Can a born-again Christian have a demon?

JakeyB123 said:

Is there any scripture stating that a born-again believer can be indwelled with a demon?

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Not that I'm aware of, really. Judas is the closest we can get to 'seeing' an example of what may appear to be such a case ...

No. Perhaps if someone were to walk away from the faith depending on where you come down on that issue (falling away or never had saving faith).

JakeyB123 said:

Is there any scripture stating that a born-again believer can be indwelled with a demon?

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"Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4b).

There is a movement among Christians I've observed lately who do believe a born-again Believer can have a demon. I think Neil Anderson's books more or less teach this and he has a decent following.

I disagree with that thinking. I believe the farthest a demon could go would be influencing your thoughts through external stimuli, but never actually have any true control over your body or mind. If that's the case, I would strongly question that person's salvation.

He described one woman in particular who would wake up with Satanic marks on her body that she would cut on herself in her sleep. And that as he read Scripture over her, she got up and began walking toward him in a trance like she was going to attack him. But through it all, he seemed to imply that all of the cases he'd seen, like hers, were of born-again Christians... !

Why do you think there were so many requirements for priests to purify themselves before entering the Holy of Holies? Because God's holiness can't co-exist with unholiness. And now that His Spirit dwells inside of us instead of in a temple, don't you think it would be the same? How could a demon co-exist with the Spirit in our hearts? It can't.

I think the value some people take from people like Anderson and the likes is to fill your life with Scripture. From that alone you will see benefits in your spiritual walk, but there's no reason to do that to try to conquer supposed demons inside you.

JakeyB123 said:

Is there any scripture stating that a born-again believer can be indwelled with a demon?

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You are asking this in a sub-forum where people of all denominations reply. If you want a response from those involved in deliverance ministry, ask this in the Spiritual Gifts sub-forum.

JakeyB123 said:

Is there any scripture stating that a born-again believer can be indwelled with a demon?

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I'm more interested in understanding the reason for your question. Can you clarify a bit?

Sabertooth said:

You are asking this in a sub-forum where people of all denominations reply. If you want a response from those involved in deliverance ministry, ask this in the Spiritual Gifts sub-forum.

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I would think a response from all denominations would be the best place to ask, actually.

2PhiloVoid said:

Not that I'm aware of, really. Judas is the closest we can get to 'seeing' an example of what may appear to be such a case ...

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But he was already stealing from the treasury, so I'm doubtful he was ever worshiping Yahweh in his heart. Before his suicide, in his despair, maybe. I always suspect that may be one of the surprises waiting for us in Heaven, because what a clear example of God's overwhelming mercy that would be!

HARK! said:

Then why did he throw away the money? Why did he commit suicide? Why did he feel any conviction?

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"Before his suicide, in his despair, maybe." You missed that little sentence I hid there.

JakeyB123 said:

Is there any scripture stating that a born-again believer can be indwelled with a demon?

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Yes. 2 Timothy 2:26
"and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will."

2 Corinthians 10: 4 & 5
…The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Satan's realm of operation is the soul. The soul consists of mind, emotion and will. The initial war zone is the mind. (When we say Satan, we need to remember that he is not omnipresent. So we are talking about his minions mostly.) If the Christian accepts a Satanic suggestion, it creates a hole in the Christian's defences. For example, Satan got to Eve by casting doubt on God's integrity. She accepted his lie and the rest is history.

Satan may tell a Christian that he is not worthy of God's love. We all give Satan opportunities to condemn us. Now God's word assures us that we are not worthy in ourselves but that we are acceptable to God in Christ. If we will declare that truth back to Satan, and stand on it, we overcome his accusations. Revelation 12 gives us a window into Satan's activities. He accuses us to God day and night. If we accept Satan's accusations, we lose confidence in God and our Christian walk will suffer.

Satan also attacks the will of the Christian. If we succumb to temptation, we can easily be infected by an evil spirit. That's how people get addictions. Satan appeals to the flesh. Overeating, smoking, drugs, inappropriate contentography, fornication are all lusts of the flesh. Once we allow an evil spirit to infect our will, we become virtually powerless to overcome. The only way to freedom is to cast out the evil spirit, repent and turn away from the behaviour that got us in strife in the first place.

