The Faith of Demons!

Dan Corner

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What is the faith of demons? We read of it in James 2:19. That verse says:

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

In James chapter 2, James makes a distinction between a saving faith in Jesus which has obedience to God with it and a faith in God which does not have obedience with it. In verses 14 through 17, he wrote this:

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

Clearly then, a faith in Jesus by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead, that is, it will not save any person from hell. James also wrote about a dead faith in James 2:26 where he taught this:

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

In that verse, James taught the importance of good deeds to faith is like the importance of the spirit of man to his body.

It is vital for people to understand that a mere confession of faith in Jesus as Lord without a corresponding heart-felt commitment and serious dedication to him to the point of turning away from idols to serve him (1 Thess. 1:9) is useless. Such is on a par with the faith of demons, who believe God exists but are not obeying him.

The following are among the evil things that demons do as they oppose the spread of God’s truth and righteousness:

1. Demons formulate teachings to turn people from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1)

2. They can perform miracles to deceive (Rev. 16:14)

3. They can tempt people to sin (James 4:7)

4. They can inhabit people’s bodies and cause various kinds of pain and distress.

We also learn that demons know who Jesus is (Mark 1:34), can confess Jesus to be the Son of God (Luke 4:41) and the holy one of God in Luke 4:34,35.

Multitudes in our day, who profess to be Christians, only have the faith of demons. They profess Jesus as the Son of God, but live in sin.

In fact, many of the same actually think they can not obey God and no one ever did, including Paul, who they think was the worst of sinners. Imagine that! Folks, if you think Paul as a Christian was the worst of all sinners what chance do you have of obeying God? None. You have no chance.

These same people are filled with lust, get drunk, commit adultery, cuss, lie, steal, hate, etc. They think this is the normal Christian life.

Some were never saved, but many others were saved at one point but since have died spiritually (Luke 15:24,32; Rom. 8:13; James 1:14-16; 5:19,20; etc.). They lost the salvation they previously had.

Because of the prevalent heretical teaching of eternal security, multitudes who need to repent for salvation’s sake have been deceived into thinking they don’t need to repent for salvation at all.

Multitudes are actually on the road to hell, but think they are on the road to heaven with their now dead faith in Jesus or the faith of demons, and the teaching of eternal security is primarily responsible for this massive and lethal deception.

One final point: getting back to James 2:19. There James declared the demons believe in God and shudder in fear of him. In contrast, the faith of many people who profess salvation in our dark time don’t even fear God.

In that way they have a faith that is less than the faith of demons and will spend their eternity with the demons in the lake of fire unless they become faithful to God.

It is only a trusting, submitting and enduring faith in Jesus that will get one into God’s paradise kingdom and save him from hell.

The Apostle John wrote:

The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:4)

GOD BLESS YOU.

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