When Evil Puts on a Spiritual Mask: How Abusers Use Ritual to Control

Some traffickers and abusers twist spiritual language and ritual to deepen fear and silence victims. This devotional-journalistic reflection exposes how false “spiritual power” becomes a tool of control—and how God’s truth restores freedom. It reminds survivors that no curse, threat, or ritual can own them; only Christ can set the captive free. The Church’s role is not to accuse the wounded but to protect and heal them.

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” — Ephesians 5:11

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

— 2 Corinthians 3:17

Some abuse is straightforward: threats, money, violence.

Other abuse is layered — it adds spiritual fear on top of the exploitation so the person feels trapped in their soul, not just in their body.

That’s what happens when traffickers, cultic groups, or abusers start mixing what they’re doing with “ritual,” “spells,” “dedications,” or “you belong to this circle forever.” Whether they call it witchcraft, the “left-hand path,” spirit work, or just “our way,” the goal is the same:

make the victim believe they can’t leave
make them afraid something supernatural will punish them
make the crime look “spiritual” so it won’t be reported

That’s not spirituality — that’s control dressed up as spirituality.

Why would abusers use ritual language?

Because spiritual fear is stickier than ordinary fear.

If you can convince someone, “If you tell, a curse will follow you,” you don’t need to be in the room anymore — the threat lives in their mind. That’s exactly why some survivors say things like, “I felt like I was under a spell,” even years later. The words stay.

So yes — some abusers and traffickers borrow from occult or ritual ideas to make people think the abuse is unbreakable. Sometimes that’s because they’re actually involved in those practices; sometimes it’s because they just know fear of the supernatural works.

What this is spiritually

it’s bondage through fear
it’s spiritualized grooming
it’s an attempt to claim ownership of a person God never gave them

And in Bible terms, anytime someone uses spiritual power to dominate or control another person, we are in the territory of sorcery/witchcraft-level manipulation — not because the survivor is “dark,” but because the abuser is using dark methods.

What this is NOT

it’s not proof that the victim “wanted it”
it’s not proof the victim was “in the occult”
it’s not proof the victim is cursed forever
and it’s not something Jesus can’t break

That last one matters the most.

Deliverance for people who were abused with “ritual”

If someone was trafficked or abused and told, “We did a ritual on you,” or, “Your soul belongs to us,” the healing looks like this:

Truth breaks the spell:
“What they said is a lie. They do not own you. Only God is your Creator.”
Renouncing what was spoken:
“In the name of Jesus, I break every word, curse, vow, or ritual spoken over me. I do not belong to darkness — I belong to God.”
Replacing fear with belonging:
Trauma says: “You’re marked.”
Jesus says: “You’re sealed.” (Ephesians 1:13)
Safe church / safe people:
Survivors need spaces that don’t accuse them of witchcraft just because witchcraft was used against them.

A word to the Church

This is where the church often messes up: someone comes in with clear signs of spiritual attack, and instead of saying, “Let’s help you,” people say, “You must be the problem.”

But sometimes the “witchcraft” people are sensing is not coming from the person — it’s stuck to the person because of what was done to them.

So our default should be: help the wounded, don’t hunt the wounded.