F4F | Can Christians Be Possessed by Demons?

Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith here on YouTube. If you've ever been told that as a Christian, you have to have demons cast out of you, you need to go to a deliverance and inner healing minister who's going to find out the names of the demons that are oppressing you or even possessing you and then perform something that's akin to an exorcism on you as a Christian, yeah, go ahead and hit the subscribe button.

You've been deceived and taught false doctrine. Christians cannot be possessed by demons. We'll talk about that in a minute, but let's go ahead and get the display up. We're heading over to the Toronto Airport Church.

Joanna Adams is teaching there about an introduction to deliverance, a practice that is quite common in the New Apostolic Reformation as well as five-folder type charismatic churches, which there's very little distinction between those two, but we'll make the distinction because they want us to.

But let's listen in to Joanna Adams as she gives us an introduction to deliverance. We'll do a little biblical work along the way. If you want to open up to Luke 11 as well as 1 Corinthians 6, I think you'll find that'll be helpful.

That's the two passages we'll be looking at. But here's Joanna Adams to begin her message.

Deliverance and Inner Healing as False Doctrine

I want to share a teaching and it's called Forgiveness, Your First Step to Freedom. Now when I did bring this message last year in the day sessions on the Saturday, and I remember someone came up to me and, you know, I know Catch the Fire, but I didn't know too much about, you know, how you guys all flow and your deal.

I know it was like, you know, the father's heart, but this lady had come up to me and she said, you know, we talk a lot about forgiveness here. She says, but I've never heard it shared the way you shared it.

So I really felt to bring it forth again and to bring it tonight. So if you weren't here on Sunday, what we did was we talked about some signs that would show or indicate that, hey, maybe I need some freedom.

Maybe I'm, you know, maybe there's some things going on in my life or someone I know that's saying red flag, something's not right. I need freedom. And I began to share a few lists and I just want to recap really, really quick of some of the indications that we need freedom, that maybe we should be here on Saturday.

Listen, Saturday, I'm going to teach about the protocols and the, you know, deliverance 101. How do we do deliverance and how are we supposed to be as deliverance ministers? And I'm going to have a teaching in the day, but then there's going to come a point most likely after lunch is what I'm thinking is we're going to do a series of prayers.

We're going to read these prayers on the screen. And what's going to happen is it's going to unlock you from any tie the devil's had on your life. He gets a hold from our own sins, from the sins of our generations.

And when you read these prayers, what you're doing is you're repenting and you're renouncing. And then we're going to move into a time of corporate ministry.

Yeah.

See, already we got a problem. And that is that this is already sounding like a man-made doctrine. You know, if I pray these prayers, then I'm going to unlock myself from the devil in stuff.

Hmm.

Okay.

Well, you're actually going to begin to feel the Holy Ghost move on you and freedom is going to come and it's going to be amazing. Healings are going to happen and you're going to be transformed. You need to make it out here tomorrow.

But recapping just a few indications of maybe we need some freedom is, you know, having some disturbances, our emotions up and down.

Okay.

What about things like having problems in our thought life? So things going on in our minds, being bombarded in our minds.

Okay.

Negative thoughts. Stinking thinking. Voices. Sometimes people hear voices.

So if you're, if you're experiencing stinking thinking, you may be oppressed by the devil?

It's very common. Those are demonic spirits speaking.

Okay.

What about anger and rage, jealousy and envy? Things like uncontrolled use of the tongue. And I shared that.

You know, scripture actually describes what you're saying as not demonic things, but as sins of the flesh.

Yeah.

The Works of the Flesh and the Christian Struggle with Sin

Let's take a look at the Bible real quick here. And I'm going to add another text to what we're going to be looking at. So let me duplicate a tab here because I've decided to preempt. We're going to take a look, I believe, at Galatians 5.

Yep.

I think this is it. Here's what Paul writes in Galatians 5, 16. It says, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now the works of the, listen to this, flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like.

These.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom.

Of God.

Yeah, so scripture doesn't ascribe these things to the demonic. And see, one of the primary ideas behind deliverance ministries is a false understanding of the fact that we as Christians are truly regenerated in Christ and we still have a sinful nature.

And the two are at war with each other. That's the idea. So when you have stinking thinking come up or you have thoughts where you want to hurt somebody or do something sinful, these arise out of your flesh, out of your sinful heart.

And you can say, well, yes, the devil may be behind the temptations ultimately, but even if the devil were completely locked up and all of his demons cast into outer darkness and had no access to you, you would still have to struggle with the sins of your own sinful flesh.

So already we got a problem because things that she's describing as, oh, oh, these are demonic spirits that are talking to you, yeah, no, that's probably just your blackened sinful heart talking to you.

But let's continue.

You know, we're praising the Lord and singing in tongues, and then someone cuts you off when you're driving and you start saying the F-bomb and the S-bomb. That's not right.

