Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: Pastor James says demons are real, but they are no match for the power of God. I've seen a lot of demon-possessed people before in my life. I've seen people who have acted very differently, and I can tell you this right now: there is a legit and genuine fear that comes with knowing that you are near or in the presence of demons. It is not an easy experience, and that leads you to the second thing. That is something you have to understand: only the power of God can put those demons in the place in which they belong.

You'll never be able to do it in your own strength. You'll never be able to do it in your own ability. You'll never be able to do anything like that. But the funny thing about it is, they know who God is. They recognize the spirit of God. Demons will not give you the time of day if you do not function under the authority of the true and living God.

I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you, because all I need is you.

Guest (Male): It's time once again for Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis as we return to the Gospel of Mark. In chapter three, we encounter the true face of demonic warfare. Though demons are real, powerful, and effective, God is greater. By his power, we can overcome. We'll learn how to have victory in the spiritual battle today. Here's Pastor James.

James Kaddis: Verse 11: "And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying, 'Thou art the Son of God.' And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known." Isn't it funny? Can you imagine the dynamic that's going on here? I think the dynamic is pretty spectacular. The dynamic is you have these people that are demon-possessed. They see Jesus and immediately they're bowing down, literally bowing down to him and saying, "You're the true Son of God." Can you imagine? The demons themselves bow down to Christ. The demons themselves know exactly who he is. They recognize it right away. They know. Why? Because he's God.

It's funny because a lot of people will reflect upon the question that's naturally imposed here, and that is: why is it that these demons are being told not to acknowledge him as the true and living God? Well, there's a lot of reasons why I can think that would be the case. Probably the first and foremost of those reasons is maybe the declaration that they're making is also going to serve as a tool to confuse people when they see demon-possessed people proclaiming him as God. The other thing that it could do is it could literally affect the perfect timing that God wants to execute in the circumstance by which people are receiving him. We don't know the reasons why Jesus is telling them not to do it, but the bottom line is they're listening to him because they're subject to him.

The funny thing about demons is there's two big things you will always learn about demons. If you've ever had any interaction with them, if you ever understand how they work and what they do, you'll understand two very powerful principles about demons. Number one, they are powerful. When you start looking at your own strength and you start looking at your own power, you realize they're far more powerful than you'll ever be. But the good news is greater is he that lives in you than he that's in the world. So we know that there is a greater power that we get to lean on, who lives inside of us, who takes residency inside of us to give us victory over these things.

But here's the thing, going back to point number one: if you know what that looks like, then you will have a natural and very healthy fear for what you're seeing when you see it. I've seen a lot of demon-possessed people before in my life. I've seen people who have acted very differently, and I can tell you this right now: there is a legit and genuine fear that comes with knowing that you are near or in the presence of demons. It is not an easy experience, and that leads you to the second thing that you have to understand. Only the power of God, only the power of God can put those demons in the place in which they belong. You'll never be able to do it in your own strength or your own ability.

But the funny thing about it is they know who God is. They recognize the spirit of God. Demons will not give you the time of day if you do not function under the authority of the true and living God. They will literally have a field day with you. They will enjoy every moment of you. By the way, demons will mess with Christians if Christians choose not to allow themselves to be given to the authority of God. I'm not saying demons will possess Christians. Demons cannot possess Christians, but they certainly can oppress them. They certainly can allow thoughts to be planted within them. They certainly can drive them in specific directions. That's the way they work.

If you're not willing to say, "I'm going to yield my power and my authority to the Lord to allow him to do these things because I have none compared to him and I want God's power and authority to handle what I'm dealing with right now," nothing will ever happen. Folks, let me just tell you something. If you're filled with the Spirit, you're walking with God, you know who he is, you're close to him, you will sense those demons a mile away. You will do that.

I got a call many years ago from an officer who had just taken somebody into custody. I remember it like it was yesterday. He called me and he said, "You got to come down to the jail." I said, "It's 2:00 in the morning." He said, "You got to come down to the jail." I asked, "What's going on?" He said, "I can't tell you. It's a recorded line, and I'm not going to talk to you about it. You got to come down to the jail." I asked him, "On a scale of one to ten?" He said, "Twelve! Come to the jail."

I told my wife I had to go. I got on a minimal part of my gear, put my badge on my neck, the chaplain's badge, and parked the car in the sally port, because I'm too lazy to walk through the front of the station. That's the little area where all the prisoners get loaded and brought in. I start to open up the elevator to go downstairs into the jail. As I open up the elevator, I already know why he's calling me. First of all, the officer that called me is a Christian guy, but I already know because the moment I get out of the car and I walk into the jail, I recognize immediately I'm dealing with demons. I know it.

