"Can A Christian Have A Demon?" Rescue Radio with Marjorie Cole

0:00 Music. Rescue Radio, because there's a war for your soul. Yeah, that's true, Lord God. You know this. Thy will be done, O God, on earth and in through us, as it's being done and declared in heaven. We thank you for this day. We thank you that your will be done. Lord God, we praise you and celebrate this day because you are a faithful God and you are redeeming your people.

0:43 And so we thank you for the truth that sets us free. We thank you, Lord God, for sending your son, Jesus. We thank you for surrendering your life so that we could live. And we thank you for giving us power over all the power of the enemy. You said, whatever you bind is bound, whatever you loose is loosed. I give you power to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the devil. And you said, cast out demons, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead. So we thank you, Lord. We bind the powers of darkness and we command that anything that would try to fleck or affect us, Lord God, that you promise that no weapon formed against us will prosper. So we praise you and thank you for this time together. May you give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and heart to receive and the revelation of your love and truth in Jesus' name. Amen.

1:25 So, here we are in the middle of wherever we are, wherever you are right now. And the thing is, I guess our question today that we're going to kind of ponder is, does everybody have a demon? You know, is that kind of a fair way to start this? Well, when you really look at it, you certainly wonder. It's certainly a valid question because you think of the behaviors of the human being. And, you know, the thing is, too, is the origin created in the likeness and image of God, yet in that origin, we're not living according to that origin at all.

2:05 We're living according to a perversion of that origin where for the most part we yielded, to the enemy. I mean, like Eve yielded to the suggestions of the enemy, and it really, you know, it's set us off ever since. Yeah, you're right. So, okay, so here's the thing, that there is the divine identity made in the image of God and also the fact that we live in the snake pit and the fact that we need to understand, we're going to talk, does everybody have a demon? Well, is everybody possessed? First of all, let's define that word a minute because it is used in some of the translations, Old King James and stuff like that.

2:47 Possessed means to own, occupy, or control according to the English language, and those three words do not mean the same thing. So you can own something you don't occupy, that's the landlord. You can occupy something you don't own, and that would be the renter, or you can be controlled by something that you, something is controlling you that doesn't have a right to be there. And so that's like what the enemy does. He lives in our lives like a rat or a demon or a thought or an impersonator or whatever you want to call them, and we don't recognize it, and so we don't resist. Many of the things that we are being seduced and deceived into believing are us, my thought. I like the taste. I like to drink. I like to, you know, whatever, and we're not realizing that this is actually a literal temptation the enemy is putting into your mind as your thought, but let's look at the scripture itself to see, you know, a lot of people are troubled, not just with, you know, addictions.

3:42 It's all kinds of immoralities, perversions, pornography. I mean, just everything. We're in the snake pit. And when you're living in the pit, you're going to get bit and dirty. There's no doubt about it. And yet God has redeemed us by putting us on the rock that is in the middle of the snake pit. So let's go back to, you talked earlier, Jerry, about we're doing things that basically we're not created to do. And why do we do that? Well, in Romans, Paul talks about, he says that very thing. He says in Romans chapter seven, and if I am doing what I do not want to do, he goes back to say, he says, verse 5, he says, for we know that we are spiritual, the law is spiritual, but we are carnal, sold under sin, so we're enslaved to sin.

4:25 The influences of the snake pit. He says, for what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will or want to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. So he goes on to say, if I'm doing what I don't want to do, He says, I agree with the law of God, that it's good in verse 16. He says, but now in 17, but if I'm doing what I do not want to do, it's not... Me, he said, is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. And then he goes on in 18, I know that in me that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells for to will. In other words, to will to be good is present with me, but how to perform it, I do not find for indeed, he says then verse 20, he says, now, if I do what I will not to do, he says the same thing in verse, as he said in 17.

5:11 If I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells in me. So he says, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For he says, I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin and death, which is in my members. Then he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Now stop right there for a second and go back to the definition of possession to mean to own, occupy, or control. So he goes back to 24. He says, 20, I'm sorry.

