Demons & Possession ...
Are they real ???
Can they possess you???
Image by h9images on Freepik
Let's find out ...
In order to know if demons can possess people, we must know for sure that they exist. Are they just made up out of someone's imaginations in order to scare us? I don't think so. Let's first look at some facts about demons. Then we will discuss how they influence us, even in our everyday lives. We will also cover how to battle demons and win. I will even share some of my own personal experiences.
Some people may scoff at the thought of demons, but they are real. It is an undeniable fact that they exist and influence everyone of us. Spiritual possession is a common occurence. In order to prevent or counter it, we must have accurate spiritual knowledge. We must know the truth. John 8:32 says: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
In order to fight off our enemy, we stand a much better chance if we know a little about our enemy. Our military does not just go into a battle blindfolded. They first went through basic training and then they learn about what they are going up against. We need to know what we are up against.
Let's first look back at history of recorded demon possession. Here is a very small list of some documented cases of demon possession:
1778 George Lukins, Spoke in 'strange voices', made weird noices and sang hymns backwards.
1842 Gottliebin Ditters, 28 years old, from Germany. Trances, violent and was held in physical restraints.
1906 Clara Germana Cele, 16 year old girl. Tore clothes, super human strength, spoke in tongues.
1949 Roland Doe, 13 year old boy. He saw and heard strange things, violent, strong and cursings.
1974 Michael Taylor, Attacked and murdered his wife, he had seizures, spit at people, screamed in tongues.
2014 Alexandra Huerto, went into trance and started convulsing while playing with a Ouija board. Other participants had symptoms also, like double vision, blindness, deafness, and hallucinations.
2015 in Lima, Peru, 18 year old Patricia Quispe became possessed by playing with a digital Ouija board. She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
And the list goes on ... in 2017 a woman in New York was so possessed that many exorcisms were performed on her. She threw a Lutheran deacon across the room.
I went to school with a girl, whom I thought was very nice. But one day, at her house, she made a hairbrush fly across the room at us! I was in 11th grade.
Matthew 9:32 documents a man possessed with a devil who could not talk.
Mark 7:29 tells of a young girl that had a demon cast out of her.
Luke 7:-36 gives the account of a man that was possessed, who was in a synagogue. There were several demons in this man. The demons even threw this man down to the ground and cried with a loud voice.
Matthew 17:14-18 documents the account of a father begging for his demon-possessed son. The demon would make the boy crazy, "a lunatick", and pushed the boy into fires to try to burn him and waters to try to drown him.
Mark 5:1-16 This man was called the 'Maniac of Gadara'. He was really, really bad. He was possessed with over a legion of demons. A legion equals anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000! This man had that many demons in him. He lived in the cemetaries, the tombs. He could break heavy chains from off his body. He would cry and cut himself. And worse of all, the devils did not want to leave. They wanted to stay inside this man of Gadara. (Read Mark 5 to find out what happened to this man!) (FYI you can use your phone/computer at kingjamesbibleonline.org )
Why does the Bible give so many examples of demon possession? We are given these examples to warn us. To protect us from demonism. To give us the chance to avoid possession. Did you know that Jesus preached more on Hell than He did on Heaven? To warn us. To plead with us. To show us hell and demons are real and that He does not want anyone to go there. But the choice is up to each of us. Let's continue with some of the attributes of demons. Let's see what we need to be aware of, what to watch for.
Some of the many known symptoms documented by several physicians and psychiatrists are: growling noices, eyes rolling back, victim being thrown against walls with no one touching them, extremely strong, violent, speaking in different tongues, deeper voice, wanting to die, wanting to kill, crimes, dark shadows, hatred, anger, aggressive, greedy, jealous, negative thoughts, drinking, rants, blames others, self-assertive and this list could go on.
Demons can profoundly influence and even control of the minds of people, especially the unsaved. When people rebel and turn their backs on God, then God gives them over to a reprobate mind. This is found in Romans 1:28.
As a previous Hospice volunteer, I witnessed a lot of demonic activity. It was easy for me to sense whether a person was saved or not, whether there were angels or demons in the room. When someone was near to passing, and they had accepted Christ as their Saviour, there was a sweet peace there. The person was calmer. I could sense angels hoovering above. (In an article on this site titled "My Watch on Hospice" , I share more of my experiences.) But if the person had neglected or did not want to ask Christ into their hearts, it was totally different. I saw bed sheets move. I could see dark shadows. Sometimes my skin would 'crawl' so I would pray extra hard. It is truly heart breaking seeing someone go off into eternity knowing it was bad.
