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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There is nothing in the New Testament that says that a born-again Christian can have a demon. But it all depends on whether the person is genuinely born again of the Spirit of God, or whether all they have is a religious spirit that has the Christian 'badge' but not the transformed heart and that the religious observances are all to give an outward show to impress the onlookers.

I think of Ananias and Sapphira, where Peter told them that Satan had filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit about how much of the proceeds they were offering from the sale of their property. What we can read into this is that they had gained the form of godliness which consisted in the outward observance of putting on the Christian 'badge', but their hearts were not transformed; so in that case it is quite possible for a lying spirit can enter their hearts causing them to lie in the way they did.

We also see later in Acts where certain false apostles came from Jerusalem to the Galatian churches teaching that they had to be circumcised and keep the Mosaic Law in order to be saved. These ones were professing Christians, yet they were giving false teaching to the Galatians. It can be safely supposed that these false apostles were not genuinely born again but had a religious spirit that through that godless spirit were deceiving the Galatians to walk away from grace through Christ back to the curse of the Law.

Also, Paul told the Ephesian elders that grievous wolves will invade the flock, and men will arise out of their midst teaching perverse doctrines in order to draw disciples away after themselves. It can be safely assumed that Paul did not view these ones as genuinely converted believers, but had lying demons behind the teaching they were giving.

So this brings us to the point where we know that not all professing Christians are genuinely born again of the Spirit of God. In these days of easy believerism where someone can wander to the front, pray a short prayer, and say "I am a Christian now" it is obvious that many who take up a profession of Christianity, don't actually know what the gospel of Christ is all about. Because the mainstream Charismatic movement is being invaded by the prosperity doctrine, Hindu mind-control in the guise of positive confession, and occult manifestations, and in such meetings the gospel of Christ is not even preached, and the Jesus that people are invited to receive might not be the Jesus of the Bible at all, it is quite believable that many in these churches are not genuinely born again at all, but have just a religious spirit. Because of that, there would be no doubt that such religious pretenders to the faith would still be influenced and oppressed by demons.

JakeyB123 said:

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

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No, just the opposite. Righteousness has no partnership with lawlessness, nor light with dark, not Christ with Belial. (2 Cor. 6:14-15). Christians can be oppressed, but not possessed. That which possesses us is the Holy Spirit, the almighty Spirit of the almighty God. He is a jealous God and does not share his possessions with demons.

Messerve said:

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.

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i think you are making a big mistake about the duality of our fallen nature. We can believe the truth about God and Jesus but believe lies about how to serve Him. Behind each lie we have satan doing the captivating. A believer could easily be overcome by lies and let impure spirituality guide if not overpower them them, if only for awhile.

Believer's can be stuck with all kind of unclean spirituality that they have gained believing lies about God, themselves and their neighbour. Mixing Holy Spirit with unholy spirit gets us the divisions we find so abundantly in our faith today.

Saul and Judas are good examples of a believers who suffered from an unclean spirit because of the lies they believed about God, themselves and others.

Some easily recognisable unclean spirits we find among believers today are the spirits of addiction, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, dishonesty, hypocrisy, religion, legalism, materialism, pride and arrogance.

i reckon sanctification cleans those strongholds in believers lives up, usually one by one over their life time. To think that you are safe from unclean spirituality while you still see yourself sinning is folly. All life in sin is unclean spirituality and all unclean spirituality is evil and needs to be done away with.

If a believer had only Holy Spirit in them then they would never physically die again, unholiness sticks to us until death us do part us from our flesh and not before.

Peace

Jeshu said:

i think you are making a big mistake about the duality of our fallen nature. We can believe the truth about God and Jesus but believe lies about how to serve Him. Behind each lie we have satan doing the captivating. A believer could easily be overcome by lies and let impure spirituality guide if not overpower them them, if only for awhile.

Believer's can be stuck with all kind of unclean spirituality that they have gained believing lies about God, themselves and their neighbour. Mixing Holy Spirit with unholy spirit gets us the divisions we find so abundantly in our faith today.

Saul and Judas are good examples of a believers who suffered from an unclean spirit because of the lies they believed about God, themselves and others.

Some easily recognisable unclean spirits we find among believers today are the spirits of addiction, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, dishonesty, hypocrisy, religion, legalism, materialism, pride and arrogance.

i reckon sanctification cleans those strongholds in believers lives up, usually one by one over their life time. To think that you are safe from unclean spirituality while you still see yourself sinning is folly. All life in sin is unclean spirituality and all unclean spirituality is evil and needs to be done away with.

If a believer had only Holy Spirit in them then they would never physically die again, unholiness sticks to us until death us do part us from our flesh and not before.

