 Can Christians be demonized slash possessed? We're gonna take a look what the Bible has to say. Now, I'm addressing this topic as one who believes in and practices both deliverance and exorcism. I believe that deliverance is for today. I believe that believers often need deliverance. I believe that demon possession is still a reality that we have to deal with in the earth during this time. So we as Christians have a responsibility to carry out the same works that Jesus carried out and deliverance is a part of that. So because I love deliverance ministry, I wanna address this thoroughly so that we can come to a balanced biblical understanding of this question or the answer to this question. So here's what we're gonna do this evening. Number one, I'm going to define biblically what demonization is. Number two, I'm gonna explain to you why Christians cannot be demonized. Number three, we're gonna debunk some common objections that you may have heard that would seek to assert the idea that Christians can be demonized. Number four, we're gonna study the scriptures that seem to support the idea that Christians can be demonized. And then number five, importantly, because I'm sure this question will arise, we're going to look at explanations as to why born again believers sometimes seem to manifest demonic beings. To start, let me just say that there's a difference between deliverance and exorcism. To deliver simply means to set free. So deliverance really is a general term. It's an umbrella term under which exorcism will fall. So deliverance can apply to many things. When you're delivered from a sickness, we call that a healing. When you're delivered from a certain mindset, we call that the breaking of a stronghold. When you're delivered from sin, we call that salvation. When you're delivered from a problematic circumstance that you can't overcome in your own power, we call that a miracle. When you are delivered specifically from demon possession, then we define that as exorcism. Now the term exorcism isn't in the scripture, but the concept is, and to help us delineate between the two, we use that terminology. Next, there's a difference between attack and possession. The scripture is very clear that we as believers are in a spiritual battle. We are not fighting against flesh and blood. And in fact, the Bible does give us warnings about our enemy who's seeking to devour us. So we mustn't be ignorant about the spiritual realm and we especially mustn't be ignorant about spiritual warfare. But there's a difference between a demonic being affecting you, influencing you, attacking you, tormenting you, deceiving you, tempting you and possessing you or inhabiting you. And I'm hoping to draw some distinct lines here this evening. Next, there is the idea of strongholds. Now I won't be able to go into the idea of strongholds in great detail because we're addressing a subject that's a little bit different than it. But the idea of strongholds is important to understand because once you understand what a stronghold is and how to break it, then you can more easily explain some of the things that Christians experience, including things like torment, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, depression, anxiety, sinful desire that's very intense, these lustful cravings. These are all rooted in what are called strongholds or thought patterns. In short, if the enemy can get you to believe his lie, then you become deceived. Once you're deceived, you begin to think according to that deception. Those thoughts become thought patterns. Those thought patterns become feelings and actions. Those feeling and actions become habits. Those habits develop into a lifestyle. That lifestyle is what we refer to as spiritual bondage. The problem is many Christians try to address the results without getting to the root. They look at the symptoms instead of the source. So that's just a little bit of homework I'll be giving you to do. You can actually check my channel on that. We have several different teachings on strongholds, but for now I'll get back to focusing on just this idea of possession or demonization. So again, deliverance is the umbrella term. Under the term deliverance, you will have exorcism, which is a very specific kind of deliverance. And then you need to know there's a difference in an attack of the enemy and the enemy possessing you. This is the difference between the enemy coming against you as opposed to attacking you from the inside or inhabiting you or exercising any degree of control via indwelling. And that's something that we want to make sure we draw a distinction for. So let's define this term because this is where a lot of the confusion arises. Often you'll hear maybe different ways of phrasing this. So you might hear phrases like we don't believe that Christians can be possessed, but we do believe that they can be demonized. Or we don't believe that Christians can be possessed, but we do believe that Christians can quote have a demon or be oppressed or be demonized. So let's make sure that this is clear. How does the Bible define demonization? Take a look at this, what you're looking at right now are various different credible Greek resources that give to you the definition of demonized. And again and again, you see it here to be possessed by a demon or a definition like it. You can actually screenshot that and I encourage you to study that and share that. Now, that term, Daimonidesemi, where we get our term demonization from, is found in 13 instances in the New Testament. Matthew 424, 816, 828, 833, 932, 1222, 1522. Mark 132, 515, 516, 518, Luke 836, and John 10, 21. It has been asserted that only the King James version of the Bible uses this kind of terminology. This is not accurate. We see this in the New King James Version, the NIV, the NLT, the ASV, the CSB, the NASB, the ESV, and so forth. Most of the credible, common, commonly used Bible translations take this word, Daimonidesemi, and translate it to be possessed by a demon. And one might wonder, well, why do they do that? Well, because that's what the word means. So the attempts to muddy or confuse that definition or even redefine this word, actually what's happening here is we're seeing a watering down of a biblical definition. When the Bible uses the word Daimonidesemi, what the writers intended to convey was very straightforward. They're talking about a demonic entity, entering an individual and exercising influence and control over that individual from the inside. That is, it takes control over or dwells within their physical being. Demons in this regard are like parasites. So the writers of the New Testament were trying to convey that idea. Now, whatever term you use to describe that, you can say have a demon, demonize, and some people use the term oppressed, but the word oppressed can also mean other things. But in this particular context, it's often used synonymously with this idea of demon possession. So let's just make it clear here. If you're talking about a demonic being dwelling within an individual and exercising influence or control over that individual through that indwelling, then you're talking about the biblical definition of demonization. Demonization in scripture means to be possessed by a demon. And we'll get into some of the objections to this definition in a moment. But first, like I said, I wanted to establish this definition based on what the scripture teaches. And so again, you can pull out your Bible and take a look at these different references that I gave you. You'll see time and time again to be possessed by a demon, to be possessed by a demon. It's important that we don't water this down because by watering it down, we're taking away from the intensity that was meant to be conveyed by the writers. They implied, they communicated that intensity. It is a very scary state of being. It is a very deep and dark bondage. And we mustn't use lukewarm definitions where the scripture wants to use intense ones. So again, you can say have a demon oppressed under the influence, demonized. If you're talking about this biblical concept where the demonic being dwells in your being or attaches itself to your being, then you're talking about demonization and the definition, biblically speaking, is to be possessed by a demon. And I gave you the references so you can go and take a look at that for yourself. So having established a biblical definition for the term demonized and having cut through some of the confusion in attempts to redefine that, we have a very clear picture that's painted for us that we can now see. Demonic beings enter individuals, that is their physical being, and control that person by that influence that they gain from dwelling inside of them. So can a Christian be demonized in this regard? Again, we'll say things like, well, a Christian can have a demon. Well, if I have a demon, you mean the demon entered them? You're saying a Christian can be possessed because that's synonymous. To say Christians can't be possessed but they can be demonized is exactly like saying Christians can't be possessed but they can be possessed because the definition, again, or the terms, at least in the context of biblical usage are synonymous. Let's take a look at Ephesians 1.14. The spirit that is the Holy Spirit is the guarantee, the first installment, the pledge, a foretaste of our inheritance until the redemption of God's own purchased, possession, his believers, to the praise of his glory. So here we see that Christians are possessed not by demonic powers, but by God himself. Now, I'm aware of the objection that says that Satan and demons don't own anything. We'll get to that in a moment. And I understand that there also might be some pushback on what exactly is meant by possession. Well, let's get even clearer then. When a demonic being has entered someone, that demonic being is said to have that individual within its possession. So we're not saying that a demon owns that individual in the sense that it should own that individual or that it created that individual. We understand that God in general owns all things but we also understand that there are localized spheres of influence that we refer to as ownership. For example, you own your phone, you own your clothes, you own your car or your house or whatever material possessions you have. Those things are within your possession. Now, God of course owns all things in the larger sense but in the localized sense and for talking about influence you own those things and God holds you responsible for how you take care of or don't take care of that which he has given you to steward. So not exactly like that but similar. So again, if someone is possessed or indwelt with by a demon, they are said to be in the possession of a demon and we know that this cannot be the case because that individual's in the possession of God himself. First Peter 2.9 says, but you are not like that for you are chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation. God's very own possession. As a result, you can now show others the goodness of God for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. So let's compare the scripture with the scripture here. How does the Bible define demonization or the indwelling of a demonic being? It defines it as possession. And so taking the Bible's definition, not man's definition, not religious definitions, not the definition we want to believe or the definition that's often repeated so that we can force certain ideologies into your mind. No, the biblical definition is that they are possessed by that demon. And so you have to ask yourself, how can one be possessed by a demonic power within a demon's possession while simultaneously being in God's possession? It cannot happen. First Corinthians 3.23 says, and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. First John 4.4 puts it a little more plainly. You've heard it ask, where does it say that Christians don't have demonic beings? Well, look here in 1 John 4.4, but you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people because the spirit who lives in you, that is the Holy spirit, is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. So there the scripture draws a very clear line of distinction, namely that one is in you and the other is not. Now some might say, well, this is specifically talking about the spirit of the antichrist. But still in this same portion of scripture, just a few verses above, we see that any spirit that is not of the Holy spirit is technically an antichrist spirit. So this is talking about demonic beings in general or spirits of the antichrist in general, or any spirit that is against Christ, that is what is being talked about here. So one is in you, the other is not, very clearly stated there. Second Corinthians chapter five verses 17 through 18, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Here we see that all things become new, not some of the things. Now this begs the question, well then why are some believers sick and why do some believers still deal with sin? I'll get to that in just a moment. But it's important to note here that the scripture is describing this newness of life. It would not make any sense for God to leave you under the power of a demonic being as the Holy Spirit fills your body and your soul and brings your spirit to life. It's not as though he's going to leave that lingering hoping maybe you discover that later and unlock some ancient mystery that you need to solve some spiritual riddle in order to be free. That's not at all the case of what's happening. So what does the Bible say that we were delivered from this? Colossians 1, 12, and 13. