Is Demonic Possession Real?

In the preface to his wonderful book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis wrote, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Some people think Satan is hiding behind every sickness and temptation. They're overly obsessed with the devil and spiritual warfare. In the Western world, that's probably not the error that we fall into. The modern man sees himself as too enlightened to believe in things like demons.

That's a dangerous reality because according to the Bible, demons and demon possession are real. There is this really interesting story recorded in the book of Acts written by Luke. It's in Acts chapter 16. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. This she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

It came out that very hour. When her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. It's a pretty wild story, right? There are sinister spiritual forces that we can't see with our eyes, but that influence the lives of people all around us. It's clear from that story that demons can even exhibit supernatural abilities like fortune telling. This is why you should never dabble in the occult or new age spirituality. Paul says in another place that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, 2 Corinthians 11, 14.

He wants to take our focus off of Jesus and his redemptive work. Now, while the devil is real and we are engaged in spiritual warfare as the followers of Jesus, we need to recognize that one, the devil doesn't have any authority over God's children, which is to say that he can't possess us, and two, the devil is a conquered foe. John says in 1 John 4, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this, you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Little children, you are from God and you have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Likewise, in the next chapter, John wrote, 1 John 5, verse 18, we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. If you're in Christ, you've been purchased by the blood of Jesus and you are protected from Satan. That doesn't mean that he can't afflict you or tempt you, but it does mean you won't be given over to him. Secondly, Christ has definitively conquered Satan, which means we're fighting in a battle that has already been won. Throughout the gospels, as Jesus was performing miracles and casting out devils, he was binding Satan so that he might deliver men and women from his grasp. As Jesus went to the cross, the nails that were driven into him were also driving a nail into Satan's coffin. Paul wrote in Colossians 2, beginning in verse 13, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. See, the devil is real and our hope against him isn't in ourselves. It's not in your righteousness, your holiness, your purity, but in the son of God who is victorious over sin and Satan. As the followers of Jesus, we need to avoid those two errors that C.S.

Lewis talked about. We don't want to be overly obsessed with spiritual warfare and the devil thinking that he's in control of everything and behind every rock, but we also need to make sure that we don't have the idea of the secularist, of the person who doesn't believe in that kind of spirituality because the devil is a real foe and he goes about like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. Our hope, your hope, is in Christ who has conquered Satan once and for all. This month at SOLA, we're offering our listeners the booklet Law and Gospel by Michael Horton and Bob Hiller. This booklet offers a much needed exploration of the two distinct words God speaks, his law which commands and reveals human sin and his gospel which proclaims Christ's saving work. This booklet explains how confusing these two leads to spiritual harm causing either pride or despair. This resource is designed to guide readers through what many have called the heart of reformation theology and its practical implications for faith in the Christian life. The best part is you can get a copy of Law and Gospel completely free. Simply go to solamedia.org forward slash offers and request your copy today. That's solamedia.org forward slash offers.