1 lester sumrall three habitations of devils

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are takenfrom the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJ) are from the New KingJames Version, ©1979, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used bypermission.

THREE HABITATIONS OF DEVILS

ISBN: 0-88368-293-1Printed in the United States of AmericaCopyright © 1989 by Lester Sumrall Evangelistic Association

Whitaker House580 Pittsburgh StreetSpringdale, PA 15144

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be usedwithout permission of the publisher, with the exception ofbrief excerpts in magazine articles, reviews, etc.

CONTENTSChapter 1. Is There a Real Devil?................................ 7Chapter 2. Nations and Devils................................... 16Chapter 3. Cities and Devils....................................... 31Chapter 4. Humans, Animals, and Devils.................. 43Chapter 5. The Challenge to Action........................... 52

Chapter 1

IS THERE AREAL DEVIL?

And the great dragon was cast out, that oldserpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which

deceiveth the whole world. he was cast out intothe earth, and his angels were cast out with him

(Revelation 12:9).

n these pages, I shall not discuss orseek to prove the existence of the devil.

The Bible offers immeasurable evidenceof the devil's personality and his activity inthe affairs of men.

IDuring the ministry of Jesus of

Nazareth on this earth, He referred toSatan at least 25 times, and the Biblerefers to him 114 times. Surely Christwas not dealing in imagination, nor

8 The Three Habitations of Devils

trading in fairy tales. Jesus wasunmasking the arch-deceiver of allmankind, that men might know the truthand be free from the devil's power.

The Bible, from Genesis throughRevelation, is very careful to explain thepower and the works of the devil.Satan's existence is taught in seven OldTestament books: Genesis, 1Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekieland Zechariah. Every New Testamentwriter speaks of his existence, and 29passages in the gospels refer to Satan.

The Devil Works Through NatureIn the book of Job, known as the

oldest book in the world, we observe thedevil's power in several strangemanifestations. In Chapter 1, Satanwent forth from the presence of Godand caused lightning to destroy Job'sherds and flocks for the expresspurpose of destroying his faith andconfidence in God. When this failed, hesought God's further permission, anddirected a dreadful wind, like a tornadoor hurricane, to sweep down on Job'schildren and kill them, in anotherattempt to break Job's faith in God. Thedevil used nature and its power against

Is There a Real Devil? 9

Job.

The Devil Is a TempterIn the New Testament it is revealed

that the devil has power to offerkingship, rulership and even dictatorshipto those who will bow down to him andobey him.

In Luke 4:3-4, Satan offered Jesusthe rulership of all nations on earth andtheir riches if Jesus would but bow downto him. In this great confrontation, whichis known as the "Temptation of Christ,"the Lord Jesus answered Satan bysaying: "It is written, that man shall notlive by bread alone, but by every word ofGod."

Further tempting Christ's faith, inverses 5 through 8, `: . the devil, takinghim up into an high mountain, shewedunto him all the kingdoms of the world ina moment of time. And the devil saidunto him, All this power will I give thee,and the glory of them: for that isdelivered unto me; and to whomsoever Iwill I give it. If thou therefore wilt worshipme, all shall be thine. And Jesusanswered and said unto him, Get theebehind me, Satan: for it is written, Thoushalt worship the Lord thy God, and him


only shalt thou serve."It is truly amazing that Jesus did not

call the devil a liar when he said that allthe nations were his and he would givethe authority and the power of thesenations to whomsoever he would.

This is a tremendous revelation of thespirit world. It is a divine exposure ofhow a man like Adolf Hitler of Germanyand Joseph Stalin of Russia came todespotic power. It is only when we knowsuch truth that we are capable ofunderstanding and coping with worldconditions in these last days.

From this Bible passage, it is evidentthat the devil does possess power torule human society in certain areas.

In this booklet, I will describe theseareas.

The Prince of the Power of the AirIn Ephesians 2:2, the devil is

designated as "the Prince of the powerof the air." Prince speaks of the exaltedposition of his rulership. "Air" speaks ofthe sphere of his rulership, whichprobably is the area above and aroundthe earth. Because Satan is a spirit, hecan move through space with incrediblespeed, as can other spirits also.


A Deceiver as "The Angel of Light"In 2 Corinthians 11:14, the devil is

called an "angel of light" This has to dowith his deception of mankind. Forexample, he appeared to Eve in theGarden of Eden as a very kind andwonderful creature. It wasn't until afterEve had sinned and fallen from God'sgrace that she discovered ". . .theserpent beguiled me, and I did eat"(Genesis 3:13).

The "Prince of this World"In John 12:31; 14:30 and 16:11,

Satan is described as "the prince of thisworld." This means the unregeneratedworld: it means the world which hasfallen from grace, the world that followshim to perdition.

"The Prince of Darkness"In Ephesians 6:12, Satan is

described as the "prince of darkness."This reveals his dark nature, hiscomplete disregard for light andholiness. All of his works are dark, forhe is indeed the prince of all darkness.

"The God of this World"In 2 Corinthians 4:4, he is called the


"god of this world" This means that menand women worship him. In heathencountries, the people worship a spiritwhich they do not know. We know that itis Satan, for he is the god of paganpeople. They have many strangemanifestations in their worship of idols,but ultimately it is the devil they serve.

It is significant that the designation ofprince is a name in the Bible given todeity, as to Jehovah in Daniel 8:11.Prince is a designation given to Christ inIsaiah 9:6, Acts 3:15 and Revelation1:5. It is a name given to the chiefpriests of the Temple in Isaiah 43:28.Prince is a name given to noblemen andkings in Isaiah 10:8 and Numbers 17:6.

This reveals the strength, power andposition the devil possesses throughhaving been an archangel in heaven.

