Can Christians Be Demon-possessed? [Part One]

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Note: This article is divided into two parts. I request the readers to study this material in its entirety in order to get a proper overview of my presentation. 

There are many Christians who sincerely believe that a Christian can be demon-possessed. Their basis for this belief is witnessing people who profess to be Christians and yet manifested signs of demon possession.

What I have observed is such people mostly base their conviction on experience than on Scripture. Nevertheless, we need to ask whether the Holy Bible supports the view that Christians can be demon-possessed.

Before we go further, it is important for us to first define who a Christian is. If our understanding of who a Christian is flawed, we arrive at false conclusions on this issue.

Who is a Christian?

If someone has a Christian name that doesn’t make him a Christian. If a person claims to believe in Christ, takes baptism, attends the church, worships God, listens to sermons and gives offering—yet all these things doesn’t prove he is necessarily a Christian.

Here is a terrible fact—an individual may pray and study the Holy Bible daily; he may manifest certain good conduct and do some good works; he may even engage himself in ministry, evangelism and missions—and yet he may not be a Christian.

For example, here is David Brainerd’s confession in his own diary:  

I read my Bible more than twice through in less than a year, spent much time every day in prayer and other secret duties, gave great attention to the Word preached, and endeavoured to my utmost to retain it.

So much concerned was I about religion, that I agreed with some young persons to meet privately on Sabbath evenings for religious exercises, and thought myself sincere in these duties; and after our meeting was ended, I used to repeat the discourses of the day to myself; recollecting what I could, though sometimes very late at night...

Although he was doing all the religious exercises, like diligent study of the Bible, days of secret fasting and fervent prayer, engaging in godly fellowship and abstaining from worldly pleasures—Brainerd confesses of not being a born-again Christian. It was sometime later that he experienced being born-again.

In his book, Follow Me, David Platt shares about a person called Tom. He writes that Tom spent his entire life in church. He served on about every committee that any church has ever created. Tom’s former church pastor even testified that he was a great guy and how blessed it was to have him as a member in his church.

The amazing thing is, although Tom served the church for more than fifty years, he wasn’t a born-again Christian. Tom confessed, “For all those years I sat in the seats of churches thinking I knew Christ when I didn’t.”

So, who is a Christian, a born-again Christian?

A Christian is chosen by God, genuinely convicted and repents of his sins and trusts in the atoning work of Christ on the cross for his salvation. And as a result of this, he experiences the life-transforming work of God in his heart and is indwelt by the Spirit of Christ which is a guarantee of inheriting the eternal kingdom of God. (Eph. 1:4-6; Acts 2:38, 3:19; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13-14)

With this understanding of who a Christian is, let us go further in our discussion.

Temple of the Holy Spirit

One great revelation and truth about the teachings of the New Testament is this—believers are chosen to be the temple of God. It is written, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

How blessed are believers in Christ Jesus by becoming a temple of the Holy Spirit!

It is helpful for us to understand the two different Greek words hieron [ἱερόν] and naos [ναός]. The English translation uses the same word for these both – ‘temple.’ Hieron describes the temple area whereas naos represents the inner sanctuary of the temple which is commonly known as “the Holy of Holies.”

When Paul says to believers, “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”, he is actually saying, “You are the inner sanctuary or the Holy of Holies [naos] of God.” What a sacred, sober and staggering privilege!

It is interesting to notice that Paul says these words to Corinthian believers who manifested immaturity and carnality. They had become God’s temple not by their good works but through the good work of Christ on the cross. It is by making them to realize who they are in Christ, Paul challenges them to live according to God’s will.

Now here is the point—the Holy Bible asserts that believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It nowhere says that believers can also become the temple of an evil spirit. Being the temple of God means to be indwelt by God. To be possessed by demon means to be indwelt by a demon.

How can a believer be indwelt both by God and demon? How can a Christian be both God’s and a demon’s temple? The Scripture speaks nothing of such absurdity.

Moreover, when Paul exhorts believers not to be yoked with unbelievers, he writes, “What accord has Christ with Belial?” (2 Cor. 6:15). In other words, “What harmony or association is there between Christ and Belial?”

Paul also writes, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor. 6:16). In these words of Paul, this is what we learn—a believer represents Christ and the temple of God; he doesn’t represent a demon and being his temple.

A believer is under the authority of Christ and an unbeliever is under the authority of the devil. Therefore, if a believer and unbeliever shouldn't be yoked together, how can God and Satan be yoked together in a person? Don't you suppose it is unbiblical to say that a Christian can be demon-possessed?

Authority Over Evil Powers

The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you” (Lu. 10:19).

A Christian is having authority over the power of the enemy. The enemy has no power over him. Of course, demons may tempt believers, but they have no absolute power over God’s children.

To be possessed with a demon is to let him have complete power and a believer do not live in such a state. He is blessed with glorious privileges in Christ, having authority over the powers of darkness.

The Lord Jesus also said that those who believe in Him “In my name they will cast out demons” (Mark 16:17). A Christian will cast out demons in the name of Christ. He will not be possessed by demons and have someone cast out demons from him. He will rather deliver demon-possessed people with the authority of Christ.

Paul even writes to the Roman Christians, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). Believers are protected by God. Believers are not under the feet of the devil. They cannot be possessed by demons. Instead God will soon crush the devil under their feet.

What do we learn from all the above verses? Do we get an idea that a Christian can be demon-possessed? Far from it.

The Scripture speaks supremely about the position of a believer in Christ. To say that a Christian can be demon-possessed is to debunk the teachings of the Holy Bible which portrays the glorious state of a believer in Christ.

The Kingdom of God

Let us consider the words of Christ Jesus when He was falsely accused of being demon possessed. The Lord said:

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you (Matt. 12:25-28).

Let us think over what we can learn from the words of Christ. First, the Lord Jesus, indwelt by the Spirit of God, had cast out demons by the Spirit of God. One of the signs of having the Spirit of God in a person is that he cannot be possessed by a demon. Instead he will cast out demons by the Spirit of God.

Second, the Spirit of God and the Kingdom of God are inseparable entities. When the Lord Jesus in casting out demons by the Spirit of God proclaims it as a sign of the coming of the Kingdom of God, what about a Christian being indwelt by the Spirit of God? Isn't the Kingdom of God already within him?

A Christian having the Spirit of God in him is in a sense having the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is nothing but the reign of God. If God dwells in a believer, His Kingdom also exists therein. Agreed, the final consummation of God’s Kingdom is yet to come wherein God renews the whole earth and establishes His kingdom forever.

Now here is the point—is a believer in whom is the kingdom of God [because of the Spirit of God who indwells him] can also be a kingdom of the devil [because of a demon who indwells]? Can he be both a kingdom of God and the devil? How absurd it is to think so!

A person can either have the kingdom of God within him or the kingdom of the devil. There cannot be both opposite kingdoms existing together.

Third, the Lord Jesus also said, “How can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house” (Matt. 12:29). Hank Hanegraff of Bible Answer Man makes a good point on this:

In the case of a demon-possessed person, the strong man is obviously the devil. In a Spirit-indwelt believer, however, the strong man is God. The force of Christ’s argument leads inexorably to the conclusion that, in order for demons to possess believers, they would first have to bind the one who occupies them—namely God Himself!

In light of the above Scripture, how doctrinally weak it is to believe that a Christian can be demon-possessed, i.e. indwelt by a demon! If it was foolish for the Pharisees to say that Jesus was demon-possessed, is it not also foolish to say that a Christian [who is a child of God redeemed by the blood of Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit] can be demon-possessed? [Click here to go to Part 2 of this article...] |  1 of 2