Can a person really be possessed by a demon?

[Okami]

Yes, absolutely yes. I know this from my own experience....I'm not proud of the circumstances, but I was possessed, myself. It's terrifying, and later on when I finally admitted what had happen I had friends questioning my faith and whether or not I had the Holy Spirit in me. I had really backed myself into a corner before I had to explain that, if I didn't have the Spirit, how was I able after hours of torment to call upon Jesus' name and get them out of me? I was weak, depressed, and suicidal - didn't want to deal anymore, and I let them in.

Quoting my testimony, [quote]It was in the December of this past year that things took a turn. I came crashing down, without ever truly recognizing it. I began to hear voices, see shadows that I now recognize as demons, and feel them, too. They possessed me, pushing aside the Spirit. My medication suddenly went defunct. I could see, feel, and hear the demons. Those in my head chanted, “My name is Legion, for we are many.â€

[Hiryu]

The bible does give multiple accounts of people being possessed. I don't really think possession is the result of psychological disease, because that wouldn't explain the legions of pigs drowning themselves. Is it then possible for a psychological disease to pass from one person to many, and to have the original host cured?

It seems far-fetched, but I don't have any evidence to put it down, just like healing someone. I haven't ever seen someone physically healed by the power of god through an evangelist.

[Yamamaya]

. If it does, than sure. I don't really care though.

The liege of the pit would like to have a word with you Mr SmartyPants.

[TGJesusfreak]

for me it's simple. There was demon possesion in the time of Jesus, and Jesus never said it went away. (if it did did all the demons pack up and leave the earth? XD) So I guess there still are demons today. that's just my 0.02$

[Kunoichi]

Rusty: I hope you are collecting all these 2 cents and putting them in the CAA Cookie fund Sorry i know that was off topic but i couldn't resist lol

Hiryu: just read on healing and i have witnessed that. My aunts friend had terminal metastisized (sp sorry) cancer and was given months to live. by the grace of God, hands were laid on him and has been cancer free for over 20 years. He didn't have any chemo therapy either.

Since i suffer from mental health disorders I will say I do believe that demons and Satan can use that disorder to try and get you away spiritually from God. from my experience though, i have found myself leaning on God more through my illnesses because he's been my sustainer regardless of what's effecting me mentally, physically or emotionally. (And i do not know if i'm making sense as I am typing but it sounds right in my head lol)

[TopazRaven]

There is much money to be made off this thread it seems.

I know I shouldn't worry about it, but this sort of thing really does scare me. Then again, I'm pretty much scared of everything. I'm a loony. By the way, I'm sorry something like that happened to you Okami! So glad Jesus helped you pull through that!

[Rusty Claymore]

Rusty: I hope you are collecting all these 2 cents and putting them in the CAA Cookie fund Sorry i know that was off topic but i couldn't resist lol

*munchmunchmunch* Hmm? oh, yeah, of course! XD

[That Dude]

Raven, if you truly believe and put your life in Jesus hands you cannot be possessed. Demons can still mess with you and try and cause strife, but God's already won and got a place in a lake of fire prepared for them.

And as far as the original issue, I will echo others sentiments and say yes, it is entirely possible and it does happen. No, not all mental disorders are demon possession.

I personally have never seen a demon possessed person, but I have seen what some people who were positively oppressed, with hearing voices cussing them out and trying to destroy their psyche and whatnot whenever they tried to pray...I had another friend who I can only say, was being opressed, and after being prayed over for hours didn't remember half of the stuff that he said and did while it was all happening.

Just remember, if God is for you, who can be against you? If you've chose him, you've chose the winning side.

[TopazRaven]

I'll always choose God, no matter what. I do hope I never come into a situation where I am being opressed because I don't know if I could deal with it though. I'm such a weak person.

[Okami]

There is much money to be made off this thread it seems.

I know I shouldn't worry about it, but this sort of thing really does scare me. Then again, I'm pretty much scared of everything. I'm a loony. By the way, I'm sorry something like that happened to you Okami! So glad Jesus helped you pull through that!

