Can Believers Be Demon Possessed?

The Devil Made Me Do It

Links

Richard Mayhue Site

The Audio for this lesson…

2005 Shepherd’s Conference: The Devil Made Me Do It

Additional Spiritual Warfare messages from The Shepherd’s Conferences

Topic

A close study of demons in the world today covering the question can believers be demon possessed by Richard Mayhew.

Additional Information

Terms
Strongs Word Meaning
NT:1139 daimonizomai be possessed with devil
NT:2192 echo possessed with
NT:1544 ekballo cast out
Dictionaries

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology on Demons

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology on Demons

Prayer

Father we do thank You for this day for the fellowship for these dear men of like precious faith and I pray we would take the heart that what we heard this morning that the substance and the content of our faith was once for all delivered. And Lord it is our responsibility before You to understand it, to get it right, to communicate it compellingly, to cling to it, to pass it on to the next generation, that we might stand approved before You. Father may this next hour be that which would instruct give understanding and bring glory to You I pray in Jesus name Amen

Subject

Not Covered in this Lesson
  • binding Satan 
  • territorial demons 
  • warfare praying 
  • the prayer of authority 
  • generational sins 
  • invading Satan’s territory 
  • power encounters 
Our Topic: Can a believer be demon possessed?

Can an authentic believer someone who’s truly put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, be spatially, physically indwelt by a demon with the need for the casting out (ekballo) of that demon from that true believer?

It is the most miss-taught element of spiritual warfare, demonology, Satanology, or angelology.

Introduction

Warning: A Matter Of Life And Death

Milwaukee Wisconsin

A church elder was sentenced to two and 1/2 years in prison Tuesday for abusing an eight-year-old autistic boy who died in what prosecutors called an exorcism at a store front Church. Prosecutors say Ray Hemphill lay on Terrence Cottrell juniors chest for at least an hour about trying to release demons from him before the boy died August 22nd 2003.

State vs Hemphill

Pawtucket Rhode Island

A man punctured his mother-in-law’s esophagus when he jammed two crucifixes down her throat not because he was upset with her but it was during an exorcism can you imagine that

Atlanta Georgia

A husband and wife have been charged with murdering a six year old girl whose back was broken in what police say may have been an exorcism gone wrong.

Los Angeles

It happened in Los Angeles. Something like a smoldering cigarette.

It really is a matter of life and death it’s not just a mere theological discussion. You better have your theology squared away before you get to that point in time or more than likely you will treat it in a wrong manner.

Warning: Demons Are Exceedingly Violent

Know who our enemy is and what our enemy is capable of.

Extremely Violent
Matthew 8:28-32 When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. 29 And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. 31 The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” 32 And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. NASU
Get More Wicked
Matthew 12:43-45 “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.  44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.  45 “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
Can Overpower A Group Of Men
Acts 19:13-17 But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Warning: Don’t Add To Scripture

The Scriptures tell us in in several places I’ll just give you the text…

Deuteronomy 4:2 “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. NASU Deuteronomy 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it. Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. 6 Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. Revelation 22:18-19 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

If our theology doesn’t fit the Word of God, we’re not to take our hermeneutical x-acto knife out and reshape the scripture to fit our theology.

I don’t care whose theology it is and I’m going to demonstrate to you in a few moments that that’s exactly what the Christian community has been doing and increasing order as it relates to the question can a true believer have a demon within them that needs to be cast out or needs to be exorcised.

I want to approach the subject from three different perspectives and I think you’ll find that they all arrive at a confluence of truth. I want to look at the subject
  1. Lexically that is in terms of the terminology that’s used in the New Testament
  2. Historically that is in terms of what we find in the Old and the New Testament
  3. Theologically that is, statements made about spiritual warfare in the Word of God

Five Assumptions

  1. Demons are real and operate today
  2. The reasonableness of understanding that demons operate today similarly maybe but not identically to what we might read in the Old and the New Testament
  3. Increase demon activity in America. The darker the nation gets the more likely there’s going to be increased demonic activity. I think it’s also fair to say that the more that false religions come to America through immigration and through false religious objects, then if demons are behind idols then that’s going to occur.
  4. Scripture alone, independent of any experience that you or I or anybody else may have had, or any clinical data that can be seen and measured, can determine the truth about demons.
  5. Living out our faith in Christ is a real battle in a spiritual way with Satan and his army of demons.