I start going down the elevator. As I get down the elevator, there's this area of the sally port where you get out of the elevator and you have to unload your weapons and put all your stuff in these lockers. There's a couple of doors that are locked, so one door locks while the other one opens. It's a safety thing. As that whole thing is going on and everything's getting put in there, the second that I step into that little hallway, that demon just starts screaming their brains out. "I know who you are!" They were saying the most insane stuff that you can possibly think of.

You got officers who have been spending the last 20, 30, or 40 minutes trying to restrain the person. He's not being cooperative. Nothing is working. He's acting crazier and crazier. These demons don't recognize any of these guys. The one guy who's a Christian is so frozen. This is a guy, by the way, who has been in shootings, he's faced stone-cold killers, and he's one of the toughest guys you'll ever meet. But he can sense what's going on. He knows what's happening and he's just frozen still. The guys don't understand it until they get down in the jail and they realize what's going on.

I walk in there with the thought that says, "Oh man, this is going to be the night that I die." I kid you not. I didn't walk in there going, "I got the authority of Jesus, watch me, I'm going to stop it all right now." That's not what went through my mind. What went through my mind is, "I'm going to die tonight. This is probably going to end bad. It's not going to be good." Then I just immediately, as I'm walking into the jail, I'm thinking, "Lord, forgive me for this and that. Lord Jesus, please deal with this. I don't know where this guy is, please." And I'm getting closer and closer to where this guy is going crazy.

"Chappy, he's going nuts! Do whatever you got to do, man. Bring the candles!" They were doing all that nonsense. I just stand there at the door and I'm like, "Lord Jesus, you know." It's that simple, and then it's a wrap. It's over. I have nothing to do with it. It's the Spirit of God. It's how it works. They know. They know from a mile away because they understand how it works. They know the authority of God. That's how demons work.

I was in Morocco. I still remember this. I was the only missionary on our team that spoke Arabic, so I was getting around everywhere. We're there outside of the orphanage that we're at, and I'm talking to one of the young men. He's speaking to me in Arabic, and as we're going back and forth, I see this guy who's way off in the distance and he kind of catches my eye. He looks a little different. It doesn't look like he has a shirt on, and he's far away. He's a skinny looking guy. I turn around to the young man that I just met and I asked, "What's the story with that guy?" And the guy tells me in Arabic, "He is madjnoun."

Now, in Egypt, in the Egyptian Arabic that we speak, when somebody says that, it means, "Oh, he's crazy." So I thought, "Oh, he's crazy." What I didn't realize is in the Moroccan Arabic, when somebody says that, it means they have demons. So I'm not really thinking anything of it. We're walking closer and closer to him. We're probably at the point now where we're maybe 200 feet away, and he's not looking like an ant anymore. He's probably looking like he's three inches tall. We get to about that point, and it was right around that point that I recognize he's demon-possessed. I don't even see him. His back is to me. I just recognize he's demon-possessed.

The very second that I recognize he's demon-possessed, he just turns around and snaps and looks at me like it's some weird demon movie or something. Like you would see it coming out of some poltergeist-type movie. Do you understand the level of fear that begins to occupy your heart when something like that happens? Do you understand how fast your heart beats?

How about Halloween night? We're working a national youth crisis hotline. My sister was there for this one. This one was extraordinary. We get a phone call. I still remember the story. The demon identified herself as Jackie. I still remember this. We had the phone conversation. Clearly, the person is demon-possessed. I don't know this person. It's 1-800, and they're calling from somewhere. I don't even remember where they were calling from. I start to talk to them. My sister is listening on the recording because she's being trained to answer these calls. This person not only calls out my name, but this person says, "I was there when you got mad at this person on the freeway. I was there when you said these words. I watched you when you did this."

Can you imagine the fear in your heart when you hear something like that coming out of somebody's mouth that you've never seen or known? The point is demons are real, and they're very effective and very powerful. Do not let my stories be the tool that convince you that they're real. Let the Word of God be the tool that shows you that. Because look what takes place. Look what happens. He has these interactions with the demons. He tells them to be quiet, and now what does he do? He turns around and he starts ordaining, literally calling out the apostles. There's something pretty substantial about that. Do you want to bet that the demonic interaction that Jesus was experiencing in that moment was very likely a ploy by the enemy to seek to distract him from what he was about to do with respect to what was going on with the disciples?

How about I take it a step further? How about that it may have been a potential ploy to distract the disciples from wanting to enter into what Christ was going to bring them into? How's God going to be distracted? He didn't let the pain of the cross distract him from the ultimate purpose. But what about the people he's calling? Look what happens. "And he goeth up into a mountain and calleth unto him whom he would, and they came unto him." This is a very interesting thing because I often times think about how God calls us into the ministry, and I ask myself this question because he's called all of us into the ministry in one way or another. Hopefully you all know that.

