How do demons enter our lives, and sometimes ourselves (bodies, minds)?
The term we often hear is “open doors”: They enter when we give them the opportunity to.
Notes a preacher: “Every person on the face of the earth is a target of satan’s kingdom. He devises a plan to ruin and destroy each person, there is no one who is exempt.
“Normally, Christians are hedged about so that demons can’t enter into them (yes, despite what some would adamantly deny, Christians can be demonized). Normally, non-Christians are also protected to a certain extent in that the Lord does not allow demons to violate their free wills. An opening in the protective hedge must be made before demons can get into a person’s body.
“That said, demons do not always automatically leave the body of a demonized person when converted to Christ. The convert may need to have prayer for deliverance.”
One such prayer for protection is here.
Possible demonic doorways:
“Sinful sexuality. Pornography. Addictions. Drugs. Fortunetelling. New Age meditation (such as Transcendental Meditation) and New Age visualization. Practicing yoga. Laying on of hands from someone who is demonized (demons can transfer). Tattoos, especially if the tattoo is an evil figure or an occult symbol. Making oaths or pledges to wrong sources.”
These are on his list. We can add some very important entry points, such as unforgiveness, holding a grudge, disobedience, and untruthfulness.
When we lie or even only “fib” — perhaps just shade or omit the truth — we are granting entry to demons and an easy one at that, for Satan knows this entry more than just about any other. After all, he is the Prince of Lies.
He is also the Prince of Pride, and when we’re haughty, arrogant, egotistical, superior, condescending, harshly critical, purveyors of gossip, rude, crude, or simply puffed up — often over our spirituality, money, possessions, or politics — this also opens the door. We can even be proud of not having pride!
Satan is also the Prince of Death — a “murderer from the beginning,” said Jesus — and so anything that points to human demise likewise opens gateways to the demonic.
This doesn’t just mean homicide, suicide, or abortion, but also things we do that shorten our lives or those of others, such as overconsumption (of food or drinks), pollution, failure to take care of the body (temple of the Holy Spirit), reckless driving, ignoring safeguards, and so forth. Watch all your thoughts. They count!
When there is an obsession with anyone or anything, this too opens a door, as does any form of anger.
Anger is a big deal.
As for the preacher, he lists numerology, astrology, dowsing (or water witching), tarot cards (or oracle cards), palm reading, a pendulum, or contacting the “dead” as in a séance and divination games such as Charlie Charlie. Playing with an Ouija Board even on a smartphone. Drunkenness. Listening to music inspired by dark forces. Hypnosis or hypnotherapy. Reiki or anything to do with arcane mystical energies (such as c’hi), or psychic healing (a huge demonic door opener). Also, involvement with Shiatsu and the like. Watching horror movies. Being involved with abortion or shedding innocent blood. Involved in a blood sacrifice. Deliberately astral projecting, or “remote viewing.” Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, or similar games; certain video games. Calling upon spirit guides or ascended masters. Ghost hunting. Unwilling to forgive and having bitterness. Being a worker of iniquity (stripper or frequenting strip clubs, prostitution or fornicating with prostitutes, involved in gang activity, selling drugs, stealing, constantly lying, infidelity, direct rebellion against God or parents, etcetera). Idle words. Profanity. Cursing God. Giving in to irrational fits of rage. Any use of God’s Name in vain. This is big.
Obviously, the list is a long one.
We need not use it legalistically.
The Holy Spirit lets us know when we are out of balance, and it is when we are not in balance — when we are extreme in any way — that there grows a rent in our spirits that can serve as a doorway to spirits that seek to enter.
Often, we feel the onset of demonism how? As a heaviness. A sudden darkening of mood. Confusion. Hostility. Aggravation. Anxiety. Insomnia. Obsession, oppression, depression. Hear the hiss.
Now, these failings don’t mean you already have demons! No. It is just to indicate potential pathways. Fasting is powerful in cleansing.
We win when we purge ourselves through prayer and Confession — sincere repentance — at the very first sign of any infiltration.
[resources: Prayer of the Warrior]
[Footnote: Further observations from the post, for your consideration only:
Possible signs or symptoms of demonization or demon possession:
- Feeling or sensing the demons moving on the inside of them; can feel the pains move around. Feeling pressure or tightness and movement in the head or eyes and stomach areas.
- Will have strong, inner compulsions to do bad things that are not in their normal behavior patterns like having bad thoughts of suicide, murder, or to molest. May also have very strong addictions to things like drugs, alcohol, pornography, and masturbation.
- Very manipulative and controlling (could be a Jezebel spirit).
- Can have multiple personalities or an “alternate ego“.
- Intense uncontrollable rage or anger; extremely violent.
- Very heavy, uncontrollable twitching type activity on certain parts of their bodies like their face and their arms.
- A compulsive desire to want to curse and blaspheme God and Jesus.
