Can evil spirits co-exist in a Christian?

Before I address the question theologically let me share something with you. Those of us who actually “do the work of the ministry” (2 Tim. 4:5, Eph. 4:12) know that the answer to this question is unequivocally yes; we encounter it regularly.

However,  just because a person has been attacked by an evil spirit or demon, it does not mean they are a bad person.  It simply means they have been victimized by the hater of our souls. In fact, when someone is targeted by the satan it may very well indicate that a person has an extraordinary call of God on their life.

In early Christianity, the removal of evil spirits / demons was regularly practiced.  In fact. seeking relief from oppression is one of the most common reasons that people would come to the Christians.

Following is a quote from Martin Luther (1483 – 1546).
“How often has it happened and still does,” he says, “that devils have been driven out in the name of Christ, also by calling on his name and prayer that the sick has been healed?” (Seckendorf’s History of Lutheranism, B. III., p. 133

Most who oppose this reality simply parrot what they have been told and argue this point from an intellectual perspective.  I present this perspective from one who has encountered this a number of times.  Dear saints of God experience great freedom when the power and authority of Jesus is exercised to remove these dreadful killers from their lives.

False reasons that some say evil spirits / demons cannot co-exist in a Christian
The reasons given are usually something like “light cannot coexist with darkness” or “God cannot coexist with sin (or evil)”.

The phrase “light cannot coexist with darkness” originates from 2 Corinthians 6:14

Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Granted we can and should apply Biblical precepts to specific situations of life but when doing so we must rightly divide the Word of Truth.

2 Corinthians 6:14 is clearly referring to two separate entities that are purposed to work together toward the same end.  As we will see in this article evil spirits do dwell in the same bodies as Christian Believers but there is no inference of partnership at all. In fact, the demon’s very purpose is to disrupt the Believer’s life, not benefit it.

Are demons and God going to work together in a person’s life? No. Can the two coexist in conflict with each other? Yes!

Another question to consider is can a Christian be in bondage to a particular sin such as excessive alcohol, gluttony, sugar, unforgiveness or anger? The answer is unquestionably yes; a Christian can indeed be in bondage to a specific sin and often (not always) there is an evil spirit behind it.

Just as evil spirits can cause emotional distress they can also cause physical distress by creating physical symptoms of disease and other maladies.

So if Christians can be influenced by evil spirits in the spirit, soul, and body, and if Holy Spirit cannot dwell where there is sin, then how can that particular darkness (sin), dwell in a body where the Holy Spirit resides? Or how can the Holy Spirit remain in a human being that is even capable of committing sin, and does so from time to time?

When these questions are considered they are usually answered by clever quips like light can not fellowship with darkness.  However, the Bible does not support that idea.

The real reason some say that Christians cannot host evil spirits
Sure there are some well-meaning Pastors who were simply erroneously taught the party line; but like most things, the root of this issue is MONEY. In today’s American culture, what do you think would happen if the CEO’s of large “churches” told their financial supporters that they had demons? In short, people would leave and these executives would lose their paychecks and retirement funds.

If “pastors” started telling congregants they had demons the tithes might fall down. So, “pastors” lead their flocks to believe that everything is just fine, they are simply being attacked by the devil and this too will pass if they have the “patience” of Job.  Besides, with reoccurring problems, they will always have a crisis of which to intervene (job security).

What is most disturbing about this is that it leaves the victims of satan floundering in pain, anguish and sickness with little or no hope for true victory. Truly the people of God perish due to lack of knowledge.

Can evil co-exist with God
Evil covers the earth; but wait… so does Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit covers the earth (Jeremiah 23:24). And so if the Holy Spirit covers the earth, if evil cannot co-exist with righteousness then how can darkness (demons and sin) freely roam the earth if the Holy Spirit is covering it?

And if Satan will not approach the presence of God, or if God cannot be in the presence of sin, how did Satan tempt Jesus in the desert? How did the satan and his demons visit heaven to talk with God concerning Job?

Can evil co-exist in a Christian’s body with God?
We are composed of three parts; spirit, soul, and body
1 Thessalonians 5:23
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

We are a spirit housed in a body
Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou came forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Romans 6:13
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God

Christians belong to God
1 Corinthians 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which is God’s.

John 10:28
I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man / spirit pluck them out of my hand.

2 Timothy 1:12
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

The body is a vessel that belongs to God and so He has the right to do with it what He will.
Romans 9:21-22
21 Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

1 Corinthians 3:16
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

John 20:22
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:

John 14:17
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

the satan attacks the spirit soul or body
No spirit can pluck us out of the Father’s hand (Jn. 10:28 above). But just as one crop can be attacked by insects or disease while another part of the same garden remains untouched, our body, soul and spirit can be afflicted by evil spirits.

Satan attacks the soul
Basically, the soul is the mind and this is where the satan focuses most of his attention. The mind is where the battle takes place. If the satan can influence the mind enough he can then influence the body to work unrighteousness by murdering, stealing and destroying, ruining relationships, etc.

Genesis 6:5
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Satan also attacks the body
1 Corinthians 11:27-30
²⁷ Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
²⁸ But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
²⁹ For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
³⁰ For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
1 Corinthians 5:1-5
¹ It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
² And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
³ For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
⁵ To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Conclusion
2 Timothy 1:7 indicates that God did not give you a spirit of fear; the same can be said regarding a spirit of rejection, shame, guilt, anxiety, infirmity, apathy, or any other manifestation that does not glorify Yeshua.

If you experience any of those manifestations you can rest assured that they are not of God.  Rather it could be the result of a wounded soul or spirit that has been attacked by the satan or his minions.  Sometimes these issues take time to sort through.

However, whatever is the case, remember that greater is He that in you than he that is in the world and no spirit can take you out of His hand if you don’t want to go.

Nowhere does the Bible say that the satan or his evil spirits cannot work their wrath from within the human vessel which includes Christians. In fact, not only can he, this is his primary method of operation.

In Luke 13:16 Yeshua says “ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom the satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? “

Child of God, are you frustrated, lonely, feeling powerless, or abandoned? Is there an addiction, illness or stronghold working against you that just won’t let go?

The time is no for you to be loosed from the bonds o thef satan. Know that you are a spirit and that your spirit has authority over your soul / mind and your body. Take up the authority that you now have in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) and say NO to the devil! Say NO! to his program of death and destruction.

Commit yourself now to Yeshua the Messiah and experience the abundant life that only HE has to offer.

You don’t have to face your challenges alone.

Parson Rayphe. Dr.

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