11/09/2026
HOW DOES SOMEONE BECOME DEMON POSSESSED? (Part 2 of 3)
In the first part, we looked into whether true demon possession could still take place today. The Bible never states that demon possession came to an end with Jesus and the apostles, and early post-apostolic Christians such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Origen likewise reported what they considered to be real cases of demonic possession and exorcism.
❓ But if we consider the possibility of genuine demon possession, there arises another question, namely, how does a demon actually enter a person?
Modern deliverance ministries generally offer very specific “answers.” For example, they mention “open doors”, “legal rights”, generational demons, ancestral spirits, cursed objects, occult objects, unforgiveness, sexual sin, trauma, particular types of music, certain movies, symbols, addictions, and all sorts of other supposed “entry points” by means of which demons are said to be able to get into people.
🔢 THE PROBLEM WITH FORMULAS 🔢
Whole systems of “deliverance” have been constructed around discovering how the demon got in so that its “legal right” can supposedly be cancelled before it can be expelled. But there is one very important point: THE BIBLE NEVER PROVIDES US WITH A FORMULA FOR HOW DEMON POSSESSION OCCURS…
Let’s return to Mark 1. Here Mark states: “Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit.” (Mark 1:23)
We are not informed as to how that spirit got into the man; Mark doesn't say that:
🔹 “He watched something that was wrong for him to have watched.”
🔹 “He owned a cursed object.”
🔹 “His grandfather was engaged in witchcraft.”
🔹 “He committed a specific sin and thus opened a spiritual door.”
🔹And all the other so-called “open doors” through which the demon is said to have been able to gain access to this man.
👉 We are simply told that the man was possessed by an unclean spirit.
This is typically the case in the Gospel accounts. The Bible states that people were demonized, but it usually does not go on to explain the manner in which they became demonized. This ought to make us very cautious when devising elaborate "systems," since Scripture itself is mostly silent on the matter. The most biblical response to a question can be: GOD HASN’T TOLD US.
⚠️ DOES THIS MEAN OCCULTISM DOESN'T MATTER? ⚠️
By no means. The Scripture certainly links idolatry and occult practices with the demonic world.
Deuteronomy 32:17 states: "They sacrificed to demons, not to God." Paul makes the same point when he writes: "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God…" (1 Corinthians 10:20). The Bible as a whole frequently and strongly condemns occult practices, and we must never regard these matters lightly.
Similarly, ongoing rebellion against God can result in people being under the influence of Satan in the wider biblical sense. But there is a great difference between stating that “the Scripture cautions us that occultism and idolatry involve real spiritual evil” and setting out a full “technical system” which specifies exactly when a demon enters a person, what particular “door” it used, what “legal right” it has, and what “method” must be adopted to remove that right.
The first statement is biblical. The second requires considerably more information than Scripture actually gives us.
🩻 WHAT ABOUT “OPEN DOORS” AND “LEGAL RIGHTS”? ⚖️
This language has become so widespread in modern deliverance culture that many Christians simply assume it comes directly from Scripture. For example:
When a person commits a sin, it is said to “open a door,” and as a result, a demon enters, acquiring what is considered a legal right to stay. The deliverance minister then has to identify the original sin or event. The person is required to renounce it; the legal right must be cancelled, and only then is the demon supposed to be expelled.
Nowhere in the teaching of the apostles do Christians find this “system”? Nowhere does Paul explain the legal procedures concerned with demonic habitation? Nowhere does Peter tell pastors to interview demons to find out how they got in? Nowhere are churches instructed to trace ancestral sins in order to discover which demons have inherited 'rights' over believers? This detailed system is not set out in the New Testament.
It by no means implies that sin is spiritually harmless; on the contrary, we have to make a distinction between what the Bible really says on the subject of sin and Satan and the various elaborate “mechanisms” that people have constructed around those teachings.
👶 WHAT ABOUT “GENERATIONAL DEMONS”? 👴
Once more, modern deliverance teaching holds that demons can pass down through family bloodlines as a result of ancestral sin - for example, your grandfather practiced witchcraft, or your father committed a certain sin - and on that basis it is said that a demon has a legal right over you…
But the New Testament doesn't tell Christians to look into their genealogies with a view to finding out which ancestral demons have to be driven out, and the Gospel doesn't depict believers as being helpless prisoners of ancestral “spiritual contracts.”
