The below article has not yet been posted to my website but will sometime
this week.

Phil.


Where Demons Dwell

You Might Be Surprised

By Phil Scovell



     "Run back to the house and get me a couple of aspirin, his
dad instructed.  "I've got a headache.

     The boy ran to the house, but as he did so, he found himself
dreaded being in his own house alone.  Every step became more
difficult as he drew closer.

     Upon arrival, he burst through the door near panic.  After
getting the aspirin, he bolted for the door and crashed out the
door and back outside again.  He was free and running back to the
field.  He was nearly 50 years of age before he learned why he was
frightened as a little boy in his own house.

     This wasn't the only house, and the only time, the man had
been afraid, as a young boy.  We discovered the presents of
demonic personalities in more than one house he lived in but as we
narrowed the focus on what was going on in these memories, it was
clear the demons were not directly related to him personally.  His
mother was perpetually depressed and back in those days, little
was said, or done, about it.  In other words, people suffered in
silence.  Yet, the little boy knew his mom was hurting some how
and he could not understand it nor did he feel he could do
anything for her.  His father was harsh and there was an element
of deep seeded anger in the boy's father that he could not
understand.  He felt it, though, and the demonic influence was
penetrating.  A multiplicity of feelings and thoughts cycled
amorphously through his mind but he was unable to understand the
conflicting thoughts and feelings.

     One day, as we prayed together, one of the farm houses
surfaced as a memory.  They had lived in more than one house on
the property.  He recalled that he was deathly fearful of the
attic in one house.  I personally recalled, not so much as a
child but as an adult man, the experience of such unknown fear, so
I knew the feelings he was trying to describe.  It was pretty
clear, just from my questioning, that the demons were resident to
the house and not directly related to this man as a child growing
up but I never just assume; I pray.  Upon asking the Lord to
expand the memory event so we could see what He sees, and so we
could know what He knows, the man said there were a number of
demons in the attic.  Actually, over a period of prayer sessions,
we discovered demons dwelling throughout the entire house.

     Often the feeling of an evil presence is a sudden flush of
anxiety.  It can also seem as if there has been a sudden change
in just the ambiance of the room.  It may also be just a simple
instant sense of unidentified awareness.  Commonly, people
describe an unexpected chill as if they almost just entered into a
walk-in freezer.  They may even experience goose bumps for no
reason.  Some describe a quick blur, something like a shadow, out
of the corner of their eye.  people describe thoughts, even to the
point of a voice, that suddenly enters their consciousness.
Others say there is a abrupt change in smell.  No, I am not
joking.  Based upon the degree of fear a lying spirit can create
due to the persons level of current deception, I have had some
people tell me that they were physically touched.  It can, and
does, get a lot worse, too.  Add, for example, a Ouija board, a
seance or two, meditation, and a few other occultic and cultic
practices and you'll get the picture pretty quick where demons
dwell.

     I prayed with a lady once who had three things occur
sequentially as we prayed.  Suddenly, she reported, when I asked
the Lord to show us what we needed to see, a migraine headache
instantly came upon her.  I called the demon to attention,
commanded him to stop in Jesus name, and she said, "My head just
stopped hurting."  I asked Jesus again to reveal to her what He
wanted her to know.  "Now," she immediately reported, "I feel ice
cold."  I repeated my command again.  Her body temperature
returned to normal.  A third time I prayed, asking the same thing,
and she said, "Now it sounds like someone is putting their hands
over my ears."  I told the demon to stop it in Jesus name and then
commanded he confess what right he had to be there.  No answer.  I
knew he wouldn't answer because he had been in the prayer sessions
with this lady before and if he spoke, he knew that I would know
why he thought he had the right to remain.  So, instead, I had a
sudden inspiration, a leading of the Holy Spirit, and so I said,
"Lord?  We have a lying spirit here who is trying to hinder what
you are doing in this woman's life.  Jesus?  I want him to stop
what he is doing and right now.  In fact," I suddenly said without
prier thought, "if he puts his hands over her ears again, I want
you to burn his fingers with fire."  The woman began laughing
immediately.  I asked her what was so funny.  She reported that
she saw a small child sized figure running away, yelling and
screaming, because his hands were on fire.  I then ask the Lord to
reveal His truth, the woman heard, and was healed of that
particular problem.

