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ORIGINAL: sledmt

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ORIGINAL: earthless

sledmt,

Do you believe born-again believers can be demon possessed?

To answer your question, I'll ask question.

I attended a college in Pensacola called Pensacola Christian College. This college did believe in casting out demons. So here the question:
There was about 5000 students in the college. So according to the model Christ outline for us (give or take a little), around 1500 students would recieved deliverance from a evil spirit. But here the problem, do you think about of those 1500 recieved deliverance from an evil spirit just before salvation. Did some believer cast the evil spirit out prior to salvation? I never heard any testomonty from any of the students when I was there in college. So where does this leave us. 1500 students that could have had spirit prior to salvation. What have to the demons. Just leave at salvation??? Yet right.

let's take this a little farther, this pattern I saw at a friend church in Bozeman. Once again, they don't pratice deliverance in form like modeled in the Bible. So what do the demons in people in a church that does not practice any form of casting out demons. Just leave???
This church was around 2000 members. Thats about 500 members that could have had a demon prior to salvation. So when those 500 became believers, where did the demons go??? No one in the church was casting the demons out of the believers when they were getting saved. So if know one was casting out demons, where are the demons????

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ORIGINAL: sledmt

I answered your question with a question.

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ORIGINAL: sledmt

You know just as well as I do, that the Word doesn't really answer this question really either direction. It give verses that can be used to say that a Christian can't be demon possessed. But on the other side, it give verses that could be used to say that a Christian can be demon possessed. I've spent some time looking at this subject.

It one of those subject that I wish was clearer. Kinda like Once saved always saved. But that a different subject.

Another example could be the church "Grace to You". If there is about 3000 members, I would roughly approx. that 750 members should have been demon possessed prior to salvation. (I'm not saying that it is exactly 750, it could be 600 or maybe 500 or maybe 1000). The point is this: I don't believe that this group of 750 are not saved, but demon possessed because the church doesn't follow the deliverance modeled by Christ. If one believes that they are not saved, this has ramification across Conservative churchs across the world. I know that every church has unsaved people in it, but this would be a massive group of people in Conservative churchs. Which I believe the Lord would hold them accoutable for missing leading them.

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ORIGINAL: OleFitzHi


I doubt that demon "possession" is that frequent. Do you mean possessed like the Gadarene demoniac, living in caves and tearing shackles off themselves? Or like the boy who would throw himself in a fire? Like that? Come on. You know that's not true. Those cases do exist, but not a quarter of the world's population.

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I just do not believe that the Spirit of Christ could inhabit a person and seal that person up and the spirit of Satan could come in and live also. That is not biblical. We can certainly be demon influenced though, sifted in the way that Peter was.

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Psalm 123
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, o thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God...

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How do you know demon possession is not more frequent. Now instead he has a mental illness, and pump him full drugs. I'm not saying that every mental illness is demonic, but some could. Even if just 5% of people with a mental illness is caused by a demon, that too much. That should concern us and cause us to seek Christ and see them set free.

I think most of church is scared of the whole deliverance issue. Then because of their fear, many people suffer from that demonic possession. In the church and out.

We as the church need to quit fighting over the definition of possession, and start seeking the Holy Spirit for dircernment so that we can move in our autority in Christ and cast those demons out. I just want to see people move into a freedom in Christ that alot of Christians are not seeing.

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It doesn't clearly state that a believer can't be demon-possessed. I think that this is a doctrine of convenience. It make us feel better.

Since you believe that a believer can't be demon-possessed, show me where in the Word a demon must leave the at the moment of salvation. Excluding those new believers that had some mature believer casting the demon out just before salvation. Where does Christ tell us that you don't need to cast the demon out, but don't worry, the demon will leave the moment the person recieve Christ as their savior?

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Good verse, but on the flip side, should we choose the verses that we like and kind of ignore the verses that can get rather messy at times.

I want to follow the full consel of the Gospel, not just the part that are easily and fun. Not into picking and choosing.

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ORIGINAL: earthless

sled,

I waited for you to post Scripture that shows a born-again believer can be demon possessed and you did not post any. Why? Because there isn't any, not a single example or context.

Scripture shows us that a born-again believer cannot be demon possessed. We can be oppressed by the demonic, but not possessed.

1 Corinthians 6:19 declares that the body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, Scripture makes it clear that believers are indwelt by God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 14:17, 23).

To conclude, therefore, that Christians can be demonized is to admit that demons can inhabit the very temple of God Almighty.

This is indeed difficult to believe, given Jesus' insights on possession: "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils" (Luke 11:21-22). Clearly, the "strong man" who guards Christians is the sovereign God Who created and sustains the heavens and the earth, Who is unable to be overpowered or plundered (2 Chronicles 20:6).

Nevertheless, we must realize that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but rather, against principalities and powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). That is precisely why we are exhorted to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11).

However, we can say with confidence that Christ has already won the victory and no Christian can be "demon-possessed" (Colossians 2:15). As God's Word triumphantly proclaims, "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4b).

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ORIGINAL: earthless

sled,

A demon cannot possess where the Holy Spirit is. You keep wanting to know what happens during salvation - well a simple starting point is to know what brings about salvation. Hearing the Word, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, do you agree?

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Scripture shows us that a born-again believer cannot be demon possessed. We can be oppressed by the demonic, but not possessed.

1 Corinthians 6:19 declares that the body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, Scripture makes it clear that believers are indwelt by God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 14:17, 23).

To conclude, therefore, that Christians can be demonized is to admit that demons can inhabit the very temple of God Almighty.

This is indeed difficult to believe, given Jesus' insights on possession: "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils" (Luke 11:21-22). Clearly, the "strong man" who guards Christians is the sovereign God Who created and sustains the heavens and the earth, Who is unable to be overpowered or plundered (2 Chronicles 20:6).