The Work of the Spirit or Possessed by Spirits?
Stories of spirit possession are very common throughout the world. In a cross-cultural survey published in the 1960s, anthropologist Erika Bourguignon (1968) documented the presence of institutionalised possession in 74% of the societies included in the study (360 out of 488 societies). In Sub-Saharan Africa and the circum-Mediterranean area (which includes North Africa) the figures were higher than the average, 81% and 77% respectively. A doctor friend who worked in Thailand for many years confirmed that in that country demon possession is a widely recognised phenomenon. However, nowadays it is usually diagnosed in patients with clear cut psychiatric disease. How does such a modern analysis relate to the Bible accounts and how does it relate to life in the west?
Old Testament
The Old Testament starts with the ‘fall’ when man refused to live as God had said and was expelled from his Kingdom in Eden. From then on, God’s kingdom and that of Satan are in total opposition.
The rest of the Bible describes how this relationship can be restored. We read of progressive covenants God made with the people he had chosen, he longs for this relationship to be restored.
The original covenant with Adam, a neolithic man, is subsequently re-established with Noah. Following this, God chose Abraham to be the patriarch of God’s people and he makes a covenant with him and his offspring. This covenant was clarified and re-established with his people in the time of Moses. All these patriarchs were chosen by God and subsequently spoke and walked with God.
There are, throughout the Old Testament, repeated prophecies that yet another, final covenant would be established by God when God’s Chosen King, his Messiah would enter into his world. At this time all God’s chosen people would be filled with God’s Spirit so that they can oppose the kingdom of Satan. This kingdom of God would be international. All members of this new kingdom would be ‘children of Abraham’ because they share Abraham’s faith; everyone in God’s kingdom walks with God and his Son.
God’s kingdom and those of his enemies are in opposition. There is little mention of the Spirit’s work in the Old Testament except for occasional individuals who were endowed with some characteristic of God.
New Testament
Here the work of God is closely associated with the work of God’s Holy Spirit who is distinguished from, and opposed to, the evil spirits under the name of Satan or the devil. The presence of the Holy Spirit in a person will be obvious and this is essential for their salvation.
The activity of God’s Spirit is mentioned throughout the New Testament. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ ministry to establish God’s kingdom is clearly described as the work of the Holy Spirit. Soon after his birth, Jesus was presented to anelderly, godly man, named Simeon. Luke says of him,
“He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit he went into the temple courts.” Luke 2:25-26
When John the Baptist started to preach and call people back to God and to say that the coming of the Messiah was imminent, he said,
“I baptise you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Luke 3:16
At Jesus’ baptism,
“. . . the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.” Luke 3:22
He was then,
“ . . . led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” Luke 4:1-2
Following this,
“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and news about him spread . . .” Luke 5:14
Jesus then went to Nazareth where he chose to read and expound a prophecy from Isaiah,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news . . .” Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1-2
Just as the ministry of Jesus was introduced by the Holy Spirit, so was the ministry of God’s church. Towards the end of his three-year ministry, just before his crucifixion, he was teaching his disciples in the upper room and explained that this new era would be one of the Holy Spirit,
“And I will ask the Father and he will give you another counsellor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth.” John 14:15,23
Jesus went on to say,
“But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26
Just before Jesus ascended into heaven he was asked when the new Kingdom of God would be restored. Jesus replied that it was not a question of knowing dates but of experiencing power!
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses . . .” Acts 1:8
The rapid growth in the kingdom of God began when all the followers of Jesus received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the effect was instantaneous.
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (or languages) as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:4
The gift of tongues was the ability to share the gospel with foreigners in their own real languages,.
“Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? . . . we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.” Acts 2:7-11
In Peter’s Pentecostal sermon he explained that this experience, where everyone was explaining the gospel to others, was evidence that the kingdom of God was being established by God and proved this by quoting an Old Testament prophecy,
“ . . . this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel, ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy . . .” Acts 2:16-17
The Bible is clear that the proof that a person is a member of God’s kingdom is that they experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. He is not a theology but a person we can experience. Those who have been given the Holy Spirit will love Jesus and will want to live in a way that pleases him. they will love God’s word, the Bible, just as Jesus did. They will be drawn to other Christians who are also seeking to live for Christ. They will want to share the gospel with others and will be developing warm interpersonal characteristics, described as the fruit of the Spirit. These characteristics are ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control’ (Galatians 5:22). They will increasingly hate what God has said he hates and they will increasingly be looking forward to being with Jesus in his kingdom when they die.
If these features, indicating the presence of the Holy Spirit, are not increasingly apparent, a person must question whether they are really in God’s kingdom. External rites, such as baptism, confirmation, taking communion are no substitute. Paul makes this very clear,
“You however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the kingdom of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9
Romans 8:1-17 teaches that we are either controlled by sin or are controlled by the Holy Spirit. Isn’t this why we must share the gospel with all people because they either belong to Satan or to Christ. If they are not in Christ, “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers”(2 Corinthians 4:4). The Bible teaches that we are either under Satan’sinfluence or that of the Lord?
The apostle John is clear that those whose lives demonstrate they are still committed to living in a way that is opposed to God belong to Satan. We belong to one camp or the other.
“The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8
The devil’s work is everything that is opposed to God and this includes illness as well as wrong living. This will be the ultimate experience of all who belong to Christ. In the meanwhile, those who belong to christ live confidently by faith.
Demon possession
If it is accepted that we either belong to Jesus or to Satan, the next question is whether there is a real difference between being controlled by Satan and being possessed by him. What does the Bible teach about being possessed by an evil spirit?
