The Devil or the Flesh?again new creature, he will have to learn how to let his
inward man dominate his flesh.
So not every act of wrongdoing is directly the result
of a devil. Sometimes you hear preachers who want to
cast this demon and that demon out of believers when
demons aren't the cause of the trouble at all—it's just
the unregenerated flesh at work.
For example, I've heard of ministers trying to cast a
demon of gluttony out of a person. But overeating is a
lust or a pleasure of the flesh. There is pleasure in
eating. When pushed to the extreme, eating is gluttony
and it's wrong, and I'm sure the devil can get involved
with overeating and encourage people in wrongdoing,
just like he can with any extreme. But overeating is not
necessarily a devil at work. It can be a lack of the fruit
of the spirit of temperance or self-control (Gal. 5:23;
Phil. 4:5).
Although the devil can sometimes get involved in
overeating, on the other hand, it's simply pleasant to
eat. It's not pleasant to fast; the flesh doesn't like to be
denied or crucified. But we are admonished in the Word
to keep the flesh under and fasting helps us do that.
Extremes and Excesses
We see some of the same extremes and excesses in
this day about demons as we did in the days of The
Voice of Healing. The Voice of Healing was a magazine
published by Gordon Lindsay, but it was also an
organization of evangelists and ministers. In the days of
The Voice of Healing, some ministers were always
trying to cast demons out of believers.
For example, when believers came forward for
prayer to be delivered from cigarettes or from some