The Bible and Life

Apostolic Church History

Friday, May 1, 2026

Demonic Confrontation

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

DEMONIC CONFRONTATION

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Traveling through a land of spiritual darkness like Java, it was inevitable that Lester would face demonic spirits protesting the message of Jesus Christ. Still a young man, he really wasn’t prepared for such intense spiritual warfare.

Acts 10:38 says, “Jesus...went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” At a revival service one evening in Java, Lester had his first encounter with demon possession.

As the song service proceeded, a young girl about twelve years old slipped away from the front pew, where she had been sitting with her family, got on the floor, laid on her belly, and “began to writhe on the floor like a snake foaming at the mouth.” Her tongue would flick in and out like a serpent’s as she slithered back and forth in the front of the church. Lester was horrified at what he saw, but the Javanese pastor continued on with worship as though nothing unusual was happening.

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Lester had never been a shy man. When he stood in the pulpit to speak, righteous anger rose up in his spirit. He pointed at the young lady, who understood no English, and commanded her, “Get back in your seat!” Immediately, she sat back in her seat and remained there, sitting as still as a statue, for the entire sermon.

As Lester preached, he was also having a private conversation with the Lord. He asked God to take care of the problem of the little, demon-possessed girl. He didn’t know what to do with her. The Lord answered him clearly, “This is your problem. You take care of it!” Never having dealt with the occult before, but knowing that, in Christ, he had authority, Lester finished his sermon. Immediately afterward, he leaned over the pulpit, looked at the young girl sitting rigidly before him, and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Now come out of her!”

Lester never touched the little girl or had any conversation with the demons wrestling within her. But, in a moment, the Spirit of the Lord descended on her. Her eyes became clear, and a sweet smile lit up her face. She was unaware of where she was or what had happened. As the Javanese pastor explained to her that she had just been freed from an evil spirit, she danced around with joy.

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As if on cue, hundreds of people in the congregation stood up and streamed to the altar, trusting in the God of power for salvation, healing, and deliverance. For hours, Lester prayed with those at the altar, but he was still shaken by what had happened.

Howard Carter had been teaching at another church and had not been present at Lester’s meeting. Back in Lester’s room later that night, Howard reassured him that he had handled the entire situation well, according to the Word of God. Just the same, Lester hoped with all his heart that it would never happen again!

Unfortunately for him, there were other demonic conflicts in Java before they left. Lester remarked afterward, “The greatest thing I learned was that I was not personally in the conflict. It was Christ in me. Also, it was not the person who caused the battle, but the devil within him or her.”

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When Lester and Howard ministered together in Java, the results were powerful. Thousands of Javanese were saved and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of Howard’s hands. When Lester ministered to them, many would be instantly healed of their diseases and would give their hearts to Christ. Like Paul and Timothy, this duo of ministers made an impression for Christ wherever they walked.

Pastor F. Van Abkoude summed up the success of Lester Sumrall and Howard Carter’s three months of ministry in Java, saying, “We prayed God to send a messenger, and Brother Carter came to Java with Brother Sumrall....Souls have been saved, healed, and baptized with the Holy Spirit. The result of their ministry will be seen in eternity.”

- God’s Generals ( The Healing Evangelists)

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Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Being Dominated By Evil Spirits

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

BEING DOMINATED BY EVIL SPIRITS.

Jesus said to me that anyone who is walking in darkness can be dominated by rulers of darkness. They rule over all unsaved people and anyone walking in darkness, including believers who are walking in darkness.

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That's why sometimes even saved people can yield to these spirits and let them dominate them if they are walking in darkness—if they're not in fellowship with God and walking in the Light of His Word. Evil spirits will dominate believers, if they allow them to—by consent, ignorance, or disobedience. That's the reason people, including believers, do certain things and don't know why they do them.

Jesus said, "That's why sometimes people who commit acts of darkness say, 'I don't know what made me do that.' Or that's why perfectly good people say about someone else, 'I would never do anything like that,' and before long, they've done something worse."

