CAN A CHRISTIAN BE DEMONICALLY POSSESSED? NO
A Christian is already possessed.
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
CAN A CHRISTIAN BE DEMONICALLY *OPPRESSED*? YES
On a theological note…
The New Testament book of Ephesians, written by Paul from prison, is a handbook on spiritual warfare, written to the church in the city of Ephesus, an epicenter of demonic, occultic, and pagan activity. Ephesus’ Temple of Diana is categorized as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Within Ephesus’ ethos, Paul makes certain the believers in Ephesus understood who their enemy truly is.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood (human beings), but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) (Paul has just listed the military-like hierarchy of the demonic realm.)
By next describing the “armor of God” (vss 13-18), Paul makes it crystal clear that, although we’ve come to faith in Christ and our souls are bought and paid for by the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross, Satan’s strategy simply changes from “keeping them from coming to faith in Christ,” to “doing all he can to weaken the Christian’s faith and keep them from following Christ wholeheartedly.”
On a practical note… (What does demonic oppression look like in everyday life?)
From C.S. Lewis’ ‘Screwtape Letters’ –
“My dear Wormwood, I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a Christian.… In the meantime, we must make the best of the situation.”
Lewis’ book of fictional correspondence contains 31 letters from Uncle Screwtape to his novice demon nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood’s “patient” (his non-Christian assignment) gets saved between Letters 1 & 2. Consider my next statement carefully:
The next 29 letters – a full 93% of the book! – are spent instructing Wormwood on how to keep the Christian oppressed through distraction, self-centeredness, hurry, and complacency and apathy regarding his devotion to Christ, or what C.S. Lewis calls “contented worldliness.”
The word “oppress” means to control. Well, that’s Satan’s goal. But, he will take years if necessary to achieve this objective – it’s a slow burn. Strategically, he hides out of sight in the shadows so as not to alert the Christian to any kind of danger. Oppression presents itself in different forms. A few examples are…
Pornography. The disciple, John, calls this “the lust of the flesh” i.e. anything biblically immoral or licentious, etc. Think porn or sexual activity outside of marriage doesn’t affect you? Demons are laughing at you. Their plan is working perfectly.
Holding onto an offense, allowing it to take root and grow into bitterness. Author, John Bevere, describes holding onto an offense as the “bait of Satan.” Forgiveness and trust are two separate things. You might never be able to trust someone again, but forgiving them will set a prisoner free; then you will discover the prisoner was you.
Self-Worth. The late Lewis Smedes, in his book, Shame and Grace, described his own self-worth, “What I felt most was a glob of unworthiness…”
Time and never having enough of it. Holocaust survivor, Corrie ten Boom, observed,
“If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.”
Social Media. The present daily average a person spends online is a little over 4 ½ hours. Many spend far longer. Regarding efforts to keep us from thinking about Jesus, Lewis’ Screwtape counsels Wormwood,
“You will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract [their] wandering attention. [As far as keeping them from ever praying], a column of advertisements in yesterday’s paper will do.” Translate to 2024: “Keeping them mindlessly scrolling through social media will do.”
Once we’ve placed our faith in Christ, the battle changes from “the battle for our soul” to “the battle for our mind.”
In his book, ‘What Demons Can Do to Saints’, Merrill Unger gives us this analogy,
“The demon enters…as a squatter – not as an owner, or a guest, or as one who has a right to be there. But come he does – as an intruder, an invader, and an enemy. [A demon cannot force his way into the life of a believer any more than the serpent could force his way into the lives of Adam & Eve. He has to be ‘invited in’ by the believer who,] leaves the door to his mind wide open.”
Once again, Uncle Screwtape counsels Wormwood –
“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”
The “things” demons want to “keep out” of our mind is Scripture. Why? Because Satan has no defense against it.
Scripture warns us to “take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
Paul encouraged the Christians at Philippi to “think on things that are [biblically} true, worthy of respect, biblically right, pure and wholesome,…” Paul then writes, “think continually on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
Focusing and meditating on the truth of God’s Word, to put it one way, “sanitizes” our minds of the “noise” of our world and reawakens our minds to the presence and power of Jesus.
And Jesus chose his words carefully when he said,
“You shall love the Lord your God with…all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)
WHAT CAN DEMONS DO TO NON-CHRISTIANS? ANYTHING THEY WANT.
For an “entertaining” story, we read in Acts 19 of a group of people, clearly not Christians, who think they can play with demons. You can read the account in Acts 19:11-20.
Part 4 of 4 – “A Christian’s authority in Christ”
Nick