Can Christians Be Possessed?
I stumbled across this web site today and noticed there were several articles discussing whether a Christian can be possessed. Can a Christian be possessed? Yes, Christians can be possessed. I have seen it.
To be clear, I have a lot of respect for the author of gracethrufaith.com; the author seems to be genuinely trying to “interpret” the Bible as little as possible, relying instead on the words as they are written. At the risk of paraphrasing, I think it would be fair to summarize the author’s position on this important question as:
- It is not possible for a Christian to be possessed
- It is very possible for a Christian to be harassed by Satan, for his life to be interfered with, for her mind to be attacked, etc.
To start with, I certainly agree with the latter; I have written about this before (for example, here and here). Evil is so subtle! Satan would certainly prefer to attack our minds, our faith, and destroy our lives rather than go to all the effort of attacking us directly. Demonic oppression is a common and awful way that demons attack us.
But I would vehemently disagree with the first point. Christians can be possessed. I have seen it, personally, with my own eyes.
I recall one young boy who was the middle son of a very Christian family. The boy – as much as he could for a 10 year old – was devout and believed in Christ. His family also was devout, praying regularly, attending church regularly, contributing to their community. In all senses of the word, this was a good Christian family. I am told that the first signs of trouble were subtle. Unfortunately, by the time we got to him, his illness had progressed to a full blown possession with all of the attendant phenomena. The room around him was freezing even though the rest of the house was warm, he cursed horribly in language which no 10 year old boy could understand, he knew things about us which no person could possibly have known, he could throw off grown men holding him down…it was a mess. Three days later we were able to save him and exorcise the demon. Three years later his family and his community are still broken, their faith shattered, their lives turned upside down.
Why would a demon attack a little boy? Why would demons choose to possess a Christian? I don’t know. I don’t think it is possible to know what motivates demons. But I do know this: by attacking someone so innocent, and largely succeeding, that demon destroyed great faith, innocence, and goodness.
Christians can be possessed. I have seen it. It happens.
You might also be interested in...
