If you read the title of this essay carefully you might have wondered how a demon could ever be a Christian. “Demons”, you might say, are evil and rebellious, while “Christians”, good ones that is, are obedient and Godlike. That is why we have two different words – one word for each kind of being, otherwise we would need only one word to describe both things.
The very word “demon” by its association with the rebellion in heaven, the wild man in the tombs, the son who threw himself repeatedly to the ground, and the beings who shouted “My name is Legion, for we are many!” means an enemy of God. It was demons which constantly opposed the Lord Jesus throughout his ministry, twisting people’s hearts and contradicting the words of the Master.
So how can there ever be such a thing as a Christian demon? Am I suggesting that some demons become Christians? Not at all, but I am proposing that demons often practise the dramatic arts, and instead of a stage in a theatre, they use everyday life, and turn on such an act as to fool and bewilder all but the most discerning. Demons know how to dress up as Christians, and speak, act and even teach like Christians, yet their aim is to destroy the Christian faith.
1.
One example of this kind of thing is the theology student who goes right through training and comes out with a sheet of paper which qualifies him or her to lead a fellowship – and from the pulpit this representative of God teaches evolution, humanism, compromise with the world, and a whole bag of false doctrines.
Another example is the rock group which takes on Christianity, and then portrays Christ as a rock musician, complete with long hair, swearing, drugs and screaming on stage.
In both cases the world finds ‘Christ’ attractive, and the minister or rock musician finds the blending of false with true extremely convenient, because nothing has to be forsaken, and people enjoy his sermons, or his music.
Further down the scale there are many different shades of this mixed worship, this demonic charade, this blending of darkness with light, this worldliness with Christ added – as if God would really share His Throne with Satan (!) – but the further down the scale we come, the more subtle the blend of false notes.
For example :
Exodus 20:1-7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain”. Exodus 20
“All false oaths are forbidden. All light appealing to God, all profane cursing, is a horrid breach of this command.” (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary)
“This means to swear by God’s name that a false statement is actually true. It could also include profanity, cursing, or swearing to a promise and failing to fulfil it.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald)
How reliable are we as Christians? Do we always keep our word? Can people trust us implicitly? The very fact that we claim to be Christians places us on a pedestal above the crowd, and all eyes are on us – will we represent Jesus and honour his Name, or will we behave like demons – unreliable, dishonest, unpredictable?
2.
Another form of Demonic Christianity happens when what is actually ungodly, and un-Christlike, is presented as Christian simply because it has the name ‘Christian’ pinned to it. One excellent Bible example of this principle is in Ex.32:1-6. Aaron the high priest, and Israel held “a feast to Jehovah” but when we read a little further down the page we see that the people were also worshipping a golden calf. “These be thy gods!” shouts Aaron. In other words, “Let us worship this idol, but let us also add God into the worship so we can please both Satan and God.
Nehemiah comments on this incident : Nehemiah 9:18 “They . . . made them a molten calf, and said, This is your God that brought you up out of Egypt . . .”
“They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
Thus they changed their glory (God) into the similitude of an ox that eats grass”. Psalm 106:19,20
Christians may fall into the trap of reducing God to some Manmade formula, or to representing Him in ways which do not match the Bible description. God, obviously, is not an ox, nor is He any other kind of animal, such as a lion, lamb, or goat. Nor is He a Watchmaker, or a Cosmic Consciousness. Some Christians see God as Santa Claus, or Indulgent Father, or Slot Machine, or Passive Observer, or Radical, or Liberal, or even as a Revolutionary who condones Crusades and guerilla warfare.
“God . . . gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O . . . house of Israel, have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?” Acts 7:42 The answer to the question is “No”. Israel had offered sacrifices to the zodiac, to gods and goddesses of the sky, to Moloch, to Remphan – in other words, to Satan. But all that worship was said to be to the true God.
3.
When Elijah came to demonstrate the power of the true God before the people, he said : “How long (must you) halt between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. 1Kings 18:21
The word “halt” in Hebrew is ‘pasach’ meaning “to leap, or pass over. What the people were doing was leaping, or passing over from Baal to God and back. They were trying to jump both ways.
I remember, when I was in my early teens, I did a fair bit of leaping between Creation and evolution. Lack of understanding and lack of careful Bible study, put me in the ridiculous position of saying evolution was true, but so also was the Bible – despite the fact that the two views were mutually exclusive.
Christians ought to beware of placing one foot firmly in error and the other in truth. The acceptance of cult teachings can do this, and so can blind obedience to priests, pastors or some other church leader. Truth is absolute. It can never change. It is the standard by which everything must be measured – not the other way round. Satan would have us place opinions, or Manmade teaching beside truth – but we know that Satan and Christ do not sit on the same throne.
4.
