Are Demons Real?: Real-life and biblical proof

Science and common observation prove that a thing doesn’t have to be observable to the naked eye to be real. In the natural realm, gravity, wind, and heat are real and yet can’t be seen. We accept their reality by their effect on things around them.

This is how we must evaluate the existence of demons.

Demons are real evil spirit beings that live in the unseen dimension of the spiritual realm. Unseen, however, doesn’t necessarily mean undetectable. For demons can be detected the same way we detect gravity, wind, and heat–by observing their effect on things that can be seen.

How Demons Can Be Seen

The Bible teaches there is a way that the invisible presence of demons can be forced into the observable realm. We would want to do this because demons are like spiritual cancer. They have to first be detected and exposed to be stopped.

This is what we see in the ministry of Jesus in the Bible. Wherever He went, invisible demons were forced into the open where they could be publicly humiliated and defeated. (For instance, Mark 1:21-28.)

The method by which Christians do this today has come to be known as deliverance ministry. This very simply is commanding a demon to leave a person, place, or thing in the name of Jesus.

And He [Jesus] said unto them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name shall they cast out demons…”
Mark 16:15-17

I am a Christian minister with over forty years experience casting out demons. I’ve seen pretty much everything that goes with this kind of ministry.

One time I did literally see a demon. One time in forty-two years. Certainly no trend.

What is a trend is what happens when I follow the risen Lord’s instructions to aggressively use His name against invisible demon powers.

We Can See Demons Are Real by Their Effects and Actions

We may go our whole life and never literally see a demon. But if we follow the biblical example of those who cast out demons, like discerning gravity, wind, and heat, we will definitely discern their presence by their actions.

I’m defining the effects of demons as the results of their actions. This includes things such as sickness, disease, torment, and other manifestations.

Book cover of Deliverance from Demons and Diseases

Of course, all of these can be purely physical and mental, totally non-demonic. This is where the actions of demons come into play.

In this context, actions are clear supernatural occurrences done in immediate response to casting out demons. They make it reasonably clear, and often unmistakably clear, that a demon is present.

For instance, Matthew 9:32-33 records that a mute man was brought to Jesus, “and when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke.”

A diehard cynic can always come up with a reason not to believe the obvious. But for everyone else, it is clear that if a mute person can speak directly after a mute demon is supposedly cast out, it is no more “supposedly.” It’s obvious.

The man had a mute demon.

In a sense, the invisible mute spirit which was causing the condition is now “seen” through the ministry of deliverance. Don’t get stuck on the fact that we don’t literally see the demon with our eyes. No one has yet seen gravity or wind with their eyes either.

Deliverance Ministry Proves Demons Are Real

Deliverance ministry directly challenges demons and forces them to react in ways that are discernible to our senses. It makes the invisible, visible. Thus, it is the most effective way to prove to reasonable people that demons are real.

Numerous times I have heard demons speak through people as I minister to them. Usually, though, the demons speak clearly to their mind. In these sessions, often phenomena occur that are obviously supernatural.

For instance…

An atheist alcoholic gave me permission to challenge the demon spirits in her body in the name of Jesus. She stated unambiguously that she did not believe in Jesus. Nor did she believe demons were inside of her. She only agreed to allow me to pray this way because she was desperately trying to stop drinking.

I told her I had no inside knowledge that she had a demon of alcoholism. My ministry was going to be based upon the high statistical probability that she had a demon of addiction.

I surmised this based upon what the Bible teaches about demons and my experience dealing with them.

I commanded in the name of Jesus that the demons who were hiding in the background of this woman’s life and driving her to drink manifest themselves.

They did.

To her great surprise, for several minutes demons moved around inside of her abdomen and rose up into her neck where a big bulge had appeared. The shocked atheist grabbed the bulge in her neck and struggled desperately to breathe.

After a while, this thing left her mouth with great coughing. I asked the atheist whether she was still an atheist. She answered, “No, I believe in God.”

Three other people witnessed this entire event.

Former Atheist Now Believes Demons Are Real

To go from atheist to believing in God in a matter of minutes is extraordinary. This occurred because the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, forced invisible demons that were in her body out into the open.

Of course, it could be offered by a cynic that these were no demons at all. The woman was simply gullible, easily manipulated, tricked, or perhaps even mentally ill.

Whether she was gullible, easily manipulated, or mentally ill, I have no idea. She was a stranger to me then, and I saw her again only the day after this occurred, which was maybe five or six years ago. So I know very little about her.

I can say that she wasn’t tricked. That would require a trickster, which I’m not.

