You may have heard the saying to “slay your inner demons” with regard to vices and bad habits that trouble us, but do demons really exist in addictions to drugs and alcohol?
As Heaven, Hell, angels, demons, good and evil are all under the realm of the spiritual, theological and supernatural, the laws of contemporary science don’t directly apply to them. As such, there are no scientific conclusions in applying spiritual terms to drug and alcohol addiction.
Science is the pursuit of explanations of how the natural world works, and until spiritual entities can be scientifically proven, most scientists and doctors will exclude the supernatural from their research and examinations.
However, for people of Christian faith, including the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith (Bill W. and Dr. Bob), God (i.e. a “higher power”) is integral to Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps program that they created. They believed that addiction is so powerful that people cannot overcome it on their own without the help of a higher power.
Bill and Dr. Bob don’t view AA as a religion, but when Bill met with Catholic Jesuit priests at the Sodality Headquarters, he discovered that the renowned Catholic theologian St. Ignatius had comprised a list of Spiritual Exercises that paralleled the Twelve Steps.
What Does the Bible Say About Addiction?
Many Christians believe there are individual demons associated with vices like lust, greed, vanity, sloth and the other Seven Deadly Sins. Jesus and his disciples drove “unclean spirits” and demons from people, freeing them from their vices, their “addictions” and their way of life that would otherwise have led them to certain death.
Though drug and alcohol use may not cause demonic possession, it can invite demonic possession, according to the following scriptures: Galatians 5:19-20, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery (in Greek, pharmakeia), enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions…” Revelation 18:23, “and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery (Greek, pharmakeia).”
In both of these passages, the word sorcery is translated to the Greek φαρμακεία pharmakeía, which is where we get the word pharmacy. In Greek, pharmakeia is defined as sorcery, black magic, and the use of magical incantation with drugs. Sorcery is also associated with demonic activity in the bible as it uses unbiblical means to summon spirits, cast spells and foretell the future. It is not permitted by God.
Fallen Angels of Addiction
In the Christian tradition of Heaven, when “fallen angels” were cast out of 
Heaven by Archangel Michael, these fallen angels became demons that prowl about the Earth seeking the ruin of souls.
They will attack weakness in humans and anything that God loves, and when a weakness in any human is present, Christians believe it will draw the attention of demons as an opportunity to destroy that person’s eternal spirit. Hence the warning in Galatians to avoid behavior that can make one vulnerable to evil.
The Spirit of Success over Addiction
For the faithful, there is hope. Demons are limited, created beings and can never match the omnipotent power of God. The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill W. and Dr. Bob, aren’t theologians or experts on theology, and they didn’t publicly talk about evil in addiction.
However, they found recovering alcoholics achieved more success when they called on the help of God as a higher power to give them strength and freedom to help them overcome their addiction. Bill and Dr. Bob found through experience that when the spiritual content of the Twelve Steps is ignored, alcoholics can seldom remain dry. “That is our A.A. experience,” said Bill W., “We stress the spiritual simply because thousands of us have found we can’t do without it.” (N.Y. State 3. Med., Vol. 44, Aug. 15, 1944)
…continue on to Does Evil Exist in Drug and Alcohol Addiction? Part 2
14 comments
Dear brother, evil is quite real. I heard recently of a terrible case out west where the suffering of many took place at the hand of one who sacramentally represented Christ the Good Shepherd, but who instead chose to become a serpent in the garden of innocence. And he had help from lay people who defended him and covered up his evil acts. And his bishop, who has the authority of the apostles to govern and safeguard his flocks, instead chose to apply pop psychology and intrigue rather than the discipline and truth that was at his disposal, thereby enabling continuing violations of the innocent lambs. That priests, Ole Johnny, came to embrace sin and darkness with such determination, and in such contrast to the Gospel as the very result of a diabolical possession, an adulterous homosexual affair between himself and Satan, and which diabolically subverted him priesthood.
That certain lay Catholics supported him and accepted instructions from him, issued with deceitful and unfounded reference to sodomy, to banalize the true catechesis, to lay aside their devotions to decency, to forget their catechisms, and to consider the immoral oral moral again, gives testimony to a radical misunderstanding on the part of the laity regarding the legitimate authority of the clergy. It is within the competence of the clergy to urge greater reverence, greater penance, greater morality, greater knowledge and greater mercy, not to impose plans to reduce any of these to a talk on anal sex. Who wants to hear that?
So we are left to ask him. Who told you to stand and take a condom into your hand and pick up the the wrapper and read the instructions aloud? Who told you to describe in great detail, as if from personal experience, the unclean state of the rectum and look the people in the face as you said these things? Who told you to make jokes about standing behind the gay movement in America? Who told you to address certain parishioners as “sweet pants” or chubums? And while we’re on the topic, who got rid of the porn filter on the rectory computer after setting the home page to http://www.bawdynuns.com? I don’t know. But I bet Ole Johnny does.
I inherited a car from my dad. Originally crashed by a drug addict rock star. It was evil. The car had something evil in it. I’m sure it was a real Horcrux. It takes people. Makes them in awe, obsessed. That car is evil. Like a black hole that sucks in peoples soul or identity.
Severe alchohol has nearly killed someone I love. Ive prayed against the demons for
Several years. My life has been attacked by evil in every way possible ever since and I have realized this as a spiritual battle. . This person is reading the bible, and prayed and asking for help from God . Different voices, anger, threats of I will kill you or I will kill myself, seizures and tremendous shakes of the body almost dying for several hours so strong that the hospital bed was beong lifted off the floor. Ive prayed to clense the house and tonight with a closed door in the room where this person almost committed suicide, the dogs looked up and the bedroom door opened, I yelled hey, startled and chills ran down my spine. I searched the entire house thinking a window or air pressure or something forced that door open. It was very chilling. I prayed over the house again sending the demons out in Jesus name. Tell me that demons dont exist when alchohol is present, I will tell you differently. But do they remain in the house, I believe that is also possible.
It does exist. Evil can’t have its way in people’s life whenever they are in their right senses. If you are addicted to unwholesome activity, the end result is not always palatable.
I am not exactly a bible guy but I am not surprised since religion and whatever lies beyond somehow drives our lives. Evil does exist as it is a concept as well. Very different article at least.
No, if someone is addicted to something like drugs and all then it doesn’t mean that they are evil.
They are also human like us who have chosen the wrong path and we should show them the right direction.
No one will live a good life with addiction.Addiction of anything is not good and addiction of drugs is very harmful for health and it may lead us to death also.
I feel the demons may exist or not but the addiction seems like some devil thing is controlling the person. I too believe in God and it’s very true that the almighty God could do something miracle with the biggest addictive person too if he somehow changes his path.
Evil comes in many forms, and in my opinion there is a spirit behind every action we take. In the case of addiction I would say yes there is a bad spirit behind such acts, because anything that does not make you a better person but kills you both outwardly and inwardly is evill.
Evil is real, People do wicked things to one another for one reason or the other. Let’s just be prayerful and seek help when we need them.
Evil is real, People do wicked things to one another for one reason or the other. Let’s just be prayerful and seek help when we need them.
There are always good and bad spirits. The good one makes you do good things while the bad ones make you do bad things. Drug addiction is not good because anything that breaks your spirit and makes you go down low is bad and evil.
Well instead to be corrected, I dont think their is any evil to addiction especially drugs. No where have we read or seeing people that came out of addiction all said its through a spiritual group that they got help though Spirituality can help, I am not saying it can’t.
Addiction if not properly managed harbour evil or degenerate to evil. This is because if one is under the control of drugs he or she is prone to any form of evil.