Scripture: Topics: Bible Questions with Mike
Okay, here's another question a reader wrote in,
"Wondering if a Christian can be demon possessed?”
~ Joanna
Look at me, Joanna. No, not under any circumstances, ever, in any way, can a Christian be devil-possessed. Never, never, never. Now, I say that as one who's cast out about 40 or 50 devils in my time. And I don't mean this charismatic pretend stuff. I'm talking about people that were speaking in other languages, foaming at the mouth, acting like a cat, prophesying, levitating things. I mean, I'm talking about real devil possession like you read in the Bible, not casting out a spirit of depression out of a woman, but I mean real devil possession. So I say that as somebody that's had experiences with that.
And then, above all things, I have a Bible. So let's see what the Bible says.
1 John 4:1-3 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God, because many false prophets have gone out in the world. Hereby know we the spirit of God, every spirit," that's like an evil spirit or a good spirit, either one, "that confesseth that Jesus is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist." Now, when he said spirit, he's not talking about people.
There are people who confess that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh and preach it and write a book on it and still be devil-possessed. There are many unsaved devil-possessed preachers. So he's not talking about the individual, he's talking about the spirit itself.
Now, I have been dealing with people who were under the power of spirits or a spirit. And you can say to them, "Is Jesus Christ Lord," and they will not say yes. And it may be somebody that was an active member in the Christian church, somebody's been sitting in your congregation, in some cases for two or three years, saying, "Amen," but never been saved. So here they are, devil-possessed. Did Jesus Christ come in the flesh? They will not say that He did. The spirit itself, speaking through the individual, will not acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord God and He died.
I could tell you some funny stories about the devil and some of the things he said, but we'll saved that for another time.
He said, 1 John 4:4"Ye are of God, little children and that have overcome them,” these spirits, “because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." So there's only one He in us, and that's the Holy Spirit of God. And that spirit of God that's in us is greater than all the spirits that are in the world.
1 John 4:5-6"They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world. The world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
So one of the things the devil comes with, the spirits come with are lies. In fact, that's his main weapon, are lies. God's main weapon is truth and the sort of truth. But the devil's main weapon are lies. In fact, his first weapon was a lie. He said to Eve, "Has God said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. God knows in the day you eat there, your eyes shall be opened. You shall be his gods, knowing good and evil.'" (Genesis 3:1-5) He lied to her. He deceived her. And so the devil's first tool is lying.
1 John 3:8 and 10 says, "He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil's sin is from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil." Can you imagine God redeeming a lost soul, putting His spirit in that individual, His name's written in heaven, and then a devil comes into him and he's devil-possessed, and he commits all kinds of vile acts and says vile things and curses God and Jesus Christ and he's devil-possessed? I mean, that's an absurdity. We'd have to find another salvation. We'd have to look somewhere else. That wouldn't work.
1 John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." You see, that seed that remains in us is not going to allow Satan to come and dwell in.
1 John 3:10 "In this, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil."
I've read books where prominent preachers have said that Christians can be devil-possessed. And the reason they say that is because they have run across people in their congregation, professing Christians, who were devil-possessed. And they've cast the devil out of them and the people went on.
I had a guy one time, a member of my church. He was a high school senior, 18 years old, football player, sitting right beside me in a meeting. And the first song, first words of the meeting was a song. And Shad Williams was singing, and the first word was Jesus. And that's common with Shad. And so he begins to sing and got one phrase out, guy sitting right beside me, because he's kind of helping us around with our sound equipment and stuff. And this guy stiffens out like a board, puts his hands over his ears and screams, "Don't say that name." And it's a metal chair, so he slides like this, bump, bump, bump, and lands in the floor flat this way, about 230 pounds, holding his ear saying, "Don't say that name."
Well, he's not of God. The devil’s in him didn’t want to hear the name of Jesus. So I got him up to take him to a prayer room in the back, and he's stumbling. He just can't hardly walk. The devil's possessing his body. And a couple of military guys got up, thinking I was escorting a drunk out, and they were going to help me. He laid both of them out. He was real agile and alert when those guys came around. So he knocked both of them down. And then we got to the prayer room and he named the devils spoke to me, and they gave their names, different ones.
And the devils told me how they possessed him. It was he was listening to rock music, particularly the music Black Sabbath. And listening to that, he got devil-possessed, and he continued to listen to it.
I heard one of my grandkids listening to a song the other day that was equal to it. And so that is one of them ways that the devil comes into people, is through devil's music. And so that guy ended up, the devils came out, went right back in. He didn't want them out. So he went home.
And the next day his daddy made him come to my house to apologize for wrecking the place. And he walked in, real meek, said, "Mike, I don't know what happened to me." He said, "I don't understand. I don't remember. I don't know what happened to me."
And I said, "Sit down there," and he sat down. And I shoved the Bible, it was like a table, I shoved the Bible towards him.
And he starts screaming, starts climbing backwards, gets up on the couch, puts his back against the wall and said, "Get that book away from me. Get that book away from me. I don't want that book. Get that book away from me." I recorded ... I turned my tape recorder on just before he came in. And I had just spent two hours with a couple helpers the night before, casting the devil out and it coming back in. It was clear he didn't want them out. So I said, "Go home," and he left.
About five years later, he comes back to my house, and he's grown up then, married, had some kids. And he's got a .45 on his side. Kind of freaked me out. I didn't have anything on my side, but he was real friendly. He said, "I'm state trooper up in Ohio and got married, got a couple kids. Just wanted to come say hello."
I said, "What are you doing?"
He said, "Oh, I teach Sunday school and church." So he was a Baptist Sunday School teacher, devil-possessed, probably still is today, may have high acclaim. If the devils act up in him and the preacher casts them out, he's going to say, "See, Christians can be devil-possessed." No, they can't. Only people that belong to the devil can be devil-possessed.
Ephesians 2:2 says, "Wherein time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air," used to in times past, "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
1 John 2:14, he said, "I write unto you little children because ye have overcome the wicked one."
2 Corinthians 6:16, "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I'll dwell in them, I'll walk in them. I'll be their God and they shall be my people.'" How in the world could God and the devil dwell in the same place? The Holy Spirit would certainly cast out a devil if He was in the same body. They couldn't get along.
Luke 10:17, "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the devils are subject unto us.'" You see, I have never been the least little bit scared of devils. I'm not scared of the devils or the Devil.
Now, if I gave place to the devil, he could destroy my life. But you give place to him by cultivating the ground where he dwells, fertilizing the ground where he dwells with the things that he delights in. In other words, if you get into pornography or some kind of other garbage, or you start lusting after children or man after a man, or you get into thieving and lying or whatever you get into and you create an environment, then the devil could come in, because you're making a place for him in your life.
And he said, Luke 10:17-19 "The seventy returned with joy, saying, 'The devils are subject to us through thy name.' He said, 'Behold, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven. I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.'" Now, these disciples who weren't yet filled with the Holy Spirit, weren't yet born again, were casting out devils, and having a good time doing it. They were laughing about it. They were rejoicing. "The devils are subject to us. Wow, we just got there and we say to this guy that's foaming at the mouth, 'Satan, I command you to come out of him in the name of Jesus.'"
"The name of who?"
"Jesus." Out he comes. Now, that's the fact, Jack. That's all that one.