I agree. That is actually both things because the, that's not tongues. That's gibberish and that's not a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. And then you, you know, giving hand signals to people who've cut you off while you're driving.

Yeah, that, that comes out of your own sinful flesh, fits of anger. We just read it in Galatians.

We need freedom. We shouldn't be cursing. We shouldn't be able to not control that. And that comes out, right? There's a spirit called cursing.

No, no, no, there isn't. So you notice what she did there. Yes. Oh, you know, there you are. You gave, you said expletives and engaged in, in American sign language while you were driving the other day and, uh, you know, to the guy who cuts you off.

Well, the reason why is because you're suffering from the demonic spirit called cursing. No, you're suffering from your sinful flesh.

Well, things like unclean thoughts and acts regarding sex, a lot of people, Galatians.

Five says that comes out of our sinful flesh.

I'm bombarded by sexual demons that torment them at night. Okay. It's called an incubus and succubus spirit.

Sometimes people are tormented with what Bible doesn't mention that. That's like mythology. Oh, good grief.

Mental images. They can't get their mind clear. They're constantly seeing sexual images. You can get free from that. Saints.

Did you know that this is quackery?

Yeah.

So when you sin, you repent, ask God for forgiveness. Ask for help from the spirit to sanctify you and curb these sinful appetites that arise from your flesh. Now, let me give another passage of scripture because I think it'll be helpful here.

Yeah.

We're not even anywhere close to the ones I said to go to.

My apologies.

Yeah.

Just I'm kind of winging it at this point because I'm a little bit on the exercised side.

Yeah.

Pun intended. Romans chapter seven, by the way, is a great text to go to that describes really the difficulty and travail of being a Christian. The apostle Paul, a man who was a Christian for many years before he penned Romans, describes in present tense, in the present tense voice in Greek, just how difficult it is as a Christian because God's commandments tell us not to do things and our sinful flesh, even as Christians, wars against it.

Now, by the way, the state that we are in as Christians, we are truly regenerate. We are new creations in Christ and we still have a sinful flesh. And so, this paradox that we seem to live in, the reformers referred to it as the simile or the Latin phrase is simile justus et peccator, which means you're simultaneously justified before God and you're still a sinner at the same time.

This will be resolved in the resurrection when we will be raised from the grave, body and soul together, no sin, no sinful nature at all in the resurrection. So Paul in Romans seven describes the struggle that we go through as Christians and he's speaking autobiographically here.

The same struggle we all have as Christians is the one he experienced because he also was a Christian, is a Christian, you get the idea. So Paul writes in Romans seven, seven, so what shall we say then?

The law is sin because God's law tells us not to do things, he says by no means. If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin, for I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said you shall not covet.

But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Notice sin, seizing the opportunity. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and then I died.

I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive, I died the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me for sin seizing the opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me.

So the law is holy, the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. So did that which is good then bring death to me? No, no, the law didn't bring death to you, he says by no means. It was sin producing death in me through what is good in order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

For we know that the law is spiritual, I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I don't understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want. I do the very things I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that the law is good.

So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. This is our sinful flesh. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

I do not do what I want, but the evil that I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do not do what I want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law.

Of sin.

Christians, Sinful Flesh, and the Temptation to Deliverance Quackery

But Romans 8 then kind of gives us the resolve. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And that is the gospel that we all need to hear because each and every one of us falls short of the glory of God and we sin against God grievously, daily, day by day.

There is not a day that goes by where you do not need to pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And so you know the Apostle Paul in both Romans 7 and Galatians 5 puts the source of these sinful temptations, sinful thoughts, sinful desires, and from them the deeds that come squarely inside of each and every one of us in our sinful flesh.

Not the demonic, but inside of us. So now you got the idea. Now real quick, I wanted to really, while we're in the Bible, let's take a look at this concept then. That can a Christian be possessed by a demon?

The answer by the way is no. And we're going to look at our two texts then. Let me find the first one, here we go, Luke 11, Luke 11, Jesus speaking in verse 22, talking about those who are truly possessed, if somebody exercises the demon.

Here's what it says, Luke 11 24, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, finding none, it says, I will return to my house from which I came, and when it comes it finds the house swept and put in order, then it goes and brings seven other demons, more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there.

The last state of the person is worse than the first. Everything swept, empty, put in order. So the idea then is that when someone truly is possessed by the devil, or the demonic, and that is cast out, their mind, their heart, their soul, their temple, all kinds of ways and talking about human beings in this sense, you know, things are in order, but it's empty,.

Alright?

But as Christians, we're not empty. Things are put in order, and there's somebody living there, even greater than ourselves. And this is where 1 Corinthians 6 comes into play. And we'll pay attention to this because this builds off of the teaching that we did on soul ties.

I mentioned it during the Terry Savelle Foy segment, but I want to read it out now in the context then of this idea that somehow demons are causing us to do stuff. Christians cannot be possessed by demons.

So Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food.

God will destroy both, one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?

Never.

