Do demons have legal rights over us?

ByTheSpirit

Come Lord Jesus
May 17, 2011
11,422
4,650
Manhattan, KS
✟186,512.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
I hear this a lot, that we can give demons legal rights to inhabit us through various means. Is that true and scriptural?

I mean Jesus set us free did He not? I thought He defeated Satan on the cross and paid for us by His own blood so we would not be subject to Satan any longer.

What do you think?
 

Tobias

Relationship over Religion
Jan 8, 2004
3,734
482
California
✟21,764.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
Private
I hear this a lot, that we can give demons legal rights to inhabit us through various means. Is that true and scriptural?

I mean Jesus set us free did He not? I thought He defeated Satan on the cross and paid for us by His own blood so we would not be subject to Satan any longer.

What do you think?


There are certain spiritual principles that determine the way things work in Heaven and in Hell, with God and with Satan. Some people like to think of these principles as "legal" laws that have been set forth.

Like say, this one: "Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven."

Is this a law that God is legally required to uphold? Eh... I suppose you could think of it as such, but then it gives off the wrong impression about how God might be subject to some mystical legal system that He doesn't control.

In the same way, Satan's kingdom works according to certain principles that we can learn and avoid. They aren't actually laws like the ones that "The king of the Meades and the Persians has set in place, and which he himself cannot break." They are simply the way things work.


IMO
 
Upvote 0

Ajax 777

God is the Truth, not an opinion.
Supporter
Jun 6, 2005
16,814
5,677
53
✟117,368.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
Faulty nailed it.

To his own Master will each man stand or fall.
I was bought with a very great price, and while
the beasts may prowl like roaring lions, they cannot
prevail against the Lion Who guards me and defends me.
 
Upvote 0

Tobias

Relationship over Religion
Jan 8, 2004
3,734
482
California
✟21,764.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
Private
Faulty nailed it.

To his own Master will each man stand or fall.
I was bought with a very great price, and while
the beasts may prowl like roaring lions, they cannot
prevail against the Lion Who guards me and defends me.


Well, I think that idolatry makes room for a special provision in God's protection. Just like the way that fornication can make a believer "one flesh" with a prostitute, falling in love with another god can cause strings to be attached with them.

Possession/demonic oppression could be the result of an idolatry 'love affair" with a spirit. In which case, God's claim over our lives is erm... legally limited by our choosing to join with another.
 
Upvote 0

Ajax 777

God is the Truth, not an opinion.
Supporter
Jun 6, 2005
16,814
5,677
53
✟117,368.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
Well, Tobias, one can say the same for apostasy and potentially a number of other sins. I wasn't arguing from the multitude of hypothetical viewpoints, I was speaking from that of a sanctified and obedient faithful believer.

But even then, in your aforementioned scenarios, the demons such wayward souls have made company with cannot lawfully deny that soul's right to return to the Lord, although they most certainly would be likely to hinder him or her as much as they could.

The Lord's own words: "Behold, all souls on earth are Mine." That doesn't mean that He will own them all at the judgment, as we know better, but souls are His to redeem or His to disown and destroy.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Frogster

Galatians is the best!
Sep 7, 2009
44,343
3,066
✟74,307.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
Widowed
Politics
US-Republican
He has no legal rights, just read col 2:14-15, it talks of sin debt, and transgressions, all legal wordage, and how the cross defeated him, but he can still mess with us, there are passages that show this, eph 6, 2 cor 2, 2 cor 12, 1 Thess 3, etc, so it is an already but not yet kind of thing, we have the victory certainly, legally, but in this half way house, we can be attacked.
 
Upvote 0

RDKirk

Alien, Pilgrim, and Sojourner
Supporter
Mar 3, 2013
39,137
20,169
US
✟1,440,830.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Is this a law that God is legally required to uphold? Eh... I suppose you could think of it as such, but then it gives off the wrong impression about how God might be subject to some mystical legal system that He doesn't control.

This is an important point, btw, regarding God and His morality and laws.

Let me give an example:

Everyone knows how the US government has classified information: Confident, Secret, Top Secret.

The president of the United States is legally the Original Classification Authority of all classified information. He is the top person who says what's classified and what's not, and other "delegated" classification authorities (such as the Director of the CIA) can only classify information within the president's guidelines.

What the president says is classified, is classified. What the president says is not classified is not classified.

