"He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me" (Psalm 55:18).

Victimization of demonic oppression is very common in the Western World because many are not aware, let alone understand. In many of the developing countries where they are more tuned to the spirit world, people understand about demonic oppression compared to Western society. The people in the Western World tend to look only at the physical. Even within Christianity, some denominations do not believe in the invisible world, let alone the supernatural manifestations of God. Sadly, what people do not know can oppress and control them. If you do not know your enemy, how can you successfully fight him? One of the tools of demonic oppression is taking advantage of people’s lack of awareness. The first tool to fight against demonic oppression is awareness. So, to those people who claim nothing of such exist in the spirit world, they become willing victims. They do not know how to protect themselves from such oppression of the enemy. Such people allowed themselves to be deceived. Another group of Christians believe in the power of the devil. However, they never discuss the power of the Holy Spirit, leaving the people the impression that the devil is stronger. If we as Christians learn to surrender and be empowered by the Holy Spirit, no weapons formed against us by the enemy shall prosper.

How Demonic Oppression Manifests

Demonic oppression manifests in a person’s life when everything he or she is doing never works. Have you ever started many businesses and not a single one of them is successful? Have you been on so many different jobs, yet you never get ahead? Perhaps you have been trying to conceive a child, for many years you are unsuccessful and the doctor said nothing is wrong with your female baby making tools God gave you. Have you worked in a place where you feel always smothered by a coworker, or a boss who derive joy at hurting other people? Have you worked so hard and tried everything you could but never successful? Perhaps, you are always sick and tired. Yet, the doctor could not find anything physically wrong with you. Do you have nightmares all the time and you could not understand why? Are you in a relationship with a person who wants to control you all the time, while the person is happy, you suffer from depression? Are you always attracting wrong people in a relationship and you seem not to be able to attract the right person? If you have any of these or similar situations of continuous failures in life; this is an article for you to read carefully. It will discuss possible solutions and freedom from under any demonic oppression you find yourself.

Sleeping with the Enemy

The most important thing I should mention that will shock the reader is that demonic oppression is a choice a person inadvertently makes while cooperating with the enemy of God. Nobody can force us to do anything against our will. This was revealed to me in the spirit that nobody accidentally worships the devil. People intentionally worship the devil by their own choice. However, we do a lot of things inadvertently by encouraging the enemy to torture us. For example, if you have a boss that spends more time criticizing you than giving you a compliment, watch out. Despite you are doing your best, you continue to try your best to do better. At the same time, you notice people who are not achieving as much as you are getting better treatment. They are getting promoted and receiving compliments, but you are working better and being hammered with criticisms. By human nature, you will probably try to do more, but also start working harder to impress the person that is abusing you. This is how we open the window of our souls to allow the enemy to oppress us. You may not realize that the person that is criticizing you is very well aware of your achievements and ability. But, he keeps you under his control by his criticism to push you to do more. He is actually using you to achieve his purpose. Through his manipulations, he turned you to his slave.

In most of the cases, the person placing you under oppression is the one getting the benefits of your achievements. He keeps you in both spirit and emotional bondage while oppressing you. If you are not careful, the person keeping you under such a bondage situation can destroy your life. You must realize that you allowed yourself to be kept in a spirit prison by a person performing witchcraft on you. Once you realize this, your next move is to break away from under the oppressive spirit of such a person. The oppressor may be a friend, boss, relative, or a coworker. In most of the cases, the person keeping you in spirit bondage is being driven by demonic spirits as well. Demonic power is the source of their energy. If you look carefully at your nightmares, you will be able to relate some of the dreams with the perverted lifestyles of your oppressor. This is because the demonic spirit that is driving your oppressor has leaped and tied to your soul. This is one of the unhealthy soul ties. Once the spirit attaches to you, its energy of oppression will continue to bind and hinder your progress in life. You have to break it off!

A point should be stressed in this article that demonic oppression can come in so many ways. It can come from a spirit handed down from ancestors, a spirit that attaches to us because we open the window through casual conversation, or getting involved with sexual perversions, or all kinds of ungodly activities contrary to the will of God. Satan is the one that drives the spirit of perverted pleasure! However, this article will focus on spirit oppression by demonic spirits due to the physical presence of a particular person, or a group of people around us. Many people including Christians are being victimized by this oppressive spirits daily, because they are unaware. Sadly, some people are trying hard to please the enemy while doing anything including immoral things to please the abuser for the sake of approval. These victims do no realize they are in bondage.

Take the case of Katie, a married woman of two children in her early 30s working as an office manager with an insurance company. Henry, her boss, another married man wanted to start an office romance with her. Katie immediately refused his advances and told him she was a happily married woman. Politely, Henry apologized to her. From that time Henry stopped his advances. He later started to slowly criticized Katie’s work no matter what she did right. When the annual evaluation came, Katie was given a poor evaluation despite her excellent performance. That day she cried all the way home. The next day, she planned to get closer to Henry’s passion. She started to do things for him so he could get on his positive side. Katie did not realize her initial rejection of Henry’s advances was the primary reason why she was placed under so much pressure of performance on the job. Katie discussed the issue with her husband. They both agreed that she should try her best to get on his good side. They were unaware her boss was more interested in other things than her work. Katie thought to herself, if she could work her way to Henry’s heart, he would like her and treat her as well as he was treating other people in the department. What Katie did not realize however was the process of getting closer to Henry’s heart led her to open the window of her heart to Henry, the married boss. Katie did not know also that Henry was using the criticism of her work to get her attention. In the process of Katie getting the friendly attention of Henry, she allowed herself to be seduced.

One day after work, Henry took her to dinner, Katie was very happy and she obliged. She believed she was finally getting on Henry’s positive side. After numerous dates with Henry, Katie ended up in a hotel room with him. Sadly, Katie did not know she was being manipulated, she thought her falling for Henry was just her own spontaneous desire. Katie continued her affair with Henry for a year, and of course received an excellent report in her subsequent evaluation. When Katie’s husband found out, the affair destroyed her marriage and her husband divorced her. She continued the affair with Henry for another two years as his mistress. One day at the hotel, Henry made it clear to Katie. He was intent on taking her to bed the first day he saw her at work regardless to whether she was married or not. At that moment, Katie realized that she had been manipulated by Henry who placed her in an oppressive relationship on the job because of Henry’s illicit desires for her. Consequently, Katie ended the affair with Henry and sued Henry and the insurance company for breaking her marriage. The next question to ask is, whose fault is it?

Spiritual oppression can happen in any relationship, it does not have to happen between a man and a woman. A female boss can oppress a male worker, or a male worker can oppress another male worker; or a female worker can oppress another female worker. The situation may also happen within the family when a mother oppresses her daughter or son for her own personal gains. A father may oppress his son or daughter for personal gains. It can also happen between brothers and sisters. When this happens the person being abused is under the omen of the demonic spirit of the oppressor. The oppressor may know, or may not know he is using demonic powers to oppress another person. He may be a Christian who loves the power of abuse and control of others not realizing he is being driven by the power of demons. The most dangerous ones are the ones who carry Bible and quote the Bible passages at the same time using the power of evil to control

others. These are the ones who perform witchcraft inside the church. Everything has to be to their benefit, otherwise they are uninterested.

How to Identify the Perpetrator

The entity of the oppressive spirits can come in different ways. An oppressive spirit can be demons, perverted human spirits, wondering human spirits, and other non-human spirits in the universe. Regardless to their source, they cannot act alone, but are attached to a person to achieve ungodly desires. They could have been passed from a mother to a daughter, or from a father to a son. The primary intention of spirit oppressors is to place a person under their control while using the energy of these negative spirits to control people. Oppressive people tend to ride on negative energies of the devil. They are always excited discussing about bad events, sad news, other people’s problems, or negative events. They hardly ever talk about positive things, because they derive their energies from negative spirits. Many times the signs of the oppressive person are obvious, but we tend to miss them because we are not looking for them. Here are some signs to look for.

The first tool the abuser uses is your lack of awareness that you are being controlled by demonic forces from negative spirits. The omen that is oppressing you is coming from demonic forces. Those demonic forces are the tools being used by the abuser for their own benefits. At times the abuser may not know he or she is using the forces of the devil because the activities of doing evil just feel natural. After they have done this for a while, it becomes a second nature. You cannot confront what you do not identify. This is how many people are being victimized without realizing it. At times, the abuser may use the talents and gifts of the victim and give nothing in return.

Second, although you are a Christian and not a hateful person who loves people, the physical presence of this particular person makes you feel uncomfortable. The reason for feeling uncomfortable around the person is due to the negative forces of demonic power being carried by the abuser. Oil and water do not mix, the Holy Spirit inside you feel uncomfortable with the demons, or demonic forces around such people.

Third, spirit manipulators are very selfish, oppressive, egocentric, and manipulative. Their intention is to manipulate you to do their own things even if it violates the law. I have experienced a manager who uses the Bible quotations to justify doing evil. I used to believe this person is a Christian until the Holy Spirit revealed this person’s demonic activities to me. Immediately, I decided to come out from under him, because he is evil! People like this are wolves in sheep clothing Christians should run away from them. There was the story of a boss who talked one of his female workers into becoming a stripper and later became a prostitute. The manager threatened her that she would lose her job if she did not oblige.

Fourth, spirit manipulators operate under the disguise of being nice. At times people will confuse them with good Christians. They will quote the Bible and talk about church as if they are the next saints to an angel. They tend to put up a façade of being nice. Their intention is to get closer to a person and seduce the person’s passion. Once they seduce a person’s passion, they keep him or her in bondage.

Fifth, spirit manipulators tend to use threats to control their victims. They may threaten that you may eventually lose your job if you refuse to do their will. Many times if you watch these people very well, they tend to do illegal things and justify the behavior by their own rational thinking. Threats are potent tools of manipulation. Their purpose is to inflict great fear in the heart of the victim so the victim will not think of getting away. They want to keep the victim under their control. Fear is part of the potent tools of the devil to enslave people. People who traffic young women use similar tactics to lure those young women into situations where they are sold to rich people.

Sixth, spirit manipulators are very inadequate about themselves. In many cases, they are jealous of the person they are controlling. The abusers therefore conceal their jealousy over their victim. They are indirectly competing with their victim by controlling them. Their strategy is to make you feel less about yourself so they can control you. They want to keep you at their mercy and in subjection to their control.

Seventh, you can tell when a person is using demonic spirit to oppress others because the perpetrator is very callous. They are very cold-hearted. When they do bad things against you, they do not care. Most Christians and good-hearted people; they tend to feel compassion for you when you hurt based on what they have done wrong. But, spirit manipulators derive their empowerment from knowing they are hurting you. They rejoice at hurting others.

Eighth, people using demonic power to oppress others tend to make mockery of any Christian activities, images, or events you place before them. They are not interested in Christianity even though they call themselves Christians. Their intention is to make mockery of Christianity and the Christian lifestyle.

Ninth, people using demonic powers are offended by your achievements. They want to be the center of attention because they want to be worshipped. They carry the title of their job like a person carries a piece of gold on his or her head while walking down the hallway. They may attack you when you do something positive. The devil represents a twisted mind. When you do good things, it makes them uncomfortable while they rejoice when you do bad things. This is another characteristic of the devil.

Tenth, oppressive people tend to tell a lot of lies. They want you to believe in their own lies because they believe their own lies. When they are caught in lies, they will rationalize their demonic ways. The devil is a liar! Some people volunteer to be the disciples of Satan because of demonic empowerment. Eventually they perish!

Eleventh, when you get ready to break from under an oppressor, he or she will put up a fight. They never let go without a fight. Do not be deceived by their niceness when you get ready to leave. Run away from them! They will fight you in both the physical and spiritual realm. You will have nightmares. Do not be discouraged hang on to Jesus! In case you may not be aware, the oppressor has been stealing your spiritual energy, knowledge and physical power for his or her own benefits. It’s time to reclaim the power of your soul from the enemy!

Breaking From Under Oppressive Strong Hold

Breaking way from the people while in oppressive relationship may be very difficult. The earlier you do, the better you are. Otherwise you continue to supply these people with the ammunition to oppress you. One of the strategies of the devil is to use your talent, or anointing for evil consequences. For example, if you have the talent to bless people and make things happen, the devil will speak lies into your ears. If you dare to repeat those lies, you now bring to life what the enemy is saying. Consequently you make them happen using your spiritual gift for demonic purposes. Very importantly, a Christian must learn never to repeat the echoes of the devil. The devil knew Balaam has power when he was approached to place a curse on the children of Israel. Balaam was not a false prophet, God was the one who gave him the gift even though he was a gentile prophet.

The first most important thing to do is to place a physical distance from between you and an oppressor.

"Come out from among them, and be separate," says the Lord. "Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you" (II Corinthians 6:17).

If he is your boss, transfer to another department. You may have to quit the job and find something else. If she is a friend or family member, spend less time with the person. If the person involved is you spouse, go seek help from a Christian therapist. Never accept calls from such a person early in the morning. They are energy vampire! They will drain all your positive energy by their negatives stories, sour-grapes, and suck you dry. When they get through the conversations, they knock you into depression.

Second, never argue with these people. They are master manipulators. There is nothing you can tell them, you will never win. They tell lies and believe in their own lies. They themselves are under the deceptions of the devil. If you argue with them, you are wasting your time. It does not work because they have their own hidden personal agenda. They do not mean a lot of things they tell you because they are very deceptive.

Third, make them believe they win. This strategy is very important if you are unable to get away from them. If you make them believe they win, they will not bother you so much. They believe in their own deception, and the falsehood. Make them feel good about themselves. Riding the ego of deception is one of the greatest excitements for controlling people. This is another aspect of the devil’s desire requesting to be worshipped.

Fourth, never discuss daily personal activities with these people who are under the influence of the devil. They will come and ask you about your personal lifestyle, not because they are interested. It is a way to craft their ways into your hearts to seduce your passion. Such people are very dangerous. Discuss less of your personal business with them especially on the job.

Fifth, learn to close the window of your soul before them. If you open the window of your soul, they will enter and tie an unhealthy soul tie with you and keep you both in spiritual and emotional bondage. They do not care about your welfare. They are only interested in using their witchcraft to manipulate, oppress and abuse you. If you are not aware, you will allow them an open door to your soul without knowing what you are doing. They will therefore keep you as their victim until you choose to break away from under their control.

Sixth, understand that the process of breaking away from the witchcraft of this people is not going to be easy. Once you decide to break away, they are going to resort to a spiritual warfare. They will enter into an intra-psychic warfare with you. They will torment your soul! All of a sudden your heart starts to be troubled while you are trying to break away from their strong hold. Great fear may come upon you. This is routine, please do not go back into this bondage situation. People have gone back to appease their enemies because of the pain of intra-psychic warfare launched against them by their oppressor. Do not go back into the captivity of the enemy. Set yourself free with the power of the Holy Spirit. Then walk away.

Seven, the most important process of breaking away from a spiritual oppressor is fasting, praying, and meditating on the Word of God. Once you go into a fasting mode, the enemy cannot attach to you but start to break off. This is because you have taken the war to a spiritual level. The enemy can attack you and beat up on you in the earthly realm. The enemy becomes powerless in the Spirit realm of God. Continue to read and mediate on the Word of God daily. Read Psalms 3, 35, 36, 37, 27, 46, 57, 91, 121 daily. Always remember, there are many people in bondage situation who have settled for the status quo. By trying to argue with this group of people is a waste of time because they have become part of a system that is oppressing them. They also learn to ride on negative energies like their oppressors. If you are not careful these people under the subjection of the abuser may be the dogs sent out to fight you as the secret weapons of the oppressor.

When you get ready to leave, never tell anybody about some of the activities you have experienced. Dis-empower your abuser by giving him or her a lot of compliments. Stop talking about the negative situations. The more you talk about the situations the more power you give to the abuser. You do not have to say a thing to an abuser if you do not want to. Some people will not understand what you are trying to tell them about the abuser, except those gifted with the Spirit and power of the Holy Spirit. Some people who are used to the oppressive system despite they see how it had hindered them in life already accept such a lifestyle of bondage as normal.

Danger of Superficial Spirituality

I have lived long enough to know about fake Christians as soon as they open their mouths. I met some preachers like this too. God does not like what is ugly. Fake Christians are the personification of ugliness and evil! Some of them appear to be very spiritual and will quote the Bible for you so many times, you will think they have been ordained by Jesus to preach to you. Yet, on a careful look, their mission is to serve the purpose of the enemy of God. Perhaps some of them may not know that the devil is using them for his purpose. I remember receiving an email from a lady who was raped. In her angry response she decided to take her sexuality into her hand. Instead of allowing men to use her, she decided she was going to be using men up the same way she was used. She did not realize that her action to use men up is robbing her of a woman’s grace, virtue and decency. Instead of allowing the Lord to lead her to the healing ground, she was allowing her bitterness to destroy the precious jewel God gave her.

Many people who wear Christianity on Sunday, and later put on the devil’s outfit the rest of the week are those people who have been through so much hurt. Their evil deeds are their ways to lash out at society. However, it is very important to understand what God says about fake Christianity. In the Book of Isaiah God spoke candidly about religious rituals without God spirituality is an abomination.

"When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourself, and make yourself clean; put away the evil of your doing from before your eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:15-17).

God said we should rebuke the oppressor. What do we do today on the job for an oppressor? We tend to praise an oppressor and even give him promotion as we continue to perpetuate evil. Sadly, some of the people who claim to be Christians are the ones serving Satan’s purpose on the job. They still carry the biggest cross and handle the biggest Bible while Satan is the driver of their purpose.

"Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned" (Psalm 34:21-22).

If you are standing in the way of God’s mission, you are standing in the path of destruction. For many years even today, I have seen the eventual outcome of those people who dared to make mockery of God’s missions or stand in the way of a man of God. When the children of Israel complained against God, God’s anger was aroused and fire of the Lord burned among them (Number 11:1). When Moses’ sister, Miriam complained about Moses’ wife being a foreigner and challenging Moses priesthood authority, God got angry and hit Miriam with leprosy. Moses had to go and pray to God to heal her (Number 12:1-16). When you stand in the way of a messenger of God, there is automatic punishment and may include destruction if you are not careful. God does not allow anybody to mess with his faithful servants without paying a price. Read what happened to Miriam as quoted above.

If you are a person using witchcraft to control and abuse other people, renounce the devil, and ask Jesus for forgiveness. Then turn from your wicked ways, and become a new person. You may think because you go to church and call yourself a Christian hides your cruel agenda from God. Your selfishness in using and abusing people is part of the basic nature of the devil. You can walk away from the devil to embrace Jesus and your salvation is a done deal. If you refuse, hell will one day welcome you home. The choice is yours.

To those coming out of a bondage situation, it is high time you got out of this situation. Never allow any excuse to keep your soul in bondage. Always remember what Jesus said about this situation of alliance with the devil, "The thief comes but to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come so they may have life more abundantly" (St John 10:10). Remember that your enemy no matter how long you were oppressed is a stepping stool to your purpose for your glory. There is no reason to lament over what somebody did or did not do. We have the tendency to talk more about the situations instead of learning to rise above the situations like an eagle. The tougher the hardship through your enemy, the closer you are to your purpose. No enemy can prevent you from your purpose except you. The more difficult is the trial, the bigger the blessing beyond the cross. Never allow the painful experience to steal your joy. Whatever the storm blows away, the Lord will replace it in multiple folds. Regardless to the situations of torment, there are better days ahead. No devil in hell can steal your purpose. The key is in your hand as you choose to follow Jesus and stop looking at the storm. You will definitely rise above the storm.

"If tears end the night, joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

Yinka Vidal, author, Closer Walk With Jesus