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? So much for soul ties, right? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside of the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. So here's the idea. The basic premise behind the deliverance and inner healing ministries is that Christians can actually be indwelt by the demonic.

But scripture says that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus describes somebody who has demons cast out of them, when the demons return and find that the place is empty, they go and get more demons.

When a demon would return to a Christian, things are swept in an order and we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. There's no way that God the Holy Spirit is going to allow your body to be indwelt by both him and a demon.

This is totally contrary to scripture. So you're going to note that the teaching then that we're hearing from Joanna Adams, which is very prevalent in the NAR and the Five Folders, and people like the Toronto Airport Church, this is a false understanding of the origin of sin.

And they will, of course, be happy to cast demons out of you, but the sins that you're experiencing as a Christian, these are coming up from your own sinful flesh. Scripture is very clear about this.

Generational Curses, Occult Open Doors, and the Claim That Demons Enter Christians

Yes, we can be free. What about things like sicknesses? We talked about spirit of infirmity, OK, and how the woman in the Bible had a spirit of infirmity. Jesus laid hands on her. She was made straight and that spirit of infirmity left.

How did these spirits come in? I'm just recapping real quick so we kind of understand.

Yeah. How do these demons come into a Christian? I'd like to know how that's possible if I'm indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

On Sunday, well, spirits come in in different ways, generationally, environmentally. They can come in sexually. They can come in through open doors in our lives. OK, they can come in through things like drugs and pornography.

They can come in when we're...

Where in Scripture does it say that a Christian indwelt by the Holy Spirit can have a demon come inside of them, you know, through these various means, including environmental means and generational curses and stuff like that, wouldn't being brought to penitent faith in Christ and being united with him in his death and his resurrection and having our sins washed away, wouldn't all of that already take care of, like, generational curses and stuff like that?

...than anything to do with the occult, whether we've dabbled with the, you know, witchcraft, maybe we were into New Age before, maybe...

Notice how she's using past tense verbs. So before you were a Christian, you were in the New Age or you dabbled in the occult. You played with the Ouija board. You went and saw a palm reader or something like that, right?

So she's basically making it sound like, oh, well, being brought to penitent faith in Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, it's not enough.

No, no, no, no, no.

We've got to cast those demons out of you now. Nonsense.

And to a palm reader, maybe we had our tarot cards read. You know, a lot of us do these...

Maybe they had a destiny card reading, you know, I'm just saying...

...silly things in ignorance. But what happens is it opens the door to the occult and it gives the devil a legal right to begin to torment you.

Could you give me a biblical text that says that if I did that before I became a Christian, that I gave the devil a legal right to do things to me? I want to see that passage, please.

With fears or with depression or with darkness, with heaviness. We do these things. We're looking for direct...

Yeah, I suffer from heaviness from time to time. Usually when I eat too much.

Before we meet Christ, and then maybe we have a salvation experience, but those things have to be uprooted. Sometimes there's...

See, there you go. You did these things before you were a Christian and you've had an experience with Christ, but all these things have to be uprooted. Where in Scripture, in the New Testament, give me an example of somebody after being brought to penitent faith in Christ, baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit, then had demons cast out of them in order to uproot and get rid of the legal thingies that the devil apparently has over them.

You won't find a single passage that teaches this. Folks, if you have ever been told you have to go through a deliverance minister in order to uproot legal demonic ties going back to when your ancestors did the Egy board, or maybe they did a rain dance with the Native Americans back in the 19th century, or nonsense like this, these people don't know what they're talking.

About.

They're not teaching anything biblical. They are deceiving you and actually keeping you away from the true means by which we as Christians are empowered to fight against the temptations of the devil and our own sinful flesh, and to mortify our sinful flesh and bear fruit in keeping with repentance in love towards neighbor and love towards God.

This is not a means of Christian sanctification. This is literally so deceptive and evil that it puts you under the deceptions and the control of the devil and his demons. And these are doctrines of demons that these people are teaching.

So flee people who claim that you need to be delivered from the demonic, from all of this nonsensical stuff. Soul ties and generational curses and things like that. Of course, they'll always want to charge you for this service, but I think you get.

The idea.

Exposing Deliverance Ministries and Calling Christians to Discernment

So if you found this helpful, go ahead and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Share this with other people and warn them. You know, people who are in the NAR and the five-fold ministry people who are telling you you need to be delivered from demons after you've been brought to salvation, they're straight up lying.

And this is a demonic doctrine that will put you in bondage. So subscribe below. If you'd like to support Fighting for the Faith so that we can continue to bring this kind of teaching to you, all the information on how to support us by either becoming a crew member, becoming a patron on Patreon, or one-time donations, all of that's down below.

Of course, if you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, go to fightingforthefaith .com. The link is down below. And subscribe to our podcast because we put together close to 10 hours of an audio version of this type of discernment ministry work in order to equip you so that you will not be deceived by quacks like, yeah, Joanna Adams and others.

So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and His vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins. Amen.