Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08058 The relationship between occult practices and demonic activity is one of the most clearly addressed subjects in Scripture, and yet it remains one of the areas where Christians are most uncertain. Some believers dismiss the entire category as superstition, while others live in exaggerated fear of accidental demonic contamination. The biblical position is…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 08055 Stories of haunted houses have been part of human culture for millennia, and they are not confined to superstitious pre-modern societies. Many people, including some Christians, report experiencing unexplained phenomena in certain buildings: strange noises, objects moving, oppressive atmospheres, and the sense of a presence that should not be there. Can a house…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08056 Ghost stories are among the oldest forms of human storytelling, and belief in ghosts remains remarkably persistent even in secular societies. Surveys consistently show that a significant proportion of the population in the Western world believes in ghosts or claims to have experienced a ghostly encounter. For the Christian, the question is not…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08053 If every genuine believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit from the moment of conversion, the question of whether Christians can experience demonic oppression is not a minor pastoral curiosity. It touches directly on the nature of the Spirit’s indwelling, the reality of ongoing spiritual warfare, and the practical experience of believers who…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 08054 The idea that demons can attach themselves to physical objects or locations is widespread in popular culture and not uncommon in certain Christian traditions. Some believers will not bring second-hand items into their homes without praying over them. Others feel a palpable spiritual unease in certain places and attribute it to demonic presence….
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08051 Paul makes a startling claim in 2 Corinthians 4:4: “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” This is not a metaphor for general ignorance…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08052 When Christians talk about demonic activity, terms like “possession,” “oppression,” and “influence” are used regularly, sometimes interchangeably and often without much precision. Understanding what Scripture actually describes, and what distinctions are warranted by the biblical text, matters enormously for pastoral care. A person struggling with spiritual attack needs accurate diagnosis, not borrowed terminology…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 08050 Paul warns Timothy that a church leader must be “well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7). The same phrase appears in 2 Timothy 2:26, where Paul expresses hope that those who oppose the truth may “come to their…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08071 Exorcism is a word that evokes strong reactions. For some, it conjures images from horror films and sensationalised media. For others, particularly in Pentecostal and charismatic traditions, it describes a regular feature of Christian ministry. For many in mainstream evangelical churches, it occupies an uncomfortable middle ground: something they believe happened in the…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08070 Deliverance ministry has become an established feature of charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity, with dedicated teams, training programmes, conferences, and a substantial body of literature devoted to the practice. In some churches, deliverance sessions are a regular part of congregational life, and in others they are presented as the key to spiritual breakthroughs that…