YES, CHRISTIANS CAN HAVE DEMONS

By NiteOwlDave
niteowldave@gmail.com

Can a born again Christian be possessed by a demon?

It is likely that most Bible-believers who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will say absolutely not.

They will say no way will the Holy Spirit share quarters with a demon or demons. They advise that demons are blocked from entering a Christian by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That seems to make sense. I’m sure 99 per cent of us raised in a Bible church have always believed this to be rock solid truth.

It may be an eye opener to learn that nowhere in the Bible does it state that a Christian cannot be indwelt by a demon. It is assumed that Christians are demon-proofed.

The idea that a demon can attach to a Christian falls in place if we accept that all of us are triune beings, consisting of body, soul, and spirit.

I suggest one or more demons can inhabit the realm of the body (flesh) and the realm of the soul (mind, emotions, and will), but not the realm of the spirit where the Holy Spirit resides.

I will address the “how” part of the question further down. I use the demon “attach” word to try to sidestep the word debate of being demonized and demonic oppression.

There is no such thing as demon possession of a Christian. The correct wording is, Christians and a non-Christians can be demonized.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

The Bible does not say much about being demonized.

However, there are passages that, I suggest, seem to indicate that God does allow demons to quietly attach to a follower of Jesus Christ.

This will happen only if a demon has “grounds” which gives it the authority or right to be there. Case in point: Horrors, but was not a demon attached to the world’s greatest evangelist, the apostle Paul? It seems so.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7, it states that the Lord used a demon to prevent Paul from becoming proud of his accomplishments in establishing churches and winning the lost for Christ. Paul was helped from becoming proud of the revelations he received when he was taken to Heaven.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” – KJV

God did not use an angel here, but a messenger of Satan – a demon. This demon inhabited the flesh of Christian Paul. Paul apparently had to deal with vision problems. In Galations 6:11, he writes, "See what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand."

Demons can be sent by God if a Christian needs chastening when he does not respond properly to less severe measures by Him.

As I see it, God will allow demons to deliver physical infirmities to Christians and non-Christians. Often times, the malady cannot be diagnosed by medical doctors because it is spiritual rather than physical.

Christians who work in demon deliverance ministries tell us that most of these demons can readily be cast out unless, as in Paul's case, the demon is sent by the Lord to buffet that person to keep him from being proud or for some other reason.

Isaiah 61:1 sheds broad light on the subject: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek: he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.”

Grace Kemp, a seasoned Bible teacher, notes that the Bible says demons have access to Heaven “so why not we Christians?”

She asks, “If a demon cannot indwell a believer because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, how is it that Satan and his demons continue to have their place in Heaven until the middle of the Tribulation?”

She points to Revelation 12:7-12,“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”

Kemp notes, “While Satan and his angels maintain their place in Heaven where he accuses the saints before God ‘day and night’, according to Revelation 12:10, ‘he is also ’the prince of the power of the air’ and ‘the god of this world.’

"In Eden, he tricked Eve and Adam into giving him the deed to earth. Consequently, Satan and his hordes of fallen angels work on earth while maintaining their place in Heaven."

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ So Satan answered the LORD and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it’.”

Grace's website is http://www.scriptureseries.com

WHAT OPENINGS DO WE PROVIDE FOR DEMONIC ATTACHMENT?

One area that Christians and non-Christians are particularly vulnerable to demon attachment is involvement in the occult. This would include consulting horoscopes, Ouija boards, fortune-tellers, séances and so forth.

Haven of Hope founder Shirley (last name withheld) states, “There was a time when I believed Christians could not have demons - that's what I was taught - but then my experiences showed me the truth and THERE WAS NO CONTRADICTION WITH THE WORD OF GOD.

“People who deny the possibility of Christians having demons are missing the knowledge of much of the spiritual world.

“Any kind of severe trauma, such as sexual abuse, gives ground to demons. Demons are forced to reveal what right they have to be with the person - any curses, vows or programming connected to them and any ground. The person then renounces and breaks the curses, vows and programming and renounces the ground the demon has 'in the name and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ'.”

Shirley’s website is http://www.haven-of-hope.org/

FAILURE OF BIBLE TEACHERS

Many Bible teachers, inexperienced in spiritual warfare and deliverance ministry, usually don't want to talk about the reality of demons linked to Christians.

As radical as this may sound, may I suggest that the fear of demons comes from demons themselves. Says 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

The key is for our church leaders to be trained how to lead people to take back the demon’s ground (legal right to stay) and then to expel demons in a calm, orderly, step-by-step way and NOT by screaming, “out, out, out in the name of Jesus.”

It is the power of the shed blood of the risen Lord Jesus Christ that IS the control and removal power, yes. But like a surgeon, we must know the specific right and power a demon has to remain attached to a person. Without knowing a demon’s ground, we will be blocked and wind up frustrated.

Much of Jesus' earthly ministry included casting out demons that resulted in healing the victims of physical and mental afflictions. And before He commissioned the 11 disciples at the end of His ministry, when He sent out the Twelve, part of their charge was to cast out demons, according to Matthew 10:1-8.

Not all who have demons are maniacal like the Gadarene demoniac who wore no clothes and lived in tombs. Jesus delivered a "daughter of Abraham" whom Satan had bound for 18 years. She had "a spirit of infirmity" that had her bent over and she could not straighten up, says Luke: 13:11-16.

Children can have demons. The Syrophenician mother had a "young daughter who had an unclean spirit" and besought Jesus "that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter"

Mark 7:25-26 speaks of a man whose son had a demon. "And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father".

Take note: Rebuking does NOTHING to get rid of demons. For some reason, Christians today have not been given the same demon “rebuking and deliverance” power the Apostles possessed. The power the apostles had was given to prove that Jesus Christ was sent by God and was, indeed, the Son of God.

Jesus rebuked the demons because He is God. Not only did the Disciples and the Seventy cast out demons during Jesus' ministry, but later, as recorded in the Book of Acts, the apostles' ministry included deliverance:

Act 5:8 says, "There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one."

Again, the healing and deliverance was to prove that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, sent by God. Philip, who was once a deacon and later became an evangelist, ministered to the people in the city of Samaria. He said in Acts 8:7, “For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them...." Unclean spirits can speak through God's people, often unknown to the believer.

Matthew 16: 22-23 says, "Then Peter took him (Jesus), and began to rebuke him....But he (Jesus) turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan" Many times we hear Christians quote James 4:7 saying, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But that is the last half of the verse. The first half says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God."

Every area of our lives must be in subjection to God. If we do not totally submit to Him, then we give ground to the enemy to influence and defeat us in those areas. And often the work of demons is manifested as a result.

In these perilous last days we must realize that our real enemy is Satan.

Paul said in Ephesians 6:12, "...we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world...."