I would like to know whether there any demon-possessed men today? If yes, how can we help them? -- Sérgio Costa (São Paulo)
I have never personally seen a possessed person, except for someone on YouTube. (An imam tried to drive out the demon from a young girl; I was underwhelmed.) While open to the possibility, I must admit my skepticism. 1 Corinthians 10:13 indicates believers will not be overtaken by a sin over which they are powerless. God destroyed the power of the evil spirits through the Cross (Colossians 2:13-15). So he protects his followers, though I suppose it could be argued that exorcism is the "way out" of 1 Corinthians 10. Yet I have heard stories! What if one of them were true?
If someone were truly possessed, then a NT-style exorcism would be appropriate, wouldn't it? Still, in my present thinking, only persons with a certain predilection to believing they are susceptible to possession are likely to experience the demonic. Their experience may be projection, or perhaps authentic. (For more on the possibility that some people can truly be possessed today, read People of the Lie, by M. Scott Peck, a psychiatrist who, to his own surprise, came to believe in possession. He is also the author of The Road Less Traveled.)
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