Do Demons Possess People Today?
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I don’t believe demon spirits can possess a person in the Christian age. Am I right? If so, how would you explain this to a person?
This question isn’t entirely accurate. We have instances in the Bible where demons possessed people “in the Christian age.” Paul cast a demon out of a woman in Acts 16:17-19. Consider also Acts 19:11-20 where an evil spirit possessed a man that some Jewish exorcists failed to remove. I think the question might be more appropriately asked, “Can demons or evil spirits possess a person in the Christian age after the cessation of miracles?” In answer to this question, I agree with the questioner that I do not believe that God allows them to do that today. Here is why I think that.
First, the Holy Spirit through the apostles prophesied that miracles would cease. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 13:8: “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.” Miracles were the scaffolding on which the word of God was delivered and confirmed. Look at Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” Hebrews 2:2-4 says, “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” The purpose of miracles, including casting out demons, was to confirm the word of God. This was accomplished and we have God’s confirmed word today. So there would be no more reason for God to allow demons to possess people.
Second, Jesus triumphed over the devil making an open show of His power over him. In Colossians 2:15 we read: “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Consider also Revelation 20:2-3, “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.” God, through Christ, has taken away the power that the devil once had over men. The devil still has great influence, though, and the scripture says he walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
Third, evil spirits are now held in the place called torments that Jesus referred to in Luke 16:19-31 in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. You recall that Jesus said the Rich Man went to a place of torment. In Luke 16:26 Abraham says, “And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.” The Rich Man wanted to go back and warn his brothers, but he was not permitted and neither was Lazarus allowed to go back and visit them. So, this seems to be the final situation for evil spirits today.
For these reasons: 1) Miracles have ceased since their purpose was fulfilled, 2) Jesus triumphed over the devil and all his powers, and 3) evil spirits are sent to hades and they are not allowed to return, I do not believe that evil spirits can possess men today.