5:52 Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So he's saying there's something dwelling in him that's causing him to do what he doesn't want to do, manipulating, controlling him, and getting him in trouble for it. And he goes on to say, oh, wretched man, who will deliver me from this body of sin or body of death? So we've been programmed, even though we're made in the image of God, we've been hijacked and programmed by a body of death software that Satan has downloaded into us. Yeah, think of it that way now. The body of death software that Satan has downloaded into us. So we got that going on. And for the most part, human beings take heed to that.

6:34 They give place to their feelings and appetites. Give place to that, right. And that's how we think that we normally operate. It's just basically like. If you're driving on a muddy road, you know, a dirt road, and there's ruts. So there's, say the ruts are, it's mud and it's frozen. You try to get out of those ruts. You follow in those ruts. You try to get out of those ruts. Yeah. You try to pull up, and you just end up back there anyway. You end up in the ruts because this is what this law. So the rut is controlling you then. It's a law of sin and death that's. Operating.

7:15 That's operating and basically dominating your life. This is the course of your life. And this is why we have what we have in our world today. Well, you know, Romans 6, verse 12, which is amplified, it says, let not sin rule as king in your mortal, short-lived, perishable body to make you obey it in its lusts, evil passions, and cravings. So it surely sounds like there's something going on inside of me that's causing me to do what I don't want to do. And so we have to, when we're understanding the war, we're understanding the addictions, the cravings, and trying to manage a craving.

7:56 Okay, so this is the way that the world approaches these temptations, the anger management, control your emotions, you know, go to treatment, work the program, try harder, get more self-control, white knuckle it, willpower. And it's promoting all these self-improvement, self-improvement books, all these things that put it back on me to do it. Now, I recognize we have some responsibility to say yes and to agree with what needs to be done, but if we're agreeing with the wrong thing that needs to be done, we're not going to get the right results. Yeah, well, Paul says it's not me doing it. It's the sin that, so how can, he wants to, he wants to be free from this.

8:42 But he keeps falling back into that rut. And so it's that sin that dwells within me. And that's the operating rut that people are in. And basically there's where the enemy comes in. So sin opens the door for the influence of the demons. And what happens is that you're there listening to all these lies when you're. That law of sin that dwells in your members, that's fed by the lies that you have in the world. That are coming through fear.

9:26 That are in your own mind and in your own heart. And so where you're into those lies and you behave according to those lies, that's where Satan, demons, get control of you because you're yielding to those lies. Well, in Romans, again, in the Amplified version, Romans 7, 6, it says, Having died to what once restrained or held us captive? Well, in the Amplified, what is this thing that restrains and holds us captive? It says, For sin, this is how it's reading in the Amplified, For sin, seizing the opportunity and getting hold of me, beguiled, entrapped, and cheated and killed me.

10:07 This is Romans 7, 11 in the Amplified. So these verbs, these, you know, beguiling, entrapping, cheating, killing, seizing. How would you seize yourself? You don't seize yourself. You don't try to beguile yourself. This is coming from an outside force and an outside source. So the enemy is really using our vulnerability, the vulnerability that is in our flesh. Our flesh is our body, which is weak, not bad, but vulnerable, needing things. and our soul, which has been programmed by the lies of the pit and the generational lies and all kinds of things. So the body of death operating software is in our soul. Paul says, in me.

10:48 In my flesh dwells no good thing. He doesn't say the flesh is bad. He says, but inside there's something going on inside of me that's not me, that's causing me to do what I don't want to do. And people don't recognize that as a demon or demonic. They just, they don't. And if you don't recognize that as demonic activity, now it can be possessed. It can be oppressed. It can be suppressed. It can be, you know, the devil will, there's different degrees to this intent, this capture. And so, you know, sometimes it's just a matter of you saying, no, I'm not going to believe that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to, you know, say yes to that temptation. And that's what the Bible says, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

11:30 So there is, we get our, we get to put our will, we attach our will, our vote to either side, what God is saying or what the devil is saying. If you're saying voting with God, you're going to be walking in obedience, of course. And if you vote with the devil and fear, you're going to be operating in confusion and doubt and being beguiled and killed and all those other things. So we have to recognize, we do have a part to play in this, but we have to know, first of all, what the strategy is of the enemy before we can actually be wise and make a smart move here. And so when you go with all the secular, even church secular, you know, suggestions, go to treatment, go to anger, get an accountability partner.