God solemnly warns us in 1Corinthians 10:20 about worshipingdevils: ". . .the sacrifices of pagans areoffered to demons, not to God, and I donot want you to be participants withdemons" (NIV).

God refuses to permit His followers tohave fellowship with the devil or withany of his demons or works.


A Warning:Beware of Satan's Snares

The warning is to all soldiers of JesusChrist. There is a dreadful truth writtenby Paul to young Timothy, his son in thefaith, found in 2 Timothy 2:26, ". . andthat they may come to their senses andescape the snare of the devil, havingbeen taken captive by him to do his will"(NKJ). There is a sense of strongcaution here. Paul refers to ". . ."thesnare of the devil."

As you know, a snare is a trap, acontraption you set for an animal. Theanimal thinks it is finding food to eat,and going into the trap or snare, it iscaught. This is the manner in which thedevil deceives the whole world-theheathen and even Christians-by asnare. He fools them into believing theywill have pleasure, but they do not getpleasure. He fools them into believing ifthey follow him, everything will be allright, but it isn't all right. The Scripturefurther says that he takes them captiveto do his will. That is a dreadfulstatement, that the devil willfully anddeliberately sets snares to capturehuman beings.


How glad I am to know the LordJesus Christ who is able to set mankindfree from the devil's power! I hope thatis your experience, but if not, this bookwill warn you; it will make you alert andcautious so you will not become anunsuspecting victim caught in Satan'ssnares.

In the chapter ahead, I will show youhow the devil has snared empires andnations; how it is possible for an entirenation to fall under the devil's dominionand give itself over to the worship ofdevils, becoming a devil-infestedcountry.

After that, I will show you how Satancan take a city-how a city becomes ahabitation of devils. I will giveillustrations of ancient cities, as well asmodern ones, that have giventhemselves over to satanic worship.Satan worship in the United States isalmost beyond comprehension... we findit so abhorrent to consider child andanimal sacrifice, drinking of animal andhuman blood, ritual sacrifices and otherevils that have such a stranglehold onour society.

And then I will show you how humansgive themselves over to the devil that he


might possess them. Demon spirits wishto reside in living organisms. Historyreports multitudes of incidents wheredemon power controlled human beings.

Last of all, I will record the greatchallenge of this age and hour-to defeatand destroy all the works of the devil.

Chapter 2

NATIONS ANDDEVILS

... Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and isbecome the habitation of devils, and the hold of

every foul spirit. . .(Revelation 18:2).

s it an historic fact that devils influence,dominate and even inhabit empires and

nations?I

Yes, the Bible establishes this. God,speaking through His prophet Isaiah,related the fall of Lucifer with thesewords:

"How are you fallen fromHeaven O light-bringer and day-star, son of the morning! How youare cut down to the ground, you

Nations and Devils 17

who weakened and laid prostratethe nations [O blasphemous,satanic king of Babylon!].

"And you said in your heart, Iwill ascend to Heaven; I will exaltmy throne above the stars ofGod; I will sit upon the mount ofassembly in the uttermost north; Iwill ascend above the heights ofthe clouds, I will make myself likethe Most High.

"Yet you shall be brought downto Sheol [Hades], to the inmostrecesses of the pit [the region ofthe dead].

"Those who see you will gazeat you and consider you, saying,Is this the man who made theearth tremble, who shookkingdoms?"(Isaiah 14:12-16 AMP).In this Scripture, God dramatically

reveals how Lucifer, known as a light-bringer and day-star, a son of themorning, was a fallen angel originallyhaving his habitation in heaven itself. Ata time before man dwelt on this earth,Lucifer was one of the greatest angelsin heaven. God says this angel causeda rebellion in heaven and was cast out.


Five Fatal and Foolish "I Wills"Powerful and perverted, Lucifer

rebelled against God and becameknown as Satan and the devil.

Notice his five fatal and foolish "IWills":1. I will ascend into heaven...2. I will exalt my throne above the stars

of God...3. I will sit upon the mount of

assembly...4. I will ascend above the heights of the

clouds. . .5. I will be like the Most High...

Lucifer was great enough to have hisown throne in heaven. He wished toexalt his throne above others.

Satan desired to be like Jehovah, thecreator. His chief ambition was toreplace God in heaven. In order to dothis, he initiated a rebellion against God,and God was obligated to cast him outof heaven.

From that time, Satan set out todestroy all of God's government andorder. During the history of man on theearth, he has done this by weakeningnations through wars, pestilence andfamine.


You will notice that God does notblame man for the downfall of nations,but points his finger directly at Lucifer.God spoke and said, `: . .Is this the manwho made the earth to tremble...?"(Isaiah 14:16 NKJ).

You may ask, "How can Satan makethe earth tremble?"

An example of this is that he got intothe heart of Napoleon and caused himto bring war upon the entire Europeancontinent. Through Napoleon, he madethe earth to tremble. Human historianssaw Napoleon destroying Europe withhis bloodthirsty armies. But God sawLucifer energizing and inspiringNapoleon to make the earth tremble.

This would also be true of men likeAlexander the Great. Humans can seeonly his natural form, but God sees thedriving force inside that made himdesire to kill and destroy to exalthimself. That Alexander was underdemon power is also revealed by theway he died in a drunken orgy at theage of thirty-three.

in more modern times, we saw thesame influence in men like Hitler andMussolini who made boastfulstatements of how they would dominate


the world. It is said of Mussolini that hedeclared, "I would shake hands with thedevil if he would help me get the desireof my heart."

Much of our modern world trembledbefore Mussolini's exaggeratedstatements. But they did not realize thatMussolini had already shaken handswith the devil, and that his heart was fullof his evil power, seeking to destroy thisearth.

Satan Ruler of a Kingdom of EvilGod truly said of Lucifer that he was

the one who made the world awilderness and destroyed the citiesthereof, and did not open the house ofthe prisoners so they could go free.