The one question that I oftentimes ask myself is: what separated me from everybody else that God called me to what I'm doing today? Every single time, I have to stop myself to remind myself that it had nothing to do with me. It had nothing to do with the talent. It had nothing to do with the ability. As a matter of fact, the talent and the ability that you see is a function of the initial call that was placed. So whatever God has called you to, he will equip you to do the work that he's called you to do. But the point behind what I'm trying to say is I think about this a lot, only for God to remind me that he will choose who he will.

That he has his purposes, his reasons, and that does two things for me. Number one, the first thing that it does is it removes the doubt that I feel in my heart because of my incapacity or my unworthiness to be able to do the work that he's done. Because God did it from his own grace, he chose to allow me, the dunce, to do the work. The second thing that it does for me, and this is really substantial and really important, is it's being used by God to remind me that it's him that's doing the work and it's not me. He's called me. He'll do whatever he wants. He'll call me to have the way he wants, he'll do it under whatever circumstances. He's also the one that's going to empower me to do the work.

There's something very spectacular to thinking on that level. By the way, it's interesting how I talk about using the Bible to teach you the practical tools that you can gain in what you do in an everyday life. This is one of the most important tools that God reminds me of this principle: when you have people that are working with you, you don't put people up to do things that they are incapable of doing without seeking to equip them to make sure that they're successful in doing it. Because if you set them up a different way, they're going to fail. And then now what? Now you're on the hook for stumbling somebody. There's something to be said about that mindset.

So he's going to call these men. Verse 14: "And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sickness, and to cast out devils." And Simon he surnamed Peter, and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, he surnamed them Boanerges, which is the sons of thunder. One of these days we're going to do a study on the sons of thunder and explain why this is such a unique picture. We don't have the time to go over it today, but this is something that we could spend a lot of time talking about because when people think "the sons of thunder," they think of their character in the fact that they're just booming and ready to go.

But there's another aspect about this that involves a picture that stands outside of that which is ominous. It speaks of something that is spontaneous. People think of thunder, they think spontaneity, but the reality of it is if you understand science and you recognize how thunder works, there's not a spontaneity to it. As a matter of fact, there's a rhythm that is oftentimes associated with the existence of other elements that create the reaction that you see in thunder. There's a remarkable pattern that comes from that. If you understand that, you'll understand why these two guys were given that title. It's very interesting, and we'll spend some time talking about that another time.

Then Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him. And they went into a house. This is interesting. He's selecting somebody and anointing somebody to do a miraculous work that he knew would betray him. Help me understand that for just a second. We're going to hold that thought and we're going to think about it until we get to that point in the gospel story. It's going to make a whole lot more sense to you why Jesus would do that and why that's such a significant part of the picture here and why it should mean something to us.

But look at this in verse 20. It says, "And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said, 'He is beside himself.'" Two major things happen here. You'll miss it if you're reading the King James. You might actually miss it if you're reading a lot of other translations. Notice this: so many people came out to watch that there wasn't even food to provide for the crowds that were there. Remember, we don't live in a world of McDonald's. Back then, there was no world of fast food. There was no drive-thru, go get yourself some hummus right away. Now you can do that. Now you can have hummus delivered to your house.

There was none of that stuff. If you wanted food during a certain time, you actually had to prepare yourself for it, which is why you didn't have so many people that were severely obese back in those days. It didn't exist a lot back then. Why? Because it was a different time. If you wanted food, there was a lot of labor that went into you having food, and oftentimes you weren't eating three meals a day. It just wasn't that way. But there were so many people that were there that they were not concerned about eating physically. As a matter of fact, it was creating what some people would call a humanitarian problem. They were so committed to a cause and a purpose that food was not the thing that was on their mind. What was on their mind was the spiritual that they were going to gain. The bigger picture was the more important issue.

I think if we could spend more time focusing on the work that God has called us to do, we won't focus on the flesh wanting to be fed so much. The way we think right now in the world in which we live, and I have to continue to remind myself of this because I continue to allow myself to fall to this bad habit, but the way that we think, we tell ourselves that it's time to eat not because we're hungry. We tell ourselves it's time to eat because it's a specific time of the day, and then we mentally tell ourselves that we're hungry because we've conditioned our body to wanting to eat food at a specific time of the day when in reality our body could actually go without it for a little while.

