Can People Still Be Demon-possessed?

Here is this week’s question:

Dear Dave and TA: As someone new to the Bible, I’m intrigued by the miracles I find in the New Testament.Throughout the gospels I find many instances where Jesus and His disciples cast out demons indwelling people, young and old alike.My question is:Why don’t we see demons, or unclean spirits, I assume they are the same, affecting people like that today, or could it be that they are, but we have rationalized it away through the concepts of psychology?

Tom:

Dave, we talked about this some time ago, and I think one of the answers that we came up with was that certainly at the time of Jesus, both with regard to miracles, regard to demonic manifestation, these things were going on all the time.But today, would it be through the philosophy of man materialism, or is this person, as I think, rightly points out, psychology.You know, we have everybody from Carl Jung, who is definitely demonized, but we have theories and concepts of psychology that would remove the threat of demons.Yet, I think there is probably more of it around than we suspect, well, I know there is.

Dave:

Well, Tom, in my book on Yoga, that just came out recently, I talk about the Spiritual Emergency Network, founded by ------------ .Spiritual Emergency Network---they’ve got hundreds of, supposedly competent psychologists, mental health people all over the world, dealing with these problems.You can call in an emergency number.You’re freaked out on Yoga.A lot of it comes through Yoga or drugs or whatever, and you’ve got these demonic entities that are floating around in the room.I mean, we get letters---remember the letter from the parents of this woman, I think she was in her thirties, asking us, What can we do?She got involved in Yoga and she thought it was just for physical exercise.And now she is haunted day and night by her Yoga instructor, who comes to her, not physically, but just seems to be like a presence in the room.There’s a lot more than that, but they say, it’s almost humorous, no, it’s not humorous, Tom, it’s tragic.

Tom:

It’s tragic, right.

Dave:

They say, Well, yes, we’ve had this sort of thing going on---people used to call it demonic manifestations---but we think there should be a new category of mental illness called spiritual emergency.And they are just emerging, you have to go through these traumas, and so forth.So, we document a lot of that, Tom.It’s here---well, they put them in insane asylums, or whatever.

Tom:

Or you find them out on the streets.You can see them walking around, talking to themselves, hearing voices, and so on.

Dave:

They call it schizophrenia.

Tom:

Yeah, Dave, but what’s really ironic here: Carl Jung, for example, his whole process, Jungian therapy, is to contact spirit entities.You know, he began going to seances.His whole family was involved in all of that, and that became part of this therapy.So, we find all kinds of ways to really contact demons.I mean, what else would you call these spirit entities, legitimately, biblically?

Dave:

Tom, as you know, it’s in the business world, we have courses.It’s in the medical world, how to contact these entities inside.These are very serious people.The Association for Humanistic Psychology, in their conferences, their annual gatherings, and so forth, they are involved in this whole thing, involved in making contact with spirit guides, they even call it this.So, Tom, today, I guess, it’s been legitimized, and this is just part of our society, and in fact, it’s been official, this is how the shamans and witch doctors, how they did their thing, and they contacted these spirit beings.We’ve talked about it in the past, in our newsletter, in Occult Invasion, and in Occult Explosion.

Tom:

As you remember, I interviewed a 76-year old former shaman of the Yanamomo tribe in Venezuela, I mean, this is the genuine article, this wasn’t some 50-year old lady who decided to get into shamanism and set up a shop in Beverly Hills, this was the real entity.

Dave:

But she’s into the same thing, ------.So, I guess, to answer your question from way back, It’s here, maybe even worse, but it’s legitimized now.It’s New Age, it’s something to be desired.

Tom:

And these entities are having the same affect on people that they had during the time-----.

Dave:

We call them channelers, they are in touch with these critters out there.You could go to Hosai Silva who, founder of Silva Methods of Mind Control.People take these courses, they sign up for it.It’s a whole other subject, Tom, and it’s incredible, but the great question that someone asks.

Tom:

Well, Dave, it’s a real concern.It’s a concern for, I think, for Christians in terms of what they are getting into when so-called science, pseudo science, psychotherapy, psychology, when they promote things where Christians are not discerning.I don’t believe a true Christian can be demonized, have a demon within.They can be oppressed by demons, there is no doubt about that.

Dave:

But Tom, there are a lot of professing Christians who are not true Christians.Even Moody Magazine calls it, multiple personalities.Tom, it’s just incredible!

Tom:

Right.So, our cry here is for discernment, for looking to the Scriptures, for understanding what the Word of God says.It’s our only defense against either oppression, or for those professing Christians who are not true believers.That’s what they need to defend themselves against these kinds of takeovers.

Dave:

Tom, Jesus cast the demons, they said their name was Legion, there are many of them, He cast them out.Today, Christian psychologists even tried to convert---well, you’ve got multiple personalities, we’ve got to convert this, we’ve got to bring all of these personalities to Christ.They are dealing with demons!Tom, we have come so far, so why don’t we recognize the day, weren’t they being cast out? Because they are being cultivated, they’re our friends, so they say.And this goes for even Christian psychologists---not all, but many, and I don’t hear any of these Christian psychologists who don’t believe this complain against it.