Christmas, Demons and Devils.

I am sure a lot of you are wondering what demons and devils have to do with Christmas time, well in my opinion a whole lot! For many people including myself suffer from spiritual turmoil this time of year. They may perceive what they are going though as emotional issues like depression and anxiety and yet I believe that absolutely everything has a spiritual reality to it. Especially emotional issues like depression. Using myself as an example; in the past, I would just shut down at this time of the year for the memories and the hype around the “holiday season” would be just too much for me.

The reason why I would shut down is that I associate death with Christmas, for I have lost many friends this time of the year though either suicide murder or vehicle accidents caused by drinking or drugs. Even my fiancé at the time (the late seventies) ended up taking her life on December 12 1979. She did this drastic step because she could not handle the “roller coaster ride” that MS (Multiple Cirrhosis) was taking her body though. She would start to improve and then she would go though a “relapse” of her disease all over again. The grief and guilt (yes I did blame myself) I went though at that time is one of the reasons I decided to leave Southern California and move to Boulder Colorado.

However, this was not the first time that I had a friend commit suicide at this time of the year, or the last time. Just the year before, I had a friend who finished eating dinner with his parents and then excused himself from the table. Moments later, he went into his bedroom and shot himself with his father’s 38. Then, later in 1986 I had a friend who was a Psychologist who was experimenting with the then legal drug MDA (which would be latter known as ecstasy). He became so strung out on this drug that he ended losing every thing, his house his wife and even his kids abandon him and he ended up "eating a gun" on Christmas Eve.

I am not writing this to be morbid, instead I want others to know that I have been there, and that there was a time that I could not even go across high bridges or climb high buildings without an urge to jump off! I want to share with you what happened to me to on spiritual level that turned this around for me and helped me to face this time of year!

Now I know that many of you may see mental disorders like depression as either as emotional or a biological issues. In fact I have met Christians that feel that to help someone through prayer or other spiritual means, one need to understand if they are dealing with a problem with there brain chemistry or some form of trauma. This to me seems odd, for I believe that every disorder or disease is because we are living in a fallen and corrupt world. Did Jesus or his apostles ask someone who was demon possessed what medication they were on? No, Jesus went right to the source! He cast out the demon that was inflicting havoc on the person who he was healing.

I want to make it clear that I do not believe everyone who is depressed is possessed by a demon out right, for there are many levels of demonic activity and they can and will affect a person in many different ways. Satan being the god of this world will do whatever he can to disrupt the life of humans. However, it is ourselves that cause most of are own problems by the action we make. In other words, I do not believe that the devil "makes" people do anything; for we have free will and we are the ones who choose to sin and disobey God.

Now since I made this bold statement that the root of all problems are spiritual issues and have spiritual answers, I will now clarify what I mean by the term spirit and the term demon. To do this we will take a look at the roots of both of these words and briefly explore how these terms relate to us in the twenty first century. The main thing I want to focus on is that no mater how much the world and the time changes the spirit that God gave to us when he breathed into us, has not changed and never will!

For after all, the word spirit comes from Latin and means breath. This word is spiritus and has over time, develop several different meanings. However, those other meanings are not what we will look at this time. To have a further understanding of this word and its meaning, we should consider what Genesis says what happened when God created man. It was his act of breathing into Adam and then Eve that allowed him and his mate to become alive! If it was not for that one divine act, we humans would be nothing more than a mold made out of mud!

So now let us look at the word demon and how that word has developed to mean what it does to day. It came from the Greek language and their word Daimon originally meant Divine Power. After all, at one time Satan himself was considered God's greatest creation and it was his pride that eventually separated him from God. So he began as something that could be considered divine and he and all the other fallen angles chose by the actions to rebel against God. Another popular term that is also used to describe a fallen angel is "unclean spirit" which is taken from the Greek term pneuma akatharton which is used in the New Testament twenty one times.

