Common Sense Commentary: Greek mythology tells of a young hunter, Narcissus, who was renowned for his beauty... and so proud of it, he fell in love with himself and could not bear leaving his reflective image in a pond, and so, died there gazing at his only beloved. He loved himself more than anyone else and even more than life itself..... Narcissism is self-worship.
As the vast majority of human beings are driven to survival, some are equally driven to power, control, sex, wealth, excessive food, alcohol, drugs, fame, false religion, perversion, physical beauty, perfection and other depraved, inordinate fantasies. I say, "equally driven", because I have known of people who were as obsessed with these out of control lusts as with their very survival... because it killed them and they knew it was killing them. In fact, any of those things, if coveted to such an extreme, will ruin your physical or mental health and shorten your life. The question is, what inner force is it which has such power over a person as to drive them deeper and deeper into their insatiable passion for fulfillment to the satisfaction of their personal demon? I think it is just that .... a demon or demons.
There are three possible ways demons may affect a person. First, a "religious" person, or one raised under excessive "religious" (Not Christ-like) influence, may become obsessed with the idea of demons. This obsession accredits every mistake, sin or negative experience to demons. We do some of those things on our own. But they may "feel the presence of demons" in every personal conflict, in people they don't like or maybe in large buildings at night, alone, or in a "haunted house". Some see demons behind every shadow and problem. Second, a person may be oppressed by demons. Satan often oppresses someone who is close to accepting Christ or has already been saved and is seeking God's will, or someone God is dealing with. A true Christian can be oppressed "upon" by demons, but not "within" himself. This brings us to the third effect .... Demon possessed. All true Christians have God's Holy Spirit ... all of Him. He is not liquid, vapor or divisible substance. The Scripture speaks of Him as a person ... the third person of the Trinity. The problem is not how much of the Holy Spirit you have but how much of you... He has. Some Christians reserve compartments of their lives unyielded to God. But the Spirit of Christ wants all of us as we have all of Him. You either have Him or you don't have Him. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Rom.8:9. Therefore, if you are a Christian, and the Spirit of Christ lives IN you, demons cannot live there, in you, with Christ, also. It is not possible. Christ would not live there with Satan and Satan cannot live there with Christ ... In you. Christians cannot be demon possessed but they can be demon obsessed or demon oppressed and still be a Christian.
A narcissist is either demon oppressed or demon possessed, but it is not possible for a "self worshiper" to also be a worshiper God. Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters...." Matt.6:24. Even though there are often "professing" Christians and even "preachers" who are obviously narcissists. They, therefore, probably are not truly saved, in my opinion. I think Judas fit that description. This was the downfall of Lucifer, the Arch-angel, also. Read his self adoration's ambition in Isa. 14:13-14. There, you will see a narcissist or self-worshiper. He clearly put himself above his Creator and worshiped himself, not God, but pretended to worship God. You will see, there, that God did not tolerate Lucifer's self-worship for long and he will not tolerate it in us either .... for long.
Jesus asked some unbelieving Jews, "How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?" Jn.5:44. These very religious people claimed to be "believers" in God, but Jesus denied them. RB
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