Can a Christian Have a Devil?

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crossnote

Senior Member
Nov 24, 2012
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“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
I read Screwtape about 30 years ago, but I don't get your point in regards to our inability to keep the law and live under a curse in trying to be justified by attempting to keep it.
 
Mar 23, 2021
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I read Screwtape about 30 years ago, but I don't get your point in regards to our inability to keep the law and live under a curse in trying to be justified by attempting to keep it.
Oh, I am sorry. What is it you don't understand?
 
Dec 9, 2011
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No answers if you avoid the Word of God -
like Ephesians 2:2 "the prince of the power of the air (THE DEVIL): the spirit that works IN the children of disobedience".
Any christians disobedient out there? - "Living after the flesh unto death" Romans 8:13.

So, 'Can a christian have a devil?
Yup, if they want to - live after the flesh.
1 John 3:1-3
King James Version

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
 

crossnote

Senior Member
Nov 24, 2012
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Oh, I am sorry. What is it you don't understand?
I don't get the point in relation to your Lewis quote and my post.

Here was my response to Blik...
Are you saying that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength ALL THE TIME...and your neighbor as yourself??

Or do we have a different definition of sinless?
Here was your response to me...
“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Excuse my dullness, but I fail to see a connection.
Maybe you can clue me in?
 

Kolistus

Well-known member
Feb 3, 2020
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I'm always on my high white horse in the heavenlies - I notice you did not address Romans 8:13.
Ignoring Romans 8:13 does not make it any less true.
The real question is which oyu have not answered yet: How come the apostles died, physically? No one lives forever in this flesh. The Bible talks about this in 1 Corinthians 15. You saying the devil is just our sin nature is also incorrect, as the Bible talks about our flesh but it also speaks about the devil and both of these are clearly very different. I never was an angel and fell and took a third of the angels with me.
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
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Are you saying that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength ALL THE TIME...and your neighbor as yourself??

Or do we have a different definition of sinless?
I am me, and the persona I am is a person who loves the Lord. It is like being a wife who loves her husband, that is then the basis of her being. Moods can come and go, but at her very core is this love she lives as his wife. Loving the Lord is part of my very being.
 

crossnote

Senior Member
Nov 24, 2012
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I am me, and the persona I am is a person who loves the Lord. It is like being a wife who loves her husband, that is then the basis of her being. Moods can come and go, but at her very core is this love she lives as his wife. Loving the Lord is part of my very being.
This time, try answering my question...honestly...After all God requires perfect honesty without guile.

Are you saying that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength ALL THE TIME...and your neighbor as yourself??

Or do we have a different definition of sinless?
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
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This time, try answering my question...honestly...After all God requires perfect honesty without guile.

Are you saying that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength ALL THE TIME...and your neighbor as yourself??

Or do we have a different definition of sinless?
If you are accusing me of dishonesty, you are told in scripture many times it puts you in the wrong. I answered from the truth of me, what more do you want?

I do not want to sin. That is the first, last, and middle. It is the truth.
 

crossnote

Senior Member
Nov 24, 2012
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If you are accusing me of dishonesty, you are told in scripture many times it puts you in the wrong. I answered from the truth of me, what more do you want?

I do not want to sin. That is the first, last, and middle. It is the truth.
I don't want to sin either but when compared to the unstained perfect righteousness of Christ my best efforts are filthy rags. Are yours?
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
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I don't want to sin either but when compared to the unstained perfect righteousness of Christ my best efforts are filthy rags. Are yours?
I don't think of myself as filthy any longer, but washed clean through Christ, a moment by moment happening. I ask the Lord in prayer to make me conscious of the sins I am not conscious of so I can be forgiven for them, and then I try to correct them if the Lord points them out to me.

I think you are a Christian, forgiven by Christ, and as a forgiven washed clean person, why not just accept your cleanliness in Christ, and live with Christ within as He offers you? Freedom from sin could not be true of you if you did not have Christ, you can't do this without Christ, but you accept Christ I am sure. Have faith in His forgiveness.
 

crossnote

Senior Member
Nov 24, 2012
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I think you are a Christian, forgiven by Christ, and as a forgiven washed clean person, why not just accept your cleanliness in Christ, and live with Christ within as He offers you? Freedom from sin could not be true of you if you did not have Christ, you can't do this without Christ, but you accept Christ I am sure. Have faith in His forgiveness.
Though forgiven I hold to the belief that we are simultaneously justified and sinful. We still fail and are in need of forgiveness yet are at the same time forgiven. It's sort of an in-between stage we live in.

