1st Corinthians 3:16-17, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
Ephesians 1:13-14, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
A Christian man recently wanted to debate with me, insisting that he is demon possessed. He told me that he has a psychiatrist doctor to help him with his mood swings, nightmares that cause him to grind his teeth and dark thoughts. The man said he is taking numerous prescription medications. I sympathized with his medication afflictions and prayed for him. It is not my place to condemn anyone. There but for the grace of God, go I and you.
We also learn from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:13-14, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” The moment that a lost sinner trusts Christ as his or her personal Savior, that individual is immediately and forever SEALED with the Holy Spirit of God. A transfer of ownership has changed hands from Satan to God. There is no way that a child of God can be inhabited by a demon, although it is possible for a Christian to be influenced by demonic spirits.
In Matthew 16:23, Jesus called the Apostle Peter “Satan.” We know that Peter was not the Devil, but he was thinking like the Devil at that time, wanting to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, which was the entire reason for His coming to earth.
The Afflicted Woman In Luke 13:16
According to biblical teaching, Satan can cause suffering and sickness, as seen in Luke 13:16, where Jesus refers to a woman who had been bound by Satan for eighteen years. However, not all sickness is attributed to Satan; some may arise from natural causes or divine purposes (John 9:1-5).
In an attempt to prove that a Christian can be possessed by a demon, the man I mentioned earlier brought up Luke 13:16, “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” Since she is a daughter of Abraham, we know that she was saved. The guy debating with me insists that “Satan hath bound” means she was demon possessed. Now, dear reader, the Bible doesn't say that she was demon possessed, it says that she was bound by Satan for 18 years.
In Job chapter one we read that God gave Satan permission to afflict Job terribly. Satan caused thieves to murder his servants and then steal all of Job's livestock. The Devil murdered all ten of Job's children. Poor Mrs. Job! I have always been empathetic toward Job's wife for suggesting that Job curse God and die, because she had just lost every last one of her precious children. Of course, she was very wrong and lacking in her faith. Job's wife is a perfect example of how NOT TO respond to life's tragedies. Yet, I wonder how you or I would have done in her situation. Would we have praised the Lord anyhow? God allowed Satan to afflict Job and his wife. Mrs. Job was tested just as much as Job! Yet, neither of them were demon possessed.
According to “Barnes Notes On The Whole Bible”:
Whom Satan hath bound - Satan is the name given to the prince or leader of evil spirits, called also the devil, Beelzebub, and the old serpent, Matthew 12:24; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2. By his “binding” her is meant that he had inflicted this disease upon her. It was not properly a “possession” of the devil, for that commonly produced derangement; but God had suffered him to afflict her in this manner, similar to the way in which he was permitted to try Job. See the notes at Job 1:12; Job 2:6-7. It is no more “improbable” that God would suffer “Satan” to inflict pain, than that he would suffer a wicked “man” to do it; yet nothing is more common than for one “man” to be the occasion of bringing on a disease in another which may terminate only with the life. He that seduces a virtuous man and leads him to intemperance, or he that wounds him or strikes him, may disable him as much as Satan did this woman. If God permits it in one case, he may, for the same reason, in another. —“Barnes Notes On The Whole Bible”
I agree with Pastor Albert Barnes (1798-1870). The woman in Luke 16:13 was not demon possessed, she was bound by Satan with a disease for 18 years until Jesus freed her.
And may I kindly say, I think it would be foolish for a Christian to try to determine if our illness has been caused by the Devil, the Lord, or is just a result of living in a fallen world. Does it really matter? I mean, since we know that nothing can happen to anyone without God's knowledge and permission, we would be wise to simply trust God rather than to try to figure out the cause of our suffering. I admit having a hard time knowing that God sees an innocent person being robbed and then murdered, but we suffer because we live in a fallen world of sin. Not because of any particular sin we may have committed; but rather, because Adam's sin brought the curse of sin and death upon the entire human race (Romans 5:12).
The Apostle Paul's “Thorn” In The Flesh
Another argument that the man I mentioned earlier brought up is the Apostle Paul, citing 2nd Corinthians 12:7, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” Again, the man claims that Paul was demon possessed as a Christian. Dear reader, this is false teaching! It is IMPOSSIBLE for a child of God to be possessed by a demon! Likewise, no child of the Devil has the Holy Spirit living inside them. Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” No one is saved who does not have the Holy Spirit living inside (indwelling) them.
The Apostle Paul did not claim to be demon possessed; but rather, he said “there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.” We must never read into the Scripture what it does not say. The messenger of Satan was not a demon, it was the “thorn.” The Bible plainly says that! To say that the “messenger of Satan” was a demon who entered into Paul is a wicked thing to claim. Most theologians think that Paul's thorn was poor eyesight, because he said to the churches of Galatia in Galatians 4:15b, “for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” Paul had poor eyesight. We don't know for certain if that is the “thorn” which he spoke of, but it certainly could have been.
The Human Heart Doesn't Need A Demon To Do Evil
Dear reader, I find no evidence that the afflicted woman in Luke 16:13 or the Apostle Paul were demon possessed. That is a serious accusation to make about someone. Just because you are going to a psychiatrist doctor, taking multiple prescription medications, suffering from dark thoughts in your mind, grinding your teeth at night during nightmares and you're struggling with your mental health, does not mean friend that you have a demon living inside you! Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
I think we give the Devil way too much credit. I do not believe that every time someone commits a horrible crime that the Devil made them do it! We are fully capable of committing the most unimaginable heinous evil deeds as humans. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that some monsters are demon possessed! How do we know the difference? I don't think it was meant for us to know. There are some things that only God Himself knows.
I think Christians are oftentimes inspired by demons, but not possessed.
Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) didn't think the fight over the inspiration and accuracy of the King James Bible was a trifle matter. Dr. Hyles pastored First Baptist Church of Hammond from 1959 to 2001. Along with co-founder Dr. Russell Anderson (1931-2023), Dr. Hyles started Hyles-Anderson College in 1972. Dr. Anderson was saved in 1959 in Michigan. There was no truth any more important to Brother Hyles than the inspiration of every single word in the King James Bible...
“And brother, any time anybody ever casts any reflection upon the accuracy and the inspiration—verbal inspiration—of this Bible, I'll guarantee you he was inspired by the demons. I'll guarantee you! I don't care if he's got a 'reverend' in front of his name. I don't care if he has a clerical collar on. I don't care what school he's been to. He's of the Devil if he says that the Bible is not verbally inspired by God!” —Dr. Jack Hyles, a great quote from the awesome MP3 sermon titled, “Satan's masterpiece”
You see, a Christian can be inspired by demons, as was Peter in Matthew 16:23, but that doesn't mean you are demon possessed (i.e., a demon lives inside of you).
I humbly think as Christian believers that we need to be very careful about casually going around deciding who is demon possessed (including our self). If you were to suggest to me that serial killers' John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer were demon possessed, I wouldn't argue with you. Those monsters were pure evil! But even though Pastor John MacArthur preached a counterfeit plan of salvation, I do not think he was demon possessed. I do think he was inspired by demons to preach the lie of Lordship Salvation.
Beware of nutty Pentecostals and Charismatics who see everything through a filter of being demon possessed. To the man with a hammer in his hand, everything starts looking like a nail sticking up. And to the wacky Charismatic, they see all evil as being the result of having a demon inside you. I reject all that utter nonsense! Humans are evil enough of our own nature, without needing a demon to make us do bad things to other people. To become evil, all you need to do is just stop caring and your life will spiral downward into insanity and ruin. That is why my favorite Bible verse for many years has been Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Always be on guard!
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