The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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The ability to distinguish between good and evil is a sign of maturity (Heb. 5:14). Although all
Christians are exhorted to be discerning, all do not have the gift of a discerning of spirits (I Cor.
12:10, 29-30).
Indications are that in the early church people with this gift were given the office of an
“exorcist.” Such persons have the ability to distinguish between spirits and to cast them out in the
name of Christ.
A distinction should be drawn between direct demon possession (or infestation or
demonization) and spiritual attacks which come to all Christians in the form of temptation. Some
Christians have made the mistake of diagnosing possession as the cause of every kind of Christian
failure. This is quite wrong. Temptation to sin is a normal experience in every human life, Christian
or otherwise. Most Christians will admit to finding certain kinds of temptation more attractive than
others and will suffer from what are called ‘besetting sins’ (Heb. 12:1). From time to time all
Christians sin (see I Jn. 1:8), but this does not mean, even if they have persistent problems with
particular sins, that they are possessed. Such sins can be weaknesses of the flesh (human nature--
Rom. 7:15-25) or “evil desires” (Jas. 1:14).
Demonic oppression is where God allows Satan to bombard us with temptations. Such
temptations come from without and must be resisted and renounced immediately. Paul put it, “For
though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with
are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine powers to demolish
strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge
of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (II Cor. 10:3-5). We
make our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ as we feed on God’s Word. That was the
weapon that Jesus used when tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Mt. 4:4,7,10). Our thoughts
must be brought into conformity to God’s thoughts which are found in His Word.
A distinction must also be drawn between demonic possession and mental illness. Although the
two may occur simultaneously, and in such a case possession would cause or worsen mental
illness, there is no necessary connection between the two. This distinction is extremely important.
Nothing is more damaging than when a person who suffers from mental illness is told that he is
possessed. This automatically increases his fears which make his illness even more acute. Just as
Christians are prone to physical illness, so they may be prone to certain mental weaknesses or
illnesses. And positive feedback is essential in such a case.
There seems to be a direct connection between demonic possession and the practice of the
occult. Any dabbling in the various kinds of occult behavior which is clearly and repeatedly
forbidden in the Bible (Lev. 19:26,31; Deut. 18:9-14), makes a person a target for satanic attack.