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Have you ever felt like you were doing everything right on the surface, yet your life was still coming apart at the seams? I’m talking about those seasons where you’re praying, you’re attending services, and you’re trying your best to be a "good person," but there is a persistent, heavy shadow over your home. Perhaps your children are struggling with fears they can’t name, or your marriage feels like a parched desert despite your best efforts to water it. You look around and think, "I'm not doing anything that bad. My little struggles are private. They don't hurt anyone but me."
I want to invite you to pull up a chair, grab a fresh cup of coffee, and let’s talk straight—friend to friend. We are going to look "under the hood" of spiritual reality today. You see, we often live under the delusion that our lives are lived in silos—that what I do in the dark stays in the dark. But the Bible presents a very different picture. There is a structure to this world, an authority structure, and when sin enters that structure at the top, it doesn't just sit there. It leaks. It flows. And eventually, it messes with the whole thing.
The Problem: The Myth of the "Silo" Sin
For years, I lived with a fundamental misunderstanding of how sin works. I used to think of it strictly like a personal debt—something I owed God that Jesus paid for on the cross. While that is legally true in the courts of heaven, I didn't understand the functional side of sin in the earth realm. I didn't realize that sin is an open door, a legal loophole that the enemy uses to bypass our protection.
Think about your home for a second. If you leave the front door wide open in the middle of a thunderstorm, you don't get to act surprised when the carpet gets soaked and the wind blows over your favorite lamp. You can’t just sit on the couch and say, "Well, I personally am dry, so the open door isn't a problem." The door is part of the structure of the house. If it's open, the entire house is vulnerable.
Many of us are living with "open doors" in our authority structures, and the enemy is walking right in to whack our families. We are being destroyed, not because God isn't powerful enough to save us, but because we’ve rejected the knowledge of how His kingdom actually operates.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no more priest to me: seeing thou hath forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6 KJV).
Did you catch that last part? "I will also forget thy children." That should make every parent’s blood run cold. Our lack of vigilance and our "private" deviations from God's path have a direct, measurable impact on the next generation. We think we're getting away with it, but the enemy is just waiting for the right moment to use that loophole to attack our kids.
The Story of the Night Terrors: A Personal Wake-Up Call
I remember the darkness of my bedroom as a child feeling like a physical weight. I wasn't just a kid who was "afraid of the dark." I was a kid who was being hunted. I would wake up in the middle of the night, paralyzed with what people call "sleep paralysis," feeling a presence in the room that was pure, concentrated evil. These weren't just bad dreams or "overactive imaginations"; they were demonic night terrors.
At the time, I was just a young boy. I wasn't out there living a life of high treason against God. I wasn't out drinking or carousing. I was too young to even understand what "iniquity" really was. So why was I being plagued? Why was I the one waking up screaming while other kids slept soundly?
It wasn't until much later, after Jesus radically grabbed ahold of my life and told me to "Open Your Eyes," that I started to see the "why." My mom, bless her soul, had drifted into the occult. My dad, though he was a Christian, had started dabbling in seances and psychics with my mom during their marriage. They were the "authority structure" of my life. They were the ones meant to be a spiritual shield over me.
But because they brought "accursed things" into the spiritual environment of our home, they dropped the shield. They opened the door, and the demons didn't just stay with them—they went for the most vulnerable person in the house. They went for me.
This is the reality of the authority structure. When the leader—the father, the mother, the pastor—sins, it creates a loophole. It gives the enemy legal standing to bypass the "hedge" that God puts around His people. You might remember how the devil complained about Job:
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? (Job 1:10 KJV).
That hedge is real, but our sin acts like a hole in the fence.
The Census Trap: When a King’s Pride Costs 70,000 Lives
One of the most striking examples of this in the Bible is King David. Now, we love David. He’s the man after God’s own heart. He’s the giant-killer. But David was also a man of authority, and he learned the hard way that his choices carried weight far beyond his own skin.
In 1 Chronicles, we see a strange moment.
And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1 KJV).
