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 supercede 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 (Trancendental 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    Copyright 1983