Page 1 of 1

Discussing Demons with Children

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:08 am
by darinhouston
We just got back from a WONDERFUL week of family camp at a Christian camp in East Texas. It was so wonderful to be with like-minded people who weren't afraid to live life. Counselors wore masks (sadly) to protect the camp from infections mainly and to show a healthy degree of compliance so they don't get shut down. But, generally, it was life as I remember it. We were immersed in the Spirit and feel renewed.

However, one of the families brought a kid from their church to join their son (his dad is a deacon, etc) and they didn't suspect anything out of sorts, but this kid was pulling kids aside and talking extensively about demons and possession, claiming he had been harmed by them (showing scars, etc) but had their power, talking about various types of demons and demonic powers, that sort of thing. He also was making up stories (according to the friend's dad) about his life that were totally fake, but some about sexual abuse that he feels need to be followed up on in case they might be true, etc.

All that to ask the following.... my 14 year old son hung out with this kid and a couple of others a good bit of the time and no doubt heard much of this (though the worst we heard happened after our imposed curfew one night, thank God!). He doesn't talk much and never mentioned anything, but I feel I need to slowly and carefully address this and temper what he may have heard with Truth.

I'm aware of Steve's Spiritual Warfare series, and listened to it some time ago, but does anyone have any guidance or thoughts on resources or how I might discuss such topics?

Thanks,
Darin

Re: Discussing Demons with Children

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:25 pm
by steve7150
All that to ask the following.... my 14 year old son hung out with this kid and a couple of others a good bit of the time and no doubt heard much of this (though the worst we heard happened after our imposed curfew one night, thank God!). He doesn't talk much and never mentioned anything, but I feel I need to slowly and carefully address this and temper what he may have heard with Truth.






Since you don't know what your son may have heard i think all you can do is say to him that many people have different opinions & experiences with demons and so if he heard things about demons that you would like to talk about it with him whenever he is ready.

Re: Discussing Demons with Children

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:11 am
by 3Resurrections
This post subject strikes a sympathetic chord in my memory.

I, too, was 14 years old when I was totally immersed in a study of angels and demons. By then, I had been a Christian for only a few years, and I was voraciously reading books related to this subject from my father's library. However, I was reluctant to bring up the subject with my parents. While they would have welcomed the opportunity to discuss this with me, I was not the type of personality that felt free to openly discuss spiritual things with them. Too embarrassed to discuss something so personal, I guess. It was a time in my life when reading my Bible daily meant everything to me, and Christ felt like my only friend at that point.

My obsession with this topic eventually leaked into my dreams, and I had nightmares that really disturbed me. After one dream that was too vivid for my tolerance, I finally spoke to my mom about it to get some perspective from an adult view. Her response was to bring up the verse in I John 4:4. "...greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." Granted, this was a bit of misapplication on her part, since the context actually was referring to the antichrist spirit of the false prophets that were THEN present with the first-century believers before Christ's AD 70 return (at which point Zech. 13:2 says that the unclean spirit and prophets would pass out of the land). At the time, though, my mom emphasizing this I John 4:4 verse was consoling to a fearful child of God, however she might have been misapplying it.

It would have been even more consoling to me back then when I was 14 years old if my mom and dad had done a thorough study on the spirit world from scripture and become aware that the demonic world was destroyed to ashes by the end of AD 70, as prophesied. Though Steve does not see the scripture verses stating this in the same Preterist light as I do.

I recommend no other sources for your presenting information on the spiritual world to your son than the scriptures themselves, Darin. Anecdotal stories cannot provide the foundation for doctrine on this topic. And if I were you, I would not wait for your son to bring up the subject. It would have helped me if my own parents had been proactive and introduced the subject for discussion in family devotions BEFORE it became an issue for me. I would have been very grateful to them for saving me from some serious teenaged angst.