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Verse 13, who hath delivered us? So here we see deliverance referred to in the past tense. We understand that we are being delivered from the power of sin. Sin is losing its grip over us. In fact, we are delivered from the penalty of sin through justification, sanctification where being set free from the power of sin and one day in glorification will be totally set free from the presence of sin. But while we are here, we are works in progress. So we are being delivered from the power of sin through the work of the Holy Spirit that is sanctification. But here the Bible talks about our deliverance from the power of darkness past tense. Power of darkness, this is the domain of darkness. This is Satan's kingdom. You've been delivered from Satan and his demons in the past tense. So who hath delivered us from the power of darkness? Watch this now and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. That's Colossians 1, 12 and 13. I mean, it's very clear here unless you're trying very hard to force a meaning on this that's not there. So the Holy Spirit cannot dwell where demonic powers dwell. That's not going to be able to happen and I'll show more detail on that in a moment. But getting back to what I said I would talk to a moment ago. Now, what about sin and sickness? Well, why is it that when we're saved demons can no longer dwell in us but sin can dwell in us, sickness can dwell in us? Well, number one, we see examples of sickness in New Testament believers throughout scripture. For example, Timothy was told to take a little wine for his stomach's sake since he was sick so often. Why didn't they just heal him? Well, of course, we believe that miracles were still happening but the sovereignty of God still applies. So he tells them, take some medicine or Paul's missionary partners when they were journeying, a couple of them got sick. It was very severe. So we see examples in the New Testament of believers needing healing. In fact, there's a gift of healing to minister to others. Just read 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse seven where the scripture tells us plainly that we are given spiritual gifts to help each other who's each other, the body of Christ. One of those gifts is a gift of healing and that is to be used on fellow believers. James chapter five also talks about believers being healed from sickness. Now you don't see this same thing happening with believers nor do you see in the New Testament, born again believers having demons cast out of them. Not a single example will cover some of those that look like examples of that and we'll be very thorough about that. So that's not, by the way, an argument from silence because we would expect to see that written about if that were the case. So examples of sick believers in the New Testament, we also see examples of believers who struggle with sin, first John 1-9. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive. So that was talking to us. And so we see biblically that there are examples of believers who struggle with sickness and who struggle with sin, which you don't see are believers who are dealing with demonic possession. You see warnings about attacks of the devil. You see warnings about temptation. You see warnings about deception. You see warnings about the enemy strategizing against believers, but you'll never see in the Scripture a New Testament believer having a demon cast out of them. I'll probably cover more on that. It just depends how much time we have. So why is it then that a demon cannot be there if sin and sickness can't? Well, demons are not being redeemed. Here's an objective standard that you can use to distinguish the difference between a demon and sin and sickness. Demons aren't being redeemed. We will one day receive new bodies. Until then, the Lord's healing power is working in us. The Holy Spirit's quickening our mortal bodies. That is under the process of redemption and sickness is dealt with ultimately finally when we receive our new bodies. Sin is your will. It's the decision that you make. It's not your identity, but the sin nature is comprised of those decisions that you make unto disobedience. So you are being redeemed. You are being sanctified. You are being delivered from the power of sin from day to day to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. And so God is redeeming you. God is redeeming your body. God is not redeeming the kingdom of hell. God is not redeeming demonic powers. So they are not the same and it is not the same thing when we say that sin and sickness can sometimes dwell on the believer as saying that demons cannot because there's a very clear distinction between demons are not being redeemed. That's a very clear distinction between the two categories there. Now, is this an argument from emotion saying that a demon and the Holy Spirit cannot dwell together? Well, no. And here's why. An argument from emotion would be to simply say it because we don't like the idea of it, but this is not what's happening here. Instead, we recognize that the essence of the Holy Spirit and the essence of a demonic power are by their very own natures incompatible with one another. It's not an emotional argument to say that light and darkness cannot coexist in the same space. It's not an argument from emotion to say that something cannot be dry and wet at the same time. It is not an argument from emotion to say that someone cannot be both a bachelor and married at the same time. It's a contradiction in terms. It's a contradiction by the very necessity of their essence and the intrinsic nature of the Holy Spirit himself. So by the very essence of their being, it's necessary to conclude that the existence of one would have to mean the absence of the other. So a demonic power dwelling in the same place as the Holy Spirit, that's just incompatible for the reasons that I gave. The natures are contradictory and in fact, demonic powers are not comfortable around that type of manifestation of the Holy Spirit's power. So let's take a look at some common objections. I know there may be some questions in your mind and in fact, I encourage you to write questions in the comments. I'll try to get to as many of those questions as I possibly can as my schedule will allow and we'll see how that goes. So you can write some of your questions in the comments section right now and at least for the first couple of weeks that these live streams are out. If you're watching this like 10 years from now, it's probably been a while since I've commented on it but at least for the first week or so, maybe the first three days we'll say, I don't wanna over commit there. I'll be interacting in the comment section but we'll take a look at some of the objections here that we hear to this and we can work through this together as believers. Now look, we all unite on Jesus. All of us are family. It's not us against them or you believe Christians can have demons, you believe Christians can't have demons. There's no war there and both sides love deliverance ministry. Both sides love to practice exorcism, at least the believers I'm talking about. So again, let's stay Christian as we work through these issues. I myself used to believe that Christians can have demons and in fact, I went to go prove that idea with scripture and when I went to go prove that idea with scripture, I discovered, oh my goodness, I got this wrong and so I corrected my belief according to the word. Look, you go online and you can find articles and videos and podcasts, whatever you want. You can find what you want to hear. Some will say Christians can have demons and adamantly so. Some will say they cannot. So the question really is what does the Bible say? And I think the case has been made really plain here. The scripture is clear. So let's take a look at some objections that I think are fair because we're rational people and we like to study and we work through these things and it's good that we ask questions like this. So here's some common objections and then my response is to them. Number one, possession isn't even in the Bible. I don't know where that came from because as you just saw, the biblical definition of demonization is to be possessed by a demon. So that one very easily dealt with. Now the next objection we see is demonization is a general reference to varying degrees of demonic activity. So we'll say here's possession and then there's oppression and then there's regression and then there's maybe temptation, right? And we view it as kind of like this gradient spectrum that people can move along and maybe fall somewhere in between one of these categories not distinct from one another. But that's not what the scripture teaches. In fact, even scholars who hold to the position that Christians can have demons are adamant about the fact that demonization always entails indwelling. And so while there may be varying degrees of demonic influence once the demon has entered, demonization is always a reference to the indwelling of a demonic power. The next objection we see Christians can't be possessed but they can have demons and you'll see other objections like this and it won't be Christians can't be possessed but they can have demons or Christians can't be possessed but they can be oppressed. And I believe Christians can be oppressed. If by oppressed you mean attacked, tempted, deceived maybe even tormented. But if by oppressed you mean possessed then that's just more wordplay. So Christians can't be possessed but they can have demons. This is wordplay. The way you cut through this is just put aside the terms, go right for the definition. How does the Bible define demonization? And then you'll see that there's a very specific reality that's being described in the scripture. The next objection we see Jesus never cast demons off of people only out of people. This is almost accurate but I think it would be more accurate to say that Jesus cast demons out of people who were possessed. So Jesus never had to cast demons out of people who were not possessed. So yes, we agree that when someone has a demon dwelling in them you have to cast it out. Question is can the believer have a demon dwelling in them? And since that's not the case you will not see demons being cast out of born again believers in the scripture. You look at Ephesians chapter six, James