Derek Prince - How Demons Can Enter Into A Person
This is an excerpt from: War In Heaven And Earth - Part 2
Then there's what I call emotional shock or persistent emotional pressure. I remember a woman once told me that she needed to be rid of the spirit of fear. I said, how did it get in? "Well," she said, "I was standing on the sidewalk and then a terrible accident happened right in front of me and at that moment I was seized with fear, and I realized that the demon of fear entered me".
Let me give you a Scripture on that now. In 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 6, this is about Christian women. as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her children if you do good and are not afraid of anything that might frighten you. So to be Sarah's daughter, don't be afraid of anything that can terrify you. You don't have to give in to a sudden emotional shock. But if you do, it's quite possible that a demon will enter. Then they come in another way which is natural through sinful acts or habits that you repeat. If you are constantly indulging in a sinful act, then sooner or later—and perhaps sooner rather than later—the demon of that act will enter you. If you continually indulge in sinful habits or foolish habits.
Once I was praying in a church when a woman came up to me and there were several other people around me, no matter what she said, I said, "I think you have a demon of criticism. Do you want me to eject it?" She said "yes," I said, "You demon of criticism, come out". Well, about three people around us were liberated at the same time. Criticism is a sinful habit and can expose you to demons Let me talk about a topic that no one is talking about in church So because people don't talk about it in church, churchgoers have to go to a psychiatrist for help. But I'm talking about masturbation. Some people say that masturbation is natural is, not bad. I disagree. But you are free to have your opinion. But what I do know is that there are masses and masses of people who regularly masturbate and hate themselves for doing it. And they say "Never again!" But moments later they do the same thing again. Well, that's a demon. It's a demon of masturbation. And since I don't want to embarrass you later, I'll tell you how it will come out. That will come out of your hands and your fingers And you will feel it tingle I n your fingers, and your fingers will stiffen, and maybe bend backwards. I've seen this happen many times.
Someone comes up to me, "Brother Prince, I don't understand what's happening to me. My fingers tingle and they bend back." I say, "You have a demon of masturbation. Hate it. Get rid of it." And I want to tell you that masturbation won't go away unless you hate it. You must really hate it. You could say, I'm a married man and happily married, and thank goodness you but I threw a demon of masturbation out of a man of fifty who was married. But he was still a slave to masturbation. And let me speak to you honestly. What happens when a married partner has a masturbation demon? The satisfaction of the sexual act that the other person has to get goes to the demon and not to the person do you understand what I am saying I hope so I try to be honest without offense and then there is a whole, very common way that demons come in and that is through vain words.
And I want to read to you what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12 about vain words, verse 36, "have to give on the day of judgment". People often say, "well I didn't really mean it". That's exactly what Jesus says. That's a useless word. Any words you speak that you don't really mean are useless. And whether you mean it or not, one day, unless you repent, you'll have to give an account for it on the day of judgment. Every idle word. So often people say to me, "Well, Brother Prince, I didn't really mean it." I say it is exactly what it is: a useless word. It's a word you didn't mean. And I can't tell you how many people I've dealt with who have a spirit of death because they let it in. They got depressed or discouraged and they say, "Well, I might as well be dead. What's the point of living? I'd better be dead." That's all you have to say.
The demon of death will then be right in front of you. He will come in many times. I don't always say. That's how they come in. I'm just going to repeat it and that's not all. Number one - prenatal, an attitude in the mother that makes the baby feel unwelcome. Busy early childhood, kids growing up in fight-torn families are automatically exposed to demons. Emotional shock or persistent emotional pressure. Sinful acts or habits. And empty words. Well, it's not a complete list, but it will give you an idea of how demons get in.