The Demonic Spirits Behind Narcissism

Have you been experiencing crazy-making behavior from a narcissist in your life? Does it seem like you are getting sucked into dizzying chaos, manipulation, lying, accusations, and rage that make you question your own sense of reality

Yes? Chances are, this narcissism is more than a personality disorder, a cultural issue, the result of childhood trauma, or a biological predisposition. These may play their part, but it is also possible that the narcissist in your life is influenced and empowered by demonic spirits.

In this post, I’m going to go through the spirits that are connected to narcissism and what the Scripture says about them. Understanding the spiritual dynamics of narcissism will help you see through the chaos and to pray more effectively.

Narcissism is a complex issue. While demonic spirits can play a part, I don’t believe the condition can be attributed solely to demons. We are triune beings–body, soul, and spirit–and therefore, all three of these dimensions have a part to play in forming narcissism in a person: Narcissism can grow out of trauma to the soul in childhood, accepting ungodly beliefs and coming into agreement with lies (sometimes as a result of trauma). Genetics (the bodily dimension) make some people more predisposed to narcissism than others, and cultural contexts can affect whether or not narcissistic behavior is normalized. Demonic spirits come into the picture in the spiritual dimension.

Narcissism has many manifestations. Some of the most distinguishable include grandiose thinking, a high degree of self-importance, and a strong sense of entitlement. Narcissists often envy others but believe that others are envious of them. They take advantage of others; they are exploitative, opportunistic, highly manipulative, and lie frequently. Once you get close enough to them, you find them callous and lacking empathy. Narcissists are unteachable; they don’t self-reflect, take responsibility, and rarely (if ever) apologize. Desires to for success, status, beauty, ideal love, or the appearance of being brilliant preoccupy them. While they are haughty and arrogant, they depend on constant affirmation from others to regulate their negative emotions because they don’t have the capacity to do so themselves. Through all these behaviors and more, narcissists mete out abuse subtly, subjecting those around them to death by a thousand cuts.

It’s evident from the complexity of narcissistic behavior that it can’t be attributed all to one spirit. Instead, these traits paint a family portrait of the demonic spirits that drive narcissism. Primary spirits are like parental figures, and secondary spirits are like their children, siblings, and cousins. Narcissism entails a community of spirits abiding together like an infrastructure inside the being of a person. 

In this post, I will go through those primary spirits, the ones that I’ve observed to drive narcissism. 

The Spirits of Jezebel and Ahab

King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were a wicked couple in the Old Testament who led the Israelite nation away from God. They used fear, bullying, and intimidation to get what they wanted. If you read the record of their reign in 1 Kings 16-22, you will see that Jezebel exhibits the traits of an overt narcissist: She is manipulative, vain, entitled, shameless, callous, and lawless. But she is not the only narcissist in this story. Ahab, too, is a narcissist. The Bible has strong language to describe him, saying in 1 Kings 16:30 that Ahab “was more wicked than all the wicked kings who lived before him.” I believe God considered him more evil than Jezebel. Perhaps he was partly responsible for Jezebel’s evil because, in his covert ways, her personality worked really well for his agenda. 

The vineyard incident in 1 Kings 21 gives a perfect illustration of covert narcissism (Ahab) and overt narcissism (Jezebel). The story goes like this:

One day, Ahab notices the beautiful vineyard of his neighbor, Naboth, and wants to have it for himself. So he says to Naboth, ‘Your vineyard is right next to my palace. Why don’t you give it to me so I can make a vegetable garden out of it, and I’ll trade you a better vineyard for it or pay you for it.’ Naboth answered politely, ‘I’m sorry, this is my family inheritance. God forbids that I should sell my family inheritance.’ Ahab becomes very frustrated and upset by Nathaboth’s reply. The Bible says, “Ahab went to bed that night without eating anything.” 1 Kings 21:4.

Notice that when Ahab did not get what he wanted, he became frustrated, upset, and sullen. He made himself like a victim of Naboth, even though he was the one clearly trespassing God’s commandment, demanding that Naboth violate God’s commandment and give up his family inheritance so that he could plant a vegetable garden. Evidently, Ahab was grossly entitled and had unreasonable expectations of Naboth. This is a predominant narcissistic trait. Narcissists make extreme demands of other people and see nothing wrong with it like Ahab saw nothing wrong with his request but everything wrong with Naboth’s refusal to give him the vineyard. Narcissists can’t stand boundaries. They hate being told “no.” To get what they want, narcissists will use their sense of being wronged to rally others to do their bidding. They use others as tools to get what they want. So the story goes on.

