THE SEVEN EVIL SPIRITS

1. Spare no ones in the Promised Land

a) 1When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. (Deuteronomy 7:1, 2 NIV)

2. Why did the Lord instruct Israel to destroy all the 7 nations in the Promised Land?

a) Because the 7 nations were infected with 7 types of evil spirits in the Promised Land. The meaning of these nations' names infer the types of spirits they represent:

i) Hittites - meaning: "Sons of terror"

@1. Spirit of subliminal (below the threshold of sensation or consciousness) torments, phobias, terror, depression, deceit. These spirits attack the emotions and are behind nightmares and non-rational phobias such as claustrophobia (fear of enclosed in a small area), agoraphobia (fear of crowded spaces or enclosed public spaces) exaggerated fear of dogs, and fear of being in the dark. Hittite spirits are behind suicides.

ii) Girgashites - meaning: "Clay dwellers"

@1. Spirit of dwelling on earthiness, unbelief in what cannot be seen. People infected with this type of spirit promote a focus on earthly, temporal things that are visible. They are very analytical people who base their life's decisions on the pros and cons that their minds are able to perceive. They don't have the mind of Christ.

@2. 18While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (II Corinthians 4:18 NKJV)

iii) Amorites - meaning: "Mountain people; renowned"

@1. Spirit of obsession with earthly fame and glory, domineering. It is a spirit of self-exaltation. People infected with this spirit always wants their name to be uttered or mentioned. They are fame-seekers of human glory and greatness. They like to dominate and rule over others and tend to establish an imposing and seemingly immovable presence.

iv) Canaanites - meaning: "Lowlands people"

@1. Spirit of addictions, perversions, exaggerated people-pleasing. They are spirits behind addictions and sexual perversions. The spirits of homosexuality and lesbianism, along with all other sexual perversions, are Canaanite spirits. Dancing is, in essence, an act of pleasing others. This is why they have dancers in strip clubs; these dancers, who are women trapped by Canaanite spirits, dance around the client, doing all the moves that the client may find to be "pleasant". Dancing is not wrong in and of itself. In fact, it sometimes is the right thing to do. However, "dancing" that is not led by the Spirit of God is directly associated with Canaanite spirits.

v) Perizzites - Meaning: "Belonging to a village"

@1. Spirit of limited vision, laziness, low self-esteem. People trapped by the Perizzite spirit, therefore, see themselves as people with little potential whose only task in life is to live a quiet biological existence and to stay out of the way of the people who are "really" important in this world. The Perizzite spirit can lead to many generations of spiritual stagnation and poverty.

vi) Hivites - meaning: "Villagers"

@1. Spirit of vision limited to enjoying an earthly inheritance, hedonism (pursuit of pleasure). People infected with this type of spirit tend to have a limited vision of life and love to "live it up". They have acquired some type of inheritance that allows them the "freedom" to live luxuriously, so prevalent in the sons and daughters of wealthy millionaires.

vii) Jebusites - meaning: "Threshers"

@1. Spirit of suppression of spiritual authority in fellow believers, legalism. They are spirits that tread or "stomp" on other people, do not hesitate to put down and humiliate others. They like to make people feel small and try to establish their authority over them. It is a spirit of racism.

b) 7 other spirits more evil than itself

i) 43“When an evil (impure / unclean) spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. 45Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45 NLT)

ii) 24“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.” (Luke 11:24-26 NLT)

iii) An evil spirit can be cast out of a person through the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. When an evil spirit leaves a person, it is extremely important that the void within them is filled with the Holy Spirit, lest the evil spirit return and bring with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself (Luke 11:24-26).

c) The Bible has many names for these spirits:

i) Deaf and dumb spirit (Mark 9:17-29)

ii) Evil spirit (Luke 7:21; Acts 19:12-13)

iii) Familiar (impersonating) spirit (I Samuel 28:7)

iv) Foul (unclean) spirit (Mark 9:25)

v) Lying spirit (II Chronicles 18:20-22)

vi) Perverse (unnatural practices) spirit (Isaiah 19:14; Romans 1:17-32)

vii) Seducing (deceiving) spirit (I Timothy 4:1)

viii) Spirit of an unclean (impure) devil (Luke 4:33)

ix) Spirit of Antichrist (I John 4:3)

x) Spirit of bondage (Romans 8:15)

xi) Spirit of death (I Corinthians 10:10, 15:26)

xii) Spirit of divination (Acts 16:16)

xiii) Spirit of error (I John 4:6)

xiv) Spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7)

xv) Spirit of haughtiness (Proverbs 16:18-19)

xvi) Spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3)

xvii) Spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:11-13)

xviii) Spirit of jealousy (Genesis 4:5-8; Numbers 5:14)

xix) Spirit of slumber (Isaiah 29:10, Romans 11:8)

xx) Spirit of the world (I Corinthians 2:12)

xxi) Spirit of whoredom (Hosea 4:12, 5:4)

xxii) Unclean spirit (Mark 6:7; Luke 11:24-26)

d) Where did unclean spirits come from?

i) An evil spirit (or demon) is not the same as a fallen angel; it is actually the offspring of a fallen angel. When fallen angels took to themselves human wives (Genesis 6:1-2), the children born to them became mighty giants, corrupting the human race and accelerating wickedness to such a degree that God saw it necessary to destroy all flesh with a Great Flood, saving only the righteous man Noah and his family.

ii) When the mortal bodies of these angel-human hybrids died, their immortal spirits roamed the earth seeking human bodies to harass and indwell. The male ones are malevolent (causing harm to others) spirits and the female ones are seductive spirits. These continue to afflict the human race even now. They know the weaknesses and desires of mankind, for they once experienced a human body.

iii) Unlike fallen angels, who can appear in bodily form, unclean spirits must inhabit a body (either human or animal). An example of this is when Jesus cast out the legion of demons from a man and sent them into a herd of pigs (Luke 8:27-35). Both fallen angels and evil spirits serve their master Satan in the kingdom of darkness.

e) Stop sinning or else something even worse may happen

i) 14But afterward Jesus found him (lame man healed at the pool of Bethesda) in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14 NLT)

3. Our dwelling place

a) How about our homes? Are we being infected by these spirits?

b) Do we bring into our homes those things that are not supposed to be brought in?

4. Cursed things

a) The Bible talks about cursed things. That may be one of the reasons why our enemy, the devil, has the right to come into our homes and disturb us.

b) Why? Because we have something that belongs to him and he wants it back.

5. The solution: Burn them!

a) The solution to this is to cleanse our homes and remove those things that are to be removed. The Holy Spirit is the rightful judge of things as we depend on him to tell us what is needed to be removed. Otherwise, we may be doing things that is not supposed to do right in the sight of God and man. Burn them!

i) 5This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. (Deuteronomy 7:5 NIV)

ii) 25The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. 26Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction. (Deuteronomy 7:25, 26 NIV)