Questions & Answers

Satan is real and demons are real.

Satan and his demons tempt people to sin, and people may fall completely under his spiritual power. This is sometimes called spiritual possession. Judas in the end seems to have reached this point.

However, we usually reserve the term "possession" for physical or bodily possession. In bodily possession the personality of the possessed person is suppressed and the demon acts and speaks through the person. Demon possession should not be confused with mental illness which is a distortion of the person's own personality. In true possession the demon takes over control of the person's body.

Demon possession is almost never encountered among people who do not believe in the reality of the spiritual world. It appears among people who involve themselves in the occult. Missionaries may encounter it when the gospel is entering into a culture which is given to witchcraft, shamanism, and the like. There are accounts of Lutheran missionaries encountering demon-possessed people, and accounts from the Reformation era. It seems that this confrontation takes place especially when the gospel is pushing into new territory.

We do not advocate any special actions or rite or counter-magic to deal with demon possession, but confront it with the Word and prayer.

Two Lutheran books that deal with the issue are Wizards That Peep by Siegbert Becker and Principalities and Powers by John Warwick Montgomery.

Satan's temptations, from the time of the offer he made to Adam and Eve, have been lies, but that has not prevented them from working. From long experience as "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44) Satan knew that lies often work. In this case they did not.

We cannot give a definitive, dogmatic answer, but we can present the following points to consider from Scripture.

First, we must distinguish physical possession by Satan from spiritual possession. Spiritual possession occurs when a person has given himself up to Satan. It is closely related to hardening of the heart and the sin against the Holy Spirit. An example would be Judas, who spurned all the warnings he received and pushed on to betray Christ. When he ignored the last warning, Satan entered into him (John 13:21-27). A person possessed in this way cannot be a Christian.

Bodily possession occurs when Satan or one of his demons controls the body of a person in such a way that the voice speaking through the body is the demon's and the actions are the actions of the demon (Mark 1:23-24). The victim's personality is suppressed.

Not every physical affliction caused by Satan is possession. Paul's thorn in the flesh was an attempt of Satan to hinder Paul's mission work (2 Corinthians 12:7). Job's afflictions were attempts of Satan to shake his faith (Job 1-2). Neither of these men were possessed. A Christian can suffer physical afflictions caused by Satan.

But can a person who is a Christian become bodily possessed by Satan? I will say, no, I do not think this can happen unless the Christian turns from God and enters Satan's realm by dealing with Satan. We are promised God's protection against Satan. When Balaam tried to curse Israel, he learned that no occult practice can prevail against God's people (Joshua 24:9-10). Israel came under judgment, however, when they went over to Satan's side, so to speak, by joining in the idolatries and abominations (Numbers 25). It seems the same principle applies to demon possession.

We do not have any definitive example or statement about this in Scripture. People whom Jesus freed from demon possession were believers after they had been freed, but in no case do we know how it came about that they were possessed. Had they in any way opened themselves to this or were they innocent victims? We do not know.

What can we learn from this?

We are to trust in the power of God and the means of grace to keep us safe from Satan and use those means of grace and prayer faithfully (Ephesians 6:11-17). Comfort Christians with this assurance. We do not need to live in fear.

We must not dabble with witchcraft or in anything occult in any way, shape, or form even in jest or for fun. Keep away from it (1 Peter 5:8-11). Some forms of drug abuse also seem to be involved in occult possessions.

If we encounter a true case of demonic possession, we will refrain from jumping to conclusions about the victim or about how he or she became possessed. We will not assume a person did something to bring this about when we have no evidence of this.

True cases of possession are very rare in a secular society where people don't even believe Satan exists. Satan does not need to possess those he already has. You might never see a case of possession--they seem to happen when the gospel is moving into new area to crush Satan's kingdom, such as at the coming of Christ, the coming of the apostles, or the coming of missionaries into a heathen area where the people have been serving the demons.