Is It True That Only "breaking the Hedge" Exposes the Believer to Successful Satanic Attacks?
Direct Answer
Not exactly. The Bible shows two ways Satan touches a believer: (1) when the believer “breaks the hedge” by sin and unbelief, giving him a place; and (2) when God Himself permits a test. But only the first gives Satan a real advantage. When God allows a trial, it is limited and turns to the believer’s good—not to Satan’s victory.
Scriptural Explanation
- Job did not sin, yet Satan could afflict him only because God allowed it—and with strict limits (Job 1:10–12; 2:6). That was testing, not defeat. Job’s faith stood.
- “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him” (Ecclesiastes 10:8). That’s the warning: step out of the Word’s protection and you invite the bite.
- “Neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). Place is given by disobedience—anger, lies, lust, unforgiveness (see Ephesians 4:25–32; 2 Corinthians 2:10–11).
- “Be sober… resist… steadfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8–9). The hedge is faith and obedience. Submit to God, then resist (James 4:7).
- God’s tests are bounded and faithful: “He will… make a way to escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13). They refine, not ruin (1 Peter 1:6–7). And the sheep cannot be plucked from His hand (John 10:28–29; Romans 8:35–39).
- Dwelling “in the secret place of the most High” is the place of kept protection (Psalm 91).
Simple Clarifying Logic
- If the only way Satan could touch a believer were personal failure, what about Job and Peter? Job was upright, yet tested (Job 1:1; 1:12). Peter was sifted, yet kept by Christ’s intercession (Luke 22:31–32). Those were permissions for proving, not permissions for Satan to conquer.
- When we break the hedge—leave the Word, harbor sin—we open a door. Then the serpent has a bite, and Satan gains an advantage.
- When God permits a trial while we remain under the Blood, Satan is on a leash. He may afflict circumstances, but he cannot overthrow faith. God turns it to our strengthening.
Reinforcing Statement
Stay under the Blood, stay with the Word, and give no place to the devil. If God allows a test, it will purify you. If you break the hedge, repent quickly and close the door.
Final Conclusion
No. Satan can touch a believer either by our breaking the hedge (which gives him an advantage) or by God’s limited permission for testing (which cannot defeat faith). Only breaking the hedge grants Satan a real foothold; God-permitted trials are bounded and work for the believer’s good.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E §37
Same thing today. He'll try to tell you these trials and things is your God trying to put punishment upon you. It isn't so. No, sir. It's Satan doing that, and God permitting it to temper you, to make you see if you're tied to this earth by the earth cares or whether your treasure's in heaven. For wherever you're treasures is, there you are also. Your heart is where your treasures are. Job--tried, yet he said, "I know my redeemer liveth; at the last days He'll stand upon the earth. Though after my skin worms destro...
The conflict between God and Satan
62-0531 §24
Satan, in Eden when he first come to these attacks, to attack the person, knowing the children of God was fortified with this Word, Satan attacked the Word, see. He never attacked the being; he attacked the Word first. Look at that sneaker lizard, what he does today. The first thing, he can't lay it on, saying, "Well, that's not a good person." That's a good person, see. But the only thing he tries to do---no matter how good the person is---is to get them to deny that Word. That's just the only thing he wants to do...
The conflict between God and Satan
62-0531 §23
And look where it is. It's not just for one or two in a church; it's for every one of us. Every believer has a right to take this Word and fight the enemy anywhere you meet him. Anywhere you meet the enemy, this Word is what you have to use. And Jesus proved it when He come. So He equipped his children with the Word for their protection against the enemy. When the all-out warfare comes into battle and sets in array, then there's only one thing a real soldier can use, a real Christian soldier. That's "thus saith the...
God keeps His Word
58-0328 §46
Now remember, I'm on record with that. There is no medicine that says, that heals your body. A medicine keeps the place clean while God heals. A doctor can remove a--a obstruction, but what about the hole that he cut in you to take it out? Who heals that? Healing is developing of cells. And take my word: there is no healing power in the devil. And a preacher that would say that, shows he doesn't know the Bible, or his God. Jesus said, "Satan cannot cast out Satan." Psalms 103:3 said, "I'm the Lord Who heals all of...
The Queen of Sheba
60-0401E §1
[Pastor introduces Brother Lamsa.] ... he speaks the language and can read the language and read the original documents in which the New Testament was written. So with him, it is so wonderful that he can read directly from the original script the very words that Jesus and the disciples spoke and wrote. He felt that these translations that we have are not always correct and true. And that's where the criticism comes in, because he criticizes the King James version, and some people think that St. Paul preached from t...