Where Do Dispossessed Demons Go

The Devil Has Possessed No One

Not yet anyway. If he had he would have been dispossessed a long time ago and out of the picture now.

You see, all dispossessed spirits are confined to the prison of hell until the day of judgment and while confined they no longer have access to humans or their environment (Jude 1:6).

So the devil has possessed no one yet. He’s still “going to and fro in the earth, and…walking up and down in it.” He leaves the “possession” of humans to his demonic minions.

But more importantly – and this is a huge observation – because dispossession puts demons out of commission permanently, I seriously doubt possession is a key part of Satan’s strategy these days.

Since all “confined” demons pose no threat, each dispossession represents a loss in man power. Since he lost a large number of demons during the ministries of Christ and the Apostles he has probably rethought that approach. “Possession” is probably not his method of choice these days.

And demons can be dispossessed or neutralized in more than one way:

• Being cast out – the first thing most people think of.
• The embodied person dies.
• The embodied person is put in prison.
• The embodied person is incapacitated physically by an accident.
• Who knows, even embodiment may induce biological reactions that render the person infirm or paralyzed.

Obviously, possession has a life span no greater than the life of the possessed individual and possibly less. Since demons don’t procreate and can’t create new demons to replace the ones they’ve lost, possession represents a negative strategy.

And I am sure the devil and his demons are clever enough to figure this out. Remember, they are created beings and have the ability to learn. You don’t have to be particularly smart to realize that possessing people isn’t the most efficient approach and these guys are definitely capable of coming up with other means to manipulate humanity and fight against God.

Even believers, who can’t be possessed, can be controlled by Satan. Believers who are argumentative and obstinate toward God’s truth are rendered vulnerable to Satan’s control (2 Timothy 2:24-26). That happens without possession.

So any person can avoid the devil’s trap by humbly attending to God’s truth and God’s servants should spend more effort helping people understand God’s truth than casting out demons. The proper focus is truth not devils. Those obsessed with expunging demons may be looking in the wrong direction.

Just to be clear, demons can possess people but for all the stated reasons that isn’t their best option. There are other, more effective ways to achieve their goals.

How Many Demons Are There

So, how many demons are there? We don’t know exactly and the Bible doesn’t say. But a better question might be, “How many demons are active?” That is, how many haven’t possessed someone and been dispossessed and therefore lost to the devil’s service? We don’t have a head count for those either and I’m sure there are many still harassing humanity but with so many being dispossessed during the ministry of Christ the numbers are far less.

That doesn’t mean the Devil and his Demons aren’t threats. It means we shouldn’t give them credit for greater numbers than they actually have. Ignorance plays to their psychological advantage.

Question: Why do we think believers cannot be possessed?

The short answer is, they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The thinking is, the Holy Spirit could not inhabit the same space as a demon spirit. Since God promises to “never leave you nor forsake you” we can be sure that demons will not be able to possess God’s child.

Which means, of course, regardless how many demons are active there are far fewer people they can possess. More reason to think possession may not be their best strategy.

THINK!AboutIt

Heaven Is For Real is a bio of a “near death” experience (NDE) but without all the “weird” and “sketchy” images that usually accompany such stories.

It doesn’t focus on “long tunnels with lights at the end” or the sensation of watching medical personnel feverishly operate from a hovering out-of-body perspective. The details aren’t blurred and unanswered questions don’t abound. It is a matter of fact story shared from the perspective of an almost four-year-old child who had no preconceived ideas beforehand and explains everything casually. To him it wasn’t strange.