Sound Doctrine-17

We are to say, “No!” to ungodliness but what is ungodliness? Why are so many “Christians” involved in ungodly teachings that lead to ungodly lifestyles?

2 Timothy 4:3–4 (NIV84)

3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Christians – Demon Possessed?

Can Christians be demon-possessed and thus need deliverance to be free from a generational curse?

What Scriptures do these teachers use to claim that a Christian can be demon-possessed?

Demon possession may be defined as a demon residing within people and exerting direct control and influence over them.

This is to be distinguished from mere demonic influence.

The work of the demon in the latter case is external; in demon possession, it is from within.

Demon-possessed people may manifest unusual, superhuman strength (Mark 5:2-4). They may act in bizarre ways, such as going nude and living among tombs rather than in a house (Luke 8:27). Possessed people often engage in self-destructive behavior (Matthew 17:15).

1 Samuel 16:13–14 (NIV84)

13So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.

14Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.

One false teacher uses this Scripture as a basis for his claim that Satan can and does demonize believers.

He is correct that Saul was a believer, since Samuel indicated they would be together in Paradise (1 Samuel 28:19).

However, this teacher wrongly equates the fact that Saul was tormented (16:14) with demon possession.

For several reasons, this could not have been a true case of demon possession:

The evil spirit is said to have been sent from God, not Satan (16:14).

The evil spirit would leave when David played his harp (16:23), and no demon is said in Scripture to depart at the playing of music. Instead, demons are cast out in the name of the Lord.

Saul later repented of his sin (26:21). The New Testament presents a demon-possessed person as a victim who needs freedom, not repentance.

The Hebrew prepositions clarify that the evil spirit would come upon [עָלֶיךָ] Saul, or to (אֶל) him, and depart from upon him (מֵעָלָיו) (1 Samuel 16:16, 23); it is never said to have entered into (בְּ) Saul, as would be expected if demon possession was the intended idea.

The description in this passage is consistent with an external attack that does happen to believers.

1 Samuel 18:10-11 (NIV84)

10The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand

11and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.

King Saul was not possessed by a demon; he was tormented by a demon that came upon him.

Matthew 16:21–23 (NIV84)

21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Satan’s influence was that of persuasion from outside, not an operation from within.

Peter had accepted a wrong view about the role of Messiah: Peter did not want Jesus to die. But this was contrary to God’s plan for Jesus, so Jesus rebuked Peter to let him know the source of that type of false thinking. False thinking is equated to demonic thinking (James 3:15).

James 3:13-17 (NIV84)

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.

16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Jesus explained after His rebuke that Peter was not setting his “mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (16:23).

This statement is a picture of Satan’s using persuasion from outside Peter to try to convince him to believe false teaching.

Luke 13:10–17 (NIV84)

10On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,

11and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

12When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”

13Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

14Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

15The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?

16Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

17When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Verse 16 is another verse that the false teachers cite to support their belief that a believer can be demon possessed.

They considered the term daughter of Abraham to mean that she was a believer.

Daughter of Abraham meant that she was a female Jew. Many Jews were not believers. Nothing in these verses indicated that she was a believer.

John 13:21, 25–28 (NIV84)

21After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”

25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon.

27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him,

28but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.

Another verse the false teachers use to support their doctrine is Luke 13:27. They say that Judas was a believer because he was one of the twelve disciples; he was a believer who was demon-possessed.

John 6:70–71 (NIV84)

70Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”

71(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

These two verses clearly show that Judas was not a believer.

Acts 5:1–11 (NIV84)

1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

2With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?

4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

8Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

9Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Acts 5:3 is another verse that some teachers use to claim that believers can be demon possessed.

Some say that Ananias and Sapphira were believers because they gave money to the Church and participated in its practices. Neither attending church nor giving money to a church makes anyone a Christian.

The exclusive means of entry into the Church is through faith in Jesus Christ.

Others say that they were not believers.

Whether or not Ananias and Sapphira were true believers, Acts 5 describes satanic influence—not demon possession.

