I am sure we both agree that our bodies are the temple of the Lord, and the New Testament Temple parallels the OT temple, with the scriptures regularly drawing that comparison.
If you recall during periods of apostasy in the OT, they filled the temple with idols (demons). You should also know that this happened whilst the presence of the Lord was still in residence!
I am pointing this out to disprove the false theology behind the claim that demons cannot dwell in the same location that the spirit of the Lord also resides.
It also disproves the claim that Christians cannot have demons within them.
It also disproves the claim that once a person becomes a Christian, there is no need for deliverance because all the demons just have to flee.
And also to be clear, idols, whether wood or stone, have demons residing within them.
1Cor10v19What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? v20No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
So lets look at how demons/idols shared the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, just as they also share residence in a Christian's own body/temple.
2Kings21v7Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel I will establish My Name forever.
Here we see that when Manasseh installed his Asherah pole, he was also introducing demons to within the temple.
And on the occasion the Lord lifted him by the spirit from Babylon and took him on a tour of the Temple in Jerusalem, Ezekiel also reveals extensive demon worship within the temple
Ezekiel 8v Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.”
Ezekiel has just arrived at the temple of the Lord, and is instructed to dig through the wall.
So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.
At the very same time the presence of the Lord was resident on the temple, these idols are also resident within the temple of the Lord.
We know this to be true because the next chapter or two of Ezekiel details the stage by stage removal of the presence of the Lord from the temple.
The description of idol worship continues-
Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’” And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.”
Just as the demons were hidden within the temple of the Lord back then, demons can be hidden in the New Testament temples of our bodies today.
It is both very foolish and extremely unscriptural to claim that Christians cannot have demons within them. It leaves the body of Christ completely vulnerable and powerless to resist demonic influence in individuals or in the church.