sickness and negative character v. powers of darkness

It seems to me that many have the belief that whenever there is sickness or negative behavior that some christians or many christians want to label it as satan or demonic activity. While it is so easy to do such a thing is it really a reality and truth to accept these labels as true?

If a person has a really bad attitude and maybe even is violent does that suggest they are possessed or influence by demons? If someone has a sickness,whether it is the 24 hour flue or cancer, does that mean they are influence by demons?

I don't think it is a fair attitude to say such a thing for in saying it it suggests that devils have a fair reaching influence in our world and everything that happens around us would have a devil attached to it and so we fight each day as a result. Where do we draw that line between the working of satan v. our own decisions? Even when it comes to demon possession, those who deal with it don't accept it as it is right then. They go through a list of details to rule out before they decide that a case is demonic in origin yet we are so quick to call a virial infection of the devil and rebuke it for it to be healed type of thing, in so many cases.

What are you thoughts?

Hi! 'DEADn'

Your question is an intriguing one.
Well, how 'bout yuh play a self-answering quiz?
If we cut someone into microscopic morsels, would we find a thought? Would we find the prompting behind their negative behavior? Would we find the origin (not the symptoms) of their sickness? Would we find residues of guilt? Some tell-tale signature of love or hatred?
If you answered, "No", you would be correct.
That's because only the visible can be detected in this earthly dimension.
The unseen human spirit of a man ("hidden man of the heart") is invisible and belongs to the spiritual dimension.
Everything that becomes visible on the earth has its origins from the invisible realm.
For instance, a thought.
A thought originates in the invisible world. It arrives as an inspiration to the human spirit; at which point, the person has the choice to take ownership of the thought and acting on it or not.
The Garden of Eden is an illustration of this activity. There were two trees in the Garden. In the same way, there are two centers in the invisible world; the kingdom of light and kingdom of darkness. There is a constant flow of inspirations from these two 'trees' which every man is having to choose between. Inspirations of peace, joy and righteous (etc) or hate, covetousness, anger (etc).

Personally, I believe that the absolute term 'demonic' or 'satanic' has been much abused and misunderstood by a lot of people. There are different layers or hierarchy in the kingdom of darkness.

For instance, there is a difference between "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" and those described in Ephesians as "principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places".

Regardless, what we perceive in this visible world, (eg: everything we see manifested in the physical body of a person), originated first from the invisible world. In that regard, our physical bodies mirror realities from out of the unseen world.

We could perhaps say that the human being behaves similar to a television set. If we ripped the TV set apart into tiny pieces, we would never find the news anchor which was displayed on the screen. Nonetheless, the person of the news anchor exists; albeit hundreds of miles distant in a broadcast studio.
The reason we see the image of the distant news anchor on the television screen is because the antenna of the TV set received the transmitted signal which was then subsequently decoded and displayed as an image.

In a similar manner, the human spirit of a person behaves like an antenna and, depending on which spiritual kingdom it is connected / tuned into, the inspirations from that realm will be displayed within the physical presence of the person.
The reason we might see a person visibly bent over with unseen psychological burdens is because he is connected to invisible powers of darkness ... unseen inspirations of depression.

So, the answer to your question: "Where do we draw that line between the working of satan vs our own decisions?" can only be answered by discerning the visible fruits which indicate the kingdom their human spirit is receiving inspirations.

John,

You are asking questions that are dogging me...

In my culture it is a strange person who will declare this or that illness' origin is because of demonic activity. It is not that I disbelieve it's possibility, just that most illness is considered as a result of the fall of man in the garden. But I wonder...hence my question...

Then Blayne wrote:
"Where do we draw that line between the working of satan vs our own decisions?" can only be answered by discerning the visible fruits which indicate the kingdom their human spirit is receiving inspirations."

Oh. Oh....

I know of a situation where some people have lymes disease and those that do are so hard to live with that some of the family will keep their distance. I also know that not all lymes' victims behave this way....

I look forward to seeing what others have to say because this issue troubles me.

Hi! 'GinnyRose'

Ummm, my earlier response to member 'DEADn' was to answer his preliminary question; certainly not intended to be an all encompassing answer to the situation of evil, sickness, calamity and whatever in this world.
For example, the powers of sickness do not function in the same way as covetousness. Neither does the spirit of murder inspire in the same manner as jealousy. It can be properly stated that the activities occurring from out of the realm of darkness are legion.
Another consideration is the prevailing darkness which was set loose on the earth after the Fall. Powers of decay, for instance, began to affect the physical body of men which shortened life spans. The restorative forces of our immune system became violated which caused man to became vulnerable to disease/illness.
It's not for nothing that the ruler of the realm of darkness is named as synonymous with 'Death'.
I was trying to explain to 'DEADn' that our decision making does not create evil. Otherwise, we might as well confess that we are all miniature devils ourselves. It is our decision making which permits evil to be manifested or become visible in and through us. But at no time are we the originator or source of evil.

First off, Blayne, I jumped for joy in my spirit when you said our thoughts originate in the un-visible realm. I have been struggling with that...thought...for a while. One day at work that question popped into my head! Where do "thoughts" come from? Surely they don't originate with me. You have a very interesting take and, I believe, truthful take on that thought. Thank you for sharing it.

In terms of the question at hand, I have thought much about this as well. I see so many people labeling everything as demonic in origin. Even poverty! While I certainly think that demons have a very large hold on a lot of issues or problems, I do not believe they are the cause for everything.

A verse does come to mind though.

Ephesians 6:12 - For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Discernment. We need it. We have to seek it ESPECIALLY NOW. It's amazing how absolutely screwed up everything in the world is.

I'm I can't be much help other than that. I'm still learning about all this too.