opressed /possesed

[MrLuke]

I'd like present you with a case: A few months ago there was a Christian who came under a pretty bad spiritual attack one day and was really battered by the enemy. They felt an evil presence which brought a feeling of anger and fustration in them when they had no reason to feel that way. As this went on and they battled with the demon with prayer and willpower, the demon gained more and more control as time went by, and in short bursts of 'energy' you could say, gained some foothold of control over the person for a breif moment making them run off places or get a paralyse start to spread over their body.

Eventually, after a couple of hours or more they were surrounded by their Christian friends who managed to hold them down while people prayed for the demon to leave. It did and the Holy Spirit's peace and joy flooded over. The person afterwards had a hazy memory to the incidents that took place and needed the people around who witnessed it to fill in some of the blanks. Attacks came again afterwards a few days later in the form of vivid dreams, but nothing as dramatic as the one before has happened again since.

What say you to this?

[Fiosh]

I'd like to throw in a related question.....how do you tell the difference between Schizophrenia with psychosis, and demon possession???

[Floatingaxe]

it is something that came to mind about someone else from church while I was praying and i'm not sure about it.

Well, like I said earlier, if Leonard says possessed/oppressed is the same thing, I believe him. We have no Biblical instance of a Christian being possessed/oppressed/demoned. That's why I believe it can't happen. There's no room if we're indwelt by HS. If this person's a Christian, they aren't possessed/oppressed/demoned. Not everyone who goes to church is a Christian, though.

Right! My daughter has been a Christian since she was 7 years old, but she had to undergo deliverance for numerous demonic interferences. she is serving the Lord with all she's got now! Praise Jesus! We don't use that terminology, "oppressed" or "possessed" much anymore. A believer can be plagued just as well as a non-believer, because it all depends on the ground we give up. My daughter had been hurt badly by friends as a teen, and this set up a stronghold in her spirit that the devil used. Christians are just as susceptible to having strongholds as non-believers are!

Blessings!

That is why we must have a careful walk with Jesus, weighing all things in the Holy Spirit and running all things through the Cross.

This is a contradiction. Jesus said that if a person asks for the Holy Spirit, God will give him the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

By "Possessed", most people usually have the notion of the INDWELLING of an evil spirit, such as the demoniac of the gadarenes or a few other biblical examples, in which an evil spirit literally takes control of a person and lives inside them.

"Oppressed" is usually taken to mean they are just tormented in some way.

Paul was "buffeted" by the "messenger of Satan", but he wasn't "Possessed".

People who really deal with this stuff do not use these terms any longer--it is all torment, and it has to do with the giving of rights over to the evil one. He takes what rights we allow him to.

[Floatingaxe]

I'd like present you with a case: A few months ago there was a Christian who came under a pretty bad spiritual attack one day and was really battered by the enemy. They felt an evil presence which brought a feeling of anger and fustration in them when they had no reason to feel that way. As this went on and they battled with the demon with prayer and willpower, the demon gained more and more control as time went by, and in short bursts of 'energy' you could say, gained some foothold of control over the person for a breif moment making them run off places or get a paralyse start to spread over their body.

Eventually, after a couple of hours or more they were surrounded by their Christian friends who managed to hold them down while people prayed for the demon to leave. It did and the Holy Spirit's peace and joy flooded over. The person afterwards had a hazy memory to the incidents that took place and needed the people around who witnessed it to fill in some of the blanks. Attacks came again afterwards a few days later in the form of vivid dreams, but nothing as dramatic as the one before has happened again since.

What say you to this?

That person is still not free. You don't pray for an evil spirit to leave..he just laughs at that. You TELL him to leave in the name of Jesus Christ!

[Floatingaxe]

Well, you tell that to my sweet, born again daughter, who, in her 21st yr had about 4 demons sent packing. (She had accepted Jesus as Saviour at age 7 and was a sweet little devoted believer!) It is all about the rights we give up. If you have a stronghold in your life, you have given up rights to those areas.

It actually all surfaced in her when she asked the Holy Spirit to come in and fill her. He did! But those demonic strongholds took a fit and didn't want to leave. She had gven them rights--they were extremely agitated, and she was so tormented. I knew instantly what was happening as soon as she told me she had asked for the infilling---the demons were having a temper tantrum. My daughter was behaving in very weird ways, and we had to have her move out of town to take in a series of deliverance meetings over a period of six weeks. She did that and was freed miraculously and dramatically! She is now totally free of all torment, serving the Lord and about to step out in ministry. She knows all about the whole armour of God now! Praise Jesus!

[Guest Neverquit]

how do you go about finding out if someone is possessed or oppressed ? for the past few months I have been really growing in my walk with God and he has been showing me some things, mostly words come up. but he has shown me something and I'm not sure how to go about finding out. Then my mind is trying to find the logic, I know I don't need the logic I just need to be right with GOD and do his will.

