Written by Paul J Bucknell on October, 29, 2018
Demon Possession: Is it Biblical?
The Scriptures and Demons
Why do Christians at times argue so vehemently about the presence of demons in our age? Some argue for their existence, while others deny them.
It is much like the squabbles people had in the gospels. Remember how the Rabbis could callously be more concerned about their arguments than the needy people (cf. John 8:1-11). They saw no need for genuine compassion. In the same way it, seems that our theological discussions proceed while people continue to be oppressed by demons. While our ‘important’ arguments go on, this and that person are further devastated by the influence of a demon on their lives.
We must protect ourselves from allowing our sterile theological conclusions to cause us to act differently than Jesus. Jesus cared so much for the people He met. In Matthew 17:16-21 Jesus actually rebukes His own disciples for their inability to heal the demoniac boy that was brought to them because of their lack of faith.
Much is written about the terror that demons bring upon their hosts in the scriptures. Those in advanced western countries have rejected such spiritual influences largely because of two reasons:
1)They are taught that there are no such things as evil spirits, and
2) Those under the influence of these demons actually are hidden away in hospitals and special homes and are subdued by powerful drugs. Terrorists seem to carry out their murderous plots on ‘innocent’ people because of demonic influence.
No doubt, there has been a reduction of what is called possession in countries espousing a constitution with a backing of the Ten Commandments. This has dampened the degree of influence of Satan’s powers over individual minds, but it has not reduced his effort in trying to get control of them. In fact, modern man has rejected the spiritual world and denied any connection with the occult. It is no secret that those people who are not responsive to medical treatment are kept on strong drugs to keep them from harming others. No one sees these people, and so the problem seems to be absent. But it is real. We suspect not a few people are locked up in mental institutions due to demonic influences.
You might notice that we have avoided the use of ‘demon possession.’ There are reasons for this. It is important that we understand the influence that the devil might have on people through demons. Once we understand the problem, we can better attempt to find a solution. God’s Word gives us what we need to help better us understand the dark spiritual world. Let’s look at the New Testament at see what demon possession might really mean.
NT Summary of Demon Possession
The New Testament speaks clearly of the presence of demons. 80 times the word ‘demon’/‘demons’ is used. This is just the beginning. Another 22 times unclean spirit/spirits is used. One does not have to read far into the gospels to meet up with these people suffering under the influence of demons.
Many translations use the phrase demon-possessed such as in Matthew 8:16
And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.
This is unfortunate and has brought up a misunderstanding about evil spirits. Usually, non-Christians do not talk about demons but spirits or ghosts. It is the Christians who know or could know more about demons from the teaching of the scriptures. They, for the most part, have been thrown off in their understanding of demons by this phrase ‘demon-possessed.’
A popular Christian theme for a paper or debate in the dorm room centers on, “Can a Christian be possessed?” To a large degree translators who have never met up with demons used the phrase ‘demon-possessed’ to translate a verb ‘demonized.’
We understand that Christians have the Holy Spirit and can’t be possessed by an evil spirit. But this is the not real question. Those who have regularly counseled those who have been demonized realize that the issue is not whether a Christian has an evil spirit but whether he or she can be affected by or under the influence of one or more evil spirits.
The commonly used translation of the word ‘daimonizomai’ wrongly shapes the argument. Instead, if we used the word rightly translated ‘demonized’ then we could ask as we should, “Can a Christian come under the influence of demons?” Note the William’s NT translation of the same verse above (Matthew 8:16).
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons (literally in the Greek ‘demonized’), and at a mere word He drove the spirits out and cured all who were sick.
This is the real question, “Can a Christian be demonized?” “Can a Christian come under the influence of demons?” A more perplexing follow-up question, perhaps is, “To what degree can a Christian be influenced by the evil one?” At this point, however, let us assume God’s people can be persuaded by the evil one to say and do things that the demons suggest. C.S. Lewis popularized this correct concept in his Screwtape Letters. We are not saying that everyone is aware of Satan’s influence, but only that they at times listen to and follow the demons’ suggestion.
Non-Christians and Demons
Observant pastors recognize the impact demons can have on the people they meet up within their ministries. First of all, we should clarify that demons greatly influence non-Christians. They are not as demonized as they could be, but they are under the blindness of the evil one.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
The evil one blinds the minds of the unbelievers. My guess is that he uses demons, his agents, to accomplish this. The devil has limited resources and must use them as he decides best. Let’s look at a few more verses that point out the vulnerability of non-Christians to the devil. In the following verse, we will see that a mother rightly understood her little daughter’s terrible problems due to an unclean spirit. Jesus would have been a poor Master if He made up the casting out of demons just because she believed in them.
