Recently I did a blog on the subject “The Top 5 Demons in Hell.” Go back and watch what I had to say about Lucifer, Leviathan, Jezebel, Lilith, and Mammon. Now I want to discuss the top five demons that affect your mind. They are Fear, Anger, Rejection, Depression, and Self-Hatred. The top five demons in hell are spirits with proper nouns for a name. Their designation is nominal, not descriptive. Not so with demons which torment the mind. Their names are their functions. The ways in which they are delegated relate to their assignment from Satan. The names of the top five demons in hell refers to who they are. The top five demons that affect your mind are called by what they do. They represent emotional strongholds. And we are told in 2 Corinthians 10:4, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds’ (NKJV). The NIV changes “pulling down,” to “demolish.”
The top five demons in hell are acquired by behavior and evil actions. The demons that affect the mind are there because of internal, emotional responses. These conditions of fear, anger, rejection, depression, and self-hatred are open doors that an individual allows. That person may have inherited tendencies making them vulnerable to these evil spirits, but usually there is some internal feeling and reaction that allows a stronghold to be established.
#1 FEAR: Fear, we are told in 2 Timothy 1:7, is a spirit, not some indistinguishable element. It’s a demon, and what I call a “doorway demon.” Fear is a gatekeeper allowing other spirits to enter when the host gives in to unreasonable fear. Fright and flight are normal human responses to danger, but demonic fear is a non-rational dread of something to which an outsized significance is attached. Psalm 55:5 says, “Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me” (NKJV). In that state, you are open to demons of many kinds.
#2 ANGER: It is axiomatic that anger gives place to the devil. That is why we are told in Proverbs 16:32 (NKJV), “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” Anger can affect your cardiac health. It weakens your immune system. And it often makes worse what made you angry in the first place. Anger is an evil that leads to broken relationships, shattered goals, and even murder, as in the case of Cain. We call such acts “crimes of passion.” Anger that festers as a boil and isn’t confessed as sin leads to irrational actions and is a doorway to demons.
#3 REJECTION: Rejection is an emotion bemoaned in songs and sonnets. But as an unaddressed emotion it leads to anxiety, aggression, and poor judgment. Isaiah 53:3 tells us that Christ was “despised and rejected,” so He understands when we feel rejected. Just as there is a demon who calls himself fear, and one who goes by anger, there is an evil spirit known as Rejection. This demon causes a rejected person to feel negated. Often it is the person who rejects that has emotional illness and the one rejected who is the victim. The more you give in to the victimization of someone else’s unhealthy disavowal, the more you risk being taken over by the spirit of Rejection yourself.
#4 DEPRESSION: When you sense persistent sadness, that lack of zeal for life, especially things you used to enjoy, you are headed for clinical depression. This is more than experiencing the loss of a loved one, for example, or a medical condition, such as a thyroid disorder. Real depression is signaled by hopelessness, anger, loss of pleasure, and feelings of worthlessness. The Bible doesn’t use this exact word, but David did speak in Psalm 143:5-8 of his “spirit failing.” Scripture does refer to being “downcast,” “discouraged,” “troubled,” and “brokenhearted.” Often depression is anger turned inward, avenging the hurts others cause upon ourselves. For clinical depression you may need medication. For depression that has a spiritual root, you need deliverance.
#5 SELF-HATRED: We sometimes call self-hatred a sense of unworthiness or lack of self-esteem. For the Christian, the equation is simple. God loves us, Satan hates us, and wants us to hate ourselves. At times we are all disappointed with our actions and decisions but giving in to self-denigration denies the love of Christ at the cross. That opens the door to the demon of self-hatred. In the worse cases, such individuals may do self-harm like cutting or even attempt suicide. These thoughts are demonic and yielding to them may invite a demon to enter. David hated himself for what he did with Bathsheba, but he repented. Judas hated himself for betraying Christ but allowed the devil to enter him and killed himself.
Take a moment to examine yourself to see if any of these emotions, and the demons that feed on them, are part of your makeup. If so, take corrective action now with prayer, Christian counseling, fasting, Bible memory of the Lord’s promises, and intervention that may include casting out demons of Fear, Anger, Rejection, Depression, and Self-Hatred.
