April 29, 2001

Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual warfare. What is it? Who is the enemy? How does he operate and who does he attack? How do we defend ourselves against him, and how do we mess up, let our guard down, make his attacks on us easier? Are there frustrations in your life that are hard to explain? Do you do things that sometimes you don't know why you did them? Do you sometimes hurt the ones you love? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps there is more than one reason, and maybe it's not always just you that's doing it?

These next several weeks are going to be a little bit different, some of the things that we go over will be new to you, strange to you, and probably uncomfortable to you. Maybe you will wonder if some of these things are really true. By the time we get done with this series, I think the Holy Spirit will be able to convince you that these things are true and real, and what we do, or fail to do about them can make a real difference in our Christian lives.

The first thing I had to decide when I began putting this series together was whether to start out very conservative, build a good foundation, and gradually lead everyone to a logical conclusion. That might work OK. The other option is just to take everyone down to the deep end of the pool, throw you in, let you freak out, and then we all have fun sorting out the questions and head scratchings. For me, that can be a tempting option, but instead, let's try for a compromise between those two extremes.

First things first; we know there is an enemy; where did he, or they, come from? All of us are familiar with the Genesis account of Satan tempting Eve, getting man to sin, was the enemy really already here when man came on the scene? Were demons already here at that time? If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn to the 2nd oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, chapter 38, and verse 4. We know the story, Job has been really up against it, he has been trying to make sense out of all the grief in his life, when all of a sudden, God breaks through and speaks to him. Along with what He tells Job, God gives us some valuable insights into how this world came to be.

Verse 4, and this will be one of my Hooterville paraphrases: " Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding: Who laid the measures of it, if you know? or who stretched the line out on it? What are the foundations of it attached to? or who laid the corner stone of it, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
Bingo! No matter how you interpret the Genesis account of how God created the earth, during that creation, there were already other individuals present. The sons of God. The angelic beings, the stars of the morning. They were around before we were.

For the sake of time, we will not go into how Lucifer the archangel rebelled against God, and became Satan, the accuser, or how a great number of angels followed him in rebellion and fell with him. The bottom line is, when Adam and Eve got to the garden, the enemy was already there, waiting, so obviously the fall of Satan took place sometime between the initial creation of the universe, and man living in the Garden of Eden. Within a very short time, the Bible does not say how long, Satan began his attack against God's appointed custodians of Earth, Adam and Eve. That is where we first get to see the enemy's primary weapon; the lie.

Genesis 3, verse 1, another one of my Hooterville paraphrases: "Now the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, `Hey Lady! I got a question: did God really say, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" The first thing the enemy does is to create doubt or confusion about what God really said. Apparently it worked, because Eve got the question half right, and half wrong.

Verse 2 " And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it," - and if she had stopped right there, we might all be sitting here today praising the Lord in our birthday suits, without a sinful thought in our heads, I said - without a sinful thought in our heads, quit snickering! Perfectly healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally, in perfect fellowship with God, and there would have been no need for Jesus to go to the cross, but...she kept talking- "neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
BZZZTTT!!! Wrong answer. God's Word had been misunderstood, Satan goes in for the kill: " And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die: For God knows that in the day you eat of that fruit, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Satan's primary weapon against God's people is the big lie, and along with it, is the opening lie to set you up for believing the big lie.

We need to know more about the nature of the controversy between God and Satan, and how we humans fit in. To do that, we go back to Job, chapter 1 and verse 6:
" Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD."

Apparently Satan has free reign over all the earth, he also has access to the presence of God, and also he can go only as far as God allows, and no further. Apparently all the angelic host, the sons of God, rebellious or not, are still under a certain chain of command, and even the rebellious angels are required to do what ever God commands them.

This makes us want to stop and ask why? Why has God chosen to allow demons to have the liberty to act rebellious toward Him? Maybe for the same reason He allows people to act rebellious toward Him? We don't have all the answers, but I am content to believe He will sort it all out at the appropriate time.

Anyway, back to Satan, going out from the presence of the Lord to afflict Job; does anybody here remember seeing any of the little tracts that Campus Crusade had with the 4 Spiritual Laws? The cover read something like: "God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life." Remember those? This is the place where we can turn that around: "Satan hates you and he has a terrible plan for your life." John 10:10 tells us that Satan's plan is to steal and to kill and to destroy.

Satan wants to steal the significance of your life. He wants to get you so wrapped up in yourself that you never reach out to others. He wants to steal the spiritual fruit from your life. That's why his attacks are designed to get your eyes off Christ and onto yourself and your problems.