chapter four, verse seven and the language that's being used in the scripture here isn't fighting a demon who's within us but rather fighting demonic powers that are coming against us from the exterior. And that's actually important to make that distinction because well, I'll get to that also in a moment because I'm gonna talk about the idea that some people say who cares how we describe it as long as people get set free. We'll deal with that in a moment. The next objection we see is the devil doesn't own anything. And as I said, I referenced this a few moments ago and I wanted to come back to this. There are localized spheres of influence that we call possession. You possess certain things for which God holds you responsible and demonic powers do possess things on a sub heavenly level if you will. God in his sovereignty at any time can reclaim whatever he would like but he does allow for the free will of man to operate within a fallen world. And therefore we do see instances where individuals are possessed by a demon. So saying that the devil doesn't own anything is a contradiction to the term the writers of the gospels used to describe demonization which is that those individuals are possessed by demonic powers. But we see other references in scripture that seem to indicate that people who are of the world and of Satan's influence don't belong to God. John 8.44, Jesus tells the religious leaders you belong to your father, the devil. Romans chapter eight verse nine makes it clear that if someone is not a born again believer in dwelt with by the Holy Spirit they do not belong to God at all. So this idea that the devil doesn't own anything that I would say is probably more of an emotional argument than saying that Christians can't have demons because the Holy Spirit dwells in them. Again, we know that saying that the Holy Spirit and a demon can't dwell together isn't an emotional argument because again, we can conclude that rationally by the very essence of the two. Next objection, and this one is interesting because it's one that actually has been sent to my inbox a few times and people wanna know this. Now I'm dealing with this subject but thankfully I feel like we're just dealing with fragments of this idea. This is for those of you who are still on the fence about this and you've heard different maybe ideas around this subject. And you know, some things just don't add up. So things not clicking. Around we saw this apart of mainstream Christianity. Then demons can't be anywhere since the Holy Spirit is everywhere. Now this is interesting because it was a little more philosophical and I do appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into this idea. So basically what the objection is saying is that it's not logical to say that Christians can't have demons because the Holy Spirit dwells in them because if demons couldn't be where the Holy Spirit is then they couldn't be anywhere because the Holy Spirit is everywhere. This right here fails for two reasons. Number one, this argument fails because it doesn't account for the distinguishing factors between the omnipresence of God and the indwelling presence of God. Psalm 139.7, for example, talks about the omnipresence of God, the everywhereness if you will of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians chapter 619 on the other hand talks about the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Think about the fact that in Acts chapter two we saw the Holy Spirit coming upon the church. Well, this is interesting because if the Holy Spirit is everywhere why would the Holy Spirit need to come upon the church if he was already there? This is the same logic. This is because there's a difference between the omnipresence of God and the indwelling presence of God. At least I should say more accurately there's a difference in the effect of the omnipresence of God and the indwelling presence of God. We don't believe that the unbeliever has the Holy Spirit in the same way that the believer has the Holy Spirit referencing back to Romans chapter eight, verse nine. Acts chapter one, verse eight, ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit. What comes upon you? Now wait a minute. Why would the Holy Spirit need to come upon the church if he's already everywhere? That's because the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is a heightened specific kind of influence of the presence of God that doesn't apply to everywhere or to everyone. This specific heightened influence of the presence of God namely the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is only applicable to the born again believer who has him in this special way. Unbelievers do not have the Holy Spirit in that way. The world itself does not carry the presence of the Holy Spirit in that way. We as born again believers carry the Holy Spirit in a unique way. And number two, it fails because demons don't respond well at all to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. You just referenced Mark chapter one, verses 23 and 24, and Mark chapter five, verses six and seven. And you'll see very clearly that demons react to the presence or the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit with great discomfort. Think about this. As Jesus would walk around various different cities when he would approach a demoniac, that demoniac would respond and even ask why are you tormenting me or object, don't torment me before my time. They were tormented by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that rested upon the Christ. And so as he went about, demons would react to that indwelling presence. Now, if the Holy Spirit is everywhere, why weren't demons and why aren't demons today reacting everywhere all the time? Why aren't people manifesting in the streets? Why aren't people manifesting while they're at home? Why aren't people manifesting outside of the influence of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit? I'll tell you why. Because the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is a specialized, heightened, unique influence of the presence of God that's reserved for the being of the believer. And demons are uncomfortable around that specific heightened influence. And so this is why you could say that if Christians could have demons, they would be in the constant state of manifestation because demons are very uncomfortable and they react strongly to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Not so much to his omnipresence, which is why they can just walk around until they encounter someone who is filled with the indwelling presence. So again, very well thought out, but it fails on those two accounts, that objection. The next objection we're looking at is who cares about the definition? I told you we'd come back to this. Who cares about the definition? As long as people are being set free. I appreciate the heart behind this, but the belief that Christians can have demons comes with a very tormenting kind of legalism that leaves the believer in a perpetual state of bondage. It leaves them in a perpetual state of bondage because they never actually address their problems. If they've got a lust issue, they can go on blaming a demonic being that's within them. And then instead of saying, hey, I haven't truly repented in my heart and mind. No, actually, it's a demon that just won't let me do this. It's a demon that won't let me act otherwise. And that's just not a biblical concept, especially actually I should say uniquely for the Christian that just cannot happen. So it does create a perpetual bondage. I think about this, if Christians can have demons, then you'll never know if you're actually free. I mean, think about what gets attached to this type of belief system. Christians can have demons and a demon can dwell in you and you not know it. Well, my goodness, this means that every mistake you make is an opportunity for demons to seize upon and reenter you. And that is a very tormenting reality. It's not a biblical one. It's not a true reality. It's a reality only in belief, but this creates a perpetual bondage. You never address the actual issue. It adds that legalistic fear because you never know if you're going to be free. You never know if you are free. You never know if you're right before God. It just leaves you in the constant state of questioning. Not only you're right standing with God, not only your freedom, but even your salvation and no New Testament believer believed anything near that. It also creates a belief system. It's a subcategory. So within Christianity, you have denominations. Denominations are, well, for the most part, now more and more we see some denominations going by the side of heresy, embracing things that should not be embraced. But for the most part, we have differences among brethren that may differ in terms of methodology and maybe specific things like what we believe on the spiritual gifts or on financial prosperity or on miracles, but we all as believers hold to the faith and the fundamentals of the faith in that we acknowledge that Jesus is God. Jesus lived with sinless perfection. Jesus died on the cross atoning for the sins of mankind. Jesus rose again from the dead in bodily form. Jesus ascended in bodily form. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. These are fundamentals of the faith and we as Christians hold to these. If you don't hold to those, you're not a Christian. That's by definition what a Christian is. Now, among those who believe that, there are varying beliefs, as I said, about some of the, we'll call them peripheral issues. If I call them side issues, I don't want to give the impression that I think they're not important. I think every biblical doctrine is important, but at least when we agree on the fundamentals. And the next objection we see, this one's kind of interesting, a Christian can have whatever they want. So it's the idea that a Christian can decide to allow a demon to come into them. Now, let me say this very clearly because I don't believe that we as Christians have a license to sin. We as believers are right before God. So how did we become right before God? Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine. Because of God's grace, you and I can have faith and that faith justifies us. So justification by grace through faith is what Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine teaches us. So that righteousness gets accredited to us. We become righteous because of our belief on Christ. Now, having been declared righteous, we as believers are given a desire to live holy. We ought to live holy. And if you don't have a desire to live holy, you need to make sure that you actually are born again because the scripture makes it clear that when you are truly born again, the Holy Spirit gives you new desires and he helps you to fulfill those desires. This doesn't mean you won't make mistakes. This doesn't mean you won't have a slip up here and there. You don't just say, I'm gonna have a slip up here and there and then allow that, that's how deceptive the flesh is. Would rather say, okay, does this change my legal standing with God if I make a mistake? Well, no, why? Because that legal standing was given to you and sustained by grace through faith. And so if we could have our legal standing changed, it would change on a daily basis, justified, not justified, justified, not justified. And again, let me emphasize, this is not a license to sin. True believers desire to live holy truly. And so as we begin to act on these new desires, there may be a moment here where you make a mistake and the Lord will not remove from you justification just because you made that mistake. So this idea of legal right, I'm hesitant with that idea because the scripture doesn't say anything about that. And in fact, it says just the opposite that our legal standing is brought forth by the righteousness of Christ. So this is not to sin. This is where I wanna be very clear. I am not saying that we can just go on sinning. Listen, there