In 1 Kings 12:26-29, 32 Jeroboam saw with dismay that the people were about to walk out of his little northern kingdom and worship God down south in Jerusalem, so he devised a suitable blend of worship to lure the people back to his own side.
“The king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to (the people), It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
And he set the one in Bethel, and the other . . . in Dan.
(so) the people went to worship . . .
And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
And (he) ordained a feast . . . like the feast . . . in Judah, and he offered on the altar”. 1 Kings 12:28-33
As a vote-winning policy it worked very well. The people wanted to worship God and idols. The king provided facilities which looked like God was there, and stocked them with idols, he built impressive buildings, made special altars, and ordained priests in clerical costumes. Outwardly all looked good, and the idolatrous Israelites were satisfied. They probably really thought, with all sincerity, that the true God was pleased with their mixed worship – I’m sure Satan was as well, because now Satan was getting honour and praise (through his idols), and God was missing out.
5.
One effective way of ‘neutralising’ a conquered nation is to shift it into another country. This disorientates the people, and weakens their resistance to rebel further. This is what the Assyrians did, when they carried Israelites away, and replaced them with people from Babylon. For all the deportees, in both cases, cultural shock set in.
These immigrants into Israel’s lands were full of false religion, and, when lions began to attack them, they asked the king of Assyria to send an Israelite priest to teach them about the God of Israel – in the hope that this extra religion might ward off the lions.
“Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, (Get one of the Israelite) priests . . . and let (him) go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them ( the immigrants) how they should fear the LORD.
(And as a result) every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made . . .
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made . . . priests . . . which sacrificed for them . . .
They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence . . .
So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they to this day”. 2 Kings 17:25-41.
Can you imagine parents offering their child to Moloch, and watching as the priest placed the child in the metal hands of the idol, and then hearing the screams as the fire burned the child alive . . . and then worshipping God as if this was pleasing to Him?
But modern-day parents would never do this would they? Christian parents would never offer their children up on the altar of Moloch . . . but they would send their children to a Public education system which is secular, which teaches evolution, and which promotes all sorts of anti-Christian values. They would allow their children to ‘soak up’ the TV world of soaps, fashion and sexual immorality. They would allow their children to play violent computer games. They would become so busy they had no time to properly supervise, or spend time with, or nurture their children in the things of God. Not the same thing, but close.
6.
This last point is very important. True Christianity grows best when it holds to the standards set by God. What looks like but isn’t Christianity grows best when Christians compromise. Jesus lost many followers simply because he was dogmatic, but those who did follow him were aware of what they had committed themselves to, and they made the best followers.
Ezekiel, like Jesus, divided people in much the same way when he called to the leaders of Israel to make a difference between God and Satan, between godliness and worldliness, between fake and true.
“Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned My holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean . . . and I am profaned among them”. Ezekiel 22:26
It is always a good exercise to write down a personal list of what you, as a Christian, may or may not do, because as soon as you begin to write the list, you find yourself defining things. As a Christian you are a priest of God, and as such, you are a sort of mini-Christ, a replica of the Lord Jesus. It does not matter what people, including other Christians, think of you, since you are answerable primarily and ultimately to God alone, but because you are answerable to God, you ought to make sure you are pleasing to Him.
So where do you stand? If you are a husband, how do you treat your wife, other women, children, neighbours, the boss at work, and friends? If you are a wife, how do you treat you husband, children and others? If you are a child, do you honour your parents as you should, or are you disrespectful like most of the kids at the school you go to? If you think you should not be involved in something you know is wrong, are you staying with it, or leaving it behind? Are you following your convictions, or helping Satan chalk up yet more victories? In short, are you making a difference between holy and profane?
From my own personal experience, I can think of several times when I felt I was being drawn into mixed worship. (I speak only for myself here).
I have been offered drugs, liquor and cigarettes. I have been invited to late night parties, rock concerts and questionable company. In each case I made a personal decision and honoured God according to my own conscience.
7.
But what can we say about people who claim to be Christians, but who behave so like people of the world that it is impossible to tell the difference? Are they fake Christians? Are they Christians who have never stepped away from the world? Are they Satan’s emissaries to deceive and lead astray true Christians? Sometimes the only answer to these questions is “Yes”. Of course there are fake Christians in the world. There must be tares in amongst the wheat, otherwise all the warnings in the New Testament would be nonsensical.
Usually, with these sorts of people, there is an attitude of “I am not doing anything wrong. God is happy with everything I do. I am not sinning.”
Jeremiah came across this attitude too.