It says that Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, noticed the king’s sullen mood and reminded him that he was the king. She told him to stop sulking and feel better about himself because she would find a way to get him that vineyard. She did: Jezebel arranged to have Naboth falsely accused and killed so Ahab could get the vineyard.

Jezebel became a tool in Ahab’s hands. Jezebel’s overtly narcissistic and evil personality worked well for Ahab because he could keep playing victim to hide his narcissism and let her do the dirty work and deal with the consequences. Ahab was controlling Jezebel, and she, in turn, manipulated everyone else. Ahab and Jezebel are, respectively, archetypical covert and overt narcissists: Ahab’s victim narrative, sulking, frustration, and negativity are classic traits of a covert narcissist, while Jezebel’s overt narcissism is manifested in the uninhibited use of manipulation, bullying, intimidation, and witchcraft. Both types of narcissism are demonic tactics to gain control and power and manifest through grandiose thinking, entitlement, and manipulation.

Just like Ahab and Jezebel were married in scripture, the spirits of covert and overt narcissism are often linked together. A narcissist can be influenced by both spirits, in which case they will show two faces, an intimidating angry tyrant one moment and a sulking victim in the next. 

The Spirit of Delusion and Insanity

The Biblical stories of King Saul and King Nebuchadnezzar point to the second spirit involved: the spirit of delusion and insanity. In both stories, the Bible recounts that as God starts to judge a narcissist, they face mental health issues. The book of 1 Samuel tells the story of King Saul and reveals that he developed many narcissistic traits. Eventually, the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and that in its place, a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him (1 Samuel 16:14). This was a form of God’s judgment on Saul, and it dove him crazy, literally. The Book of Daniel tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, who, like Saul, elevated himself above God in his grandiose thinking. In Daniel 4:31-32, God says to Nebuchadnezzar: “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox.” God’s prophecy came true, and Nebuchadnezzar lived like a crazy man. Both Saul and Nebuchadnezzar had a spirit of insanity.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, it says that God sends a powerful delusion on people who refuse to love the truth and who partner with deception and lawlessness “so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 

This happens when narcissists become more entrenched in their narcissistic ways, rejecting the truth, practicing lies and deception, and elevating themselves above God. When they do this, they enter into God’s judgment, and He sends a spirit of delusion and insanity to torment them. They lose their mental acumen, and mental health issues start to drive them crazy. The closer they get to the edge of insanity, the harder it is for them to hide and manage what is happening. Unless, of course, they repent and God intervenes to set them free.

The Religious Spirit

The third spirit is the religious spirit. The religious spirit twists and weaponizes the scriptures to satisfy a person’s greed and selfish ambitions, all in the name of God. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul describes many of the traits of a narcissist, describing people who are greedy, high-minded, and self-loving, and says that these people have a form of godliness (outward religion) but deny its power. Paul advises Timothy to have nothing to do with such people. 

When the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus, they gave us an example of how the religious spirit works. While their hearts were full of anger, hatred, and envy, they managed to use the scriptures as a weapon to justify murdering the Savior of the world. Jesus rebuked these leaders operating under the religious spirit, saying, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44). So the religious spirit originates directly from Satan, the first and greatest narcissist, and one who lies and hates truth.  Today, the religious spirit still twists and misuses scripture and spiritual principles to stifle God’s work. Any narcissist that claims to be a Christian is operating under the religious spirit. 

If you feel that the narcissist in your life has been operating in the religious spirit, twisting scripture, or putting on a performance, remember that you can judge a tree by its fruit. Jesus said that those who abide in Him would bear fruit (see John 15), and we also know that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-26). While it is not our job to judge someone’s standing before God, we are meant to be discerning: If someone professes to believe but does not bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, you can take their judgments on you with a grain of salt.

The Antichrist Spirit

Just like the religious spirit gains inspiration directly from Satan, the antichrist spirit also opposes and destroys the works of Jesus Christ. When a narcissist operates under both a religious spirit and an antichrist spirit, they use means that look good and helpful on the outside to destroy the way and works of Jesus. The telltale sign that this is not just good intentions gone wrong is that the narcissist will refuse to conform their lives and personality to that of Jesus Christ. Very often, this manifests in that narcissists rarely preach from or speak about the gospels and the words of Jesus, but instead, they use many Old Testament stories to control people. The narcissist is very interested in everyone else being yielded and surrendered to what they believe is the will of God, but they themselves have no interest in being held accountable to scripture.

