In my seminars in the cities of America I am probably asked this question more often than any other. I do not understand why this matter should be a problem to the Christian Church.
The Bible says plainly in James 4:7,
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. There are two aspects of this verse. First, to submit ourselves to God means that we are never to submit to the devil's presence or his deceiving ways. Secondly, we are told to resist the devil. To resist is an action that shows strength. God declares through the Bible that upon this action the devil will flee from us. To flee is not just to crawl or to walk or even to run. A fleeing person runs away in terror.
When the devil understands that a Christian has a strong hold on God and is resisting him, the Bible declares that he will flee. I have found the Bible to be true.
One cannot imagine Simon Peter or the Apostle Paul being afraid of demon possession. Yet throughout the world I have been asked literally hundreds of times:
"Can a Christian be possessed?"
I feel the correct way to answer this question is to first state the Christian's position in Christ. When Christ sent out His twelve apostles, He gave them power and authority over devils. Matthew 10:1 states: And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Jesus did not tell His disciples to protect themselves against demon power. Above all, He did not warn them that they might become possessed or injured while rebuking demons. He gave them divine authority over all demonic forces.
Later the Lord sent forth His seventy disciples, which would be His second line of offense. These men were not of the same caliber as the first twelve, but they were apostles since the word apostle means "a sent one." Again, Jesus gave these men explicit power not only to heal the sick, but also to cast out devils:
And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luke 10:17-19
Christ did not tell the seventy in any way to protect themselves against demon power or to be careful in the way they handled evil spirits. He did not warn them of any personal danger. He commanded them to cast out devils without fear or favor, assuring them that "nothing shall by any means hurt you."
One of the amazing and challenging articles in the Great Commission, which happens to be the final words ever spoken on the face of this earth by the Lord Jesus Christ during His ministry, was when He assured His disciples, And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils (Mark 16:17).
Here again, in His final commission before going back to sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven, Christ's last instructions were to deliver people who are possessed of devils. He did not imply in any way that these devils could hurt believers or could even stand up against them. The disciples were told to cast them out!
The Word of God says further:
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7)
The Word of God is either true or not true. If we as Christians have authority to resist the devil, we must obey. The word resist is a military word. It indicates offensive action. It means to take the initiative.
If Christians actively, persistently, dogmatically, and spiritually resist the devil, then the Bible says he will flee. If the devil will run from us in terror, why should Christians be afraid of him? How can he hurt us? This is the positive side of Christian security and power.
On the other hand, when the Lord Jesus cast out a deaf spirit, He called it a spirit of deafness. (Mark 9:25.) He also cast out dumbness, calling it a spirit of dumbness.
(Matt. 9:32,33.)
Now no person would for a moment say that all the deaf and dumb people in the world will go to hell. Yet the Bible says that it is a spirit which has made some of them deaf and dumb.
A person can be a devoted Christian and love God, yet be totally deaf or dumb. According to the ministry of Jesus Christ, this means that some forms of deafness or dumbness are caused by the devil.
How is it possible for a professing Christian to become demon possessed? A woman definitely under the power of the devil was asked, "Evil spirit, how did you get into this woman?" The spirit answered back, "At the movie theater. I was there and had a right to go into her."
This opened up a tremendous avenue of thinking for me. I began to realize that if a Christian is out of bounds and in the wrong place, he does not bear divine protection. If Jesus were on this earth, He would not frequent filthy, immoral theaters to be contaminated by sensual suggestions and obscenities.
So, when you go into the devil's territory, it is possible to become a victim of whatever he offers, even though you claim to be a Christian at the time.
When we lived in Hong Kong, we had the full protection of American might and of British strength as long as we stayed on the right side of the border. I looked across the border many times, but I never wanted to go into Communist China. If I had crossed that border, my protective rights would have ceased. The same is true of Christian living.
I am personally convinced that anger can be a spirit and can actually make a person insane. In Denver, Colorado, I was asked to pray for a man in a nursing home who was paralyzed. I was told that his condition was the result of a fit of anger.
While I was praying for a motion picture actor in Manila who had suffered two strokes, his wife told me that both strokes came upon him during a violent rage.
I am also convinced that adultery is a spirit. Multitudes of people testify that the demonic urge to commit adultery overwhelms them. One man told me that cold perspiration dropped from his fingers and he trembled all over until he stopped resisting and submitted to the evil spirit, yet he was a prominent church worker.
This means a professing Christian can open the door of his soul and spirit to lust, jealousy, or lying. Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:24-26:
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Then can a Christian become demon possessed? For many years I would have said unequivocally no, but through the experience of meeting so many people who claim to be Christians and seeing them under the power of the devil, I had to come up with some answers.
People who claim to know God but who live a fleshly carnal life open the door of their spirit and soul to the devil. He takes advantage of them and dominates them through evil desires. They find themselves in the clutches of Satan and can only be set free by the power of God.
God's Word says, . . . be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). In so doing, you give no place to the devil. Those who do not follow this command to be filled with the Spirit give place to the devil to enter their lives.
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