12:11 That's not what the Bible says to do when you're tormented with a demon. And by the way, we've just come through an intensive. We do these setting captives free intensives in the winter in Minnesota, Northern Minnesota, in a Salvation Army camp. And you know. We have mostly, I don't know if we have any unbelievers there. Once in a while, you have one that's not sure of their salvation. But, you know, in every case, we're praying with people, teaching people, and they're getting delivered from demons. And some of them are really manifesting. I mean, some of them, it's just a, you know, it's a recognition, a revelation, and boom, things cleared up. And that's what it takes. It takes a revelation. But sometimes there's actually an entity inside of the person. these are believers who know Jesus.

12:54 You know, have accepted, and they're manifesting an entity, a power. Something is going on that is leaving them, like Jesus describes it in Matthew and Mark with a demoniac and the little boy that had the demons and whatnot. There's actually physical manifestations, and so the person is not doing that to themselves, and they're believers. So, you can't say a Christian cannot have a demon. You know, there's a misunderstanding here because you think having a demon makes you a demon and you think having a demon disqualifies you from heaven. And yet Paul is saying, I've got this thing going on inside of me that's causing me to do what I don't want to do. And then he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me?

13:34 So Paul himself, the apostle and the writer of half the New Testament, basically, is saying, who will get this thing out of me and who will get this stronghold, this deliverance, this demon, demonic activity out of me? And before we can have any real freedom, we need to ask that question. So another thing, too, this whole myth of that a Christian cannot have a demon. Oh, that's a good point. It's a myth, but it's been theologized. And so many people, pastors, churches, denominations say, well, if you still have trouble, you can be oppressed. You know, the enemy can come from the outside to influence you, but not really from the inside if you're a true believer.

14:22 If you're still having trouble with demons, this is another thing that's a kicker. The church will say, well, if you're still having trouble with demons, you still have trouble with lust or whatever it is. You're really not converted. You're not saved. You're not saved. You've had a false conversion. Yeah, we have. And a lot of people get that dropped on them. Spirals you out of control, yeah. And then you're always worried about, am I saved? Am I saved? Am I saved? And I know there are people that think they're saved and they just. Yeah, let me say something about that. Yeah, some people, they think they're saved because they do certain things in a church or whatever.

15:09 But here's the deal. It's if you've got all these issues and problems, it's because, and we see it all the time, like Marty said, people that are genuinely believers. They genuinely believe, confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and everything like that. And they're rooted with some very serious demonic strongholds that need to come out. And by God's grace, they come out in the name of Jesus. Well, here's the deal. We have to understand the difference between salvation and sanctification. There's one issue. First of all, salvation is God buys the house back.

15:49 It means that you've given your heart to Jesus. He made the house. He created the house. He died for the house. He bought it back. And now in salvation, you give him the right to come back into the house. I give my heart to Jesus. Sanctification, however, is not salvation. It comes after you buy the house. After God buys the house, he now has to clean the house. And cleaning the house may be ridding out generational curses, strongholds, habits and patterns. For example, anytime you're operating outside of the will of God, like anytime you're doing something you're trying to stop doing, you're trying to quit something you can't quit, like this is smoking a cigarette.

