Tag: demon-possession

Can Christians Have a Demon?

I believe that Satan and his demons can reside in living things which draw breath. This includes animals and man. This is one of the three ways problems can come upon man. The other two ways are sin, and organic disease. Indeed, to not believe in this would be to deny Christ, as so much of Christ’s ministry (and later, His apostles’) was in casting out demons.
 
As a true crime junkie, I often wonder how often serial killers or other criminals are ‘possessed’ by demons. At least some of them are. People tell the same stories about how their ‘eyes went black’ and ‘he became a different person’. Now, most of the time criminal behavior is due to straight-up sin, so we cannot give the devil all the credit. But I do think a significant portion can be attributed to Satan and his demons.
 
I posted the story recently about Jesus saving the demoniac. In those days, a man was inhabited by numerous evil spirits who called themselves ‘Legion’, and he had been kicked out of town and was living on the edge of town, in the place where they buried the dead, among the corpses. The demons inside the man recognized Jesus and begged Him not to hurt them and requested that they be cast into a neighboring herd of swine. They probably did not realize that the swine would go mad and race down the hill into the sea and drown, but that is exactly what happened.
 
Since 1614 The Catholic Church has authorized the use of exorcism for those who are believed to be the victims of demonic possession. In my lifetime, the Catholic religion became infamous in the 1970’s for their belief in demon-possession and exorcism, exemplified by the movie, ‘The Amityville Horror’. I remember being on vacation in Oklahoma as a little girl and my big sister got to go see this movie with our friends, and I was forced to stay home. Of course, I had no idea how scary that movie was and am glad now I wasn’t allowed to see it. Anyway, I do not think the perpetrator, Ronald DeFeo Jr., was demon-possessed. I think he was influenced by the perfect storm of drug and alcohol abuse, the provocation of his father’s poor parenting habits, and his sins (namely anger and who knows what else) combined with his father’s sins. He was raised in a Catholic household, so the name of Jesus would have been heard and voiced, even if Jesus was not personally known by Ronald Jr. 
 
In the 1970’s the concept of psychiatry and psychology had taken root and its practitioners began to provide counseling and ‘mental health services’ to those who struggled with problems that they could not overcome. Even the Catholic church bought into this ideology and began telling people they probably did not have a spiritual problem but a ‘mental health problem’ and the priests offloaded their patrons to these practitioners. Fast forward to today and we can see that those who came long before us actually were closer to the truth: that what really ailed these folks WAS spiritual, not ‘mental’. There was no ‘mental’ until it was separated out as its own idea. Spiritual WAS what encompassed ‘mental’ back then. That knowledge was taken from us by Satan himself. He was tired of being seen for what he was, a harbinger of destruction. He was tired of being called out and cast out. So he camouflaged not himself, but the problem, so that man could no longer see him as clearly.
 
Characteristics of the demon-possessed individual
 

What the Church views as signs of demonic invasion vary depending on the type of demon and its purpose, including:

    • Using languages unknown to the person or people around them.
    • Having extraordinary strength or resistance to physical restraint.
    • Knowledge of events or people that the person could not have possibly known.
    • An aversion to holy objects or places, such as holy water or churches.
    • Self-harming and displaying violent or aggressive behaviour.
    • Ailments or conditions that cannot be diagnosed or treated medically.
    • Having hallucinations or hearing voices not attributable to drug or alcohol use or abuse
    • An abrupt change in behavior or personality.
    • Sudden spiritual dryness.
    • Expelling of objects or animals through the mouth.

In Hostage to the Devil, Malachi Martin also mentions a type of demonic attack called “familiarization”. He writes:

“

The possessing spirit in “familiarization” is seeking to “come and live with” the subject. If accepted, the spirit becomes the constant and continuously present companion of the possessed. The two “persons”, the “familiar” and the “possessed”, remain separate and distinct. The “possessed” is aware of his “familiar”.

”

The last book of the bible, the book of The Revelation of John, explains that the dragon (Satan) recruited a third of the angelic realm to join him in rebelling against the Lord. This third of the angelic realm are called demons. Demons are fallen angels, which move between heaven and earth doing the bidding of the enemy. Demons may bring torment to believers and unbelievers, and they may indwell both believers and unbelievers as shown in the Gospels.