are consequences to sin, even for Christians. You can bear the material consequences. If you have an affair, you could lose your marriage. If you steal or take someone's life, you're gonna go to jail. If you embezzle finances, well, you're gonna lose your reputation and go to jail and so forth. So there are material consequences to sin. We live in a fallen world where consequences happen based upon the choices that we make. Additionally, God corrects those whom he loves. He doesn't curse those he loves, he corrects those he loves. And so God's correction is about reconciliation. So you will bear the consequences of your wrongdoing as a Christian. Doesn't mean you just get away with it. And you will bear the correction of God if you go on living in compromise. So having said that, there are consequences to sin, but demonization for the believer is not one of them. And I'll show you why. And I'll show you why it's actually lukewarm to teach that that's the case. Because if you look at Christianity as a spectrum, as I said, that gradient spectrum where maybe you have a dark blue over here, a light blue over here, and it just slowly becomes darker and lighter depending where you are in that gradient. The question has to be asked if you look at your walk with God as a spectrum, the question has to be asked, how far down the spectrum does one need to go to be possessed? Think about this. Okay, so I'm a Christian, I'm living clean, I'm living holy, and I'm living demon-free. And then there's compromise. Now how far down that spectrum do you think you have to go to be possessed? And obviously you want to get as far away from that as possible. But let me ask you, what true Christian would go that far? What true Christian would allow themselves to go so far down that spectrum without conviction, without repentance, without reaching out to God for help? I would argue no true Christian would allow themselves to get that far. I've even had people ask me, brother David, what if a born-again believer has a lifestyle of practicing witchcraft intentionally? And I'm puzzled by that question because I wonder what true believer would even do that. What true Christian would actually commit themselves to sin and witchcraft in such a way that it would go so far as to invite demon possession? That's a lukewarm definition. For all our talk about Christians being fake and they're being false converts, I really feel like we miss it on this one. Because on one hand, we say that there are fake Christians in the church. But then on the other side of the mouth, we say that people who live in sin to the point of demonization are true believers. Now, you may be listening to this saying, wait a minute, I believe I was demonized. Are you saying I'm not a true Christian? No, I'm not saying that at all. And I encourage you to hang on until toward the end when I actually address why Christians sometimes seem to manifest. Because I know that's gonna be a question. Even in the comments, my guess is that a majority of the comments in objection to what I'm saying are going to be stories. Will this happen to me or my cousin or my pastor? And look, I wanna say this, I acknowledge those stories and I think they're valid, but I wanna give a biblical explanation to those. And I think you'll be satisfied with the explanations because I am not saying that if you were attacked by a demon, you're not a Christian. I'm saying that if you allow yourself to live an unrepentant sin to the point of demonization, the question has to be asked. Would a true believer allow that? So a Christian can have whatever they want. Why would a true Christian want a demon? The next objection we see comes by way of analogy. This one, you may hear it. There's different rodents used depending upon the analogy, rats or mice or even insects. They'll say, well, if I have a house and it's infested by rats, it's still my house. I'm still there, but there are rats and mice and spiders in the house. I mean, I get what's being said here, but the problem is that this assumes that there's nothing that prevents the rats from coming into the house in the first place. And so on that point, the analogy fails and we don't gain our truth by way of analogy. Analogies can illustrate truths, but they're not the source of truth. The next objection, and I said I'd come back to this one too, we see people saying that this is an argument from silence. So for example, people like me will say, well, you'll never see once in the scripture a born-again believer having a demon cast out of them. And people will respond to that by saying, well, wait a minute, that's an argument from silence. Just because we don't see it there doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Or they may even say, well, we don't see in the scripture where it says Christians can't have demons. Well, just by showing the scriptures that we looked at, we see that the nature of the Holy Spirit within the believer is incompatible with demonic powers being also present in the physical being as demons do. As demons are usually present in a non-believing demoniac. But in terms of this argument from silence, I wouldn't say it's an argument from silence because it's only an argument from silence if it can't be demonstrated that the scripture would address it if it were so. By that I mean we have to ask the question if Christians being demonized to the point of needing exorcism was a biblical reality. We would expect that Paul the apostle would address it. And really think about this because we're not just saying that this is some side issue that Christians deal with from time to time. Okay, what gets taught along with this idea that Christians can be demonized is also this mindset that has you constantly checking for this and constantly running diagnostics and constantly evaluating your interactions and we should obviously live holy. I'm not saying we shouldn't but to say that a Christian can have a demon is not just some small thing. I mean we are now putting upon the believer an entire belief system out of which they have to live because that's what this becomes. Again, if you believe a Christian can have a demon and that demons can dwell in you and you not know it. Okay, you got a whole infrastructure of belief that has to come along with that now which leads to the torment and the confusion and the perpetual bondage and having to go for deliverance after deliverance after deliverance. So again, this is not a small thing we're suggesting. So we're asking the question if that were a reality, would Paul the apostle or any of the writers of the New Testament or even Jesus himself address that specific issue? And the answer is yes, if that were a reality we would see that at least mentioned once in scripture. We don't see that. So because we can conclude that this would have been written about because of the severity and because of the profound way that that would impact the everyday life of every believer, we can safely conclude that that would have been addressed if it were an issue especially since we referenced Ephesians chapter six where Paul writes about the armor of God and how this gives us everything we need to stand against all strategies of the devil or the fact that the scripture was inspired and it empowers us, it enables us to do every good work, every good work including the casting out of demons from other believers. But since this is not mentioned when it should be mentioned or we know that it would be mentioned we can conclude safely conclusively. This is not an argument from silence and those of you who've studied philosophy or logic or debate, you can appreciate I think that one. Next we see an objection. Well, demons can't dwell in the body because obviously the Holy Spirit dwells there 1 Corinthians chapter six verses 19 and 20. Demons can't dwell in the spirit because 1 Corinthians chapter six verse 17 says that he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him and this is where the assertion is made. Ah, but demons can dwell in the soul. Well, first of all, well, it's helpful to envision body, soul and spirit. And in fact, I have teachings on this very thing. It's unhelpful in the way that we act as though soul and spirit are very distinctly compartmentalized. I think that's what we envision. And I'll tell you this right now, I use those illustrations, body, soul, spirit, you know, the circles one filling the other even in one of my books I used an illustration where there were three people, body, soul and spirit, right? Not that we're three people. My goodness, that's a whole different message. There are three different aspects of our nature, but we're one person, okay? Let me just make that clear. So I think it's helpful to use that illustration in some contexts when you're talking about the way that influence can affect us in different ways. But if we're looking at that and then saying, well, there's a very distinct compartment that these compartments don't necessarily affect one another, then we're getting off base and we're pushing that illustration far beyond the means where it's even helpful anymore. So again, while that illustration is helpful in some contexts, in this particular one, it's not because the implication is that there's this very clear distinction between those compartments and its body and there's a wall that nothing can pass through than soul, a wall, nothing can pass through spirit. And in fact, especially if you look in the Old Testament, soul and spirit seem to be more intermingled than we actually have realized today. So the question then has to be asked, what do we determine is the soul? Well, we know that the Bible defines the spirit. We know that the Bible defines the body. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 makes a distinction between the natures of these three. Again, not necessarily saying that one doesn't affect the other. So the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 makes a distinction between the three. So we can deduce based on what the scripture gives to us that what remains is of the soul. That is your mind, your will, your emotions, your personality, your mind, what you think, your will, what you desire, your emotions, what you feel, your personality, how you express all of those things. And so you have to ask the question, would God give control of your will to a demonic being? Absolutely not. And in fact, if you look at the man who had a legion of demons or the two men who came to Jesus, you see that they approached the Lord. Now what demonic power would will its captive toward its freedom? No demonic power would do that. So these people who approached to Jesus or who were brought to Jesus still had exercise over their will. Now I know when it comes to someone who's a demonic, it may seem as though the demon has full control of their will. What it actually has is control the physical aspect much like a disease can take control of your physical body will not necessarily affecting your will. So demonic possession can affect the physical body and even torment the mind but not have full control over your will. So God doesn't even give himself control over the will. He gives that to you to have and he's not going to give that to a demonic being. So what we see in scripture in the behavior of demonic acts, clearly illustrates to us that the demoniac still had some degree of control over their will and therefore the demonic power did not possess their will. Also, we don't see demons possessing souls, we see them possessing bodies. When an unclean spirit comes out of a man it goes through the desert seeking rest but finding that it's bound to some degree to the physical realm of this world. Jesus cast demons into pigs. Are you now going to give me a theology that said those pigs have souls? I mean, this is how far you have to push things in order to hold to this idea. But we can again, look to the scripture and at least dismiss this idea that's been asserted for which there's no biblical support that