Mt. 12:43
It may be asked why evil spirits want the body, and why they so persistently work to gain access and possession?
- Because in it they find "rest" ( Mt. 12:43; top ), and seem to find some relief for themselves in some way we do not know. But still more than this:
- Because the body is the outlet of the soul and spirit; and if they can control the exterior, they can thereby control the inner man at the centre by hindering his freedom of action man-ward, although they may not do so God-ward.
In the case of the believer, they do not destroy the life at the centre, but they can imprison it, so that the inner man, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is unable to attack and destroy their kingdom and works. When the evil spirits gain possession of a believer's body and mind in any degree, all previous spiritual growth is practically of no service value. In the spiritual section of the Church of Christ, a great number of believers need light for liberation of their circumference. Their spiritual growth is checked and hindered by the dulling of their faculties, the clog of misconceptions and deceptions in their minds, or weakness and disease in their bodies. These conditions also checking the outflow of the Holy Spirit indwelling the spirit, so that the life of Jesus cannot be manifested through them, in the using of the mind for the transmission of truth, or in the strengthening and using of the body in active effective service.
Therefore, when the outer man becomes dispossessed, it does not bring the centre life into existence, but into freedom of operation. All this may be in various degrees, for all believers are not in the same degree of bondage. There are degrees of
1) inner spiritual growth; of
2) mixture in the life, of workings of God from the spirit, and evil spirits in the outer man; of
3) passivity of the man in spirit, soul and body, resulting in
4) degrees of "possession."
The moment ground is given, in any degree, to evil spirits, the faculties are dulled by them, or become passive through non-use. Their aim then is to substitute themselves for the person in all his actions, and so to gain entrance to him, over the rails, so to speak, of his passive faculties, will, etc., as to intertwine themselves in the innermost structure of his being, and thus to control him and use him for their own purposes; the man meanwhile believing that he is admitting Divine substitutions for himself - that is, God working, and acting instead of himself - and thus he is becoming "God-possessed."
Believers in such a degree of possession by deceiving spirits then have "supernatural power", and can, in a supernatural way, get from the spirits in control of them, and give forth from them as their transmitters, many supernatural workings, or manifestations such as:
- The getting and transmitting of "Revelations." Chapter 6. Counterfeits of the Divine
- The power of "Prophecy."
- The power of divination. See Chapter 7. Ground and Symptoms of Possession
- The receiving and giving of impressions, supernaturally. Chapter 7. Ground and Symptoms of Possession
- The getting of specific "guidance," supernaturally. See Chapter 6. Counterfeits of the Divine
- The foretelling of events.
- The power of writing automatically, or otherwise.
- The receiving and giving of information.
- The receiving of interpretations.
- The getting of visions. See Chapter 6. Counterfeits of the Divine
Such a possessed believer may also obtain power:
- Of listening to spirit beings.
- Of concentration necessary for listening.
- Of getting knowledge, supernaturally.
- Of holding communication and communion supernaturally.
- Of translating, criticizing, correcting, judging.
- Of getting and giving suggestions.
- Of getting and giving messages.
- Of dealing with obstacles, supernaturally.
- Of receiving and giving "meanings" to facts and imaginations.
- Of giving supernatural meanings to natural facts; and natural meanings to supernatural facts.
- Of being led and controlled.
Many of these manifested workings of the evil spirits in possession of the believer, appear to be the working of the man himself; but of which actions he is incapable naturally; e.g., he may have no "natural" power of "translating, criticizing," etc. Yet the spirits in possession can give him power for so doing, thus creating a false personality in the eyes of others, who think him possessed of such and such "gifts" (naturally), and are disappointed when he will not use them; not knowing that he is unable to "manifest" or use such supposed "gifts," except at the will of the spirits in control of him. Also that when the deceived believer discovers such manifestations to be the fruit of possession, and refuses any longer to be the slave of the lying spirits of Satan, such "gifts" cease to exist. This is the time when the undeceived man is persecuted by the revengeful spirits of evil, through their suggestions to others that he has "lost his power," or "retrograded" in his spiritual life, when in truth he is being liberated from the effects of their wicked and fiendish workings.
I'd love to hear comments and/or questions from you! Email me!