Moreover, it's impossible for the president to "leak" classified information, because whatever previously classified information the president releases to the public instantly becomes unclassified the moment he speaks it publicly.

This happened several times during my time in the military. The president would say something in a news conference that revealed classified information, and the very next day we were "correcting" all our documents to reflect the fact that that bit of information was no longer classified.

So, God is the "original moral authority." God is not subject to some higher moral authority. As the original moral authority, God cannot do anything immoral because whatever God does is moral because it's God who does it.
 
Upvote 0

Faulty

bind on pick up
Supporter
Apr 23, 2005
9,467
1,019
✟64,989.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Satan can not controll us unless we give him permission, meaning we have turned back to sin, are again enslaved to sin, and if you die in that sin will go to hell.

Satan only has legal rights over us if we are not children of God.

You can't give him that right either. If you have been bought then you are not your own. You have no legal rights over yourself to give to another and you cannot buy yourself back from God as you have no way to make sufficient payment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tobias
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

woodpecker

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2011
1,507
114
✟17,212.00
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
You can't give him that right either. If you have been bought then you are not your own. You have no legal rights over yourself to give to another and you cannot buy yourself back from God as you have no way to make sufficient payment.

I have free will, God made a covenant with me, I can break that covenant, I can choose sin over God, so many scripture verses speak on this... I am working out my salvation... I can give back the gift of salvation.
 
Upvote 0

Faulty

bind on pick up
Supporter
Apr 23, 2005
9,467
1,019
✟64,989.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
I have free will, God made a covenant with me, I can break that covenant, I can choose sin over God, so many scripture verses speak on this... I am working out my salvation... I can give back the gift of salvation.

Actually, He purchased you.
 
Upvote 0

woodpecker

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2011
1,507
114
✟17,212.00
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
Actually, He purchased you.
Yes I can make a return.

Rev. 3 clearly teaches Jesus can erase you from the book of life

“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

4 “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.
 
Upvote 0

Frogster

Galatians is the best!
Sep 7, 2009
44,343
3,066
✟74,307.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
Widowed
Politics
US-Republican
I have free will, God made a covenant with me, I can break that covenant, I can choose sin over God, so many scripture verses speak on this... I am working out my salvation... I can give back the gift of salvation.

the working out your salvation vese from Phil, also says IT IS GOD AT WORK...in you, not you, GOD!:thumbsup:
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

RDKirk

Alien, Pilgrim, and Sojourner
Supporter
Mar 3, 2013
39,137
20,169
US
✟1,440,830.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
the working out your salvation vese from Phil, also says IT IS GOD AT WORK...in you, not you, GOD!

Yes. And the "fear and trembling" is from the realization of the terrible awesomeness that a fearsome God is at work within you.
 
Upvote 0

FoundInGrace

God's sparrow
Dec 27, 2003
5,340
942
✟38,472.00
Faith
Christian
We can give the devil a foothold which the devil can turn into a stronghold if we engage in sin repeatedly.
Sometimes believing the lies fed to us about who God really is is enough to start that.

Some believers have not yet learnt who the are in Christ so can become oppressed.
Christ has won the victory yes but there is an element of us learning to walk in that victory in Christ that we have been given.

Some believers have not been discipled/taught this yet.
So the devil can and does oppress them in their ignorance.
Imho.
 
Upvote 0

Frogster

Galatians is the best!
Sep 7, 2009
44,343
3,066
✟74,307.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
Widowed
Politics
US-Republican
Yes. And the "fear and trembling" is from the realization of the terrible awesomeness that a fearsome God is at work within you.

sure, and that was a phrase about respect, and I do that, but be sure to know who is at work, GOD NOT US...Paul used it about Titus, in 2 cor 7;15, so we must understand what that phrase meant. Did Paul want the corinthians to fear Titus?
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

RDKirk

Alien, Pilgrim, and Sojourner
Supporter
Mar 3, 2013
39,137
20,169
US
✟1,440,830.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
sure, and that was a phrase about respect, and I do that, but be sure to know who is at work, GOD NOT US...Paul used it about Titus, in 2 cor 7;15, so we must understand what that phrase meant. Did Paul want the corinthians to fear Titus?

That verse is used by some groups to prove that we have to be in constant worry about our salvation, and must always working to make sure it's still in force.
 
Upvote 0