do not designate your fear to some devil. God is far more terrifying than any devil you will ever see physically or sense the presence of. You think hairs standing on your arm is bad? Folks, there's people who just fall prostrate dead on the floor when they see God. Or when they're in the presence of God. Okay? God is terrifying. He's a terrifying God, he's scary, and that's why we should fear him. Amen? So how do we fight demons? We gotta fight demons, folks. Do we take off our coat and flip it? Do we cast them out with our words? You know, the power of Christ compels you! What do we do? Well, a lot of these people out there, that's what they do, they look like idiots. How do we fight devils? How do we fight demons? I remember a long time ago, I had a friend who, he was the son of a pastor, he's a charismatic guy, just before I was saved. And he told me, he's like, my dad kills demons in his sleep. It's like, damn, what kind of burger was that that he ate? What kind of burger did that guy eat? Before he went to sleep? Raw liver. Raw liver. He said he would slay demons in his sleep. And, you know, when I looked at his dad, you know, he's a little big, you know? I was like, yeah, he would have to slay demons in his sleep. He wouldn't be able to do it physically, okay? He says, every night he slays demons. I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, he pulls out a sword and he sends them to hell. I'm like, Constantine? Are you talking about Constantine? Folks, nowhere in the Bible does it say that we fight demons. Physically, or even spiritually. You say, what are we supposed to do? Look at 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. So what demons do is they go throughout the world setting up strongholds in the minds of people, in the minds of Christians, in the minds of the unsaved. These strongholds, they cause them to believe a lie. And you know what we do? We come in with God's word and we pull down the strongholds. You don't even know it, but today, this afternoon, you were fighting demons. When you go sowing, you're pulling down strongholds. When someone changes what they believe about salvation to believe the right thing about salvation, you just pull down a stronghold. That's how you do it. Casting down, verse 5, imaginations. What does that mean? What you just said is not true. Oh, I think you have to repent of your sins to be saved. Well, you know, that's not true. Let me show you what the Bible says. What do we do? We're casting down. That's an imagination. Imagination is something that's not real. It's a figment of their imagination. They think if they repent of all their sins, they can go to heaven, they can have eternal life. It's a figment of your imagination. It's a fantasy. It will never happen. And what do we do? We cast down that imagination. And every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So the way we fight demons is not with the physical sword, not by rebuking demons, not by the power of Christ compels you, not by doing any of that theatrics that the Charismatics like to do. Okay, how do we do it? We do it by the word of God. We do it by casting down strongholds, tearing them down, telling people the truth. You know, when people come to church, they come with strongholds. I'm sure there's people in this room right now who have strongholds in their mind. Things that they have been lied to about, they're deceived about, they have a castle in their soul, a stronghold that a demon has set forth to cause you to believe a lie. And what does the preaching of God's word do? It tears down that stronghold. That's why it's important to preach sermons where we debunk stuff. It's important to just pull out the word of God and say that's an imagination, let me show you what the Bible says, and then what do you do? You believe the truth. You overcome the lie. You overcome, you have victory over the deception and you believe the truth. And then that stronghold is torn down. Okay? So we fight demons by pulling down strongholds and casting down imaginations. Alright, go to Isaiah 13, we're pretty much done, this is my last point. I'm going a little long tonight, but don't worry. So what is their end of the demons? Well we obviously understand that the Bible tells us that hell is prepared for the devil and his angels. Which should cause us to be even more terrified of the concept of hell, because people are going to a hell that was created for angels and demons. Angels and demons who are greater in might and power, hell is custom fitted for them, and that's where people are going. Therefore knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men. So we obviously know that their end is everlasting fire. Now let me share something with you that I'm not dogmatic about, but I think there might be some truth to it. And I'm not saying hey this is beyond for sure true, this is what's going to happen. I don't know, I'm going to share a theory with you. Because when you study the end, we obviously see that in Revelation 19 there's the battle of Armageddon, and at the battle of Armageddon you have the Antichrist and his false prophet, they're being cast into the lake of fire, they get it all to themselves. Satan is cast into the bottomless pit, you understand, for a thousand years, and then he's released a thousand years after to deceive the nations, and then he's cast into everlasting fire, which we would assume then these demons would also be cast there as well. But the question is where are they before that? Because it doesn't really say that the demons joined the false prophet and the Antichrist in the lake of fire in Revelation 19. It doesn't say that they joined Satan in the bottomless pit either. So where are they? Well look at Isaiah chapter 13 and verse 17. This is a prophecy of Babylon. It says in verse 17, Behold, I will stir up the meads against them, which shall not regard silver as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes shall not spare them. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there, but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there. Now why is that? Well the reason it says wild beasts shall lie there is because any time a nation, some sort of location is made desolate, and people are no longer there, the animals take over, right? I mean we saw that with coronavirus. When everyone was on lockdown, Yosemite and everything, it was being overtaken by animals. People couldn't travel to Yosemite anymore to go hiking or whatever because there were so many animals out and about. It says here the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall be there, shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. The wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses and dragons in their pleasant palaces, and their time is near to come, and their days shall not be prolonged. Go to Revelation 18. So what do we see? He says when Babylon is made desolate, wild beasts shall inhabit the land, doleful creatures, it shall be full of doleful creatures. Doleful means sad, sorrowful creatures. Owls shall be there. And then