Are Demons Real?
Charlie Kirk’s assassination has shown us the answer.
BY GINA DETWILER
By now, we’ve had some time to process the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Many of us, me included, have asked God why He allowed this to happen. We won’t know the answer on this side of eternity.
What we do know is that Charlie was a martyr, murdered for his Christian faith, which deeply influenced his political beliefs.
Like Paul the Apostle, Charlie went into the public square to engage in open and frank debate. He didn’t force his beliefs on anyone. He didn’t threaten or demean—he wanted only to persuade.
Paul was quite successful with this tactic, founding churches in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. He was also whipped, stoned, run out of town, thrown in jail, and eventually killed for speaking the truth according to God.
Sound familiar?
Since that terrible day, we have seen many people on social media gleefully celebrating Charlie’s death, calling him a fascist and a racist, and mocking him and his family. Even TV news reporters said that Charlie was “asking for it.” There were people at the “No Kings” protest dressed like the shooter and miming being shot in the neck. Memes have spread all over the internet with gruesome images of Charlie. The phrase “watch your neck” has become a regular chant on college campuses. People are now wearing Halloween costumes with Charlie’s “Freedom” shirt covered in blood.
If this isn’t a sign that demons are real, I don’t know what is. Nothing makes Satan and his demons angrier than a man turning hearts toward Christ.
Who killed Charlie?
The man who murdered Charlie was raised in a stable, conservative Mormon household, though his later political views stand in sharp contrast to his religious upbringing. It’s safe to assume he had rejected the religion of his parents in favor of a far-left ideology that promotes a culture of violence and death.
He was not a member of any political party. He had good grades in school and even received a four-year college scholarship, but he dropped out after one semester. He was in a romantic relationship with a man who pretended to be a woman and dressed up in “furry” costumes. He spent the majority of his time online, on platforms like Reddit and Discord, a breeding ground for extremist rhetoric. He was an avid video gamer, which can blur fantasy and reality. If you can shoot people in a video game with impunity, why not do it in real life?
He was a lost young soul, confused about his identity, exposed to an extremist ideology, and rejecting his parents’ moral authority.
Satan’s favorite sort of target.
Why kill Charlie?
What did Charlie Kirk say that was so triggering that many people wished him dead?
He said that homosexuality is a sin, that transgenderism is incompatible with God’s design of humanity, that abortion is infanticide, and that marriage is between a man and a woman. He advocated for traditional values, for the virtues of motherhood, and for men to take up the mantle of leader and protector of the family. Biblical teachings that demons hate. He spoke boldly for the faith, proclaiming God’s truth as the only objective truth.
But demons don’t want to debate. They want those who believe God’s truth to die.
You might think I’m being hyperbolic. Demons don’t really exist, you say. They are constructs of the human psyche. Even professing Christians are uncomfortable with the notion that demonic spiritual beings actually exist.
The Bible says otherwise. In Jesus’ time, demons were increasingly active, perhaps because the Son of God had come to earth in the flesh to proclaim the Good News.
So let’s examine what the Bible has to say about Satan and demons.
Satan and his minions pretend to be the good guys.
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Isaiah 14:12-15
Satan lies to sow confusion and division
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 12:25-28
There was again a division among the Jews because of these
words. Many of them said, “He(Jesus) has a demon,
and is insane; why listen to him?”
Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes
of the blind?” John 10: 19-21
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Matthew 16:23
Satan, not God, tempts people to sin
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. James 1: 13
Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 1 Corinthians 7:5
For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. 1 Thessalonians 3:5
And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’
1 Kings 22:20-22
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Revelation 2:10
Satan twists scripture in order to deceive
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Luke 4:9-13
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5
Demons are tormented by Jesus
When [the demon] saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” Luke 8:28
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! James 2:19
And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” Mark 3:11
“Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” Luke 4:34
The main purpose of Satan and the demons is to prevent people from knowing God.
