Questions and Answers

What Is The Difference In Demon Possession And Oppression Or Attack?
By Adam Bartlett

There is a difference between possession and oppression. An attack or oppression can be upon anyone but possession can only happen when a person consciously allows a demon to come into them. The Bible speaks of many that were possessed and also shows that through the name of Jesus they were expelled. When a person is “possessed” they are no longer in control but are mere puppets of the devil to do as he pleases with them. It does not speak much on the subject of oppression or attack specifically, but we are given many examples of it. I will list some scriptures dealing with the subject and then discuss them.

What The Bible Says:

Luke 11
24: When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
25: And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
26: Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

Luke 13
10: And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
11: And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
12: And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
13: And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

Luke 8
2: And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
Matthew 8
28: And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
29: And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
30: And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
31: So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
32: And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

2 Corinthians 10
3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

James 1
13: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15: Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Ephesians 6
11: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15: And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16: Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17: And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

There is most certainly a difference between being oppressed and possessed. In the examples above you see that those that were possessed had no control over their circumstances and were at the will of the demon possessing them. We also see that the power of Jesus’ Name is what will drive out the enemy. We also see by the first example that if a possessed person is set free and does not fill that void with the Spirit of God that the enemy will certainly return and repossess that person and it will be even worse than before.

We also see that there are possessions that also accompany illnesses and those spirits can also be expelled. It does not mean that everyone that is ill has a demon. We also see by the examples above that it is also possible to have more than one demon in a possessed person.

I believe that oppression or attacks of the enemy are an everyday occurrence and we are given the keys to fighting them in the scriptures I listed above. In 2 Corinthians 10 we are told that we must understand first that this battle is spiritual and it is continuously happening all around us and upon us. We are told it is a spiritual battle and we must fight it in that capacity. We are given the power to withstand the battle by recognizing it. We are told that we can bring every thought into the captivity of Christ. James then gives us the progression of this attack. It starts with our own lusts and satan uses our weaknesses to entice us. He plants the thoughts in our minds and then keeps attacking us with those images until we either give in to them or fight them off. If we give in to them then we act on them and sin. If we continue in that sin then we are told it leads to death. That is why the scripture in Ephesians 6 explains to us that we need to be constantly armed with the armor of God.

I believe the attacks of satan occur something like this: he finds our weakness and then uses that to plant thoughts in our minds. At the moment we acknowledge that thought we need to take it captive and get rid of it. There are different things that will work for each individual. You may pray immediately asking God to get that thought out of your mind. You may start reciting scriptures, singing praise songs, or anything that will put your mind on spiritual things instead of the thought. That is how we must take the thought captive unto Christ.

If that thought is allowed to remain and we entertain it, then it will increase in intensity and we will soon act on it and then the sin is born. Then if we continue in that sin we will grieve the spirit until it will lead to spiritual death by progression if we do not stop it.

I believe the best Biblical example of this is the story of David and Bathsheba. David went up on his roof and seen Bathsheba bathing. At that moment he could have turned away and resisted his flesh. Instead he looked on her and lusted and then sent his guards to get her and bring her to him. He took her and got her pregnant while her husband was on the battlefield fighting in David’s army. It continues to escalate because he then sent for her husband and tried to get him to go and sleep with her so that he could say the baby was his and cover his sin. Instead Uriah would not so David sent him back to the battlefield and had him put in the fiercest of battles so he would be killed.

If you read the story you will find that this baby died at birth. This whole process is a vivid picture of what I was saying earlier. At any time in this process David could have stopped and corrected it. Instead he gave in to the thought allowed it to grow and acted on it and continued with it. The end result was that what was “birthed” through this sin ended up in “death.”

The enemy is going to attack us each day and try to cause us to sin. We have to fight off these attacks and keep our mind under the authority of Christ.

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