5 highlights from Shawn Ryan's interview with exorcist about spiritual warfare: 'Be willing to suffer'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Monday, July 27, 2026

3. Demonic thwarting of sacrifice: 'The root of every sin'

One of Ripperger's central revelations, which he claimed to have received during an exorcism involving a high-ranking demon associated with Beelzebub or Satan, involved the core demonic tactic of attempting to thwart a Christian's sacrifice of a lesser good for a greater good by convincing them that such sacrifice is impossible.

Again citing Aquinas, Ripperger said, "the ultimate thing that [God] wants from every intelligent creature is the sacrifice of his will — that is, ours — to His will, to God's will. He wants for us to achieve the greater good and not be satisfied with the lesser good."

He noted the difference between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 was that Abel "gave the best that he had, and so he retained nothing for himself in that process; whereas Cain kept the best for himself and gave God a sacrifice of something that was good, but not his best."

Connecting it to what he claimed was Lucifer's original rejected role of enlightening minds about the necessity of sacrifice, Ripperger said the demon told him he was commanded by God to reveal to him that his nature is to "convince people that they cannot be separated from the particular good."

"It's how I took Adam and Eve out. It's how I'm taking your church out. It's how I took your government out," the demon reportedly told him. "It's at the root of every sin and every defect that every human being has. … [It's] the cause of mediocrity in every single human being."

Ripperger connected this to broader themes of attachment and addiction to disordered desires such as pornography, noting Christ permits limited demonic access as a test of one's willingness to sacrifice.