Galatians 5:17 (KJV) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
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Though forgiven I hold to the belief that we are simultaneously justified and sinful. We still fail and are in need of forgiveness yet are at the same time forgiven. It's sort of an in-between stage we live in.

Galatians 5:17 (KJV) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
I agree, we must always be aware of our need for Christ, we must always know we can't have righteousness and forgiveness without Him. But I think we can feel glory and thankfulness for the righteousness we have in Him. He gives us what we feel about evil, and the will to strive constantly to live up to that righteousness.
 

CS1

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May 23, 2012
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Feb 5, 2015
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1Sa_16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. The life that the Holy Spirit rules, there's no room for the Devil or his demons. 1Th_5:19 Quench not the Spirit. A Spirit-filled life is a life on fire for God. Quenching the Spirit is a process. If we continue in sin ("Grieve NOT the Holy Spirit"), shutting our ears to what the Spirit have to say...,hardening our hearts, being rebellious, the fire of the Holy Spirit will gradually fade until its gone. Our sin is like water on a fire. So do our sin quench the Spirit. 1Sa_16:23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. Where the presence of the Lord is, demons cannot stand. Saul's problem was that the empty space that the evil spirit left was not refilled by the Spirit Holy. 1Sa_18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand, beware of church folks who under praise and worship prophecy, speak in tongues with a javelin of hate, murder, envy in the right hand of the soul, mind. You might want to make sure by what spirit they prophecy, speak in tongues etc.
 

Dino246

Senior Member
Jun 30, 2015
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1Sa_16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. The life that the Holy Spirit rules, there's no room for the Devil or his demons. 1Th_5:19 Quench not the Spirit. A Spirit-filled life is a life on fire for God. Quenching the Spirit is a process. If we continue in sin ("Grieve NOT the Holy Spirit"), shutting our ears to what the Spirit have to say...,hardening our hearts, being rebellious, the fire of the Holy Spirit will gradually fade until its gone. Our sin is like water on a fire. So do our sin quench the Spirit. 1Sa_16:23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. Where the presence of the Lord is, demons cannot stand. Saul's problem was that the empty space that the evil spirit left was not refilled by the Spirit Holy. 1Sa_18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand, beware of church folks who under praise and worship prophecy, speak in tongues with a javelin of hate, murder, envy in the right hand of the soul, mind. You might want to make sure by what spirit they prophecy, speak in tongues etc.
While your commentary on Scripture might sound good to the untrained ear, your assertions are, in fact, merely opinions.

Scripture does not state that "there's no room for the Devil or his demons" "in the life that the Holy Spirit rules". Neither David nor Saul were Christians.

Scripture does not state that "Where the presence of the Lord is, demons cannot stand." I suggest you read Job 1 carefully, and consider why there would be "an evil spirit FROM the Lord".

Scripture does not state that a Christian cannot be oppressed by or even "have" a demon (whatever that means).

On this issue, Christians are commonly too quick to quote loosely-related narrative (from which we should not be making doctrine), and too slow to consider seriously what the Scripture actually does and doesn't say.

Christians, at least in the Western world, are also commonly too quick to reject any discussion of experiences that don't align with their own (mis)interpretations of Scripture. Because most of us live quiet little lives and rarely (knowingly) interact with demonic entities, we are lulled into ignorance regarding their presence and power. They do indeed have power, often far more than we would want to believe (though of course it is absolutely insignificant next to the power of the Lord). We as Christians have the authority to deal with demons, but we will never succeed in doing so if we delude ourselves with unbiblical assertions such as those you have made.

I recommend reading a few books on the subject; those by Neil Anderson come to mind.
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
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This time, try answering my question...honestly...After all God requires perfect honesty without guile.

Are you saying that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength ALL THE TIME...and your neighbor as yourself??

Or do we have a different definition of sinless?
Paul spent three years in Arabia after he met Christ, those years were with Christ in training. Paul explained his relationship with sin when he explained that he often did what he did not want to do. It was Paul's way of explaining that he lived in a constant state of repentance, but he is flesh. Christ asks that we give our will to him.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
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Paul spent three years in Arabia after he met Christ, those years were with Christ in training. Paul explained his relationship with sin when he explained that he often did what he did not want to do. It was Paul's way of explaining that he lived in a constant state of repentance, but he is flesh. Christ asks that we give our will to him.
I am 100% certain that if Paul meant to explain that he was living in a constant state of repentance, he would have said so.