Regarding believers, Paul states, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." (Colossians 1:13) This is the basic spiritual identity of the Christian.
And this brings us to another huge question:
❓✝️ CAN CHRISTIANS BE DEMON-POSSESSED? ✝️ ❓
The New Testament does not actually pose that question in so many words, and therefore we must avoid suggesting that there is a verse which clearly states, "A Christian cannot be demon-possessed". Yet there are indeed very strong biblical grounds for distinguishing the status of believers from the cases of demon possession described in the Gospels.
Here, it is important to remember a key principle for interpreting Scripture: when the Bible is silent on an issue, we should avoid turning our guesses into doctrine. Silence in Scripture does not always mean something is impossible, but it does limit how certain we can be. And when that silence is accompanied by strong positive teaching pointing in the opposite direction, it becomes even more significant.
The believers are said to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 6:19); they are members of Christ and have been transferred from the realm of darkness into Christ's kingdom (Col. 1:13).
Now, Christians can certainly experience spiritual warfare, temptation, deception, give the devil opportunity through sin, experience spiritual opposition, and fall into serious sin. But there is something remarkable that deserves far more attention:
👉 THE APOSTLES NEVER INSTRUCT CHRISTIANS TO CAST DEMONS OUT OF OTHER CHRISTIANS… NEVER!
Think about this. Paul wrote letters to churches dealing with serious problems like sexual immorality, division, greed, idolatry, pride, drunkenness, bitterness, deception, and false teaching.
But notice what Paul never says – he never says:
🔹 “That man has a spirit of lust.”
🔹 “That woman has a spirit of rejection.”
🔹 “That church has a spirit of division.”
🔹 “That believer needs the spirit of poverty cast out.”
🔹 “That person has a Jezebel spirit.”
🔹 And Paul never tells the church: “Bring these people to a deliverance minister…”
Instead, what does Paul tell Christians to do? Repent. Believe the truth. Put sin to death. Renew your mind. Walk by the Spirit. Forgive. Reject falsehood. Flee sexual immorality. Resist the devil. Stand firm. Obey Christ. These instructions should shape our beliefs much more than man-made doctrines and systems.
⚔️ PAUL'S DESCRIPTION OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE ⚔️
Ephesians 6 is perhaps the clearest spiritual-warfare passage in the New Testament. Here Paul explicitly tells us:
“We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
You could hardly ask for a clearer acknowledgment of genuine spiritual warfare. But what does Paul tell Christians to do? He does not say to find the demon’s name, discover its legal right, trace an ancestral curse, or attend a deliverance meeting. Instead, he tells them to put on truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. And he tells them to pray.
This is striking. Paul takes the demonic realm very seriously, but his way of handling spiritual warfare is very different from much of what we see in modern deliverance culture.
❓ SO HOW DOES SOMEONE BECOME DEMON POSSESSED? ❓
The most honest biblical answer is: we do not fully know.
The Bible confirms that demon possession and demonic influence are real, and it strongly warns against occultism, idolatry, sin, and Satan. But it doesn't give us enough detail to build a “technical system” that explains exactly how a demon enters a person.
This should lead us to be humble, not to speculate or build an industry on claims that go far beyond what Scripture actually says.
☝️ But one major question remains: Suppose we actually encountered real demon possession - not psychological illness, emotional manipulation, a staged deliverance, or someone who thinks every struggle is a demon, but something truly like what Scripture describes - what should we do then?
💥 WHO CAN ACTUALLY CAST THAT DEMON OUT? 💥
🔹 Do you need an apostle, a pastor, someone with the “gift of deliverance,” or someone with an extraordinary “anointing”?
🔹 Do demons recognize particularly powerful Christians?
🔹Does someone need to reach a certain level of “closeness to God” before demons will obey?
🔹 And how would we distinguish genuine demon possession from psychiatric, neurological, or psychological conditions in the first place?
That is where we will continue in Part 3.
Grace and peace 😊🙏✝️🌿
