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THE CHRISTIAN AND DEMONIC POSSESSION In the spirit of "speak of the devil, and he shall appear," I will make this post very brief. The ongoing debate about whether or not a Christian can be demon possessed will not end this side of the rapture. The standard Christian response is, "Absolutely not! There's no way that Satan and God can inhabit the same body." While there's no scripture that actually says that, verses like I John 4:4 and II Corinthians 6:16 do seem to imply it, and there are no recorded cases in the New Testament of a blood-bought child of God being possessed of or by the devil. That being the case, it's probably correct to say that no true believer can be possessed of the devil in the sense of the devil doing the possessing, such as with Mary Magdalene or with the maniac of Gadara. But that doesn't settle much. The Christian CAN be hindered by Satan (I Ths. 2:18), buffeted by Satan (II Cor. 12:7), can give place to the devil (Eph. 4:27), can be tempted by the devil (I Cor. 7:5), can be taken captive by the devil (II Tim 2:26), can be reproached and snared by the devil (I Tim. 3:7) and even delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (I Cor. 5:5). Maybe that's not demonic possession, but it ain't far from it, at least not for all practical purposes. Satan still wins with far too many believers, even without devil possession, so the possession question is really irrelevant. It's sort of like people asking a piano student if he can play Chopsticks, a very easy task for most piano players, yet it's "the standard" for lots of people who know no better. So folks will keep asking the demon possession question, as if it's the all-important issue, when, in reality, it's practically irrelevant. Satan doesn't HAVE to possess you, if he can wipe you out a dozen other ways.