What part might demons play in the lives of the abusers? And in the lives of victims?

How can we wisely understand the part demons might be playing in the abuser’s life? And might demons be slowing a victim’s recovery from abuse and impeding her sanctification?

First, let’s be clear about terminology. The term “demon-possessed” is misleading. Generally speaking, we are better off saying that a person is influenced by a demon, is oppressed, demonised, tormented, vexed, or molested by a demon, rather than saying the person is “demon-possessed”. In his book Can a Christian have a Demon? Clearing the Confusion So That Captives Can Be Set Free¹, Jake Kail explains this well:

One of the factors that has caused confusion about the ministry of deliverance is the use of the word demon-possessed in most English translations of the Bible. For example, Matthew 8:16 says, “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.” The Greek word translated as “demon-possessed” in that passage is daimonizomai. The problem with this translation is that it goes beyond the meaning of the original Greek language. A more accurate rendering would be to “have a demon,” to be “influenced by a demon,” or to be “demonized.”

Another term that describes the work of evil spirits in the New Testament is the Greek word ochleo which implies being tormented or troubled by a demon. This is the word used in Luke 6:18: “…as well as those who were tormented [ochleo] with unclean spirits.” Again, this paints a different picture than the commonly used “demon-possessed”. Being tormented by a demon is not the same as being possessed by a demon.

This difference in terminology is an important distinction to make. The word possessed denotes total ownership. This implies a person no longer has any control of their actions or words and that the demon is totally in charge. The original language in the New Testament does not speak this way. For this reason I do not use the term demon-possessed when speaking of those who need deliverance. I might say a person has a demon, is influenced by a demon, is oppressed, demonized, or tormented. But possessed, as we often define it, is not an accurate term.

When believers consider the prospect of a Christian having a demon, they often do it through the lens of the inaccurate term demon-possessed, and this automatically rules out the possibility. After all, a Christian is owned by Jesus — bought with His precious blood. Clearly a Christian cannot be possessed or owned by a demon! But the question we are considering is not whether a Christian can be possessed by a demon but whether a Christian can have a demon. There is a big difference between the two.
— Jake Kail, Can a Christian Have a Demon? Clearing the Confusion So That Captives Can Be Set Free, pp 26-27; scripture quotes from the NKJ.

Jake Kail pointed to the Greek work “ochleo” in Luke 6:18. The King James Version has: “they were vexed by unclean spirits”. Perhaps even more interesting is Julia Smith’s translation of verses 17 and 18:

¹⁷ And having come down with them, he stood upon a level place, and a crowd of his disciples, and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the maritime country of Tyre and Sidon, they also came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; ¹⁸ And those molested with unclean spirits: and they were cured.

In modern English, the word “molested” often suggests sexual abuse, which might call to mind Genesis 6:2.

Trigger warning — this article will discuss sexualised abuse, physical violence, sadism, and spiritual abuse.

The rest of the indented quotes I’m giving come from pages 45-49 of Jake Kail’s book.

There are various things that can grant evil spirits access into a person’s life. These access points are sometimes referred to as open doors.

If the devil can get a person to come into agreement with him in a certain area, that agreement creates a point of access for him. One example of this is coming into agreement with the enemy through unrepentant sin. …

When I talk about sin being a potential demonic access point, I am not referring to stumbling into sin so much as I am talking about embracing sin. If we justify and hide sin instead of walking in the light and living in repentance, we are walking on dangerous ground. The longer we walk this way, the more opportunity we give to the enemy. Ongoing, unrepentant sin gives the enemy an entrance point into our lives. Evil spirits can take advantage of this agreement and enslave a person in sin.

A Christian does not embrace sin. A Christian is aware of his or her sin but is not in agreement with it. A Christian strives to repent of sin and walk in the light of Christ.

Predators and abusers have embraced, justified and hidden their sins.

By embracing their sins rather than walking in truth and repentance, predators and abusers have given themselves over to evildoing and there is a very strong likelihood they are highly influenced by evil spirits, but this does not mean they bear no responsibility for the evil they do!