God illustrates this for us in the bookof Daniel:

"And he said to me, `O Daniel,man greatly beloved, understandthe words that I speak to you, andstand upright, for I have nowbeen sent to you' 'While he wasspeaking this word to me, I stoodtrembling.

"Then he said to me, 'Do notfear, Daniel, for from the first daythat you set your heart to


understand, and to humbleyourself before your God, yourwords were heard; and I havecome because of your words.

`But the prince of the kingdomof Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael,one of the chief princes, came tohelp me, for I had been left alonethere with the kings of Persia.

`Now I have come to make youunderstand what will happen toyour people in the latter days, forthe vision refers to many days yetto come:

"When he had spoken suchwords to me, I turned my facetoward the ground and becamespeechless.

"And suddenly, one having thelikeness of the sons of mentouched my lips; then I openedmy mouth and spoke, saying tohim who stood before me, 'Mylord, because of the vision mysorrows have overwhelmed me,and I have retained no strength.

"For how can this servant ofmy lord talk with you, my lord? Asfor me, no strength remains in me


now, nor is any breath left in me""Then again, the one having

the likeness of a man touched meand strengthened me.

"And he said, 'O man greatlybeloved, fear not! Peace be toyou; be strong, yes, be strong!'So when he spoke to me I wasstrengthened, and said, `Let mylord speak, for you havestrengthened me.

"Then he said, ` Do you knowwhy I have come to you? Andnow I must return to fight with theprince of Persia; and when I havegone forth, indeed the prince ofGreece will come.

"But I will tell you what is notedin the Scripture of Truth. (No oneupholds me against these, exceptMichael your prince. " (Daniel10:11-21 NKJ)We must accept God's Word as

either error or truth. I accept the Bible aswholly and absolutely true. Here is atremendous realm of spiritual warfarewith which most of the people of ourgeneration are not acquainted. God hasrevealed something our history booksdare not explain.


Who was this prince of Persia inDaniel 10? He most certainly was not aman or king fighting a global battle.Gabriel, an archangel, was speaking(9:21). He was describing forces andpowers of the spiritual world so greatthat he was obliged to appeal forreinforcements. He sent back to heavenfor Michael, a second archangel, tocome to help him gain the victory.

When Daniel knelt to pray for thesalvation of his people, it made the devilangry. A spiritual struggle was incited,which became so violent, two arch-angels were required to bringdeliverance to Daniel. Hell's mightiestangels were thrown against this man ofprayer.

The references here to the "prince ofthe kingdom of Persia" and the "princeof Greece" certainly were not to mortalmen. They must have referred to theruling princes of darkness over thoselands.

The Bible clearly states that Babylonwas controlled by unseen powers of eviland was finally judged. We read of thisin Isaiah 13:19-22.

"And Babylon, the glory ofkingdoms, the beauty of the


Chaldeans' pride, shall be asSodom and Gomorrah when Godoverthrew them. Babylon shallnever be inhabited or dwelt infrom generation to generation;neither shall the Arab pitch histent there, nor shall theshepherds make their sheepfoldsthere. But wild beasts of thedesert will lie down there, and thepeoples' houses will be full ofdolefully howling creatures; andostriches shall dwell there, andwild goats [like demons] willdance there.

"And wolves and howlingcreatures will cry and answer inthe deserted castles, and jackalsin the pleasant palaces. AndBabylon's time is nearly come,and its days will not beprolonged:"We understand that the world's

witchcraft was born in Babylon,cultivated and distributed from there todestroy the whole world by the worshipof Lucifer.

Modern Nations and DevilsI have visited countries that made me


feel very sad and depressed. One suchcountry is Indonesia. I preached throughthat country from one end to the otherfor a number of months. I am sincerewhen I say I have never seen as muchdemon power as I did there. I havenever seen so many witch doctors inany country. We would be riding a busand a witch doctor would get on. Hewould be esteemed by the people. Thepassengers would give him gifts. Whenthe bus stopped, he would get off to talkand bless a few people, delaying thebus until he got back on. One couldobserve an unearthly strangeness aboutthese witch doctors. But the peopleadored them, for they were under theirdemon power.

There are countries and nations ruledby certain princes of darkness from hell.When a missionary goes to a demon-dominated country to work for Christ, hemust combat the evil dignitaries whorule that land. The spiritual battle is veryreal. If the missionary does not fightsatanic power, it is impossible to have agreat harvest of souls.

While ministering in Singapore, Ilearned that heathen worshipers theremust pay respect to a powerful dignitary


who is the spiritual ruler of the areabefore they can worship any other gods.The heathen worshipers go to one of histemples and pray before daring toworship in any other place. This is stillpracticed today.

Jesus said that you cannot go into astrong man's house and take a preyunless you bind the strong man first. AChristian cannot go into a heathencountry and take thousands of soulsfrom the devil without first battling thedemonic prince of that region.

The great pioneer missionaries, suchas Adoniram Judson and HudsonTaylor, realized this truth and battled theforces of darkness to bring God's light tonations.

All heathen countries are under thepower of the devil. There are differentcategories of spirits, possessing varyingdegrees of power and authority. God'smen must win the victory over theseforces before Christ can havepredominance in a country.

Ephesians 6:11-12 speaks of thenecessity to put on the whole armor ofGod so that we may be able to standagainst the wiles of the devil. Why?Because this is warfare. Spiritual


warfare!"For we do not wrestle against

flesh and blood, but againstprincipalities, against powers,against the rulers of the darknessof this age, against spiritual hostsof wickedness in the heavenlyplaces." (Ephesians 6:12 NKJ).

