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[Jean Jacques]

I hope you and your family are well! I had a question for you.

I have a client who is a Christ follower and struggles with severe depression. She believes she has been demon possessed due to her spirit of depression. I don't agree as I did not think a true believer could ever be demon possessed if they know Jesus personally and the Holy Spirit lives in them. I do believe in demon oppression but not possession for a believer. I believe this stance is biblical. How would you handle this?

[jimwalton]

Glad to talk.

I’ll probably say some things here that you’ve never heard before, so dialogue is welcome. I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching this, but that’s doesn’t mean I’m the Grand Poobah on the subject. So let’s talk.

The Bible makes a distinction between Satan, fallen angels, and demons, so let’s keep them separate in our conversation.

Demons are nowhere in the Bible associated with Satan, nor are we ever told that they lead someone into sin. Demons are more like rogue spiritual beings who just like to stir up trouble. They’re certainly not good, but they’re not connected with evil, either. Just as a tornado is negative but not evil, so also demons are amoral creatures of disruption. They just stir the pot in a negative way. In the Gospels they are most often associated with sickness or crazy behavior—never with sin, never with Satan. They are undesirable because of the chaos they cause.

There is no mention of demons in the Old Testament. Nothing. They suddenly show up in the text when Jesus is here. We know nothing of their origin. They are never associated with Satan. In the Gospels they are often called "impure spirits." They don't seem to be concerned to lead a person into sin. They're just more like tormentors. They affect people physically, but they don't seem to affect them spiritually. James 3.15 calls them "unspiritual" and "earthy." They don't seem to oppose Jesus, but they don't like him, either. They never try to hurt Jesus, and they never try to hurt his followers. But they do try to hurt people at random—whoever they happen to come across. They can possess people, but in the Bible there is never a suggestion that they can or do possess a Christian.

Neither can Satan possess a person. When we look at how he is often described and what it is he does, he is most often condemned as a deceiver. So obviously he has access somehow to a person’s mind, and the Bible doesn’t describe how that works, but it must be true.

The Holy Spirit, by contrast, doesn’t “possess” us. The word the Bible uses is “indwelling.” The Holy Spirit also has access to a person’s mind (and not only believers whom he indwells, because He is the one who draws sinners to Christ) for influence.

What we are told about Satan’s angels, in contrast to demons, is close to nothing. We don’t know their function or role. But demon possession is not that. And we don’t know that angels can possess people, but spirit beings can obviously influence people (Lk. 13.11). Satan is not in this alone; he has an army of helpers to influence humanity. Satan can’t possess us, nor can angels. The Holy Spirit can indwell, but that’s a different concept than possession. Just as the Holy Spirit can influence our minds as He indwells us, He can also influence people’s mind in whom He does not dwell (He can convict sinners of sin). So, presumably, also we have to allow that Satan can influence the minds of people without being inside of them. And it’s no surprise that he can mimic God’s work. They are at least somewhat involved in the spiritual detrimental influences of our culture: secular humanism, scientific naturalism, reconversion, the rise of atheism, radical Islam, seeking the spiritual instead of the true God, materialism, consumerism, and a dozen others. These are the false prophets, false religions, false advisors, and false teachers. We fight these spirits in our souls and minds by pursuing truth, goodness, and holiness, and walking the Spirit.

Putting all this together to answer your question, I do not believe—because we have no biblical evidence of it—that demons can possess Christians. Demons are never associated with sin anyway. Her depression could possibly, however, be due to the influence of fallen angels, who live to deceive and to tear down and destroy. These angels cannot possess us (there’s no biblical indication that an angel can enter a human and possess them), but they obviously have influence over the mind. The biblical strategy to rebuff them is to train our minds to think differently, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and take every thought captive, and to think on a new set of things (Phil. 4.8).

Hopefully this helps, but it may also bring up many new questions and cause lots of new thoughts to rise up. We can talk further if you wish.