The Statement That Changed My View
jun 03, 2026
So, this one is going to stir up some discussions, hopefully actually.
When I came to faith, I was so happy not to have anything to do anymore with work-based spirituality and to simply be human before God. From my basic understanding of Scripture at the time, I did not believe Christians could have demons. I quickly noticed it was a hot topic among Christians because wherever Satan is involved, somehow, we humans are naturally drawn to it and seem to have this deep desire to possess hidden knowledge. You are probably aware of a certain story in the Bible that brought the entire world into a fallen state because humanity wanted knowledge apart from God.
As a new believer, you take everything in. You research, you make conclusions, then change your opinion again, and I’m happy to tell you that it will be like this for the rest of your walk of faith.
At some point, I stumbled upon sermons, books, and teachings about deliverance, demons, generational curses, and so on. It was all well-reasoned, well-supported, and so convincing that I changed my position and became convinced that Christians could indeed have demons.
To me it seemed obvious. I saw Christians struggling with addictions, anxiety, anger, lust, fear, and all sorts of things, and I thought, well, that’s not walking in freedom, is it? Surely there must be something deeper going on.
But just like with any topic, the moment you set your thinking pattern in a certain direction, you start looking through that specific lens. Everything you study afterwards slowly begins to build your case.
Over time, however, I started learning what I like to call “CIA”: Context, Interpretation, Application.
For example, the word “saved” in Scripture does not always refer to eternal salvation. We get into all these debates about “once saved, always saved” versus “without works your faith is dead,” but when you start looking at the original language and the context, not just of a verse, but of the paragraph, the chapter, the book, the audience, whether it’s poetry, narrative, prophecy, wisdom literature, or instruction, you begin to realize that you may have been reading parts of the Bible very incorrectly.
At one point someone confronted me and said, “There is not a single Holy Spirit-filled believer in the Bible who is described as having a demon.”
Immediately all sorts of stories came to mind. I thought, “But doesn’t it say…?” Yet I didn’t want to base my theology on my opinions, experiences, emotions, or assumptions. So, I went back to Scripture and started studying context, original translations, historical background, and the broader biblical narrative of this statement.
I revisited many of the books I had read that supported the idea that Christians can have demons. This time I sat with my Bible open next to them. I compared the claims to the actual texts being cited. To my surprise, I came to a very different conclusion. I could not find a single example of a born-again believer being possessed by a demon.
What I did find were examples of believers being tempted, attacked, oppressed, persecuted, and influenced. I absolutely believe spiritual oppression is real and Ì have experienced seasons in my own walk where spiritual warfare felt very extreme.
For example, the demon expulsions in the Gospels and Acts occur among unbelievers, people outside the Kingdom, people involved in the occult, or people encountering the Gospel for the first time. The demoniac of Gadara, the ministry of Philip in Samaria, the slave girl with a spirit of divination, these are all examples of the Kingdom advancing into enemy territory, not believers needing repeated deliverance rituals.
This is where I think much confusion enters. People often point out that Jesus cast out demons. Absolutely, but these events took place before Pentecost before the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers. Others point out that the disciples cast out demons. Also, true. But that authority was exercised in the context of evangelism and proclaiming the Kingdom to unbelievers.
Scripture’s answer is never a repeated search for hidden demons.
The answer is not finding the right demon behind every struggle but learning to walk in the new identity we have received in Christ. Sometimes healing is immediate but more often it is a process. Don’t interpret these things above as easy, an olive is not just pressed, it’s crushed before the oil comes.
As strongly as I hold this position today, I also want to remain teachable. If there is one thing my journey has taught me, it is that we all have blind spots and that Scripture must continually correct us. I will always remain open to different views when they are presented from Scripture, studied in their proper context, and brought with agape love.
My desire is not to win an argument, but to know the truth. If God’s Word clearly shows me that I am wrong, then I pray I will have the humility to change my position just as I have done before. Until then, I can only be faithful to what I currently see in Scripture.
I would love to include every Scripture, context, and argument in this blog, but just as I was confronted with a simple statement: “There is not a single Holy Spirit-filled believer in the Bible who is described as having a demon” I took it upon myself to research and challenge my own views, I would encourage you to do the same.
Read the Scriptures, be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11. Test everything against God’s Word. Not your experiences, your emotions, nor mine or your opinion.
Scripture must always have the final say.
Love always,
Charlotte