A person wrote on a Christian forum, ‘Satan can enter believers? More heresy’.[1]
My reply was as follows:[2]
I do wish this person’s presuppositions wouldn’t blind him to the facts recorded in the Gospels. A person who was denounced as promoting heresy, wrote:
Yes, he [Judas] was a believer. Even Calvinists will tell you unbelievers want nothing to do with the gospel, the kingdom, and the King Himself. If he wasn’t a believer, he would have turned away from Jesus just as other disciples did. Judas fell away when Satan entered him.[3]
So what did this person do but label his post as ‘heresy’ because he believes that ‘Judas fell away when Satan entered him’
Gospel facts
Let’s check out the Gospel facts. In Matthew 10, we note these Gospel details in the authoritative Scriptures:
‘These twelve [including Judas] Jesus sent out, instructing them’ (Matt 10:5). How did Jesus describe these 12?
‘Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves’ (Matt 10:16). So Jesus regarded Judas as one of his ‘sheep’.
‘For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you’ (Matt 10:20). So all of the 12, including Judas, had the Holy Spirit of YOUR heavenly Father speaking through them. So, for Judas, God was HIS Father.
What happened later to Judas? ‘Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve’ (Luke 22:3).
So the biblical record provides these facts about Judas:
He was called as one of the 12, ‘whom he also named apostles’, and appointed the 12 that ‘he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons’ (Mk 3:13-15). Is this fellow daring to say that Jesus sent out Judas to preach and cast out demons and Judas was not a believer? That really is stretching my Gospel imagination!
He was one of Jesus’ sheep;
The Spirit of the heavenly Father spoke through Judas;
God the Father was Judas’s God.
Then Satan entered into Judas (and the rest is history).
It is entirely biblical to say that a believer who was chosen by Jesus, who was one of Jesus’ sheep, who had the Spirit of the Father speaking through him, eventually allowed Satan to enter him.
It is preposterous that this person could state that a poster on a Christian forum is promoting heresy when the Scriptures declare these facts, including the fact of Satan entering Judas – a called one, follower, preacher and exorcist for Jesus.
Notes
[1] Christian Forums, General Theology, Soteriology, ‘Does Matthew 11:13 support election and reprobation?’ Hammster#22, available at: http://www.christianforums.com/t7779586-3/ (Accessed 13 October 2013).
[2] OzSpen#29, ibid.
[3] Ask Seek Knock#20, ibid.
Copyright © 2013 Spencer D. Gear. This document last updated at Date: 12 November 2015.