The bible says the way of the transgressor is hard; the transgressors being those who do not know God. The bible also says: 

It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. ~Hebrews 11:6

As you might already know, the subject of demon-possession is not without some controversy, especially as it regards Christians. Some Christians believe that once they are justified (saved) in Christ, no demon can enter him, and others disagree. They believe Christians can be heavily plagued, or even inhabited, by demons. Wayne Grudem argues in his Systematic Theology (2004) that the translation “demon possessed” which is common in many modern versions of the bible does not actually reflect the Greek. The Greek term really just means “to have demons.” Jesus validated the term to ‘have a demon’ in reference to God’s people many times in his discourse with Pharisees. The Old Testament speaks of some Israelites having a demon, namely King Saul. So, it is possible for believers to be plagued by demons.

I call it ‘dancing with demons’ when they are still outside of a person, seeking entrance. ‘Having a demon’ implies they have entered the person. To be clear, all prominent Christian scholars agree that a person cannot lose their salvation in Christ, but that he can be given over to various afflictions by the devil and his demons while alive; and can become a slave to Satan, instead of Jesus Christ.

This is a good article on the subject: https://bible.org/seriespage/9-can-christians-be-demonized-or-possessed .

I also believe that the Devil and his demons can inhabit animals and use them to wage war on humans. I came to understand this after watching a movie that made me consider the phenomenon of demon possession in animals. It is a documentary called “Night of the Grizzlies“, and it is based on the book of the same name about two fatal grizzly bear attacks occurring minutes apart on the same night in Glacier National Park. As a Christian, I do not believe in coincidence or that things just happen randomly. God is sovereign and He orchestrates everything that happens, even as He allows the devil to rule this earth.

I cannot overlook the significance of the Glacier Park killings which both occurred in two 19-year-old blonde girls on the night of August 13, 1967, by two different bears about 8 miles apart. As I recall it was a ‘windy night’ and get chills thinking about Satan sending his demons into those bears to do his dirty deeds. I know at least one of the girls was a Christian, and probably the other as well. They were in the park working as seasonal employees. This particular night they were both camping with friends in two popular places in the park. One admittedly was near a notorious bear feeding ground, but the other was not. These bears literally went mad, killed these girls, and drug their bodies away to store as a food cache. The bears had to be hunted down and killed by park rangers. What a horrific tale. I know that night that the devil sent his demons to that region of the wilderness to kill those girls. Interestingly, a Catholic priest was present on vacation in that locale on that very night, and minstered to one of the girls before she died.

The GOOD NEWS

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ~James 4:7

The Good news is that Jesus came to save sinners. And if you abide in Christ, you cannot sin (1 John 3:6) and the devil cannot obtain a foothold. What does it mean to abide in Christ? While the Apostle Paul, the greatest evangelist in the early church, was imprisoned in his last days on earth he reminded us that we are all soldiers in God’s army. And as a soldier, we also need to put on armor, except our armor is not physical armor, it is spiritual armor. This is because our enemies are spiritual, not physical. The best way to abide in Christ is to don our armor daily. Stephen Armstrong lays it out very well in his bible study from 2017. I will summarize below.

Our Defensive Weapons:

  • Belt of truth
  • Breastplate of righteousness
  • Shoes of evangelism
  • Shield of faith
  • Helmet of salvation

Our Offensive Weapons:

  • Sword of the Spirit (the word of God)
  • Praying always in the Spirit

If we wear our armor daily, the devil will not be able to gain a foothold to tear us down. Then we will also be able to help our brethren who are falling to demonic activity.

Test the Spirits

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ~ 1 John 4:1-4

But just wearing armor daily is not enough. You must love the Lord your GOD with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength in this war because love is what it all comes down to. Love is the essence of why God created us. Without love, nothing else matters. Without love, we fail. To fully love God, we have to continue in our sanctification (purity, refinement) DAILY, replacing those old sinful habits with righteous ones. If we are lackadaisical or haphazard about this–Jesus called it being lukewarm–then we actually set ourselves up for MORE failure, ironically.

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils……When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” ~Luke 11:21-22; 24-26

The best way to know if you are protected in the Lord, and abiding enough in Him, is to see the fruit that is produced when you walk in The Way of Christ. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The devil cannot live in this realm. If you are lacking some of this fruit, you are opening a door for demons to enter in and destroy you, and I admonish you to work on that.

So, yes, even Christians can have a demon, unfortunately, but this usually occurs in folks who have long-ago abandoned God, or who have a heart turned against God. By far, the usual cause of man’s problems is sin itself, not demons.

Selah~