A Worldwide Kingdom of DarknessA colossal truth is that human history

has been marked by ruthless leaders,bloodthirsty tyrants and demon-possessed rulers, who turned entirenations over to the devil. This is the onlyrational explanation for such things asAdolf Hitler's execution of six millionJews. This is the only explanation forCommunist China's leaders executingmore than 30 million of their own peoplein order to establish Communism.

There are lands like Tibet, isolatedcountries where the devil has heldsupremacy for ages. I have personallytraveled into Tibetan country among thehigh mountains of Southwest China.With Reverend Howard Carter and othercompanions, I slept in their heathentemples (there was no other place tosleep), saw the idol-filled temples, and


listened to strange stories of demonpower. It was easy to see that the wholenation was given over entirely to theworks of the devil. One missionary toldme he had witnessed a Tibetan monk,in a frenzy of mystical power, take asteel sword and twist it around like acork screw. I can personally testify thatone can feel the eerie power of the devilwhen he is in the heathen temples.

I strongly felt the devil's power whentraveling five thousand miles acrossCommunist Siberia and Russia. Therewas an oppression and a sense ofinsecurity constantly. I was actually gladto leave.

I also felt the power of oppression inGermany when Hitler's Naziism wasruling. I could feel spiritual heavinessover the entire country, and it made mesad inside.

Unseen demon powers dominatednations in the past and they dominatenations in the modern world.

It is remarkable how the people ofIsrael fought the devil's power as anation. In Exodus 22:18, God speakingto Moses said, "Thou shalt not suffer awitch to live." God knew that these evilpeople would turn the nation over to the


devil.In the book of 1 Chronicles we see

how God removed Saul from hiskingship and he died for histransgression of seeking after witchcraft.God would not permit His land andpeople to be taken over by demonpower.

"So Saul died for hisunfaithfulness which he hadcommitted against the LORD,because he did not keep the wordof the LORD, and also becausehe consulted a medium forguidance" (1 Chronicles 10:13NKJ).During the period of the great

tribulation on this earth, as described inRevelation 13, we see that the dragon,Satan, will be worshiped.

"So they worshiped the dragonwho gave authority to the beast;and they worshiped the beastsaying, 'Who is like the beast?Who is able to make war withhim?' " (v. 4-5 NKJ).In verse six, we see that the battle is

against God "to blaspheme His name,His tabernacle, and those who dwell inheaven."


This will be a time of great tribulationduring which Satan and the Antichristwill have power practically unrestrained.

"And it was granted to him tomake war with the saints and toovercome them. And authoritywas given him over every tribe,tongue, and nation.

"And all who dwell on the earthwill worship him, whose nameshave not been written in the Bookof Life of the Lamb slain from thefoundation of the world" (v. 7-8 NKJ).A clear warning is sounded in verse

9: "If anyone has an ear, let him hear."(NKJ)

Chapter 3

CITIES ANDDEVILS

I know thy works. And where thou dwellest, evenwhere Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my

name, and hast not denied my faith, even inthose days wherein Antipas was my faithful

martyr, who was slain among you where Satandwelleth

(Revelation 2:13).

ne of the churches of theApocalypse was located in

Pergamos, a great and historic city.*

Pergamos was beautiful, but the Biblesays it was one of the cities whereSatan's seat was located (Revelation

O

* The New King James Bible footnote explains that Pergamos was about 45miles north of Smyrna. It boasted one of the finest libraries of antiquity andwas the place where parchment was first used. It had once been the capitalof the Roman province of Asia.


2:12-13). This was a reference to theirpagan worship either of the Romanemperor or of Zeus at his altar on thelocal acropolis (or both).

This indicates that there are citieswhere devils set up their thrones andrule. The devil's power is centralized insuch places. In these cities, Satan hasgreater strength than he has elsewhereto perform his horrible deeds. There aretwo areas here: "Where Satandwelleth," and "Satan's seat." Thisspeaks of the headquarters from whichSatan operates, and of a throne fromwhich he dictates to his evil spirits thework they are to do.

History vividly points out such cities.For example, ancient Babylon gaveherself over to sorceries, witchcraft andcults. Without a doubt that queen city,which boasted of her hanging gardens,was also dominated by an evil spirit whodwelt there and had his throne there.

It was such a spirit which keptDaniel's prayer from being answeredwhen he lived in Babylon (Daniel 10). Inverse 20, the angel said that when heleft Daniel's presence he would have tofight a spirit called the prince of Persia,and another called the prince of Grecia

Cities and Devils 33

(Greece). The angel said that onlyMichael was available to assist him inthis warfare (discussed in previouschapter). This reveals that cosmicbattles evidently take place over bigcities.

The cities of Sodom and Gomorrahare remarkable examples of demonhabitations. These cities gavethemselves to a very peculiar andterrible sin-sodomy-which bears thename of one of the cities until this day.The spirit that ruled there caused mento make love with men rather than withwomen. Only the devil could havecaused this to happen. Sodomy becameso dominate that God was obligated towipe that sinful city off the face of theearth. Sodom was a city where Satan'sseat was and where Satan dwelled.Here the devil commanded supremepower.

MODERN CITIESThe devil has not changed. There are

modern cities which have giventhemselves to certain sins which only anevil spirit could introduce.

I am sure you are aware that no twocities in the world possess the exact


same spirit. I am very sensitive to thepresence of the spirit that rules in a city.Some cities have a good spirit, othershave a bad spirit. No doubt you haveheard different ministers say that while acertain city is very closed, or verydifficult to work in, another seems to beopen to the move of the Spirit of God.

In recent years we have watched asa beautiful city like San Francisco hasbeen taken over by homosexuals. Menloving men is traceable, I am convinced,to an evil spirit.