Now I could supply a list of demons from sources like "The Lesser Key of Solomon" and yet, what good would that serve? There are also several categories of demons that have different attributes and abilities, which I may discuss more in future writings. This is because the demons I am concerned with are those that affect our daily lives. I want to focus on the ways that people invite these demons into there lives with out even being aware that they are doing so. This is important for it much better to prevent influence from unclean spirits, than it is to try to remove them once they have gained access to ones life. I have spoke of this in some of my other writings such as From Satanist to Salvation. For even to this day, I feel the effects of my activities which involved demons.

One of the things that needs to be looked at is what is known as "strongholds" and Generational curses that has been passed on through generation to generation. This is mentioned in passages such as Exodus 34: 7. This is when God speaks of His unfailing love being given to “a thousand generations.” Even in spite of this, God says he will not excuse the guilty. Their sins will even be passed on to the third and fourth generations. It is the agenda of a demon to keep us trapped in these strongholds and generational curses. This is why I believe that a new Christian should mimic what many recovering Alcoholics do in AA (Alcoholic Anonymous) practice. This is taking a "fearless and moral inventory." The reason for this is that I have come to the concussion that one must dig down "into the dirt’ of ones life. This is a fitting metaphor to what it takes to have a precise understanding of what the "roots" of ones transgressions are. I also feel this is a good place to introduce a prayer that is designed to break Generational curses.

In the name of Jesus, I confess the sins and iniquities of my parents (name specific sins if known), grandparents (name specific sins if known), and all other ancestors. I declare that by the blood of Jesus, these sins have been forgiven and Satan and his demons can no longer use these sins as legal grounds in my life!

In the name of Jesus, and by the power of His blood, I now declare that all generational curses have been renounced, broken and severed, and that I am no longer under their bondage!

In the name of Jesus, I declare myself and my future generations loosed from any bondage passed down to me from my ancestors. AMEN!

I have found out the hard way that if one ignores a certain area of "sin" or dysfunction in one's life, (or even the life of your ancestors) it will come to light sooner or later. This is especially true when dealing with issues connected to relatives during the "Holiday Season." Realities just seem to have a way of bringing the worse attributes out of people. It is like they move right into ones subconscious mind and “trigger” emotional responses that may have lain dormant for sometime.

While on the subject of the subconscious, I want to take a peek at something that appears to be overlooked when it comes to the influences of demons and devils have on the subconscious mind. The first things I want to discuss are how every book we read and every movie we watch can creep into our sleeping minds and affect our dreams! A perfect example of this is the fact that I use to love watching horror movies. However, what I have discovered is that this seems to put out a “welcome mat” for demonic forces. I am now finding that many of these movies have lost there appeal, for all they do is corrupt my mind and make me vulnerable to the whims of “the enemy” (Satan).

I will not go into much detail about how demons can affect ones dreams, only that it is one of the reasons why one should pray for protection before we go to sleep. It is also important to “feed “the mind positive thoughts while in a awaken state. Just like the Apostle Paul states in Philippians 4: 8 quoting from the NLT Study Bible it states “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right, and pure and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Going on with subject of what YOU can do to protect yourself while you are involved in spiritual battles, there is no better reference than the entire book of Ephesians. This book gets right to the very key to living in the spirit.

There are a couple of other topics I want to touch base with before I close with one of my favorite passages in Ephesians. I would like to share my views on why I believe that Satan and his gang like to mess with people (Christian or otherwise) during this time of year. Being the fact that the days have gotten shorter right up to the winter solstice on December 21, seems like the perfect time for “The Prince of Darkness” to do his dirty work!

For he is quite aware of the emotional upheaval people go though this time of the year. Besides this, there is the long history of Pagan influence that Christmas evolved from. Even with the focus on Christ this time of year, I think Satan still looks for ways to shift that focus away from Christ and to material and even darker realities connected to this time of year. Once again I have just shaved the very tip off of the Iceberg with this article and plan to go into more depth in future writings. For now, as promised I will leave you with Ephesians 6: 10-18. For I feel Paul states it best in this passage.

“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and –blood enemies, but against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in heavenly places.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor if God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”