There are three types of angels that work under the {Thrones Vertical} — Thrones, Principalities, Fortresses, Dominions — and the {Powers Vertical} — Powers, Rulers, Authorities — as follows:

1. Forces
2. Spirits
3. Messengers

This is where the bulk of demonic activity happens. All demons — from Satan all the way down to the lowest Messenger — can indwell people, but these three ranks of demons do it most frequently. Specifically, most of the demonic impact on the world has been through demonic Forces and Spirits.

To accomplish their plans, both the {Thrones Vertical} and the {Powers Vertical} use Forces who may be the most important group strategically. Forces do not do things on their own initiative; they only do things as a directive by the angels above them. However, having said that, there are always a few demonic Forces who are rogues (scoundrels).

Forces receive directives from the following spirit beings:

• Principalities [who are over nations]
• Fortresses [who are over people groups]
• Dominions [who are over displaced people groups]
• Rulers [who formulate specific ideologies – philosophies – theologies]
• Authorities [who draw up documents to codify worldviews]

For example, demonic Rulers and Authorities need their ideologies – philosophies – theologies and associated documents disseminated, so they give them to demonic Forces. A demonic Force does not develop his own worldview, because he is not a thinker; actually, he does not care to do so because he has raw power. He is a sergeant who just wants to accomplish his mission by using his tactical gifts of:

1. Knowing what needs to be done, and
2. Finding the right person to carry it out.

Forces are so strategic because they are the ones who implement the ideologies – philosophies – theologies that have been formulated by the Rulers and the associated documents developed by the Authorities. A demonic force will:

1. Analyze (break down) the ideology – philosophy – theology.
2. Find a human host (an unbeliever) who is best suited emotionally and morally to take on the thinking and to carry out the documents.
3. Indwell the human host himself, or select a demonic Spirit who can best incorporate the ideology – philosophy – theology – document into that human host.
4. Send a demonic Messenger to the demonic Spirit with a message telling him which person to indwell.

As the name indicates, Forces are extremely powerful. For example, that is from where the legends of vampires (people who drink the blood of their dead victims) come — there really were vampires [particularly in Transylvania, Eastern Europe], because demonic Forces were the ones who created them. A demonic Force can animate a corpse (dead body) by effectively walking, talking, and having fluid motion, and they can keep animating it, even as the flesh is rotting and until there is no flesh left.

Demonic Forces can also appear like gnomes (dwarflike creatures), elves (a kind of small magic-wielding creatures regarded either as powerful and terrifying beings sometimes beneficent and sometimes maleficent to man), fairies (tiny supernatural beings in human form capable of harassing humans), and leprechauns (a race of elves who have hidden treasure). That is from where those legends come; individuals in isolated cultures around the world saw those creatures.

Demonic Forces are very good at indwelling unbelievers. A demonic Force will flawlessly control a person's mouth and movements, slowly turn that person's character and psychological makeup, and skillfully incorporate new thoughts into that person's brain. It is a very gradual process, so the host (the indwelt human being who can only be an unbeliever) and those who are intimately associated with the host (family, friends, neighbors, co-workers) do not even notice the changes, which have occurred, as follows:

1. Initially, the person's thoughts and psychology pervade.
2. Gradually, the demon absorbs that person's thinking until there is a combination of the person's thoughts and psychology and demon's thoughts and psychology.
3. By the end of the full indwelling, the demon's thoughts and psychology pervade.

Though demonic Forces can seamlessly inhabit even a dead body, make him walk around, and scare people; demonic Spirits can do it almost as well. Since demonic Forces are better used in assigning demonic Spirits to different human hosts, generally, that is what they do.

Angelic Forces have as much power as demonic Forces; however, perhaps 90 percent of what angelic Forces do is discourage the ideologies – philosophies – theologies and documents by blocking messages coming down from demonic Powers, Rulers, and Authorities to demonic Forces and Spirits.

Angelic Forces will:

• See the demonic Powers and Rulers developing that thinking (ideology – philosophy – theology), the demonic Authorities documenting it, and the demonic Messenger [with a message] being sent to demonic Forces.
• Block the demonic Messenger coming down from demonic Powers, Rulers, and Authorities to demonic Forces; however, ultimately the Messenger [and the message] will get to the demonic Forces.
• Discern that demonic Forces are selecting the human host, picking out a demonic Spirit to indwell the human host, and sending a demonic Messenger [with the message] down to the demonic Spirit.
• Block the demonic Messenger coming down from the demonic Forces to demonic Spirits.
• [In extreme cases, angelic Forces will…] Let the indwelt host go a long time, and then they will subdue him or kill him — there might be a convenient car wreck!

In significant events, angelic Forces directly conduct the blocking tasks; for example, an angelic Force would have protected Cyrus (an unbeliever), because this King of Persia could not die until he conquered the known world [as foretold in biblical prophecy]. However, more often it is angelic Messengers under the directive of angelic Forces who block demons, because there are not enough angelic Forces, but there are enough angelic Messengers.

Demonic Forces do indwell people, but more often demonic Spirits, under the directive of demonic Forces, are assigned to indwell unbelievers. A demonic Force chooses the unbeliever to be indwelt, and then he chooses the demonic Spirit who best matches up with the human host.

Why do demonic Forces send demonic Spirits to indwell the chosen human host? A Demonic Spirit's greatest strength is the ability to inhabit a person and make that person lifelike. Additionally, demonic Spirits are experts at zapping thoughts of fear, hate, weakness, and bitterness into people; in fact, they do it better than their superiors do.

I think some students of the Bible take the word spirit to mean attitude, though many times it means demonic Spirit. For example, consider the following verses:

The word leading was gratuitously added; the original text says:

Do you see the difference? There is a spirit whose specialty is fear, and the apostle Paul says that believers do not have that anymore. Many unbelievers have an actual spirit of slavery to fear who has been causing them to be afraid. In fact, the fear itself can be outrages and ludicrous, but it is real.

For example, an unbelieving individual can be afraid of fireplaces because that is what the demon tells him. If that individual becomes a believer, then the demon must leave [forever]; however, before he goes he can give a suggestion Every time you see a fireplace, you are still going to be afraid. Or even slyer Every time you see a chandelier, you are going to be afraid. Though the demon is gone and he cannot put any more thoughts of fear into that person, however, every time that person sees a chandelier, he is afraid and he might not even know why. Actually, it is helpful to say You are afraid of that chandelier, because an individual has to acknowledge that fear to SELF since now his behavior is in response to his own flesh, his own thinking.

Do you know about whom Paul is talking? Homosexuals — unbelievers who were told the same lie over and over again. For instance, the lie could be something like Homosexual behavior is not evil – unnatural – degrading – indecent for you; it is right and good for you. Eventually, those unbelievers [on their own free will] have believed that lie — no matter how stupid it sounds and no matter that indeed homosexual behavior is evil.

When these unbelievers take on the lie as their own thinking and act on the lie, they receive a deluding spirit because God says I am not going to have you be looking religious, so I am going to let that deluding spirit come into you:

This means homosexuals have:

• Exchanged the truth of God [the Creator] for the lie of a demonic Spirit [a creature]; they believed the lie even though it is outrageous!

• Crossed the line by receiving a deluding spirit and conducting unnatural sexual behavior (a male lying with a male as one lies with a female, or a female lying with a female as one lies with a male -Leviticus 18:22) — they know their passions are degrading and their bodies are dishonored.

• Rebelled against God deliberately — they know what they are doing is an abomination to God and is in opposition of God.

Homosexuals do not just have normal sins of the flesh and nor do they just change their behaviors. Homosexuals have demonic, deluding spirits indwelling them, which explains why their behavior is so extreme and why they have so much political power even though they make up such a small percent of the population. And when homosexuals claim they just have a different orientation they are lying, because they are different — they are NOT just like heterosexuals [human beings who are attracted to the opposite gender] only they prefer their own gender.