demons dwell in the soul. Can demons affect the soul? Yes, through deception. Can demons affect the mind? Yes, through torment. Can demons tempt you? Yes, of course they can. They do that all from the outside. This is not something that they have over you. They cannot control your will completely. And because of that we know that demons do not possess the soul. Another objection that's raised then is, well, why not just get people saved then? What is the point of deliverance? Well, remember, as I discussed at the top of this teaching that deliverance is more than just exorcism. Deliverance is an umbrella term that covers various other things. Do Christians need deliverance? Yes, Christians need deliverance from demonic torment, from demonic temptation, from addiction, from sickness, from sin, from sinful habits. Do Christians need exorcism? That is to have demons driven out of them. No, and that really is the only issue there. I mean, if somebody comes to me and says, I was delivered from a demonic attack, I say amen. So was I, by the way. I dealt severely with anxiety and depression. The Lord delivered me from demonic torment as a Christian. So I understand that, yes, there is deliverance for the believer. Yes, deliverance is for today. Yes, deliverance is for Christians. But this specific practice, exorcism, that is where the demon now exhibits control over them to where they have no control over their physical capacities and it's speaking through them and talking for them and moving them about with that kind of control. That's just not something that can happen for the believer or to the believer, I should say. So that objection, why don't we just get people saved? And again, that misses the point that deliverance is more than just specifically exorcism. Also the reason why we don't just get people saved or why that objection doesn't hold water is because deliverance by exorcism can lead to salvation. This is something we miss all the time. Now some might ask, well, wait a minute, why do we even, I thought we shouldn't cast demons out of unbelievers. I thought that's not something we're supposed to do because the demon could come back seven times worse. Maybe we'll have time to cover that. If not, I might interact in the comments with that but I do have some teaching on that here if time allows, we'll get to that portion. But the point I'm making here is simply that deliverance can lead to salvation. People ask, well, wait a minute. So does that mean that the demon comes out as they're being saved? Yes, in fact, that's what we see happen quite often. That's what happened with Philip. I believe in the book of Acts chapter eight where he preached the gospel and they heard the gospel and these people after hearing the gospel had demons cast out of them. Now it doesn't say they believed and became saved. I'll deal with that specifically in a moment. And many times that text is used to try to justify this belief that Christians can have demons. So we will cover that when I get to the scriptures there in a moment that people use to try to justify the idea that Christians can be demonized. But one example here as I just mentioned is the demoniac, Mary Magdalene and the many people who Jesus delivered. Deliverance from demonic possession which we call exorcism can lead to salvation and therefore it still has a place. So it's not like just because Christians can't have demons that suddenly the ministry of exorcism goes away. Not at all, exorcism can lead to salvation. Okay, now let's go over some of the scriptures that seem to support this. Let's look at Judas, John 1327. I'm gonna go through these as quickly as possible so try to take notes if you're looking for a thorough more slowed down approach to this. My book, Holy Spirit, the Bondage Breaker is available at bondagebreaker.com. Let me get that in focus there, thank you, Josh. Holy Spirit, the Bondage Breaker available at bondagebreaker.com. I have a whole chapter where I deal with Christians and demonization and I also talk in great detail about strongholds and strongholds can lead to tormented minds and night terrors and I even deal with sleep paralysis in here. All of that's covered that and it's covered in a way that's consistent with everything that I'm telling you right here right now in this teaching. So if you want more of a slowed down approach to this you can go there. You can also search this channel. I have a lot of teaching on this but let's go through this now. Judas, Judas was possessed. There's no doubt about that. John 13, 27 says, when Judas had eaten the bread Satan entered him. So here very clearly we see that Judas did in fact have the devil in him. That is by definition possession. But was he a believer? Didn't he move in power? People will say. Well, look at Matthew chapter seven verses 21 to 23. Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter. On judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name. But I will reply, I never knew you. Get away from me. You who break God's laws. So here we see that it's possible to move in the power of God without actually being saved. Judas is the case in point. John chapter six verse 66. We see that several of Jesus' disciples abandoned him. John 666 says, and ironically it's 666. At this point, many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. So whether you believe that Judas was backslidden or never saved in the first place, it's clear that Judas was not a born-again believer at the time of his possession. Verse John 219 says this, these people left our churches because they never really belonged to us. Otherwise they would have stayed with us. Watch this. Now, when they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. So Judas did not belong with them at all. Jesus referred to Judas as the son of perdition. John 126 says, not that he cared for the poor, he was a thief and since he was in charge of the, excuse me, Jesus said, John 670. I chose the 12 of you, but one is a devil. Finishing John 126, he was a thief and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he stole for himself often. So here we see Judas was an unrepentant thief. Jesus called him a devil. John chapter 13 verses 10 and 11 says, a person who has bathed all over does not need to wash except for the feet to be entirely clean and you disciples are clean, but not all of you. For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, not all of you are clean. So keep in mind, Jesus, his other disciples that left him in John 666 were also among this group who would be considered unclean. So not everyone who followed Jesus was a genuine follower of Jesus. So Judas was called the son of perdition. Judas left and therefore was never considered among them. Jesus referred to him in a way that made him distinct from the others. So again, if you believe that Judas was saved at the time that he followed Christ, okay, but whether he was backslidden or whether he was no longer saved, it is clear from scripture that Judas was not among them at the time that he betrayed Christ. So no Judas is not an example of a Christian being demonized. And by the way, no devil was cast out of him. Next we see, didn't Jesus call Peter Satan? Here's what the scripture says in Matthew 16 verse 21. From then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day, he would be raised from the dead. So here Jesus is speaking plainly about the crucifixion that he would suffer. Peter resists that in verse 22. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him, saying such things, heaven forbid, Lord, he said, this will never happen to you. So Jesus is clearly going to tell us why he says this to Peter. Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan, you are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's. So did Jesus call Peter Satan because Peter had Satan dwelling within him? No, Jesus said it very plainly here that because he was seeing things from a human point of view, he called him an adversary or someone who was against what the will of God was for. The term demonized is not used here. There's no blatant language describing possession as we saw in the case of Judas. And this is a big tell right here. Peter never underwent exorcism. If Peter had a demon, if Peter had Satan in him, you would think he'd have to undergo an exorcism but that did not happen. So here, Jesus is simply speaking of Peter's objection to the will of God in Jesus' life and not to demonization. So no, Peter is definitely not an example of a Christian having a demon in them. Acts five, one through four, but there was a certain man named Ananias who with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles claiming it was the full amount. With his wife's consent, he kept the rest. Then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit. You kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell as you wish. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us, but to God. Now, we don't know for sure whether or not Ananias and Sapphira were actually born again believers. In previous chapters, we know that many were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, but it's not known for certain now whether Ananias and Sapphira were among those being saved or if they were just casually affiliated with the believers. Now, in Acts chapter four, there's a record about the unity of the true believers and how they shared all things. Notes the phrasing in the beginning of Acts chapter five, but there was a certain man named Ananias. The phrasing seems to be drawing a contrast between Ananias and the believers mentioned in the previous chapter. Acts four describes believers selflessly sharing all things. Acts five describes a man and a woman who lied about their commitment to the church. This phrasing, this contrast being drawn seems to indicate that Ananias and Sapphira were not truly counted among the believers. Now that phrase, a certain man, yes, in scripture has been used to talk about believers, but here, what that phrase is doing is it's a distinguishing phrase. And because it's used between four and five, one context talking about genuine believers who are giving up all they have for the sake of Christ, it's now contrasting them with, I believe, non-believers who are doing just the opposite. Now some might say, but they gave money to the church. So surely this means that they were born again believers, but my friend, I don't know of anything more. I mean, that to me is just an interesting point. The fact that Ananias and Sapphira gave money to the church, it doesn't at all indicate that they were truly born again. They could have done it maybe for accolades. They could have done it because maybe they were curious about what was happening there. They could have done it because maybe they wanted to be accepted among a new group that was forming. They were curious about some of the power that they were witnessing. There are a number of explanations as to why they would have given money, but I reject the idea that you can buy your salvation. I reject the idea that you can prove your saved by the giving of money. I reject the idea that just because you give money, that therefore that demonstrates that you're a born again believer. That's a dangerous idea. So to say, well, they gave money, so surely they were born again believers, dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. Acts chapter five verses five through nine. As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet and took him out to be buried. About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, was this the price you and your husband received for the land? Yes, she replied that was the price. And Peter said, how could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door and they will carry you out too. So the word here for field is to make full or to complete. It's the same exact term used in Ephesians chapter five verses 18 and 19. So yes, it's talking about an infilling, but what are they being filled with? So