Peace

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But that's our sinful nature, not being possessed by a demon. If we are "true to ourselves" we act like animals. Salvation rescues us from our natural, sinful state and makes us truly people of His own image once again - little by little.

Demon possession is not the same as a natural bent toward sin or falling into sin because of lies.

Messerve said:

But that's our sinful nature, not being possessed by a demon. If we are "true to ourselves" we act like animals. Salvation rescues us from our natural, sinful state and makes us truly people of His own image once again - little by little.

Demon possession is not the same as a natural bent toward sin or falling into sin because of lies.

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i don't see three spiritualities fighting the battle but only the two we hear about in the forbidden fruit. Good and evil. Right and wrong. And so it is with our spirit. We can be build in part by truth and be broken down in part because of lies, good or bad can take control of the believer's spirit. Both the good seed and the bad seed is sown among us. The Word will be the sword that cuts evil out of us on the last Day. Hebrews 4:12-13

Wrong, sin and unclean spirituality have always walked hand in hand. That is because of demons in the first place. Lies are the door through which they get into us. Each lie we believe has the devil as father and demons as brothers and so evil build their life form into us and cause illness, death and decay to rule. Born again believers are just as prone to that and them as everybody else. Perhaps even more so because satan attacks believers with more zeal than any one else on this planet.

Any active sin living in a believers heart has satan as father and demons as brothers. You can't just be sinful but think yourself free from inner demon activity. That is not a wise thing to do.

"Have" a demon? No. Be tempted by demons? Of course. All human beings experience that.

PaulCyp1 said:

"Have" a demon? No. Be tempted by demons? Of course. All human beings experience that.

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True all humans experience demon activity! Yet the moment you fall for temptation you have an unclean spirit in you dictating which way you must go. Sin becomes demanding and compelling and we need The Truth of Jesus to get them out of us again. We fall so easily and our spirit lent itself so well to their spirituality.

If someone attained a completely Holy Spirit then they would be like the second coming of Christ in appearance. Holy and undefiled by unclean spirituality.

We best be real about the situation and strife to enter that narrow gate - time and again.

Peace.

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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Judas wasn't a believer though.

Copied & pasted from GotQuestions.org

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Question: "Can a Christian be demon possessed? Can a Christian be demonized?"

Answer: While the Bible does not explicitly state whether a Christian can be possessed by a demon, related biblical truths make it abundantly clear that Christians cannot be demon possessed. There is a distinct difference between being possessed by a demon and being oppressed or influenced by a demon. Demon possession involves a demon having direct/complete control over the thoughts and/or actions of a person (Matthew 17:14-18; Luke 4:33-35; 8:27-33). Demon oppression or influence involves a demon or demons attacking a person spiritually and/or encouraging him/her into sinful behavior. Notice that in all the New Testament passages dealing with spiritual warfare, there are no instructions to cast a demon out of a believer (Ephesians 6:10-18). Believers are told to resist the devil (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9), not to cast him out.

Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). Surely the Holy Spirit would not allow a demon to possess the same person He is indwelling. It is unthinkable that God would allow one of His children, whom He purchased with the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19) and made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), to be possessed and controlled by a demon. Yes, as believers, we wage war with Satan and his demons, but not from within ourselves. The apostle John declares, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Who is the One in us? The Holy Spirit. Who is the one in the world? Satan and his demons. Therefore, the believer has overcome the world of demons, and the case for demon possession of a believer cannot be made scripturally.

With the strong biblical evidence that a Christian cannot be demon possessed in view, some Bible teachers use the term “demonization” to refer to a demon having control over a Christian. Some argue that while a Christian cannot be demon possessed, a Christian can be demonized. Typically, the description of demonization is virtually identical to the description of demon possession. So, the same issue results. Changing the terminology does not change the fact that a demon cannot inhabit or take full control of a Christian. Demonic influence and oppression are realities for Christians, no doubt, but it is simply not biblical to say that a Christian can be possessed by a demon or demonized.

Much of the reasoning behind the demonization concept is the personal experience of seeing someone who was “definitely” a Christian exhibiting evidence of being controlled by a demon. It is crucially important, though, that we do not allow personal experience to influence our interpretation of Scripture. Rather, we must filter our personal experiences through the truth of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Seeing someone whom we thought to be a Christian exhibiting the behavior of being demonized should cause us to question the genuineness of his/her faith. It should not cause us alter our viewpoint on whether a Christian can be demon possessed / demonized. Perhaps the person truly is a Christian but is severely demon oppressed and/or suffering from severe psychological problems. But again, our experiences must meet the test of Scripture, not the other way around.

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Hope this is able to answer your question? God be with you!