it says the satyrs shall dance there as well. It's a pretty interesting statement. Kind of like out of the left field almost, right? It's like, alright, well, you know, doleful creatures, I've seen some, I know a bulldog that looks pretty doleful, right? Owls, okay, satyrs though? A satyr? Like Narnia satyr, you know, you kind of wonder? Well, let's look at the parallel passage to this prophecy in Revelation 18. Look at verse 1. And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightning with its glory. This is obviously at the end of Daniel's 70th week. Daniel's 70th week is a span of seven years. At the end of those seven years, which is the end of the wrath of God, that took place for three and a half years, you have the destruction of Babylon, which is all the prophecies that we see in the Old Testament regarding Babylon. This is when it's actually being destroyed, okay? Verse 2 says, And he cried mightily, with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Now think about this. Lucifer is a cherubim. Cherubims in Revelation chapter 5 are described as beasts, creatures. They look like animals. Some even look like, they're described as a beast, but they're almost like an anthropomorphic type beast where they look like an actual person. But they're like an animal, okay? So the parallel passage that we see with Isaiah 13 and Revelation 18 is that what it's referring to is that Babylon, when it's made desolate, is going to house what? Devils, foul spirits, and every unclean and hateful bird. Now, when you think of the devil, for example, mainstream visual of the devil, one of the things that comes up is what? Baphomet. Baphomet is a what? It's a goat. A satyr is a goat. So I don't think these satanists just kind of came up with, like, Baphomet. They're just like, I'm just going to make up the most disgusting looking thing there is, you know? Just freak these Christians out. I'm going to make these Christians vomit. No, I think they actually saw what this cherubim actually looks like, which is like a goat, a satyr, you understand? And it could be that a lot of these devils, that's what they look like, okay? Because Baphomet has, like, the face of a goat and the body of a human, okay? Now, you say, well, where are you going with this? Well, it could possibly be that during this time Babylon actually becomes the housing of devils, basically, during this millennial reign. Because Babylon is not inhabited. During the millennial reign, it's not inhabited at all. I mean, that's what every prophecy says. That's what it says in Revelation 17 and 18. It's not going to be inhabited by man. Well, you know, the anti-Christ and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. The devil's cast into the bottomless pit. Where are the other angels? Well, you know, you would have to explain to me what Revelation 18 verses 2 and 3 mean then. And what I believe it's referring to is the fact that he's going to place these demons there to inhabit Babylon during that time. Say, you think he's just going to relocate them? I mean, didn't he relocate the spirits into the swine? Isn't that what happened in the Bible? And if you say, well, you know, that's a stretch, okay, then explain to me what verse 2 means. Now, obviously, people can take the interpretation and say, well, that's basically referring to the fact that Babylon, for example, if it was America, which I believe to be America, you know, obviously Babylon, the United States of America, is a habitation of devils. Right? It's a habitation of devils, it has all kinds of foul spirits, this place is wicked. And I agree with you, but the problem is this. Babylon is fallen, is fallen. This is referring to what happens after Babylon fell. It has now become the habitation of devils. And that is the interpretation of any of the time Babylon is destroyed in the Old Testament. It tells us that it's inhabited by these creatures, which in the New Testament is described as being a habitation of these foul spirits. Now, I'm not 100% dogmatic on that, I think that's a plausible interpretation. And in fact, in Jude, verse 6, it says, The angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, listen to this, unto the judgment of the great day. Now, you know, you ask these Enoch lovers, book of Enoch lovers, well, this is referring to the angels that, you know, in Genesis chapter 5 or whatever, where they intermingled with man and then, you know, they created these giant Nephilims or whatever, that's what it's referring to, those are in hell right now. I don't believe that for one second. I believe what this is referring to is the fact that he's going to reserve those angels that followed Satan, unto, what is unto? Until. Because he's saying there that he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto or until the judgment of the great day. Now, what is the great day? The great white throne judgment. Where Satan is cast into the lake of fire along with everyone else and the devils as well. Now, if you have a different interpretation to that, I'd love to hear it. But I think that's a possible interpretation of this passage. Otherwise, how would you explain Revelation 18 1 and 2? It's a difficult passage to interpret. Obviously, we can compare it to Isaiah chapter 13, but what does it mean? We know that it means the devils, when it says Seder, Baphomet, right? But what does it mean? When it becomes a habitation, that location becomes a habitation for these foul spirits. And so, I'll finish off on that. The main thing is this, is that demons are real folks, devils are real. And if you take anything from this sermon, take this, is that we're not to physically or even spiritually go toe-to-toe with devils. That's not our place. Our place is to cast down the strongholds, to cast down the imaginations. To bring every imagination to the obedience of Christ, every thought to the obedience of Christ. And you know what? Sometimes we fight devils without even knowing it. When you're in here and someone brings some doctrine that maybe is not correct, and you show them what the Bible says, you just cast down a stronghold. You're breaking down that imagination, you're casting down that stronghold. And that's pretty much it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your Word. A lot of information we gave tonight, Lord. I pray, God, that you'd help us to continue to understand the Word of God more and more. And we're so thankful that you're far more powerful, you're far greater, and you merit far more fear than when people fear demons. And we know that people today fear demons and devils. They fear the apparitions or the poltergeists or whatever it may be. But that's nowhere near as fearful as who you are. You're terrible. That's what the Bible says. You instill fear in mankind because you're so great. And Lord, the Lord said, Fear not him which is able to destroy the body, but afterwards can do nothing, but fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And I pray, Lord, that if anything, we just walk away from this sermon fearing you more. In Jesus' name, amen.