16:29 If you want to quit, Paula says, I don't want to do it, and something in there does, and you're still smoking even though you don't want to smoke, then there's something going on. What is that? What is that? That is, oh, that's just a bad habit. Well, it is that, but it's more than that. It's some entity, nicotine, cigarettes, cravings, whatever, just commanding, demanding that you smoke a cigarette for him. And that makes total sense to me. And you say, oh, but Christians can't have demons, going back to that little idea. Well, you know what? They say, well, God, why? Because God and Satan can't be in the same place at the same time. Well, that's not even true because God is everywhere. Yeah, there you go. So God is everywhere. So where in the world could the devil ever be that God isn't already?

17:11 And so they say light and darkness can't be in the same place. They say Jesus and God and the devil can't be in the same place. Well, Jesus was talking to the devil in the wilderness there in the same place. How about in the Garden of Gethsemane? There was a lot of battle going on there. So we know that that's garbage, but the church doesn't want to deal with it, even though God said one of the main things he said to do in the job list was preach the gospel, of course, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Why would he say that? Why would he give us power to bind and loose and tread on serpents and scorpions and nothing hurt us if it was a ruse, if it was nothing, nothing to do. And so we have to get your head on people, understand that you're being deceived by the very thoughts that are coming through your mind, Satan impersonates you to yourself.

17:57 That is more something to understand than the fact that Christians can't have demons. There's no immunity. If a Christian believes the lie and practices the lie, wherever he's believing that, he's being controlled by that or she, they are demonized. Now you can be demonized a little bit or a lot. And you know, here's another thing. A lot of people are, this is a big fad now, casting out demons. Okay. And it's all, you know, on YouTube and it's all spark, you know, whatever. And I'm going to tell you something right now. If you're one who casts out demons and that other person is freaking and flipping and, convulsing and whatnot and carrying on, you are the one, if you're the one who's casting, You should have the power and control, according to God, to bind that spirit so it doesn't hurt that person, so it doesn't embarrass that person, doesn't make them look ridiculous.

18:43 I know the little boy, when the demon went out, he convulsed. I get that. And that's an indication of a demon leaving. There's several other ways they can leave. And they said, oh, no, he's dead. Jesus, no, he's not dead. And so he just picked him up and he was fine. But the thing is, we have to be able to know our authority in Christ. And we need to know and quit making up excuses for the devil. So that he can just keep binding you, destroying you, eating up your life. Again, you know, the Bible is very clear that Christians, Paul wasn't writing this to pagans in Romans chapter 7. He had just talked about Romans 6, where there, you know, here's how you reckon the old man dead, you're crucified with Christ, you know, yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness.

19:25 And then in the 70s, but there's stuff still going on inside of me, so let's look at it. So then we have to recognize that. This is a war, an internal war. And you can wear your whole self out forever in a day, try and get rid of a demon in you. And you don't really get down to the real business of being here. And that is to preach the gospel, heal the sick, bring good news to other people, because you're so busy trying to get rid of your own stuff. Let's just admit what it is and deal with it. You have the authority. You know, nobody, I mean, some people, they'll say do need someone to help them. It's like you have major surgery and you can't take out your own tumor, but you can take out plenty of your own slivers. So let's just not, you know, put it on somebody else. If you can submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee and give no place to the devil, then start there.

20:12 And if you're running up into something that's too big for you, or it's too buried in there, or too rooted in there, and it needs to be cast out, you might need to have some help in prayer. But don't yield yourself to, and just placate the enemy. Just, you don't understand, He is not in favor of us. He is here to destroy us any way he can. And if six or 12 demons can work on different areas of your life for destruction, you know, like you're not eating right and you're smoking and you're not sleeping right and you've got a spirit of anger and bitterness and you're mean to your wife and you're narcissistic or you're a witch or whatever, you got all that stuff going on. It's pretty hard to lead a quiet life. You got to get some of that stuff, if not all of it, out of there.

