Can Demons Influence Christians? What Saints Have Said

(T. Scanell, The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, NY: Robert Appleton company, 1908), under “Catechumen.”)

• ...Even today in the Orthodox Church, prayers at chrismation (the ceremony for joining the church) include three exorcism prayers for every person (again, “just in case,” even if they are not demonically influenced). Historically, such prayers were also done at Baptism and/or Chrismation by Catholics and several Protestant denominations, although in many of these churches, the wording of the prayers was so softened in the 1900’s that they are no longer easily recognized as exorcisms.

 

• 200’s, St. Hippolytus — “From the day that they [who are to be baptized] are elected, let there be laying on of hands with exorcism every day. When the day of baptism approaches, let the bishop perform exorcism on each one of them, so that he may be certain that the baptizand is clean. But if there is anybody who is not clean, he should be set aside [for further prayer, repentance, and deliverance before eventual baptism] because he did not hear the instruction with faith. For the alien spirit remained with him.”

(St. Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, section 20, subsection 3.)

 

• 200’s, St. Cyprian — He warned that Satan equips his demons to flatter and deceive and try to infiltrate and divide the Church.

(St. Cyprian, The Treatises of Cyprian, 5:421.)

 

• 200’s, Tertullian — He spoke of a Christian woman who came back demonized after attending a theater performance where people were maimed and killed as onstage entertainment: “In the outcasting, accordingly, when the unclean creature was upbraided with having dared to attack a believer, he firmly replied, ‘And in truth I did it most righteously, for I found her in my domain.’”

(Tertullian, De Spectaculis, Section 26.)

 

• 200’s, St. Justin Martyr — “For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served, in order that, after our conversion by Him to God, we may be blameless. For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ … they are overcome.”

(Justin Martyr, “Dialogue With Trypho,” Chapter XXX.)

 

• 200’s, St. Anthony — He was the first to go into the Egyptian wilderness to claim it for God (at that time, in popular thought, Satan had dominion over the desert). There, he was tempted by demons with food, money, sex, and other pleasures until he overcame. This opened the way for thousands of others to come and pray in the desert.

 

• 200’s, Pope St. Cornelius — He had no less than 52 lay exorcists just for the Church in Rome (which at that time had approximately 50,000 members).

(Richard P. McBrien, National Catholic Reporter, September 24, 2004.)

 

• 200’s, Early Church Canons — In the canons it was written that there were prospective pastors who were demonized: “If anyone has a devil, let him not be made a clergyman, neither let him pray with the faithful; but if he be freed, let him be received into communion, and if he is worthy, he may be ordained.” 

(The Canons of the Holy and Altogether August Apostles, 14:594.)

 

• 300’s Synod of Laodicea — At this Church gathering in 363, it was reported that some pastors were were involved in magic, enchantment, astrology, and amulets [opening themselves to demonic influence].

(The Canons of the Synod Held in the City of Laodicea, in Phrygia Pacatiana, in which Many Blessed    Fathers from Divers Provinces of Asia Were Gathered Together, 14:151.)

 

• 300’s, Augustine — In his book, The City of God, he called demons “false and deceitful mediators” who seek cause Christians to “turn … aside and hinder our spiritual progress.”

(Augustine, The City of God, 2:176.)

 

• 300’s St. John Chrysostom — In a sermon on Matthew 13, he offered five reasons why God allows demonic attack and influence: “[First]: So that you realize that you have become stronger than the devil … [Second]: so that you abide in humility and do not exalt in the grandeur of your gifts, the temptations having power to repress this … [Third]: in order that the wicked demon who, for a while, doubts that you have deserted him, may be assured that you have utterly forsaken him; [Fourth]: so that through temptation you become firmer and stronger than tempered steel; [Fifth]: so that you have a clear demonstration of the treasure entrusted to you. For the devil would not have attacked you unless he had seen you brought to greater honor.”

(St. John Chrysostom, “Homily on Matthew 13.”)

 

• 300’s, St. Ambrose — “The devil tempts that he may ruin; God tests that he may crown.”