The predator, bit by bit, chose to suppress and silence his conscience so he could enjoy destroying his targets. Bit by bit he became more sinful, more corrupt, more perverted, more sadistic, more cunning in deceiving and entrapping his targets. (Note: I often use male pronouns for abusers and female pronouns for victims; but I recognise that some perpetrators of abuse are female, and males can be victimised by predators.)

If you are unsure whether an abuser can be a Christian, click here: Can someone be an abuser and be a Christian? — the link will open in a new tab.

Can a Christian victim of abuse have a demon?

A Christian victim of abuse might be oppressed, demonised, or tormented by a demon, but not to the extent that abusers are likely to be!

Also, it’s really important to be aware that trauma can cause dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). In dissociation, the different parts (‘alters’) are parts of the person, they are not demons! If a pastor, ‘deliverance minister’, or ‘biblical counselor’ were to treat a dissociated part of a person as if it were a demon which needed to be cast out, that would be very invalidating to the person! There are victims of abuse who have DID who have been greatly harmed by “Christians” who do not understand dissociation and who presumptuously misjudge what is going on in people who have dissociation. (I added this paragraph after Seeing Clearly gave me helpful feedback in her comment on this post.)

We learn in scripture that Mary Magdalene was delivered of seven demons, and we are not explicitly told that this deliverance (or deliverances) took place at the time she received Christ — she may have been delivered of those demons after she had become a disciple of Christ.

I have personally been delivered from several demons. The deliverances occurred at various times after I was born again. I was born again in my mid 20s. My first and biggest deliverance occurred in my early 30s, when my daughter was only a few days old. My next two deliverances took place when I was about 40, a year after I’d begun attending church and walking as a Christian; it was at one of those deliverances that I received the gift of speaking in tongues.

In several of my deliverances, no embodied human was praying in my presence or laying hands on me. I may be unusual in this regard, but I wanted to tell you that in case you think that deliverance can only be effected when you are physically with people who are praying for you with their physical lips, and who run a ‘deliverance ministry’. In none of my deliverances did I consciously come to an event to seek deliverance! I had no idea that I had a demon, until each particular deliverance was occurring.  This is consistent with what Jake Kail says on page 68 of his book: “Demons prefer to dwell in darkness. That is, they enjoy being able to influence a person without being recognised. They desire to become entwined with the personality of the person in whom they dwell so as to remain unnoticed. For evil spirits to be expelled, they must first be exposed. Once brought into the light they can be dealt with.” In my case, God exposed each demon and saw each deliverance through, to set me free. :)

In the early years of my walk as a Christian, I attended a few ‘deliverance ministries’ to try to get help with my problems, but never once did those ministries effect any deliverance for me. They seemed like puffed-up charlatans who were working from a script, rather than operating under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Since then, I have had a few minor ‘deliverances’ (I’m not sure that’s the right word) as I renounced my resentment at God, committed to give up my habitual ‘escape’ into suicidal-ideation, came more and more to terms with the abuses that have been perpetrated on me, and sought Christ’s help to love my human enemies and pray for them. In each of those times, I was not aware of any evil spirit leaving, I was only aware that I was battling a habitual way of thinking and feeling that was impeding my growth. I was wrestling with God, and the outcome was I became more willing to carry my cross, whatever suffering it might bring, and more willing to not hate myself and not resent other human beings. For me, untangling trauma has been a very slow process and I’m still on that road.

I do not love or pray for our chief enemy, Satan, nor do I love demons. I hate and have fiercely rebuked demons when they were attacking me or those I love. I’ve experienced attacks from demons that were trying to paralyse my mind and body while I lay in bed. I have also experienced sudden ‘needle-like’ piercing into my right temple, and headaches that come on suddenly. When those things have happened, I pray and rebuke any demons that may have caused them. If the uncomfortable sensations stop, I know it was a demonic attack.