Jesus said that's why sometimes even in someone's own family, a family member does something strange or out of character, and other family members say, "What in the world made him do that? I've never seen anything like that!"

The reason they do it is that they are being dominated by rulers of darkness—demons and evil spirits. If they're walking in darkness, they are being ruled over and motivated by those rulers of darkness.

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Jesus gave me First John 5:19 to illustrate what He was talking about: "And we know that we are of God, and the whole WORLD lieth in WICKEDNESS [darkness]" (1 John 5:19). Jesus said to me, "Every unsaved man and woman, regardless of who they are—whether it's your kinfolks or someone else's kinfolks, your brother, sister, mother, or father—every unsaved person is in the kingdom of darkness. And they are ruled or motivated more or less by these demons or evil spirits who are the rulers of the darkness of this world."

Then Jesus said, "Whether they want to admit it or not, or whether you or anyone else wants to admit it, that is absolutely the truth." Those who have not been born again and who have not come into the Body of Christ are still in the kingdom of darkness. So every person who is not in the Kingdom of Light is still ruled or dominated to some extent by those demon spirits in the kingdom of darkness, although they may not know it (Eph. 2:1-3). That's the reason people do and say things they said they would never do."

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We see many examples of the unsaved being motivated by evil spirits. For example, I was preaching in California one time, and I read in the newspaper that a twenty-eight-year-old young man had deliberately drowned his own four-year-old son in the bathtub. When the authorities questioned this young man, they found he was all right mentally. He had no record of wrongdoing, had a good job, and lived in a fine home. He had no financial worries, came from a good family from whom he had inherited part of his wealth, and had worked in the family business. They couldn't find one thing wrong with him.

He told the authorities that there wasn't anything wrong with him mentally; he wasn't worried, had no problems, and the child was good. "But," he said, "while I was bathing him, I suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to harm him, and a voice told me to drown him. I yielded to it, and when I came to myself, I was holding my child under the water. I cried, 'Oh, God, why did I do that!'"

You see, he was dominated by evil spirits—rulers of the darkness of this world—because he was in darkness; he wasn't saved. But believers don't need to be dominated by evil spirits because we have been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of light (Col. 1:13). We are in the light where Jesus is our Lord. He is the One who is to dominate us. He is the Ruler over us. He is our Head, not rulers of darkness.

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Satan is the head of those who are unsaved. If the unsaved people of this world really knew the truth, they would run to Christians to find out how to get saved so they could come out from under Satan's dominion.

There is a spirit world that is even more real than this physical world. People need to know that. When you talk about the spirit world, you have to realize that God is a Spirit (John 4:24), and that the devil, demons, and evil spirits also exist in the spirit world, as do angels—both good and evil. But believers have authority over evil spirits; the unsaved do not, for Satan is their god.

- Kenneth E Hagin ( The Triumphant Church )

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Apostolic Church History Podcast

Friday, January 2, 2026

What are ghosts?

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Have you ever wondered what a ghost is? Here is your answer!

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The Bible refers to the spirits of the dead.as "familiar spirits" - as in personal, or well acquainted. The Bible also warns us to have nothing to do with them! There is no such thing as a dead person's spirit walking the earth or returning to the place where they died.

The Bible tells us in Job 7:9, "As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he goes down to the grave and does not come up again. He shall never return to his house, nor his place see him anymore." This is showing us that that the dead cannot return to the houses they once lived in, while here on earth. Houses are never haunted by the deceased; but by demons.

The Bible makes it clear there are spirit beings who can connect with our physical realm. These spirits are fallen angels that once served the God of the Bible, now they serve the god of this world, Satan. "And marvel not; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." , 2 Corinthians 11: 14.

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These demons have the power to transform themselves into the deceased and by doing so, make us believe that it is alright to contact the dead and go against what God has said. This lie has drawn many people away from God and into the kingdom of darkness, albeit they are unaware of what is happening.

William James Roop

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

How Demons Possess People

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

HOW DEMONS POSSESS PEOPLE.

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Jesus then told me he was going to show me how demons get hold of people, even believers, if they will let them. He showed me a man in a vision. I didn't recognize the man. I saw an evil spirit come and sit on his right shoulder. (There's no significance to the right shoulder at all. If there had been, the Lord would have told me.) The evil spirit began to whisper in this man's ear, and the man began to entertain its thoughts.

Then in the vision the man became as transparent as if he were made of glass. Something seemed to go into his head. It looked like a black dot and it was almost as large as a baseball. Jesus told me that this thing first came from the outside to attack the man, but because he had listened to it and had opened his mind to it, it had entered his thinking. He had become obsessed!

Then I saw this black dot go from the man's head down into his spirit. He told me that it now possessed him wholly. Then I saw a whole group of evil spirits come in. I saw the first spirit holding a door open, as it were, for all these other spirits who were swarming in. There were so many I couldn't count them all. They looked like big flies. The first one looked like a little monkey or elf.

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Jesus talked to me about that. He reminded me of the Bible account in Matthew 12:24 which tells how Jesus was accused of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the lord of flies. He said these spirits were lower classes of spirits. The higher class demon got in there first and got control and then let the others in.

Remember the man whose house was swept clean but the evil spirit came back with seven others and they all entered into him (Matt. 12:44,45)? The one spirit knew how to get in, and he took the others with him. Jesus told me this man was possessed of the first spirit which went into him, and then he let the others in. All of them were in there, but only one fully possessed him. He then told me the madman of Gadara had a legion of demons.

Jesus told me in the vision to walk up to the man I saw in the vision. I walked up to him, and the Lord told me that from that night on, when I was in the presence of one who was fully possessed, these spirits would recognize me. They would recognize that I had power over them.

He said when a person is fully demon possessed, the demon can use his voice and state that he knows who you are. The demons will know you as much as they knew who Jesus was.

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He said that through discerning of spirits, which is an inward revelation, I would know what kind of a spirit possesses a person. He told me that if the spirit did not come out when commanded to, I should ask what his name is and how many there are within. Some won't come out until you do this.

Then Jesus showed me some things I hadn't understood before. He talked to me about the man who came out of the tombs at Gadara. (Mark 5). Jesus said if I had been there that day I would have heard, with my physical ears, this man talking. But it was really the demon who possessed the man doing the talking. (A person present wouldn't have heard all the demons speaking unless he had discerning of spirits.) This was what Jesus told me. He said because I had this gift, at times I would see and hear into the realm of spirits. That scares some people; I'd be lying if I said it weren't so.

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Sometimes I've had spirits speak to me before I've ever said a word. I hear them. People can hear me telling them to leave, but no one else hears them talking. Sometimes they say to me very emphatically, "I don't intend to go." I say, "Yes you do, and out you go in the Name of Jesus." I've seen them go. People will be delivered. I've seen too much of it not to believe it, and I know it works.

I don't just run and jump into something. I stop and think it over for a long time before I start using it. The Lord told me one time when He appeared to me in a vision that He would rather I be too slow than too fast. He said some people receive a little revelation, and they grab it and run. They usually end up with everything messed up. It's better to be careful.

I do not believe that God is going to take novices and new Christians who know little or nothing, equip them with these things, and send them out to turn the world upside down. That's out of line with His program.

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So Jesus told me to walk up to this man. When I walked up to him, the man immediately spoke out loud and said, "I know you; I know who you are." Without thinking I told him to shut up in the Name of Jesus. He hushed. Then on the inside of me I knew what kind of spirit was talking to me. It was a deceiving spirit.

I said, "You foul deceiving spirit, I command you to come out of the man in the Name of Jesus!" Nothing happened! So then I asked the name and how many there were in there. (Deceiving isn't a name, it's just a kind.) He said there were 19 more in there besides him. That was all I needed to know. I then commanded him and all 19 to come out in the Name of Jesus. And they came out!

