There’s an ongoing joke in academic circles that you only have to be one lesson ahead of your students to be a successful teacher. Many “teachers” live this joke as their reality, to the detriment of their students.

In Christianity, preachers are the teachers, and most of them are not even one lesson ahead. In fact, they’re so far behind many of their “students”, they should be fired.

This is the sad reality that Christianity finds itself in today and one of the main reasons why so many people who are not actually Christians call themselves Christians: The teachers have no idea what they’re talking about and are leading people astray.

When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night to learn from him, Jesus called him out for not knowing his stuff and yet still professing to be a teacher of Israel. Church pulpits are full of Nicodemuses who need to be called out for their ignorance and either shamed into learning sound doctrine or driven from the temple (with whips, if necessary).

I mention this today because there is a growing belief within Christianity that Christians can have a demon – ranging from some form of oppression all the way up to full possession. This is so much nonsense that I wouldn’t waste two seconds on it if it weren’t for the fact that people are being taught this lie as if it were God’s truth and encouraged to consider demonic manifestations in their own lives as being of no greater consequence than fruit flies in the kitchen, and just as unavoidable.

For the record and in case any of you reading this have had your mind poisoned by this “doctrine of man” – a Christian cannot have a demon. Demons cannot go where they have not somehow been invited and they are definitely not invited anywhere God’s Holy Spirit resides, which is within born-again believers, also known as Christians.

You are a Christian if, and only if, God’s Spirit resides with you. The presence of God’s Spirit with you is the very definition of being a Christian. And if God’s Spirit resides with you, demons will want nothing to do with you as they know that, by the power of God’s Spirit, you have the authority to cast them out.

Demons have no power over a soul that has been claimed by God. They not only have no power over one of God’s own – they are AFRAID to be near such a person and go to great lengths to avoid him or her. Wherever Jesus showed up, any demons in the area would plead with him not to send them back to Hell “before the time”. How, then, can a Christian have demon if demons are afraid to be near Christians?

From personal experience, I can tell you this is true. When I was an atheist, I suffered horrendous demonic manifestations in my life, including sleep paralysis. The sleep paralysis episodes started when I was a child and continued until I was born again at age 36. From that point onward, they stopped entirely.

Spiritual rebirth is an instantaneous process that involves both cleansing and healing. The “cleansing” is an exorcism of demons. The day I was born again, I read the New Testament for the first time in my life. When I got to the part in scripture where it is written “and seven devils were driven out of Mary Magdalene”, God said to me: “That’s what happened to you, only there were a lot more than seven.”

Demons cannot go where God’s Holy Spirit resides. If demons could do that, then Jesus has no power over Satan and our entire belief system is a lie. I am living proof that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a lie. I am also living proof that the doctrine of man regarding Christians being demon-oppressed or demon-possessed IS a lie.

We do not need preachers in our pulpits teaching lies. Anyone preaching that Christians can have a demon needs to be immediately removed from his or her position. There can be no compromise on that. Genuine Christians need to challenge preachers the way that Jesus challenged Nicodemus and the hypocritical Jewish leaders. There is no room in Christianity for lies, any more than there is room in Christians for demons.