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How
Can a Person Become Demonically Possessed in
the 21st Century?
In the synagogue
there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil
spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,
Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who
you are-the Holy One of God! Be
quiet! Jesus said sternly. Come out
of him! Then the demon threw the man down
before them all and came out without injuring
him. (Luke 4:33-35)
From time to time, I have
received questions about demonic possession and
even though I do not fully understand this
subject, I thought I would share with you what I
have learned. I hope that it will be helpful. I
believe this topic warrants attention because I
am convinced that demons are increasingly taking
possession of people! Human beings
need a Savior because we are no match for our
supernatural adversary, the devil. His tremendous
powers and energies are devoted to ruin and
destruction of every human being and he is
determined to lead the whole world into
open rebellion against the laws of God. Because
the Prince of Darkness is steadily strengthening
his grip on this planet, we need to understand
how he works. Peter wrote, Be
self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil
prowls around like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
I find it interesting
that the term demonic possession is
not directly mentioned in the Old Testament, but
it is mentioned numerous times in the New
Testament. Consider this one Old Testament text
because some people think it indicates demonic
torment: Sauls attendants said to
him, See, an evil spirit from God is
tormenting you. Let our lord command his
servants here to search for someone who can play
the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from
God comes upon you, and you will feel
better. So Saul said to his attendants,
Find someone who plays well and bring him
to me
. Whenever the spirit from God
came upon Saul, David would take his harp and
play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would
feel better, and the evil spirit would leave
him. (1 Samuel 16:15-17, 23)
Years ago, this text
puzzled me. How could the Lord send an evil
spirit (that is, a demonic spirit)? Later,
I discovered my perplexity was due to a problem
with language. The Hebrew word rah is
translated evil in this passage has
numerous meanings such as vexing, bad, miserable,
heavy or troublesome-thus rah is
translated evil in these verses. However, once I
understood how the Hebrew word was used, it
became clear to me that the troublesome spirit
sent from the Lord was actually the Holy Spirit
doing His best to bring King Saul to repentance.
Even though Davids inspiring music would
soften the kings rebellious heart so he
felt better, the efforts of the Holy Spirit and
Davids music proved to be in vain. King
Saul eventually committed the unpardonable sin
and the Holy Spirit no longer spoke to him. (1
Samuel 28:6)
I believe the absence of
any mention of demonic possession in the Old
Testament could be due to two things. First, when
the nation of Israel entered the Promised Land,
they were a very healthy group of people. They
had been eating angel food called Manna (Psalm
78:25) for forty years and illness in Israel was
rare.
Second, prior to
Israels exile in Babylon (605 B.C.
536 B.C.), the Jews measured prosperity and
misfortune with a very simple formula. If a
person pleased God, then God blessed that person
with health and prosperity. If a person sinned
against God, then that person received a curse
from God. (See Deuteronomy 28.) This simple
formula was presented to Jesus one day. As
he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His
disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born
blind? Neither this man nor his
parents sinned, said Jesus, but this
happened so that the work of God might be
displayed in his life. (John
9:1-3) The point is that prior to the Babylonian
exile, the Jews regarded misfortune as a curse
from God. They erroneously believed God sent
Satan to hurt them or harm those who displeased
Him. Ironically, this faulty concept is discussed
at great length in the book of Job, which many
scholars believe was the first book of the Bible
to be written. Scholars generally accept that
Moses wrote the book of Job during his forty
years of tending sheep. The irony is that
Jobs three physician friends slandered God
by insisting that Job deserved what he got. At
the end of the book, God spoke to Job and told
him that He was angry with his friends. (Job 42:
8,9) Given the fact that Job was an early book in
the Old Testament, it is baffling why the Jews
ultimately adopted a prosperity
theology anyway.
After the Babylonian
captivity ended, the Jewish nation became
corrupt, broke their part of the covenant with
God and did not receive the prosperity that God
had conditionally promised through Isaiah,
Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Israel became physically
and spiritually weak. The necessity and
importance of physicians and medicine became more
important and respected within Israel. In fact,
the healing ministry of Jesus brought more
attention to His presence, His mission and His
message than anything else! I believe that
illness and birth defeats had become so prevalent
during the time of Jesus, that some of the
medical problems described in the New Testament
are labeled demonic possession
because the underlying medical problem was not
understood. In other words, it is possible that
some disorders, such as epileptic seizures, were
probably mislabeled demonic
possession because there was no
understanding of the illness. (See Matthew
17:15-18) Since illness and physical defeats were
considered to be a curse, the Jews reasoned that
demons must be responsible. We see this type of
thinking in this passage: While they
were going out, a man who was demon possessed and
could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the
demon was driven out, the man who had been mute
spoke. The crowd was amazed and said,
Nothing like this has ever been seen in
Israel. But the Pharisees said, It is
by the prince of demons that he drives out
demons. (Matthew 9:32-34)
Even though demonic
possession may be a misnomer for certain
illnesses, I do not want to diminish the fact
that there were several genuine instances of
demonic possession in the New Testament. Consider
these two instances of demonic possession, and
notice in both cases that the demon spoke: Some
Jews who went around driving out evil spirits
tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over
those who were demon possessed. They would say,
In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I
command you to come out. Seven sons of
Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
One day the evil spirit answered them,
Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but
who are you? Then the man who had the evil
spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all.