The temptations of the kingdom ofdarkness-wealth, property, fame, power,science, art, etc.-are especially great inour large modern cities. These thingsare not . necessarily evil in themselves,but they can become as gods if theydistract us from the one and only God.

I am sure a metropolis like New YorkCity is possessed of a special kind ofspirit. The majority of the populationdoes not attend church. Many peoplethere live in the deepest sin. New Yorkis a center of commerce for the world,and a center for world government. Ifone's spiritual eyes could be opened, nodoubt he would be able to see thatstrong and evil spirits rule there.


No doubt Hollywood, California, isdominated by an evil spirit. It is a spiritof immorality, a sensual spirit. In thepast, several young couples I knewpersonally moved from our part of thecountry into the Hollywood area. Beforelong, they were divorced and some ofthem remarried. If they had stayed inthe part of the country where they camefrom, this thing likely would never havehappened, but living in an area wherethe devil is strong in destroying morals,they fell beneath his onslaught.

The Female Goddess CaliLet us carry this thought a step

further. There is, for example, the greatcity of Calcutta in India. From myexperience in many nations, I havefound Calcutta to be one of the mostdepressing cities on the face of theearth. The city is named after a femalegod named Cali. Cali is a fierce devil.When you see her image at the greattemple, her six-inch wide tongue sticksout about eight inches long. Thisgoddess demands blood. Her followersmust bring goats to the temple and cuttheir throats, letting the blood flow in agroove underneath this hideous idol.


Her devotees splash their faces with thehot goat blood, then drink it.

The Cali temple in Calcutta is a placeof gross immorality, for it is claimed thatthis goddess can give children to barrenwomen. I saw a tree full of horriblelooking heathen artifacts tied to thebranches. The devotees came and tiedthem to the tree and prayed to thegoddess Cali. Often, people deeplyunder her influence are virtualepileptics. To win Calcutta to Christ, onecertainly will have to face that devil incombat.

One of our missionaries told me heprayed for a person a hundred milesaway from Calcutta and found her to bedemon-possessed. The missionary said,"Who are you?"

The demon spoke through the personand said, "I am from Cali in Calcutta."

"How did you get into this woman?"he said.

"She worshiped in our temple inCalcutta. "

Then the missionary said, "Come outof her in Jesus' Name."

The devil came out crying andweeping, saying, "Now I must journeyback to Calcutta to find somebody else


in which to live."I have spoken to several people who

have spiritual discernment. Invariablythey say the city of Calcutta is shackledwith a spirit of possession. Such citieswithout a doubt have wicked dignitariesdominating them in the world of thespirit.

Cities of DevilsWhile traveling in Indonesia, we

found several of what the people call"cities of devils." They are cities wherethe chief priests of demon worship,black magic and spiritism have theirheadquarters. The doctors of witchcraftcongregate in these cities and work outfrom them. Beyond any doubt thesecities have spiritual darkness muchgreater than other cities in Indonesia.

Jesus made a very remarkablestatement when He said that you mustfirst bind the strong man before you cantake a spoil from him (see Matthew12:29). The Lord was speaking of thedevil when he said that. He simplymeant that if you wish to win souls whoare bound by the devil's power, youmust first strike at the devil. You mustbind his power before you can take the


spoil-the immortal souls of men.This calls to mind an interesting

observation of missionary work. Oftenpeople go to a mission field and try toteach the nationals western customs orguide them morally. Having done this,they wonder why their "converts" slip outat night to perform devil dances and allkinds of incantations. Actually, theyhave dressed a demon-possessedperson in European clothes, taught himto use a knife and fork, to read, to usegood grammar and to do arithmetic. Butinside, that person remains a pagan andan idol worshiper.

According to the Lord Jesus Christ,and also to the Apostle Paul, it isnecessary first to deal with the spirit in aperson before dealing with thepersonality. If the person has a demonspirit, cast it out so that he will be free tomake decisions, before trying to dealwith him. Much of the mission field isstill in the hands of the devil becausemissionaries went with a teachingmission rather than with apostolic powerto set people free from satanicbondage. Every heathen needs the devilcast out of him before he can become aChristian.


If I had a million dollars and went toIndia or China and gave a dollar to eachperson I met, I could give the moneyaway very quickly. But the people stillwould be poor. They would consumethe dollar's worth of food in less thanone day, and then they would be hungryagain. But if I took that same milliondollars and erected ten hugeevangelistic centers, then until JesusChrist came back to this earth againpeople would get the devil cast out ofthem and become converted and havetheir names written in heaven. To me itwould be much more wonderful to investin the eternal destiny of those peoplethan in one day's gratification of a littlefood.

That is why when we do go to feedthe hungry in needy places around theworld, we work only through pastors in apastor-to-pastor program. We have athree-pronged approach:1. We feed the hungry.2. We strengthen churches with pastors'

seminars.3. We hold evangelistic crusades with

proclamation of the gospel, spiritualtransformation-setting people freefrom bondage to the devil and


demonic power-and prayer for thesick and oppressed:*

It seems the big cities of America arebecoming increasingly difficult to reachfor God. I believe the devil's power istaking a stranglehold upon them. I haveobserved that in the large cities ofAmerica, many full-gospel churches areeven smaller now than they wereseveral years ago. If there was ever atime when gospel power should invadebig cities to bind the devil and set thepeople free, it is today.

Big cities dominate our country. All ofthe filth on television comes from justtwo great centers: Hollywood and NewYork. Most of the amusement that iswicked and immoral comes from the bigcities. Because they dominate largeareas, I am sure we need to attackthese cities spiritually and defeat thedevil.