On the surface, counting your people doesn't seem like a "big" sin. It’s just data, right? But David’s heart was being baited. He was starting to look at his own strength, his own numbers, and his own military might instead of looking to the Author of his faith. He was replacing God's authority with his own ego.
His general, Joab, saw the danger. He tried to talk David out of it. He saw the "sin crouching at the door." But David was the king. He pulled rank. He insisted. And because he was the head of the authority structure, his "good idea" became a national catastrophe.
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel (1 Chronicles 21:7 KJV).
Notice it doesn't say God smote David alone. It says He smote Israel. The plague broke out, and 70,000 men fell. Can you imagine the weight of that? David had to stand there and watch his people—the "sheep" he was supposed to protect—dying because of a choice he made in his "private" thoughts.
David finally saw it. He cried out to God:
Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued (1 Chronicles 21:17 KJV).
When you are in a position of authority, your "private" sin is a public danger. Your family, your employees, or your congregation are the ones who pay the price when you decide to "number the people" without consulting the Lord.
The Tight-Knit Community That Fell
I saw this happen in a modern context once, and it’s a story that still haunts me. I visited this church that seemed like the pinnacle of integrated Christian community. They were very tight-knit, with families who were deeply involved in each other's lives. They even coordinated their homeschooling based on who was best equipped to teach the subject at hand—the kids would gather at the home of whichever mother was the expert in math, history, or science. If you moved, twenty people showed up with trucks to help you. They went to movies together, they paintballed together—they were a unit.
But there was a spiritual contamination that came from an outside authority.
Members of this small, vibrant congregation started visiting a much larger church nearby. Little did they know that the pastor of that larger church was in an adulterous relationship. They were submitting themselves to his teaching and his "authority structure" during their visits. When they returned to their home church, it was like they brought a contagion back with them.
Suddenly, a "spirit of adultery" seemed to flood the smaller congregation. People who had been faithful for decades suddenly blew up their marriages. Elders who were seen as the pillars of the church—men who prayed over the offerings with tears in their eyes—were suddenly caught in "crazy" adulterous situations and getting divorces.
The church didn't just struggle; it died. It ceased to exist. Why? Because the authority structure they submitted to was compromised. Paul warns the church about this very thing:
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you (1 Thessalonians 5:12 KJV).
We need to know the spiritual "pedigree" of those we submit to. If the person over you is entertaining "Jezebel," you are going to feel the effects of that seduction in your own life.
Jesus Himself warned the church in Thyatira about this:
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (Revelation 2:20 KJV).
He goes on to say that He will cast those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation and—here it is again—I will kill her children with death (Revelation 2:23 KJV). The judgment of a leader’s sin flows down to the "children"—the followers, the family, the next generation. If you submit to a structure where Jezebel is tolerated, don't be surprised when the "plague" follows you home.
Peer Pressure: The Doorway for Leaders
You might be wondering, "How does a leader even get to that point?" In my own life, I found that the biggest door for sin in the authority structure is peer pressure. We want to be like the "heathen" around us.
Think back to the Israelites. They had God as their King. They had the Creator of the Universe directing their paths. But they looked at the nations around them and said, "We want a king like they have." They wanted a human they could see, a head and shoulders above the rest, someone they could point to so they wouldn't feel "weird" or "different."
Samuel was heartbroken, but God told him:
Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them (1 Samuel 8:7 KJV).
When we give in to peer pressure—whether it’s a pastor trying to make his church look like a rock concert to "fit in," or a father drinking to be "one of the guys"—we are substituting the authority of God for the authority of man. We are saying, "I care more about what these people think than what the Author of my faith thinks."
Jesus is called the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2 KJV). The word "Author" is the root of the word "Authority." If He is the Author, He has the Authority. When we deviate from His script to please our peers, we are stepping out from under His protection. We are opening the door.
I remember a time when I was at a crossroads. I knew what God was telling me to do, but the pressure to "be normal" was intense. Sin was crouching at the door, just like it was for Cain. God’s warning to Cain is the warning to every leader:
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him (Genesis 4:7 KJV).
The Father’s Faith: A Key to Deliverance
If you find that your family is under attack, the solution isn't just to "rebuke the devil" louder. Sometimes, the solution is to "lift up the hood" and check the battery.
