In the Evangelical community there is agreement about a great deal of what the Bible teaches about Satan and about demons. There is no disagreement among Evangelicals about most of what I have covered so far. We all believe the general description of Satan and his hosts that I have given. However, there are many differences when we try to understand exactly what Satan and his demons do and how the people of God are to resist and fight against Satan and his kingdom. Let me describe a little bit of what is going on.

One of the notions that is popular is the idea of territorial demons. People believe that Satan has demons in charge of different areas. Thus the kingdom of evil is seen to be divided up like a large corporation. So you might have a high ranking demon in charge of Canada and below him a demon of lower rank in charge of Ontario. And still lower a demon whose task it is to oversee operations in Dundas and area with a whole order of worker demons under him who are assigned to different streets and areas and whose task it is to promote evil in the areas assigned to them. The following story which appeared in Charisma and the Christian Life in April of 1990 illustrates this belief about territorial demons.

Steve Nicholson has preached the gospel in the area for six years with virtually no fruit. Nicholson begins some serious prayer and fasting. A grotesque, unnatural being appears to him. It growls, "Why are you bothering me?" It identifies itself as a demon of witchcraft who has dominion over the geographical area. In the heat of war­fare, Nicholson names the city streets in the surrounding area. The spirit retorts, 'I don't want to give you that much.' In the name of Jesus, Nicholson commands the spirit to give up the territory. During the next three months the church doubles in size from 70 to 150, mostly from new converts out of witchcraft. Nearly all of the new believers must be delivered from demons. Steven Lawson, "Defeating Territorial Spirits" [April 1990]:48

This is what is called territorial warfare. Demons are seen to be in charge of promoting evil in a certain area and Christian leaders skilled in warfare against demons are to seek out and confront such demons and command the demons to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. This is one area in which Evangelical Christians are engaged in spiritual warfare in ways with which most of us are not familiar: territorial warfare.

There is also the casting out of demons or exorcism. This combat does not only involve commanding demons to leave a certain area, it also involves commanding demons or a demon to leave a person. The following story illustrates the way in which a demon is commanded to leave a person. The writer is Neil Anderson, author of the book, The Bondage Breaker.

Janelle was a Christian woman with severe emotional problems who was brought to me by her elderly pastor. Janelle's fiancé, Curt, came with them … I said, 'Janelle, we can help you with your problems because there is a battle going on for your mind which God has given us authority to win.' As soon as I spoke those words Janelle suddenly went catatonic. She sat still as a stone, eyes glazed over and staring into space. 'Well, there's nothing to worry about. I've seen it before,' I said, 'We're going to take authority over it, but it's important that you two  (Curt and the pastor) affirm your right standing with God in order to prevent any transference of this demonic influence…

When I turned to lead Curt in prayer, he started to shake … He began confessing sin in his life, including the revelation that he and Janelle had been sleeping together … All the while Janelle sat motionless, totally blanked out. After we had prayed together about getting his life straight with God, I gave Curt a sheet of paper with a prayer on it to read. As soon as Curt began to read the prayer, Janelle snapped to life. She let out a menacing growl, then lashed out and slapped the paper out of Curt's hands … I addressed the demonic influence in Janelle: 'In the name of Christ and by His authority, I bind you to that chair and I command you to sit there.'

Then I prayed, 'Lord we declare our dependence on You, for apart from Christ we can do nothing. Now in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, we com­mand Satan and his forces to release Janelle and to remain bound within her so she will be free to obey God and her Heavenly Father.' Suddenly Janelle snapped out of catatonic state.

'Do you remember anything we've done here?' I asked her. 'No, what happened?' she responded with a puzzled expression. 'It's nothing to worry about,' I told her. 'Somehow Satan has gained a foothold in your life. But we would like to walk you through the steps to freedom in Christ.' About an hour later Janelle was free…

Once Janelle renounced her involvement with sin and Satan, his hold on her was cancelled, and he had to leave. Neil Anderson, The Bondage Breaker [Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 1990], pp.149-51

Now what are we to think of territorial warfare and demon indwelling and the like? Are we to go around trying to identify demons and ordering them to leave an area or a person in the name of Jesus Christ? Do we need to study up on exorcism in order to be effective in spiritual warfare? Are we missing something important because we have not been taught about these matters? Let me suggest a number of thoughts to help to put this matter in per­spective.

First of all, we must remember that Satan does exist and that demons do exist and that they are busy in this world trying to promote evil and hinder God's purposes. The current interest in Satan and his hordes may serve a useful purpose if it makes us more aware of the existence of Satan and his demons. I'm sure that it would be profitable for us to be more aware of Satan and his ways of working.

Secondly, there is some indication in the Bible that there may be demons assigned to certain geographical areas. In the book of Daniel, chapter 10, Daniel has a vision in which an angel appears to him and speaks to him. This angel speaks about a conflict he has had with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. Listen to what the angel says, "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but lo Michael one of the chief princes came to help me." When this angel speaks about the prince of the kingdom of Persia he is not speaking about a human being. He is speaking about an evil spiritual being. The term "prince" in this verse also refers to Michael the archangel who came to help the angel in his conflict with the evil spirit.

This verse seems to indicate that Satan does assign a certain territory to a certain demon. This, however, is far from certain. The passage in Daniel 10 can be interpreted in other ways. The Bible does not give us much detail about the way in which the kingdom of Satan is organized, and that means that God in His wisdom has decided that there is no need for us to know much about this subject. We are told that Satan and his demons exist and that they try to hinder the cause of God. We are told certain things about their wiles. These things we need to know. But we do not find anything in the Bible telling us to identify the demons of a certain area and commanding them to leave in the name of Christ. Territorial warfare is not something we find on the pages of the Word of God.

