The Biographer of Jessie Penn-Lewis said about the controversy of the word 'possession',

"the teachers of pastoral theology and counseling were horrified by the Jessie Penn-Lewis/Evan Roberts thesis that men and women born of the Spirit could be ‘possessed’ by the devil. Readers had not noticed Jessie’s broad and too loose definition of the word ‘possessed’ as meaning, ‘any hold which evil spirits have in or upon a person in any degree.’ What Jessie and Evan meant to warn against should be called ‘harassment’ or ‘oppression´."


As far as I understand the subject, the NT is not explicit about it but its not either denying it but we have instances where we are warned about the danger of giving any hold or ground to the enemy.

In IICorinthians 11, Paul talks about false apostles and they were preaching another gosple and " another jesus" and corinthians were in danger of receiving another (counterfeit) spirit and don't be mistaken it was not the Holy Spirit "inspiring" these teachers but some other spirit(s). He makes this rather revealing statement inII Corinthians 11:3-4:

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."

The question is, is it possible for a christian who is not walking in the Spirit but in the flesh to be deceived temporarily by another spirit? Is it possible for a backslider to open the door to another spirit in his heart through unconfessed known sins or disobidience to the word of God?

We are in a spiritual war and we know that the Spirit of God is stronger than the spirit of this world and that there is nothing that can seperate us from the love of God, as long as we are faithful and obey Him. A christian who believes and obeys Jesus and follows Him is an overcomer. The devil can harras him, attack him, fight him but He will not be able to overcome him, because he has victory by the word of his testimony of Jesus and by the power of His blood shed on the cross.

I'm not talking about victorious christians or a spiritual christian filled with the Spirit, who walks in the light of God. The question is for backsliders or carnal christians, can they be deceived by the enemy? If so, to what extent? Paul warned Ephesians to, "neither give place to the devil." Ephesians 4:27

Let me give an example, we know that there are christians who go through spiritual depression. Did not the devil through sin to some extent got hold of their hearts or minds and made them passive in their will and christian life.

Paul said to "put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11) We should know the enemy tactics and not be ignorant. Four times in Ephesians 6:12 Paul mentions the word 'withstand':

"For our wrestling is not against the flesh and blood, but against principalities , against powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wicketness in the heavenlie places" (Ephesians 6:12)

The letter to Ephesians is devided in three parts and their is a devine order there, as someone put it:

"The wealth of a Christian
The walk of the Christian
The warfare of a Christian"

Before a christian goes to a spiritual war, he should know the spiritual wealth that belongs to him and the power provided for Him in Jesus Christ. He needs to experience Holy Spirit power and to walk in the light of God. Then he will be ready for the battles ahead of him and come out victorious as he stays faithful doing the will of God.

But what happens to those who dont put on the whole armor of God? Paul told them to "put on", there is an act of the will involved here and as there is an act of the will involved when he said to them to "be filled with the Holy Spirit".

We should be aware of the wiles, tactics, the devices of the devil. What happend when a christian does not withstand? How many of christians have been spiritually depressed? How many have have gone through mind delusion? Christians suffering from heart distraction? or passivity of the will?

Have we not justified maybe unintentionally a theology of inward sin in our lives? I dont believe in sinless perfection but I believe the bible when it talks about holiness and sanctification and in the possibility to be wholly sanctified. As Paul said, " May the God of peace sanctify you completly, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (IThessalonians 5:23)

Many christians accept as "normal" the cohabitation of sin and the Holy Spirit at the same time in their hearts. Is not inward sin antagonist to the Spirit of Holiness, sure it is. How can it be possible then, to have the Holy Spirit in our spirit and inward sin in our hearts? When sin in the heart remains unconfessed, we grieve or quench the Spirit.

Using the same logic of unconfessed sin dwelling in the heart of a carnal christian(sin is antagonist to the Holy Spirit), is it not possible for an evil spirit to infiltrate through an open door the heart of a deceived christian? We can ask, how is that possible? When we have the Holy Spirit in our spirits. We find it logical for sin entering the heart of a believer but illogical or impossible for an evil spirit entering the heart of a backsliding christian. Are backsliding christians immune from the infiltration of a deceptive spirits in their hearts or minds? I dont think so.


But thanks God we have the shield of faith to protect our hearts, the breasplate of righteouness to protect our minds and the sword of the Spirit to attact our enemy. We have our defence and offence weapons in our disposal. We know that Jesus already defeated our foe on the cross and as He had victory, so can we.


- I had to edited and correct my post

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Redi

Great testimony of Andrew Murray and that revival, i can believe something like that. I actually just got his book with christmas money last week called absolute surrender, i had read it before or most of it, it is beautiful book. See i have struggled for the last 4 and a half years with demonic oppression in various ways, this time i actually opened the door myself which has caused a lot of these attacks, i closed the door though months ago. But i am still being heavily oppresssed in my mind and my flesh, unwanted thoughts come in constantly, attacks on my body and flesh. After i got married i began to extremely get attacked by spirits like this before, i almost lost my memory at one time, but the Lord revealed to me i was under demonic attack and i was able to resist the enemy and it ended up leaving and i got better. Another time i started have really bad thoughts almost like thinking myself not to be human being anymore, satan really messed with my mind, but i ended up fasting a lot during that time and they ended finally going, but i have definitely not been possessed by no means, but heavily oppressed. The good thing is that i had over a year peace in 2010 and some of 2011 until i opened the door again, so maybe this warning to me not to fall into sin i almost fell into. I just want to be better and fully committed to the Lord.