He gave them such a beating that they ran out of
the house naked and bleeding. When this became
known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus,
they were all seized with fear, and the name of
the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. (Acts
19:13-17) In this passage, the demon challenged
the seven sons of Sceva and then the demon
empowered its host to attack these seven men and
rip off their clothes! It is interesting that
demons are always after our clothing. Keep this
thought in mind as you read this next text.
When Jesus
stepped ashore, he was met by a demon possessed
man from the town. For a long time this man had
not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had
lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried
out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of
his voice, what do you want with me, Jesus,
Son of the Most High God? I beg you, dont
torture me1 For Jesus commanded the evil
spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had
seized him, and though he was chained hand and
foot and kept under guard, he had broken his
chains and had been driven by the demon into
solitary places. Jesus asked him, What is
your name? Legion, he replied,
because many demons had gone into him. And they
begged him repeatedly not to go into the
Abyss. (Luke 8:27-31)
These two passages (and
there are several other instances of demon
possession in the New Testament) indicate that
demons can and will take up residence within
people. The all-important question is how do they
do it? I believe demon possession can occur
several ways. Space limits me to three:
- If
a person repeatedly and willfully
violates his conscience, his sense of
right and wrong will fade. In a morally
confused and darkened condition, the door
for demonic possession opens. Over time,
the victim will be manipulated and
ultimately controlled by demonic
impulses. The obvious indication of a
possessed person occurs when there is no
longer any concern for right and wrong
and the person inflicts crimes of passion
that are unimaginable.
- If
a person is sexually and/or emotionally
abused during childhood, studies indicate
a strong possibility that the victim will
grow up with thoughts and behaviors that
are harmful and destructive. These
behaviors can range from self-loathing to
bursts of hostility and hatred toward
anyone who may innocently hurt their
already hurting heart. Whether the rage
is directed inwardly or outwardly, rage
and frustration left unchecked can open a
door for demonic possession. The
battlefield is often in the mind and the
devil can wield a strong influence over
the minds using fantasies and hateful
desires that demand a horrible and
depraved fulfillment.
- There
is a subtle form of demonic possession
that is not easily discernable. We tend
to think that demonic possession means
that someone is out of control,
irrational, out of their mind, or
convulsing from a seizure. The devil is
clever and highly sophisticated and he
also has many very brilliant demons
working with him. They know that we have
been given the power of choice, and in
order to possess us, all they need to do
is gain control of that power. Demons
have a wide range of tools to break down
our power of choice and they prey upon
our inherent rebellion against Gods
laws. For example, demons have convinced
a large number of young people that
substance abuse is no big deal. Met
amphetamines may offer an ecstatic
experience for the moment, but the
consequences of that first incident can
(and often does) turn into addition.
Thus, substance abuse can be an entry
point for demonic possession. Demons have
also led millions of people to believe
there is nothing wrong with sexual
immorality. This too, can be a door to
addition and ultimately, demonic
possession. However, what about those of
us who shun drugs and sexual immorality?
Does the devil have a plan for us? Very
few people understand the addition that
comes from materialism. When we are not
able to say no to
gratification, we have an addition. This
is a growing problem that leads many
people into bankruptcy. To avoid
bankruptcy, many people make their jobs
more important than God, family and
health. Sadly, some people are driving
themselves beyond exhaustion to get more
money so they can buy more things. In
this materialistic era, the love of money
is an open door for demonic possession.
Anything that has power over us can be
used to pry open the door of our heart to
Satans demons.
We
live in an age of over stimulation. We are
constantly busy and our brains are constantly
processing some kind of data. Consequently, our
brains are imploding because of over stimulation.
Billions of dollars are spent each year on
psychotropic drugs because people are unable to
deal with the demands of living. Harmful
behaviors are causing us to lose control of
ourselves. We cannot focus, we cannot tolerate
silence and we cannot rest. If the devil is a
formidable adversary when we are at our best,
what does he become when we are at our weakest?
Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are
weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
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