I have a friend who, back in January, was possessed by a demon; she growled on the phone with me once, I hung up, I got a message from 'her', and I get scared from the memory!  I pray to God every night, and my faith is true.  I ask Him to keep my family, friends, and I safe forever; will He?  I just want a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ because I don't want to be attacked by a demon.

Sincerely,
On The Defensive

Dear On The Defensive,

Evil spirits are real, but they were cast out and their powers greatly reduced by Christ and the apostles.  Demon possession ended not long after the days of Christ.  Jesus made it clear that one of His jobs was to bind the devil and take His strength away by casting out his demons (Matt 12:28-29).  When Jesus’ disciples had come back from their evangelism trips and related to Him that they had cast out many demons, Jesus told them that they were defeating Satan by getting rid of Satan’s demonic minions (Lk 10:17-18).  When Jesus and His disciples cast out demons, they did it permanently (Lk 8:30-33) and bound Satan by their acts.  We no longer have to deal with such overt attacks by the devil because he has been bound by Christ’s sacrifice (Rev. 20:2).  Demon possession no longer exists; the devil must use subtler methods to deceive us now.

     First, I want to say God bless all of you for taking the time to serve and feed us the truth about God’s Word.  All this information has been good for my soul.  I'm in a church where truly I'm not being fed; I'm more connected to the people.  My heart cries out for the people to desire, hunger, thirst, and truly be on fire for God.  To make this short, it's like my spirit is hungry for more.  It’s like people are just going through the motions.

Sincerely,
I Love The People

Dear I Love The People,

Your question brings up a fundamental issue – why do we go to church?  Is it for the people?  Or is there more to a “good” church than just finding people you like to spend time with?

The Bible says that we have a responsibility to assemble with other christians (Heb 10:24-25), but it also says that we need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12).  Christianity isn’t a team sport – we are each responsible for our own relationship with God, and we are each responsible for holding to the truth of God’s Word for ourselves.  Faith is built upon the truth of the Bible (Rom 10:17), and if you are at a congregation that doesn’t feed you the truth, it doesn’t matter how chummy you all are with each other.  Good people are a blessing, but truth always trumps friendships.

      I have a friend at work that has raised a thought to ponder I have never heard of:

1. If Jesus Christ wrote any part of the New Testament, my friend speculated that those writings were destroyed.
2. If Jesus Christ did not write down any part of the New Testament (other than in the sand), then my friend’s question was: "Why not?" and are there any passages that answer that question?

Sincerely,
Caught Off Guard

Dear Caught Off Guard,

What your friend is doing is bringing up a hypothetical assertion and expecting you to disprove it.  That is the exact opposite of how the Bible works.  If someone wants to assert that Jesus wrote a part of the New Testament and that Jesus' writings were later destroyed, he must come with evidence to back up such a claim.  The responsibility is on him to prove that point.

As far as why Jesus never wrote part of the New Testament, anything we say would be purely speculation.

     I understand that all spiritual gifts are no longer needed and have ceased; I understand why.  But a question came up with a Pentecostal friend that I need a little help with.  What is the scripture that explains to us that God chooses to no longer speak to people directly?  And what would be a good way to explain why He does not speak to people outside the Bible?

Sincerely,
Trying To Help

Dear Trying To Help,

There are several places that you can go to explain this concept to your Pentecostal friend.  Here are a few verses to show them:

1. We are told that the Bible contains everything we need to know concerning life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3).  If the Bible tells us everything we need to know, we don’t need anything else.
2. The Bible tells us that we shouldn’t add or subtract from God’s Word (Rev 22:18-19).  A vision or prophecy given to an individual would do exactly that.  If a “vision” says more than the Bible, we don’t need it, and if it says the same thing as the Bible, we don’t need it.
3. Heb 1:1-2 says that God used to speak to mankind through many diverse methods, but today He has spoken to us through His Son.  Jesus’ Word is now our only guide.
4. Jude 1:3 says that we have the Word of God handed down “once and for all”.  God has finished providing revelation to us.
5. The silver bullet verses are 1 Cor 13:8-9, but it is a little lengthier discussion to handle all of the arguments in that verse.  We recommend you read “Incomplete Understanding” for a complete breakdown of the 1 Cor 13:8-9 argument.

The long and the short of it is that prophecy was needed until the Bible was complete, but now that we have everything God wanted us to know, prophecy has ceased.

I was wondering if it should be counted as wrong if you are a christian and believe in heaven but use words that are considered bad on Earth.  I'm just confused because some of my christian friends use those words.

Sincerely,
Higher Vocabulary

Dear Higher Vocabulary,

Your friends are wrong for using foul language, and just because they call themselves christians doesn’t mean they can say whatever they want.  Eph 4:29 tells us to avoid all corrupt speech.  We need to avoid any and all language that sounds filthy or derogatory – this would include all swear words.