 

• 300’s, St. Cyril — In his Mystagogical Catechesis, he gave a detailed description of exorcism done on all converts at baptism, using anointing oil.

(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “Catechetical Lecture 20.”)

 

• 400's, St. Leo — “Certainly we need to be on our guard all the year round against the enemy of our salvation, never leaving any point exposed to the tempter.” “He has girded our loins with the belt of chastity, He has shod our feet with the bonds of peace: because the unbelted soldier is quickly vanquished by the suggester of immodesty, and he that is unshod is easily bitten by the serpent. He has given the shield of faith for the protection of our whole body; on our head has He set the helmet of salvation; our right hand has He furnished with a sword, that is with the word of Truth: that the spiritual warrior may not only be safe from wounds, but also may have strength to wound his assailant.”

(St. Leo, Sermon 39, On Lent, 1, IV.)

 

• 400’s, St. Mark the Ascetic — “He who is ignorant of the enemy’s ambush is easily slain; and he who does not know the causes of the passions is soon brought low.”

(St. Mark the Ascetic, “On the Spiritual Law, Two Hundred Texts,” number 76.)

 

• 500’s, The Canons of the Council of Orange — Written in 529, Its seventh canon said that a false understanding of salvation occurs when a believer “is led astray by a heretical spirit.”

(Canons of the Council of Orange.)

 

• 600’s, St. Barsanuphius of Gaza — A young monk asked him for help against a demon that afflicted him with same-sex attraction, fear, and despondency. The saint advised him about avoiding sin and doing spiritual warfare, and assured him, “You must know that God will not allow against you battles and temptations above your strength; the Apostle also teaches this, saying: 'Faithful is the Lord, Who will not leave you to be tempted more than you can bear'” (1 Cor. 10:13).

(St. Barsanuphpius, Saints Barsanuphius and John: Guidance Toward Spiritual Life: Answers to Questions of Disciples, Question 255.)

 

• 600’s, St. Maximus the Confessor — “There are said to be five reasons why God allows us [Christians] to be assailed by demons. The first is so that, by attacking and counterattacking, we should learn to discriminate between virtue and vice. The second is so that, having acquired virtue through conflict and toil, we should keep it secure and immutable. The third is so that, when making progress in virtue, we should not become haughty but learn humility. The fourth is so that, having gained some experience of evil, we should ‘hate it with perfect hatred’ (Psalm 139:22). The fifth and most important is so that, having achieved dispassion, we should forget neither our own weakness nor the power of Him who has helped us.”

(St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios, compilers, G. E. H. Palmer et al, ed., The  Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 2) (New York, NY: Farrar, Strause, and Giroux, 1979)  (St. Maximos the Confessor, “Four Hundred Texts on Love.”).)

 

• 1000’s, Orthodox St. Simeon — "[A believer’s attentive prayer] destroys the invisible wiles of the demons, with which as with ropes they seek to drag down the intellect into all manner of devious droughts. Set at liberty, the intellect wages war with its full strength, scrutinizing the thoughts insinuated by the enemy and with masterful dexterity expelling them, while the heart in its purity offers prayers to God.”

(St. Simeon the New Theologian, “The Three Methods of Prayer.”)

 

• 1200’s, Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas — “It is not true that the devil when conquered ceases his assaults.”/span>

(Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologai, Article 5, Objection 1.)

 

• 1300’s, Catholic St. Francis — “The devil rejoices most when he can snatch away spiritual joy from a servant of God. … When spiritual joy fills hearts, the serpent throws off his deadly poison in vain. The devils cannot harm the servant of Christ when they see he is filled with holy joy.”

(Celano, Second Life, Chapter LXXXVIII.)

 

• 1400’s, Catholic St. Catherine of Bologna — She spoke of a Christian woman who falsely perceived a demon as an angel. It lured her by preaching about the virtue of obedience, then tempted her with the opposite—judgmental thoughts about her superiors. Then it brought her into a pit of sorrowful despair about having these evil thoughts, disguising them as her own thoughts instead of its wicked suggestions.

