CAN A CHRISTIAN BE DEMON POSSESSED?
. Paul, the Apostle, exhorted both Timothy and Titus concerning
sound doctrine in I Timothy 1:10 and Titus 1:9; 2:1. To Timothy he
said, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine; but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned to fables." (II Timothy 4:3,4)
. What is the only criteria for sound doctrine? It must be, that
God's written Word can be and is the ONLY basis for sound doctrine.
The words of 'spiritual teachers or experiences' must never supersede
the Word of God. Paul said that if he or an angel from Heaven
preached any other Gospel than that which they had ALREADY heard, let
him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8) The relating of experiences that are
fables can never be the true basis for sound doctrine, and the minute
we open the door and begin to teach from experience, we lose authority
and introduce confusion. People have a great variety of experiences
and if we accept one unscriptural experience as evidence of doctrinal
truth, then I am bound to accept all experiences; for each one would
have equal authority as a basis for doctrine.
. It is unfortunate that of late, satan has been getting more than
his share of attention. It is sad that many Christians and non-
Christians seem to have a greater interest in satan and being
possessed by demons than they do in Jesus Christ and being possessed
by His Holy Spirit.
. The question has been forced upon us: "Can a Christian be demon
possessed?" We wish to look at this in the manner of the Bible and
not on the basis of the pre-conditioning of theologians and
philosophy. "Let us reason together" is the Bible's admonition and to
"Test all things; hold fast to that which is true." We wish to look
at the matter in the light of reason.
. The term "syllogism" refers to a process of deductive reasoning
based upon a major premise, a minor premise, and the subsequent
conclusion. An example is that we say "All men are foolish." (Major
premise). We then make the observation "G. Smith is a man." (Minor
premise) and we arrive at "Therefore G. Smith is foolish."
(Conclusion). As you can see it is imperative that all three parts of
the syllogy are correct, else it fails.
. The past writers have made this syllogy:
1. (Major premise) A Born-Again Believer is indwelt by the Holy
Spirit.
2. (Minor premise) The Spirit of God cannot permit demons to reside
where it resides.
3. (Conclusion) Therefore, No Born-Again Believer can be possessed by
demons.
. We must point out the major fault in the syllogy in that the
minor premise could also be phrased:
2. The Spirit of God cannot tolerate sin and will not allow it in its
presence.
. The conclusion would thus follow:
3. Therefore, no Born-Again Believer can have sin in him or commit a
sin.
. We wish to point out that the Bible never uses the term
"possessed" in references to demons residing inside someone. The term
is "demonized" and never refers to ownership in relation to this
"demonizing" of a person.
. Now, it should be obvious that the conclusion of both syllogies
are false. A Born-Again Believer does sin, does have sin in his flesh
and is constantly warring against the Spirit of God. Those who choose
to think that Born-Again Believers cannot be demonized always quote
the Scriptures that refer to our place of residence "in the heavenly
places" (Ephesians 2:6) and that we are in Christ (John 14:20)) and
Christ is in us (Colossians 1:27) and make the conclusion "If I am in
Christ and satan has nothing in Him, satan can have nothing in me!"
. We must make note that the verses used to substantiate the
argument ALWAYS refer to the spiritual part of man - not the flesh.
All the verses make reference to the issue of our spiritual
relationship with God. To claim that we are isolated from the
demonizing of satan and his forces only makes others let down their
guard. We are able to rest in Christ and know that Jesus will cover
us in His hands; However, we must look to the matter of those who fail
to rest in Jesus and actively participate in occult activities, either
with some knowledge or in ignorance.
. Too many appointments for counseling have come up from the issue
of a Born-Again Christian having attended a seance, or been to a
retreat that was (unknown to the Believer) run by a cult group where
Tarot cards and other demonic activity was taking place. TM
(Transcendental Meditation) is an example. Many a Christian who has
failed to "test all things" has attended TM meetings and participated
in the initiation rites of the cult. In the process of being given
their "mantra" they are given phrases in Sanskrit that are LITERALLY
requests for the gods of Hinduism to come into their lives.
. The point we are making is two fold. FIRST, a person, whether he
be a Believer in Jesus Christ or a non-believer, who INVITES demons
into his/her life will have his invitation answered. The invitation
is not nearly as difficult as the eviction will be. SECOND, A Born-
Again believer cannot, against his/her will be demonized! Those who
succumb are those who have, unwittingly, consented to the demonizing.
. We are told that satan can appear as "an ANGEL OF LIGHT" and we
can look at the words in the original text and see that the intent of
satan would be to make the "viewer" believe that satan represented the
truth! The Mormons have succumbed to this same angel (Look at the
first vision of Joseph Smith), and many a Believer has been baptized
by the mormons and in so doing have received the "blessing of the
powers and dominions upon yourself and your generations after you unto
the fourth generation."
. In the Bible, who is referred to as "powers and dominions?"
Satan and his forces are the references. The difficulty is that the
only basis for the "test" of "Test all things" is the Bible. The
problem is in the fact that many (too many) Born-Again Believers have
chosen to keep one foot in the world and one foot in heaven and fail
to read their Bible. The latest survey of Christianity tells us that
the average Christian reads his Bible less than 12 minutes a WEEK!
This is not enough "meat" to provide strength to be strong against the
weakest of satan's demons.
. To close, we wish to state that a Born-Again Believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ can be "demonized" only if the Believer yields room to
the demonic forces - either knowingly or unknowingly. Only through
the "growing to be elder men" through constant and consistent feeding
of the Word of God, through prayer and complete communication with our
Father in Heaven can we even be aware of the dangers that lurk in the
most innocent of activities. Only if we are aware that such
demonizing can occur can we be wary and take the necessary time to
"Test ALL things." We need to "test the spirits to see if they are of
God" all the time (without ceasing) and be more aware that we "can do
NOTHING without Jesus Christ!"
. If you believe that you have engaged in any activity that may
have caused you to make the unknowing invitation to satan and his
demons, then we urge you to get counsel NOW! You must have the demons
evicted, and ONLY through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ can that
be accomplished. It is our recommendation that you approach the
Elders of your church body to have this effort made.
. It is our prayer that each of us can become more conformed to the
image of Jesus Christ and that we recognize that we must be aware of
the power that satan has. We must be even more aware that "Greater is
He that is in us than he that is in the world!"
Computers for Christ - San Jose