Second, Satan wants to kill you. But he can't do that without God's permission, so he tries to get you to do it for him. He will come and put thoughts into your head that your situation is so bad, so hopeless, so terrible, that there is no way out, and you might as well give it up. He will tell you that you were born bad, you have bad genetics, your parents were losers and you're a loser too, you've sinned so bad that God can't use you any more, it's hopeless, you might as well give up. And it's all lies from the pit. Lies designed and intended to kill you.

And third, Satan wants to destroy your relationships. Your relationship to your spouse, to your kids, your fellow workers, your relatives, your church.

Colossians 1:13 tells us that we have been delivered from the power of darkness, but obviously not from the presence of darkness. Are you with me on this one? Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness, but not from the presence of darkness.

Christ defeated Satan at the cross, but Satan is still the god of this world, and the world still lies in wickedness. Satan might be a toothless lion, in that he cannot overcome believers, but he is still a roaring lion, and he will make noise trying to get us to respond in ways that we hurt ourselves and hurt those around us. Hitler said that if you repeat a lie loud enough and long enough, people will believe it. Where do you think he learned that strategy? From his daddy, Satan. Satan has used it for thousands of years, and we humans still fall for it.

Satan is not the only enemy that we have to contend with, the Bible also speaks of demons and unclean spirits, principalities, powers, spiritual wickedness in high places. We are not going to get involved in learning about all those different things, I don't think we need to.

If somebody had come and dumped a truck load of garbage on your front door step, and there were flies everywhere, you wouldn't go down to the library and check out a stack of books on flies, and start studying fly migration patterns, and fly biology, and what kinds of flies live in Tim-Buck- Three, you'd just get rid of the garbage, and spray the steps down with Lysol.

Back when the United States led the attack on Iraq, I'm sure General Schwartzkopf and Colin Powell didn't spend weeks studying Babylonian culture, or what the Iraqi's did about toe jam, or what kind of music videos were on the Baghdad top 40. They did study the enemy's weapons, how they attacked, and what their strengths and weaknesses were. They concerned themselves with what they needed to know to win a victory as easily as possible, and with the fewest casualties. That is why we are doing this study. We want to live a victorious Christian life with maximum victories and minimum casualties, and we need to learn just enough about the enemy to accomplish that goal.

On the bottom rear of your handouts, there is a short glossary. The King James Bible mentions Satan, the devil, devils, and devilish. It also mentions being possessed by devils. Some of those terms can stand a little clearing up. There is only one devil, Satan, but many demons, and not all demons are the same, some are worse than others, and different ones seem to specialize in different corrupting influences.

Some demons can afflict people with bodily diseases. They can cause deafness and blindness, as you'll notice as you scan over your handout later. In Luke 13:11 for instance, we read " And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
Luk 13:12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
Luk 13:13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
Luk 13:14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.
Luk 13:15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
Luk 13:16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" A spirit of infirmity. A physical illness with a spiritual source.

There are other spirits which are referred to as unclean spirits, and they seem to specialize in troubling people by sexual perversion. Actually, if you want to know how demons divide up their job descriptions, you can pick just about any topic that is a lie or a perversion of God's truth, and the enemy will have an interest in it.

Let's talk about demon possession. Is that just something that only happens in third world countries? Is it something that only affects people that become Satanists, or conjure up spirits? If take your concordance and look up the word "possessed" in connection with demons, it is actually "demonized," like your handouts say. It is not an all or nothing thing, not simply black or white, it is a relative term. Our English language is not flexible enough to do the word justice, but "demonized" is very close to what the Greek work actually means. For years there has been an argument over whether or not a Christian can be demon possessed , now we are starting to learn - that is asking the wrong question.

Over the last twenty years, Christian counseling, Bible-based counseling has grown tremendously. Years ago, Christian counseling was trying to use the world's methods of psychology and psychiatry, and was not helping people any better than secular psychologists and psychiatrists. Then God very graciously began to show Christian Bible-believing counselors that God's Word comes first, that it is the foundation for mental and emotional health, and that has brought about wonderful results. Our generation has begun to have the blessing of learning about what really makes us tick, based on what God's Word tells us, instead of what Freud or some other unbeliever tells us, and it has opened some amazing doors. We are learning that when we ask the right questions, from the Bible, we get the right answers.

When we ask the question: "Can a Christian be demon possessed?" we are asking the wrong question based on a wrong understanding of Scripture. The question ought to be: can a demon afflict a Christian? Can a Christian have an ongoing problem with a demon or demons? Can a Christian be "demonized," which is the Biblical term for the situation?

Look on the back page of your handout sheets, let me summarize several of these references for you: Acts 5:1, Ananias and Sapphira were believers, but Satan filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit. Think about the implications of that for us as Christians for a minute.

Acts 8:9, Simon the sorcerer, a believer, baptized, yet his sin is so great that Peter curses him, and tells him that he is in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. Simon begs Peter to pray for him that he might find mercy.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul warns about the possibility of believers having fellowship with demons, and warns that it will provoke the Lord to jealousy against us. Think about that in the context of the Old Testament when god spoke of Israel provoking Him to jealousy with their worship of idols.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul warns against the very real possibility of Satan getting an advantage over us. In chapter 11, he warns about the possibility of believers having their minds corrupted by Satan.

Notice especially 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 7: (the handout says 17, that's a misprint), "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."
Paul had some sort of physical affliction, we think it had something to do with his eyes, but he identifies it as enemy action. A messenger of Satan. What is a messenger of Satan? A demon. God allowed it, and God was using it for his good, but it was still enemy action none the less. Paul, the Apostle Paul, of all people, was being "demonized," just like the woman Jesus healed that had a spirit of affliction for eighteen years.

In Ephesians 6, Paul talks about wrestling with the spiritual enemy, and he gives us a long list of what we need to do about putting on the whole armor of God to withstand him and win. Obviously, if Christians fail to put on their armor, if they go wandering off into the dark like babes in the woods, some of them are going to get in trouble, and sometimes we see it happening, sometimes we have to live with the results of it happening, either in ourselves, or in the lives of those around us..

1 Peter 5:8 tells us that Satan is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Satan might be a toothless lion since the cross, but when Christians listen to his lies, and act on his deceptions, then lives get ruined, families get destroyed, careers get wrecked. They got devoured, didn't they? Saved, going to heaven, but their testimony on earth was a disaster, and their lives and the lives of those around them were miserable.

"Demonized" is a matter of influence. At one end of the spectrum we see Paul having a messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh that seemed to have left his spiritual walk unaffected, his sanctification was unaffected, the problem was strictly physical. At the other end, are unbelievers that can be totally given over to a legion of demons, and a lot of variables in between. Unbelievers are on a different basis than believers, demons can take them over totally. We are not talking about unbelievers in this study right now, that is not part of the question. We are only thinking about Christians right now. Christians are owned or possessed by God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so the whole issue comes down to the amount of influence the enemy can exert on us. The answer is very simple: the enemy will take just as much ground as we will give him.

Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 4:27. Paul is telling us what to do to keep from falling into sin if we get angry, he says don't let anger deteriorate into sin, don't let the sun go down on our wrath, don't give bitterness a chance to get started, and then he says; "Neither give place to the devil." This word "place" here is a very interesting word, it is the Greek word topos, from which we get topographic, and it has the idea of a geographic location that is an opportunity, or an occasion for action. Back during World War II, our fathers would have called it a beach head. Some of the people in here would call it a landing zone, a place to stage an assault.

When we sin, we give the enemy an LZ, a place to make an attack on us, a place to establish a beach head, and begin an invasion. That is one way that the enemy gains access into a Christian's life and begins to have an influence over him or her. It's an important way. Sin is not neutral. Sin is never insignificant. Sin always has consequences. When we sin, we give the enemy a place to land his troops, and begin an assault, begin an invasion.

Let me ask a question: when is the best time to repel an enemy invasion force? At once, right? The sooner the better. What happens if you allow the enemy to land an invading force, and you just ignore them, go on with life as usual, and pretend that they aren't there? They start to dig in and fortify themselves, right?

When we allow sin in our lives to go unchecked and unconfessed, when we allow sin to just go along and do it's thing, what do we allow the enemy to establish in our lives? A spiritual stronghold, that's what Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 10:4. A fortress where the enemy gets entrenched, a fortress right in the middle of our lives where he can disrupt our lives, and the lives of those we live with.

What is a spiritual stronghold like? What would it be like to live with a stronghold? A stronghold is a besetting sin that we seem powerless to overcome. A stronghold is a lie that we have lived with for so long that it seems like the truth. And that is something that I want everyone here to think about; write it down, take it with you, think about it: when you believe a lie, then you act upon it as if it was true.
Think about that: when you believe a lie, then for you, it is the truth, because that lie now determines what you will think, and how you will behave. When you believe a lie, then you act upon it as if it is true.

If a demon can get you believing a lie, then your behavior will change to match the lie. And at that point you have begun to give up your freedom in Christ, and allow yourself to be brought back under bondage. The enemy has established a spiritual stronghold in your life. We will talk more about that in the weeks to come.

How does the enemy use lies? Several ways. Media, public opinion, which is is kind of an impersonal, shotgun attack, but mostly he uses personal attacks on each of us. Mostly he will come and plant thoughts into your head. And when he does, he makes it seem like it is you that is thinking it.

When we hear about people committing violent, evil actions against others, and sometimes those people talk about the voices that they have heard in their heads, in that kind of case it is easy to understand how they have been influenced by demons, but how about when it is closer to home?

Demons don't normally speak thoughts into us like a conversation, they prefer to implant things like it was us thinking it ourselves. When I was a teenager, just started driving, thoughts would frequently come into my head to run the car off the road into a tree. And they were always first person, like it was me thinking it. Now I know it was something else placing those thoughts into my head, and making me think they were my thoughts. That demon wanted to kill me, but he wanted me to think it was me that was thinking it.

Sometimes demons will put thoughts into various people's heads and make them think they were their own thoughts. Last week, when that Peruvian officer called for the immediate shoot down of the missionary aircraft, I'm sure that not all his thoughts were his own, although he probably thought they were.

How about some of the things our parents said to us? Our parents sometimes said things to us that weren't true, but we believed them because we were just little kids, and the enemy has made sure that we remember those lies much better than we remember the truth. Did your parents ever tell you that you were dumb? That you were clumsy? Lazy? Rude? Selfish? That you would never amount to anything? That you were just a pain, a pest, a nuisance? That they hated you? There is an excellent chance that a demon inserted those words into your parent's brain, and your parents spoke what they thought they were thinking. That lie became truth for them. Then that same demon made sure that you heard it real good, and periodically the demon comes around and replays that memory, that video sequence, in living color and stereo sound so that you keep that memory fresh and vivid, all the time. Keeping your personal lie up to date. Because as long as that lie seems to be the truth to you, you will act and behave accordingly.

Satan hates families. What is the possibility that some of the things that you say to your spouse or your kids are not really your own thoughts, but something that the enemy is putting into your head? Or maybe one of your family members does something that is very minor, insignificant, and it just barely annoys you, but somehow this same thought keeps coming back, and coming back and coming back, until that little thing makes you just go off in a rage? Is something putting thoughts into your head, and you just assumed they were your thoughts? Maybe.

The enemy would prefer you to think they are your thoughts, because when you believe a lie, then for you, it becomes the truth, and you will act upon it as if it was the truth. And you will act toward your family on the basis of a lie. The best way for Satan to destroy your family is to get you to destroy it yourself. He can get fighter planes to kill your wife and baby, but that might backfire, and give Jesus too much glory. He would rather get you to destroy your family yourself, in a long series of fights based on lies, and spoil your Christian testimony in the process.

James tells us: "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Maybe the next time you start to say something inappropriate to someone, be it family member or whoever, you might want to stop and make sure that's really what you think, or is someone setting you up, and playing you like a video game?

Of course, either way, the responsibility is yours. That old line about "the devil made me do it" may or may not be a factor, but either way, it's your responsibility to be aware of what goes through your head, and what comes out of your mouth. To have discernment. And if what is going through your head and coming out of your mouth is inappropriate, then you need to ask Jesus to show you what you are doing that is giving the enemy a beach head, a place to come in, and then allowing him to build a strong hold. If you ask Him, He will show you. Then it's up to you to confess it, and let Him cleanse you of it.

We are just getting started on spiritual warfare, next week we will take a look a some of the other ways that the enemy can get a beach head in our lives. In Exodus 20, God says He will visit the iniquity of the fathers onto the children even to the third and fourth generation. What does that mean? Can the actions of the parents open children up to demonization? What about family members? Can the sin of one family member bring spiritual problems down on the whole family? Those are two of the things we will look at next week.

Between now and then, let me encourage each of you to get alone with God and ask the Holy Spirit to be the Great Physician on you this week. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to your mind anything that you need to deal with. That's your homework for this week. Get off by yourself, let down all your defenses, take off all your fig leaves that you might have put on without really meaning to, and ask the Holy Spirit to prod and probe and give you a spiritual checkup on anything in your life that's unhealthy, or that He doesn't like the look of. Ask Him to show you if you are carrying around any lies that you are treating as truth, and hurting yourself and others because of them. And if He shows you something, then you do what He tells you to do about it.

There's a war going on, the victory is certain, but we're all still in it for the duration. And we don't want any casualties. Not us. Not our families. Nobody. We want total victory. And we can have it, if we do what our Captain tells us to do. Let's start getting that victory this week.

A partial list of Spiritual Warfare references from scripture

April 29, 2001

Job 38: 4-7 creation, morning stars, sons of God
1:6, 2:1 sons of God before the Lord
1:12, 2:6 Satan permitted to go only as far as God allows

Matt. 4:24 possessed with demons, diseases, torments, lunatic
8:16 possessed with demons, healed sick
8:28-32 two possessed with demons, demons went into swine
9:32-33 dumb possessed with demon, cast out, spoke
9:34 Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons
10:1 disciples had power over unclean spirits
12:22 possessed of demon, blind, dumb, healed, saw and spoke
12:23-29 Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons through power of devil
12:43-45 evil spirit goes out of man, returns and brings seven others with him
17:14-21 child into fire, disciples unable, Jesus able, prayer & fasting

Mark 1:23-25 man in synagogue, unclean spirit
1:32-34 Jesus cast out demons, told them to be silent, they knew Him
1:39 Jesus casts out demons
3:11-12 unclean spirits recognize Jesus as God, He silences them
3:15 Jesus ordains the twelve to cast out demons
3:22-29 Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by prince of demons
5:1-20 the Gadarene demoniac
6:7, 12 Jesus gives the disciples power over unclean spirits
7:24-30 Syrophenician woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit
9:17-29 dumb spirit that required prayer & fasting
16:9 Mary Magdalene, had seven demons
16:17 all believers cast out demons in Jesus' name

Luke 4:33-35 man in synagogue, unclean spirit
4:41 demons came out
8:2 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Suzanna, others, all healed of evil spirits and infirmities
8:26-39 the Gadarene demoniac
9:1 gave disciples power over all demons
9:38-42 spirit hurt child, disciples unable to prevail, Jesus rebukes spirit, heals child
10:17 the seventy followers rejoice that demons subject to them
10:18-20 Jesus saw Satan's fall, disciples tread serpents and scorpions, power over enemy
11:14-26 dumb spirit, Pharisees blaspheme, strong man, unclean spirit, 7 others
13:11-16 woman with a spirit of infirmity 18 years, healed on sabbath
22:3 Satan entered Judas

Acts 5:1-13 Ananias & Sapphira
5:16 healed those vexed w/unclean spirits
8:7 unclean spirits came out
8:9-24 Simon the sorcerer in the gall of bitterness, bond of iniquity
16:16-18 damsel with a spirit of divination
19:12 handkerchiefs from Paul expelled evil spirits, healed diseases
19:13-16 evil spirit manifesting personality and intelligence
19:19 believers destroy their occult books and paraphernalia

Rom. 8:38 principalities and powers unable to separate us from Christ

1Cor. 5:5 sinning believer delivered to Satan for destruction of flesh, saving of spirit
10:20-21 having fellowship with demons

2Cor. 2:11 Satan gets advantage of us, we need to know his devices (tactics)
4:4 the god of this world (Satan) blinded the minds of unbelievers
10:3-4 spiritual warfare, not carnal, pulling down spiritual strongholds
11:3 believers corrupted by craftiness as Satan corrupted Eve
11:14 Satan transforms himself into an angel of light
12:7 messenger of Satan, Paul's thorn in the flesh

Eph. 1:21 principalities, powers, might, dominion, every name that is named
3:10 principalities & powers in heavenly places
6:12 believers wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places

Col. 1:13 believers delivered from power of darkness into kingdom of God's Son
1:15, 16 created beings include thrones, dominions, principalities, powers
2:15 Christ spoiled principalities, powers
2:18 believers warned not to worship angels

1Tim. 4:1 seducing spirits, doctrines of demons

2Tim. 2:26 snare of the devil, (Satan) taken captive by the devil at his will

Jam. 2:19 demons believe in God
3:15 some wisdom is demoniacal
4:7 resist the devil, (Satan) and he will flee from you
1Pet. 5:8 the devil is a roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour

1Jo. 2:14 we overcome the wicked one by the Word of God dwelling in us
4:1 believe not every spirit, test the spirits
4:3 every spirit that does not confess Jesus as the Christ is spirit of antichrist

Terms: Devil- diabolos, the accuser, Satan.

Devils- daimon, a demon. There is only one devil, but many demons.

Demon possessed- daimonizomai, to be demonized, to act under the control or effect of a demon.

Demoniacal- daimoniodes, proceeding from a demon