CHRISTIAN VERSUS
DEMONS
Study Outline
1.
Can a Christian have demon
2.
Demons oppression in the New Testament
3.
Satan hinder believers
4.
Conditions on which demons obey
INTRODUCTION
Can a Christian
have demons? Oppression and possession
A Christian can
have demon [oppression] but demon can not have a Christian [possession] ICor.
4:4, Eph.2:2
To have demon
means, one is being oppressed or afflicted by evil, spirit such may be physical
or spiritual attack e.g. sickness or weakness, [Rom 6:14] God, through Jesus
Christ has given us the authority and power even ability to rule over demons
and when we command them to leave in His name. [Jesus name] they will obey. So
when the cause of that affliction [s] sickness, which is the demon leaves, then
the oppressed will be alright.[Mk16:17, Lk 10:17-19,, Rom.6:14, James 4:7, 5:14 ----17,Matt.16:23, Lk. 22:21,22,
A born again and
true bonafied child of God; can he or she be possessed by demon? A Christian
filled with the Holy Ghost; can he or she be possessed?
i.
No! A Christian, born again with Jesus
living in him as Lord, spirit filled and baptized by water & spirit cannot
be possessed by demons.
ii.
Yes! A Christian, born again, having had
the Holy Ghost baptism with Jesus living in his life as Lord and saviour can be
oppressed by demons and demons can be operating through him.
iii.
A non Christian can be oppressed by evil
spirit, note that the names demons, evil spirit, devil are inter-changeable.
The answer NO and YSE above as often startled students they and came back with
attacks and beautiful arguments that seemed to have been framed from all such
demons.
It is obvious to
everybody under the sun that light and darkness cannot stay together in the same place it is either the
light or the darkness. [II Cor. 6:14]
Such argument stem
from an incomplete knowledge of who man is. They stem from the mis-conception
that man is a one apartment or house that can contain Jesus through the Holy
Spirit or Satan at a time
Man is not a one
room apartment or house. Man is three in one trinity of the Spirit, Soul and
Body; man is a house with apartment called spirit soul and body. [I Thess.5:23]
HUMAN TRINITY ROM 8:5-16
SPIRIT Jh. 17:22 ,
10:38 , IICor. 5:19, I
Jh.4:4 ,Zech. 12:1 spirit of man is the most inner part of the man
with this, man have the consciousness of God, that is he communicates with God
in the spirit, because the spirit is now born anew and the spirit of God will
fill, occupy the spirit of man. [Rom. 8:16] Immediately a man is born again,
those demons in his spirit will fly and run out from there because the spirit
of man will be occupied by the spirit of God or Christ. Some will go to the
soul and some to the body, while some will run out completely.
THEIR FUNCTIONS
i.
Those demons that enter into the body will
be causing bodily sickness and weakness
ii.
Those demons that enter the soul will be
causing evil thought and negative thinking etc
iii.
And the last group of demons that went out
completely are those that will be given temporary joy and favour etc.
Spirit of man has
the capacity to comprehend and apprehended divine things. The Greek word is
called PNEUMA. The spirit has a keen
sensitivity for the divine, and those who are not born again, are dead in
trespass according to the Bible. [Eph. 2:1-2, 3,4] let the dead bury their
dead[Lk.9:69] you can notice that they are dead even when their mind [soul] and
body are still functioning, which means the spirit is responsible for the life
of man. It is the spirit that needs to be born again and consequently reflect into
the soul and body. A man who is born again will be alive spiritually and dead
to the works of the flesh and carnality. So one can be very much alive
physically and mentally but spiritually dead if he/she is not born again.
THE
SOUL the soul is man itself, and it has
to do with the MIND, his WILL and INTELLECT coupled with EMOTION.
Greek word for mind
[soul] is PSYCHE. I Thess. 5:23 the bible says the man has three parts the soul spirit and body and
also the body. With the soul man is conscious in power of will to choose
anything he likes either good or bad.
The Bible refers to
the heart of man: Jer. 17:9-10, unless man is born again the
soul [heart mind] can not discern some good thing. I Cor. 2:9-16
THE
BODY The body is another part in human’s system
which we can all see as the physical horizon of oneself with the inside and
outside parts. The Greek word for the body is called SOMA. In Greek word, the body is compared to an egg, the egg
contains three parts and the outer part is the shell that covers the inner and
innermost part, so also the body is the shield or shell of the soul and spirit.
