This question was recently posed to me since here at the Center for Christian Counseling we regularly deal with demonized believers over the internet and at times assemble a team to deal with strong spirits that can become violent. When a strong spirit is manifesting the team keeps the person safe from being thrashed around or hurt in any way. The answer is that a born-again believer in Jesus Christ is safe from being killed. Let’s consider what the Scriptures teach.
Consider for a moment the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who tried to cast spirits out of a person saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches” (Acts 19:13). And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15). The evil spirit knew Jesus and Paul but didn’t know the seven sons of Sceva. The seven sons of Sceva knew about Jesus, but they didn’t know – in the sense of having a relationship with Jesus. So, in Acts 19:16 the evil spirit in the man manifested and leaped on them, overpowering them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. The result being the sons of Sceva lost a 7-to-1 fight.
True Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and win against evil spirits. And to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you must have a personal relationship with Jesus. Our experience is that there has never been danger to any member of a deliverance team because they are all born again believers, have a personal relationship with Jesus, and are therefore safe while dealing with evil spirits.
But as stated previously, we much protect the demonized individual against harm from the spirits while they are manifesting and taking control of the persons voice, facial features, and body, exercising much strength at times.
I once was asked by a church some 1500 miles from our location to fly in and help their counseling team deal with a heavily demonized young man who was a born-again believer in Jesus Christ but had allowed himself to be involved in some occult activities and was heavily demonized as a result. A born-again believer can be demonized, but demonization is not possession. Possession implies ownership and yes, he was possessed as he was bought with the price of Calvary and had the Holy Spirit indwelling his spirit, but the evil spirit was residing within his soul (mind, emotions, will, and affections) which is the battle ground where we deal with the temptations of the world, the forces of evil, and our old nature and fleshly desires. The spirit needed to be removed but the ministry team at the church couldn’t seem to successfully command the evil spirits to leave. Why not, as the team was made up of believers in Jesus Christ?
The church had a room set up with an air mattress and chairs around its perimeter. The demonized young man arrived with his parents and there were six men on the team. We began by commanding the evil spirits and they began to manifest causing the team to get the person on the mattress and hold him down so he would not be hurt. The spirit was powerful, and it took the whole team to control him as I commanded and worked with the spirit. After about six hours the spirit, speaking through the vocal cords, told us if we didn’t stop that it was going to kill the young man and we noticed blood and clots beginning to come from the mouth. The team wanted to stop as they feared the boy would die. I told them that this is the reason they hadn’t had success as the spirit would intimidate and they would stop. I explained that the spirit would not kill the individual as he was a born-again believer in Jesus Christ and that we needed to keep going. Reluctantly they agreed and we continued. Two hours later the spirit left, the young man was in his right mind, and there was no harm to him. To God be the glory!
