Because we live in an increasingly immoral and godless society, the pressures and opportunities to conform are greater than ever. Television, radio, magazines, newspapers, films, and thousands of internet sites are always ready to expose us to values, attitudes, and belief systems that distort our thinking and weaken our resolve. The flesh is the port of entry for the influences of the world and the devil. In most cases, demonization in the life of a Christian results from the repeated practice of sins in the mind or body (e.g., those listed in Mark 7:21-22 and Galatians 5:19-21).
When believers do not respond to the warnings of conscience and Scripture and to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, they are in bondage to the flesh. There is such an affinity between the deeds of the flesh and the powers of darkness that indulgence in the former can lead to enslavement by the latter. The Scriptures take a more serious view of sin than we usually think, since we really forsake the Lord in the action of disobedience (2 Chronicles 24:20). It is dangerous to harbor unconfessed sin (see Psalm 32:1-6), since Christians who do not repent and renounce their sins cannot walk in victory. Instead, they are increasingly vulnerable to temptation; sinful thoughts and actions become obsessive and overpowering as their wills are gradually weakened. In this state, they continue to give up territory to the enemy and become more susceptible to demonic subjection. The forces of wickedness take the ground that is yielded to them by sin in the life of the believer. They will not retreat until their ground is renounced.
Becoming a Christian does not automatically overcome all the strongholds of the past. For example, the practice of occultism in any of its many forms often leads to a residual problem of demonization that must be confronted. Occultism is an abomination in the sight of God (Leviticus 20:6), and indulgence in such things as magic, astrology, ouija boards, tarot cards, palmistry, spiritualism (spiritism), psychic phenomena, New Age techniques, and non-Christian religious practices is perilous.
Not all demonic strongholds are caused by sin in the life of the victim; some can be induced through childhood trauma such as sexual, physical, psychological, and religious abuse. There are other cases when demonization occurs as a result of “spiritual heredity.” Generational sins like occultism, curses, and witchcraft in the lives of parents or grandparents can affect subsequent generations (this may have been the reason why the boy in Mark 9:17-29 was demonized since childhood). After prohibiting idolatry, the Lord declared, “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me” (Exodus 20:5).
Taken from Ken Boa’s Handbook to Spiritual Growth
