The Holy Spirit never promises us absolute protection from the demonic.
Eph 6:12-18
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Demons and demon possession
- Thread starter rlvaughn
- Start date
Eph 6:12-18
So the answer is "no".
I remain skeptical and cite good Baptist Believer's post as a reason to be. This is dangerous ground. It seems more like charismatic teaching than baptist.
I remain skeptical and cite good Baptist Believer's post as a reason to be. This is dangerous ground. It seems more like charismatic teaching than baptist.
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God declares that if we resist the devil in the armor of God, he must flee from us, correct? And that demons and their boss can do NOTHING to us apart from God permitting it for his purposes, correct?
Many people forget about the "if" part and do very little resisting. The permissive will of God is a huge place that has many painful consequences inside it.
We have all spiritual authority to resist him and his minions, but like you said here, if we just act like nothing is haooening, or keep doing things that involve the occult...
So to be a good "Baptist", what must one believe about Demons?
I believe that any teaching that says someone cannot be demonized [I do not get this from the Greek but from adjusting the word demoniac] if they have the Holy Spirit to be Charismatic dogma and certainly not biblical. For, the bible doesn't speak to the issue directly, so I know immediately to not add!
I cite as evidence that demonic attack can befall anyone, the thorn in the flesh of Paul. Yes, it was a physical malady, but the Spirit tells us through Paul that it was a malady that came on suddenly later in Paul's life, and it was also given by God by an agent of Satan, who was sent so that Paul would be humble despite his superhuman life of receiving revelations from God (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). For a demon to give torment to an apostle, I would say that Paul was definitely demonized.
Also, it doesn't seem clear to me whether those that follow Jesus, who were demonized, had them cast out before they decided to follow Jesus or not. No where in the bible do we see a conversion alone lead to a casting out of a demon. Instead, we see people who rush to Jesus to be healed, taught, and possibly discipled who have public demonstrrations of power work against demons. On this I could be wrong though.
The problem I find in discussing this topic is that an honest bible discussion on demonic attacks is totally annihilated by common Charismatic false teachings that propagate through the church like "no real Christian can be demonically 'possessed'." As if the bible makes a difference between the demonically oppressed and possessed! The real question is can a Christian be attacked by a demon in a variety of ways, that seems to me to be a "yes" according to the bible.
I must look into this more though when I have the time.
I cite as evidence that demonic attack can befall anyone, the thorn in the flesh of Paul. Yes, it was a physical malady, but the Spirit tells us through Paul that it was a malady that came on suddenly later in Paul's life, and it was also given by God by an agent of Satan, who was sent so that Paul would be humble despite his superhuman life of receiving revelations from God (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). For a demon to give torment to an apostle, I would say that Paul was definitely demonized.
Also, it doesn't seem clear to me whether those that follow Jesus, who were demonized, had them cast out before they decided to follow Jesus or not. No where in the bible do we see a conversion alone lead to a casting out of a demon. Instead, we see people who rush to Jesus to be healed, taught, and possibly discipled who have public demonstrrations of power work against demons. On this I could be wrong though.
The problem I find in discussing this topic is that an honest bible discussion on demonic attacks is totally annihilated by common Charismatic false teachings that propagate through the church like "no real Christian can be demonically 'possessed'." As if the bible makes a difference between the demonically oppressed and possessed! The real question is can a Christian be attacked by a demon in a variety of ways, that seems to me to be a "yes" according to the bible.
I must look into this more though when I have the time.
Miss E
Active Member
I have been in a psychiatric ward (being manic depressive) after I had a severe manic episode and I can testify that there was demonized people in there. I had entire conversations with these possessed individuals. One very seriously demonized girl even got angry when I showed her my bible.
Then during a time in the TV room (a hang out spot for all the patients), I spoke to a young man who said that the person he was controlling had been a christian at one point, and he used scripture on me, out of context of course, and told me that 'you're the first person that I haven't fooled", referring to his demonic presence. And I am 99% certain that demon possessed people give off cold wafts, and every time particular men passed me in that place I felt a chill. I even spoke to a young man, who I believe was the leader of the other demonic spirits in that certain facility ward, give hand signals to some of the other possessed, and they never spoke or interacted with eachother while I was there. They attempted to impede me speaking about Jesus and the Gospel, and even at one point, outside in the rec area, while I was reading from my bible (NJKV) one of the demonic spirits began to throw up violently.
Furthermore, I threatened to cast out their demonic spirits and one young man showed fear and mumbled 'i'm not going back to hell'. over and over.
God has given me the spirit of discernment, and now, many years later, I work in a prison and I see the ones locked down in closed custody, on film, bring up God and how He is trying to destroy them, and most of the ones who display violent tendencies and odd behavior bring up God in some fashion. Demons hate God, and they hate humans for being in teh image of God, that is why they make so many of our young people commit suicide and when they go out and murder innocent people.
This is my personal testimonies as far as my experience with the demonized people I have met, seen and dealt with in this day and age. Demon Possession is REAL and along with man's free will to sin, most of the evil in this world that is done comes directly from demonic influence.
Then during a time in the TV room (a hang out spot for all the patients), I spoke to a young man who said that the person he was controlling had been a christian at one point, and he used scripture on me, out of context of course, and told me that 'you're the first person that I haven't fooled", referring to his demonic presence. And I am 99% certain that demon possessed people give off cold wafts, and every time particular men passed me in that place I felt a chill. I even spoke to a young man, who I believe was the leader of the other demonic spirits in that certain facility ward, give hand signals to some of the other possessed, and they never spoke or interacted with eachother while I was there. They attempted to impede me speaking about Jesus and the Gospel, and even at one point, outside in the rec area, while I was reading from my bible (NJKV) one of the demonic spirits began to throw up violently.
Furthermore, I threatened to cast out their demonic spirits and one young man showed fear and mumbled 'i'm not going back to hell'. over and over.
God has given me the spirit of discernment, and now, many years later, I work in a prison and I see the ones locked down in closed custody, on film, bring up God and how He is trying to destroy them, and most of the ones who display violent tendencies and odd behavior bring up God in some fashion. Demons hate God, and they hate humans for being in teh image of God, that is why they make so many of our young people commit suicide and when they go out and murder innocent people.
This is my personal testimonies as far as my experience with the demonized people I have met, seen and dealt with in this day and age. Demon Possession is REAL and along with man's free will to sin, most of the evil in this world that is done comes directly from demonic influence.
Miss E
Active Member
I don't believe believers are barred from being attacked or manipulated and tempted by demons, but NO, a TRUE BELIEVER IN CHRIST cannot I repeat CANNOT be possessed! The Holy Spirit dwells within that person and a demon has no place to take hold of that person for they are IN CHRIST.
Paul was being given that thorn in the flesh just like Job had his family taken away from him and those aliments. He was NOT demonized.
I know a gentleman who ran a psych ward, with some very extreme cases. He wasn't a Christian. I asked him, however, about cases where people thought they were possessed, or acted like they were possessed.
He said they were rare, but did exist, and the ones he talked to raised the hairs on his back. I asked if he thought it was real. He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He seemed genuinely intrigued by them.
He said they were rare, but did exist, and the ones he talked to raised the hairs on his back. I asked if he thought it was real. He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He seemed genuinely intrigued by them.
That was an old post, I do not believe Christians can be totally controlled by demons, but they can be attacked and tempted in supernatural ways, as Jesus was in the wilderness.
paul was forced to deal with that man who thought that he was the Great power, and the Lord caused him to be blinded, and paul also had to deal with girls having a demon speaking thru her, so those would be examples of having to face demonic enemy externally!