Homosexuals are obsessed with sex [with people of their same gender], they are demon possessed, they have a rabid hatred for the living God and His Word — they have nothing alive in their belief because they do not have God's Spirit and their flesh is dead.

You can present all the medical evidence, all the historical evidence, and all the biblical evidence to homosexuals, but as long as demons are present it is absolutely impossible for homosexuals to change their minds about the demonic lie and for them to comprehend who God is. [See our Romans 1:18-32, Part II study.]

Testimony From A Group Of Former Homosexuals: We recognize that homosexual behavior is not a normal sin of the flesh; it is totally demonic. We were not delivered from homosexuality until we chose to believe Messiah Jesus is our Savior and GOD delivered us from the demonic Spirit of homosexuality. The minute that occurred, we lost all desire for homosexuality. Now, not only are we NOT tempted to have a homosexual experience again, but also the thought of that totally unnatural behavior makes us nauseated.

What Can A Believer Say To Help Homosexuals Overcome? Pray silently in their presence that the demons be subdued in Jesus' name. By praying this over and over, there is an accumulative effect so that every time you pray, the demons are more subdued and they cannot get back to their previous level. [The demons hate that kind of prayer more than the kind of prayer that casts them out in Jesus' name, because if they are cast out, they just say Fine; they go out and they can go right back in.] Once the demon(s) is subdued, there is a small window of opportunity for the individual to believe Messiah Jesus is his Savior, so immediately Holy Spirit will take up permanent residence and the demon(s) will be cast out forever. Otherwise, the deluding spirit will return.

There are demonic spirits whose gift it is to take twisted and distorted worldviews (prevailing philosophies that fit each age) and cast them into unbelievers' minds.

Let us say that a certain unbeliever has an actual spirit of weakness, causing him to be weak; in fact, a weakness in his mind will be very destructive, because can lead to a weakness in other areas of his life. For example, this individual desperately attempts to attain love (so he can feel loved) by means that are apart from God's love (for instance, through sexual promiscuity, extramarital sexual relations, lust, pornography, prostitution), because the demon tells the unbeliever that is what will satisfy his need for love [and God's love will not]. When that individual takes on the demon's lie as his own thinking and he acts on that lie, then he can be negatively affected mentally (clouded thinking, inability to make right decisions), emotionally (anxieties, shame, depression) and physically (underlying medical problems, sexually transmitted diseases, physical endangerment, abusive behavior towards self or others).

We Stress: The aforementioned sins of the flesh cannot be blamed on the spirit of timidity. The behaviors themselves are an act of an individual's free will (choice) to sin.

Demons always appeal to the weaknesses of the flesh to accomplish their mission in a person — to occupy the restlessness of the soul, which is meant to be anchored by God's Spirit — so he will be content [temporarily] with things apart from God's best for him and he will not seek out his real need for a personal relationship with the loving Savior.

This is talking about the spirit of antichrist, or demonic Spirits who actually cast hatred for Messiah Jesus and disbelief for the truth into peoples' minds. Unbelievers choose to believe the lies of the demonic Spirits and to stand adamantly against Messiah Jesus; it is always the case that they accept lies [over truth] about the Redeemer, Messiah Jesus:

The spirit of divination convinces people that it is good to oppose God and to practice the occult (a yielding of oneself to the spirit realm with the intent of taking on a knowledge that is otherwise hidden and controlling life with that diabolical knowledge).

Occult activities include astrology, black magic, crystal balls, fortunetelling, horoscopes, levitation, magic, mediums, necromancy, ouija boards, palm readings, psychic powers, satanism, seances, soothsaying, spiritism, tarot cards, voodoo, and witchcraft.

The demonic Spirits make the occult look like a natural, innocent adventure; actually, it is evil covered up with appealing wrappings. Once people are involved in the occult, they open themselves up to demonism and then fear will hold them back from retreating from those trappings.