I’m simply a disciple of the risen Christ who is following some of the last instructions He gave the church after His resurrection from the dead: “In My name shall they cast out demons” (Mark 16:18).

Besides, I don’t get paid for doing this. Nor do I receive any other material benefit for participating in this ministry.

So, no, it wasn’t an elaborate trick. But for curiosity’s sake let’s explore the trick angle. What would that require?

All I did was stand before this woman with three other people watching and command invisible demons in her life to come out of hiding.

How did I make her think things were moving around in her abdomen? How did I make her think the movement traveled from her abdomen to her throat?

How did I make a big bulge appear in her throat? How did I make her think she was being choked? How did I make her think the “trick” in her throat left out of her mouth?

How did I do all of this using only words?

The only “trick” I used was to boldly represent the only true God, the eternal King, Savior, and Judge, Jesus Christ by using the authority of His name to cast out a demon of addiction.

The Bible and the name of Jesus is the trick.

The Bible Teaches That Demons Are Real

The Bible teaches that Satan and demons are real.

We see the devil at work near the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 3. Similarly, we see the devil near the end of the Bible in Revelation 20. If Satan is real, then so are his demons.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is filled with references to Satan and demons. Some are scant and brief and some are detailed and lengthy.

Since the New Testament’s teachings concerning demonology are so well-developed and foundational to the New Testament, it’s easy to forget that the Old Testament clearly reveals Satan and demons as real evil spirit beings.

Old Testament Proof That Demons Are Real

We have already mentioned Satan working through the serpent in the Garden of Eden. So we can move on to other Old Testament references.

As I stated, there are brief and long references. For instance, here are two short ones:

They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
Leviticus 17:7

They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know.
Deuteronomy 32:16-17

I suppose a rebuttal could be offered that God was merely referring to what was in the mind of the worshippers rather than what was a literal reality. Something akin to a child leaving a piece of candy out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

The mother could see this and correctly report that her child is offering candy to Santa, all the while knowing there is no Santa.

Is this what God was doing?

We know from the highly developed doctrine of demonology in the New Testament this isn’t the case. But even if we do not yet look to the New Testament, we know from other Old Testament passages that Jewish culture embraced the idea of a literal Satan and demons.

The example I use below mentions Satan, but not demons. That’s okay.

Functionally, the terms are often used interchangeably in the Bible. But in an absolute sense, Satan, or the devil, as he is also called, is the fallen angel who is in charge of demons.

This is good to know if our goal is exactness. But if the goal is successful warfare, we should understand that for all practical purposes Satan and demons are one and the same.

Book Of Job Proves Satan And Demons Are Real

Job is one of the longest books of the Bible. It is also believed by many to be the oldest. Whether it is or isn’t is debatable.

What is not open for debate is the author opens the book with two chapters that show us God conversing with a real Satan. It also shows this real Satan horribly afflicting a real man named Job.

The rest of the forty chapters show us how this man responds to the satanic attack and how he was restored. It is obvious that if Satan is not real, the entire book of Job is not real.

So what we have is the integrity of one of the oldest and longest Old Testament books depending entirely upon its own representation of Satan (and therefore, demons) as a literal being who is a principal character of the book.

If Satan is not real, neither is Job.

If Job is not real, we have to question the validity of Ezekiel and James. For both of them refer to Job as a real person (Ezekiel 14:14; James 5:11).

If Job, Ezekiel, and James can’t be trusted…

You get the point.

Highlights Of Job Show Satan And Demons Are Real

The references to Satan are all in the first two chapters of Job. There are two long, similar excerpts. For the sake of space, I’ll include one and summarize the other:

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.”
So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side?
“You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Job 1:6-12

Satan then attacked and destroyed Job’s material wealth and family.

In the second excerpt, God and Satan again converse. This time God increases Satan’s access to Job by granting him authority to hurt his flesh. But he prohibits him from killing him (Job 2:1-7).

The literal reality of Satan in the Book of Job is a fact.

Demons In The New Testament

There’s enough in the New Testament about Satan and demons that I could add hundreds of pages to this article–which I’m not going to do!

Instead, here’s a link to my article, Comprehensive List of Healings in the New Testament. It lists physical healings and deliverances from demons. Most of the references to demons are in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts.

I will, however, close out with one example from the New Testament. This will give you an idea of what you’ll find in the article.

At sunset, all who were ill with various diseases were brought to Jesus, and laying His hands on each one, He healed them.
And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.
Luke 4:40-41

This shows Jesus in confrontation with real demons.

Yes, demons are real.