Deliverance minister Alexander Pagani says the disturbing behavior flooding social media and popular culture cannot always be explained by mental illness alone. In some cases, he believes we are witnessing the effects of demonic activity in plain sight.
During an interview with David Nino Rodriguez on Nino’s Corner, Pagani warned that modern society has become desensitized to evil while psychiatry often responds to complicated emotional and behavioral problems by prescribing more medication.
Pagani shared his own experience with psychiatric medication, saying it left him emotionally numb.
“I found myself losing empathy,” Pagani said. “I became apathetic, lethargic. I just felt that I didn’t care.”
Pagani stopped taking the medication after consulting his psychologist, telling the doctor he did not like what it was doing to him. He connected that emotional numbness to biblical warnings about people becoming “past feeling” and developing a seared conscience.
“Once it gets desensitized, then we call good evil, evil good,” Pagani said. “Then we find that the conscience follows, and then there’s no conscience there.”
Pagani’s message is not that every mental-health struggle is caused by a demon. His warning is that the modern world has largely removed spiritual bondage from the conversation, leaving Christians without the biblical language needed to recognize demonic influence.
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He pointed to the growing celebration of violence, narcissism, occultism and satanic imagery as evidence that the spiritual battle has moved into the open.
“We’re seeing full-blown, grotesque, bloodthirsty Satanism and demonic worship,” Pagani said, pointing to imagery used in entertainment and major televised performances.
For Pagani, discernment begins with spiritual clarity. He cited 1 Peter 5:8, which commands believers to remain sober and vigilant because the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
“Before we get to the place of awareness of the demonic, there has to be a sobering up,” he said.
Pagani also stressed that freedom in Jesus goes deeper than changing outward habits. A person can alter behavior without addressing the spiritual condition of the heart.
“The life of the Christian is not behavior modification,” he said. “It’s heart transformation.”
Pagani said surrendering to Jesus begins the transformation, but sanctification continues throughout our lives. Some believers, he added, may also need deliverance from bondage connected to their past.
His message to the church is direct: We must stop dismissing the spiritual realm and begin testing what we see through Scripture.
“When you put on the lens of the Bible and Scripture,” Pagani said, “you see clearly what’s in front of you.”
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
