Agreed. Not seemingly random whoever the devil picks at will. Rather, who ever is picked at will is who has made themselves available for the devil to control.
Scenario #1: A woman goes to a witch to place a curse on her husband. She pays the witch's fee. The witch performs the necessary ritual to summon and send the demon. The demon goes to the husband and finds that he is in a state of grace, so the curse (i.e. the damage that the demon was sent to do) cannot be carried out and the demon leaves.
Scenario #2: The woman goes back to the witch and tries to curse hubby again. The witch performs a more elaborate ritual, which costs the woman more money. This time, the devil stays with the husband for the whole day. But the husband is in a state of grace for the whole day so the devil cannot effectively cause harm to him and the devil leaves.
Scenario #3: The woman goes back to the witch. She pays big bucks, so the witch does a sacrifice ritual (this one requires blood), to summon a most powerful demon. The demon goes to the husband and stays with him for 30 days. On Day 27, the man falls from grace and the demon now has legal right to afflict the husband...
Ultimately, control of persons by devils is the result of not resisting the devil.
Rather, what behavior resulted in the opening of a door to a devil in the first instance?
These are verses directed to believers. I do not believe that they apply to unbelievers.
Unbelievers are the walking dead, as per scripture. They are like cities without walls i.e. defenseless.
Even Jesus did not ask how someone got an evil spirit in them. He asked how long a child had one. But He just commanded them to come out.
Notice that none of the epistles of Paul, Peter, James, or John talk about demon possession.
It is an unhealthy obssession.
Jesus said we will do greater works than he did. A major part of his ministry was casting out devils. He came to set the captives free.
These are the kinds of comments that are a key reason that a discussion like this is vitally important.
2 Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Demon possession is captivity by the devil.
Again, we must understand that it's not about "possession"
per se but about degree of control.
They certainly apply to unbelievers. If unbelievers follow those instructions, they may expect nothing less than the devil to flee.
Again, unbelievers are powerless. Having said that, there have been instances when an unbeliever cried out to God in their moment of need and God graciously elected to "rescue" that person.
2 Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
[It then follows that they may continue to recover themselves. But they must first stop opposing themselves.]
26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Yeah, the "opposing themselves" is a major factor, as a double minded (
dipsuchos, two-spirited) man is unstable in all his ways.
They cannot do so on their own apart from proper ministry from a servant of the Lord.
No unbeliever can on his own open his own eyes and transfer himself out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son.
Generally true. However, it ultimately is God's call in that scenario.
...and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Paul is appealing to / proselytizing unbelievers.
...there are numerous people in the world who actually do knowingly and with direct intent engage in occult activities for the purpose of contact with spirits and being possessed by them.
This is absolutely true. I have dealt with the same. And the degree of "possession" varies among them. They are a very vain and selfish bunch, no true love between them. They literally walk around saying "I got more demons that youuuuu do!" You have seen the t-shirt: "It's all about me."