Other Spirits

The spirits of Ahab and Jezebel, the religious spirit, and the antichrist spirit are the major spirits that can be seen empowering a narcissist. There can be many more spirits involved, and I will cover three of them briefly. 

The spirit of witchcraft: The spirit of witchcraft is connected to the spirits of Jezebel and Ahab. The narcissist thrives on control, manipulation, and deception, all aspects of walking in witchcraft and the occult. 

The spirit of lawlessness: The spirit of lawlessness empowers a narcissist to think they are above the law, above the rules, and above God’s commandments, where they refuse to come under any authority or to be held accountable for their actions. This spirit empowers narcissists to believe they are a law unto themselves.

The lying spirit: This spirit causes narcissists to be pathological liars until they are more comfortable lying, withholding the truth, and using deception than being honest, truthful, and transparent. Recall Jesus’ rebuke to the religious leaders in John 8:44: Satan is the father of all lies, and when he lies, he speaks his native language. Satan is the original narcissist. Anyone who practices a life of lying and deception speaks the same language as Satan and is empowered by a lying spirit. This spirit enables many other spirits because it numbs the conscience to lying.

Conclusion

To recap, I’ve described how eight different demonic spirits empower narcissism: The spirits of Jezebel and Ahab, the spirit of delusion and insanity, the religious spirit, the antichrist spirit, the spirit of witchcraft, the spirit of lawlessness and the lying spirit. If you know someone who scores high on the narcissist spectrum, they most likely interact with one or more of these spirits and need deliverance. 

Biblically, it is very important that the demonized person has the desire to be delivered. Unfortunately, it is possible for the narcissist to love their demons. The more a person yields to lies, ungodly beliefs, and soulish desires, the more the demons that influence them are empowered to take control. However, that does not at all diminish the power of prayer to change a person’s heart or bring deliverance. There’s no quick fix if the narcissist you pray for needs deliverance and refuses to see it. As you pray, ask God for revelation to intercede more effectively. It may take some acts of God to humble them enough that they will admit that they need help. (We see this in the story of Nebuchadnezzar, who, after seven years of insanity, submitted to God and was delivered.)

For more resources on how to pray for a narcissist, check out my video “How to Pray for a Narcissist.”

As you interact with and pray for a narcissist, remember that because the narcissist is so demonically influenced, your battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. The Bible says, “...our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

The ugliness of the narcissist you see is the manifestation of their demons, not the true essence of who God made them to be. This does not excuse them in the least, and it does not mean that you need to make excuses to justify them or have humanistic compassion toward them. Instead, it is important to keep this perspective so that you can separate the narcissist from the person God intended them when He created them. You are dealing with a person that has slowly, over time, yielded themselves over to the control and influence of demons. 

If you know a narcissist who is pursuing deliverance or has recently experienced deliverance, be aware that healing is not just an issue of deliverance. Deliverance is a critical step, but it is not the final step. In Matthew 12, Jesus teaches His disciples that when someone is delivered of evil spirits, they must invite the Holy Spirit to fill them. Otherwise, they are like an unprotected, empty house, and many more demons will return to live in it. Just like nature abhors a vacuum, the spiritual world also does not leave things empty. The narcissist has to replace evil with good. This means that the narcissist needs to commit to the process of breaking off ungodly beliefs and rejecting agreement with lies. Healing from childhood wounds and trauma is key to this process since ungodly beliefs are often accepted as a response to trauma. They must take captive every thought they have and make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). The narcissist will also need to confess and repent from their sins. James 5:16 says to confess your sins so that you will be healed. Importantly, James says that we must confess our sins to each other, highlighting that the process of healing is something that is done not only in the secret place with God but that also requires a community. Deliverance is a step in the healing process, and to be restored, a narcissist needs to walk out his or her healing daily.  

Watch the video version of this blog here.

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Downloadable Resources 

• Signs of Spiritual Abuse or Cultish Environments Checklist 
• 20 Signs that You Might Be Experiencing Narcissistic Abuse
• How to Pray for a Narcissist Guide
• Healing from Gaslighting