I have puzzled for a long time why Jesus focuses so much on exorcising demons from people. Then I saw that the woman with kyphoscoliosis, who was healed by Jesus, has her disease attributed to an evil spirit.
“. . . and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.” Luke 13:11
On another occasion a man begged Jesus to help his son who had the symptoms of classical juvenile epilepsy. His disciples had not been able to help the child.
“Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father.” Luke 9:42
Could this be the explanation for the frequency of attributing illness to Satan?. Jesus is stressing that we are either in him or in Satan. All illness is attributed to Satan and this is why there will be no illness in heaven. It is usually not our individual sin that causes our illnesses; it is because we are in a fallen world that we all suffer and will die.
John emphasised that people must be in Christ if they are not to suffer from Satan’s fate in hell. (Revelation 20:7-15) God’s intention is that people may be admitted to the kingdom of God. He established his claims to be the Messiah by healing people himself and by enabling his early disciples to heal people miraculously in his name. Yet again there is a close link between demon possession and health,
“When Jesus had called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9:1-2
The Spirit of Christ or the spirit of the world
The Bible is clear from the very beginning, that all people are in one of two kingdoms. Either we belong to the kingdom of God or that of Satan. In the Old Testament this was portrayed as being a member of the children of Israel or a member of one of the many antagonistic tribes opposed to them. Even being born into God’s people did not guarantee they would enter the promised land or not be exiled from it. To be a real member of God’s people carried responsibilities that must be fulfilled. Without a desire to obey Jesus there is no saving faith.
Jesus explained that everyone is either a sheep or goat, wheat or tare, in the light or in the dark, in God’s kingdom or opposed to him. We naturally tend to grade people in terms of greys. The really good selfless people are seen as light grey and the most awful people of this world are the very dark greys. However God sees people in one of two groups,either white or black, they are either his people or not his people. Those who have been given God’s Spirit must ensure they are being increasingly holy and increasingly evangelistic. Christians live for God’s glory, for Christ, not our own. We will be satisfied now but our full rewards will in the next life.
Symptoms of being in Satan
There has been much confusion on this subject today. We tend to forget that people have either the Spirit of God or the spirit of the world, of Satan. In the Bible, there is no middle ground. People are either sheep or goats, there are no ‘shoats’. Those possessed by Satan may be very pleasant successful people. Although demon possession may produce extreme symptoms, in others it may simply result in opposition to God’s rule.
If people look at the story of Legion, the man ‘with an evil spirit’ who was healed by Jesus and are asked to describe the symptoms of ‘demon possession’ then there is a misunderstanding. The problem is in the question. All that can be done is to describe the symptoms that particular possessed man had. In the New Testament there are a myriad of different features attributed to the influence of the devil. For example, one sabbath Jesus healed a woman who had been ‘bent over and could not straighten at all’. She had what we would nowadays call a severe kyphoscoliosis, a chronic degenerative disease of the spinal vertebrae. Yet Luke describes this is a striking way,
“A woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.” Luke 13:11
Illness and Satan
In Matthew’s gospel there is an emphasis on Jesus’ healing of physical diseases. Thus,
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” Matthew 4:23
He then continues to give details about what this meant,
“ . . . people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed, and he healed them.” Matthew 4:24
Matthew regarded being demon possessed as a disease! In the gospels all disease is attributed to Satan. In heaven there will be no disease because Satan will not be there. This is surely why there is much emphasis on the presence of Satan. It is not that individuals suffer disease because they are particularly evil. No, we are all in a fallen world, Christians and non-Christians alike, and we will eventually all die of disease. It is our spirits that are either in Christ or in the god of this world, Satan. This why there is so much talk of being possessed by Satan, the symptoms will differ markedly from a polite selfishness to outright opposition to the God who created us, but if we have not been given the Spirit of Jesus we are still possessed by the spirt of evil, committing treason against our creator.
Mark describes Jesus as both healing diseases and casting out of evil spirits.
“Jesus healed many who have various diseases. He also drove out many demons . . .” Mark 1:34
This idea is repeated in Luke’s second volume, the book of Acts. He explains that the apostles ‘performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people’.
“As a result the people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats . . . Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.” Acts 5:16
Note the other Christians had the gift of languages at this time to explain the gospel to foreigners but the gift of healing seems to have been limited to the early ministry of just the apostles.
“ . . . and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” Acts 2:43
“The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people.” Acts 5:12
By the time the letter to the Hebrews was written these miracles were a thing of the past, the present tense is no longer used.
“God also testified to it by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” Hebrews 2:4
Similarly Paul tells us that miracles were a feature of just the apostles ministry,
“The things that mark an apostle – signs wonders and miracles – were done among you with great perseverance.” 2 Corinthians 12:12
What is striking is that when the epistles were written there is no mention of the gift of miraculous languages any more and virtually no mention of miracles. The sign to outsiders of the veracity of the gospel has become how the Christians lived and what they taught.
Summary
The Bible is clear, we are all either possessed by God’s spirit or another rival spirit. The effect of Christ’s Spirit in us draws us to live for Christ in a way that pleases him. If his Spirit is not present we are possessed by an evil spirit. We all live in a world where Satan has a lot of influence. Illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, kyphoscoliosis, epilepsy and mental instability all occur because we live in a fallen world. These will not be found in heaven because Satan will not be there. It is a mistake to try and exorcise demons for particular symptoms. All people need deliverance from Satan’s control by allowing the Lord to take control. The message of the church is that Jesus is Lord.
BVP
August 2022