Filled your heart = πληρῶσαι τὴν καρδίαν σου plērōsai tēn kardian sou = to fill, to influence completely, to cause something to be full (your heart).

has so filled = πληρόω plēroō = to pervade with an influence, when applied to the heart means:

to influence someone’s inner intention

to prompt a decision

to supply a thought or motive

to dominate or overwhelm someone’s thinking (similar to Peter in Matthew 16:23)

“Why has Satan put this in your heart?”

“Why has Satan prompted you to do this?”

“Why have you allowed Satan to influence your heart in this way?”

1 Corinthians 5:1–5 (NIV84)

1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

2And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?

3Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

4When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,

5hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

Delivering someone to Satan by an apostle did not mean reckless abandonment to the hands of Satan, but rather permission for Satan to buffet the sinner by allowing him to reap the physical consequences of his sinful nature.

Delivering someone to Satan can cause him to realize the consequences of his sin in order that he may repent and return to his Father’s house.

Deliver … to Satan is turning a believer over to Satan; thrusting the believer back into the world on his own, apart from the care and support of Christian fellowship. That person has forfeited his right to participation in the church of Jesus Christ, which He intends to keep pure at all costs.

May be destroyed (destruction) = ὄλεθρος olethros = the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists.

The incestuous man in Corinth would eventually die unless he repented of his sin. If he kept sinning, his life would end before he otherwise would have died. He would go to heaven, if he was truly a believer; but he would go before he should have gone.

1 Corinthians 5:5 is not an example of a believer being possessed by a demon.

1 John 5:16–17 (NIV84)

16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that.

17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

J. Vernon Mcgee: “Death” refers here to physical death. It has no reference at all to spiritual death because the child of God has eternal life. Believers can commit a sin for which their heavenly Father will call them home; He will remove them from this life physically, perhaps because they are disgracing Him.

What is this sin? What is it specifically?

For Moses and Aaron, it was one thing—they lost their tempers, and they destroyed a type of the Lord Jesus.

Ananias and Sapphira were living like hypocrites.

And in the city of Corinth, there were believers who were getting drunk and were disorderly at the Lord’s Table. It’s not one specific sin.

Warren W. Wiersbe: It is not some “unpardonable sin” that a believer unwittingly falls into, but a deliberate sin in defiance of the Word of God (Heb. 12:9), something that other believers can see and recognize as rebellion.

2 Corinthians 12:7–10 (NIV84)

7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Verse 7 is another verse that some teachers try to use to justify their belief that a Christian can be demon possessed.

It is clear that the Apostle Paul was a Christian and that the messenger of Satan did not reside in him.

The efforts that have been made to identify Paul’s “thorn” are legion. Among the recurring suggestions are Jewish persecution, carnal temptation, epilepsy, chronic ophthalmia, a speech impediment, and a recurrent malady (such as malaria or Malta fever).

a thorn in the flesh … a messenger of Satan. This was sent to him by God, to keep him humble.

Paul was not demon possessed.

Scriptures that Refute the Claim that

Christians can be Demon Possessed

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 (NIV84)

18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Look at the term “demon possession.” One of the most obvious and overlooked facts about this term concerns the word possession. Many just think of it as a person in which the devil or a demon is living inside of him.

Possession implies ownership. The term demon possession tells you that a demon owns that person.

When it comes to the believer, there is only one owner, and that owner is God.

God has exclusive ownership of the believer.

The devil has no claim of ownership over the believer.

Romans 14:5–8 (NIV84)

5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.

8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Rest assured, we belong to God; the devil cannot own us.

Romans 8:9–11 (NIV84)

9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Zondervan Exegetical Commentary: Is it possible for a Christian to be demon-possessed? If Christ is in us (Rom 8:9–10; Col 1:27), then the answer is no. Christians are not demon-possessed. But I also believe this to be the wrong question.

Instead, we should ask,

Is it possible for Christians to be tempted, to be tormented and harassed by the enemy, to open themselves up to addictions and uncontrollable habits, to have a worldly mind-set and be taken advantage of by the enemy, to be subject to divisions and to foster strife within the church, to give way to pride, to be plagued by fear, rejection, spitefulness, enmity, bitterness, anger, shame, guilt, and condemnation?

The answer is, obviously, yes. The remedy for these ills, however, is not deliverance from demons but repentance.

Colossians 1:13–14 (NIV84)

13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for rescuing us!

Series to be continued…

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