I humbly feel that if I had not prayedfor a girl in Bilibid prison in Manila,Philippines, and wrestled for two dayswith the evil spirit which possessed her,revival might never have come to thatgreat city. But after. we had bound the

* For more information write: LeSEA, The End-Time Joseph Program to Feedthe Hungry, South Bend, IN 46680-7777


"strong man," revival flowed like amighty river. Since that time, manypeople there have been set free fromthe devil's power, and multitudes havefound salvation. Before that, there hadnever been a great move of God in thehistory of that city. I believe we shouldnot give the great cities of this world tothe devil!

Jesus' Big CityIt is interesting to me that Jesus wept

over Jerusalem. It was the big city of Hislife. It was the largest city He ever sawon the face of the earth. He wept over it.He wanted to wrench it from the devil'sgrasp and see the people set free fromsatanic power.

Today we should weep over the greatcities of our land lest they becomethrone rooms of the devil's power. Thereason the evil one's power is strongerin cities like Washington, New York,Chicago and Los Angeles is becausethey are full of soothsayers, crystal-gazers, fortune tellers, spiritist mediums,and cults of all kinds.

There is no satanic power that canstand before the living Church. The LordJesus promised that even the gates of


hell could not stop His church. Let'sadvance on the big cities.

Chapter 4

HUMANS,ANIMALS, AND

DEVILSAnd Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy

name? And he said, Legion: because manydevils were entered into him

(Luke 8:30).

here are three areas spoken of inGod's Word regarding demons in

individuals and animals.T

One: Beasts may be possessed bydevils. Matthew 8:29-32 tells of pigswhich, after demons entered them,plunged down a steep place into thesea, perishing in the water. I am surefarmers and other people who deal with


animals have noticed peculiar beastswhich actually possessed a strangespirit, and possibly had to be destroyedbecause they could not live peaceablywith other animals or with humans.

Two: Parts of a human body can bepossessed. Several times Jesus castout spirits of deafness and dumbnessfrom human beings (Mark 9:25). He alsocast out the spirit of infirmity (Luke 8:2)from a person. This means that an evilspirit can take over a certain part of thehuman body and not remove itself untilsomeone with God's power rebukes itwith divine authority.

Three: Unregenerate mankind cancome under the complete dominationand authority of the devil.

In Matthew's gospel, chapter 12,Jesus tells about a man who wasdemon-possessed, blind and mute, thendelivered of that evil spirit so that heboth spoke and saw.

Jesus used that as a springboard todiscuss with the Pharisees the wholesubject of demonology.

They were accusing Him of beingpossessed by Beelzebub, "the ruler ofthe demons" (v. 24).

Jesus set them straight, knowing their

Humans, Animals, and Devils 45

thoughts (v. 25-45). He explained thatwhen an unclean spirit goes out of aman, he goes through dry places,seeking rest, but if he finds none hereturns to the man in whom he once hadlived.

The Bible says when he looked uponthe man, he found his soul swept andgarnished, but empty. Being "swept"means that the world had been takenaway from him; "garnished" meansdecorated. The man's religiousdecorations were all right. He lookedreligious, he may have carried hymnalsor prayer books. He was decorated. Buthis spirit was empty. The demoninstantly realized this man had noresistance to him. Therefore, he wentback into the dry places and foundseven other evil spirits worse thanhimself. Together they came back,overwhelmed the man and possessedhim. Jesus said that the end of the manwas worse than the beginning.

Deliverance Power for the IndividualJesus went on to say that "Even so

shall it be also unto this wickedgeneration" (v. 45b).

Jesus came to this world to deliver us


from the devil's power according to Acts10:38, "God anointed Jesus of Nazarethwith the Holy Ghost and with power:who went about doing good, andhealing all that were oppressed of thedevil; for God was with him."

In Luke 8:2 we read of certain womenwho were healed of evil spirits andinfirmities; and of Mary Magdalene whowas delivered of seven devils.

Here is one of the most remarkableof Bible events. The Bible saysspecifically and empathically that thiswoman had seven devils in her. Jesuscast them out and she became Hisdisciple. This is conclusive proof thathumans can have evil spirits in them,and that Christ can cast them out.

Luke 4:33-35 tells about Jesus goingto the synagogue one day. In thesynagogue was a demon-possessedman. This foul demon felt verycomfortable until Jesus arrived. He wasenjoying the dead sermon and lifelessprayers. But when our Lord walked in,the devil began to scream at Him cryingout with a loud voice, "Let us alone!What have we to do with you, Jesus ofNazareth? Did you come to destroy us?I know you, who You are-the Holy One


of God" (NKJ).Jesus rebuked him and said, "Come

out!"Instantly, the man was delivered of

the unclean spirit. Times have notchanged. There are still people loiteringaround churches who need to be setfree from the devil's power.

Of course, one of the most amazingdeliverances in the entire Bible is thehealing of the demoniac of Gadaramentioned in Mark 5:1-9.

"Then they came to the otherside of the sea, to the country ofthe Gadarenes.

"And when He had come out ofthe boat, immediately there metHim out of the tombs a man withan unclean spirit, who had hisdwelling among the tombs; andno one could bind him, not evenwith chains, because he hadoften been bound with shacklesand chains. And the chains hadbeen pulled apart by him, and theshackles broken in pieces;neither could anyone tame him.

"And always, night and day, hewas in the mountains and in thetombs, crying out and cutting


himself with stones."But when he saw Jesus from

afar, he ran and worshiped Him.And he cried out with a loud voiceand said, `What have I to do withYou, Jesus, Son of the Most HighGod? I implore You by God thatYou do not torment me.

"For He said to him, 'Come outof the man, unclean spirit!'

"Then He asked him, 'What isyour name?'And he answered,saying, 'My name is Legion; forwe are many.' " (NKJ)Legion was a Roman military term for

a large unit of between two and sixthousand men. The man at Gadara waspossessed by that many evil spirits.Spirits do not necessarily need space asthings do in the physical world. Ipresume a million evil spirits could be inone place because they do not needphysical room. For this reason,thousands could be inside one physicalbeing.

I have written a book about ArlindoBarbosa De-Oliveira, a witch doctorfrom Brazil. He was possessed of morethan five-hundred demon spirits. Heknew their names and worshiped them


in different ways. For example, one ofthe demons desired strong drink andArlindo was made to drink certain typesof wine when this devil was active inhim. Arlindo was possessed of theseevil spirits for forty years, then the LordJesus Christ set him free. He is free tothis day.

Deliverance for the MultitudesJesus cast demons out of multitudes

of people. Matthew 8:16 says "Whenevening had come, they brought to Himmany who were demon-possessed. AndHe cast out the spirits with a word, andhealed all who were sick" (NKJ).

Luke 4:41 says, "And demons alsocame out of many, crying out andsaying, `You are the Christ, the Son ofGod!' And He, rebuking them, did notallow them to speak, for they knew thatHe was the Christ" (NKJ).

Perhaps someone will say, "But thatwas Jesus, and He hasn't lived on thisearth for two thousand years" Permit meto direct your attention to Luke 9:1,"Then He called His twelve disciplestogether and gave them power andauthority over all demons, and to curediseases" (NKJ).


The Lord Jesus Christ gave thesetwelve men power and authority over alldemons. This means there was nodemon who could stand against theseselected disciples of the Lord JesusChrist, who were to go in His name toset humanity free.

Again someone will say, "But thatwas for the disciples. That was a longtime ago." May I refer you further toMark 16:17, "And these signs will followthose who believe: In My name they willcast out demons: they will speak withnew tongues. . ." (NKJ).

In this Great Commission of our Lordand Savior, Jesus Christ, Hecommanded those who were to comeafter Him-anyone who believed uponHim-to take power over demon spiritsand to cast them out in His name.

In these last days, there will bemultitudes of people needing to be setfree. And it is the ministry of the Churchof Jesus Christ to set them free. TheChurch must gird itself for the greatestbattle in history against demon power.

The battle will be greater in the futurethan it ever has been in the past.Demons will try in a greater measure totake over human beings in the future.


God's children must stand up againstthem. We must believe for atremendous victory.

As Christians, we need not fear anywork of the devil. We have no reasonfor fear. The Bible says, "Resist thedevil, and he will flee from thee" (James4:7). It does not say that he will walk orcrawl. It says that he will flee. No oneflees unless he is afraid. So if the devilis afraid of the true child of God, whyshould the Christian be afraid? There isno need for both to be afraid.

From studying the Scriptures, one ofthe great things we see is that God'schildren have no reason to fear anyaspect of demon power. God has putsomething in us stronger than demonpower, " : . greater is He that is in you,than he that is in the world" (I John 4:4).We can all be free, and we can setothers free by His great power.

Chapter 5

THECHALLENGETO ACTION

And He said to them, "Go into all the world andpreach the gospel to every creature. He whobelieves and is baptized will be saved, but hewho does not believe will be condemned. Andthese signs will follow those who believe: In Myname they will cast out demons; they will speak

with new tongues; they will take up serpents;and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no

means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick,and they will recover

(Mark 16:15-18 NKJ).

he greatest command ever given tothe Church is the statement known to

the world as "The Great Commission."T

The Challenge to Action 53

These are the last words ever spoken byour Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth,and they are the final words of commandto those who would carry on His work.This set the divine pattern which must befollowed until Christ returns for HisChurch.

I positively believe the members ofthe Bride of Christ will be judgedprimarily by this Great Commission.When we meet Jesus, He will not askwhich denomination you were amember of, whether you taught SundaySchool, or whether you were a deacon.He will look you straight in the eye andask, "What did you do about the GreatCommission?"

You may stammer and say, "I tookcare of the tea parties at my church, Idid this or that."

And Christ will say, "I left onecommand. What did you do about it?"When I was in Singapore, a ministerand I walked into a heathen temple. Thepriestess was in a trance, holding aseance. Through the groanings of thedemon spirit, she was telling fortunes.

I had told the missionary that, when Iwalked in, I would plead the blood ofJesus over this witch, who was


slobbering and groaning in a strangeway, and she would be free for a while.For the ten minutes we stayed in thattemple, the priestess found it impossibleto reach the spirit world or to revealanything.

If Christ were not stronger than thedevil, our lives would be in jeopardy. ButHe who claims all power in heaven andin earth, who came back from thecorridors of hell with the keys of deathand hell, tells every believer, "Be notafraid! Cast out devils and set humanityfree!"

That is the command and challengeto the Church today.

What hinders the Church fromwinning the entire world to Christ today?

Two Reasons for RebukeWhen I travel through heathen lands,

I see most people in ignorance,confusion, and poverty. They needeverything Christ stands for. Why is itthat we have not reached them? Christgave us the answer in Mark 16. In verse14, Christ appeared to His discipleswhile they were eating. In this lastmeeting with them, He rebuked them fortwo things. The first was unbelief, and


the second was hardness of heart. Ibelieve these are the two reasons whythe Church is not more victorious today.

First, unbelief. It is unbelief whichkeeps us from winning the world toJesus. It is unbelief which keeps us fromseeing great miracles take place. It isunbelief which keeps churches fromgrowing larger and better. It is unbeliefthat keeps us from doing great andwonderful things for God. The spirit ofunbelief is in the church. Some modernchurches take more time telling whatthey don't believe than what they dobelieve. They are busy explaining whichparts of the Bible are for two thousandyears ago, and which parts are for athousand years from now. But what theworld needs to know is that all of theBible is for now! What can the Bible dofor me? What can it do for you?