THE
BODY IS AS
House,
tabernacle II Cor. 5:1
NOTICE: THE body is the house or temple where the
spirit or soul will dwell till eternity. The human body can be compared to a
craft conveying people, may be from one country to the other. That is, people
have to be in it until they get to their destination, so also the soul and the
spirit must dwell in the body until death comes to separate them Isaiah 38:12, II Peter1:13. It is the soul
that is regarded as a person. There is no end for human soul and the spirit of
Christ if such a person is born again. The same thing is applicable to other
unbelieving one’s their soul and spirit will not end; they will appear in hell
[Lazarus and he rich man
When Jesus comes
into the life of a person, He comes in as spirit not as a physical human being,
because He Himself is a spirit [Jh.4:24,II Cor.3:17, I Pet.1:4, Rom.8:29, II Cor.5:19.
this new man is born of the spirit, when Christ some he will go straight to the spirit of man. [Col3:10, Eph. 4:24]
This is what the
bible says in Jh.1:12, 13. This new man cannot be possessed by demons because
the Holy Ghost is now inside of him. His spirit is now possessed by the Holy
Spirit and now born again, new and saved. Nothing affects his/her soul or body,
but the spirit. That is why it is very paramount to stand and work for the
salvation of others.
Immediately this ‘NEW MAN’ is born, the Holy Ghost, will
seal him or her [note the that this new or new creature has been sealed] Gal. 3:28 , Eph. 1:13 , 14]
The mind and the
body: The mind and the body are the
two dimensions for the human sphere that are not insulated at salvations. So,
demons still have access to the mind and body of the believer.
Dear friend in
Christ, there are thoughts and imaginations in you that are not pure and you
have been seeking victory over them through the years but none seems to come.
You have not had the victory yet despite many promises you have already
claimed, because the problem is not just as simple as thought, it is demonic
and there can be no victory until the demons have pitch tents and take
positions.
FEW EXAMPLES ARE
1)
Peter’s case and the devil [Matt.16:13-25]
Ananias and Saphire[Acts 5:1-10 ]. If demons could get into the chief Apostles,
Peter and spake through him without his knowledge-unknown to him, and they
could also occupied him and operated trough him, we assume that brother Ananias
and sister Saphire were members of the Christian church where among the 120
believers [acts.2:1-4]
At the latter
service of Peter the bishop, there were no single person that was not been
baptized [acts.8:14-27]. They attended and took part in the bible classes on
Christian growth and victory taught by Reverend Cophas Simon Peter and the
other Apostles. [Acts 1:41-42]. Yet, this couple’s mind were filled and used by
the demons of cheating, covetousness, lying, and deceit .etc.
The Corinthian
Christians, who are not lacking behind in any spiritual gift even expecting the
coming of our Lord Jesus, are still carnal and still have demons of envy ,
strife and division [I Cor.. 1:7, 3:3,.5:1] just look around you, within the
born again community, you will see many who are still under oppression of
demonic forces and power. There are some physical infirmities that don’t get
cured until the victim are delivered from some demons behind those problems
[Prov. 26:2, Lk 13:11 -13]
When deliverance is
ministered to people, we force out demons from their intellect, emotion, and
will [soul man] by the spirit of God and authority given to us by the captain
of our salvation, Jesus Christ [Matt.16:17] so as to enthrone Jesus over those
areas where demon has gone out, crowning ourselves to deliverance, we should
let Jesus rule over our spirit, soul and body supremely
God’s plan is that
the spirit should rule the man. That is why the soul and body depend on the
spirit to survive. IThess.5:23]
2)
Demon oppression in the New Testament: In this course, we have considered that
Christians can be attacked, afflicted, by demons. We have also considered how
demons use to operate in believers life in the entire being of the unbelievers
and in the soul and body of believers, which is their limit.
HOW DEMON DID OPPRESSED
CHRISTIAN,
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Some
examples:
a)
The daughter of Abraham was afflicted by
the demons with infirmity. Lk. 13:11-16
b)
Using the voice of Peter, Satan spoke
through Peter m,att.16:21-23
c)
Paul’s thorn in the flesh II Cor. 12:7-10
d)
Satan hindered Paul from going to the
church in Thessalonians to pay them a visit [I Thess2:18] that is by
circumstances
3. Satan hinder believers: Satan can hinder believers in many ways
i.
