The Pentecostal Fascination with Demons

The Pentecostal Fascination with Demons is actually a mark of modern Pentecostalism. They promote their movement because of this “sign.” As a preacher and pastor, I can half-way accept the old Methodism, that tried to seek holiness in their membership. I can accept even the Nazarene and old school Pentecostals which went down that same erroneous path as John Wesley in Methodism. But modern Pentecostals are just too radical for me.

The Sign of a Prophet of God

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Modern Pentecostals use this same thinking to “validate” their group. This Pentecostal Fascination with Demons drives a lot of what they do and think. Because they can “cast out demons” therefore they are the truly anointed of God above all other denominations and groups. Jesus warns his disciples of the only true mark of a minister of God, and this that he obeys God’s will. He does more than just obey, he is preoccupied excessively with obeying God’s will.

This is only known by God’s word, the Scriptures. But you have to correctly discern and interpret the Word of God, which means you must take it in its context. Although some of Christ’s true disciples were to do this, it is not necessarily a mark of every Christian or every minister of Christ. The mark of every Christian and minister of Christ is that they will seek intensively to do God’s will.

Where Pentecostal Fascination with Demons goes wrong

The problem with the Pentecostal thinking is that they move this fight from the spiritual realm to the physical realm. They see items in your kitchen pantry as being satanic. That is very doubtful. Demons are wanting certain sinful morality in humans, and then they have won. The fact that you have a can of soup with a star on it, that doesn’t fit the biblical presentation of demons.

Demons want people to follow them, to trust them, to worship them by being morally like them. (We as Christians need to rebuke those our fellow Christians who think that they can be a Christian without trying to be morally like Jesus Christ, like God, like what the Bible presents to us that a child of God should be.)

So the key element of Satan and his hoard is that humans follow Satan’s will. This translates into our actions, our attitudes, and our beliefs (what we trust and consider as true), more than physical objects.

But they want a “token” that shows that a human is trusting and relying on them, so we have the talisman thing. Talismans are simply physical objects that show you believe in the forces that that object is representing. The Pentecostal Fascination with Demons goes so far as to even see Pentecostal preachers (or those inclined to their practices and beliefs) to offer “the rose of Sharon”, “holy water”, “holy oil”, a prayer cloth, etc. Supposedly there is some spiritual value in these physical objects, but we do not see that same kind of focus in the Bible on physical objects. At times an object was involved, or a ceremony like Nathan dunking himself in the river, but this is not the clear norm at all.

What is the New Testament teaching on Demons?

I don’t want to give a complete work on demonology here, but the simple teaching is that demons are warring against us. The case of demon-possessed people is going to be extremes. A man “out of his right mind” living among the tombs, naked, crazy, etc. So in our world today, those people in institutions or people who are out but just crazy are the ones that have a demon.

If you study the concept of the antichrist, he is the opposite of everything that Christ is as far as morally speaking. The demons are like Satan their boss in this aspect. They are morally opposite of what God wants in us.

Dealing with loved ones under demonic influence

I would say that a person has to deal with those God has placed around them, and if one of your family has the signs of demonic influence, then you should act. But note that demons are vicious beings, and if you pray one out of somebody, they will turn on you. You should have many good Christians praying during this kind of thing, and there is no magic here.

You deal with Scripture verses and the person, and in the end, some people like the demons in them, and although some consequences they don’t like, the demon is not going to leave them because the person really is not committed to changing things and accept God. It is important to see what Jesus says about a demon-possessed person, and the demon left and the person “cleaned up their house” (body) and he returned with seven worse than he is. This is because the individual did not want to obey God and be saved without a doubt. This kind of thing is out of your control if you are dealing with a loved one like this.

Most probably they got the way they are because of drugs, alcohol, rock music, and other influences that draw that person towards Satan. You don’t come near to “fixing” things without totally getting those things out of their lives and heads.

Articles on Satan and Demons

• The Reality of Demons
• The Pentecostal Fascination with Demons
• Drugs and Theology
• David Cox Anthology on the Antichrist

Articles on Pentecostalism

• The Pentecostal Fascination with Demons

See our theWord library on Satan and Demons

Articles offsite on Demons

• 25 verses on casting out demons
• A page written from the Pentecostal perspective
• 11 times Jesus took demons seriously