Can Christians Have Demons? Louis G. Hulsey July 18, 2012 Casa Grande, Arizona

Ephesians 4:23-25 23, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25, “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Ephesians 4:26:28 26, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27, “Neither give place to the devil. 28, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Ephesians 4:29-30 29, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Don’t Give Place Paul commands believers not to give place to the devil. It is sin to give place to the devil, but some people do so.

Satan Has No Authority In Believers Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” In this passage Paul says clearly that we struggle with demonic powers, but it does not say that those powers control us or that it is necessary to cast them out.

James 4:1-3 1, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” 2, “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” 3, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

James 4:4-6 4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” 5, “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” 6, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

James 4:7-8 7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” 8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

Carnal Desires Conflict James here says that strife among believers does not come from demon possession but from carnal lusts warring in their members. He does not say to cast out the demons. James says to “resist the devil,” verse 7. Paul says we must “mortify” the deeds of the flesh.

Kill Carnal Desires Romans 8:13, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Colossians 3:5, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:”

Control the Flesh 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

The Position of the Believer Colossians 1:12-13, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [transformed] us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”

Delivered Many pastors are frustrated by trying to get bad guys to be good, but there is no frustration when those bad guys are transformed by the power of God. We are transformed into the Kingdom of the Son. We are delivered and we are not part of the kingdom of darkness.

We Have Authority We have authority over the powers of darkness. Luke 10:19-20, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20, Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” If the spirits are subject to you, how can they possess you? You have authority over them.

Try The Spirits 1 John 4:1-3, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2, Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3, And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

In Christ We Overcome In Christ the righteous have overcome evil spirits. 1 John 4:4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them [spirits of antichrist]: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Obviously he that is in the world is not in you.

Kept By God Believers are kept by God. 1 John 5:18, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.”  1 John 5:18 LITV, “We know that everyone being generated from God does not sin, but the one having been generated from God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.”

Resist the Devil For Christians to be demon possessed would mean that Jesus’ work on the cross is incomplete, that there are some other works that need to be done for salvation. There is no evidence of any Christians in the New Testament who had demons. No where does the Bible say to cast demons out of Christians.  The Bible says for Christians to resist the devil.