I heard somebody recently tell me that when they used to raise up their kids, they used to tell their kids, "You're not allowed to say you're starving. You can say you're hungry, but you're not allowed to say you're starving." Why? Because there's a distinction between the two. Starving means that you've completely deprived yourself of food for an extended period of time and your body now is at a place where it's suffering as a result of deprivation of food, where hunger may be something physiologically you're experiencing in the moment and in some moments it just may be an emotional thing that you're experiencing.

So it's interesting how these people didn't care about the food. They were just there for the Lord. But then notice this: this is the Creator of the universe. When his friends heard of it, they pulled him aside because they thought he was a cuckoo. Like, no joke. That's exactly what this is saying. "He is beside himself." That's the King James way of saying the guy's a cuckoo. Imagine that. If they would call the Creator of the universe a cuckoo, if the very friends and family of Jesus would call him a cuckoo, who are you to be worried about what other people think about you because you follow Christ?

You think I give a rip about somebody calling me crazy because I believe in Bible prophecy? Call me crazy till you're blue in the face. Guess what? You'll realize that God's Word was right and you were wrong when the time comes to place, and you won't be so crazy anymore. But guess what I've learned? I've learned that even when it's coming into fruition, even when the predictions that we make based on the Scriptures happen, you're still crazy to them. Why? Because they don't walk with God.

Think about it like this. You mean to tell me that a man thinks he can get pregnant because he declares himself to be a woman, and I stand here to say that gender is not a function of anything physiological, sex is, that you are either XX or XY, and I'm the crazy one? Let's get this straight. You have a guy who's been appointed to become the overseer of the Department of Defense. They say that he's crazy because of some things that he's done in the past. I'm not here to defend him. I could care less about defending anybody in this sense.

But they say that he's crazy because recently he gave his life to Jesus and now they're calling him crazy because he turned his life around a few years ago and now he's walking with the Lord. After having cheated on his wife three times, after having struggling with alcohol and all the other things that he dealt with, God got a hold of his heart, he gave his life to the Lord, and they call him crazy. Yet you have a person who advises the president on whether or not to push the nuclear button who goes to jail because he steals the luggage of a female model and then wears that clothing at a White House event. He's a male, wears that clothing.

Or you call that guy crazy? You call a guy like RFK crazy, for taking the stand that he takes in a lot of areas with health that he's right on, but yet you don't call somebody crazy who doesn't know whether or not they're a boy or a girl who oversees the same department? Think about how backwards that is. That's what spiritual blindness will do. That's exactly what it will do. Who's the crazy one here? Who's the one who's nuts? Let's really talk about that. Mental illness is mental illness. They call it gender dysphoria for a reason. This is something that's very hard to communicate to people. I don't know why it's so basic.

Guest (Male): This is Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis, and we're currently going through the Gospel of Mark. Pastor James, we learned today just how real demons are. As you know, some Christians are opening the door to the demonic realm, whether through games they play or movies they watch or even music they listen to. They may think it's harmless, but is it harmless or is it playing with fire?

James Kaddis: No, it's undoubtedly playing with fire. We were designed by God to be people keenly aware of the spiritual realm, and what we do in the spiritual realm is going to create a set of circumstances that we have to deal with. And so when you're playing around with that stuff, you are absolutely opening up the door for demonic intervention, and I would constitute that as playing with fire.

Guest (Male): Verse 22: "And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, 'He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.'"

James Kaddis: Can you imagine the kind of lie and blasphemy that they have to go to to say that? They say that he has the chief of demons that lives inside of him and it's the power of demons that he uses to cast out all the demons. Is that one of the craziest things you'll ever hear? You know, there are guys online, by the way, that make whole videos about me where I would just be doing one of these things with my hands, and all of a sudden they catch me on the freeze-shot where it looks like I'm doing this. And now they go through this whole thing of how I have demons, I'm demon-possessed. Those videos are out there.

"Look at this pastor going nuts. See, that's the demon in him! Can you see it in his eyes?" It's funny. It doesn't make sense, but that's how the devil works. He causes people to use those tools in a way that's completely backwards. But look at the sense that Jesus brings to the table here. He called them unto him and he said unto them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand."

What do you think the Democratic Party has done so well? They've stood in unity together. The Uniparty is doing so well because they're standing in unity together. Why? Because if you stand against yourself, you're not going to stand. You're going to fail. Demons know this. Demons know they don't work against each other. They all work as a team. They don't ever stand divided. It's very, very important. "And if Satan rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he will first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house."

So the illustration is you're not going to go into a house where there's a bad boy in that house. When I say that, I mean like a really tough guy. You're not going to walk into a person's house where there's a really tough guy in there and be able to take all the—you can't! You can't do it. You're not going to walk into a person's house and take all their stuff away. It's just not going to happen.

Guest (Male): Remember, you are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you, because all I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you.