So how can we win this demonic battle? How can we not get possessed? This is the easy part, but Satan doesn't want you to do it. He will give you every excuse not to. So I suggest you do this right away ... simply acknowledge that you are a sinner, realize that Christ died on the cross for your sins, then (the power is here...) ASK CHRIST TO COME INTO YOUR HEART.
You can do it right now. Bow your head and ask Him in. Demons cannot come into a person if Christ is inside them. Impossible. You cannot get demon possessed if you are saved, if you have asked Jesus Christ to be your Saviour. Demons can then no longer possess you if you are a Christian. This is how you beat demon possession, by accepting Christ as your Saviour. The Holy Spirit would then be in your heart and all demons cast out.
Now comes the harder part of the battle. We have learned some of the attributes of demon possession. We have learned that both the medical fields, historians and the Bible all give accounts of demon possession. Demon possession is when a demon, or many demons, come into an unsaved person. We have shared with you how to avoid demon possession. John 3:3 says "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Again, this is up to you. You MUST ASK Christ into your heart. No one can do it for you. Once you have asked Jesus into your heart, you then have full assurance of never being demon possessed! Yeah! Jesus says to those who ask to be saved ... "I give unto you eternal life; and they (you) shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them (you) out of my hand. My Father, which gave them (you) me, is greater than all (even demons); and no man is able to pluck them (you) out of my Father's hand." (John 10:28-29) But now what?
Now that we are on the winning side by asking Christ into our hearts, we face another type of demonic attack. It is called demon obsession. It is true that we can never, never be demon possessed again once we have asked Jesus to be our Saviour. However, since Satan lost your soul to God, he is not very happy about it. Satan's first attack will be to try to get you to doubt that Christ really saved you. That is why you need to really start digging into your Bible and find a good Bible preaching church so you can grow spiritually. God's Word will assure you of your salvation.
Since the demons cannot possess you now, they will do everything in their power to stop you. Here are some of the things that demons like to try to cause Christians to do ... remember, these are things Satan wants to do to you ...
Satan wants to destroy happiness in your life. Perhaps you are like me when I got saved. I felt a huge burden lifted off my heart. I wanted my loved ones saved, too. But demons did everything they could to mess up my witnessing to my loved ones. Demons fought me about going to church regularly. And he certainly did not want me to read my Bible.
Demons will also try to manipulate your mind to cause chaos in your life. Demons will try to cause you to loose your temper and get angry. They can cause you to not care about others feelings and be self-assertive. Demons want you to be greedy. And they certainly don't want you to give God anything. There are also evil spirits of jealousy. This list can go on. Demons will try to influence you for the bad anyway they can.
Be strong! Here is the solution on beating Satan and all his demons.
Step #1 Pray. Pray hard. "Pray without ceasing ." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Talk to God. He hears you, and even more, He shows you.
Step #2 Remember 1 Corinthians 15:57: "But thanks be to God, which GIVETH us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Remember you are saved through Jesus dying on the cross for you. Because He did that for you, you can claim victory.
Step #3 Study the Bible "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Satan knows the Bible very well, give him a fight. The more Bible you know, the stronger you can fight demons. Satan used the Word of God against Adam and Eve, and he tried to use it on Jesus when he tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1-11) After Jesus used the Bible on Satan, he left Jesus (verse 11).
Step #4 Go to Church "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works; Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25) Seek an independent church that believes in eternal security, and uses the King James Bible.
Step #5 Tithe This is where even more blessings come in from God. Check out this verse! "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse (church), that there may be meat in mine house, and PROVE ME, now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I wll not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10) God is letting you know here that if you give Him at least 10% of your income, He promises to open the windows of heaven and pour you out lots of blessings, so many blessings you will have a hard time receiving all of them because they will be so many! Prove Him, God says!!! Satan hates this !
I'd like to leave you with one more encouragement. Now that you know some of the attributes of demons: even anger, aggressiveness, jealousy, greed, hate, wanting nothing to do with God, drinking, cussing and more; please remember when you are around others that are acting this way, that they may be either demon possessed or demon obsessed. Be patient with them. Share the gospel, pray for them, and love them. It may be very hard, but we use to be like that (and may also get that way at times, as Satan tries to mess us up). When we realize that these are from demons, it should help us to understand and have patience. But even more importantly, pray and share Christ with them. Demons are very real and so is hell. There is a good description of Hell under the 'Tools' section here in allreadycreated.com.
If you have accepted Christ as your Saviour, then you are a 'watchman'. A soldier for our Lord. Be prepared for spiritual battles. Know your enemy. As God's watchman, He says to you in Ezekiel 33:6 "But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." Also read verses 7-9. The end is near. Let's not let Satan and his demons win any more souls! Be a watchman!