20:55 What about the old question, the old excuse that's made? Well, the devil made me do it. Well, he... He has to get your cooperation and agreement to get to do anything in you, because if he could just do anything, he'd already done it and you'd be dead. So the devil makes us do it in the sense that he convinces our mind, our heart, our emotions. And we go along with it. Well, because we're in fear, panic, fear. If I don't, oh no, what's going to happen? I've got to have this boyfriend. If I don't have this girlfriend, if I don't get this cigarette, if I don't get this fix, if I don't, whatever, I will, fear says that I will perish. So there's a lot of stuff that's going on in us all the time.

21:36 It's a battle. It's really a battle. But if you recognize it, then you can just basically determine in your heart that you're going to follow Jesus and do the next right thing according to God. And that's called following Jesus instead of going back and forth and up and down and being all ambushed all the time by the devil. It's interesting in Psalm 51 verse 6 where David says he's praying a prayer of repentance after his sin with Bathsheba and arranging for the murder of her husband. But he says, you desire truth in the inward parts. In the inward parts you will make me know wisdom.

22:16 So basically what happens is that the issue is that we don't have the truth in the inward parts. That truth is not activated. It's not operating. We're, what are we doing? We are under the influence of the lies. We're living according to the lies, and there should be truth within us, right? There is some truth within us. Even because we're made in the likeness and image of God. But when you have truth in the inward parts, you're going to allow that truth to operate predominantly in your life.

23:00 That's what you're going to follow because you know the truth. Really, who knows the truth? How many people, how many believers really know the truth? They could say, well, yeah, I know the Bible is the word of God. I know Jesus is the Savior and all that. But as far as really getting down to, like we used to say, brass tacks in your own life, what is the truth? What is the truth about what's going on in my life now? What's the truth with what's going on in my marriage, my children, and my workplace? Yeah, well, the answer is Jesus. He is the truth. He's the way, the truth, and the life. And so, truth is an absolute. And many people say, well, my truth or your truth, we can all agree to disagree, and we can have our own truth.

23:41 And this is crazy, because if you're building a house and someone's yardstick is 36 inches and the other guy's is 24, and you're using the same measure, building the house together, you're not going to have a very straight house, because truth is truth. It's got to be that. And I'm going to read a little paragraph on page 99 out of the book called Cravings. Why do I do what I don't want to do. You can get it on Amazon. He says, this is kind of the kicker where people get all chipped up. He says, they want it to be, well, you've got to take responsibility. You've got to work the program. You've got to show that you're really sincere. Well, you weren't really sincere about this and blah, blah, blah. Okay. Our freedom from sin has never been a matter of taking responsibility or using more willpower from God's point of view.

24:27 If our freedom would have been a matter of our willpower, our Lord would have never talked about his power to keep us from the power of the evil one who would try to snatch us from his hand. See John chapter 10, verse 28 and 29, and Matthew 6, 13. Let us not misconstrue this to diminish our need to cooperate with God's grace and power to keep us through our obedience to him. If Jesus would have told his disciples to try harder and get it right, then grace would have been just a nice afterthought. God. So we do cooperate. We have the freedom to move your vote back to the truth, back to obedience, back to the love of God.

25:08 And Satan will probably try to resist that, sabotage it, cause you to relapse or whatever all that looks like. But get up and keep going because Satan cannot take you. He cannot make you do anything. You know, the devil made me do it or all that lies. He cannot because if he could do that, you and I wouldn't even be talking. We'd be dead. So again, God says he will never test us or tempt us above that he's able to keep us, but with every temptation to make a way of escape that we're able to bear. It's not God who's tempting us, but God is allowing Satan to tempt us because Satan says to God, look it. I know you can't keep them. I know I can take them away from you. Jesus said that you can't take them out of my hand, but Satan is sure going to give it a wild try.

25:49 And so you and I have to know that we're loved by God, that God's got this. And when you're safe in that, you know, once you know who you are in Christ, that God is good, that God is going to keep you, and you're going to, but you have this final vote. God votes for you. The devil votes against you. So where are you going to cast your vote? That's where it's going to go. That's where you're going to lean in the direction of God, or you're going to lean in the direction of the devil going back and forth, you're going to be in a rut. You have to determine this is too serious of a deal. Heaven and hell is too serious of a deal to mess with, to miss it, to play around with it. And you're wasting your time and you're wasting your life going back and forth. Just, you know, you've tried religion. You've tried church. You've tried no church. You've tried going back to church.

