Demon Possession

Demon possession occurs when demons indwell, or take up residence,within a person. When indwelling a person a demon exerts a continuing negative controlling influence over that person. The influence may be mental, physical, or both.

I’ve singled out demon possession as a specific Satanic technique to examine because it’s an emotional topic of confusion and misunderstanding for many Christians. This leads to doctrinal error and practice. In particular, those who believe they can cast out demons are operating outside of Scriptural revelation. I’ll argue those points below, but first let’s take a plain look at what the Bible teaches regarding demon possession.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Book of Acts give numerous examples of demon possession. The context is primarily related to Jesus’ ministry and secondarily to the ministries of His disciples and the Apostle Paul.

Jesus performed many miracles, most commonly related to healing the sick and “casting out” demons. He healed the sick and cast out demons both to relieve suffering and as a means of validating His claim to be the Messiah. Likewise, the miracles the disciples and Paul performed, including casting out demons, were both to relieve suffering and validate their status as representatives of God and His Son.

In several cases the demons spoke to Jesus in recognition of His authority over them.¹ Scripture records only one time a demon spoke to any one other than Jesus. It was in rebuke of Jewish exorcists in Ephesus who were imitating Paul by trying to cast out demons:

But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15)

Roughly half of the numerous demon possession reports simply say the person had a demon (or evil or unclean spirit) without saying how the demonic possession was manifested.² In other cases more detail is given. Demons are said to have caused violent behavior,³ blindness (Matt. 12:22),deafness (Mark 9:25), inability to speak (Matt. 9:24; 12:22), convulsions (Mark 1:23-39; Luke 9:37-42), and musculoskeletal disease (inability to straighten up) (Luke 13:11). In one case demon possession imparted the spirit of divination (fortune telling) to a slave-girl (Acts 16:16-18).

As the above list reveals, natural disease and demonic induced disease can have the same signs and symptoms. The difference is the cause of the disease, not the manifestation of the disease. Jesus healed both types. For instance, He cured both natural blindness (Mark 10:46-52) and blindness due to demon possession. Among others, Jesus healed “a blind beggar” named Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46) of natural blindness, and an unnamed ” demon-possessed man who was blind and mute” (Matt. 12:22). In both instances, as was always the case when Jesus cured a person or cast out a demon, the return to health was immediate and complete.

The above is a general representation of the Bible’s teaching regarding demon possession. Let’s consider how to best understand this teaching in reference to today’s world. We may use the Bible’s teaching to make logical conclusions, but we need to be careful not to add to it.

First, it’s not surprising that many of the miracles reported in Scripture involve casting out demons. During and immediately after the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry there was intense demonic activity as Satan tried first to prevent Christ from accomplishing His purpose, and failing that, to stifle the growth of the church.

We know about the demon possession of the first century because the Bible reports it and gives us specific examples. We may also assume that Satan continues to use demon possession in his battle against God–there’s no reason to think he would take a technique out of his arsenal. Furthermore, we are in the end-times, a period of increasing spiritual darkness. Until Christ returns the arc of evil will tend to worsen, not lessen.

Therefore, we may assume that Satan continues to use demon possession in his battle against God. No doubt there are many demon possessed individuals in our world today. The problem is we have no way recognizing them with certainty.

This isn’t to say that we have no way of recognizing evil. The Apostle John says: “

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). It’s not that we’re totally blind to evil spirits or their influence. It’s that we have no tools to specifically identify demon possession, the literal indwelling of a demon within a person. If we can’t recognize demon possession, any attempts at casting them out would be hit and miss.

Even if one were willing to take a hit and miss approach to casting out demons, there is no scriptural warrant to attempt it. As we ‘ve seen, the Bible records no one other than Jesus, his disciples,⁴ and Paul who had the authority to cast out demons. I believe that, apart from Jesus, this was a temporary gift given to a very small number of individuals to advance the Gospel in the first century. I find nothing in the Bible to suggest otherwise. On the contrary, consider again the rebuke the demon gave to the Jewish exorcists in Ephesus: “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15).

For these two reasons, first, that we can’t recognize demon possession, and second, that we have no authority to cast out demons, I consider the current practice of casting out demons (exorcism) is non-scriptural. That said, many who claim to cast out demons take their error yet another step farther. They claim to cast demons out of Christians. I believe we may infer from Scripture that demon possession today is limited to the lost.

When Jesus was casting out demons there was no indwelling of the Holy Spirit, even among the faithful. Christians today, unlike those Old Testament saints, are blessed with the indwelling Holy Spirit–God lives in us. Such permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believer’s first came at Pentecost, after Jesus’ return to heaven (Acts 1:4-5; 2:1-4).

Though Scripture doesn’t directly address the matter, it’s unlikely God would share a dwelling with a demon. I trust that though we who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ may be influenced or hindered by Satan, we’re not subject to demon possession. I believes those who attempt to cast out demons in the saved are trying to cast out something that’s not there.