Satan can bound with the spirit of
infirmity resulting into physical afflictions such as sickness, problems of
money etc. just because the devil wants to see and make sure that believer’s
life is not functioning in the way of the Lord God. Lk 4:39 , 6:17 ,
18
ii.
Speak through believer. Demons can speak
negative words to you or by you: using someone’s voice like Peter{Matt. 16:23 ] and occupies someone’s mind
[Act. 5:1-10]
iii.
Satan can hinder believers by circumstance.
I Thess 2:18
iv.
Satan can hinder by substituting one thing
for another , exchanging good for bad
v.
Through trials, temptation Matt 4:1 and
discouragement Heb.3:6,10
vi.
Satan do hinder ministering spirit or
angels Dan. 10:12 13
vii.
Satan do hinder by destroying believer
flesh. I Cor. 5:1-4
viii.
Satan do hinder by destroying believers
possessions Jh. 10:10 Job 1
ix.
Satan hinder believes by sifting them as
wheat. Lk 22:3-32
x.
Influencing believers. James 3:14,15
CONDITION ON WHICH DEMONS OBEY
To be a deliverance
minister, there are some definite conditions which those demons and the devil
their father will obey. It is not to be begging the demon to leave; instead we
command them to leave in Jesus name.
Jesus with His own
authority dealt with the enemy [demon] in the life of His own people. In such
occasions, the demons may cause the victims to shout, scream or with strong
physical movement’s accompanied the departure of the demon [Mk. 9:26, Lk.
4:33-36, 41]. The disciples used the same approach by calling the name of Jesus
to give them authority to cast out demon. [Lk. 10:17-19]
THE CONDITIONS
1.
Believe: This ‘believe’ is divided into two
a)
Salvational
believe:
it is not possible for a sinner non born again personality to cast out demon.
You must be thoroughly born again, your salvation must be a sound one, you must
be known in God’s kingdom, on earth, and in hell that you are a child of God.[
Acts 19: 1-11, 14-17, Jn.1:10-12, 5:11 ,12,
Mk 16:15-20, Acts 4:12
b)
Believe: having faith in Jesus Christ: There’s no
name which demons Satan their father can respect than the name of Jesus Christ.
You must believe the name, have faith and depend on that name alone. Isaiah.
61: 1-4, Mk. 16-17, Phil2:5-10
2.
The name of Jesus Phil. 2:8-10
3.
Anointing [anointing breaks yokes] Isaiah
10:27. The Holy Ghost operates in our lives through the anointing and it is by
it that yokes of oppressions are broken in people’s lives. One can feel the
anointing physically or sense it in the spirit. Whenever this happens; it is
not a time to pray but a time to make pronouncements and decrees that will be
effective in your situation. An example of this is Ezek. In the valley of dry
bones [Ezek. 37:1-10].
He felt
the present of God in a vivid way and thus led him to make some pronouncements.
When you feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost you can pronounce or decrees your
deliverance, blessing upon yourself, your victory, judgment on your enemies.
Isaiah 54: 17,15,16,14.
4.
The word of God: Some argumentative demons
will ask for proof from the word of God before they will go out. Lk.
4:4,8,10,12
5.
Fasting and prayer: Biblical fasting and prayer is a paramount condition which demon
will tremble before. Matt. 17:21
6.
Submission unto God. James 4:7, II Cor.
10:6
7.
God’s power and God’s approval: God is all
powerful and is able to help whoever He wants to help anytime. His power is
unlimited because He has the resources of heaven and earth at His disposal.
[Neh. 1:7]
8.
Holiness: God is Holy so we His ministers
have to be holy. Holiness simply means to run away from sin and obedient or
obedient to God Jh. 15:10, I Pet. 1: 13,14,15,16,17,-19
9.
Authority: God’s
authority in your mouth can send any category of any demon out if you depend on
the Holy Ghost alone. And the authority of God in your mouth must be
accompanied with the life of holiness. Matt. 7:29, prov 29:2, Matt. 8:9 ,20,
25: 21-23; Mk. 1:27,13:34,Lk 9:1, 19:17,
Jh.5:27
Note: There are different types of demons:
lesser spirits, chief demons, legions [Battalions] chief, and their response in
obedience is not the same.
We do not argue
that deliverance ministry is the only ministry or even that is should be dominant,
our hope that it will be allowed to take its proper place in partnership with
other ministries. We also hope for the day, for example, when Christian
ministers in psychiatrists can some together in mutual trust and see how
deliverance prayer can be helpful. But this will require openness to explore
its truth as a means of healing
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