Phil 1:29-30; For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
v30 experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
2Cor 12:7-10; Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!
v8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
v9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
v10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
We are engaged in a study of satan's cosmic system, a system of arrogant demonic thinking that is comprised of lies and deceit from demonic viewpoint that since the fall in the Garden of Eden, separated from God in the darkness of spiritual death has become the viewpoint and basis for all conflict in the human race.
At this point in our study we are looking at satan's cosmic 2 system where irrationality, disillusionment and discontent from cosmic 1 arrogance metastasizes into hatred, hostility, antagonism and opposition to God, God's people, God's policy and God's plan. 1Cor 2:14; Rev 12:9;
During our last two classes we noted immoral and moral degeneracy from arrogance and hatred in the cosmic system.
The next category of cosmic two hatred is demonism. There are two groups of fallen angels. There are fallen angels that are presently incarcerated in the Abyss compartment of Hades because of their intransigence prior to the flood (Jude 6; Rev 9:11;) and the fallen angels who are now operational and functioning under satan's rule during human history as demons.
There are two categories of demon activity in the human race. Demon influence is the attack of demon doctrine on the cognitive function of the soul causing demonization of the soul
Demon possession is a demon indwelling the body of an unbeliever. The believer is indwelt by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; so no demon can occupy the body of a believer.
While both believer and unbeliever are vulnerable to demon influence from demonic assault on the thinking of the soul in the cosmic system, the born-again believer cannot be demon possessed.
For either demon influence or possession to occur, the person must be functioning inside satan's cosmic system. There cannot be demon influence or possession apart from human consent that is made from position of weakness.
Of the five demon attacks on the human race, the most devastating and successful is satan's ability to project demon doctrines directly into the thinking of the human soul through the channel created when a person is functioning under unrestrained control of the OSN.