But after hearing of Him (Jesus), a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. (Mark 7:25-26)
Although Jesus cast out demons in more severe cases, we should not conclude that demons did not affect a greater number of people in lesser ways. It was those who were terribly oppressed by demons that came to seek Jesus. Those who could bear with lesser side effects did not recognize the demonic influence and did not pursue Jesus’ help. Just think of the number of people that don’t go to Jesus to get out of Satan’s grasp! Certainly, there is great deception out there.
Our judgment is greatly defective when we think Satan is only involved in extreme cases. We must reject this all or nothing mentality as shown in the diagram above. We believe there is a graded level of influence. Because of this and the demons’ cleverness, many people who are influenced by demons do not even realize it. This includes most every unbeliever. See 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 above. Jesus said this differently but with equal impact.
| The non-Christian lives in the domain of darkness. However, we need to realize that even within this framework, there is an increase of control over the mind. The light of the conscience causes different responses, which in turn have different degrees of control and delusion. |
Though the Christian has the Holy Spirit within him, he can be darkened within if he hides sin in his heart. Demons will delude and manipulate as much as the Christian tolerates. Praise God—at any point he can repent, resist, and be cleansed by the blood of Christ. |
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
John, the apostle, says the same thing in a different context.
But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:11)
The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
Is it not true that the average Christian does not think of the demonic influence upon non-Christians? The result of this is a poor prayer life and less passionate evangelism. We need more purity in the church rather than gimmicks. Purity makes it more difficult for the demons to stay undercover.
Demons & Christians
If we look carefully at the verses above from 1 John, we will see that they are written with the church context in mind. John was writing to Christians about how to gain discernment. Perhaps John is saying this,
You need to be careful about so-called Christians. Some are under the influence of the evil one. You cannot tell by what they say but through the dark fruit coming from their lives and lips.
The scriptures teach “once saved, always saved,” but there are many in the churches who are not Christians even though they confess Christ (cf. 1 John 4:5). Some are just coming in, others have been there for a while under cover and still, others are on the way out.
We simply do not know for sure. John’s point is not to create doubt of Christian brothers but to clarify why in some cases there is doubt! The church member does not act like a believer. We must see that the work of the evil one is present there.
Satan increases his dark work in unbelievers in churches for two reasons:
The evil spirits are regularly trying to hold back God’s people from being effective witnesses. Every Christian is a threat to the dark powers. The evil one tries to hold back the work of God through His holy people. He sends impostors to confuse, increase impurity and generally hold back God’s people from shining the Gospel into the world.
- Satan must protect his own workers from believing the truth. He stations them there, but he must increase the depth of darkness to keep them blinded from the truth.
- Satan hopes to bring down a church by causing evil influence through some of his agents. These agents, for the most, part do not even know they are manipulated by the evil one.
Summary
Maybe we should close on the same note as we started. We can argue and ignore those suffering around us because of our preconceived ideas, but this would be tragic. We don’t see the joy in setting a person free here in the following report. How tragic it would be if the spirit of the world were to invade the church.
And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortunetelling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. And she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities” (Acts 16:16-19).
How we need mercy and kindness touch our stony hearts. We need the Lord to work a deeper work in our lives so we could see what Jesus saw. Only when we see what He saw, will we begin to do the works that He did.
As much as we care about those who are held fast in darkness by demonic influences, we need to be very careful about our purpose. Some erroneously think that the evil spirit is the chief culprit. The demon can indeed exaggerate the work of evil allowed in a person. This is not the total picture, however.
Jesus gives this instructive plausible picture to explain why others who might be able to cast demons out might not be very successful in the end.
When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits eviler than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. (Luke 11:24-26)
We need to recognize that unless there is the clear recognition of God’s place in their lives, then they are vulnerable to Satan’s demonic attacks. Although they can cast the demons away, they can come back. Fortunately, if they are rightly spoken to, most of those who were once strongly affected by demons actually become Christians.
Our goal then is not just to cast out demons. They will do their dirty work elsewhere. Our real concern is that a person comes to know God’s love, peace, and holiness through the Lord Jesus Christ.