The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons… 1 Timothy 4:1
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 1 Corinthians 10:21
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
Demons target children
They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Psalm 106:37-38
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matt 18:6
Demons can inhabit people’s minds and influence their thoughts.
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” Matthew 12:43-45
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat… Luke 22:31
God may perhaps grant them [opponents] repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2: 25-26
But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11
Demons can cause sickness and aberrant and violent behavior
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. ... Mark 5:1-20
And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. Luke 13:11
While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke… Matthew 9:32-33
“Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water…Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Matthew 17:15,18
For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. Acts 8:7
The only way to fight this spiritual war is with the armor of God.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:11-12
Jesus came to save us from demonic forces.
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. I John 3:8
Satan and his demons hate God.
We’ve seen these demonic forces at work in other heinous crimes. I talked about some of these in my previous blog on the subject of spiritual warfare. Lately, though, they seem more often to involve members of the transgender community.
The transgender person who opened fire on a Minneapolis Christian school hated God and was obsessed with killing children. He wrote “Where is your God,” “For the Children,” and “Israel must fall” on his bullets. He used a picture of the crucified Jesus for target practice. He also had a drawing in his notebook of him looking in a mirror with a demon looking back. Written on the page where the words “Help me,” and “I don’t want to.” The demon replies, “Kill yourself.”
The Covenant School shooter was also transgender, her manifesto riddled with contempt for Christianity and children. She wrote, “Pray to your God that your children will live, ’cause I will try to kill all your kids,” and “Throw the Bible in his face, tell him his religion sucks. Then shoot ’em.”
Transgender individuals are also responsible for school shootings in Denver, Colorado Springs, Iowa, and Aberdeen.
Interestingly, demons in the Bible are not male or female—they are non-binary.
Are we living in the Last Days?
Even political rhetoric has gone off the deep end, with candidates fantasizing about killing their opponent’s children and one telling her supporters, “Let your rage fuel you.” At the latest protest, children beat an effigy of the president with a stick. Politicians and celebrities muse aloud about his sudden death.
A few months ago, an insurance executive was assassinated by another lost, angry young man. The assassin became a national hero to many prominent voices in the media, the same people who rail about gun laws every time a high-profile murder occurs.
Is this a sign of things to come?
Patrick Basham, a researcher for the Democracy Institute, reflected on the current trend toward hatred and violence in a recent poll he conducted.
“It’s a sort of quite terrifying, or at least unnerving, result. Just across the board, such a large minority admit to a pollster that they have hatred in their heart for those who hold opposing political views. But that said, we get to the nub of the issue, which is that a majority of Democrats admit that they hate at least some people who hold opposing views.”
“We use the word ‘hatred,’ ‘hate,’ because we didn’t want to say ‘dislike’ or ‘strongly disagree.’ That’s just too tame today. This poll was taken in the days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. We wanted to identify how intense the sentiments were. And we were not shocked that a majority of Democrats would acknowledge quite openly that that is how they felt about political opponents.”
“This is where we go from clearly unnerving data to really quite terrifying data. One in three Democratic voters can sign off on political violence and is open to telling a pollster that that is the case. In the modern era of American history, this is uncharted territory, and in a very, very bad way.”
Jesus said that in the End Times,
And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And
because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will
grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matt 24:10-14
The more the gospel is proclaimed in our world, the more Satan and his demons will step up their game. Psalm 14 applies just as much today as it did thousands of years ago:
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the LORD.
But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.
In all this, God is in control. But there is something we must do. Jesus instructs us:
“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44)
Jesus said as he was dying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Erika Kirk forgave the assassin who took the life of her husband, the father of her children.
We are called to do the hard thing. Love those who hate us. Pray for those who mock us and kill us. Repay evil with good.
They want us dead. We want them saved.
And we know Who will prevail in the end.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Gina Detwiler is the author of Forever, the last novel in the Forlorn series about spiritual warfare and the End Times, available at all online retailers.