 

• 1500’s, Protestant founder of the Reformation and the Lutheran Church, Martin Luther — In Table Talk, he said: “The Human heart is like a millstone in a mill: when you put wheat under it, it turns and grinds and crushes the wheat into flour; if you put in no wheat, it still grinds on, but then it is itself which it grinds and wears away. So, the human heart, unless it is occupied with some employment, leaves space for the devil, who wriggles himself in and brings with him a whole host of evil thoughts, temptations, and tribulations, which grind out the heart.”

(Martin Luther, Table Talk.)

• ... Luther was bothered by demons since childhood, and when he translated the Bible into German, he experienced demonic attack. In 1526, three years after he wrote the Lutheran baptismal rites, he added exorcism to the rites.

 

• 1500’s, Protestant Reformation leader, John Calvin — He warned: “All that Scripture teaches concerning devils aims at arousing us to take precaution against their stratagems and contrivances, and also to make us equip ourselves with those weapons which are strong and powerful enough to vanquish these most powerful foes.”

(John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, 13-14.)

(John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 140.)

 

• 1500’s, Catholic St. Teresa of Avila — “The devil comes with his artful wiles, and, under the color of doing good, sets about undermining [a Christian soul] in trivial ways, and working it in practices which, so he gives it to understand, are not wrong; little by little he darkens its understanding and weakens its will, and causes its self-love to increase; in one way or another he begins to withdraw it from the love of God and is persuaded to indulge its own wishes.”

(St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila, 120.)

 

• 1500’s, Catholic St. Ignatius Loyola — "[When Christians are] intensely cleansing their sins and rising from good to better in the service of God our Lord … [demons] bite, sadden and put obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, that one may not go on.” “[We fight demons by receiving from God] courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and quiet, easing, and putting away all obstacles, that one may go on in well doing.”

(St. Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises (Rules 1 & 2).)

 

• 1600’s, Protestant Puritan leader, Thomas Watson — “The devil tempts, that he may deceive, but God suffers us to be tempted to try us. Temptation is a trial of our sincerity.”

 

• 1700's, Protestant evangelist and founder of the Methodist Church, Jonathan Wesley — “These skillful wrestlers [demons] espy the smallest slip we make, and avail themselves of it immediately. …Yea, they frequently darken, in a measure, the hearts of them that do know God [Christians]. …Certainly, it is as easy for a spirit to speak to your heart as for a man to speak to our ears. But sometimes it is exceeding difficult to distinguish these from our own thoughts, those which he injects so exactly resembling those which naturally arise in our own mind. …Indeed, the holiest of men, as long as they remain upon earth, are not exempt from [Satan's] temptations.” (Jonathan later clarified that by “Satan,” he meant both Satan and all of his angels.)

(Jonathan Wesley, sermon: "Of Evil Angels" Part 2 — "The Employment of Evil Angels," Sections 3,4,7, and 10.)

 

• 1700’s, Protestant evangelist Jonathan Edwards — “It must be only by the imagination that Satan has access to the soul, to tempt and delude it or suggest anything to it. And this seems to be the reason why persons that are under the disease of melancholy are commonly so visibly and remarkably subject to the suggestions and temptations of Satan. …Innumerable are the ways by which the mind may be led on to all kind of evil thoughts, by the exciting of external ideas in the imagination.”

(Jonathan Edwards,The Religious Affections.)

 

• 1700’s, Protestant evangelist George Whitefield — In “Satan’s Schemes,” he warned that demons tempt Christians with despair, pride, and doubt about God, and through carnal friends and relatives. And demons “torture” with “blasphemous, impure, unbelieving thoughts. …Those who know anything of the Christian life can inform you with greater certainty that for the most part, these wicked thoughts proceed from that wicked one, the devil, who, no doubt, has permission given him from above to test Christians by trying to confuse and rattle our fleshly body, as he did Job's, that he may, with secrecy and success, ruffle and torment the soul. …If we would therefore behave like good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we must be always on our guard and never pretend to lay down our spiritual weapons of prayer and watching till our warfare is ended by death; for if we do, our spiritual foe will quickly prevail against us. …The reason why he [Satan] sometimes does not renew his attacks, is because God knows our weaknesses and at times, we are unable to bear an attack.”

