What Is a Soul Tie?
A soul tie is a spiritual bond, like an invisible cord, between two people. Some soul ties are holy, as in the case of the tie that is formed between a man and a woman after marriage vows and intimacy. It allows them to essentially function as “one” because God has “joined” them together (Mark 10:8-9). When you look up that word in the Strong’s Concordance, it’s the concept of yoking or binding. This isn’t temporary during the act. It’s spiritually permanent, just like marriage is designed to be, until you go through the steps to break it. There are also healthy soul ties that can happen among friends. For example, in 1 Samuel 18:1, King David and Jonathan had their souls “knit” because of their strong bond. This brought them both great encouragement.
But some soul ties are not holy. The most common unholy soul tie is the spiritual connection that is formed between two people who have sex outside of marriage (1 Corinthians 6:16). This bond can act like a rubber band, pulling people to stay in unhealthy relationships or causing obsessions with past partners. They can also cause intimacy problems because people are still “connected” to the many different sexual partners they have had over time. Imagine a spiritual umbilical cord (or many cords) coming from one body to another (or others). But bad soul ties don’t have to be sexual. Unhealthy, idolizing, or abusive relationships can also cause soul ties. No matter how they are formed, these connections are unseen but function as spiritual entry points for demonic activity that can also cause symptoms such as nightmares, unholy thoughts, spiritual smells, “bad luck,” and more.
Why We Must Break Unholy Soul Ties
1 John 1:9 assures us as believers that when we repent from sins (like fornication), God will forgive us. But, as you know, forgiveness doesn’t always take away the consequences of our actions in this life. Ephesians 4:27 clearly warns us not to “give place” to the devil. In Greek, the word “place” is “topos” which can be physical or figurative, like an opportunity. Sin gives the devil the legal right to be there, and he doesn’t have to leave until you make him. James 4:7 says that it is only when we submit to God AND resist the devil that the Enemy has to flee.
A Note Before We Start
In Matthew 15:26, Jesus calls deliverance “the children’s bread.” It’s a provision meant only for those in God’s family. In fact, all forms of spiritual warfare and deliverance must be undertaken by Spirit-filled believers in the name of Jesus. We see in Matthew 15:26 that Jesus gave His disciples power over the Enemy. He told them not to rejoice about their power. Instead, they should rejoice that their names were written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). On the other hand, in Acts 19:15, those seeking to engage demonic powers in their own strength were defeated.
If you are unsure about your salvation and would like to commit or recommit your life to Jesus, please visit this link. There is a video at the bottom that will walk you through.
How to Break Unholy Soul Ties
Step 1: Praise the Lord.
Psalm 100:4 suggests that we always enter the Lord’s presence with praise and thanksgiving. You should also remind Him how thankful you are for your salvation and all that He has done for you. Praise Him for His great grace and the freedom that He purchased for you on the cross. Thank Him for helping you remove all demonic connections.
Step 2: Ask the Lord to help you recall a complete list of sins and repent.
You may have a ready list in your mind of your previous sexual partners, but the Lord can help you with a complete list. Repent for all sinful sexual encounters, both voluntary and involuntary (such as rape, incest, or molestation). Include masturbation, pornography, and any other sexual encounters with objects or animals. Repent for any instances of codependency, idolization, or manipulative/abusive relationships that might have caused unhealthy bonds. Remember that repenting is more than saying, “I’m sorry. I repent.” Repenting means turning away from sinful practices and turning back to God.
Step 3: Get rid of any physical tokens from those relationships.
Burn or tear up photographs of your previous sexual partners during your time of intimacy and/or other unhealthy connections. Get rid of love letters, memorabilia, jewelry, clothing, or other items that symbolize the sexual part of the relationship. If you have children with that person, it’s unnecessary to rip up old family pictures. Just get rid of the photos of you in a romantic setting. Likewise, if you are now just friends with someone with whom you used to be intimate, you need only to get rid of the items that symbolize the relationship during the times of ungodly practices, not the healthy friendship that came after it.
Step 4: Renounce any rash vows or commitments made in forming the soul tie.
Proverbs 21:23 tells us that the tongue can bring great trouble to our souls. Any verbal commitments such as “I will love you forever” or “I could never love another” need to be renounced (“I renounce these words…”), repented of (“I repent for the vow of…”), and broken (“I break these vows…”) in the name of Jesus.
Step 5: Forgive the person (or people) if you have anything against him/her/them.
