Amanda Shepherd asks: So, every time there is a demonized person in our church the Pastor tells us to close our eyes so that the demon doesn't go into one of us. Can Christians be demon possessed?

God bless Amanda,

While the Bible does give warrant for non-believers to be demon possessed, it clearly teaches against true believers being possessed. Also while there are many churches that try to defend this notion, they all seem to fail to provide biblical support.

First, Jesus himself denounces the possibility that a Christian could be inhabited by a demon. In Matthew 12:29, Jesus uses the illustration of a house, and asks “How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?” In the case of a demon-possessed person, the strong man is obviously the devil. In a Spirit-indwelt believer, however, the strong man is God. Christ’s argument leads to the conclusion that in order for demons to possess believers, they would first have to bind the one who occupies them—and we know that no one can bind God.

Secondly, in the Gospel of John, the Jews accused Jesus of being demon-possessed. Jesus answered their accusation by saying "I am not possessed by a demon” because “I honor my Father” (John 8:49). The teaching here, is that honoring God and being demon-possessed are complete opposites that exclude each other.

Lastly, there is not a single example of a demon-possessed believer in the Bible. Instead, rather than casting demons out of Christians, believers are told to resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7). So, rather than believers fighting against demon-possessions, their fight is against demon influences and temptations (Ephesians 6:10:11, James 4:7, Romans 6:11-12).

Therefore, if you are a follower of Christ, and Christ lives in you, you cannot be possessed because "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (​1 John 4:4). Hope this helps to shed light to your question.

Comments:

Ron Gavin: So what do you guys think of Matthew 12:43-46? Does this not teach that demons can leave and return with more? Where does it exclude believers? Nothing in the passage states if that was for believers or unbelievers?

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: Hi Ron. The parable you just mentioned states that when the demon returns "it finds the house unoccupied". Therefore, Christians fall away from this category. Christians are not unoccupied, but rather, indwelled by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, Romans 8:11, Galatians 4:6).

Amanda Shepherd: That's exactly what I thought, but was thinking that maybe I missed something. I guess I don't need to fear when the Pastor tells us to close our eyes lol. Thanks and God bless!

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: God bless you as well Amanda. Glad we could help.

Luis Aponte: I think you guys are wrong. I've seen both, Christians and non Christians possessed in our church.

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: Hi Luis. Kindly provide verses or examples in the Bible that teach your claim. Remember that we need to test experiences through the Bible, rather than test the Bible though experiences. If you can't provide any, then you should question your view, since we are to hold the Bible as full authority.

1 John 4:4

"the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world”