Thank you Jesus-is-God, for answering my questions. I admit, I have not put “possession” down quite that specifically.

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Diane

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Diane

Amen to Diane's prayer, John. Keep your eyes on Him and Who He is and what He accomplished on that cross and at His resurrection and how He'll look when He returns.
When the power of 'that' revelation hits you - you'll fall off of your chair in awe ... guaranteed ~ You'll never want to be "a victim", nor a possible fatality again. You'll just want to BE WITH HIM and His Saints, Forever & ever, Amen.


I have E.M. Bounds book on Spiritual Warfare as well, but with all the warfare I've had to go through from my youth - I find more power in just reading The Word - what Jesus used against our foe and calls His Word our 'sword' of the Spirit.


GOD Bless you all.

thank you for the encouraging words.

Its interesting what those who think that a believer cannot have the struggles John is witnessing to and therefore think that he is not saved yet. I wonder what they think when he says that he is oppressed rather than possessed - obviously they think he is wrong and he is possessed. I think that he is giving a good example of what JPL meant when she said possession on certain grounds when John is saying that indeed it is on certain grounds that he is unable to gain freedom from being overcome fom the attacks of the evil one. I have no doubt John that you have come to Christ in the past for your salvation and a testimoney to that would be of interest. I do not think however that you are filled with the Spirit but encourage you to seek it.

From Chapter 4 of JPL's book (taken from Narrowpath post)

"In the case of passivity hindering the memory, the person will be found looking outside himself for every possible "aid to memory," until he becomes a veritable slave to note book, and helps, which fail at a critical moment."


This spoke to me loud and clear. Let me explain.

My Sister who is a Christian has fallen into a lifestyle that is not befitting a believers life. She has low self esteem, probably due to being raped as a child and is constantly into the vodka. No excuses of course, however, the above statement made by JPL describes her to a T.

I am not putting my stamp of approval on her writings, but to this part I have to agree. My Sister has to look outside herself to remember, she constantly looks to others for help, and she has to write it down or it's forgotten. Constantly seeks approval of her actions and drains others for advice and she has lost the ability to know what is right and wrong. She is almost 40 years old but acts like she is 16 and raising two boys.

Sometimes she thinks she is fooling herself, but can't find the strength to stop her reckless downward spiral. And there are moments where she thinks this is all okay, which I don't believe her. Drunks always give that impression that they have everything under control. She is definitely being controlled from an outside source which could very well be inside as she has no trouble flirting with married men and she can't understand why their wives get mad at her. Totally oblivious to the consequences of her actions. If you knew her before all this, you would never think she was the same person. A born leader, well educated, a public speaker, owns her own business, having the ability to persuade one to know Christ, conducted bible studies in her home to the place that envy from the head of the Church asked her to leave because people were flocking to her home. Success, money and men has blindsided her.

Dear John,

I believe that 2012 can be a year when God can accomplish within your heart many of the things that you've been yearning for. There's been some good advice given to you on this thread by a number of brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm glad to see that you have been encouraged some, and would encourage you to 'press on' to all that God has for you in your life this year. There are many here who are rooting for you, and who are wanting to rejoice in the Lord with you, as we see Him accomplish the victory for you, which has already been purchased for you, by Calvary's blood.

There's one thing I had been thinking of sharing about on the thread that's about the 'fear of God' earlier, that may relate to some of what you are going through, and some of what you are wanting to see happen in your life. This is an area God's been working on in my own life. It's this : If we sense God speaking to us about something, an area of sin in our life, an area where we need to change, then it's important that we respond immediately to the voice of the Holy Spirit in that area, and to make the changes that he's asking us to make. I believe that as you, as all of us, do this more and more throughout 2012, we will experience the personal revival, that is a part of the large scale revival that we all yearn for. This is an area where the fear of God was evident in the lives of men and women of God who've been used of God over the years. The people God used and the people who came to know Him in a great intimacy in their lives, walked before Him with a sense of carefulness. They were diligent to listen to his voice,and were concerned, lest in not heeding the voice of his Spirit they would miss what He was saying to them at any time, and what he had for them.

So please be encouraged, as others have written in many threads to 'look to Christ', brother. All that we have and all that we can obtain in our lives is found in Him; in his righteousness and in the work He has accomplished for us on the cross.

There is a real spiritual warfare, brother, that we are all engaged in. But the victory in this war is won, not by focussing on the powers of demons and the need to be delivered from them. To what extent they are operating or have operated in our lives in the past, is not as important as how and mostly on 'who' will bring about victory in our lives in the present. As others have encouraged you to do, I'd encourage you to make the Bible your main warfare manual.

Aside from this, if you find Christian books which help you to focus on Christ and his work on the cross as the means to overcome Satan, then some of these may be an additional help, if they help to unfold the truths already presented in the Word of God. Brother Paul has shared some valuable truths recently, in the area of spiritual warfare. As well, one book that I've found to be helpful and I know others have as well on this site is 'A Christian in Complete Armour' by William Gurnall. (eg abridged version done with the help of David Wilkerson/Banner of Trust) This book presents Christian warfare as a reality and a necessity in the life of a Christian, which it is, but in a way that maintains the focus on Christ. Please know that by recommending this book, I am not putting down other Christian resources on this subject, but am just recommending one that I personally have found to be helpful.

These are just a few thoughts and the most important thing is to gain the 'mind of Christ' on this matter... as you continue to bathe yourself in the Word of God, fellowship with other Christians, and in prayer.

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.."

Jude 1:24

Much love in Christ to you dear brother,
John

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Lisa