Paulus59 said:

Judas wasn't a believer though.

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We don't really know the extent of Judas' faith or his lack thereof, do we?

The likelihood that the person to whom you refer - Christian or not - is possessed by a demon is extremely low. Please try a doctor first. Pray, yes, but doctors, counselors, and support groups are gifts from God.

JakeyB123 said:

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

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I haven't enough experiece to know, and there always seems to be exceptions to the rule. My gut feeling is that a born again believer can't be possessed, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

2PhiloVoid said:

We don't really know the extent of Judas' faith or his lack thereof, do we?

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Oh yes we do, there is plenty of evidence in the scripture. For a start he was referred to as a demon (John 6:70) and son of perdition (John 17:12) and he was a thief while he was the keeper of the money bag (John 12:6) and there is the fact that he didn't repent of his sins, but choose to commit suicide. Furthermore he never referred to Jesus as Lord, but rabbi which indicates he never recognized Jesus for who he really was. He didn't really love Jesus, but saw him as a good man & rabbi, but not the savior of the world, otherwise he wouldn't have sold him out for 30 pieces of silver. It would of been better for him if he was never born (Matthew 26:24). All these are signs of an unbeliever (Matthew 7:15-20).

Anyway if you want to read more about Judas, just click here: Was Judas saved?

I used to help with youth camp years ago. I have been long aware of mischief coming through church people. I told a brother one day that I was worried about the operations of the devil through church people. Ohh... He says... The devil cannot go against the blood... And his contention was so great that he reported me over it.

Years later, at camp meeting, that brother came to me and personally apologized. I graciously accepted, but deep down, wondered what trials the poor man went through to come to the same conclusion, that yes, the devil can operate through church people and that it is a sad truth.

When we had a plating department in our facility I worked under a chemist. This chemist was very smart and very good at math. When he laid out equations he did so in very neat handwriting and there would be much activity as he turned the results of an analysis into an addition. I would take his calculations and put them in the form of visual basic functions and sub procedures.

Of all the years I worked with this man I had one opportunity to witness to him. I made my presentation while he was analyzing adhesion under a microscope in which you could hear the sounds... Scratch, scratch, scratch! Scratch scratch, scratch! After my presentation he just continued to look under the microscope as if ignored everything I said so I just continued in my work. Then... The scratch scratch, scratching stopped! And he speaks!

"You know what I think it is?" He says while continuing to look under the microscope... "I think it is arrogance!"

And then, without taking his eyes off the microscope, he continues his work... Scratch, scratch, scratch! Scratch scratch, scratch! I did not reply but went about my work. Inside I feared he was right. In many cases religion can inhabit too much personal ego. And the father of such ego is the devil himself.

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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I mean, I feel when Satan left him and he realized he had betrayed the son of God...seems to me like the biggest reason to commit suicide in the history of the universe...

I don’t think he felt conviction, guilt fear and shame perhaps

I believe the ego is the evidence of evil and a true man of God is meek....

Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. - Numbers 12:3

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
- 1 Corinthians 5:6

I believe the protestant reformation a good thing... However.... Reading into men like John Calvin and Martin Luther, and some of their hate filled commentaries, makes me wonder if they were not as bad as the people they were reforming from. And some quotes...

"Whoever shall maintain that wrong is done to heretics and blasphemers in punishing them makes himself an accomplice in their crime and guilty as they are. There is no question here of man's authority; it is God who speaks, and clear it is what law he will have kept in the church, even to the end of the world. Wherefore does he demand of us a so extreme severity, if not to show us that due honor is not paid him, so long as we set not his service above every human consideration, so that we spare not kin, nor blood of any, and forget all humanity when the matter is to combat for His glory." - John Calvin

"My advice, as I said earlier, is: First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire...Second, that all their books-- their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible-- be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted...Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country...Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate. The rulers must act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in proceeds without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone, and marrow. Such a procedure must also be followed in this instance. Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them. If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs." - Martin Luther

JakeyB123 said:

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

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Yes. All from whom Jesus cast out demons had faith (a fruit of the Spirit). The daughter of Abraham was a believer to be called such. The Gadarene Demoniac saw Jesus and worshipped him. Mark 5:6

JakeyB123 said:

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

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When someone is under an anathema due to binding themselves to a creed but not believing all of it, this can result in them acting like they have a demon, but they do not have a demon.

Sometimes a believer becomes sensitive to the oneness Jesus prayed that we would have as believers in John 17 to be one as the trinity is one, and thus still experience the curse of others even if you experience and believe everything on said check list.

In general, quite often, a mangled subconscious can imitate a demon quite closely if under a very heavy curse.