Is it possible for Christian to come under the influence of the demonic? I believe it is. How could this be possible? How could Christians come under the influence of satan? I think the first reason is because many Christians take victory in Christ for granted without actually exercising the authority we have or using the tools we've been given that are necessary to live in victory over the devil. This seems especially likely in America where we tend to think in terms of things being automatic without having to do anything, a set it and forget it kind of mentality. The book of Hebrews, chapter 12 teaches quite the opposite of that though. There we find our faith described as a race that we must run with perseverance. Verse 4 specifically talks about our struggle against sin and our need to resist it. Jesus did the work to set us free from the power of satan and sin, but the bible makes it pretty clear that there is responsibility on our part to continue living in that freedom.
In The Bondage Breaker, Neil Anderson devotes a chapter to how Christians can lose control to demons. He draws from James 4:7 which says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." God's protection has been guaranteed in Christ. The armor of God described in Ephesians 6 elaborates on the tools we've been given to defeat the devil's attacks. But what if you don't resist him? I think it's fair to conclude that if we don't resist, he doesn't have to flee. If he doesn't flee, then he probably starts to reside. Why else would James have given that exhortation to resist him if there was no danger of powers of darkness influencing your life?
A critic of Neil Anderson says that his books try to blame sin on demons instead of people, but Neil says that he doesn't tolerate Christians blaming their sin on a demon. That is important when we talk about losing control to the demonic, because a lot of people would love to use that excuse. It is not the devil who made us do something, but he certainly encouraged it. We bear the responsibility because somewhere along the way we gave him a foothold or opened a door somewhere in our lives to give him access. We didn't resist him, but instead made provision for the flesh. It might seem strange to think of it like this, but its a choice to give an area of your life to the devil, even though it might not feel like a choice in the moment. As we've said before, he's the deceiver. But once you open that door, the deception can start to run your life, hence the need for bondage breaking.
In talking about confronting the enemy in our lives, Neil makes a great analogy in Setting Your Church Free. Lets say that sin is like garbage and the demons are a swarm of flies. Submitting to God means getting rid of the garbage, not just wishing the flies away. Get rid of the garbage (sin) and the flies (demons) will have no reason or right to stay.
Thanks be to God that even if a believer is in a situation where they have given the devil access, there is always freedom available and their salvation has not been compromised. Worship that remembers and declares Christ's authority in heaven and earth can help keep us clear on who is in control. I love the line in the song In Christ Alone that says, "No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand." What a great declaration! But then we also need things like prayers for sanctification (like Psalm 51) to give us the opportunity to confess, begin the repentance process, and ask the Holy Sprit to help us resist sin and walk in righteousness. Otherwise we recognize Christ's authority and life-transforming power with our lips, but basically continue living under the power of darkness instead of running the race and engaging in the process of being made into a new creation that is a child of light.
4 comments:
I have a hard time with this doctrine. Primarily because there is not any example of a believer being controlled by a demon in scripture. Nor are there instructions on dealing with demons as they possess people. Special authority was given to the apostles by Jesus to drive out demons, but that is not a spiritual gift listed in 1 Corinthians, or elsewhere.
The real example of demons, and their impact on Christians, is seen in 1 Timothy 4:1 (which lines up well with the events in Daniel) where demons deceive, not possess, believers.
I would be careful about using the book of James to deal with demon possession, as the passage (James 4) is talking about dealings amongst believers, not about 'spiritual warfare'. The temptation to be proud is the context, not possession!
I can't discount the possibility that demons could possess a believer, as it is never clearly stated in Scripture that it can't happen, but John tells us (in 1 John 3:24 "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."
I can't merit the idea that the Holy Spirit can indwell our hearts as believers- the very presence of God in us- and yet we can be indwelt by demons.
I think the reason I used the word influence was so that it wouldn't be confused with "possession," though I would agree with what you said at the end of your post about the possibility of possession since I have not seen it clearly stated in the BIble that it isn't possible. sort of random question, can we be sure that our friends from Acts 5 that fell down dead were not actually believers? Or did they just give into serious sin prompted by the enemy and have a hefty consequence to face?
Anyways, I think you misunderstood what I meant. Influence in my thinking is like gang members trying to get a young boy to join them. They can't make him sell drugs or shoot someone, but if he chooses to be around them instead of staying away, he'll inevitably start with small things and eventually end up being a drug dealer and murderer, even if his mom is constantly pleading with him to stop going down that path. Sorry if that's a bad example.
Also, I think that James passage is totally related to spiritual warfare (its just not an in depth handbook on the topic). James is pointing out the fact that their pride and quarreling is a result of them not submitting to God. And the fact that he says submit to God and take a stand against the Adversary implies that they had not been taking a stand against him (because they were giving into sin), thus letting him continue to feed their spiritual decline. That's my point too, spiritual warfare isn't just like the stuff from "The Exorcist," it can be more subtle. That's why we must daily submit to God, throw off sin, and help others to live in the light who are struggling. Otherwise we let the deceiver run around in our lives unchecked because we don't recognize that he is a part of the problem and don't use the authority and tools we've been given to make him flee.
That is a great post. I think too few people, like you say, take a hard look at and/or take seriously Spiritual warfar matters. I have read some books from John Eldredge, who write on it allot. I am glad to see it being mentioned at my church finally through some of our leaders. God Bless, Robin
Good points, all, Jesse! Our spiritual struggle is with indwelling sin AND external forces tempting, trying, or misleading us. The pastoral epistles are full of warnings about being misled and false teachers. That's why the armor of God is so linked with the Word and sanctification.
I'm reading "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen. It's really a great primer on combating our own sinful nature, and how critical (and necessary) that is for a Christian.
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