Thirdly, it seems to me that there is such a thing as demon possession. There are exam­ples of demon possession in the Bible, and there are no Biblical grounds to deny that this can happen in our day. I have read lots of stories which describe demon possession and I see no reason to deny that they are true. We must remember that most of us are very shel­tered. We do not have much contact with the darker elements of our world. I am sure that there is demon possession in the world of the occult and in connection with different pagan religions.

We must say, however, that when there is demon possession the person involved is not a believer. That seems to be clear from the Word of God. The Bible teaches that believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 6:15, 16 Paul says of the people of God, "for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my peo­ple." In Colossians 1:13, Paul teaches that believers have been delivered from the king­dom of darkness. The truths taught in these texts show that believers cannot be possessed by evil spirits. In cases where a professing Christian is possessed by an evil spirit, it is evidence that that person is not a Christian at all.

Fourth, the Bible teaches that the spiritual warfare of the people of God does not include the casting out of demons or exorcism. There is no question that there is such a thing as exor­cism. There are indications in the Bible that exorcisms were performed by people who were not among the followers of Jesus (Luke 11:19). The important point, however, is not whether there is such a thing as exorcism, but whether it is God's intention that His people be involved in exorcism. A careful examination of the relevant passages shows that it is not.

It is true, of course, that Jesus and His apostles cast out demons, but it does not follow that what Jesus did and what the apostles did, are commands for the rest of the church. The problem is that many Evangelicals do not make a distinction between Jesus and His apostles on the one hand and ordinary believers on the other. The Bible does tell us that Jesus spoke to and confronted demons and that the apostles did so as well. There are also examples in which people very closely associated with Jesus or the apostles were involved in this kind of spiritual warfare (e.g. the seventy of Luke 10, Stephen in Acts 6:8 and Philip in Acts 8:13). But nowhere do we read that ordinary believers are commanded to cast out demons and order them around in the name of Jesus. The Bible does teach that believers are engaged in spiritual warfare, but the instructions that it gives for this spiritual warfare do not include speaking to demons and ordering them to leave an area or a person in the name of Jesus Christ. This is something that is restricted to Jesus and the apostles and a few others closely associated with them.

Those who contend that exorcism belongs to Biblical, spiritual warfare today often point to the passages in the Gospels which tell of Jesus sending out the twelve disciples (Matthew 10:8; Mark 3:15) or Luke 10:1-20 which tells of Jesus sending out the seventy disciples. These passages record Jesus instructing His disciples to cast out demons and/or relate how the disciples came back to Jesus, rejoicing among other things in the fact that they had been able to cast our demons. Thus it is argued that the casting out of demons is part of the way in which the church today is to engage in spiritual warfare.

A close examination of these passages, however, reveals that it is impossible to apply all Jesus' instructions to the twelve or the seventy to the entire church. For instance, in Luke 10:4, Jesus tells the seventy, "Carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way." If all of Jesus' instructions in these passages apply to the church after His death and resurrection, missionaries today would not be allowed to carry money with them, prepare their messages ahead of time, carry an extra pair of shoes, or greet the people they meet as they travel. It seems obvious that Jesus' instructions in these passages are not intended to be instructions to the church for the entire period between Pentecost and the return of Christ. They were meant rather, for the specific missions that are described in the various passages. This is not to say that these passages do not contain important instruction for the church, only that we cannot apply Jesus' commands to the twelve or the seventy to the New Testament church.

Furthermore, it is significant that when Jesus gave the great commission to the church, He did not include exorcism and healing as part of that mandate. He tells His disciples to teach all nations and to baptize in His name. He tells them to call for repentance and proclaim the gospel of the forgiveness of sins. But no more do we read of commands to heal and cast out demons. The great commission is about preaching the Gospel and baptizing those who believe. It does not include a commission to heal the sick or cast out demons.

This is confirmed by the fact that we do not find the apostles teaching the people to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons. There are many commands in the New Testament which are addressed to the church of God, but among them there are no commands to cast out demons. In fact, what we do find is that these supernatural signs (exorcisms, healings and the like) are closely associated with the apostles. For instance in Acts 2:43 we read that "many wonders and signs were done by the apostles." We find similar references in Acts 5:12, 14:3, 15:12, Romans 15:19, 2 Corinthians 12:11, 12 and Hebrews 2:3, 4.

The purpose of these signs and wonders was to authenticate the apostles whose teach­ings were foundational in the establishment of the New Testament Church. John Woodhouse is a theologian who has examined this question carefully from the Word of God and he writes,

The function of these signs and wonders in the New Testament does not seem to be to authenticate the message but the messengers. Their emphatic association with the apostles suggests this, as well the reference to 'the signs of an apostle' (2 Cor. 12:12). If these signs and wonders authenticated the apostles, and the apostles play a unique foundational role in God's purposes (Eph. 2:20), it is a mistake to expect these signs and wonders today. Signs and Wonders and Evangelicals, edited by Robert Doyle
Homebust West, Australia: Lancer Books], p. 34, emphasis his.

The argument against the practice of confronting demons and commanding them in the name of Jesus is simply that when we look at the Biblical teaching about spiritual warfare, we find that the instructions given to believers do not include casting out demons and binding the powers of darkness in the name of Jesus. The exorcisms of Jesus, the twelve and the seventy are not commands for the New Testament church. The instruction given for spiritual warfare is more along the lines of preaching the Gospel, resisting temptations and cultivating holiness and faith.