Nothing to be sorry about, it was my fault for not trusting in God and for essentially pushing Him away in the first place. What's to be learned is that it is very much like the prodigal son parable, once we learn our error and turn back, He will accept us back with open arms, helping to correct our wrongdoing.

My story is very much the idealistic "losing of faith" that the professors at my Bible college said we would go through, to the max. It's the breaking down of the faith we "grew up" with, that of which we've been taught by our parents, pastors, youth ministers, etc. and learning for ourselves what it means to follow Christ. I went through that session during Freshman Orientation pretty cocky and prideful because I 'taught myself the Bible' Ha! Little did I know I would get into intermediate Bible/Theology classes and learn that I knew nothing, or pretty close to next to nothing, especially considering the full Biblical story.

I'm extremely thankful that I realized my need for Jesus, and cried out and allowed Him to take control. It was pretty rough going for a while, and I thought seriously about being admitted to the hospital to get myself back on my feet, but that never happened. It was the end of May when I started making serious committment to change things, and it's been since August that things have seriously begun to make that change. Philippians 4:13 keeps me going, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" - my strength is Christ's, and the only reason I have strength is because He has given it to me.

[TopazRaven]

You sound so brave and strong Okami. I don't know if I'd ever be able to do what you did should I ever fall into a similer situation, which I pray to God I wont. I'm a very paranoid person and demons seem to be my new focus. I always worry about the things that are out of my control. My previous fixation was death and still kind of is. I know I can't let these things bother me, I can't live my life in fear, always looking over my shoulder. Yet, I don't know how to make myself feel better either. Talking about it doesn't really seem to help and my family/friends are tired of hearing about it. Well, I have spoken about my fear of demons to them though because I know they'd think I was crazy. Perhaps I truly do need to seek a therpist then and maybe even accept some medication.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

It would be stupid (and non-biblical) to outright deny the existence of demons though.

So I suppose I'm stupid now. =p

[Peanut]

So I suppose I'm stupid now. =p

No, just inconsistent.

[Falx]

Nothing to be sorry about, it was my fault for not trusting in God and for essentially pushing Him away in the first place. What's to be learned is that it is very much like the prodigal son parable, once we learn our error and turn back, He will accept us back with open arms, helping to correct our wrongdoing.

My story is very much the idealistic "losing of faith" that the professors at my Bible college said we would go through, to the max. It's the breaking down of the faith we "grew up" with, that of which we've been taught by our parents, pastors, youth ministers, etc. and learning for ourselves what it means to follow Christ. I went through that session during Freshman Orientation pretty cocky and prideful because I 'taught myself the Bible' Ha! Little did I know I would get into intermediate Bible/Theology classes and learn that I knew nothing, or pretty close to next to nothing, especially considering the full Biblical story.

I'm extremely thankful that I realized my need for Jesus, and cried out and allowed Him to take control. It was pretty rough going for a while, and I thought seriously about being admitted to the hospital to get myself back on my feet, but that never happened. It was the end of May when I started making serious committment to change things, and it's been since August that things have seriously begun to make that change. Philippians 4:13 keeps me going, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" - my strength is Christ's, and the only reason I have strength is because He has given it to me.

That's an amazing story, but I feel compelled to point something out to you, I hope you don't mind.

While I have no doubt that you were tormented greatly by these demons, you shouldn't believe that you were physically possessed. You said that these demons pushed aside the Spirit to enter into you, but the truth is that no demon can ever overpower the Spirit. The greek root for possession is δαιμονίζομαι or daimonizomai, which is more accurately translated as "demonized."

Now there are three layers of being demonized, the first is oppression, second is obsession and finally possession. To me it sounds like you had the worst possible case of the first two, which is the only levels of torment a demon can inflict on someone who has accepted Jesus.

Being possessed means being a passenger in your own body as the demon takes full control of you, unable to fight or stop it in any way. If you were physically possessed there would be no way you would have been able to save yourself as you did.

Even so I cannot imagine the will it must have taken to do that, you have my utmost respect!