Those basic five assumptions would be the bedrock of what I want to build on in answering can authentic Christians, one who’s truly been regenerated, one whose salvation is determined by justification by faith, authentic redemption, authentic salvation, can a true Christian be demonized and indwelt spatially with the need for demons to be cast out or expelled.

Lexically

A look at the words that are used in the New Testament to talk about the phenomenon of demons. There basically are four words.

Uses

Translation

Original

16

to have to have a demon

NT:2192 echo

13

one who is demonized

NT:1139 daimonizomai

2

one with an unclean spirit

?

1

one vexed with unclean spirits

?

echo = daimonizomai

The verb echo and the verb daimonizomai usage 1 and 2 are used synonymously. They’re not talking about two different experiences. They’re talking about the same experience two different ways.

echo and daimonizomai references

You can’t make a distinction between one who has a demon (echo) and one who is demonized (daimonizomai). It’s talking about the very same thing. The question is going to be what does that mean? What does that entail?  And therein becomes a little bit of a problem for somebody’s theology. For further study on this see Demons: A Biblically Based Perspective by Alex Konya.

To learn more about Alex Konya and this book here is an interview regarding it.  He also talks about Merle Unger’s work.

Alex Konya Interview

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Konya

Arndt & Gingrich

Brown

Kittel

Lexicons

Lexicons are books that are written by those who have spent a lifetime studying words. The Greek verb NT:1139 daimonizomai is consistently translated to be possessed by a demon.

englishman search daimonizomai 1139

What does daimonizomai mean?

That still raises the question what does daimonizomai mean? What does to be possessed by a demon mean?

The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare by Ed Murphy (p4)

An unbiblical and amazingly illogical meaning. Murphy says,

Perhaps the most controversial question to be raised is can a true believer be demonized? Note that I am not speaking of demon possession but of demonization. Possession implies ownership and total control. Christians, even disobedient ones, belong to God, not to Satan. Thus, Satan cannot control them totally. Demonization is a different matter, however. By demonization I mean that Satan through his demons exercises direct partial control over an area or areas of the life of a Christian or non-Christian.

Murphy goes against anything that the lexicographers have studied and written about the use of that terminology.

The Handbook for Spiritual Warefare book cover

What Demons Can Do To Saints book cover

Divine Healing Today book cover

Murphy

Unger

Mayhue

I would now point to Merle Unger, What Demons Can Do To Saints. I wish they hadn’t published it because it’s not one of his better works. In that book he broke new ground in the area of biblical demonology and the controversial area of the demonization which he unfortunately often termed demon possession of some believers. Ed Murphy would point back to Merle Unger as kind of a scholarly basis for what he’s saying although just because Merle Unger said it, even though he had several doctorates, doesn’t mean it’s correct.

On one occasion we find a unique phrase having a spirit of an unclean demon in Luke 4:33.

NASU

KJV

NIV

AMP

Luke 4:33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

Luke 4:33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,

Luke 4:33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,

Luke 4:33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who was possessed by the foul spirit of a demon; and he cried out with a loud (deep, terrible) cry,

says Murphy,

The King James Version translated had a spirit of an unclean devil and the New American Standard possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon the NIV translates that possessed by an evil spirit the Amplified possessed by the foul spirit of a demon

Note: all of those translations or paraphrases, whether you think they’re good or bad, were all consistent on how they translated daimonizomai.

Murphy says,

This is the type of unfortunate Bible translation one faces with most English versions of the New Testament when they deal with the spiritual world.

So, all of the lexicographers got it wrong and all of the translators got it wrong, but Edie Murphy got it right. I’m picking on Ed Murphy because he’s probably the best educated and the most articulate of those who have written proclaiming that a true believer can have a demon within them.

What is Murphy’s authority?

Most Christians would categorically reject the possibility of the demonization of true believers. This was my position during most of my years in Christian ministry. We changed primarily because of accumulated experience in counseling the demonized (bottom of p219)

Integrationist Model

General revelation or natural revelation is equal to special revelation.  Your experience, whatever it is, can clarify what the Apostles and the Prophets who wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit of God and whose writings were inerrant and infallible wrote. And my dear friend, you do that and you’re in serious jeopardy of violating those passages in Deuteronomy and Proverbs and Revelation that we read earlier. When you edit the mind of God with your human experience, with a fallen mind although redeemed but not yet perfect, then you are telling God you have a better idea and you understand life better than He did; and He ought to put out a revised version of the autography. I mean that’s the ultimate logical end if you take it there and that’s what Ed Murphy has just said.

