#1 in Know Your Enemy
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Why do demons exist? Where did they come from? Genesis 6 and Jude tell us that a group of fallen angels, called the Watchers, mated with human women and gave birth to a corrupt species of being called the Nephilim. The Nephilim were giant human-like beings that sought to rule and defile mankind. The Watchers taught mankind all sorts of perverse mystical secrets which eventually led to the great flood in the days of Noah.
The Watchers that fell are now in chains but the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim still roam the earth today seeking to oppress and defile humanity. There is a rank and order to their authority in the spiritual dimensions but the good news is that Jesus has stripped them of any and all authority. They are now only equipped with deceit and trickery. If you know their origins you can be better equipped to not fall prey to their strategies and attacks.
In this article, I will start with the historical origin of these evil spirits by looking at the Bible and the Book of Enoch. While the Book of Enoch is not Biblical canon, it is referenced in the Bible and many passages from Scripture mirror the older Book of Enoch. We will regard Enoch as merely a historical record that speaks to the fall of the Watchers and the origin of the evil spirits we know as demons or devils.
In the next two articles in this series, I will go on to address what demons are doing now, how to stand in your victory in Christ regarding spiritual warfare, and how to never be afraid of or be deceived by any devil. As well as how to help others live in the deliverance from darkness we've already experienced in Christ. We'll end by talking about binding and loosing, as well as how to bring your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ as the method of enforcing the victory you already have in Christ.
The Fall of the Watchers
Genesis 6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
There is debate on who or what the "sons of God" are, but for our purposes, we'll classify them as Watchers, which is a higher level spiritual being. These beings must have had the capacity to manifest into our dimension and interact physically with humans. The Book of Enoch will give us insight into the nature of these beings.
Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. NKJV
It agreed within orthodox Christianity that the fallen spiritual beings that fathered the giants (Nephilim) were captured and placed into chains. The Lake of Fire, which we will see at the final judgment, was created for these beings, as well as the beast and false prophet of end times. Humans that do not accept Christ will also be cast into this "lake" at the final judgment. The state of the human soul after being cast in the lake of fire is debated as well. Whether a human experiences conscious eternal torment or is destroyed, we're not sure, but we do know there is no coming back from the Lake of Fire.
In the following passages from the Book of Enoch, we will see conversations between Enoch and the Watchers and conversations between God and Enoch. The content may be a little confusing regarding who is talking. The main point is to understand the strategies of the Watchers as well as their corrupt offspring. You will see what the Watchers taught mankind and how it corrupted us to the point of the flood.
The great flood was not solely out of God's anger toward humankind, it was an act of mercy to preserve humanity in pure form and protect the bloodline of the Messiah. Had the Watchers and Nephilim gone unchecked, all of humanity would most likely have been lost.
I will bold passages that mirror the Bible and passages that describe the strategies of the Watchers that shed light on how demons work today.
The Book of Enoch
VI 1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' 3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4. And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations (a spoken curse) not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
Enoch VII 1. And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. 2. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: 3. Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, 4. the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. 5. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. 6. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
VIII 1. And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. 2. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl,
IX 6. Thou seest what Azâzêl hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which men were striving to learn: 7. And Semjâzâ, to whom Thou hast given authority to bear rule over his associates. 8. And they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. 9. And the women have borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness. 10. And now, behold, the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of heaven, and their lamentations have ascended: and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the earth. 11. And Thou knowest all things before they come to pass, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl, [paragraph continues](taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
X 8. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin.'
XV 8. And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. 9. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men, and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; ⌈they shall be evil spirits on earth, and⌉ evil spirits shall they be called. [10. As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.] 11. And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, ⌈but nevertheless hunger⌉ and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded ⌈from them⌉.
The Corruption of the Giants
Isn't that amazing? To see it spelled out so clearly where these evil spirits (demons) came from? We see from the beginning that these evil spirits sought to corrupt, defile, and oppress mankind. They are still trying to do the same things today. They set themselves up as gods and kings over man when in bodily form, and they're still trying to do it now in spiritual form. They are actually trying to hijack mankind's authority through deception, but more on that in weeks to come.
I believe they are trying to separate us from God in our hearts by teaching us to be dependent on creation, hence their teaching mankind mystical secrets, astrology, root cutting, and all the other stuff. Through the use of plants and root cuttings we know from antiquity these methods were used for psychedelic and mystical purposes.
It is believed that through these chemicals and rituals, they taught humans to see into the spiritual realm and misuse their God-given authority to manipulate the created realm. It was a deception because mankind already has dominion over creation. They wanted us to use our authority to either over-throw God and render him useless in the created realm because of the mystery knowledge they could teach mankind.
We will see this today in New Age and demonic religion practices. We're even seeing a surge in the use of psychedelics like DMT and ayahuasca, which I believe is designed to deceive its users, making them think they are gods. Or at least don't need God because they can reach spiritually enlightened on their own through these substances and the experience they generate. But Jesus ruined their plans.
Our Authority in Christ
Jesus stripped them of any spiritual authority they had. Each being has a certain kind of authority, spiritual beings have levels of authority in the spiritual realm, while humans have authority over the earthly realm. Humans never lost our authority to the devil, we just didn't know the authority we had. Jesus came along and stripped the fallen beings of their authority and claimed it for himself. In fact, Jesus now has all authority.
Humans still have dominion over the earthly realm, but now through Christ, we also share in his authority. Meaning we have authority over all created beings, physical or spiritual. So demons, or any other kind of evil being or spirit, can not touch us legally. When we make mistakes, it does not give devils the right to attack us because Jesus has all rights and authority.
We may be deceived and fall prey to the enemy's strategies through ignorance or unbelief, but they never have the right to attack you or mess with your life. The following passage from Colossians 2 reveals that we have been delivered from the power of darkness, we are new creatures in Christ and the enemy has no authority over us.
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
To make a public spectacle refers to a ritual when one king conquered another king's army. It is said the conquering king would strip the losing king naked and cut off his thumbs and big toes. He cut off the thumbs and toes so the losing king could never again hold a sword or run in battle. He would drag the conquered behind his horse through the villages of the defeated kingdom to establish authority and then drag him through the victor's own kingdom so his people would no longer be afraid of the opposing king. Jesus indeed made a spectacle of the devil and all spiritual authority that sought to oppose him.
Jesus Shares His Victorious Authority With You
The phrase "raised us up together" in the following passages refers to our authority in Christ. It's not necessarily a phrase that describes our location as much as it describes our position of authority. Paul prays that our spiritual eyes would be opened and we would know who we are in Christ, including our position of authority over principalities and powers. He established the authority and supremacy of Christ then reveals that we share the same authority in Christ.
Ephesians 1:15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and [power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
This is not describing where we will go when we die, this is describing the authority we have now. It's a statement of power and authority. We share the power of the throne, the power of the king.
In the weeks to come, I will discuss how to stand in that authority for yourself and for others. Subscribe and stay tuned.
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