     I walked downstairs into our basement one night as an adult
and I entered the utility room.  My office was in the basement and
my ham radio station was in that office so I had been in the
basement a great deal, even at night, sometimes all night, and
never felt anything wrong at any time.  This night, however, as I
walked alone into the utility room to get something, I forget just
what now, I felt a sudden fear, or anxiety, but immediately
emotionally shrugged it off as if I were brushing an insect off my
arm.  Besides, at that time, I didn't believe that demons could
bother Christians.  Although I am blind, I knew the lights were
not on in the basement but that, in and of itself, should have
made no difference.

     As I entered the darkened room, the air itself felt thick and
almost tangible.  Then, without warning, I felt as if someone was
behind me and placing their hand on my shoulder.  I shivered as if
winter just blew in the door.  Frankly, just telling about it gave
me goose bumps as I typed.  I snickered out loud to demonstrate to
myself, and to whatever it was that was there, that I wasn't
afraid.  The truth was, I, indeed, was.  When I left the basement
and headed upstairs, the feeling left.  I just figured it was my
hyperactive Christian imagination.  I learned many years later,
while praying with my son, it wasn't.  In fact, that house we
rented had at least one resident demonic presence, and likely more
than one.  Demons are like mice.  Where there is one, there are a
lot more you haven't seen.  They know how to hide so you better
learn, if you are going to pray with people, how to reply upon the
Lord to find them.

     The demonic persona can be much more pronounced than any of
these descriptions.  In fact, I have previously written about one
experience I had where a demon pretended to be one of our dogs.  I
awakened in the middle of the night and after using the bathroom,
I went to the kitchen to get a drink.  I heard, on the hardwood
floor, the clicking of the toenails and knew one of our dogs had
heard me and gotten up to follow me into the kitchen thinking
he'd have a late night snack.  After getting my drink of water, I
called to him, and not knowing which dog it was, we have several,
I slapped my leg a couple of times to get him to come to me.  That
always gets their attention because they think I'm going to give
them some food.  He stayed over by the refrigerator and refused to
come.  I was too sleepy to bother trying to catch him and figuring
he'd follow me back to the bedroom anyhow, I walked out of the
kitchen.  I never heard him follow.  the next morning, I asked my
wife which dog she had forgotten to hook up to one of the tie down
leashes.  She said she had hooked them all up that night.  We do
this so they can, if they wish, get into bed, but they can't roam
around the house at night.  I laughed when she told me and
explained to her what had happened that night.  The demon, by the
way, playing the role of a dog, didn't speak or put his feelings
on me, because he couldn't.  Why?  If he had done some, he knew
that I would instantly have recognized he was a demon and the name
of the game, when it comes to demonic influence, is attempting to
gain a handhold so he can gain a foothold, and eventually a
stronghold.  I don't play their twisted demonic games any longer
but that doesn't stop them from trying.  By the way, as I
attempted getting, what I thought was a dog, to come to me, I felt
the Lord identifying what it really was.  This was another reason
why I did not attempt to walk over, pick up the dog, and carry him
back to bed with me; I knew it wasn't a dog I heard.

     I was praying with a lady once that came to a place of
healing in her life but was suddenly blocked.  As we prayed around
this memory, Jesus revealed the problem.  There were demons
resident in this hospital room.  Speaking to the Lord Jesus, I
asked if they had a right to be in this lady's memory of this
event.  They said, "We have always been hear."  That was likely
true, however, they had to admit, after further prayer, that they
had no right in this woman's life other than to frighten her.
Once the lies were exposed in the memory, Jesus cleansed the
memory of the demon presence as we prayed and replaced the demonic
personages with beautiful blooming flowers.  The woman could even
smell them.  And you thought God didn't have a sense of humor.
I've seen Him do a lot funnier things with demons.  He loves
showing them whose boss and I love watching Him do it, too.

     As I prayed with the man who grew up on a farm, we found, as
I mentioned, demons were everywhere but mostly inside the houses
on the property.  Many prayer sessions revealed the demonic
presence of lying spirits and we prayed for the Lord's truth to be
revealed in every case.

