12 demonic access points that lead to emotional distress
God is the complete embodiment of love. The fruit of His Spirit in us is love, joy and peace. Just as the presence of the Holy Spirit gives us light joyous emotions, the bondage to evil spirits brings dark, heavy, and anxious emotions. Demons cannot drag believers down into the pit of emotional gloom unless they have been given legal access. In this post, we will cover 12 demonic access points evil spirits use to bring emotional distress that we must close, together with supporting real life examples.
(简体中文 > 导致情绪困扰的12个邪灵入侵途径 | 繁體中文 > 導致情緒困擾的12個邪靈入侵途徑)
1 John 4:7-8 NKJV Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1. Idol worship
The Bible shows us that idol worship and sacrifices to any other god (demons) will lead to a “root of bitterness” and “clusters” of bitterness. A bitter life is characterised by chronic hardship and/or unresolved emotional pain. In bitterness, we will seem to carry invisible emotional burdens and feel persistently sad, disappointed, stuck, resentful, frustrated, angry, and so on. We feel as if we have very limited emotional strength and there is little joy in living.
Deuteronomy 29:17-19 NKJV and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold); so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.
Deuteronomy 32:16-18,32-33 NKJV They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you… For their vine is of the vine of Sodom And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras.
Psalm 88:3-4 NKJV For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draws near to the grave. I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength,
Example: A Christian woman used to be tormented by thoughts that her family hated her. This led her to feel rejected, anxious, abandoned and all alone. As a child, she was dedicated to a Chinese deity and was taught to pray to her family’s guardian spirits and ancestors. At home, there was a large altar of idols. At an inner healing and deliverance prayer session, she repented and renounced all her family idols. But it was when she deleted all her personal photos of the idols and altars that her family worshipped, that she had a breakthrough and realised her family didn’t hate her. She had been held in bondage to the demons her family worshipped all these years. They had tormented her with lies about her closest relationships. Now she removed their images from her photo library, she was set free from their mental and emotional torment. Every Christian needs to renounce the idol worship that they and their family have been involved with, so as to break the covenants made with darkness and death.
Exodus 20:3-6 NKJV “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
2. Loss of self control
The Bible warns us that when we don’t rule over our own spirit (which includes our conscious awareness), we will be like cities without walls, vulnerable to enemy attack. This includes those who give control of their consciousness over to alcohol, drugs or deep meditation or allow someone else to control our body, soul, and spirit through seances, channeling, and hypnotism. Another way we don’t rule over our own spirit is when we lose self control of our emotions and give in to strong emotions such as rage, panic or fear. A flood of such emotions overwhelms the logic processing centre of our brains and can shut down clear thinking.
Proverbs 25:28 NKJV Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.
Example: A woman went for drinks after a stressful day at work with her colleagues and became very intoxicated. Shortly afterwards, she started to manifest demonic behaviour. She was upset, thrashed around, rejected prayer, avoided listening to worship music and mocked those who were praying for her for the whole night. She even attacked her own husband with her nails and left bloody wounds. The next morning, she still didn’t feel like herself, she felt “off”. After a friend said deliverance prayers over her, she calmed down. During this time, the Holy Spirit revealed that her workplace had been dedicated to different gods and that she had been under their oppression. Once she was drunk, they “invaded” her and took over control.
3. Eyes filled with darkness
Jesus has said that our eye is like a lamp of our body that either allows light or darkness into our bodies. He meant this in spiritual terms. Just as we have a physical body, we also have a spiritual body. Our physical body is temporal but our spiritual body is forever. (It is this spiritual body that goes to heaven or hell.) When we persistently watch rituals or shows that glorify demons, darkness, madness, the paranormal, blood and gore, murder, witchcraft, and so on, we expose our spiritual bodies to a lot of darkness. These allow evil spirits to bring fear, madness and psychosis in as a result of what we expose our eyes to.
Luke 11:34 NKJV The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
1 Corinthians 15:44 NKJV It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
Example: A woman was diagnosed as schizophrenic and was on medication. During an inner healing and deliverance prayer session, the Holy Spirit brought her to a memory where she had watched a psychotic thriller where she connected deeply with the lead character, who was a psychotic. She began to think a lot about him, and even think like him. That opened a door for evil spirits to come in and mess with her mind and emotions. She began to have hallucinations, be paranoid and erratic, and withdraw socially, just like that character in the movie. This was not a temporary episode of being an obsessed fan of the show, it became a chronic condition that followed her for many years, until she was delivered of the demons she had allowed into through what she had watched and had become fascinated with. Later, she was able to stop her medication as well as being examined by her doctor.