- Kenneth E Hagin ( MINISTERING TO THE OPPRESSED )

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Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Jesus Dealt With Demons

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

JESUS DEALT WITH DEMONS.

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Jesus Himself was extremely practical in His dealings with demons. At the same time, He emphasized the unique significance of this ministry of expelling demons when He said, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matthew 12:28).

Casting out demons demonstrated two important spiritual truths.

First, it revealed the existence of two opposing spiritual kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

Second, it demonstrated the victory of God's Kingdom over Satan's. Obviously Satan would prefer to keep these two truths hidden!

When Jesus cast out demons, He went beyond the precedents of the Old Testament. From the time of Moses onward, God's prophets had performed many miracles that foreshadowed the ministry of Jesus. They had healed the sick, raised the dead, made miraculous provision for multitudes and demonstrated God's power to control the forces of nature. But there is no record that any of them had ever cast out a demon.

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This was reserved for Jesus. It was a unique demonstration that the Kingdom of God had come upon the people of His day. This makes it all the more remarkable that this ministry has been largely ignored by the contemporary Church in many parts of the world. Evangelism, especially in the West, has frequently been practiced as if demons did not exist. Let me say, as graciously as possible, that evangelism that does not include the casting out of demons is not New Testament evangelism.

I will take this a step further and apply it to the ministry of praying for the sick. It is unscriptural to pray for the sick if one is not prepared also to cast out demons. Jesus did not separate one from the other.

On the other side, there are those today who carry this practice of casting out demons to unscriptural extremes. They give the impression that any kind of problem-physical, emotional or spiritual-should be treated as demonic. But this approach is unbalanced and unscriptural. Sometimes, too, deliverance is carried out in a way that gives more prominence to the minister or to the one receiving deliverance than to the Lord Jesus.

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Personally, I see this as further evidence of Satan's special and intense opposition to the ministry of deliverance. If possible, he seeks to exclude it altogether from the Church's program. Failing that, his aim is to discredit it.

For my part, I certainly did not volunteer! As I said, I was confronted by situations in which I was forced to choose between two alternatives: taking action against the demons or backing down and giving way to them. Looking back, I am glad I chose not to back down.

- Derek Prince (They shall expel demons)

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DEMONS IN CERTAIN REGIONS.

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Demons In Certain Regions

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an interesting article about spiritual warfare.

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Demons and evil spirits want to possess man so they can find the widest range of expression in this world. If they can't find embodiment in man, they'll take embodiment in animals as a second choice. The spirits in the fifth chapter of Mark said they wanted to go into the swine so they wouldn't have to go out of the country. Jesus gave them permission and they went into the swine.

MARK 5:9-12

"And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered,

saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

And he besought him much that he would not send them

away out of the country.

Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great

herd of swine feeding.

And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into

the swine, that we may enter into them."

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We see from this Scripture that demons do like to gang up in certain parts of the world or certain countries. In traveling, it has been easy for me to discern what kinds of spirits are in a locality. I can drive through a city and know what spirits predominate there. Sometimes there are immoral or occult spirits, or spirits promoting foreign religions. Small towns — not just large cities — can have spirits ruling over them, too.

Spirits in the Church

My wife and I were in a town visiting her relatives one time, and the pastor of the church there said he wanted me to preach. I was on the field in evangelism, and he kept asking me. Finally I told him I wasn't going to do it.

He asked me if there were something wrong with him and his wife. I told him there wasn't. But I explained I didn't want to preach in that town unless God definitely told me to. I told him the town was full of reserved, conservative people, motivated by stingy devils and demons. I told him these demons had gotten into his church and that the people wouldn't support me if I went there.

His eyes got big and his mouth fell open, and he asked me if anyone had been talking to me. I told him no one but the Lord.

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Whatever kinds of spirits are in a city will get into the church, because there will be someone who will let them in. For instance, look at the Church at Corinth. Corinth was one of the most immoral cities of the East. This immoral devil got into the church. There was a man cohabiting with his father's wife. It had to be dealt with!