Here’s Murphy’s error: Murphy insist on an anglicized (that is his own definition of demonism) rather than letting the Greek New Testament speak for itself. And then he fortifies the unbiblical conclusion he drew by his anglicisation of daimonizomai with the perceived results of his experience rather than exegesis.  And brothers that will lead you and anybody who listens to you astray every time, absolutely every time.

Conclusion

The lexicographers and the translators (who by the way weren’t always believers even and certainly weren’t always as Orthodox) all came to the unified incontrovertible conclusion that NT:1139 daimonizomai meant for a demon to be in you spatially that needed to be cast out.

Historically

Historical occasions that are described in the Scriptures. What’s the Biblical evidence? It’s not that we don’t have some historical occasions that are described in the Scriptures of demons and demon activity; we certainly don’t have as much as we’d like to know about, but we certainly have enough to draw some conclusions. But what I want you to see, and I’ll just summarize it for you, is there are only four occasions in which there’s enough historical data in which you could draw any conclusions from.

15 Historical Narratives Total

Believer

The Old Testament

Maybe

1 Samuel 16:14-16 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. 15 Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. 16 “Let our lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.” NASU

No

1 Kings 22:19-23 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. 20 “The Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 21 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’22 “The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’ 23 “Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.” NASU

Believer

The Gospels (9-10)

No

Matthew 4:24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. NASU

No

Matthew 8:16-17 When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” NASU

No

Matthew 9:32-33 As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. 33 After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” NASU

No

Matthew 12:22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. NASU

No

Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  27 But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. NASU

No

Matthew 17:14-18 When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” 17 And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”  18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. NASU

No

Mark 1:32-34 When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city had gathered at the door. 34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. NASU

No

Mark 9:25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.” NASU

No

Luke 8:2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, NASU

No

Luke 13:10-17 And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”  13 And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. 14 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?  16 “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”  17 As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him. NASU

Believer

Book of Acts (2)

No

Acts 16:16-18 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” 18 She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment. NASU

No

Acts 19:11-17 God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. 13 But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. NASU

Believer

The Epistles & Revelation (0)

 

None 

We’re talking about a historical narrative that would give us some sense of what was, what happened, and what resulted. So, at most in our quest of the truth, we got 15 texts that we could look at.  Let’s see if we can boil that down to a more manageable group. 

Only 4 Possible Narratives That Involve Christians

I ask the question, is there in any of these 15 instances an alleged Christian possibly being indwelt with a demon? Because that’s the question that we’re trying to raise an answer.  And if we were to go through these meticulously, the truth is that there are only four out of the 15 that anybody would see a believer. Three of them are in the Old Testament – Samuel 16:18-19. And in the New Testament there would only be one and it is in Luke 13 – the woman bent double.

So, there are only 15 incidences in the whole Bible that we could go to a narrative and out of the 15 there were only 4 that possibly could be a believer. 

And I would grant the conclusion that if we could find only one historical instance in either the old or the new where a true believer was indwelt by a demon, then I would change my answer which sort of lets the cat out of the bag which you already knew anyways.

Is Saul a believer? 

Let’s assume yes for now.  But let’s just ask the question how about Saul in [1 Samuel 16:14-16]. Well as you know that’s sort of treacherous territory because we probably could have a church split here today. Half of you believe that Saul was a believer and half of you believe he wasn’t a believer.  But just for argument’s sake let’s assume he was a believer.

So it doesn’t look like I’m stacking the deck in favor of the conclusion I’m going to stack the deck against me. Let’s assume that he was a believer, that he truly had trusted God for his Redemption.  And I would support that if those of you who believe that want a little ammo on eight occasions, he’s called the Lord’s anointed. And in 1 Samuel 28:19, Samuel told Saul that the death [tomorrow you…will be with Me] the two of them would be together and I’ll let you guys wrestle we’re just going to assume he was a believer.

Did demons actually indwell Saul?

Did demons actually indwell Saul that needed to be cast out?  Let’s again look at the content.

