When is it Possession?

Jared Lee Loughner

When we examine evil, there are two common schools of thought: (1) That people commit evil deeds because they are demon possessed and (2) that evil is really just abnormal behavior that is triggered by some medical condition or social pathology.

I've been familiar with people who embraced these views. I was once associated with a pastor who believed that practically every malady from headaches to gas to diarrhea was caused by demons. He even believed that true born-again Christians could be possessed, even though the Bible never reveals that. The apostle Paul warned early Christians not to "go beyond what is written." (1 Corinthians 4:6) So to claim that demon possession is responsible for practically every sickness or aberrant behavior is unbiblical and just plain heresy. 

I've also known some professing Christians who always tried to explain away evil by attributing pathological theories to nearly every sickness or bad form of behavior. Indeed, most illnesses have pathological causes. But not all. Luke's gospel details the account of a woman crippled by a spirit for 18 years that Jesus Christ healed. (Luke 13:10-13) But all bad behavior is the result of personal choice rather than "mental illness." Unfortunately, some forms of bad behavior can result in demon possession, such as taking hallucinogenic drugs or getting involved in spiritism, witchcraft, Satanism, eastern mysticism, hypnosis etc.

However, not everyone who takes drugs or gets involved with the occult becomes possessed. There isn't any science to it. Suffice to say, those who do these things have a far greater chance of becoming possessed by evil spirits than those who avoid these things. For example, I believe that mass murderers Adam Lanza, James Holmes, Jared Lee Loughner (pictured above) and Richard Ramirez, the infamous Night Stalker, were demon possessed. I don't believe that Columbine High School killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were, although they were certainly influenced by spiritual forces through the demonic social media that they exposed themselves to.

So, how can we determine whether someone is possessed or not? In some cases, you can tell simply by looking at their eyes. Jared Loughner's eyes tell you quite clearly that he's possessed. In my post on December 16, (Forces of Darkness) the eyes of Adam Lanza and James Holmes pictured in the post tell the story. http://prophecyreviewtoday.blogspot.com/2012/12/spiritual-forces-of-darkness.html

But not everyone who is possessed looks like that. So, how can we tell? Determining possession is one of nine spiritual gifts from God (1 Corinthians 12:10) that the apostle Paul identified as distinguishing between spirits. Not everyone has this gift, but those who do have the ability to discern when someone is possessed. And not everyone necessarily needs this gift to determine when someone is possessed. In some cases, the Holy Spirit will impart wisdom and knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8) to believers to alert them that someone is possessed by an evil spirit.

What's the ultimate antidote for demonic possession? It's being born again into eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for your sins on the cross. If you fear that you've either become oppressed or possessed by demonic spirits because of something you did or got involved with, then ask Jesus Christ to come into your life right now by confessing your sins to Him and ask Him to become Lord of your life. You'll not only be delivered from Satan's power, you'll also receive the free gift of eternal life.

Make that decision right now. No matter what you've done, or how bad the deed was, it will be forgiven in Christ because "the blood of Jesus, his (God's) Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)