I first started using my authority in Christ to command demons when I was about 40. I thank the old-school Pentecostal pastor who taught me that every Christian can command demons since we have the authority of Christ because we are in Christ and He is in us. In case you’re wondering, I’m now nearly 70 years old.

If a victim of abuse is oppressed by demons, she or he will benefit from deliverance, but all in God’s good timing.

Receiving deliverance is not going to mean that other aspects of the Christian walk can be set aside or neglected. Recognising and repenting of things we truly are guilty of, praying, trusting in Christ, studying scripture, singing spiritual songs, finding good fellowship with our spiritual siblings in Christ, ongoing renewing of our minds in Christ, all these things and more are going to be our daily walk with Jesus in this present world.

A major part of our walk as Christian victims of abuse is identifying and casting off the false-guilt that has been laid on us by the false-church. False-guilt often arises from the lies that the devil — and the perpetrators of abuse — have sown into the culture, which many so-called Christians believe.

Another way we can come into agreement with the devil is by believing his lies. Just as knowing the truth will set us free (John 8:32), believing a lie will create a bondage. …

The fact that the devil is a liar does not open the door to him. But if we believe the lie, we have agreed with him, and this gives him a point of access. I have seen cases where a demonic spirit was present to reinforce a specific lie of the enemy. In one instance, a young man needed deliverance from a demon after he had believed the lie that he had committed the unpardonable sin and could not be forgiven.

When perpetrators assault and violate our bodies and traumatise us, false-guilt can come with the sense of shame from being contaminated by the abuser’s evil and any evil spirits that the perpetrator has given harbour to in embracing his sin. This is especially so with sexualised abuse: rape, molestation, and other kinds of sexual perversion being done on and at us by predators.

In 1 Peter 5:8 we are told the devil “walks around like a roaring liar, seeking whom he may devour.” He is actively searching for people to prey on. He is looking for access into our lives, and one of the things he looks for is moments of weakness. He seeks to take advantage of times when our guard is down or when we are at places of vulnerability. This can often happen when we go through a traumatic event.

One example is the trauma of abuse. When a person endures abuse — physical, verbal, sexual, emotional, or otherwise — it creates a scenario where the one being abused is susceptible to being demonized. In these cases it is not their own sin but the sin of somebody else that can open the door. This does not seem fair at all, but who said that the devil plays fair? He takes advantage of the moment of weakness that trauma establishes and uses it to slip into a person’s life.

I want to tell Jake Kail that “a moment of weakness” and “a traumatic event” don’t adequately capture what happens in abuse! Most often, abuse is repeated, multi-faceted, pervasive, systemic, and endorsed by the culture, both secular and Christian. Most of us Christian victims of abuse have suffered not only abuse and trauma from our primary perpetrators, but also the bewildering entrapping overlay of spiritual and psychological abuse laid on us by mental health professionals, church leaders, Bible interpreters, and so-called Christians — all the victim-blaming and the Pharisaic “shoulds” that come from false-doctrine whereby they denigrate us for the ways we resist and respond to the abuse. And all the compounded injustices we suffer because they fail to hold the perpetrators accountable.

The enemy also seeks to take advantage of children, who don’t have the mental and spiritual defenses to guard against such attacks. When a child is exposed to something dark, horrific or sinful, it can cause an access point for evil spirits. A child who is terrified by a horror movie could become susceptible to a spirit of fear. A young person who gets exposed to pornography could become susceptible to spirits of perversion and sexual sin. When children witness violence [and non-physical abuse] in the home … when a child endures rejection, neglect or abandonment, it can give the enemy a place to try to enter.

I think that last quote stands by itself and needs no comment from me.

May God bless you, dear reader, and may you feel Jesus holding you safe in His arms.

With love from your sister in Christ, Barb.

1. I cannot wholly recommend Jake Kail’s book, because I have concerns or uncertainties about some things he says.

Post updated 6 April 2025, and again on 10 April 2025.

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Further reading

Blindness Series Digest