What Satan cannot do is get into our spirit man. That's what keeps us going even when things are impossible. We cry out to God for help and He leads into the way of deliverance. It's often hard, especially when our minds have been invaded. Just accepting that we could be deceived can be difficult. But no one has fallen so far that Lord Jesus cannot reach down and lift him up. I won't embarrass myself by telling you exactly how I know all this. I can assure you that it is by experience.

Messerve said:

I would think a response from all denominations would be the best place to ask, actually.

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"A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion." L.H. Hardwick

Sabertooth said:

"A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion." L.H. Hardwick

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If you would the truth oppose
By quotations, you will find
Plenty; but, when all is done,
Though they're many, truth is one.
~Tomas de Iriarte, Fabulas Literarias, translated from Spanish

You assume a lot in that one quote.

We are taught and I believe scripture proves out that born again believers can not be possessed. We can carry a demon, in fact will be attacked, demons can project into our thoughts but not possess. Possession is that we physically have a demon inside controlling us. Scripture supports that the house needs to be swept clean and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit or the demon might find the clean space and return with a flock of buddies. No, the nearest we get is oppression and that's bad enough. We can have demons attached, call it assigned to us if you will. But if handled right they will flee.

I'm from the camp that if a believer has a demon possessing him/her, they were never born again. People can look the part of a Christian externally, play the part even, do all the rituals of church service etc.... But the proof is in the heart, that must be changed.

HARK! said:

Why would he drop what he was doing to follow Yahshua into all of the turmoil that he was walking into?

My suspicions are that he was confronted by basically "the mob" and was left with a choice of "we need you to do us a favor, for which you will be rewarded, or else."

Yahshua knew who Judas was when he hand picked him as an Apostle. Yahshua knew in the end that Judas would betray him. When Yahshua first knew that Judas would betray him, is unclear. Ultimately Judas was a catalyst for bringing Yahshua to do the Father's will.

Yahshua told Judas to go and get it done, knowing the heart of Judas. As Yahshua knew the hearts of men; it would seem most likely that Yahshua would know that Judas' following Yahshua's instruction, would end up hurting Judas' heart so badly, that Judas wouldn't be able to live with himself.

The Father will judge Judas. It's not my place. I pray that I am never tested as he was.

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Well as I mentioned, he had already been stealing from the treasury, so his heart wasn't in the right place to begin with. I'm sure he did cave to pressure. I think the Bible shows that fairly clearly. But he was also willing to do it for money.

Judas was no innocent child to start out with, but I would say it's definitely possible that in his guilt he made amends with God to some degree - though not enough to prevent him from killing himself.

Dave G. said:

We are taught and I believe scripture proves out that born again believers can not be possessed. We can carry a demon, in fact will be attacked, demons can project into our thoughts but not possess. Possession is that we physically have a demon inside controlling us. Scripture supports that the house needs to be swept clean and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit or the demon might find the clean space and return with a flock of buddies. No, the nearest we get is oppression and that's bad enough. We can have demons attached, call it assigned to us if you will. But if handled right they will flee.

I'm from the camp that if a believer has a demon possessing him/her, they were never born again. People can look the part of a Christian externally, play the part even, do all the rituals of church service etc.... But the proof is in the heart, that must be changed.

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Yes, I agree that demonic oppression is possible, but not possession. There is a big difference.

It's easy to make the mental bridge of thinking a Christian has been possessed when you hear a story told by someone else. For example, a very godly friend of mine once said that his sister woke up one morning unable to speak for no apparent reason and couldn't speak until her roommate prayed for her. So, naturally, I'm thinking to myself "Wow! His Christian sister had some demonic presence keeping her from speaking." When in reality, I had never met his sister and have no idea if she has a relationship with Jesus or not...

Maybe Paul’s thorn was a demon? Maybe not... Anyway, in my experience they don’t need to posses you to oppress you.