4. Curses from our forefathers’ iniquity
The Lord judges any form of iniquity because it is the very opposite of His nature and leads us to corruption and manipulation by the enemy. Proverbs 6:16-19 shows us some examples of iniquity: arrogance, murder and violence, evil scheming, hatred, lying, and sowing discord. God’s blessings cannot flow into a family when the elders harbour iniquity in their hearts because it yokes them to demons and opens the doors for the demonic to oppress their families too. This is one reason Jesus taught us to love our enemies, because love covers a multitude of sins and keeps us blameless. The righteous cannot be touched by the evil one.
Proverbs 6:16-19 NKJV These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
Exodus 34:6-7 6 NKJV And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
1 John 5:18 NKJV We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
Example: A woman suffered from unexplainable fear and could not sleep well. She said that she felt like “life was being drained out” of her. The Holy Spirit gave a friend the word of knowledge, “samurai spirit.” She then remembered her grandmother recounting her experiences in World War Two and how she hated the Japanese soldiers for inflicting pain and suffering on local civilians. Her grandmother’s judgement and resentment unknowingly opened the door for a samurai spirit to enter the family line. As the candidate repented on behalf of her ancestors of judgement and resentment against the Japanese soldiers and commanded the samurai spirit to leave her, she felt something build up in her chest and then push its way up and out. Her fear dissipated and she felt more peaceful.
5. Curses and witchcraft spells
A believer is protected from curses and spells cast on them by jealous, bitter, and/or evil people — unless they have given others legitimate cause for their animosity. Proverbs 26:2 shows us that a curse without a cause cannot take effect. When witchdoctors, spiritual masters, and shamans conduct witchcraft rituals, they enlist evil spirits to oppress and torment. If we give them a legitimate entry point through sin, such curses will take effect. Thankfully, such witchcraft can be broken off if a believer goes before the Lord in repentance and remorse for their sin.
Proverbs 26:2 NKJV Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.
Example: A family man committed adultery and had a child with his mistress. When he failed to provide sufficient financial support for her, the embittered woman consulted a witchdoctor to place a curse on him and his family. Once the curse took effect, the man became physically weaker and weaker and more and more disengaged with his family members. He became emotionally lifeless.
6. Word curses / death wishes
When we curse our own lives by toying with the idea that dying is better than living, we give dark spirits of death permission to come into our lives and turn our wishes into reality. This leads to “deadness” in our emotional life as well.
Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Example: Hurt and upset by her father’s harsh treatment, a woman wished him dead. She later realised that the moment she cursed her dad, a spirit of death entered her life. She started to watch horror movies and think about death and darkness. This darkness slowly corroded the light in her life and occupied her heart. She gradually fell into depression until she repented of her words and cast out the spirit of death. She felt liberated afterward.
Matthew 15:4 NKJV For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’
7. Personal judgments of God
Out of deep pain, anguish and confusion, we can curse or judge God and find that we subsequently have no joy and peace. No one can judge, curse or reject God and thrive because God is the only Source of life and all blessings.
Job 2:9 NKJV Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Example: A deacon suffered from severe anxiety and was on four types of medication for ADHD. During an inner healing and deliverance prayer session, the Holy Spirit helped him confess and release his deep grief over being neglected by his father who was a pastor. His father spent most of his time away from the family and seemed to prioritise everyone else over his own children. It was then that the deacon realised that he had judged and cursed God when he was little and vowed to prove that he would never have to rely on anyone. At this point, evil spirits came into his life. He could not break free from a compulsion to work, until he repented, renounced his words and received the Holy Spirit. Over the next two weeks, he gradually stopped taking his medication altogether.
8. Yokes to another person’s emotional torment
Jesus has told us to take His yoke upon us. Only Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden, light. When we yoke ourselves to another person’s deep sorrow, we can fall into the same emotional “pit” as them. When we are deeply tied to other people’s suffering, for instance, we can even feel guilty for feeling happy when others are miserable. As believers, it is the joy of our salvation that we live out first and foremost, not the emotions of other people.
Matthew 11:29-30 NKJV Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Psalm 51:12 NKJV. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Example: A lady’s younger brother died very unexpectedly, in his 20s. Deep into witchcraft, the young man was emotionally tortured by demons. Filled with grief, the sister felt that the only way to not “lose him forever”, was to stay connected on his social media, chatting with him as if he was still alive. Her grief turned to torment, and she began to feel spirits in her bedroom at night. It took a while to convince her to stop yoking so much with her brother, because it opened the door to his demons. She finally agreed to and experienced deliverance from many of her brother’s spirits and felt God’s peace return to her soul.
9. Spirits attached to the dead
We can find that our emotional state changes unexpectedly after we attend a funeral to pay respects to the dead at their coffins or their graves. Any ritual to venerate the dead, such as bowing before the dead, burning incense to them, talking to them, or making offerings for their afterlife, makes us vulnerable and opens the door to the spirits that were originally attached to them. Such acts give them access to us too.