     One prayer session was a little different.  As we prayed, one
of the demons, speaking into the thoughts of the man with whom I
prayed, said "We live here."  Well, after several prayer sessions
and all the demons we found, that was a given but something
occurred to me.  By that I mean, something was spoken into my
thoughts by the Holy Spirit and that was, "These demons think they
own the land."  That made sense but I said nothing of this to the
man at all.  We continued praying in and around this, and other
memories.  Finally, at one point, the man said, "They say they own
this land where our farm is."  I nearly laughed out loud.  I
explained to him they probably did believe exactly that due to
their evil assignment.  Regardless, I knew what they said was a
lie.  We prayed, sent the lying spirits away, and after each
prayer session, the man experienced more and more peace until all
the houses he had lived in were clear and free of any demonic
influence as far as he and his memories were concerned.  He told
me that this all made sense now because, when they first moved on
to the farm land, they found hundreds of empty beer bottles and
such paraphernalia on the grounds around the house.  As a child,
he often wondered what type of people must have lived there
before his family moved in.  By the way, you might be wondering
what the lie was?  The lie was that they lived there and owned the
land.  Fat chance.  They own nothing because Jesus does and Jesus
only shares His things with us; demons don't count.  In other
words, they have no glory of their own.  Too bad; so sad and who
cares.

     Several months later, he went back on a vacation to see his
dad on the farm.  All the houses no longer frightened him.  Even
walking around the farm land, he felt nothing but spiritual
tranquility.

     My daughter-in-law grew up in a haunted house as a teenager,
that is, there was a resident demon who thought he had the right
to live there.  As she and my son were building the house, they
lived in our basement.  I was going through a desperate time of
anxiety and panic attacks, as well as hearing voices, at the time.
You can read about it in my personal testimony called, "I Flew
Kites With Jesus," and learn more about that period of my life.
In short, I was under a demonic attack and in those days, I didn't
know what to do about it.  My daughter-in-law told me that when
she let her dogs out late at night, she always felt as if somebody
was walking behind her.  One night, she turned around quickly, and
saw a shadowy figure that disappeared in a split second.  After we
had several friends from the church we were attending come over,
some who knew how to conduct spiritual warfare, my daughter-in-law
reported she had no more such feelings but felt safe instead.

     I have a son who also reported a similar experience and
reported the dark figure standing in his room was not only quite
distinct, but it stayed in place for a long time as he tried to
figure out what it was he was seeing.  He literally thought it was
a person in the darkened room.  He has multiple black belts in
Karate and after speaking to the figure, he initiated a kick at
the figure and it vaporized before his foot could make contact.
He was so shaken by this event, he walked through the basement
into the apartment where my daughter and her husband were living
at the time to tell them what just happened.  It was then he
realized it had been a real demon and why the demon was there.  My
daughter sneaked a girlfriend into the house to spend the night
without our permission.  They were both drug users at the time and
living far outside God's protection.

     A relative grew up in a haunted house.  He told me several
experiences he had as a boy.  One night they were coming home late
as a family.  They had turned out all the lights to save on
electricity.  As they drove up to the house, they saw that a light
had been left on in one of the upper bedrooms.  The father said,
"Who left the light on?  I thought we turned them all off when
leaving."  Everybody in the car said all the lights had been out
when they left.  As they drove up to the house, that light went
out.

     He told me that he was awakened one night because something
was trying to pull him bodily out of his bed.  There was nothing
there.  Another night, and this happened often, he said, there
would suddenly be a sharp bang as if someone had taken their hand
and slapped a desk or table top.  Since no one was expecting it,
everybody would jump.

     I can hear somebody saying, "Isn't something like this a
poltergeist?"

     "You mean, a ghost?"

     "Yeh.  Isn't this a ghost living in a house?"

     "No, silly.  They are demons.  If you think they are ghost,
whatever you do, don't start praying with people.  You may be
unpleasantly surprised."

A man I know who has done a great deal of counseling relating to
these forms of demon intrusion, told me that one evening, his son
came running upstairs.  He had been frightened to the point of
panic.  As they helped him calm down, he explained that he was
using the family computer and as he was looking at the screen,
suddenly a devil's head appeared and filled the entire screen.

     This same man told me that at one period of time his ministry
began to dwindle.  Money became tight and after awhile, he finally
realized that perhaps he should be praying about it just in case.
The Holy Spirit told him that there was something, a physical
object, causing the problem.  The next day he found a heavy metal
rock tape in his car.  He asked his two boys about it.  One of
them said a boy at the public school they attended gave him the
tape to try out.  My friend instructed his son to return it that
day.  After a few days and experiencing no change in his ministry,
but rather things continued downward, he asked his son if he had
returned the tape.  His son said he forgot.  The tape was returned
the next day.  My counselor friend said, that day, that very day,
his phone began to ring after several weeks of silence.  The very
first call was a lady who felt burden to give his ministry
several hundred dollars.  His phone continued to ring on a regular
bases until he was booked for days in advance.

