by Bob DeWaay
The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2Timothy 2:24-26)
In 1977 I was in a ministry that specialized in inner healing and deliverance. People came to us from all over the country seeking release from hearing voices, addictions, emotional trauma due to past hurts and abuses, and many other forms of spiritual bondage. At the time our ministry was considered “cutting edge” in the world of spiritual warfare. Ours was a Christian community where people could come and live with other Christians to find healing.
About that time a woman from another state came to stay at our ministry center for a few days to receive prayer and deliverance. She had grown up in a family that was deeply involved in the occult and had been named after a Greek goddess. When she called us she was trying to get out of her occult bondage and was being attacked by evil spirits who did not want to let her go. They manifested themselves through her taunting us and making hissing sounds. We soon found out that the demons that tormented her were powerful and had no intention of leaving. Two of us took on the responsibility of ministering to her. After we had led her in some prayers, confronted some of the demons, and demanded them to leave in Jesus’ name, she found some relief.
The most dramatic event in our ministry to her came after one of our Tuesday night meetings. After most people had left she stayed for more prayer. Before we even got to her, she was taken over by a violent evil spirit. Her countenance changed, her voice altered, her face contorted and her hands became like claws. She let out a loud scream and charged at me, intending to gouge my face with her fingernails. As she screamed and raced across the room, I and the other man who had been ministering to her stood our ground and said, “Stop! in the name of Jesus.” When she got two feet from us she hit what seemed like an invisible wall and fell to the floor whimpering. We prayed with her and asked God to set her free.
We had encountered many cases of demonic manifestations in our ministry, but this was the most dramatic. As I look back on this incident now, what is most significant is not what happened that night, but what happened the next day. The next day she felt much better and asked to talk to us before leaving for home. She told me, “Bob, Satan is very scared of you. You have much power and authority.” What that statement and the event that led to it meant to me then was very different from how I understand it now. The difference is due to the “warfare” worldview I held then and the “providential” worldview I hold now. The way we interpret events is determined by our worldview. In this article I will discuss exorcism from the perspective of each of these worldviews.
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The Fraud of Deliverance Ministries
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Your post on the warfare vs. providential viewpoints was very interesting. It made me think about the complex procedures for 'spiritual warfare' and how I often seemed to have a heaviness and lack of enthusiasm when it came time to 'do war in the Spirit'.
ReplyDeleteThat is not to say that I have a problem confronting spiritual forces of wickedness--indeed I sometimes have felt impressed to do so, or have done so without forethought, even in dreams. It is to say that I often have not felt any impetus FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT to engage, but have felt obliged to because of the 'warfare viewpoint'.
I am especially glad that you pointed out how Satan plays both ends of things, and how well you illustrated it with your example: thugs that extract money from you to protect you from other thugs (working with them) that beat you up. It is something that I've wanted to address in one of my own posts--I even have a note to myself to do so! I think it's an important strategy to understand, because we see it played out in so many ways around us.
All that said, I find myself only agreeing about 97% with what you said.
I think there are times when spiritual warfare IS in order-and the Spirit will lead us if we allow.
We know that, when Jesus sent out the 12 disciples to minister, on their first sort of 'trial run', they were amazed that the spirits were subject to them. My interpretation of that is that they did cast out spirits, as they had seen Jesus do. I also am making the assumption, since they were so amazed, that they were not using any special techniques as modern exorcists do (and as you described), so they did not feel confident that if they followed some prescribed steps they would be successful. I think they simply told the spirits to go, in Jesus' name, and were amazed that it worked.
Also, as far as I remember, Jesus simply cast the spirits out of demoniacs. He did speak to a spirit possessing a man who had 'many' that called itself 'Legion', but it could be argued that He did so as an illustration of the type of bondage that a person could be enduring, and that He had authority over.
The fact that Jesus, and the disciples, cast out spirits, leads me to believe there is validity in doing so. I would also call upon the fact that Mary Magdalene walked with Jesus, and that could be inferred as living by the gospel, yet Jesus had found it appropriate to free her from seven demons.
I don't believe that there is an issue of casting out demons as I was in need of deliverance when I came out of satanism. The issue is do Christians need demons cast out of them and what is the methodology of deliverance.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible does not record Christians having demons cast out of them. And, the methodology was very simple, compared to what the 'deliverance' ministries propogate.
Here is something I ran into today while researching on a different subject. In the Wikipedia definition of Belial, something called 'Goetia' was referenced. As I read through its definition, I came upon this portion (below).
ReplyDeleteIt reminded me a lot of what you were saying in your post, about the methodology used by deliverance ministries. The fact, that there is a type of magic that operates in a very similar way to that methodology, should cause us to examine our beliefs about spiritual warfare.
"The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage
The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage[5] is considered both a theurgic and goetic book of magic, mostly used in a religious context. Contrary to the other Goetia Grimoires, this book does not denote the evocation of demons to do ones bidding or involuntary handywork, but describes how one might summon these infernal forces, solely for the purpose of excommunicating them from the life of the Magus. This book was considered a system that led the aspirant closer to the goal of henosis, or spiritual reunion with God. Describing how to summon the dukes of hell, even Lucifer, for the purpose of resisting the temptation of their vices, and binding their influence in the aspirants life. This book told a system of holy magic through a 6 month purification, then after the conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, one would summon the dukes of Hell, the 4 Great Princes of Evil, and make them sign an oath. This Oath (after gaining the power of the supernal realm), would grant the Adept power over the Infernal Realm and aid the Adept in discovering his True Will."
Nice post about Deliverance Ministries.The Bible says that anyone who calls on the Lord shall be saved. God is no respecter of persons.
ReplyDeleteDavid Alphie
Hi,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Thanks to providing the great information about deliverance ministries. I would be glad to recommend the post for its quality content. I like your post very much. Thanks to sharing it...
Deliverance Ministries
though there is much unscriptural in deliverance ministries Christians with demons is a very real problem. where is the balance?
ReplyDelete