Example: When she was younger, a woman’s mother instructed her to place joss sticks in front of her dead brother’s urn at the crematorium, out of “respect”. What they did not know is that this was an act of worship of the dead and the spirits attached to her brother (in her own words) “jumped across to her”. Immediately, she “heard” evil laughter and things literally looked dim and dark although nothing had changed. She began to feel like someone was following her and became very afraid. She lived in a constant state of fear. After she repented of the ritual she had done in front of her brother’s gravestone and commanded those spirits to leave her, she felt peace return and could sleep in peace for the first time in a long while.
10. Curse of shedding blood
Whenever anyone is murdered, whether intentionally or not, the stain of that bloodguilt will cry out for vengeance. Murder opens the door to demons and brings a lingering curse to the murderer’s family, until someone brings this iniquity to Jesus and repents.
Genesis 4:15 NKJV And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
Psalm 51:14 NKJV Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
Example: A woman was always feeling heavy. The closer she grew to God, the more the heaviness troubled her. The Holy Spirit revealed to some friends praying for her that someone had died unexpectedly. She then related a story her relatives had told her about a family member who, a couple of generations ago, had been buried alive while unconscious. They all believed she was dead and only realised she was not, after they dug up her coffin and found that she had tried to claw her way out. After the woman repented of this unintended murder within her own family in the name of Jesus, the heaviness lifted as the bloodguilt was taken off.
11. Bloodshed in the womb
This principle of bloodguilt applies to abortion as well. The blood of aborted babies also cries out for justice from within the womb. Murder and bloodshed always attract demons. If any child is conceived in the same womb afterward, he or she can begin feeling tormented by dark thoughts and feelings.
Genesis 4:10 NKJV And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
Example: A woman grew up with dark thoughts, seeing herself as a sad and negative person, even after she had given her life to Jesus. During prayer, the Holy Spirit reminded her that her mother had spoken of having an abortion before she was born. The Lord showed her that a spirit of death had attached to her mother’s womb after the abortion and before she was conceived. This spirit had been influencing her emotions, feelings, and thoughts since infancy. As she forgave her mother for the abortion and cast out the spirit of death, both her thought life and emotions improved tremendously.
12. Cursed objects
Just as the Spirit of God rested on the Ark of the Covenant and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, demons can also attach themselves to objects and places. If we have objects that are related to witchcraft and the occult in our possession, we give evil spirits permission to oppress us until we repent, destroy, and discard those things.
Leviticus 16:2 NKJV and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
Deuteronomy 7:26 NKJV Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.
Exodus 40:34-35 NKJV Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Example: A woman brought a souvenir back from a company trip. It was a lion statue that represented the guardian spirit of the city. Unaware of its spiritual implications, she followed the instruction to rub the head of the lion to release its protective powers once she got home. Over the next few weeks, she began to feel increasingly sad and unmotivated to serve the Lord. Her emotions felt dulled. She didn’t connect the two until she prayed with some friends to be revived in her emotions. The Holy Spirit gave her friends two words of knowledge regarding “business trip” and “spirit”. She realised that it was an idol she had brought into her home and honoured by the head-rubbing ritual, she repented and removed the lion statue. Then she was able to return to her own normal self.
Deliverance from emotional torment through Jesus
As incredible as these 12 stories may sound, they are all based on actual accounts and are wonderful testimonies of the Holy Spirit’s work. Most are stories of Christians who were willing to humble themselves to ask the Holy Spirit to lead them to the truth and obey. The Holy Spirit breaks invisible chains and liberates us in Jesus’ name. Such emotional liberation and healing is not something any human or any medication can offer. We need a higher power to set us free from the demons that torment our emotions. Those who have undergone deliverance of evil spirits in Jesus’ name say that their minds become quiet and clear, their spirits light and liberated, and their hearts filled with more joy and peace.
This is all part of Jesus’ mission for God’s children. Jesus personally proclaimed that He came to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 61:1. Looking at the root words in Greek for this prophecy found in Luke 4:18 (NKJV), we see that Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor [ptōchos ie. helpless or lacking]. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted [suntribó tēn ie. shattered self], to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind [tuphlos ie. mentally blind], to set at liberty [aphesis ie. release, deliver] those who are oppressed [thrauō ie. crushed or bruised].” This is a profound statement!
What Jesus said shows us that the good news of the gospel is rooted in the fact that the Holy Spirit anointed Him to bring healing to all who feel helpless, brokenhearted, shattered, bruised or crushed, and to release us from captivity. He restores us so we feel loved, joyful, and peace in our spirits. We can say amen to that.
A side note: There are other ways our emotions can be tormented but they are not elaborate here. Some examples include:
- Believing in lies
- Being bound by our inner vows
- Suffering the repercussions of our judgments of others
- Misusing our spiritual gifts
- Emotional suppression, denial and/or ignorance
- Unresolved trauma
- Negative womb experiences before we were born, and so on
May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love the Lord with all your heart and turn from emotional torment brought on by evil spirits.