[K. Ayato]

Topaz, God won't put you through anything you're not capable of handling. At the same time, should something come your way, He will give you the tools to go through it. Hope that calms your fears . I know there's a lot of things I probably couldn't handle, but I know and trust God to enable me to go through when they do arise. Hold onto Him, hon .

[Okami]

That's an amazing story, but I feel compelled to point something out to you, I hope you don't mind.

While I have no doubt that you were tormented greatly by these demons, you shouldn't believe that you were physically possessed. You said that these demons pushed aside the Spirit to enter into you, but the truth is that no demon can ever overpower the Spirit. The greek root for possession is δ]

I don't mind at all, in fact this is something I've discussed with one of my New Testament professors.

Without turning it into a huge debate/argument, I would like to point out that I never said that the demons overpowered the Spirit. It may have been implied when I said they pushed Him aside, but that was not what I meant. I know that all the while, God was still very much in control.

I did not save myself, but within that time of weakness I realized that something was wrong - it was when I woke up in the middle of the night with cuts on my arm that I knew I "wasn't myself" so to speak. This was when I cried out for Jesus to save me, because I knew whatever I was doing on my own was no longer working. (Medications and "busying" myself with school) Talking with friends after the fact, it was confirmed that I was more aggressive and angry and sad than my typical self during that timeframe, late November-early December.

I have found that every difficulty I have gone through has allowed me to better understand the ministry that I'm going in to. God has been very gracious in allowing me the ability to understand disorder and pain in ways my peers have expressed that they may never know. The trials have only made me stronger as I continue to struggle and overcome.

Anyways, if you'd like to discuss it further, feel free to PM me.

You sound so brave and strong Okami. I don't know if I'd ever be able to do what you did should I ever fall into a similer situation, which I pray to God I wont. I'm a very paranoid person and demons seem to be my new focus. I always worry about the things that are out of my control. My previous fixation was death and still kind of is. I know I can't let these things bother me, I can't live my life in fear, always looking over my shoulder. Yet, I don't know how to make myself feel better either. Talking about it doesn't really seem to help and my family/friends are tired of hearing about it. Well, I have spoken about my fear of demons to them though because I know they'd think I was crazy. Perhaps I truly do need to seek a therpist then and maybe even accept some medication.

Unfortunately my words can often come out sounding brave and strong, but inside I feel exactly the opposite. I'm a broken mess who is fighting to trust God when things feel like they're going to implode and explode at the same time. I would like to restate what K. said, that God won't ever give you anything that you can't handle. That's what I'm working to believe right now. I understand the family/friends/others thinking I'm crazy thing. I've been told to seek immediate help from some...thanks guys, but I'm in treatment right now...and things are looking up lol

Don't be afraid to seek help if you believe it can be beneficial to you. I'm grateful for all the time I've spent getting help, as it has helped strengthen me and better my overall character. Feel free to PM me, too, if you want to continue discussion. I don't want to derail your thread too terribly

[TopazRaven]

Ick, I meant to say haven't, not have. My mom would probably send me to a nut house if I started talking about being afraid of demons to her. Lol. Meanwhile I don't think you are de-railing my thread in the least and I thank you for sharing your story. I hope things go good for you from now on. God will help you with that I'm sure.

[SnoringFrog]

I would definitely echo a lot of what's been said thusfar. Yes, possession is real and can still happen, and some things we view as psychological issues could be demon oppression/possession, but certainly not all of them are.

I've never dealt with or witnessed any sort of possession myself, but I have friends I trust who say they have. I have dealt with what I believe to be a demon on one occassion, and while that situation wouldn't be enough to say anything definitive about possession, it convinced me (moreso than I had already been convinced) that demons can have a much more direct and overt influence than they usually seem to.

[TopazRaven]

Eek! Demons are so creepy. -_-

I never actually denied their existance, I just never thought they could actually possess or control people and I'm still of the opinion I don't think mental diseases are demon poessesion. I just still hope I never have to deal with a situation like that.

[ScalpelFactory]

Mental illness and psychological disorders are unfortunate, but I think that claiming demonic involvement does suggest that it is somehow the person's fault. The issue is not the person's fault, but how they deal with it certainly is. Calling upon the Lord in any trying situation is recommended, whether there is a demon involved or not.