as I mentioned in my teaching on the Holy Spirit, one might not be aware of the fact that Ephesians is describing the ongoing influence of the Holy Spirit, not the initial infilling of the Holy Spirit. So this is not necessarily speaking in the exact same terms that you would think the Holy Spirit filled you because even Ephesians chapter five verses 18 and 19 is talking about a continual filling. There's, I'll say it like this, there's filling like water and a cup and then there's filling like wind and a sail. So this is talking about the continual influence of the Holy Spirit. And again, not the initial infilling. And even if you wanna talk about filling as in filled a glass, you have to ask yourself what was their heart filled with? Why did you allow Satan to fill your heart? Satan wasn't in their heart. He was the one filling their heart with something else. So he filled their heart with deception. The other question we have to ask is why didn't Peter cast the demon out? I mean, my goodness, the scripture doesn't use language, describing possession, demonization. All it mentions is that Satan filled their heart. And again, we wanna jump on the especially with things like confirmation bias. We wanna jump right on that term. Ah, Satan filled. No, read the rest of the phrase. Satan filled their heart, but with what did he fill their heart? He filled their heart with deception. He filled their heart with lies. He filled their heart with greed. This is not in any way saying that Satan himself went into their heart, but rather that he filled them. So here's the conclusion. The fact that Ananias and Sapphira aren't even confirmed as born-again believers, coupled with the fact that the original language doesn't describe ownership or possession or demonization. And considered with the reality that scripture was describing influence in the phrase, fill your heart, we can safely conclude that Ananias and Sapphira are most certainly not examples of Christians being demon-possessed. And again, you have to ask the question then why didn't Peter just cast it out? If Ananias and Sapphira are the only example that we have of Christians being demonized, then we can thank God that this is not the case for today because that would mean that death, not deliverance, would be God's response to the situation. They weren't delivered, they were killed. And so if you're gonna take Ananias and Sapphira and say, well, they're an example of Christians having demons, then look at the conclusion and ask yourself if that's proper to make that conclusion. So no, if you've heard that, then Ananias and Sapphira are an example of that. You've seen good reason now to completely toss out that idea. Didn't Jesus tell us to pray for deliverance? Matthew 6, 13, yes, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Look at the context, he's talking about being delivered from the tempter or temptation. Remember, deliverance and exorcism aren't necessarily the same thing. Exorcism is a very specific kind of deliverance. So if you're looking at that particular scripture, he says deliver us from the evil one or deliver us from evil. Well, what is the evil one doing? He's tempting. And therefore he's talking about deliverance from temptation. That's not the same thing as demonization. Oh, what about those who listened to Philip? I mentioned this a few moments ago. Acts chapter eight, verses five through seven. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake. Now this is important. The people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake. Hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with the loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed. Now watch this, two things we're gonna break down here. One, we look at the word gave heed. Matthew chapter 16, verses 11 and 12. We see the same Greek term being used here. Why can't you understand that I'm not talking about bread? So again, I say beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then at least they understood that he wasn't speaking about the yeast and bread but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. So right here, beware. That's the same word for gave heed in Acts chapter eight verses five through seven. So the term beware and the term gave heed are the exact same. Now is Jesus telling his followers to give themselves over to the teachings of the Pharisees? No, he's saying, listen to it, watch out, beware. So this term take heed simply means to listen intently. This is not the same as believing. This is not the same as accepting the message. This is not the same as responding to the message in repentance. So the people with one accord sat there and listened. That is what the Bible is saying. That's the plain meaning of the text. That's what the scriptures teach you. It's not saying they all became born again. What it's saying is they all listened to the message. I know several people who've listened intently to the gospel, but did not necessarily commit themselves to Christ. Afterward, in fact, Paul the apostle dealt with this. He had an audience where one individual was almost persuaded after listening intently. So there's nothing here to indicate that it was those who were saved to receive exorcism. In fact, it's the opposite. Philip cast out the demons after preaching to them. The reason they paid attention to him was because he was casting out demons. Now you may say, well, the order is here in seven. It says in verse six that they took heed, and in verse seven that they paid it, that demons were cast out. But notice the term here, four unclean spirits came out of many that were possessed with them. So what it's saying here, if you study the structure and the grammar, especially in the original language, it's saying that because he cast out demons, they listened intently to what he was saying. I'm telling, I'll give you some homework because again, I don't necessarily have time to dig into all of it. Go research that acts eight, five through seven. The order in which this took place, if you look at the original language, that the unclean spirits came out and then the people listened intently. They listened intently, why? Four unclean spirits came out of the man. So if you wanna use this as an example of Christians being demonized, it's actually saying just the opposite. It's saying that because he cast out devils, people turned to Christ. Because he cast out devils, people listened to the gospel message. So this is why we go back to that other objection that says, well, why don't we just get them saved? Where's the place of exorcism? There you have it, you cast out devils and people are gonna pay more attention to what you have to say. What about the demon-possessed people in the synagogue, like in Mark 139? Guys, just because they're in the synagogue doesn't mean they're saved. How much do we hear preaching like going to McDonald's doesn't make you a hamburger or going to, I don't know, I can't even think of an analogy right now. Going to Ikea doesn't make you a chair. I'll just throw that one in there. So going to church doesn't make you a Christian. Just because they're in the synagogue doesn't mean they were born again. What about the daughter of Abraham, Luke 13, 11 through 13? Some will say the daughter of Abraham was demon-possessed, which demonstrates that God's children can be demon-possessed. All that's being said here is not that she was a born-again, spirit-filled believer, but rather that she was of Jewish descent. That's literally all that means. Didn't Paul tell the Galatians that they had been bewitched or fell under a spell? Galatians 3, 1, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? The Greek word here means to fascinate or to deceive. Paul the apostle here is specifically dealing with the workspace gospel. And so he's saying, look, you're being deceived by this workspace gospel. He gives the solution for this problem in verse 10 of chapter five in Galatians. I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. So what is the solution to this bewitchment? It's not an exorcism, it's truth. It's God keeping them from that deception. So no, Galatians 3, 1, is not an example of Christians being demonized. What about the word sozo? Sozo in fact can mean saved, healed, delivered. We say, well, sozo, that applies all the time. All the definitions of sozo apply all the time to every situation. Therefore, believers who are saved are also delivered. Number one, again, deliverance doesn't always mean exorcism. Number two, context dictates meaning. For example, if I use the word bridge, if I say I drove my car across the bridge from city to city, you picture one kind of bridge. But if I say, hey, my friends who were fighting finally bridged the gap and got to talking, you don't picture a literal bridge, you picture a relational bridge, and you know that there's reconciliation that's taking place. But because of the context in which that term bridge is being used, you attribute to it a different meaning. The same is true of the Greek and the Hebrew. There are varying definitions to these different terms, and where you insert these terms will determine their usage. So context dictates meaning. Sozo can mean delivered, can mean healed, can mean saved, but will take on various different meanings depending upon the context. Isn't deliverance the children's bread? No, my friend, Jesus is the children's bread. It's much greater than that. Matthew 7, 25 to 27, where this woman whose daughter is demon possessed, she says, Jesus, please, and she by the way is a Gentile. She says, Jesus, please deliver my daughter. He says, no, I came for the children first. The bread needs to go to the children. She says, but Jesus, even the dogs can have some of the crumbs that fall off the table. He says, never have I seen such faith or something to that effect. Now, you gotta understand Jesus is not, when he talks about children in this context, he's not talking about born-again spirit filled New Testament believers. The term children in this context is unredeemed Israel. He specifically is talking about the unsaved. Who did he say he came for? The lost sheep of Israel. So he's talking specifically about the unbeliever. So this is not to say at all. I mean, I don't even, I mean, this of all the scriptures that get twisted like a pretzel, this one gets treated most like a pretzel and they put the toppings on this pretzel too. Many believers, I know I used to. So one might insist, but the story is specifically about exorcism. So we can't have it both ways. Either we are specific or general in the interpretation and application of this portion of scripture. If we are general with our interpretation, then we must conclude that this is about more than just exorcism. It's about Jesus' broader ministry being made available to both Jew and then Gentile. That's if, and now if we're being specific about our interpretation, then we must conclude that the children in a specific reference is the nation of Israel, not the New Testament believers. So either way you cut it, broad interpretation, specific interpretation. This is not talking about Christians having demons. Nothing of the sort is even mentioned, not even close. John 651, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. So the next time you hear deliverances, the children's bread, yes, deliverance is what God gives to us, but it's greater than that. Jesus is the children's bread. This particular portion of scripture we know is talking about unredeemed Israel. So it does not mean that Christians can have demons, not even close. What about giving place to the devil with our anger? Ephesians 4, 26, be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, okay? So that means you can be angry and not sin. So now you mean to tell me that if I have any motion that therefore the devil can take a place in my life? No. Verse 27 says neither give place to the devil. Really think about this. If it's possible to be angry without sinning and anger that emotion can be felt and anger alone can give place to the devil, now you have to be committed to the idea that emotion alone can give place to the devil and the scripture doesn't talk about that. But let's get a little bit more specific here. That's if you use that interpretation, let's go specifically with what it's talking about here. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Now the word place here is not describing a literal physical location. It's speaking of influence or more specifically opportunity. So in other words, don't get so angry that you give an opportunity for the devil to gain influence in your life. It doesn't say anything about demonization. It doesn't say anything about possession. It doesn't say anything about the demon entering your physical being. It doesn't say anything about casting a demon out. It doesn't say anything about the entering of multiple demons, nothing like that. It's just talking about giving opportunity to the enemy to work something in your life by way of that influence. So that again is not a portion of scripture we can use for that. Now there are many we can go through. I'm running out of time. Paul's thorn, thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. I'll just briefly address that. You look at Paul's thorn. The thorn in the flesh, if you look at the Greek original, the original meaning of that word thorn, it's basically a wooden stake. So if you want to be given to a literal interpretation of what Paul the apostle is saying, then if you take thorn to be literal, you also have to take flesh to be literal. Rather what's happening here is that Paul is using figurative speech to describe a literal reality. It's like if I say I gave the kids some candy and they were all jumping off of the walls. Now you understand that I literally gave them candy and they were only figuratively jumping on the walls hopefully. So in the same sense, Paul the apostle uses figurative language. The figurative phrase here is thorn in the flesh. And then he moves on to describe the literal reality, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. If you want to give a literal interpretation to thorn, you have to give literal interpretation to flesh and vice versa. So then that would mean that Paul was literally walking around with a wooden stake in his physical body. Nobody believes that. And so you have to, if you're going to say that the thorn was figurative, then that same phrase has to be figurative in terms of the use of the word flesh. So thorn in the flesh is the figurative, messenger of Satan is the literal to torment. Torment doesn't mean possession. And many Bible scholars think that this was maybe someone who was an enemy of Paul in human form, who was persecuting him. If you believe it was a demonic being, who was the messenger of Satan? Still the physical literal flesh would not apply in that case, because again, that whole phrase thorn in the flesh was a figurative phrase. In fact, if you look at the historical context of that phrase, you'll find that thorn in the flesh really is just a reference to trouble or someone who's bugging you or a problem that has arisen. And again, it's a figurative phrase. So if you want to be consistent, then you have to believe that Paul was walking around with the wooden stake in his body. But we know that the phrase is figurative, even though messenger of Satan is a literal. Okay, so let me actually clarify that a little bit more because I just thought of maybe an objection that might stand. So that is consistent to say, because the figurative language is describing the literal torment. So the messenger of Satan is real, is literal. Whether that be someone who was persecuting him whether that be an actual demonic power. But to then say that it was physically within him as a demonic power would be to give in to a literal interpretation of the phrase thorn in the flesh which it is known to be a figurative one. So the key here is not to influence, influence with possession. You'll see many other examples and it seems like new ones are arising, new objections are arising all the time. I get them in my inbox. But I want to make sure that we're dealing with these accurately, biblically. Now again, I say this as someone who practices exorcism, practices deliverance on Christians. You might say, well, how do we explain then the different manifestations that we see happening to Christians? Well, I'll give you five explanations for what happens when we see somebody manifesting. And let me start by saying this. If you have had an instance where you were attacked by a demonic being, I believe you and I believe you are still a Christian. If you want to tell me a story about how you were assaulted by a demonic being in your sleep, in your nightmare, I believe you and I believe you're still a Christian. If there's a demon that's tormenting you in your mind, intrusive thoughts, maybe you're dealing with a strong temptation. I believe you and I think you're still a Christian. So I want you to listen very carefully to these explanations I'm about to give because sometimes when we're defensive, we jump the gun and we think, well, this is what he's saying about me. No, I'm gonna give you five different possible explanations. You can choose which one gets applied and maybe there might be even a variation of these explanations. So number one, intense deliverance. When the power of the Holy Spirit touches an individual, they shake, they cry, sometimes they shout. And when the Holy Spirit is delivering you from an addiction or from a stronghold, that can be a very intense experience. In fact, an intense deliverance is what believers most often mistake for an exorcism. Just because an addiction was broken in your physical body, we say, wait a minute, it's in your body, isn't that the demon? No, the addiction is what results in the physical body from the deception of the enemy. In fact, I have a whole teaching on addiction on my channel. You can take a look at that. And everything there will be consistent with everything that I'm saying here. Well, I guess I'll explain this since we're on the topic. Addiction is what results when you habitually give in to the desires and cravings of the flesh. So now your physical body begins to crave what you've been feeding it in disobedience. But that physical aspect of the addiction is physical. The spiritual aspect of the addiction is spiritual, but that spiritual aspect is found by way of deception. Here's how it would look. The enemy deceives you through temptation. You choose to respond and take that drink of alcohol. You continue to drink, take that drink of alcohol. What is now forming the addiction in your body? It's the actual material substance of alcohol that's affecting your brain and body. Now your body responds in a way to where you desire it. You crave it painfully, okay? And maybe even it gets dangerous to where you, if you cut it off, now you have withdrawals. That's the physical aspect. As it goes with addiction, we have to remember there's a physical aspect, a mental and emotional aspect and a spiritual aspect. And you gotta address each one properly. What's the physical aspect? The addiction itself. What's the mental and emotional aspect? The lie that you believe. What's the spiritual aspect? The enemy who lies to you that caused you to fall into that deception and make those choices which ultimately resulted in that physical state of being. So then we can conclude that the enemy can form an addiction in your life without having to possess you, without having to enter you. And so while Christians undergo deliverance from addiction, now what's beginning to happen is they're mistaking their deliverance for exorcism. The addiction was healed, but that doesn't mean there was a demon in you controlling your physical body that cannot happen to Christians. That doesn't mean there's a demon in you speaking for you. If that's the case, you have to take a look at these other explanations I'm giving. So number one, and this is most often the case, and probably I would say, this is not statistical. It's more anecdotal based upon the responses that I've received. Most Christians who think they had a demon in them actually just went through an intense deliverance where a stronghold was broken or an addiction was broken or the power of God touched them. So an intense deliverance is most often the explanation of why Christians think they had an exorcism. Number two is programming, where all the teachings that you receive that tell you you have to vomit in a bucket or you have to speak for the demon. I mean, this really is what kind of pressures people into responding in a certain ways, and they're so desperate to be free that they kind of give themselves over to the experience. This by the way, and I'm not saying this facetiously, but it's a reality. And this by the way is why many of the exorcisms, we shall call them that you see, just look like bad acting in a high school play. You ever notice that the demon possessed person will speak real nicely into the microphone or we'll stand up and have a full on conversation or we'll sit quietly through the service, even though the manifested presence of the Holy Spirit is there from the start, or we'll avoid cussing, or you know, and so in times like that I'm going, that's a pretty polite demon or that's a pretty cooperative demon. You look in the scripture, what happens during exorcism, the physical body is thrashed, the person is screaming, and then that demon's gone. That's the biblical picture of exorcism. So what happens though is Christians are, they think, okay, in order to be free, I kind of gotta go with, and they may not think that outright, but it's been put in the back of their minds again and again and again. This is what it takes to be free. In fact, guys, I will not expose these people but people would message me saying, David, I need to repent because I acted like this and it was just me responding to what I had been taught. So they're not necessarily lying and I wouldn't say you would be deceptive like that. Don't hear what I'm not saying, but we get so programmed and in our programming and in our desperation, we respond in ways we think we should. And so this is what leads to some problems. So number one, it could be an intense deliverance, which is still a genuine encounter with God, by the way. Number two, it could be programming. Number three, this is also a very common one. It could be mental illness. This one breaks my heart because I've received messages from people who've told me that their loved ones took their own lives. It's hard to even just talk about it now. I received messages from people who tell me that their loved ones took their lives because they were told again and again and again and again that they had a demon. And even though they went to the deliverance sessions, even though they went to the deliverance events, they weren't set free. And so they thought, I have a demon in me and there's nothing I can do to get it out no matter how many times I've received prayer. All the while not realizing it was a mental illness problem. And one individual told me in particular, they said, they named their family, remember? They said, they took their life. And they said, I wish they saw your teaching. They said, I wish they saw your teaching before they did what they did. Because they were so consumed with some of this bizarre doctrine. They just got on this, you know, right? And the sad thing is that kind of comes with its own defense mechanisms, you know, right? We have the truth nobody else does. We're the serious Christians, everyone else is lukewarm. We have power, you don't. We're obeying, being Jesus, you're not. And if anyone corrects it like I'm doing now, it's you're attacking deliverance. But no, my friend, I'm defending deliverance ministry. Because the sad truth is that many people need deliverance from their deliverance or what they believe about deliverance. It's a bondage unto itself. And I've seen people