26:31 You've tried whatever all that looks like. You've tried, you know. Whatever all this emotion, trying to get some feelings, feeling God's presence and all this good stuff, which is wonderful. but it's not the requirement. The requirement is obedience to the word of God, whether you feel like it or not. When you're a soldier on the front line, you don't necessarily feel like being there. And yet you're there because you're standing and taking a stand for whatever it is you're there to believe and protect, to believe for. So let's just not continue to be deceived by our feelings, our emotions, and the rigmarole and the rhetoric of the church, which has kind of gone off the tracks because the church preaches a nice sweet gospel sometimes on one side of the coin, but they don't talk about the other side. They don't talk about deliverance and inner healing.

27:13 They don't talk about, you know, standing and having done all to stand. They don't talk about the demon can be doing stuff in us that we don't want him to do. So I get, there's just, you know, and because you don't have the right understanding of the spiritual warfare, you don't have then the tools you need, the footing you need to take a stand and having done all to stand. So if you're just thinking it's all been done. Yes, it is under the blood, sure enough. But you and I have to enforce that. That's the job of the church to enforce the truth of the victories of Calvary, to tell the devil that my temple belongs to me and Jesus, and it doesn't, and Jesus, the true Jesus. And that you, Satan, don't have a right to do anything there.

27:54 Get out. No, you won't. Shut your mouth. Be gone. And you just have to start using your words as weapons against the enemy, because those words can be death or they can be life. And don't use your words to murmur and complain and say, I can't help myself, and I don't know what to do. Stand up, read the Word of God, get into Romans chapter 7 for a minute, 6, 7, and 8. And there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Jesus says, Paul says, he says, it was finally solved by the fact that Jesus Christ paid the price. You already said, yeah, Romans 8, 1 into verse 3, There's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

28:38 There's a new law that's replacing this other law or overwhelming it. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So on a quick wrap, I'm going to read the table of contents, which is 20 chapters of the book Cravings, and you can get that on Amazon. Cravings, why do I do what I don't want to do? Chapters, chapter 1, eat what I give you.

29:19 Chapter 2. Don't touch my food. Chapter 3. The war within. Chapter 4. Being redefined by the devil. Chapter 5. Depraved or enslaved. Chapter 6. God had a problem. Chapter 7. The devil's operating software. Chapter 8. The torture rack of responsibility. Chapter 9. Guilt. One size fits all. Chapter 10. What's wrong with this picture? Chapter 11. The internal takeover. Chapter 12. Take down the tower. Chapter 13, the food fight from hell. Chapter 14, conditions and counterfeits. Conditioning and counterfeits. Chapter 15, the spiritual warfare template. Chapter 16, scientific proof that God was right. 17, beware, strings attached. 18, willpower and treatment.

30:05 19, the vicious circle. And 20, frog soup. Let's not be the frog that's being cooked in the kettle at such a mild temperature and nonetheless increasing until we are too sedated, stupefied, mesmerized, or spellbound to jump out of the kettle before it's too late. We have options here and we don't have to die. So again, we're saying people, yes, they do wrestle with demons. So stop making it something it's not and deal with what it is. So Father God, we thank you so much for this revelation for all of us. Let the lights go on, connect the dots, give us the revelations that we need. You said you should know the truth and the truth will set you free. Father God, in Jesus' name, thank you.

30:46 Amen. Lord, we thank you for each one that's listening. We pray your truth would just penetrate hearts and minds that we might be set free by the power of your Spirit in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. And fight the good fight of faith. Again, cravings. Why do I do what I do not want to do? That's an Amazon. It'll help you. God bless. I have an emergency. What is your location? Music.

31:29 3, 2, 1, go! Rescue radio, because there's a war for yourself.