1 Samuel 16:14-16 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. 15 Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. 16 “Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.” NASU

1 Sam 18:10 Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and a spear was in Saul’s hand.

1 Sam 19:9 Now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand.

  • the demons terrorized them
  • they were on you
  • they came to Saul

All of those are external terms. They have nothing to do with being inside. 

The Hebrew language has a word that relates to indwelling

And as a matter of fact, the Hebrew language has a word that relates to indwelling. And it’s used in the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 2:2 and Ezekiel 3:24. Talking about the Spirit of God and that would have been the language that would have been used of Saul if the spirits had entered him or been internal with the need to come out. And they just quite frankly aren’t there.

And so, I would suggest that no matter how we cut it, if we want to be honest with the biblical text, we are now reduced to only one possible person, one possible historical instance, one possible text where a true believer could have been in dwelt by a demon.

The Final Possible Narrative

The woman bent double in Luke chapter 13. 

You say why are you leading us through all of this? I have taken all of the arguments for the opposite conclusion I’m going to come to and I’m trying to deal with them in sort of a meaningful organized way for you so that when you get there you’ll know how to deal with them.

Luke 13:10-17 And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”  13 And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. 14 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?  16 “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”  17 As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him. NASU

and went on to say what he said. verse 16

this woman a daughter of Abraham as she is whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years should she not have been released from this bondage on the Sabbath day

Is this lady truly indwelt with demons and secondly, was she an authentic Christian?

I would immediately grant without any argumentation whatsoever that this woman was indwelt by demons. I have absolutely no question about that. You can look at the little phrase of spirit in verse 11. This identification is being overseen by Satan in verse 16. But the question is, was she a true believer. Ed Murphy and others would say unquestionably she was a believer. We don’t know. How you could miss something that’s so obvious and it’s found in verse 16. Look at it. It says that she was a daughter of Abraham. They say wow sorry I missed that. I never saw that before and they would go on to talk about Pauline theology in the book of Galatians which is a fairly big quantum leap.

But let’s go back and look at that little phrase again in verse 16 a daughter of Abraham. Wow I say is it used anywhere else in Luke in a Jewish setting in the time of Jesus and the answer is yeah. And all you’ve got to do is turn over to Luke 19 and the wonderful little story of Zacchaeus up to tree.

Luke 19:9 Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham

And we got to ask the question, was he a son of Abraham after his salvation or did salvation come to him before he was saved because he was a son of Abraham? And I think we all would conclude that what Matthew meant by what he said in Matthew 1:21

she shall bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus for it is He who will save

what’s the next two words

His people

who are His people? The sons and daughters of Abraham…from their sins and it’s what it says in verse 10 and Luke 19

for the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost

Jesus wasn’t now declaring that Zacchaeus, a Jew, was now a son of Abraham in a Pauline sense, that one who had been justified by faith, but was identifying him ethnically as a Jew to whom Jesus came with the message of salvation. He believed and therefore was saved. While that’s true and I would believe with all my heart that it is you go back to Luke 13:16 and you ask again does the phrase the daughter of Abraham mean that she had put her faith in Christ? The answer is no. She was a Jewess. That’s not too hard to believe in a Jewish context in the land of the Jews in a synagogue, right? I mean, it’s just not real hard to believe.

Summary

So, if that’s the case and we believe that it is, then what we’ve got is an unbeliever who had demons in it and consequently, we can conclude biblically, that there’s not one instance in all of the Bible, either Old or New, upon careful inspection in which a true believer is spatially and dwelt by demons with the need to be cast out.

Now, one or more of you are either getting angry at me at this point. You can tell I’ve done this lecture before. Or you’re slinking down in your seat or you’re becoming confused or something because you’re saying, “Yeah, but I had an experience!” And so did Ed Murphy. I’ve heard that before and I’m not suggesting you didn’t have an experience. And I’m not suggesting that you didn’t interpret it the best way that you knew how.

So, I’m not belittling anybody or anything. I’m just simply saying that we need to interpret your experience and others and Murphy’s theology and others theologies with the Scriptures.

And lexically, the word that they want to take daimonizomai and say that demon possession is something that’s true of believers, no lexicographer has ever said that. And the translators didn’t say it. And when we come to the Bible and look at it historically as hard as we looked and be a good Berean. Go home and look at all this stuff. I looked high and low. i read all of the guys that supported believers can be demon-possessed to make sure I understood their reasoning and had all the evidence and hadn’t overlooked something in it all. But don’t take it because I said it and that’s why I put all this stuff in the notes so you can go home and look at it.

But let me move on to a third area just to make sure there’s some congruence to it all and that is some theological conclusions.

Theological

Important Array Of Theological Conclusions

And we have to make a transition from the biblical or the historical to the theological. We’ll start with letter A and that is

A. There’s not one clear biblical example in all of Scripture where a true believer was inhabited by a demon or where a demon was expelled or cast out of the believer.

That’s just the truth. So, if you believe in it, then you don’t believe in it because the language of the Bible teaches it or because anything in the Bible demonstrates it historically.

Secondly, and this is an important array of theological conclusions. Not any one of which proves the point, but the combination of it pretty much buries it as not true.

B. Never in the New Testament Epistles are believers warned about the possibility of demon inhabitation even though Satan and demons are discussed frequently and in considerable detail

I’m not suggesting that the New Testament says little or nothing about Satan and demons. i am saying after you read it all, never once is there the slightest hint, indication, warning, etc., that that could happen to a true believer.

C. Never in the New Testament epistles are believers instructed about how to cast out demons either from believers or unbelievers.

I’m not sure what struck you as I read all those things. At the front end you probably were stuck on the crucifix and the esophagus of the mother-in-law saying, “I felt like that once or twice before.” And it wasn’t because I thought she had demons. The thing that struck me as I read through that were all of the methods that they were using. I mean the instruments, the methods. Where did they get that stuff? And it wasn’t from the Bible.

Fourthly, and this is begging the question, but it is what they do.

D. To argue that Scripture never directly states that Christians cannot be in-dwelt is to beg the question.

And it is to beg the question no matter how loudly they say it or how frequently they say it.

E. It would appear that the passage in 2nd Corinthians 6 would preclude the Spirit of God indwelling a believer and an unholy unclean spirit simultaneously indwelling a believer even if it was temporary.

Now let me blow your mind. I believe in deliverance. You say boy you just contradicted yourself. Well no, you’ve got to ask, “What does the Bible mean about deliverance?”  And the word deliverance is commonly used among Christians today really is used for demons being cast out. But let me show you what the Bible says about that.

It’s Colossians chapter 1 verse 13 here it is

Col 1:13 for He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins

How does Paul use the word delivered? For salvation. It’s the preaching of the gospel. It is the power of God that delivers one from spiritual death and gives them a grand entrance into eternal life. That’s how the Bible uses that term.

G. There are a number of passages that say we overwhelmingly conquer

And then letter G there are a number of passages that you can go through and I’ve just listed some of them Paul in Romans 8 says we overwhelmingly conquer through Christ 1 Corinthians 15 God gives us the victory 2 Corinthians 2 he always leads us in triumph first John 2 we have overcome the evil one first John 4:4 greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world.

I think 1 John 5:18 if I just had to pick one Bible verse to make my case on it would be 1 John 5:18 we know that no one is born of God sins that is habitually sins, but he who is born of God keeps him and the evil one does not what? Well boy he doesn’t touch him how can he indwell him.  But we back up and say if he doesn’t touch him, why are we wearing armor and why are their fiery darts and all that other terminology Paul uses?

The verb that’s used there is the Greek verb haptomai in the middle voice and the idea is to touch for the purpose of injuring or harming and certainly would include within that demons indwelling with the need to cast out. If you read the historical instances and the great harm and damage physically that are done to people by indwelling demons 2nd Corinthians chapter one, Ephesians 4, believers are sealed and protected by the Spirit of God

Conclusion

We’ve looked at the issues. We’ve looked at what someone who disagrees with us says and why. And I again, Edie Murphy don’t take this personal. We’re just dealing with what you put in print. Anybody who writes has got to deal with what they put in print. That’s what he said. He explained why he said.

One thing I left out when I was back there I didn’t tell you what the experience was it was with his daughter it was with his [Ed Murphy’s] daughter 

Now bottom line and I’m going to draw some conclusions. But what we’ve done is gone back to the Word of God and ask what does the Scripture teach before we answer the question and devise a remedy for people who are truly demon-possessed. And I believe there are people today who are truly demon-possessed. And they’re in desperate need of what you and I have to offer.

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