Clearing Up Some Misconceptions
First of all, its important to say that the position that a Christian can have a demon in them IS NOT the same as saying a Christian can be possessed by a demon or an unclean spirit. The word "possession" implies ownership. We belong to Jesus, we have been bought with a price, and therefore, no one should be arguing that a Christian can be possessed by demons.
Secondly, the Greek Word "daimonizomai" has been incorrectly translated with the word "possessed" in many Bibles. This mistranslation has done more damage than it will ever be possible to calculate. The word should be translated "demonized". The word describes the condition of a person who has demons. It does not necessarily imply that a person is totally controlled by demons. Very few get that bad, and certainly no real Christian is totally controlled by demons.
If you cannot understand the above, please read it again, because a lot of time is wasted when people keep repeating "A Christian cannot be possessed by a demon". I am not arguing that they can be.
What I Am Saying
I am contending that it is possible that a true Christian could have a demon in them. Or indeed, many demons. Before you reject this out of hand, please ask yourself: "on what basis do I reject it?" Is it because the idea is not aesthetically pleasing? Is it because people have done foolish things in deliverance ministry sessions? Is it because people have been hurt emotionally by people who have unwisely counselled others? NONE of those reasons are sufficient to prove the point either way. We need to look at what the Scriptures say.
How Can Light Dwell with Darkness?
Some object that it is impossible for demons to be in the temple of God. They assert that this cannot be, since for them it would be tantamount to denying the power of God to protect a believer. This objection does not stand, however, when we consider that the presence of evil anywhere does not disprove the idea of God's almighty power and superiority. The real question is: can a believer give place to the devil in his or her life?
In fact, there is plenty of Scriptural evidence that evil has come into the presence of God many times. In Job 1, Satan comes before the throne of God? Does this mean that God was unable to keep him away? Not at all. But here we have the evil one himself entering the presence of the very throne of Almighty God.
Not only that, but in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 8, we see that while God's presence was still in the Holy of Holies of the Jewish temple, there were various demonic abominations and idolatries going on within the temple. It was not until Ezekiel chapter 10 that the presence of God reluctantly left the temple of God. God puts up with a lot before he disowns us. If we persistently disown him and deny him through idolatry, there comes a time when he no longer stays. People might like to argue about whether such a person was truly born again or not. All I can say is, if you are born again, don't try to see how much you can hurt God and how much He will stay with you if you persistently and wilfully keep on sinning. Only a fool would.
So its quite clear that the temple of God can have abominations in it. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 3:16,17 - the passage where God says we are the temple of the Holy Spirit - the possibility of defiling the temple of God is EXPLICITLY mentioned. Does this mean that God is less than omnipotent? Of course not! What is does mean, is that defiling the temple of God is possible. But how could THIS be, if the idea that "light and darkness cannot exist in the same body" is fundamental, and basic to a correct understanding of Scripture, or if God has determine to settle everything immediately by the use of force?
Furthermore, if demons cannot exist in the same body as the Holy Spirit because of the power of God, then how can sin? How can the flesh? No Christian I know of denies the reality of the indwelling power of sin in the believer's life, which must be overcome through the cross. But if light and darkness cannot mix, how is it that sin can exist in the life of the believer.
Does this Doctrine Violate the Promises and Declarations of Scripture
Some object that it cannot be that a Christian could ever have a demon, for "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
If this Scripture is to be used to prove that demons cannot be in a Christian, surely it can also be used to prove that sin cannot be in a Christian also! Since "all things have become new, and old things have passed away" couldn't we argue that sin no longer affects a Christian? If we can't, then we have to look at other ways of understanding this Scripture and others like it.
The simplest way to understand this problem of what the Scripture declares about us in Christ versus what we experience, is to realise that these Scriptures describe our positional legal standing in Christ. They do not describe our automatic experience once we come to the Lord. For a start, no one would deny that we still have to renew our minds after we come to Christ. God has provided all we need for that, but it is not appropriated instantly. Likewise, the putting away of old things, including demons in our lives, does not happen instantly, as soon as we come to Christ. The above Scripture, and Scriptures like it, no more prove that demons all leave us when we convert, than they prove that the power of sin leaves us totally once we come to Christ. We all know, it just isn't so.
Isn't this Stuff Just Purely Psychological?
Our western materialistic rationalistic mindset might influence us to think that all talk of demonic manifestations is merely psychological. While some things that go on are no doubt primarily of psychological (soulish) origin, more is of demonic origin than many of us imagine.
If you hear demons talking out of Christians, as I occasionally have, speaking things they could not have known naturally, you might be willing to draw a different conclusion. Even secular psychiatrists like M. Scott Peck have come to acknowledge the existence of demons in people. Such people would not adopt such an uncool idea unless they had good reason to believe it.
Jesus did not train his disciples in the principles of modern psychiatry. It was not necessary, because He gave them of His Spirit, He gave them his Healing Words of Life, and the authority of His name to drive out lying deceiving spirits and voices that lurk in the shadows of the human psyche. Modern psychology has a woeful track record in getting people better from their hangups. If the church returned to God's Word on this matter, instead of leaning on human wisdom, education and what one might call in Scriptural terms "the arm of the flesh", a lot more could be achieved for the glory of God. Perhaps then, modern society would come to us to get answers for their issues, instead of paying hundreds of dollars an hour for the help of psychiatrists and psychologists, as they do in many cases. Truly Jesus has something to offer here. He binds the broken hearted and preaches deliverance to the captives (Luke 4:18ff). He came to destroy the works of the devil. Some Christians have not yet discerned that so many diseases of the body and mind ARE works of the devil that Jesus came to destroy (Acts 10:38). Read your Bible.
Jesus and the apostles talked in terms of spirits of infirmity (Luke 13:11), spirits causing blindness and muteness (Matthew 12:22), demons causing epilepsy (Matthew 17:15-18) and "deaf and dumb spirits" (Mark 9:25). Were these things recorded for our instruction, or as historical curiosities? Was Jesus unsophisticated, and therefore incorrect, on this issue? Or could it not rather be that we have departed from the things he expects us to do (Mark 16:15-17) so that now, not only are we unable to cast out demons - we even doubt that we are likely to ever need to?
What About Foolish and Hurtful things Done in Deliverance Ministry?
That unwise and hurtful things have been said an
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