My friend has a weird spiritual gift of discernment he never asked for or wanted: he can smell demons.

It’s not a gift he talks about much, but it’s happened enough times that he’s picked up on it. While praying for people, he’ll sometimes pick up on the horrible whiff of sulfur. He initially thought people were just passing gas, but in time he realized it was a heads-up from the Holy Spirit. If he was smelling sulfur, then he either needed to deal with a demon in the person he was praying for, or that person was about to manifest a demon.

While this may sound bizarre at first, it’s no different than God hacking your other senses to give you discernment. The Bible is full of stories where people see into the spiritual realm. It’s also full of stories where people hear into the spiritual realm. Even today, most Christians are skeptically open to someone sharing their once-in-a-lifetime story where they heard the audible voice of God.

That being said, there’s no reason one might also smell into the spiritual realm. It’s the same general principle of the Holy Spirit hacking our senses to give us discernment on an issue.

Smells may play out in exorcism in other ways as well. In my own experience, I’ve seen the Holy Spirit cause the participant to suddenly smell something to help them become aware of a memory they need to process with me for healing. I’ve also had participants suddenly smell wonderful, comforting scents in the middle of intense spiritual warfare.

As one final example, about ten years ago, a college student told me they had a vision of me in a bakery—a sign of fruitful ministry. A few months later, a different student gave me the same vision. Some ten years later, someone told me that I smelled specifically like a bakery (which I absolutely did not). This scent has been noted on me several times now—a spiritual reminder to reflect on that word.

I’ve also seen people confuse natural scents for supernatural scents and assign meaning to it. As with all spiritual matters, be discerning.