     Why do such things occur to some and not to others?  Why do
some experience deep dark depression, anxiety attacks, suffer from
multiple personalities, hear voices, and have other such
experiences that hinder their life?  Good question and one I
considered many times before I felt there was a noticeable pattern
in the prayer sessions I witnessed as an intercessor.  I believe
the answer is based upon a person's individual spiritual calling
of ministry to the Body of Christ.  I am not referring to a full
time ministry position in a church but a station of calling within
the Body of Christ itself.  It is my opinion that we are the plan
God has for this world and for His own people.  If you read 1
Corinthians 12, it is clear the Body of Christ is a complete unit
and Jesus is the head, or chief cornerstone, and that unless we
function as one, we will not experience the totality of God's
fullness.

"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God,"
Ephesians 5:21).

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can
do nothing," (John 15:5).

     "Do I hunt for demons in prayer sessions?"  I don't need to.
If they are there, they will manifest but only if they are
exposed.  Most try and hide and especially if they get the idea
that the intercessor, doing the praying, knows his authority in
Christ.  As I said, I don't need to look for demons because I look
for lies.  Often times I am unable to even recognize the lies but
Jesus has no trouble revealing them at all.  Behind ever lie there
is a demon, or at the very least, confusion.  Even if there is
confusion present, the Enemy will attempt to take advantage of the
tender spot in our life.  So the key isn't hunting down demon, it
is looking for lies.  Where there is guilt, fear, anxiety, panic,
suicidal thoughts, condemnation, shame, sometimes even
embarrassment, anger, rage, bitterness, doubt, a blockage,
emptiness, heaviness, grief, inferiority, insignificance, abuse,
unconfessed sin, intimidation, control, threatenings,
manipulation, domination, a sense of loss, loneliness, prolonged
sadness, arrogance, egotism, pride, indifference, chronic
frustration, perfectionism, a feeling of being over powered, the
deep seeded feeling of, "If people really knew me, they wouldn't
like me," ostracism, rejection, panic, circular thinking, habitual
feelings of brokenness, oppression, embedded accusations, or just
deep emotional pain of any type, there is most likely a lie behind
the negative feeling and if there is a lie, the Enemy is
responsible.  This is why the Bible tells us to "take every
thought captive" in 2 Corinthians 10:5.

     "Does this mean a demon is inside of me?  No.  If you are a
Christian, the answer is definitely no.  If you are not a
Christian, it is up for grabs but I have a tendency not to believe
even that is possible.  "Why?"  Well, we only have one Biblical
record of a man being demon possessed and that was Judas who
betrayed Jesus.  The Bible said that after Satan entered into him,
he went out and betrayed Christ.  (See John 13:27).  Yes, for you
Bible students, there are several other places in the New
Testament which mention people were demon possessed, or possessed
of demons, in the King James Translation but the Greek word for
"possessed" of demons means demonized.  That is a whole lot
different than Satan, or a demon, enter into a person.  "So what
is going on with these so-called demon possessed people then?"
Manipulation, control, and domination of their minds.  Yes, this
means even to the point of bodily control at times; plenty of
Biblical records recording such events.  Jesus healed all of them
that came to him, however, so you tell me what was going on.
Besides, does it make a difference?  If so, what is that
difference?  Explain please.  While you are thinking about it,
let's continue.