“And it shall come to pass, when you show this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
Then you shall say to them, . . .Your fathers have forsaken me, says the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not listen to me”. Jeremiah 16:10-12
Earlier on in Jeremiah’s life, he met Christian demons who said :
“I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim?” Jeremiah 2:23
In other words, they said “I’m OK, I’m innocent! I’m not bad!” This sounds familiar. There are plenty of Christians today who claim that they are doing well in God’s work, while at the same time they accept the idea that homosexuals and others should be allowed positions of leadership in the church, or they encourage ecumenicalism, which means joining Catholic heresies with Protestant truths, or they are members of the Stonemasons, or they practise ‘New Age’ healing techniques, or eastern-type meditation, or they hold mystical beliefs which are the opposite to clear Bible teaching. “I am not polluted” they say, “I’m a Christian, and God is pleased with me.”
8.
Paul knew about Christian demons. He wrote Galatians, partly to warn the Church about them.
“I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Galatians 1:6-10
The word “accursed” in Greek is ‘anathema’, and it has a number of meanings. Originally it meant something devoted, or specially picked out for destruction, such as an idol or a city (Deut.7:26, Josh.6:17), later it came to mean something which God could not smile upon (Zech.14:11). Anyone who denies the truth about Jesus and God’s plan of redemption, is actually cursing themselves, because they place themselves outside of God’s saving grace.
Are there any Christian demons around today? Plenty! The Mormons, for example, claim to have received their version of Christianity from angels. Other cults claim divine perfection for their founders. Popes are said to be God’s faultless spokesmen – even when (as has happened in the past) there are two popes reigning at the same time, and both contradicting each other. Many founders of pseudo-Christian movements, such as Mary Baker Eddy of Christian Science, or Joseph Smith of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Herbert Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God, have actually claimed to have been divinely inspired, and far too many people are ready to believe such claims. In some cases their followers have made the claims, and the leaders have not contradicted them – a passive form of taking the deification.
But Paul says he does not want to please men. This is a crucial statement, because it is the men-pleasers who stray from, and lead many from, the truth. Today’s rash of fake miracles (i.e. gold fillings, gold dust, angel feathers and hundreds of ‘visions’, plus vague, contradictory predictions and prophecies) are all part of the men-pleasing ways of Satan. Misguided, sincere, dedicated Christians are continually being sucked in. False is being placed beside true, and God’s Word is being read along with Satan’s lies.
A ship, tied to a wharf, is held to the side of the wharf by large, strong ropes. If these ropes are untied, the ship does not suddenly race away from the harbour, in fact, it may stay close to the wharf for quite a while before gradually moving away.
It is the same with Christians when they begin to allow compromise and error into their lives. The ropes tying them to the truth have been slipped, but no obvious move away from following Jesus is apparent. For weeks, or even months the Christian may appear to be close to God, but gradually, as the tide sucks gently, that soul will move away. At first the gap is small, and at some distance there may even be the thought that the soul may return, but eventually the ocean swallows them up.
9.
Finally, the Lord Jesus Himself speaks to the modern-day Church with a severe warning, in Revelation 3:14-22. He uses the word “lukewarm” to describe the state of Christendom, but what exactly is lukewarmness?
To make something lukewarm, you need a mixture of two temperatures – hot and cold. It seems that Jesus sees both hot and cold as good things, in the sense that he wants Christians to be something definite – either strongly defined one way or the other.
But when he looks at Christendom he sees compromise. “Warm” Christians, who claim to be followers of Christ but who are doctrinally messed up, and worldly, and immoral. Instead of being God’s spokesmen, they are pathetic, flip-flopping between the Bible and the wisdom of the world.
In the past, God spoke through the prophets. The prophet’s mouth was the Lord’s mouth, so what the prophet said was powerful. The Church today is supposed to be the representative of Jesus Christ, so when it speaks, (that is, when individual Christians speak), what is said should be in line with what the Bible says – so in this sense the Church is God’s prophet for today.
In Revelation 3 Jesus addresses the Church as a whole. There are always exceptions, but the overall tone of today’s Church is brought together in this one line :
“So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of my mouth”. Revelation 3:16
We should not be surprised at this. Would God allow Satan to represent Him? Would God be content to have Satan speaking through the mouths of His Old testament prophets? Of course not – so it is hardly surprising that God is angry with today’s Church, His modern-day mouth. Lukewarm Christians (Christian demons) will be vomited out of God’s mouth.
While there are many Christians who live zealous lives for Jesus, there are also many who do not. Their sorry state is pictured in Rev.3:20, which, despite popular usage is not addressed to unsaved individuals, but to Christendom. Jesus is seen standing outside His own Church, knocking to be let in.
“Behold, I (the Lord Jesus) stand at the door (of the Church), and knock”. Revelation 3:20
Which side of the door are you on?
Further references :
Luke 13:25-27, Deut. 12:32-13:1-8, 2Chron.33:16,17, Judges 17:3, 1Chron.13.