All deliverance includes forgiveness, and breaking soul ties is no different. Matthew 16:14-15 says we must forgive others to be forgiven. Past hurts and harms that haunt us from old relationships must be dealt with and put under the blood of Christ. Never forget that forgiveness is an act of the will, not of feeling. We CHOOSE to forgive (meaning we hold people harmless from anything they might “owe” us). Then we ask the Lord to help our feelings catch up with our decision later. If you are having trouble with this one, check out 3 Steps to Forgive from the Heart. If the Lord brings someone else to your mind that you need to forgive, even if that person is not involved, you should do it. You don’t want anything hindering the process or your walk with Christ.
Step 6: Renounce and break the soul tie(s) out loud and in Jesus’ name.
James 4:7 says that we submit to God and resist the devil, and THEN he will flee. This is the part when you formally come out of agreement with the soul tie(s). You might say something like, “I now renounce any ungodly soul tie formed between ______ (name one person at a time) and me as a result of ______ (name the specific sin for each person separately), and break that soul tie in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Again, do this for each one individually. At the end, you might be led to make a general statement to be sure. “I now renounce all other ungodly soul ties as a result of all sins and break those soul ties now in the name of Jesus.”
Step 7: Ask Jesus to restore and enforce.
Ask the Lord to cleanse your mind and thought patterns so that you may be free from old entanglements to focus on the Lord and/or your current spouse. Ask Him to close and lock any doors opened by sin and to seal them with His precious blood to foil all assignments and any evil spirits that might try to retain an unholy tie or regain a connection.
Step 8: Praise the Lord and renew your commitment to Him.
If you have asked for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and have been completely honest, you can trust that ungodly soul ties have been broken, and the Lord has set you free. Praise Him and thank Him for restoring your soul to wholeness and removing demonic entanglements. Renew your commitment to Him as a loving child and servant of God. Ask Him to help you get ever closer to Him.
Two More Things I Learned the Hard Way
- If you have had sexual relations before marriage, the new holy soul tie after marriage doesn’t replace the old one. Instead, you end up with an unholy soul tie UNDERNEATH the holy soul tie that can cause problems. At one point, I was having nightmares and disturbing thoughts that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much I prayed. Finally, the Lord revealed to me that the problem was an unholy soul tie. I broke it, and all nightmares and disturbing thoughts quit immediately (see that story).
Soon after that, another sister in Christ messaged me online. She said that the Lord had sent her to me. She was having a problem with smelling cigar smoke that wasn’t there. At first, I wasn’t sure what I could do to help her, but after talking, it was revealed that she had an unholy soul tie under the holy tie with her husband. My recent experience allowed me to share my testimony about what the Lord had shown me. She was able to break that tie to receive relief from her problem. - You can make unholy ties with people you might not suspect. One time, I had a lady in charge of my team at work who seemed to get a curse every time I would pray to get a blessing (which probably felt like “bad luck” to her). It happened three times and felt very significant. I prayed to ask the Lord what was happening, and was shocked when I heard “soul tie.” All I could think of was that at some point during our close but turbulent relationship, she must have cursed me, and my blessings were bouncing back as curses on her. I broke the tie, and it stopped immediately.
One Final Thought
Both soul ties and deliverance as a whole are controversial topics for many Christians. After all, Jesus bought and paid for us with His blood. How could the devil “possess” what is owned by God? But the word in Greek is daimonízomai, more properly interpreted as “demonized,” meaning “coming under the power of a demon.” Right now, we see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12). There is much we don’t know about how everything works between the natural and the supernatural worlds unless the Lord reveals it to us.
My testimony is that the Lord has revealed to me that soul ties are real. He helped me break mine, and my life (as well as the lives of others) changed for the better because of it. I pray that you will be blessed and pass this blessing on to others who may need it.
Update 6/13/25 (Original post 5/5/25)
3. Unholy soul ties can regrow. Right around the time I published this article, the Lord showed me this, but I wanted to be sure before I mentioned it. For a month or more, I kept smelling a disgusting smell that I knew was spiritual. It only happened at my house and was usually when I was in one of my two prayer closets. When pressed for a description of it, I said, “boogers,” but a friend experienced in deliverance asked if it might be “semen.” I kept praying and asking the Lord to reveal the cause and help me get rid of it. Right as I was about to publish this article, I had the idea that the smell was from an unholy soul tie that had regrown. The opening had allowed demons to harass me. I repented for not submitting to my husband, broke the regrown unholy soul tie, and haven’t smelled it since then.