[SIZE="1"]In other news, demons make very excellent butlers. Or so I've heard.[/SIZE]

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Scapel, but it often is a person's fault that they open themselves to dark spiritual powers by messing around with such things or being preoccupied by them. To claim otherwise, is not realistic.

[Rusty Claymore]

Well you guys, one does not exclude the other. Symptoms are shared between demonic possesion and mental illnesses, but the specific case could be one, the other, or a combination of both. It wasn't for any sin the blindman commited that he was born blind. And it wasn't due to mental illness that the man at genneserret(?) was naked, cut himself with stones, and could break chains with his bare hands.

[Nate]

And it wasn't due to mental illness that the man at genneserret(?) was naked, cut himself with stones, and could break chains with his bare hands.

Someone never read "Of Mice and Men." I thought that was like required these days in school. To use a politically incorrect term, "retard strength" has been the subject of debate for a good long time. That term refers to mentally handicapped people who possess abnormal amounts of physical strength, by the way.

And come on, no one can break chains with their bare hands? Have you seen "World's Strongest Man" competitions? Those guys pull 18 wheelers with their teeth and I guarantee you it isn't demonic.

but it often is a person's fault that they open themselves to dark spiritual powers by messing around with such things or being preoccupied by them

Wait, what? What you just said makes no sense in response to Scalpel's post.

[Atria35]

Wait, what? What you just said makes no sense in response to Scalpel's post.

I think he means that if they're possessed, then it's because they've dabbled in or dwelled on dark things.

Which I'm not necessarily in agreement with.

[K. Ayato]

I believe people can allow demons easier access by what they do (dark arts, etc.). But that doesn't always mean demonic activity within their own lives or in the people around them is entirely their fault.

[Nate]

I think he means that if they're possessed, then it's because they've dabbled in or dwelled on dark things.

Which I'm not necessarily in agreement with.

Oh see I was taking it as "If a person has a mental disorder/illness then it's because they opened themselves up to demonic influence." And I'd have a huge problem with him saying that because it's absolutely false.

But the way you explained it, eh...I won't say I agree with it entirely, but it's probably true in some circumstances.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Atria, is right. I'm not sure how you interpreted that that way, Nate. I didn't mention mental disorders/illnesses at all and earlier in the thread I mentioned that not all cases of such a thing would be demonic (very few of them probably are).

I'm in agreement with K.Ayato. I meant messing with the evil side of the spiritual realm. A demon won't enter someone uninvited (that's not to say the person is always conscious of such a thing). Whereas demonic opression can be a variety of things - personal, living in a sinful world and possibly generational curses.

[TopazRaven]

Atria, is right. I'm not sure how you interpreted that that way, Nate. I didn't mention mental disorders/illnesses at all and earlier in the thread I mentioned that not all cases of such a thing would be demonic (very few of them probably are).

I'm in agreement with K.Ayato. I meant messing with the evil side of the spiritual realm. A demon won't enter someone uninvited (that's not to say the person is always conscious of such a thing). Whereas demonic opression can be a variety of things - personal, living in a sinfull world and possibly generational curses.

Just out of curiousty, how does one allow a demon into themself unconciously? Not being a smarty pants here, genuinely curious.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Good question. Sin can blind us to what's really going on. I don't know the method but I've read of people who've been possessed. Their bodies showed the effects of possession but their minds were unaware of such things. Maybe it had something to do with doctors etc. always explaining things using reason. I think such an evil needs to be conquered using both reason and revelation from God.

[K. Ayato]

I can't say with certainty how or if this is the case, but I feel that some activities that involve connecting with the supernatural can open the door for a lot of stuff to come out, and not always good.

Best example I can think of is some episodes of Mind Freak, where Criss Angel attempted to connect with the spirit of someone who had been killed years ago. He managed to come in contact, and a lot of other unpleasantness came along as well.

Personally, I really don't know how it works. But I do know that there is no guarantee what will come out of those kinds of activities. Maybe demons jump at that opportunity when someone practices things that try to connect them with the darker spiritual world, and maybe nothing ever happens.