Look at the story of the father with the demon-possessed son in Mark 9. The boy was being thrown into the fire and the water by a spirit that wanted to destroy him. The disciples—believers who had been given power—couldn't cast it out. Why?
When Jesus arrives, He doesn't go straight to the boy. He goes to the father. He addresses the authority structure of that boy's life.
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief (Mark 9:23-24 KJV).
The breakthrough for the child was dependent on the repentance of the father. The father had to deal with his own "unbelief"—his own internal deviation from God—before the authority of Jesus could flow through him to the child.
Once the father repented, Jesus rebuked the spirit: Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him (Mark 9:25 KJV). Notice the disciples asked later why they couldn't do it. Jesus told them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29 KJV). Prayer and fasting are tools that align us with God. They strengthen our relationship with the Author, which in turn increases our Authority.
Paul’s Thorn: The Check and Balance of Authority
Even the great Apostle Paul had to deal with the realities of authority and pride. Because Paul had such a high level of authority and revelation, God allowed a "check" to stay in his life.
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch (2 Corinthians 12:7 KJV).
Paul was an apostle. He was "up there" in the authority structure of the early church. God knew that if Paul got a "big head"—if he started thinking he was God’s gift to the world—the whole structure would be at risk. So, God allowed a "messenger of Satan" to keep him humble.
Sometimes, the "mess" in our lives isn't there because we’ve sinned, but because God is trying to keep us from the sin of pride. He would rather let a "messenger of Satan" buffet us than let us become so arrogant that we destroy the people we lead. Paul’s response was the only correct one for any leader:
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV).
Personal Reflections: When Jesus Corrected Me
Looking back at my own journey—the one I wrote about in Open Your Eyes—I can see so many times where Jesus had to correct my view of authority. I used to think I could just "manage" my small deviations. I thought as long as I was "doing ministry," the little compromises didn't matter.
But Jesus showed me that I was like King Saul. Saul didn't think he was doing anything "that bad" when he kept the best animals after God told him to destroy everything. He even tried to spin it as a "sacrifice" for God! But Samuel’s response was devastating:
Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22 KJV).
I had to learn to "look under the hood" every single day. I had to ask: "Is there an accursed thing in my tent? Am I giving the devil a loophole to mess with my wife, my pets, or my ministry?" When I find it, I don't make excuses. I repent. I get right with the Author so the Authority can be restored.
Key Takeaways
Authority is Rooted in the Author: Your spiritual power is directly tied to your submission to Jesus, the Author of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
The "Hedge" is Real but Conditional: God places a hedge around the obedient, but sin acts as a breach that lets the "crouching" enemy in (Genesis 4:7, Job 1:10).
Sin Affects the "Sheep": The choices of a leader (parent, pastor, boss) have a flow-down effect on everyone in that structure (1 Chronicles 21).
Repentance Stops the Plague: Breakthrough for those under you often begins with your own repentance and alignment with God (Mark 9).
Peer Pressure is a Trap: Seeking to be like the world is a rejection of God’s reigning authority (1 Samuel 8).
Conclusion and Call to Action
Friend, if you’re seeing "plagues" in your family—if there’s constant strife, sickness, or spiritual oppression—stop fighting the symptoms for a moment. It’s time to look at the structure.
Are you the head of your home? Have you been vigilant? Or have you been letting "Jezebel" teach in your living room through the TV or your private habits? Have you been "numbering the people" in your pride instead of trusting in the Lord?
There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, but there is a call to reality. Repentance is not a "bad word"—it is the key to your freedom. It is the act of closing the door and bolting it shut against the enemy.
If you want to dig deeper into these spiritual realities and learn how to take back the ground you’ve lost, I encourage you to grab my books. Open Your Eyes will show you my journey from being blinded by the world to seeing the supernatural reality of God. And if you are dealing specifically with the kind of night terrors I described, Overcoming Night Terror is a tactical manual on how to use your authority in Jesus to make the demons leave.
You can find all of this at ConradRocks.net.
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