This week we want to answer the question, ”How do demons gain access to God’s people?” After all, we are saved and the Holy Spirit lives in us. In the first chapter of Job, a somewhat disturbing scene is revealed from the heavenlies. Satan comes before God after “roaming throughout the earth going back and forth” (Job 1:7). Satan seems to have been diligently searching for something. God brings up his servant Job as a model of righteousness and Satan immediately begins to accuse him. We should not be surprised. Satan actually means “adversary” and his other primary title, the devil, means the “accuser” or “slanderer.”
We also see that scene played out in the book of Revelation. Speaking of the devil, we are told, “For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down” (Rev. 12:10). In the gospel of Luke, Jesus speaking to Peter said, “Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Lk.22:31). We see the same scene in Zechariah 3:1 where Satan is standing before the Lord accusing Joshua the high priest.
These texts present us with a court room scene in which Satan brings accusations against God’s people. He is the adversary or prosecuting attorney who brings accusations in order to gain a legal right to afflict God’s people. He searches the earth to do so. God, being a just God, must allow him some access if there is a legitimate accusation. It seems that God does set limits on that access, but Satan procures some access all the same.
The legitimate question arises of how Satan can find cause against us when our sins have been forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ. One of the nuances of scripture that is often overlooked is that our sins can be forgiven in heaven while we still face consequences in this life.
King David is an example of this principle. After David’s adultery with Bathsheba and after setting her husband Uriah up to be killed in battle, Nathan the prophet confronted David with his sin. The text says, “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own…Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die” (2 Sam. 12:19-14).
Not only did the child die, but David’s son Absalom attempted to take the throne from his Father, had sex with is father’s concubines on the palace roof, and was killed in battle. Even though David’s sins were forgiven and his relationship with the Lord restored, there were still the consequences of his actions to be faced. God walked with David through the consequences of his sin, but he still had to endure them. Paul restates the principle when he says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7-8). Consequences are God’s great teachers. When I disciplined my children, I was not angry (usually) and my love had not diminished, but I knew negative consequences were needed to turn them from dangerous or destructive behaviors later.
God is a father. In Deuteronomy 28, he clearly states that if Israel was careful to keep his commandments, then abundant blessings would follow. In parenting terms, he was reinforcing positive behaviors. They would be blessed in the city and in the country. Their children would be healthy. Their crops would flourish. The rains would come at just the right times. They would have peace on their borders, etc. But, if they were not careful to keep his commandments, abundant curses would come on them. In parenting terms, he was extinguishing destructive behaviors with war, drought, disease, famine, miscarriages, etc. These consequences were designed to turn them back to God so he could forgive their sin and bless them again like the prodigal returning to his father.
In addition, the Lord also said that rebellion and idolatry committed by parents would be visited upon their children to the third and fourth generations (Ex. 20:5). In other words, the unrepented sins of parents would have consequences for their children, grandchildren, and so on. These are generational curses. Demons assigned to family lines can be passed on to the next generation so that a child may have a demon assigned to him/her from birth.
When Satan is accusing us before God, he is looking for unrepented sin in our own lives as well as sins in our bloodlines that have not been confessed and renounced. When he finds those sins, he asks for a legal right to enforce a curse that has been assigned to the sin. Demonization can be a consequence of sin that has not been dealt with. In my experience, the sins that lead in this area for believers are unforgiveness, judging others, dabbling in witchcraft, unbelief, sexual sins, abortion, materialism, prejudice, compromise with the culture, etc. These are sin curses. When sin goes unrepented, because of his righteousness, God may have to lift his hand of protection and give Satan some level off access. It may lead to demonization. In any area of our live where we come into agreement with Satan, we give him authority in our lives.
A second source of demonization can come through word curses…authoritative words that direct demons to afflict or oppress another individual, an organization, or a nation. The reality of this threat is borne out in Numbers 22 when Balaam (I think a prophet gone bad) is hired to declare a curse over Israel. God takes the curse seriously enough to be being willing to kill Balaam to prevent him from declaring the curse. Satan can prompt someone to speak a curse over another or even over himself. If he can gain legal access, he can enforce the curse. Curses can be formalized statements made by witches or warlocks, which is far more prevalent today than you might think. But, they can also be informal statements that express harmful outcomes over another person. These are especially potent if someone speaking a curse has spiritual authority over the target…parents over children, husbands over wives, spiritual leaders over those who follow, etc. Their authority gives Satan authority to enforce the curse.
It is true that Solomon declared, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov. 26:2). But Satan is in the business of finding something that can make the curse “deserved.” During Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia, his chief of police famously said, “Show me the man and I will show you the crime.” In other words, everyone has something if you look hard enough.
Often these curses are spoken in anger or fear or frustration, but they are spoken all the same. They may be something like, “I wish you were dead! I wish you had never been born! You will never amount to anything! No one will ever love you! I hope you suffer like I have! You’re going to end up in prison just like your father! Etc. We often speak things like that over ourselves. These statements can function as curses that Satan is glad to enforce.
James spends a great deal of time talking about the tongue and the call on believers to speak life (blessings) over people and situations and not death (curses). “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Prov. 18:21). Curses are a real thing and demonization of an individual can occur as a result of spoken words. It’s important to remember that demonization does not cost us our salvation. It simply hinders our destiny and our ability to become more like Jesus.
Demonization occurs when a demon(s) gets a permanent assignment on a person. He may simply attack through people and circumstances from the outside, but most often the unclean spirit attempts to take up residence within the person and a stronghold is established. That stronghold wages war in our thought life so that our thoughts and our feelings are heavily influenced by the enemy. That influence is designed to move our hearts further and further from God, to undermine our success, and damage our relationships. They can even mimic diseases in our lives so that we battle sickness and debilitating conditions for years. They come to us through unrepented sin in our own life, sins in our family line that have not been dealt with and through word curses spoken over us by others or ourselves. I will also add that some can find entrance through trauma we have endured – violence, abuse, molestation, rape, etc.
Next Week – Indicators of demonization and how to break free!