(George Whitefield, sermon: “Satan’s Schemes,” 2 Corinthians 2:11.)

 

• 1800’s, Orthodox St. Theophan — “If [demons] succeed in something, it is due to our blundering. We slacken our attention, or allow ourselves to be distracted by their phantoms, and they immediately come and disturb us more boldly. If you do not come to your senses in time they will whirl you about; but if a soul does come to its senses, they again recoil and spy from afar to see whether it is possible to approach again somehow. So be sober, watch, and pray—and the enemies will do nothing to you.”

 

• 1800’s, Orthodox St. Makarios of Optina — “Do not allow the spark of discord and enmity to smolder. The longer you wait, the more the enemy tries to cause confusion among you. Be watchful, so that he does not mock you. Humility destroys all of his schemes.”

 

• 1800’s, Protestant evangelist Charles Spurgeon — In his sermon, “Satan Considering the Saints,” he described how Satan seeks to induce worry, prevent our usefulness, and incite us to error. 

(Charles Spurgeon, Sermon # 623: "Satan Considering the Saints," delivered April 9, 1865 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, England.)

• 1800’s, Protestant Anglican bishop, J.C. Ryle — He said that demons are always “spying out our ways,” tempting us with superstition, sexual sin, and other vices, and that we are in a continuous battle to keep them from influencing our hearts.

(J.C. Ryle, Holiness (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2010), 113-114.)

 

• 1900’s, Orthodox St. Sebastian Dabovich — “Rouse yourselves! The world which you worship only flatters you. The heaviness of your flesh should not keep you back from our Savior—the God of spirits and of all flesh. If you continue to drowse, you will imperceptibly fall under the influence of the evil spirits.”

(St. Sebastian Dabovich, sermon.)

 

• 1900’s, Catholic St. Padre Pio — “Jesus permits the spiritual combat as a purification, not as a punishment. The trial is not unto death but unto salvation.”

 

• 1900’s, Protestant author, C.S. Lewis — In his book, The Screwtape Letters, a demon named "Screwtape" advises a lower-ranking demon named "Wormwood" on how to get his human “patient” into hell. Even after the patient becomes a Christian, Screwtape continues to advise Wormwood on how to influence him. In time, the patient prevails with the help of Jesus his Savior, and the efforts of Wormwood are thwarted. Lewis presented such struggles as being normative for believers.

 

• 1900’s, Orthodox elder, Thaddeus of Vitovnica — He taught that demons are everywhere, constantly suggesting impure thoughts not rooted in love and God’s gentle virtues, and urging us to practice all sorts of sins, such as theft, malice, and envy. He said that if we heed demonic suggestions and carry them out, such sins can become second nature to us.

(Ana Smiljanic and Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, from: Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life And Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica (Wildwood, CA: St. Herman Press, 2009).)

 

• 1900’s, Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen — “Before the sin, Satan assures us that it is of no consequence. After the sin, he persuades us that it is unforgivable.”

 

• 2000’s, Catholic Pope, St. John Paul II — “‘Spiritual combat’ is … an invisible struggle in which monks engage every day against the temptations, the evil suggestions that the demon tries to plant in their hearts. …More than ever in the lives of Christians today, idols are seductive and temptations unrelenting: the art of spiritual combat, the discernment of spirits, the sharing of one’s thoughts with one’s spiritual director, the invocation of the Holy Name of Jesus and of his mercy must once more become a part of the inner life of the disciple of the Lord. This battle is necessary in order not to be distracted or worried … and to live in constant recollection with the Lord.”

 (Pope John Paul II, speech at the Monastery of St. John of Rila, Sofia, Bulgaria, May 26, 2002.)

 

• 2000’s Protestant evangelist Billy Graham — In an interview with Christianity Today, he said that many have been misled by Satan who whispers a lie into their ears that they can believe in Jesus in their heads without being changed in their hearts. He proclaimed to such persons: “Satan is deceiving you.”

(Billy Graham, Interview with Christianity Today, October 15, 2013.)

 

 

[Note: for more, see the article on this website: "Can a Christian Have a Demon?"]

 

 © Mark Sandford 2024