How can a Christian win an argument against a demon-possessed person?
The Word of God is key to defeating the kingdom of darkness. It is the sword of the Spirit and the only offensive part of the Armor of God. (Ephesians 6:13-17) That’s why, when I was still possessed by Liar, he wanted me to try to use worldly logic and deception to get Christians I’d get into arguments with to close their Bibles. I’d say something like: “I don’t care what some 2,000 year old book written by ignorant shepherds says. What do you think?” As soon as they closed their Bible, I knew they were no longer arguing using the Word of God as a guide, but their own intellect. That’s a huge mistake.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Demonic Strategies
Demons aren’t infallible, but they do have the benefit of having many thousands of years to observe how humans think. In addition to trying to get Christians to close their Bibles, Liar employed false teachings which I believed at the time. We would attack the validity of the Word of God by claiming that the Bible was originally true when it was first written, but it’d been corrupted by evil men throughout the millennia to create the modern church. Doing so both attacks the Word of God and also the authority of church leaders and godly theologians throughout all of history. Once that’s all in question, any teaching becomes equally valid.
The second strategy Liar liked to employ was to call good evil and evil good. A favorite verse of his was “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” (Matthew 7:1) Taken out of context, this verse sounds like calling any behavior sinful is itself sinful! Then Liar would have me take it one step further and proclaim that we are taking the moral high road by not condemning sin. We’d claim that accepting and even celebrating sinful behavior is loving and inclusive. We’d accuse faithful Christians of secretly harboring hatred for those who’s only “sin” is accepting others for who they really are.
However, in the proper context, it’s clear that Jesus was saying no such thing. At no point does Jesus ever say that we shouldn’t be condemning sinful behavior, but that our fight against sin needs to start with ourselves: “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:2-5)
Ironically, it’s just a bit farther in that same chapter that Jesus called out people like Liar and I for who we really were:
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Once the Word of God has been called into question and the rotten foundation of “anything goes” theology was laid down, then Liar would have me appeal to the sinful nature of anyone listening. We’d teach that people are basically good, instead of the truth that we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God. When someone does sin against you, we’d teach that karma was how the Universe would handle such offenses, instead of the reality that sin is eternal in nature. We’d teach reincarnation instead of the reality that we live only once and then face judgement once our lives are over. We’d teach that there is more than one way to reach an enlightened state, as opposed to there being only one way to the Father. We’d teach that embracing sin is liberation instead of slavery. We’d teach that celebrating sin is love instead of depravity.
The last thing that Liar wanted anyone to hear was that God is love and that Christ demonstrated that love for us by dying on the cross to pay the price for our sins.
They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.
The last tactic that Liar used was one that I particularly liked because it appealed to my arrogance: running rings of logic around the heads of Christians. What I mean by this is employing pointless logical hypothetical arguments, of which there are many. This distracts Christians and gets them to stop using the Word of God or sharing the Gospel and instead wasting time debating meaningless philosophical questions. Demons like this tactic because even the most humble Christian is still human, and we like to think we have an answer for everything. That’s why so we easily get distracted by the most meaningless arguments! All you need to do is to open up nearly any online forum and you’ll see people there arguing over pointless things. This is especially true with theological arguments.
For example: Can God make a rock so big He can’t lift it? It’s a pointless hypothetical question, but it’s a good example of the types of arguments that enemies of God (demons and humans alike) try to use to distract believers. It’s insidious because it sounds like there should be an answer, and the person asking it will often claim that if you can’t answer it, then God can’t exist. The question itself is just a math question, for which there is no answer. Furthermore, the existence of God doesn’t depend on anyone having an answer. The question relies on a common flaw in our understanding of mathematics. Many people think infinity is a number, but it’s not. It’s a mathematical concept. No matter what number you pick, there is always a larger number. Thus, infinity plus one is… infinity. That’s why there is no answer to the question, because asking if infinity A is larger than infinity B is mathematically meaningless. God is all powerful (Jeremiah 32:17), but His existence doesn’t depend on our understanding of infinity. Still, we think we should have an answer to that question (and countless others like it.) So we often make the mistake of closing our Bibles and trying to defend God against one pointless hypothetical argument after another, using our understanding rather than the Word of God.
Godly Strategies
So, how can Christians defeat such arguments? First, keep in mind that we aren’t called to win debates over meaningless theological and philosophical arguments. God created the Universe; he doesn’t need us to defend Him, especially against such pointless attacks! When someone, demon possessed or not, tries to distract you with useless arguments, keep your Bible open and steer the conversation back to what’s important. It doesn’t matter if we have an answer to a meaningless hypothetical question. It matters that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23.) It matters that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2.) It matters that unrepentant sinners will go to Hell (Revelation 20:15.) It matters that we can’t earn our way into Heaven by doing good works (Ephesians 2:8-9.) It matters that Jesus came to this world, lived a sinless life and paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross (1 Peter 2:21-24.) It matters that Jesus rose to life again, breaking the bonds of sin and death for those who accept Him and both Lord and Savior (Ephesians 2:4-7, Romans 10:9-10.) It matters that there is no other way to the Father but through Christ (John 14:6.)
As stated at the start of this section, the Word of God is the key to defeating the kingdom of darkness, which includes all of the arguments of both demons as well as this world’s many false teachings. Having been one of those false teachers and having seen how demons think firsthand, my advice is to know the Word of God and to be ready to preach it at all times, even if you don’t have your Bible on you! That’s why Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-2 to preach the Word and to be ready in season and out of season. You don’t need to have gone to seminary to memorize key verses. Anyone who is a believer should be ready to proclaim what they believe and to defend those beliefs using the Word of God. Even if your Bible is closed or if it’s not on you, the best response to “What do you think?” is a still a verse from the Bible.
Also, don’t forget prayer! Pray often and pray for wisdom (James 1:5) often even when you don’t expect to be confronted by someone challenging your faith. If it’s possible, pause and say a silent prayer before entering an argument with an unbeliever. Ephesians 6:18-20 says to pray at all times in the Spirit, to be ready to preach, to be on alert and that God will give you the words to speak.
Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
Lastly, keep Godly company (Proverbs 13:20) and when you do debate nonbelievers, have other Christians involved in the discussion where possible. There’s a reason Jesus sent his disciples out preaching in pairs (Mark 6:7). If you can’t think of a verse, your partner may know it. If you gets stumped by an argument or question, your partner may have the answer. Far too many Christians try to be Lone Rangers and often find themselves embroiled with arguments with many non-believers. God can use Christians in such situations, but it’s always better to have someone with you to back you up.
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.