This sermon delves into the topic of demons, distinguishing them from devils and exploring their potential origins as disembodied spirits. It recounts a personal experience of deliverance from various demons, highlighting the desperate craving of demons to occupy human bodies. The sermon also addresses how demons can enter individuals through various means like prenatal exposure, emotional shock, sinful acts, and idle words, emphasizing the importance of repentance and deliverance.

I've already pointed out, but I'll say again, two things. First of all, the word is not devil. The word devil comes from the Greek word diabolos, which means a slanderer, and is the title of Satan himself. The things we are dealing with are daemonions, demons, and they are not devils. They are another kind of being. Where do they come from? Well, I don't believe anybody has an absolutely authoritative answer. In my thinking, the most probable explanation is they are disembodied spirits of a pre-Adamic race that perished under the judgment of God between Genesis 1.1 and Genesis 1.2. I'm glad to discover that our pastor more or less thinks the same. Am I right? Good. Thank you. That's encouraging. We may be wrong, but that's the best that I can come up with. But the most distinctive fact about demons is they desperately crave to occupy a body. They are not satisfied until they get inside a body. Preferably they would occupy the body of a man or a woman. But rather than be disembodied, they would rather go into the body of pigs. You remember the man of Gadara, the demon said, send us into the pigs. We don't want to be disembodied. What they didn't realize was that going into the pigs would cause the death of the pigs and they were left after that with the same problem again. But what I'm trying to deal with is you're dealing with a person who hasn't got a body and desperately craves to be in a body because, as I believe, only through a body can they exercise their ungodly lusts. If it's a demon of alcohol, it has to have a human throat through which to consume. If it's a demon of sexual immorality, it has to have sexual organs through which it can operate. If it's a demon of hatred, it has to have emotions that it can play upon to work through. In other words, we are surrounded by an invisible host of persons without bodies, desperately craving to occupy bodies. And desperately struggling not to be out of bodies. Now, I think I need to say a little bit briefly how I became involved. I did not volunteer for this ministry. I was conscripted. First of all, when I became a pastor of a very small Pentecostal church in Seattle, Washington. And I was involved a lot with the full gospel businessmen. One day, a Baptist pastor phoned me and he said, Brother Prince, I have a woman in my congregation who needs deliverance from demons. Well, I wasn't used to Baptist pastors saying things like that. But what he said after that was still more astonishing. He said, God has shown me that you and your wife are to be the instruments of her deliverance. Well, I don't let people's revelation dictate to me. So I sent a quick telegram up to heaven. What about it? And I got the answer, well, this is from me. So I said, all right. I made an appointment. Bring the woman and we'll do our best. We chose a Saturday morning and at that time I had just become friends with a Presbyterian couple who had just been baptized in the Holy Spirit. And while we were waiting for the Baptist lady to come, the Presbyterian couple turned up. So we said, well, you might as well stay. We don't know what's going to happen, but it could be exciting. Well, along comes the Baptist pastor with this lady who had been the secretary of the church at one time. She was aged about thirty-five, I would say. She was a perfectly normal American housewife. I scanned her from every angle. I couldn't see anything strange about her. No metallic tone in her voice, no fire in her eyes, just an ordinary Baptist, good Baptist. But the pastor was convinced. So he sat her down in the chair and he said, now she's already been delivered from a demon of nicotine. I thought she has. But he said there are others. So he stood in front of her and started to shout at the demons. Well, I learned by experience later that you don't get any more power by shouting. Demons are not deaf. Even spirits of deafness are not deaf. You don't need to shout and it's wasting energy. Anyhow, he stood there and shouted at this demon, I command you to come out. And nothing seemed to happen. Then he said, in the name of Jesus I command you to come out. And the woman's face changed. A different expression came over her face. Well he stood there quite a long while and didn't get any further. So he stepped back and I thought, well if he can do it, I can do it. So I stood in front of the woman and I had all the theology. I said, now you spirit that's in this woman, I'm speaking to you and not to the woman, what is your name? And it wouldn't answer. So I said, I command you in the name of Jesus to answer. What is your name? And we went on like this for a while and suddenly it answered. Before it answered, she changed. She crossed her hands over her throat and started to throttle herself. And I had this Presbyterian brother who was taller and heavier than I am. It took our united strength to pull her arms away from her throat. Well then