There are no examples of believers being demon-possessed in the Bible. I believe the Bible is quite clear that a believer cannot be demon-possessed. I will quote 3 verses (from the NKJV) that should settle this matter. “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9). “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own” (1^st Corinthians 6:19). “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1^st John 4:4). It is clear from these verses that “the Spirit of God lives inside every believer.” The thought that a demon could also live inside us alongside the Holy Spirit is inconceivable. As we see in the last verse cited, the believer can OVERCOME any spirit which is not of God (see verses 1-3) because He is “greater than anyone in the world, including demons.”

Having said that, though a believer cannot be “POSSESSED (indwelt and under their complete control) by a demon,” he/she may be “OPPRESSED (made to feel distressed or anxious) by a demon.” We learn in Ephesians 6:10-18 that the Christian is in a warfare with the devil and his angels. Verses 11-12 tell us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the WILES OF THE DEVIL. For 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.” Though the Devil and his demonic forces cannot possess us or rob us of our salvation that is based on our faith in Christ’s finished work, they can try to “influence us for evil” (through false doctrine or temptations to commit sin). If the believer is not “armed with the armor of God,” he may very well be seduced by demonic teachings. We are warned against this in Ephesians 4:14, “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” The Devil and his demons use false teachers (and their cunning and deceitful teachings) in an attempt to lead us astray. The apostle John warned little children (babes in Christ) of this same thing in 1^st John 2:18, 22, 24, 26, “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come…Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son…Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning…These things I have written to you concerning THOSE WHO TRY TO DECEIVE YOU.” See also 2^nd Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-15 where the apostle Paul warns of “false apostles” who are Satan’s servants seeking to deceive believers with a “false gospel.”

And then there is Satan’s attempt to influence us to commit immoral acts. A glaring example of this is in Acts 5:3 where the apostle Peter asked a believer “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?“ Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, sold all their land and pretended give all of the money to the apostles to distribute to those in need (see verses 1-2). They were guilty of pretending to be more devoted than they really were. Yet Peter attributed this sin to Satan’s influence. How sad! For if they had been “FILLED with the Spirit” (controlled by His influence…see Ephesians 5:18), Satan would not have been able to “FILL his heart” with the temptation to lie about his “false devotion.” As we saw above in Ephesians 6:11, we need to “put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” I would encourage you to read and meditate on verses 13-18 to learn what it means to “take up the whole armor of God.”  (DO)  (577.1)