The other problem with the discipleswas hardness of heart. These men hadseen the dead raised, yet they could notbelieve Jesus had risen from the dead.They had seen mighty miracles takeplace, yet they were not willing to lendthemselves to another miracle. Theyhad hardness of heart!

In the world in which we live today, if


there is one thing above all otherswrong with the Church, it is hardness ofheart, a callousness of spirit that doesn'tcare whether the world is saved or not.It seems to be saying, "Let someoneelse do it." The Church is not concernedabout world conditions. It is not worriedabout the heathen.

These two evils have plagued theChurch for the last two thousand years.It is time to remove unbelief andhardness of heart from our churches.Let us have faith in God, a tender spiritlike Jesus had, and zeal like the ApostlePaul had, to win the world to Christ rightnow.

The Last of the Last DaysMany Bible students today know and

teach that we are dispensationally at theend of the age. These are the last of thelast days. We now face the greatestchallenge the Church has ever known. Itis time for God's people to bind thedevil's power. We know that the devil'spower is coming to an end. Revelation11:15 says, "And the seventh angelsounded; and there were great voices inheaven, saying, The kingdoms of thisworld are become the kingdoms of our


Lord, and of his Christ; and he shallreign for ever and ever."

Revelation 20:1-10 reveals what is tohappen:

"Then I saw an angel comingdown from heaven, having thekey to the bottomless pit and agreat chain in his hand.

"He laid hold of the dragon,that serpent of old, who is theDevil and Satan, and bound himfor a thousand years; and he casthim into the bottomless pit, andshut him up, and set a seal onhim, so that he should deceivethe nations no more till thethousand years were finished.But after these things he must bereleased for a little while.

"And I saw thrones, and theysat on them, and judgment wascommitted to them. And I saw thesouls of those who had beenbeheaded for their witness toJesus and for the word of God,who had not worshiped the beastor his image, and had notreceived his mark on theirforeheads or on their hands. Andthey lived and reigned with Christ


for a thousand years."But the rest of the dead did

not live again until the thousandyears were finished. This is thefirst resurrection.

"Blessed and holy is he whohas part in the first resurrection.Over such the second death hasno power, but they shall bepriests of God and of Christ, andshall reign with Him a thousandyears.

"Now when the thousand yearshave expired, Satan will bereleased from his prison and willgo out to deceive the nationswhich are in the four corners ofthe earth, Gog and Magog, togather them together to battle,whose number is as the sand ofthe sea.

"They went up on the breadthof the earth and surrounded thecamp of the saints and thebeloved city. And fire came downfrom God out of heaven anddevoured them.

"And the devil, who deceivedthem, was cast into the lake offire and brimstone where the


beast and the false prophet are.And they will be tormented dayand night forever and ever"(NKJ).This is to be the final position of the

devil, completely destroyed, hurting noone, ruling and reigning no place. Hewill be utterly and completely destroyedbecause of his fightings against God.

I would like to stress strongly thatGod's power runs parallel with thethings we have said in this book aboutthe devil's power. God blesses entirenations just as the devil curses entirenations. God dwelt among His peopleIsrael, and He was the God of thenation. We can call the blessings of Godupon our nation, and be a people wholove and serve God.

This is also true of cities. Godblesses cities. He blessed the city ofJerusalem. It was especially a place ofHis presence and His power, and Godcan do the same today. He canespecially bless my city, your city, orany city that will put its trust in Him.

Christ told His disciples that if a citydid not receive the message of life, toshake off the dust of that city from theirfeet and depart. He said it would be


better for Sodom and Gomorrah than forthat city in the Day of Judgment. And soa city can choose its own blessing or becursed by the way it receives Christ.

God also blesses houses. TheTemple in Jerusalem was blessed withHis presence. Your church and mychurch can be blessed with Hispresence. And our homes can beblessed with the presence of God.

God has not changed. God will dwellin a nation, in a city, in a church, in ahome, in our hearts-wherever we wantHim to dwell. God is now ready andwilling to dwell there. The decision is upto you and to me.

The challenge is big and eternity islong. May God help each of us, that weshall do the best we can in the closinghours of this dispensation.

MY CHALLENGE TO YOUIf Jesus should come today, would you

be ready? If you are not sure, I invite you toreceive Jesus as your Savior now. You willbe filled with hope and peace that onlyJesus can offer.

Pray out loud with me right now:

"Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I dobelieve that you died and rose from thedead to save me from my sins. I want to bewith you in heaven forever. God, forgiveme of all my sins that I have committedagainst you. I here and now open my heartto you and ask you to come into my heartand life and be my personal Savior. Amen."

When you pray the Sinner's Prayer andmean it, He will come in instantly. You arenow a child of God and you have beentransferred from the devil's dominion to thekingdom of God. Read I John 1:9 andColossians 1:13. A wonderful peace andjoy will fill your soul.

Please write and tell me what Jesus hasdone for you. I will send you a littlepamphlet titled, "So You're Born Again!"Mail your letter to: Lester Sumrall, P.O.Box 12, South Bend, IN 46624.

here are three areas spoken of in God's Wordregarding the habitations of devils. Demonscan dwell in nations, cities and individual

beings, human or animal.T

Empires and nations have given themselves overto the worship of devils, becoming devil-infested.Ancient cities, as well as modern ones, practiceSatan worship. Finally, humans have yieldedthemselves to the devil that he might possess them.

The great challenge of this age and hour is for thebeliever, using the power of Jesus' name, to defeatand destroy all the works of the devil!Dr. Lester Sumrall is a prominent voice in the Christianworld, having ministered for over fifty-five years in more thanone hundred nations of the world. Dr. Sumrall founded LeSEABroadcasting, which owns and operates Christian televisionstations, a local radio station, and an international shortwaveradio station, with the special purpose of bringing millions ofsouls to heaven.

1 lester sumrall three habitations of devils

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