Can Curses and Spells Affect a Christian?

 

Can curses and spells affect a Christian?

by Barbara Latta

Witches and devils are much-favored Halloween costumes. Thoughts about spells and curses can be more prominent during this season. Witch doctors still exist who conduct their arts with voodoo dolls. All these dark practices are powered by fear-based words.

This brings up the question, can magic arts, spells, and curses affect a Christian? 

What Does the Bible Tell Us About Fear?

When we give in to fear, we are under that emotional control. If we go too far into believing lies of the devil, we react irrationally.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)

God tells us in many places in His word not to fear. He gives us a sound mind, but if we give in to fear we are under the domination of what we are afraid of. 

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. (Psalm 91:9-10)

His presence is our protection when we stay there in faith.

What Does the Bible tell us About the Power of Words?

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who live it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21)

Our words, or those of others if we believe them, are seeds that sprout and affect our lives.

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7a)

Words can influence how we see ourselves.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me. (Isaiah 54:17)

When a negative or harmful words is spoken against us, we have the power of God to refuse those words instead of absorbing them into our minds.

The devil can't inhabit a Christian. 

What are We Told About Power Over the Enemy?

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

We resist the devil by abiding in Jesus (John 15:4-5), renewing our minds (Romans 12:1-2), and wearing our spiritual armor (Ephesians 6).

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4)

Like a flitting sparrow, like a fling swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight. (Proverbs 26:2)

We shoo a curse away the same way we would scare a bird off our heads.

Can a Christian be Demon-Possessed?

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

The power of God lives inside us. There is no greater power.

If we are inhabited by the Holy Spirit the devil can’t also live there. We can be influenced by temptation and commit sin, but we are forgiven and already washed clean by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:5-6).

What About Talking to the Dead?

Jesus told us that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (Matthew 16:18). But that doesn’t mean we participate in the devil’s activities, even when it is portrayed as harmless and fun.

Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:31)

Seances, Ouija boards, tarot cards, crystal balls, palm reading, and horoscopes are tools of the devil to deceive people. Talking to the dead is forbidden because a medium is not talking to the departed spirit of a person. A medium is relating to a familiar spirit that has taken on the form of the dead.

Demons have existed since the beginning of time. Spirits don’t die; therefore, they can know facts about a person and take on a visible form. Those who visit a fortune teller are conned into thinking they are conversing with a lost loved one.

Once a person dies, (except in the cases they were raised from the dead and those people still died again), they are in heaven or hell. They do not come back to converse with those on earth (Luke 16:26).*

We Should Live in the Blessing

In Numbers 22-24, Balaam tried to curse the Israelites but because God had blessed them, Balaam couldn’t curse God’s people. But later the Israelites disobeyed God and committed fornication with Moabite women, so they cursed themselves. God didn’t do it and Balaam couldn’t do it.

God’s blessing had been spoken over them. They chose to go the way of evil, so they reaped the consequences of those actions.

Another person’s curses can’t affect a child of God unless we accept what we hear, get in fear, and agree with the words spoken. Once we are born again, God has blessed us. His blessing is not retracted the same way it couldn’t be retracted from the Israelites. But if we refuse to live in His blessing, we are the ones who curse ourselves.

With the interest in paranormal activity in our culture today, it is vital for us as Titus 2 women to educate the younger generation about the truth and danger of dabbling in the occult. 

While we as Christians have the Holy Spirit within, we can still choose to expose ourselves to the devil's activities and when we do, we will reap his fruit and destruction upon our lives. This is why God tells us to leave these things alone. Demonic activity can manifest when a person traverses into the devil's games. 

What scriptures would you add about our ability to resist curses and live in God’s blessing? Share your thoughts.

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*In 1 Samuel 28, Saul visits a witch to get her to talk to Samuel for him. This is a violation of Leviticus 19:31. The witch did not raise Samuel up from the dead, rather she saw into the spirit world and knew it was the prophet and not the familiar demonic spirit she expected. That is why she was so alarmed. You can read more about this in Adam Clark’s commentary on these scriptures.