Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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The word "devils" appears often in the four gospels and in other places in the King James Version of the Bible, but that can be a misleading translation of the original word. The word "devils" does not exist in the original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament for one simple reason: there are no "devils". There is only one Devil. Unclean spirits other than the Devil are "demons", and that is the word the apostles used when referring to them. In the KJV Old Testament, the word "devils" appears four times, but it was doubly wrong for the KJV translators to translate these Old Testament words as "devils", not only because there is but one Devil but also because the word "Devil" itself is not revealed as a name for Satan until the temptation of Jesus in the New Testament. In every case, then, whenever the word "devils" is used in the King James translation, or in any other, it is a misleading translation. Demons can be considered "devils" only in the sense that they are like the Devil in their hearts.
Paul taught that demons are the "gods" that unbelievers around the world worship (1Cor. 10:20-21): "The things that the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto demons, and not unto God, and I do not desire for you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and of the cup of demons. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of demons."
These verses, in their context, reveal that the way for God's children to experience "fellowship with demons" is to worship as do people who worship contrary to the way God has commanded. In this covenant, the commanded way to worship God is "in spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4). To worship any other way is to hold communion with demons, for it is worship according to the will of demons rather than the will of God. It is not what we think we are doing that makes our worship either a worship of God or of demons; rather, the determining factor is whether or not our worship is sanctified by the holy Ghost. Without that, all worship is worship of either demons or of self (Paul taught that some people worship their own will power - Col. 2:20-23). Paul's mission was to make the worship of the Gentiles to be acceptable to God "being sanctified by the holy Ghost" (Rom. 15:16).
Evil spirits can teach men. Ancient poets such as Homer and Virgil prayed earnestly that certain of these "gods", the "Muses", would possess them and reveal to them mysteries of the past and open their eyes to the unseen realm of the gods, so that they could tell their epic tales convincingly. I am persuaded to believe that demons did possess those and other such famed "poets" of antiquity and did reveal to them magnificent lies, lies that destroyed countless souls in the ancient world. Paul said that the holy Ghost had plainly spoken to him that some of God's own children would turn from the truth of Christ and would begin to follow after "doctrines of demons" (1Tim. 4:1) and that many saints would hire men (Christian ministers) to teach them such doctrines (2Tim. 4:1-4). This has happened, and the family of God is now completely divided and confused by the conflicting doctrines of Christianity. The Apostle John, also moved by the Spirit of God, described the religion of Christianity as becoming "the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev. 18:2). That is why God wants His people out of it! By participating in the religion of Christianity, the children of God are having fellowship with demons, and while they remain at the table of demons, they are in danger of suffering the coming wrath of God. Concerning Christianity, God foretold not only of the terrible wrath that would destroy it (Rev. 18) but also of His saints' great joy at it's destruction (Rev. 18:20).
The Jews who forsook the Law of the Lord and learned heathen ways of worship did not think they were worshiping evil spirits. On the contrary, they would have insisted that they were not doing so. But their insistence that they were worshiping gods and not evil spirits did not change the facts, nor did it confuse God. God does not listen and learn from men; He demands that men listen and learn of Him. In Leviticus 17:1-7, the Lord said He was providing a place for Israel to worship Him so that "they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons, after whom they have gone a whoring." The Hebrew word used here for these specific demons was pronounced something like "sayier". These evil spirits were, apparently, hairy creatures with goat-like bodies or feet. The ancient "god" named Pan had such a body, and many ancient nations worshiped him. These evil beings are also mentioned in 2 Chronicles 11:15, as being among the gods that Israel worshiped after they had cast out God's Levites as their teachers and priests and rejected both the Law of Moses and the revelations of David.
Another kind of demon that was worshiped by Israel was the "bull-colossus" type. We can still see such bull figures at the entrance ways of ancient palaces of heathen kings. They were supposed to be protective spirits, and Israel trusted in them instead of trusting God for their protection. Israel provoked God to jealousy by their attraction to these demons before they even reached the Land of Promise (Dt. 32:15-20). And once they entered into the land, they proved their devotion to these demons by sacrificing their own children to them (Ps. 106:34-39, KJV): "They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works. And they served their idols, which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions."
Later, in a long and passionate indictment of Israel for her unfaithfulness to Him, God included these heart-rending words: "Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne unto me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of your whoredoms a small matter, that you have taken my children and delivered them [to idolatrous priests] to cause them to pass through the fire for [demons]?" (Ezek. 16:20-21).
In sum, it is better not to worship at all than to worship in ways that God has not commanded because it is better not to worship at all than to worship demons. Every way of worship but God's way is evil. Every other religion but His "pure and undefiled religion" is delusive and destructive. When Homer or Virgil prayed to be possessed by the demons they called Muses, they thought they were pursuing a righteous course. They were, in fact, pleading for their own damnation! Instead of being enlightened, as they thought, they were being led into deep darkness, and the grand stories that the Muses revealed to them hardened the hearts of whole nations against the light of God. Those who are possessed by spirits of Christianity are following in the footsteps of such men, pursuing a course that will not take them and their followers to the place they think they are going. "Thinking to be wise" wrote Paul of such people, "they became fools."
Let us pray to be "possessed" by the sweet Spirit of Truth, the holy Spirit that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us to receive. Outside of that, there is no trustworthy guide for our souls.