Last Saturday, September 17, 2011, I was surprised to see that I was added to the group Baptist Pastors, Preachers, Members and Friends NetKape.  I have no objections to being added.  I am a Baptist and I am not ashamed to say so.

I saw one question there that piqued my interest:  Can Christians be demon-possessed?  I happen to have lectured at the Project 8 Bible School last semester on spiritual warfare and demon possession was one of the topics.  I would like to take this time to share what I have read and learned on the topic.  My source for this blog is my reading of Neil T. Anderson‘s book entitled The Bondage Breaker.

First, we all agree that even christians are vulnerable to attacks from Satan and these attacks come in the form of temptations, accusations and deceptions.  This is a Biblical fact.  We were once slaves of sin and of Satan but Jesus Christ redeemed us and so we are now servants of the True and Living God.  There is a conflict going on because although Jesus Christ defeated Satan on the cross of Calvary, Satan’s sentencing and judgment is still in the future.  Right now, Satan is still free to roam to and from the earth, he is still free to even appear before the throne of God to accuse us before the courts of heaven.

Second, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Holy Spirit indwells us and he makes our bodies his temple. We belong to God and God has sealed us unto the day of the redemption of our bodies.

Third, we christians are repeatedly warned in the Scriptures to be vigilant and watchful because our enemy, the devil, is relentlessly seeking whom he may devour.  We are given a spiritual armor with which we can do battle against the forces of Satan.  We are told to “make no provision for the flesh.”  We are also told to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Fourth, we rarely consider what would happen when we listen to Satan’s deceptions.  What if we listen to Satan’s lies?  For example, in Ephesians 4:26, Apostle Paul warns us not to let the sun go down upon our wrath nor give place to the devil.  What happens to a christian who allows his anger to smolder, what will happen to the christian who allows his wrath to poison his soul?  He will then be giving a place to the devil:  that is to say, he is opening a door into his mind and into his emotions that can be open to demonic influence.

Again in 2 Corinthians 2:11  Apostle Paul warns us not to nurture an unforgiving spirit because an unforgiving spirit will allow Satan to take advantage of us. But what if a christian nurtures an unforgiving spirit?  Instead of humbly surrendering his hurt feelings to the Lord for the Lord to deal with the person who has hurt him, that christian simply bottles up the unforgiving spirit in his mind and in his heart.  What will happen to him?  His unforgiving spirit will be a foothold that Satan will use to influence that Christian.  That unforgiving spirit in that christian will be the way that Satan will take advantage of that christian.  It will be Satan’s device (or mind game) to keep that Christian preoccupied with his hurt feelings that he will not grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  That Christian will be suspicious of his fellow christians, he will not be able to fellowship with them, he will become easily offended. Soon, he will become embittered that he will just stop attending church.  Or, this christian may begin spreading lies about the fellow christian or the members of the church who has hurt him.  What may result will be division in the church.  Everyone will be unable to to function spiritually with joy.

Fifth, the term “demon-possessed” as most people use it,  is not accurate.  The Greek word is <daimonizomai> or <daimonizomenos> when translated in our modern times means “demonized.”  To be demonized means to be under the control or under the influence of one or more demons.  Possession suggests that a demon has taken up residence in a person.  This cannot happen to a christian because a christian has the Holy Spirit of God already living in him.

Sixth, while a demon cannot dwell in a Christian’s body or take over his personality, a demon can so influence and so control the mind and emotions of a person that his actions and the choices he makes with his will are influenced as well.  When this happens, christians commit gross sin and are unable to free themselves from the grip of the pattern of sin in their lives.  Satan is the father of lies and he whispers lies to christians all the time.  He whispers half-truths and near-truths that if we are not careful to always read God’s truth as it is revealed in the Bible, we may find ourselves believing Satan’s lies.

Seventh, the example in the Old Testament is King Saul.  He was chosen by God.  He was anointed by Samuel to be king.  He even prophesied with the sons of the prophets.  He was a mighty king and had a string of military victories in his record.  But he nurtured the spirit of jealousy and personal pride. Instead of humbling himself before God and asking God’s forgiveness for his presumption, he refused to accept that God has rejected him because of his stubbornness and disobedience.  He then became paranoid.  He suspected David and his own son Jonathan of conspiring to take the kingdom from him. Nothing David said or did was ever good enough.  He tried to spear David through, he tried to spear Jonathan through.  He hunted David down like an animal. King Saul ordered the murder of the  priests of God at Nob because he thought that they were conspiring with David to oust him from the throne.  Lastly, in his hour of desperation, when God would not talk to him anymore, King Saul dabbled in witchcraft, an abomination in the sight of God.  He died in his sin, unrepentant, rejected and unprofitable for the Lord.

Eighth, in the New Testament, the example of Christians who have come under the influence of Satan is the couple Ananias and Saphira.  They were christians who sold a piece of land they owned and gave the proceeds as an offering to the Lord. The issue was not the amount they gave but that they lied about how much they had actually sold the property.  They tried to deceive the apostles by stating that the amount they gave was the total amount they had received when in truth, they kept back for themselves the bigger share of the proceeds of the sale.

What did Apostle Peter say to the couple?  Apostle Peter said that Satan has filled the hearts of Ananias and Saphira such that they lied to the Holy Ghost. They died on the spot.  God disciplined them in order for the fear of God to reign in the young church at Jerusalem.

How can Satan fill the hearts of those believers? First, Ananias and Saphira willingly conceived of the plan in their minds. Second, they hatched the plan in order to see whether or not they can tempt the Holy Spirit; that is, to see whether or not the Holy Spirit can be fooled by them.  Apparently, Satan planted a lie in their hearts that it is possible to lie to the Holy Spirit and they believed Satan’s lie.  The Holy Spirit is not only holy, he is also omniscient.  He is God and no one can hide anything from God.  No one can fool God.

Ninth, when Christians allow Satan to gain a foothold, it is the same as a land owner who  allows his fence to be broken down by squatters.  The landowner is not vigilant or watchful, he does not regularly inspect his fences to see if there is a breach.  His neglect allows the squatters to enter and gain access to his land.  The squatters are not owners or guests, the squatters are intruders, invaders and enemies of the land owner.  But he comes in and tries to stake a claim over the land he neither owns nor possesses. Soon, the landowner will have to use force to eject the squatters.  He will have to appeal to the courts so that the intruders may be ejected from his land.

This is the view of Dr. Merril Unger in his book What Demons Can Do to Saints.  He says : “The demon enters …as a squatter and not as an owner or a guest or as one who has a right there.  But he comes in as an intruder and as an invader and enemy.  But come he does if the door is opened by serious and protracted sin.”

Tenth, Satan knows he can never own us.  But if he can deceive us into yielding control of our life in any way, he will impede our growth and destroy our witness for Christ. If we allow him to fill our mind with his lies, if we allow him access to our mind and our hearts by our unbelief, then, Satan will come into our life and influence our thoughts, our emotions and eventually, our actions.

Satan cannot own or possess us, instead, he will influence us.  He will relentlessly torment our mind with the same evil thoughts that we had at first entertained.  He cannot possess us but he will exercise undue influence on us and pressure us such that we will eventually yield to sin.

I hope that this adds some clarification to the issue.  I hope also that a knowledge of how Satan works will help us to know how to find the Scripture truth that will repel his lies.  In our conflict with Satan, the issue is not power, the issue is truth.  God’s Word is truth.  Satan deals in lies.  The only way to disable Satan from influencing our hearts and our minds is when we hold forth the truth of the Word of God.  The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.  Let us use this effective weapon God has given us in order to do battle with the lies of Satan.