First Corinthians 5:1 tells us, "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife."

Whatever spirits are predominant in a city will get into the church unless individuals and the church as a whole learn to stand against them. This minister decided to tell me some things. He said he had taken that church without promise of any set salary. Whatever came in as tithes and offerings on Sunday morning was to be his. The Sunday night and Wednesday night offerings would go for payments on the church building and utilities.

- Kenneth E Hagin ( The Origin and Operation of Demons )

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Thursday, June 22, 2023

Strongholds vs Demons

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is something that I found on the Net, blessings.

STRONGHOLDS VS DEMONS:

1. The word stronghold appears only once in the New Testament.

2. A stronghold is a fortress of lies that the enemy builds in your mind and emotions.

3. A stronghold is how the demon stays in, while an open door is how the demon gets in.

4. Strongholds are cast down, while demons must be cast out.

5. Strongholds are broken over time, while demons are cast out quickly.

6. The truth breaks strongholds, while the Name of Jesus casts out demons.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

Sunday, May 21, 2023

The "Rat" in the attic

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

The “Rat” in the attic

I have been a hospice volunteer for a few years now. Off and on I have heard a reference from the nurses about a rat in the attic. That was always the reason why they would never go up there. If they needed anything to be put up there or taken down, they would call the maintenance manager. The maintenance manager was a little Vietnamese man of the age of about seventy.

That particular evening, one of the nurses mentioned about putting something in the attic. I was not very busy, so I informed them that I could take it up there. They quickly told me that the maintenance manager would do it tomorrow. Again I overheard them referring to the rat in the attic.

I got a little curious, plus a little stupid, and I have never been up there before, so I decided to walk up there just to have a look around. After a little while, when the nurses got busy and were not looking for me, I sneaked up the stairway.

I got up the stairs, opened the door, and slipped inside. Just as soon as the door closed behind me I felt troubled. I had the flashlight on my cell phone on and it illuminated the attic fairly well. But it was a large attic and the back of it was still dark.

I looked around with the flashlight. The attic was mostly empty, with just some things along the walls close to the door. As I was slowly feeling more nervous, I think that the maintenance man was smarter than I thought.

I slowly started to leave the door area and started to walk towards the middle. Then the more I walked the worse I felt. I have a feeling of cold dread! The further that I left the door, the more intense the feeling of dread that I felt!

I quickly concluded that there was not a rat up here but an evil presence of some kind! That’s when I got really frightened! But I decided to sally forth into the evil void! My stupidity is sometimes shocking.

After a little pause to build up my nerve, I started walking again towards the middle of the attic again. I walked slow and steady repeating out loud, “In the Name of Jesus!” That helped out a little, but not much.

When I got to the middle, I was surrounded by the light of my little flashlight. The feeling of evil dread was now overwhelming! I could now sense that the evil presence was located at the far end of the attic in the left corner. I don’t know how I could sense this, but I could. Maybe it’s a spiritual gift.

The feeling of dread was now so intense that I couldn’t walk any further. I was standing in the middle of the attic frozen like a statue. I couldn’t move! The evil presence was there, and it seemed like it was staring at me! I could sense that it didn’t want me up there. It didn’t want anyone up there!

I then heard a voice in my head saying, “What are you doing up here?” and “You shouldn’t be up here!” This was the voice of God speaking to me. Certainly words of wisdom!

I slowly started to back up. I didn’t want to turn my back on that evil presence, that demon. I slowly walked backwards. I eventually got to the door to the stairway. When I got to about five feet away I made a run for it. Opened the door and ran down to the second floor. I now felt safe!

I spent a few minutes leaning against the wall, sweating, and trying to learn this important life lesson. The nurses knew all about this evil demon in the attic. They referred to it as a “rat’ so that the hospice patients and family members would not overhear and become frightened.

I had learned some of the wisdom of our hospice nurses and how they communicated things. I was learning some of those lessons the hard way.[1]