This is a pretty common question that I hear people ask, and there are (unsurprisingly) two main answers: Yes and No. And in reality, there really are only two possible answers, although the different camps tend to break their beliefs down into further detail on the specifics. Before answering this question, I’m going to explain why it’s important to know whether a Christian can have a demon or not.

The answer to this question helps explain a number of significant things in the life of a believer. It helps assign blame appropriately when things go wrong in life. It helps us understand the root causes and influences of personal vices, sins, and ongoing life struggles. The answer helps us realize why we sometimes have difficulty overcoming in certain areas of our lives, while other areas we see great victory in. Most of all, the answer to this question helps us know how to walk in the freedom that Jesus Christ already purchased for us on the cross over two-thousand years ago.

The answer to the question is “Yes”. Yes, Christians can and do have demons. But that’s just the beginning. Not only can we have them, but we can have them influencing us in ways we never realized, and once we uncover their work and get rid of them, we can walk in levels of freedom, peace, and joy in Christ we never realized were possible. Many times we have been so used to demonic resistance in those areas that we just never realized there was something better to enjoy in God.

“But Michael, it says in the Bible that Christians can’t have demons!”

No, it actually doesn’t. People simply make assumptions based on what they wish were true and ignore the facts to arrive at that conclusion.

The most common verse people use to “prove” that a Christian cannot have a demon is from James 3:11, which states “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?”. The idea is that “fresh water” which supposedly represents the Holy Spirit here, cannot coexist with “salt water” which supposedly is demons, and thus a Christian, who has the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her, cannot have demons. The problem with this verse is, well, the first problem is that salt water isn’t used anywhere in all of scripture to describe demons, so it’s basically making things up. The second problem with this verse is that the context is extremely clear, and it is very plainly obvious that this passage is not talking about demons. Let’s look at the passage a little deeper. By reading a larger section of James 3 and not just cherry-picking verse 11 out of context, it gives this passage a pretty obvious meaning. James 3:7-12 says:

“All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

The entire passage is about the tongue, and the terms “fresh water” and “salt water” here are referring to our words, not the Holy Spirit and demons. Furthermore, in verse 10 it says “my brothers and sisters, this should not be” It doesn’t say cannot be, meaning it is impossible, but rather that it currently happens but it would be a good thing for it to not happen. So even if we pretended this passage was about demons and not about how we use our words, the passage would prove to us that it is possible, not the other way around.

In Acts 8, Philip went to Samaria, and verse 7 tells us he healed many people and cast demons out. In verse 15, it tells us that many new converts had been baptized with water, but had not yet received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. From this, we can recognize that Philip was doing a few different things all at the same time. He was preaching and converting people, casting out demons, and healing the sick. If all he had to do to make the demons leave was convert people, which the passage shows us he was already doing, why bother casting out demons? Why not just skip that pointless step and convert everyone if indeed conversion brings total and complete removal of all demonic forces from the body and soul? Simple: Because as much as we all wish it did, that’s not how it works.

In reality, demons make people uncomfortable. The idea that there are non-visible evil entities that can live inside us and influence our thoughts and behaviors is kind of creepy. The idea that we have a special protector named Jesus who keeps all the bad things away is of great comfort to many. The problem is that they take this fact to the extreme and apply it in ways it was never meant to be applied and in situations where it doesn’t work that way. While Jesus does give us the power to oppose demonic forces, that fact doesn’t automatically eject ones that have already taken residence up within us, and people have a hard time swallowing that. Actually, most people avoid all involvement with the demonic as a whole, including casting them out of people. I attribute this largely to a combination of fear and ignorance.

Many are afraid of demons, so if they ignore them, they can feel like demons aren’t there. Others are simply ignorant of the workings of the enemy and simply don’t have a clue of what is going on in the unseen realms around them. Still others have no clue but don’t want to get a clue because remaining ignorant means they get to stay happy in their self-protected bubble of inaccuracy. Ignorance, however, is not part of the armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6; on the other hand, the belt of Truth is.

If we want to lead fruitful and effective lives, throwing off “everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1b),” then we need to include casting out demons in the mix. This goes for Christians, not just unbelievers. Most of the people I have cast demons out of have been followers of Jesus for years, oftentimes a decade or more. And while the common party line of those who erroneously think Christians can’t have them is “Well, they must not have been really saved to begin with”, the fact is they’re just wrong and don’t want to admit it.

Some people find it easier to play a round of theologymnastics to try and make all life situations fit into their inaccurate belief system than it is to admit they are wrong and learn new things. That seems silly, fruitless, and extremely immature to me, so I don’t play that game. If I’m wrong about something, I might as well realize I lacked sufficient information before, then include new information to arrive at a better understanding of how creation actually works. There is nothing shameful or wrong about not knowing something, and we are all hopefully learning new things on an ongoing basis. What is shameful is ignoring the truth when it is presented in favor of further entrenching oneself deeper into ignorance.

Casting out demons may not be everyone’s preferential way to spend their time, but it is important to at least know what to do when demons decide to unexpectedly appear. As believers, the Bible says we have been given authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, and we need to both understand and walk in that authority, even if we do so infrequently. If you don’t know much about this practice, it’s time to learn because demons don’t stop their work just because you don’t know what to do when you discover a Christian has a demon.

Below are a series of articles I have written that may help you better understand how to deal with demons when they manifest in yourself or those around you: