Can People Attack Christians Through Witchcraft?

Guys, I’ve been thinking of writing more on the topic of facing witchcraft attacks. I find a lot of poor understanding in this area. On the one side are Christians who are terrified of witchcraft. We’ve talked to a few Christians in Brazil who had this attitude. It’s really sad to see Christians who have so little idea of what the gospel implies for them. Many Christians really need to hear the gospel again, and understand it!

1 John 4:4 (NRSV) Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Luke 10:19 (NRSV) See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.

On the other hand are Christians who would think it is absolutely impossible for witchcraft to harm a Christian; that such stories are just myths. I think that is just naive! Many Christians have been hurt, made sick, or come under oppression through witchcraft attacks. We examined this subject in relation to principalities in the book “What Really Causes Needless Casualties of War?” However, our conclusions apply to any form of spiritual attack, not just from principalities.

Immunity from spiritual attacks comes from what I call “standing in a gospel position” of identification with Jesus, his death, and his resurrection. We don’t fear witchcraft. In fact, fearing witchcraft is giving the attention (worship) that Jesus deserves to something inferior, and that is one of the very things that causes a vulnerability. Rather, we walk in communion with God and stand on gospel truth. That is the position in which we have immunity from witchcraft.

You Don’t Have to Live in Africa and Have a Shaman Attacking You for this to Apply!

When I lived in Rio de Janeiro, we often saw sacrifices to demons on the street corners near our house. There are some places in which that kind of overt witchcraft is common. Many people have seen things that the average American would hardly believe possible. However, the heaviness or oppression you feel when people are slandering you or judging you works exactly the same way as witchcraft does. And we overcome it exactly the same way.

I have often faced this. When I started ministering healing, many people misjudged me as being spiritually proud and puffed up because I was always sharing testimonies. People thought I was arrogant as I boldly spoke God’s truth. Sometimes I still feel that. I can feel the resistance to what I am saying, sometimes even rage. Jesus felt that too. We see in scripture that Jesus knew when people were murmuring to each other about him, and he knew what they were feeling.

Mark 2:5-8 (NRSV) When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?

When I first faced this, I felt a great heaviness. I just wanted to cry for some reason, but not in a good way. (I cry all the time because of who Jesus is, and my soul is filled with heaven’s glory. But I wanted to cry because of the pain or oppression I felt trying to press down on me.) And I wondered “Have I become proud? Am I arrogant?” The Lord taught me that I was just feeling people’s judgments, and I needed to regard those judgments and the cloud of heaviness that came with them as a lie and stand on truth. (I share these initial struggles in “The Power and Love Sandwich.”) I have often felt this and pressed through it before or after a time when God’s glory was manifested greatly in power and miracles. I even felt it recently and went to the Lord to see if He wanted to correct me on something. He gave me this:

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 (NRSV) So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

What happened? Some people were furious about what I said. They were murmuring about how I was a rude, difficult person. I felt it. But what I said was true. There’s nothing wrong with asking the Lord if he’d like to correct you in some area, but he may show you that what you are feeling is actually just the accusations coming against you. Jesus said:

Luke 6:22-23, 26 (NRSV) Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets…Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

The fact is that if you are going to speak God’s word and walk in communion with Christ, you will face witchcraft attacks. Even if it is not in the form of a shaman sacrificing a goat to try to bring a curse on you, it will come in the form of judgments, slander, mockery, and accusation. We often feel those accusations in the spiritual realm. (You will probably feel these things coming against you even if you aren’t walking with God. Father forgive them for they don’t know what they do!)

Maybe you’re wondering why I would say that the spiritual dynamics of this work the same was as overt witchcraft, say for example, when someone makes an animal sacrifice. And standing against it is the same. The spiritual realm works through proclamation, either of God’s truth or of lies and proclamation. And proclamation that comes against you in the spirit realm, if you agree with it, can make you physically sick, cause demonic manifestations, and much more! This is true whether it is overt witchcraft of it is a blind person who is not walking in communion with God and knows not what they do!

Fortunately, I’ve been around the block a few times! Just recognizing what’s happening is a big step towards being immune to it. But here’s the really big key! And I’m not sure I’ve ever even heard anybody talk about it:

I Love You. I’m Not Afraid Of You.

Probably the biggest key to being immune to witchcraft is the fear of the Lord. While it’s too much to share in this blog article, I did a study on the fear of the Lord with all the scripture references in the book “I Am Persuaded.” Essentially, fearing the Lord is this: Being absolutely impressed with God so that he captures your attention more than anything else, and so that what he thinks of you matters more than anything else. It is seeking to please him and not men, as in the verse we quoted above from 2 Corinthians 5. Rather than being rooted in a terrifying expectation of judgment, the fear of the Lord as scripture speaks of it is rooted in seeing his goodness. And the fear of the Lord sets us free from all other fears. When I fear the Lord, it matters very little what people think of me as long as the Lord is pleased with me. I’m not afraid of what people think of me or what they can do to me.

When I walk in the fear of the Lord and communion with God, my conscience cleansed by the blood of Jesus and God’s love flooding my heart, accusations, slander, and mockery don’t move me. Recently, a kid said something mean to my little girl and she started verbally attacking him in response. I said “Rebekah, don’t do that because when you do, you give importance to him.” Now it’s not that he’s not important to God, as all people are precious to Jesus. But we must not “give importance to” people when they are attacking us. It would be more accurate to say we must not “give importance to” their words or the spirit speaking through them. And when we fear God, we won’t, because we aren’t afraid of them. We aren’t impressed with anything else when we behold God’s glory.

When you don’t care about what people think of you, but you love them, and you weep and pray for them when you see how they are blind and know not what they do, you are in a good place. That’s what it’s like to live in the fear of the Lord.

I work a lot on Sundays, and I’m also more interested anyways in real fellowship with participation than sitting in a pew and watching a show. I listen to plenty of great preaching and worship music on Youtube. When I get together with the church, I go to pray together, share testimonies, interact, not to hear music and a sermon and go home. And sometimes those things are a bit hard to find much of in a Sunday program. So having nothing against people who like to go every Sunday and whose work schedule permits them to, the real essential thing I’m looking for is fellowship. And I meet a few times a week with other believers. But one pastor, a guy I really like and care about, recently was really concerned that I wasn’t showing up on Sundays. I told him about the nature of my work. But he said “God is going to take your job from you because you are putting your job before him!”

That is witchcraft and he doesn’t even know it! But I’m immune to it! Why? Because I love this guy, I care about him, but I’m not afraid of him. He doesn’t have the power to hurt me. I’m in Christ. What really matters to me is what God is doing and what God is saying. However, if I would “give importance to” his words, even by getting all offended, I would open myself spiritually for his words to have an effect on me. Even like losing my job due to a curse! The spiritual world is real and I’ve seen it work many times! But my reality is that I weep with love for people even if they don’t like me, and I want them to know Jesus and be built up in the knowledge of him! That is what gives me immunity to witchcraft. When people are spiritually blind, I pray for their eyes to be opened. (By the way, scripture says in 1 Timothy 5:8 that those who don’t care for their family have denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever! So I don’t see working on Sunday in a job I thank God for as being at conflict with my love for Christ! Even there, I am working for the Lord and expressing his love by caring for my family)

A Witchcraft Attack On The Kidneys And How To Protect Yourself Spiritually

So, another example to illustrate how I’ve experienced what I’m explaining to you guys. There was a woman at my wife’s job, above her in the work hierarchy, who is very spiritually oppressed. We have good reason to suspect she is involved in the kind of “explicit witchcraft” which involves making sacrifices to demons and all that stuff. It’s common in Brazil and we’ve run into it a lot. But I’m not sure.

Anyways, my wife was having a really difficult time with this lady. One day, in particular, was really bad, and my wife came home with pain in her kidneys. She told me she thought she had kidney stones. I put my hand on her side and started saying “Everything that’s not from God, get out! All the pain, get out now! Every afflicting spirit, you get out!” And she started deep belching. I continued “All of it, out now, in Jesus name! Peace and power of God, fill her body! Nothing that doesn’t belong!” These enormous deep belches kept coming for about 10 minutes, and then all the pain was gone. The spiritual attack had entered through my wife getting really upset and angry at the lady.

The lady (and the spirit deceiving her) continued to cause trouble. One day I said to my wife “Honey, you need to protect yourself spiritually. You can’t let this lady or what she does define you or determine who you are and how you’re doing.” She realized that if she would come home angry because of how her co-worker was behaving, ready to explode at anybody or anything, she would be spiritually vulnerable. She began to fast and pray to keep her focus on communion with God.

A few weeks later, my wife came up very upset after a hard day with this coworker again, and she had pain in her kidneys. She said, “Jonathan, I think I need to see a doctor.” Now I’m not against seeing a doctor if you need to, but I told her “Honey, can’t you see that this attack is spiritual! Why are you talking about going to the doctor?” She kept complaining of the pain and I suddenly put my hand on her side and said “All of it, get out in Jesus’s name!” Guess what? Deep belching!

If she had still felt pain, I wouldn’t have discouraged her from going to the doctor. But I knew what the real issue was. Just recognizing what’s going on is big. The demonic hates being exposed! Many people have all kinds of problems that they think are purely natural and they have no idea of what is happening spiritually. I don’t know if the lady at her work did an overt witchcraft attack against her (like sacrificing a chicken to a demon) or simply expressed the spirit that was controlling her in anger and strife. But either way, the spiritual dynamic was the same, and the way we overcome it is the same.

I think what I’m sharing here has the potential to really help a lot of people. In fact, maybe as you read this, you recognized how and when you began to have a certain pain or problem. Maybe you thought it was purely natural and now you recognize a spiritual aspect to it. Now that thing is exposed! It wanted to stay hidden so that you would try to deal with it only naturally instead of getting at the root of the problem. You can rebuke that thing in Jesus’s name and command it to get out of your body! It’s simple. Turn your heart towards Jesus, open up everything in your heart and life to Jesus Christ, and tell that thing to get out now! I hope this post helps you to become more aware of what’s happening in the spiritual world and of how to protect yourself spiritually by walking in the fear of the Lord, or in other words, keeping your heart in the state of worshipping Jesus, and if your heart ever leaves that place, getting back to it quickly! And for those who are afraid of witchcraft (and no Christian should be,) knowing how we overcome witchcraft can help you to stop being afraid of it.