- The demons can sometimes control the vocal cords and speak right out of the person’s mouth. When this occurs, the tone of the person’s voice could change, like a woman speaking out in a man’s deep, husky voice. Demons can also emit animal-like sounds out of a person’s mouth and vocal cords like the hissing of a snake, the growling of a lion or tiger, or the emitting of a baying type howl like a wolf. They can also let out very loud screams and yells, especially when being directly confronted by the deliverance minister during the actual deliverance itself.
- Various types of facial contortions which no longer look like the person, such as glazed eyes or a filmy look, slit eyes, blank stare type eyes, eyes rolling backward where all you see are the whites of the eyes, black eyes, and stretching the skin of the face into a contorted, hissing like expression.
- Various types of bodily contortions like people slithering across the floor like snakes, getting on all fours and barking like dogs, growling like lions, or howling like wolves. Strangely stretching out their spines, fingers, and hands locking up and going rigid, and demons grabbing a hold of a person’s throat to try to stop them from talking with a deliverance minister. The demons can also whip the head in a very rapid side-to-side type movement, stretch the neck out as far as it will go, along with jolting portions of the body causing those portions to move in a very rapid side-to-side type movement.
- Hearing voices or having tormenting thoughts in your head. Sometimes hear words accusing you, putting you down, blaspheming God, or compelling you to commit murder or other criminal acts; very intrusive thoughts (I would say there is almost a 100% certainty of having demons with this symptom).
- Extreme pride or arrogance. Have a mocking smile or laughter when praying for deliverance over the person. Demons are very proud (read about Leviathan).
- Engaging in self-harm acts such as self-mutilation or cutting.
- Perhaps most, if not all, mental illnesses or disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, neurosis, etc.
- Epileptic seizures.
- Many diseases and physical afflictions can be due to spirits of infirmity (See: Luke 13:11). I believe Morgellons disease and fibromyalgia are several examples. Blindness, deafness, and being mute can be demonically caused.
- Having a choking sensation; dizziness; blackouts.
- Have a very hard time praying and reading or hearing from their Bible. Aversion to worship.
- Inability to confess Christ.
- A feeling of heaviness or oppression. Strong depression. Melancholia.
- Uncontrollable or very powerful feelings of lust. Strong impulses of sexual perversity.
- Having psychic abilities or mediumistic abilities.
- Extreme hatred for a people group (e.g., Jews, the Church, etc.).
- Speaking in a foreign language that the person never learned before.
- In regard to children, extremely defiant, rebellious, out of control, violent and hateful towards parents.
- Terrifying doubt of one’s salvation even though one once knew the joy of this salvation.
- Hyperventilation and shortness of breath with no medical cause.
- Feel like you are being constricted much like a snake constricts its prey.
- Constant anxiety or terrifying panic attacks or other abnormal fears.
- Compulsive desire to tear other people down even if it means lying to do so. The vicious cutting use of the tongue may well be demonic.
- Dreams and nightmares that are of a horrific, recurring nature. Clairvoyant dreams– dreams that later come true– may be demonic. Frequent dreams of dead people or death; or dreams of a (horrid) sexual nature.
- Constantly seeing the same number groupings.
- Thinking you are being gang stalked without any substantial evidence or when it hasn’t been confirmed by another person. Scared all the time or paranoid.
- Superhuman strength.
- Kundalini symptoms.
- Scratches on the body that didn’t come from any natural source.
- Alien Hand Syndrome (a person’s hand involuntary tries to harm the person).
- Insomnia.
- Sicknesses that doctors can’t detect.
- Warped and distorted character: hard, egoistic persons; uncongenial, dark natures.
- Macabre imaginations; very dark, twisted fantasies.
- Tourette Syndrome – tics, vocal or physical repetitions such as grunts, hissing, swearing, blasphemy, and jerking part of the body.
- Symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
- Headaches without any medical cause; inability to concentrate.
- Issues with gluttony.
- Chronic memory or concentration deficits with no organic or traumatic cause.
- Having a messiah complex.
Signs of demonic activity (may not necessarily be because of demonization):
- Seeing orbs or strange lights.
- Catching shadows or streaks out of the corner of your eye or peripheral vision.
- Poltergeist activity: hearing knocking or footsteps; items being moved around the house.
- Hearing voices, breathing, growling, barking, pig-like noises, or hissing in your ear as you start to fall asleep.
- Strange smells like smoke, burnt moldy wood, badly burned pork, rotten eggs, sulfur, etc.
- Sleep Paralysis, hypnic jerk, being slapped, or touched while sleeping.
- Waking up and seeing gray, black, or pale greenish/gray clouds.
- Pets appear to see things that you can’t. In many cases, the animal will interact with something or appear fearful.
- You feel like you are constantly being watched.
- Electronics malfunction. Lights flicker, light bulbs blow, etc.
- Synchronicities keep occurring. You keep seeing specific numbers like 11:11 or 444 on the clock or other repeating numbers.
- Frequent or strange accidents.
- Sexually assaulted or tempted by evil spirits.
- People attacking you for no valid reason.]