What does the Bible say about present-day demon possession?

Sincerely,
Afraid Of The Dark

Dear Afraid Of The Dark,

Evil spirits are real, but they were cast out and their powers greatly reduced by Christ and the apostles.  Demon possession ended not long after the days of Christ.  Jesus made it clear that one of His jobs was to bind the devil and take His strength away by casting out his demons (Matt 12:28-29).  When Jesus’ disciples had come back from their evangelism trips and related to Him that they had cast out many demons, Jesus told them that they were defeating Satan by getting rid of Satan’s demonic minions (Lk 10:17-18).  When Jesus and His disciples cast out demons, they did it permanently (Lk 8:30-33) and bound Satan by their acts.  We no longer have to deal with such overt attacks by the devil because he has been bound by Christ’s sacrifice (Rev. 20:2).  Demon possession no longer exists; the devil must use subtler methods to deceive us now.

My idea about the Holy Spirit is He started to be part of christians after Jesus’ ascension because Jesus promised His disciples to be indwelt in order for them to do marvelous works in the kingdom.  My question is: what made the Old Testament believers do God's Will if the Holy Spirit was not yet given to them until the New Testament?  What power enabled the early believers in the Old Testament?

Sincerely,
Empowered

Dear Empowered,

The Holy Spirit doesn’t control the actions of every christian; He teaches us through the Word of God.  The Holy Spirit came and gave the apostles the ability to precisely teach, preach, and write down what God intended for mankind to know (see “What The Holy Spirit Does” for further details).

The Holy Spirit has always interacted with mankind, but in the Christian era, He has specifically worked through Jesus, Jesus’ apostles, and prophets (Heb 1:1-2).  The Old Testament prophets also spoke as the Spirit gave them power (2 Pet 1:21).  God specifically said that the Old Testament prophets spoke through the Holy Spirit’s wisdom (Ex 31:1-3, 1 Sam 11:6, 2 Chr 15:1… just to name a few examples).

The Holy Spirit doesn’t force or control the actions of people.  He has given us the words of life that we might choose to do what is right when we read and understand God’s Will (Eph 3:3-4).

Do people have past lives because sometimes I feel like I had a past life before.  For example, I go some way, and I have never been there before, and I know my way around.  I see someone for the first time, and I feel like we have met before.

Sincerely,
Deja Vu

Dear Deja Vu,

The Bible makes it clear that we only have one life; reincarnation doesn’t happen.  Heb 9:27 says that we are appointed to die once, and then we face the judgment.  Each human is given one life to live.  The feeling of déjà vu that you experience from time to time is a normal human feeling, but it isn’t because of past lives.

When is the Sabbath?  The Bible says its the seventh day.  Why do so many keep Sunday as the Sabbath?

Sincerely,
A Day To Remember

Dear A Day To Remember,

Saturday is the Sabbath day… but christians don’t have to worry about keeping the Sabbath.  The word ‘sabbath’ means ‘rest’.  The Sabbath day was a day that the nation of Israel was told to rest, stop working, and make holy to the Lord (Ex 31:15).  This rule was so strict that a man was once stoned for collecting firewood on Saturday (Num 15:32-36).  However, this was a Jewish command, not a Christian one.  The Sabbath was part of the Old Testament law – a law that christians are no longer under (Gal 3:23-25).  We are specifically told not to let anyone bind the Sabbath on us (Col 2:16).  Christians worship Christ on the first day of the week – Sunday (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor 16:1-2).  We are not bound by the strict rules of avoiding all work like the Jews were, but we are told to treat Sunday as “the Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10).

If we don’t live by the Old Testament, what about the Ten Commandments?

Sincerely,
Longing For Laws

Dear Longing For Laws,

The ‘Ten Commandments’ were Old Testament laws, and you need to live by nine of them. The entire Old Testament law, including the ‘Ten Commandments’ was done away with in Christianity (Gal 3:23-25). The New Testament law supersedes the Old Testament one, and the law written on stone tablets (the Mosaic law which includes the Ten Commandments (Deu 4:13) has passed away (2 Cor 3:3-11).

Having said that, the New Testament reiterates nine out of the ten commands. Christians do obey nine of the ‘Ten Commandments’ because Christ thought nine of them were worth keeping in the New Testament.

1. Thou shalt not have any other god before me (Ex 20:3, 1 Cor 10:14)
2. Thou shalt not make graven images or bow down to them (Ex 20:4-5, 1 Jhn 5:21)
3. Thou shalt not take God’s name in vain (Ex 20:7, Heb 12:28)
4. Honor thy father and mother (Ex 20:12, Eph 6:1-2)
5. Thou shalt not kill (Ex 20:13, 1 Pet 4:15)
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery (Ex 20:14, Heb 13:4)
7. Thou shalt not steal (Ex 20:15, Eph 4:28)
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness (Ex 20:16, Rev 21:8)
9. Thou shalt not covet (Ex 20:17, Eph 5:3)

The only one of the ‘Ten Commandments’ left out is the keeping of the Sabbath (Ex 20:8). Christians aren’t bound to keep the Sabbath holy; Jews were. You have to keep the other nine though.