And war broke out in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in Heaven any longer. Revelation 12:7,8
The book of Revelation describes the expulsion of Lucifer, the arch angel of light and his angels of darkness being cast out of Heaven to the earth by the warrior prince, Michael and his angels. It did not say that the dragon and his demons were cast out, but angels, making a distinction between angels and demons.
In the above mentioned scripture the Greek word for angel is aggelos both for the good and bad angels, meaning messenger and not demon which in the Greek is daimon or devil meaning a supernatural spirit with a bad nature. Nonetheless they are both bad news for anyone taking them on, which by the way is held strictly for the church as a whole when engaging with fallen angels. It is a dangerous thing to engage a principality or a power by yourself even though you have the authority because the counter attack that will follow in most cases can prove deadly!
Don't get me wrong, fallen angels and demons both have a mission to rob, kill and destroy but we need to understand their authority structure in order to effectively engage them in warfare and defeat them in the Name, power and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! Spiritual warfare was given to us as the saints of God and sadly there is not much written to instruct us about how we are to engage the enemy other than trusting God and taking up the weapons of our warfare, the armor of God, and the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:9
TAKING DOMINION OVER OUR DOMAIN
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. Revelation 12:13
I believe the specific mission of fallen angels is to war against the saints of God as Satan, the dragon immediately tried to do by bringing persecution on the soon to be body of Christ, the assembly of the righteous. From day one at Pentecost up until now Satan and his angels have fought the church for dominance and sadly for the most part have prevailed because of our division and denomination that has weakened us greatly in regards to warfare.
The garden of God was given to man to have dominion over and to cultivate and to be fruitful and multiply all that was given by the Most High. Satan's first attempt at taking it for himself was a success because of Adam's inability to war against this prince of darkness and subsequently gave our rightful possession to him and caused all of mankind to fall into sin inherited from Adam thus causing our need to be saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus!
Today the world is controlled by these principalities and powers and the entire domain of the earth has been divided up among them, giving entrance to drug addiction, abortion, sickness, disease, destruction, war and false religions, cults, the black arts and witchcraft, leading mankind into gross immorality and idolatry! Ask yourself a question, "Is the earth controlled by the true church of Jesus Christ or is it dominated by the powers of darkness?" You can see the answer to this question on the nightly news where violence, rape, accidents, sickness, immorality, murder, suicide, kidnapping and robbery abound being unrestrained by the church of God! Where righteousness was intended to prevail, now destruction and death have ruled the world!
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:17
PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. II Corinthians 10:4,5
A stronghold is what it is, a strong hold in a person or on a domain controlled either by a demon in a person or a fallen angel over a territory or domain and must be pulled down by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit given to those who believe and act in the name of Jesus Christ! Jesus spent much of His earthly ministry casting out demons and setting the captives free from the bondage of sin and death as well as confronting fallen angels in His temple, the Roman empire and even in His own disciples, Peter and Judas!
The church today has all but forgotten the authority that Jesus gave them over the powers of darkness and the ministry of deliverance is much too messy for the big tithers to endure. This is why the world is in the shape its in because the body of Christ has not and evidently, will not take their rightful dominion over the enemy! Fallen angels and demonic spirits have wreaked havoc on the planet having a literal field day robbing, killing and destroying all that God created and gave to us to occupy till He returns.
So, who's controlling your life, livelihood and family, the Holy Spirit or the powers of darkness? Are there strongholds in your heart that have refused to leave because you have not confronted them and have allowed them to stay until they end up killing you? If the answer is yes to these very important questions, then do this: ask the Holy Spirit to shine His spotlight of holiness into the dark recesses of your heart and then ask Him to set you free and deliver you from that which has set up a stronghold in your life! The power, the authority and the dominion has been given to us who have taken the Lord at His word and believed!
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life to the death. Revelation 12:11
Your servant in Christ, Tim Laughlin