we got past that stage and suddenly the demon responded, my name is hate. And when it said hate, every feature of the woman's face registered the most unutterable hatred. I'd never seen such pure hatred in anybody's eyes. So I said, you demon of hate, come out of this woman. And this gruff, masculine voice answered out of the woman, I'm not coming out. This is my house. I've lived here 35 years and I'm not coming out. Well I checked everything with the Bible, mentally. I thought that's right. Jesus said when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man it goes through dry places seeking rest. Then it says I will return to my house from which I went out. So that's scriptural. So I beat it down with the name of Jesus and with Scripture. And suddenly it came out with a loud, prolonged roar. As it came out the woman slumped forward, relaxed, and this tension in me subsided. I knew it had gone. But the demon had said before it came out, even if I come out, my brothers are here and they'll kill her. So I knew there was more than one demon. So anyhow, we went through this. It must have lasted two or three hours. And about seven or eight different spirits came out. One that really impressed me was self-pity. And I began to understand some of the ways people respond that are not natural. The last spirit that came out was the spirit of death. And again I checked. I thought, is this scriptural? I thought death is a physical condition. But then I remembered in Revelation chapter 6, there was a rider on a horse whose name was Death. So death can be a person. Well when the spirit of death came out, this woman was stretched out on her back on the floor, absolutely limp, her face was totally pale, there was no color, her skin was cold. If you had come in and looked at her, you would have said there's a dead person on the floor. Well, she lay there for about ten minutes and put her arms up in the air and started to speak in tongues. One of the things the demons had said, I had said, how did you come into this woman? And it had said, that was death. I said, when did you come into this woman? It said three and a half years ago when she nearly died on the operating table. I stored all this up. Well then the woman was apparently delivered, so I delivered her back to the Baptist pastor and he drove her off. About halfway through the week, the woman phoned Lydia and me and said, I think they're trying to come back. Can you come and help me? So we drove out to the home, talked with the woman, and I diagnosed that it was fear, that she was afraid they would come back, and this was opening the door. But while we were there, she had a little daughter of six who was a shy, thin, rather unhappy looking little girl. And everywhere we walked, she walked with us. But every time I looked at her, she averted her eyes. She would not look me in the eyes. So I said to the mother, you know, I think your daughter has some of the same problems you have. She said, will you pray for her? I said, by all means. So the next Saturday morning we had the daughter there. And basically we went through much of the same with the daughter as with the mother. Most of the same spirits that were in the mother came out of the daughter. Not all of them, but hate was one and death was one. And when the death came out of the little girl, she was stretched flat on her back on the floor looking like a dead person. So I checked on them for about two years. Apparently they remained free. The little girl had been graded retarded. She became a normal, happy, healthy little girl. Well then gradually, by stages, the Lord launched me into a ministry of mass deliverance. I've conducted ministries of that kind in Russia, in Kazakhstan, in Turkey, in New Zealand, in Australia, in at least a dozen nations. I discovered that you can do it en masse. I'm not saying it's the best way, but when the needs are so desperate you have to do what you can. I've learned to instruct people, help them to identify their problem, show them how to be delivered, and pray for them and they will be delivered. Now I want to answer some of the common questions. How do they come in? And my answer is usually through a moment or a place of weakness. The devil searches for the weak moment or the weak place to come in. Now what are the moments or places of weakness? This is not an exhaustive list, but it will give you some understanding. First of all, prenatal. Many infants are born with a demon in them. It happens because of something that the mother did or didn't do. The greatest single problem that exposes children to demons, unborn children, is involvement in the occult. And I want to say you cannot get involved in the occult in any form without being exposed to demons. There was a proverb that used to say, he who supps with the devil needs a spoon with a long handle. I want to tell you there is no spoon made with a handle long enough to make it safe to supp with the devil. And I want to read from Deuteronomy chapter 18 in the NIV, because the language is more up to date. This is what God says about the occult. That is, involvement with any kind of spirits that are not spirits from God. It's written to Israel before they entered the land, Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 9. When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire. So the first kind of person is those who actually make their own children living sacrifices, presenting them in a furnace to the God-mermaid. I want you to understand, it's very important, all the other practices that follow are in the same category with offering your infant as a sacrifice to Moses. God doesn't put any distinction. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire. Who practices divination or sorcery. You know what divination is? Fortune telling. It's trying to discern something supernaturally by a spirit that is not from God. Every fortune teller is a diviner. If you've ever been to a fortune teller you've been exposed to a spirit of divination. I remember dealing with a woman who needed deliverance from the spirit of divination. She said, I can't understand how it ever came into me. But I discovered that in the newspaper she regularly read the horoscope pages. That's all you need to do. None of you, I know, ever did that. Who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, which is rampant in the United States today. From the top of the nation downward, from the White House downward, witchcraft is rampant. Or who casts spells, or is a medium, or a spiritist, or consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. And because of these detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. Anyone who does any of those things is detestable. If you go to a fortune teller, that's detestable. God puts it in the same category with people who offer their infants in sacrifices to an evil God. You might say, well, what's wrong with the occult? I'll try to explain it this way. When you get involved in the occult, you're making friends with God's enemies. And God takes note of that. And you have to repent, and you have to cancel any involvement if you want help from God. So that's... Let me give you an example, a remarkable example that happened fairly recently. A woman, a very fine Christian woman, came to me with real grief. She said, we've just had a letter from my son who's at college telling us that he's been homosexual from the womb, that he was born a homosexual. So I began to talk to her and I said, when you were pregnant with your son, did you do anything that's occult? Well, she said, yes. I tried to divine whether it was male or female, boy or girl. I had a pendulum suspended in front of my womb, and I knew if it went one way it was a boy, if it went another way it was a girl. I said to her, you exposed your unborn son to a demon by what you did. That's why he's homosexual from birth. Now she's a very solid Christian woman. She understood. She repented. I believe in due course her prayers will bring deliverance to her son. But let that be a warning to you. You cannot fool around with the occult in any form or shape. If you want a further definition of the occult, it's in my book. I have another very common demon that enters unborn children, it's the demon of rejection. See, every little baby comes into the world craving one thing more than anything else, which is what? Love. That's right. But you see, the mother has got too many children, she hasn't got enough income, she discovers she's pregnant, and she regrets it. She doesn't have to say anything, she just says, I wish I wasn't going to have this baby. That baby is born with a spirit of rejection. Now this is true of my second wife Ruth. She was born in the height of the Depression in 1930. She was the eighth child, and her mother was already struggling to feed the seven previous children. And without saying anything, the mother resented having another mouth to feed. And Ruth had to be delivered from a spirit of rejection. Thank God we knew what to do, and she was wonderfully delivered. Rejection is one of the commonest demons, and it enters very frequently while a person is still in his mother's womb. Then there are pressures in early childhood. James chapter 3 and verse 16 says this, James 3, 16. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing will be there. So in a strife-torn, disharmonious home, the children, born or unborn, are automatically exposed to demons. And most children do not have strong enough defenses to keep the demons out. So any child born in an unhappy, strife-torn, divided home is exposed to demons. How many such homes are there in the United States today? There are many, aren't there? See parents are responsible to maintain an atmosphere in their homes in which the children can grow up free from demonic molestation. But very few parents in contemporary America are doing it. That's one reason why I wrote my book, Husbands and Fathers. Because the number one failure in American culture is the husband and the father. And everything ultimately revolves around him. It's wonderful what wives and mothers can do, but no wife and mother is a substitute for a father. And the greatest single need of America today is men who are real fathers. Amen? Come on you ladies, you say amen. I have been married to two wonderful women. I am not a woman hater. Never was and never will be. I admire women. In fact, I'm jealous for women. I want the best for them. I hate to see them prostituting themselves to the world. I have high standards for women. I know what a woman can be. Please don't misunderstand me. When I say we need fathers, I'm not saying we don't need mothers. We have more good mothers than we have good fathers today. But many, many children in contemporary America are exposed to demons in early childhood. Most of them do not have the spiritual defenses to keep them out. Then there's what I call emotional shock or continued emotional pressure. I remember a woman telling me once she needed to be delivered from a spirit of fear. I said, How did it enter? When she said, I was standing on the sidewalk and a terrible accident happened in front of me. At that moment I was seized with fear and I realized the demon of fear entered me. Now let me give you a scripture about that. In 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 6. This is speaking about Christian women. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good, and are not afraid with any terror. So to be a donor of Sarah, you have to be not afraid with any terror. You have not to give way to sudden emotional shock. But if you do, it's very possible that a demon will enter. Then another way that come, which is obviously sinful acts or habits. If you continually indulge in a sinful act, repeating it, sooner or later, and maybe sooner than later, the demon of that act will enter you. I was praying in a church once and a woman came up to me and there were several other people around them. She said, whatever she said, I said, I think you have a demon of criticism. She said, you want me to cast it out? She said, yes. I said, you demon of criticism, come out. Well, about three people all around started to get delivered at the same time. Criticism is a sinful habit and can expose you to demons. Let me talk about one that nobody talks about in church. So because people don't talk about it in church, churchgoers have to go to a psychiatrist for help. But I'm talking about masturbation. Now some people say masturbation is natural, it's not evil. I don't agree, but you're free to have your opinion. But what I do know is there are masses and masses of people who regularly masturbate and hate themselves for doing it. And they say never again, and a little while later they're doing the same thing again. Now that is a demon. It's a demon of masturbation. And because I don't want to embarrass you later, I'll tell you how it will come out. It will come out of your hands and your fingers. And you'll feel this tingling in your fingers, and your fingers will begin to go stiff and maybe bend backwards. I've seen this happen many times. A person will come up to his brother and say, I don't understand what's happening to me. My fingers are tingling and they're bending back. I say, you have a demon of masturbation. Hate it and get rid of it. And I want to tell you, masturbation will not go out unless you hate it. You have to really hate it. You might say I'm a married man and happily married, and thank God you are. But I have cast a demon of masturbation out of a man of 50 who was married. But he still was a slave to masturbation. And let me speak to you frankly for a moment. What happens when a married partner has a masturbation demon is, the satisfaction from the sexual act that the other person should get goes to the demon and not to the person. Can you understand what I'm saying? I hope you can. I'm trying to be frank without offensive. And then there's another very, very common way that demons enter, and that is through idle words. And I want to read to you what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12 about idle words. Verse 36, but I say to you that every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. People often say, well I didn't really mean it. That's exactly what Jesus says, that's an idle word. Any words you speak you don't really mean are idle. And whether you intend it or not, one day, unless you repent, you're going to give account for them in the day of judgment. Every idle word. People so often say to me, well brother Prince, I didn't really mean it. I said that's precisely what it is. It's an idle word. It's a word you didn't mean. And I cannot tell you how many people I've dealt with who have a spirit of death because they invited it in. They got depressed or discouraged and they said, well I might as well be dead. What's the use of living? I'd be better off dead. That's all you have to say. The demon of death is right there in front of you. It will enter. Many times, I'm not saying always. So that's how they come in. I'm just going to repeat it, and that's not everything. Number one, prenatal. An attitude in the mother that makes the baby feel unwelcome. Pressures in early childhood. Children that grow up in strife-torn homes are automatically exposed to demons. Emotional shock or sustained emotional pressure. Sinful acts or habits. And idle words. Now that's not a comprehensive list, but it gives you some idea of the way that demons come in. Now I want to list characteristic activities of demons. Number one, demons entice. They entice us to do evil. They entice us to sin. Take an example. You're walking along the street and somebody has dropped their billfold full of money. And a voice says to you, an inaudible voice says, pick it up. You might as well. If it was yours, they would do it. Why don't you? Well, anything that can speak is a person. And behind that inaudible voice is a person. And that person is enticing you to do evil. You may not follow it, you may resist, but nevertheless that demon is there trying to get you to do something which will expose you to him.