Mostly words is how God is speaking to you. What does the scripture tell us Jesus is? John 1:1 IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. Check out John 1:14 and Revelation 19:13 as well.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

God "Said" . . and it was manifested. God spoke! His Words are alive because His word is Jesus come in the flesh. God is spirit. God is Love. God is a consuming fire. Words are spirit. Words live in the spiritual realm. Good and bad words. Matthew 15:11 It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him].

Words are like seeds that become planted (if you will). Matthew 15:13 He answered, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots. What's growing in our "spiritual gardens".

If indeed someone is oppressed by a snare or trapped of the enemy it will manifest in their words and their behavior. First we think. Then what we think affects our feelings. Then our feelings influence our behavior. In that exact order . . period! Because they are in agreement with a lie of the enemy. Some are so blinded because of the lie they believe it is the truth. Matthew 6:23 But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very light in you [your conscience] is darkened, how dense is that darkness!

Notice that scripture says, if the light in you is dark! If what you believe is a lie pretending to be "the truth" . .

Possession on the other hand is a total manifestation of a demonic entity in a human person who has not the spirit of Christ in them. They had to come into agreement with lies and since they don't have the Seed of Christ in them they are indwelled by the evil spirit.

Father God in the name of Jesus I thank You for Your Word that is alive and well. Open the eyes of our hearts to come into agreement with You and Your will for our lives. Thank You Father for Your Holy Spirit who reveals all things to us and teaches us Your Holy Truths. Anoint Your Words Father in the Name of Jesus and break off any bondages or snares the enemy accomplished.

Amen

Neverquit

[MrLuke]

I'd like present you with a case: A few months ago there was a Christian who came under a pretty bad spiritual attack one day and was really battered by the enemy. They felt an evil presence which brought a feeling of anger and fustration in them when they had no reason to feel that way. As this went on and they battled with the demon with prayer and willpower, the demon gained more and more control as time went by, and in short bursts of 'energy' you could say, gained some foothold of control over the person for a breif moment making them run off places or get a paralyse start to spread over their body.

Eventually, after a couple of hours or more they were surrounded by their Christian friends who managed to hold them down while people prayed for the demon to leave. It did and the Holy Spirit's peace and joy flooded over. The person afterwards had a hazy memory to the incidents that took place and needed the people around who witnessed it to fill in some of the blanks. Attacks came again afterwards a few days later in the form of vivid dreams, but nothing as dramatic as the one before has happened again since.

What say you to this?

That person is still not free. You don't pray for an evil spirit to leave..he just laughs at that. You TELL him to leave in the name of Jesus Christ!

Hi, ok I'm going to clarify a bit more now - that person was me; I wrote it in the 3rd person mainly so people wouldn't speak differently, consciously or not, of the situation since it didn't appear to be a strictly personal story.

I would like to say that for the most part, the enemy did feel to be on the outside pressing in. As soon as I felt it come closer I started to panic and hyperventiate, and for brief moments it did feel as though it got inside - but there was such an internal battle happening between it and the Holy Spirit that it didn't stay long and went off again for about 5 min intervals and then came back around for another go.

As for people praying for it to go, well like I said before, my memory is kinda hazy as to all the details; it feels almost like a distant dream. All I remember about it going was about 7 people stood around me and one person with their hand on my chest praying something and then I felt it go and the presence of God sweep over me.

It was a bizarre and scary sunday evening, especially for my friends who had never experienced anything like it before! All at Bible College too! These things happen I guess, but God is greater and proved to be so

[billie]

Luke, if you were a Christian at the time, it couldn't have gotten inside you. When Holy Spirit's in you, there's no room for anything bad. Anyhoo, I'm glad you're free now, brother.

[Floatingaxe]

Luke, if you were a Christian at the time, it couldn't have gotten inside you. When Holy Spirit's in you, there's no room for anything bad. Anyhoo, I'm glad you're free now, brother.

Amen!

Adding something here:

I believe Christians who haven't had the baptism of the Holy Spirit---who are weak and carnal can certainly have an infiltration of the demonic. There are strongholds that we as Christians can certainly have in our lives that only the infilling can overcome. When a Christian opens up all the dark, dirty, dusty "closets" of his life to the power of the Holy Spirit, then those strongholds will no longer be comfortable there. But there are countless believers who still have unopened "rooms" in their lives that they keep Jesus from entering. Demons will not vacate what they have been given rights to occupy...even in the life of a believer. This is why we have to allow Jesus Christ full reign.

[Floatingaxe]

Adding something here:

I believe Christians who haven't had the baptism of the Holy Spirit---who are weak and carnal---can certainly have an infiltration of the demonic. There are strongholds that we as Christians can certainly have in our lives that only the infilling can overcome. When a Christian opens up all the dark, dirty, dusty "closets" of his life to the power of the Holy Spirit, then those strongholds will no longer be comfortable there. But there are countless believers who still have unopened "rooms" in their lives that they keep Jesus from entering. Demons will not vacate what they have been given rights to occupy...even in the life of a believer. This is why we have to allow Jesus Christ full reign.

Blessings!