Expert: Dr Don Howe - 11/26/2009

Question
Do you think demons can make phones and door bells ring and toys move and lights come on, all at the same time,so what do you say do. I wont your personal view and the Biblical support to go with. In Christ. Thanks Kirk

Answer
  Kirk, thank you for your question. There is no biblical support to the idea that demons can possess a presence in  physical objects. This belief is actually part of superstitious practices and occult beliefs found in animistic cultures and among those who practice the occult.  Animism is the belief that everything has a soul or spirit, an anima in Latin, including animals, plants, rocks, mountains, rivers, and stars. Animists believe each anima is a powerful spirit that can help or hurt them and are to be worshipped or feared or in some way attended to.
    Animism is a primitive religion whose adherents have for thousands of years deified animals, stars, and idols of any kind, and practiced spiritism, witchcraft, divination and astrology. They use magic, spells, enchantments, superstitions, amulets, talismans, charms, or anything that they believe will help to protect them from the evil spirits and placate the good spirits that are found everywhere in everything.

  Some people try to use Acts 19:13-19 to say demons can possess inanimate objects. Let’s see what the text says. Verse 13 states “But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." These iterant Jewish exorcists had seen Paul expels demons from people and they were trying to do the same thing as Paul did calling upon the name of Jesus. A type of monkey see monkey do routine.
  Paul is in Ephesus in Acts 19:13-19. Gaebelein states “Ephesus was a stronghold of Satan. Here many evil things both superstitious and satanic were practiced. Books containing formula for sorcery and other ungodly and forbidden arts were plentiful in that city.” So there much evil in Ephesus at this time.
   Verse 14-15 states “Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"  There were seven sons of Sceva who tried to expel the demons by calling upon the name of Jesus. The evil spirit stated they knew who Jesus was, they knew who Paul was, but they did not recognize these seven guys.  The evil spirits see, think, and speak. They have intelligence. These evil spirits knew they were spoken to by seven charlatans.
   Verse 16-17 states “And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”  The evil spirit leaped on the seven sons and overpowered them. And the seven sons fled out the house naked and wounded. This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.” Guzik states “The incident with the sons of Sceva impressed the people with the reality of the demonic realm. It made them fear the Lord and the demonic (both in healthy ways) and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.”
  Verse 18-19 states “Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and {began} burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.” The people who were involved in evil sorcery believed in the name of Jesus were disclosing and confessing their evil practices. And they burned their books in the fire.

  No where does it say in God’s Word that they demonized inanimate objects. The reason is that demons are evil spirits and spirits do no occupy inanimate objects.

  This does not mean that demons can not manipulate inanimate objects through the people they possess. This is shown by the man who was possessed by an unclean spirit and lived in the tombs. Mark 5:1-13 tells about this demon possessed man. There are some things to note about this man that is typical of demon possession:

The man had been demon possessed for a long time (Luke 8:27).

The man wore no clothes and lived like a sub-human, wild animal (Luke 8:27).

The man lived among the decaying and dead, contrary to Jewish law and human instinct (dwelling among the tombs).

The man had supernatural strength (chains pulled apart).

The man was tormented and self-destructive (crying out and cutting himself with stones

The man had uncontrollable behavior (neither could anyone tame him).

This demon tore chains, wore no clothes, cut himself with stones, and was uncontrollable. He manipulated chains, clothes, and stones through the possession of this man. Demons can manipulate inanimate objects through the people they possess, but they do not possess a presence in the inanimate objects themselves.

I hope this helps.

Dr Don Howe, RN, PhD, ThD