     How much do you work at being a Christian?  That's a fair
question, I think, because I was raised that once you were born
again, you had to work at being a good Christian.  This made God
happy, of course, and you never wanted to get on His bad side so
living a holy life, normally a list of things you didn't do as a
Christian and if you ran out of things not to do, going to movies,
smoking, cussing, chewing and so on, then you could always make a
list of good things you did.  So any time, therefore, you felt
discouragement, guilt, unhappy, down, blue, red or black, or
sinful, you could mentally whip out your list, either list or both
worked best, and run through everything.  If you still felt
spiritually bad for some reason, reading your Bible for several
hours should help and if that didn't work, going to church surely
would.  Well, sometimes it didn't.  In fact, if you were raised in
a church like I was, sometimes you felt worse after going to
church than before you went.  This was, of course, a good thing,
spiritually speaking, we were taught, because Jesus chastised you
because he loved you and if He did not chastise, or punish you,
well, then, you just weren't a Christian.  We were told that
Hebrews 12:5-11 taught this.  It teaches no such thing, of course,
but admittedly it does make for mighty good, controlling,
manipulating, preaching and generally guilt worked when nothing
else did.  So, pastors?  If you want to score points, preach on
the chastisement of the Lord as a proof of true salvation and it
will be a hit.  You might throw in tithing, too, because if you
yell loud enough about it, the offerings will go up so that's
always a winner.  Besides, anybody knows that if you give more,
you are definitely a better Christian and God is happier, too.  Of
course, we all realize God doesn't need our money but why not
throw some His way once and awhile.  Surely He will notice.  Other
than that, I'm sure, if you are a creative Christian, you will
think of many things to please God.  I even got rid of my TV once
for 3 years and refused to allow my wife to wear slacks during
that time.  I never felt more spiritual and God only knows why I
wouldn't let my wife wear slacks, she wore dresses and skirts
however, and what that all has to do with television, I'll never
know, but I was sure God saw my heart and blessed me for it.  The
biggest thing, of course, was staying away from the devil.  I
didn't want anything to do with him in the first place so staying
away from him, I figured, was the easy part.  Wrong!  One of my
Bible college professors even said once, "If you leave the Devil
alone, he'll leave you alone."  I believed it, too.  I found out
just how wrong that was years later and after a lot of unnecessary
suffering, too.  Thanks for nothing prof.

     "So where do we go from here?"  Good question.  Why don't we
just let Jesus do all the heavy lifting for us?  After all, that's
exactly what we did to get saved.  I mean, we couldn't save
ourselves.  Right?  We had to call upon His name to be born again
but other than that, we did nothing.  Right?  You bet!  So why are
we still trying to figure out our own salvation after all this
time, I wonder?  Is it possible, just possible, we might be
deceived into believing lies about ourselves?  Oh, things like,
"You aren't doing enough.  You aren't spiritual enough.  You don't
pray enough.  You don't read the Bible enough.  You don't fast
enough.  You don't go to church enough.  You have to much sex with
your wife and what you do when making love with your wife is
sinful anyway.  It is because you have lust in your heart.  Nobody
likes you anyway.  Those sins you committed when younger and those
last week?  No Christian would be caught dead even thinking such
things.  You know what Jesus said; if you've lusted in your heart,
it is the same thing as really committing adultery in the first
place.  What about that lie you told.  You weren't sick when you
called in sick and told your boss.  Liars don't, can't, go to
Heaven.  That means you.  Besides, you gave up and God won't let
anybody into Heaven who gave up.  You aren't qualified, dignified,
rectified, glorified, deified, humblized, eternalized, justified,
minimized, (He must increase but I must decrease, John 3:30),
purified, or mummified."  That last one I threw in because it
rhymed but now that I think about it, it fits because you could
apply it to dying to self and if you haven't done that, well,
then, who knows what you are; certainly not Christian.  Need I
continue or have you figured out the devil still lies even if you
are a born again Christian?  If you don't think so, ask Adam and
Eve, the two smartest people who ever lived, and they'll tell you
what cow ate the cabbage.  I have no idea what that conundrum
means but a friend of mine says it all the time and it seems to
fit just about anything so I found a chance to use it here and
did.

     "So, what does all this have to do with demonic influence,
oppression, and possession?  We are told in Scripture not to give
place to the devil, (See Ephesians 4:27).  If you are attempting
to be a good Christian, you are not only working too hard but if
you keep it up, you'll eventually give the Enemy way too much room
in which to operate.  When that happens, you begin to believes
lies.  Oh, they don't sound like lies in your thoughts because
they often feel true.  Things such as, "You aren't a good
Christian.  If people knew who you really were, they wouldn't like
you.  You deserve that guilt you have felt for 35 years because
what you did, although forgiven, must be paid for and you have to
pay for it."  I trust you see these are really lies regardless of
how much they may feel like the truth.  The bottom line is, learn
the difference between the voice of the Lord and that of a
stranger, the Enemy, (See John 10:4.  As I said, let Jesus do all
the heavy lifting.  He likes it anyway.  All you have to do is
walk.  That's a pretty natural thing to do, wouldn't you say?  As
you are walking through life, keep your ears open for the voice of
the Lord and you will discover just how natural it becomes as you
learn how to be God aware.


It Sounds Like God To Me.
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com