with mental illness completely lose it because they can't, they're not addressing the problem of the flesh. They're only addressing what they think is a demon, which by the way, again, you know, why not just who cares about definitions as long as everyone's free? This is why. Because you tell them it's a demon when it's a mental illness. And yes, there are some times it's a demon, but you tell them it's a demon when it's a mental illness. That's what you end up with. And so sometimes it's a mental illness. I'll give you an example. I used to struggle severely with anxiety and I had panic attacks every single day for a couple of years. Steve, you can remember this, can't you? Yes. Yeah, you were there, Jess was there, my brother was there during that season. It was a tough season. And it would be to the point where I just had to like, I'd have to, it was awful. And I know what it is to fight a panic attack. You feel like there's this eruption taking place and you can't suppress it. Your emotions are firing like red alert, red alert, red alert and there's this angst that's built up in you. Now, take someone who has OCD, take someone who has anxiety, take someone who deals with panic attacks, take someone who deals with intrusive thoughts, put them in a service where they are told again and again and again and again, you've got a demon, you've got a demon, you've got a demon. Here's how you'll respond, here's how you'll respond, here's how you'll respond if you wanna be free, if you wanna be free. And then we say things like you can have your dignity or your deliverance, my goodness, the way we treat God's people sometimes. And you sit them in that room, what are they gonna start to feel? I mean, when I had panic attacks, every time I read an article about a heart attack, I thought I was having one. Every time I read an article about a brain tumor, if I had a headache, oh, that was it. In my mind, that's it, a brain tumor. That's how people who deal with anxiety are. I know that because I was one. So you take someone with a severe mental illness, put them in that environment, what are you gonna get? Well, there you go. Number four, this is not as common, but it does happen from time to time is people are just acting. And finally, number five, the person could be a false convert. Now, here's what's interesting to me. Whenever I say that Christians can't be demonized and either you were really demonized or you were really a Christian, people get defensive. Now, hear me out here, hear me out. People get defensive, right? They go like, are you saying I'm not a Christian? And I think that's so interesting because I said either it wasn't really possession or you're not really a Christian. And instead of doubting their possession, they doubt their Christianity, which is interesting to me because it shows more faith in the power of the enemy than in the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm thinking, boy, some Christians seem to really want their demons. Like it's not just a disagreement. It's they get angry with you when you give them the truth on this. And so, yes, some people who have demons are false converts. I'll just give it to you straight. David, are you saying I'm not saved? That's not what I said. I'm saying either you're a true Christian or you're truly demon possessed. It can't be both. Why don't you doubt that you were possessed instead of that you were a Christian? And so we have five biblically consistent explanations as to why someone would manifest. So do I believe in exorcism? Yes, do I believe in demon possession? Yes, do I believe in deliverance for Christians? Yes, but we have to explain our experiences in alignment with the word of God. And some might ask, well, I went through this and I thought it was a demon and now I never dealt with the problem again. Well, great. It's your belief in your freedom and the power of God that sets you free. It was your faith that set you free. Not the ritual or the session that you went through. We misplace our faith sometimes. So if you're looking for reasons as to why sometimes Christians seem to manifest demons, number one, it could be an intense deliverance. And this is like 90% of the people who think they had of demons. They get delivered. Yes, the diction was broken. Yes, the demonic attack was thwarted. Yes, they're being set free from strongholds. Yes, they're experiencing the power of God, shaking, crying, even shouting. I've seen people shout under the power of God. That's an intense deliverance. A, okay, no problem there. It could be programming. They're doing what they think they ought to do. It could be a mental illness. It could be acting. It could be a false convert. So let me get very specific now. What I think we as believers need to rule out is just a few things. And we don't have to make major adjustments. Just these minor adjustments that will yield amazingly fruitful results. I want you to type in the comments. Christians cannot have demons. Okay, that's number one. Demons can't dwell in the believer. Simple. Number two, demons cannot take over control of the believer's physical body. By the way, think about the inconsistency between these two thoughts. One, demons can't dwell in the spirit. They can't dwell in the body, but they can dwell in the soul. Versus, well, demons take control over the physical body. I mean, biblically speaking, that's where the demons dwell, is in the body. So again, it's just this whole mudding of the definitions and the terms. It gets so confusing like that. And we could just say it simply, demons can't dwell in Christians. The Bible's clear. Demons cannot take control over your physical capacities. The Bible's clear. And demons can attack and influence you from the outside. That can be torment, temptation, accusation, deception, a whole bunch of things. So we have five biblically consistent reasons as to why Christians sometimes seem to manifest. Why on earth would we reach for the one explanation that contradicts the scripture? So we have biblical texts to demonstrate this. And I have for you, and many of you have, experiences to demonstrate this. Christians cannot have demons. And so our Christians can't be demonized. I'll say it specifically. Because remember, the definitions could get changed depending upon the terms. I'll give you quickly four reasons we should cast demons out of unbelievers. Cause I said I might get to it. Matthew 12, 43 to 45, we often say things like, well, don't cast the demons out of them because it could come back seven times worse. Here's why we should still do it. Number one, deliverance is for today. That's Mark 16, 17. Number two, tomorrow isn't promised. Think about how religious that is to say, I know you're in torment. I know you're struggling, but I can't cast the demon out of you for my religion tells me so. That's the kind of doctrines we develop when we think such things. How do you know they're gonna be here tomorrow? Cast that devil out of them and believe that God is gonna use that to bring them to salvation. Number three, exorcism could lead to salvation. Think about the demoniac and Mary. Think about the fact that we don't say the same about salvation. Second Peter 2, 20 and 21 talks about the fact that it's better to have never known that way of righteousness, then to know it and then stray from it. So think about this. Have you ever heard anybody say, no, don't witness to them because if they get saved and then backslide, it's possible that they'll end up worse than before. Well, we don't say that about salvation even though it's true. So why on earth will we say that about demoniacs? By the way, when the spirit returns, it finds the house empty. Believers are not empty in that sense. I wanna read one more thing for you. And this is from the chapter where I deal with Christians and demonization. Again, I know it's very thorough, a lengthy message here. You'll wanna rewatch this again and again. And just to recap, I will be interacting with the comments for about, I'm gonna commit to the first two or three days. It'll either be two or three. So questions that are posted, I'm gonna do my best to get to them. Now, if I see a question repeated like 100 times from various different people, I'll probably just address one of those so that it covers all of them. So if people are asking the same questions, I'll just kind of address that question through one individual. So if you don't get a direct response from me, look through the comments to see if I responded to somebody else with your same question. Even so, there is actually another major inconsistency that needs to be brought to your attention. Those who believe that Christians can be demonized also believe that we shouldn't cast demons out of unbelievers to prevent seven more demons from entering, of course. But really think about this. If we shouldn't cast demons out of unbelievers because the demon may return with seven others, then why wouldn't the same apply to casting demons out of Christians since they too can supposedly be demonized? Of course, some might reply, well, Christians can only be repossessed if they open the door or give the enemy legal right. But the danger would still remain. The believer in that case would be one or two mistakes away from being demonized sevenfold. So it's inconsistent to believe that we should practice exorcism on supposedly demonized Christians while also saying that we shouldn't practice exorcism on demonized unbelievers. If both can be possessed, then both of them could eventually end up seven times worse. The same truth would have to apply to both believer and unbeliever. Here, some might suggest that Christians are protected by the Holy Spirit so that the demon can't reenter with seven more. But this is what I've been saying all along. However, I don't believe that the Holy Spirit only protects us from that sevenfold demonization. I believe he prevents demonization altogether. It's not like the Holy Spirit has a minimum amount of demons he'll allow, imagine that. I won't let seven more in, but I'll make an exception for just one. These are the kinds of bizarre contradictions that arise when we just can't let go of this unbiblical notion of Christian demonization. So either the Holy Spirit protects the believer from demon possession or not. Either exorcism is for the unbeliever or it isn't for anyone. Father, I pray you would help your word to take root in our hearts. Lord, we repent of any thinking that contradicts your word. We do not elevate our stories above your scripture. Thank you for delivering us. Thank you for setting us free from bondage and addiction. Lord, help us to describe these deliverances according to your word. Help us to understand the way you deliver us according to your word. And now I pray, Lord, you deliver your people from strongholds, from torment. In fact, some of you are being delivered from the stronghold of belief in Christian demonization. I break that power from off of you today in Jesus' name. May the truth liberate you and set you completely free. Jesus' name, we pray, I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. I want you to write it one more time in the comment section this time with a heart full of faith. Write those two simple words, free indeed. If you enjoyed this message and you think this needs to be spread to help other Christians understand the balance, again, let me just be very clear. Christians need deliverance. Christians need deliverance. Christians need deliverance. Specifically never exorcism. Christians can be attacked. Christians can be oppressed. Christians can be tormented. Christians can be tempted. Christians can be deceived. But Christians cannot be possessed, which is synonymous with demonized. If you believe this is helpful and you wanna help get it out, make sure you leave a like on the video. Yes, that actually helps us to spread the video. You never know who's gonna see it just by you leaving a like. 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