The Dangers of Deliverance Ministry

Deliverance ministry is a branch of Christian work that helps people with spiritual problems, usually related to spirits and demons. Many believers have been engulfed by fear, addictions, depression, wounds of the past, bitterness, sin or other bondages that weigh them down and prevent them from experiencing the freedom Christ purchased for them on the cross.

Deliverance is part of Christian pastoral care and requires a firm foundation in the Bible, a commitment to prayer and a willingness to let God do what He wants to do in a person’s life. While a variety of deliverance ministers use various methods to help people, the main goal is to bring people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and help them overcome their issues.

A wide range of methods is used to do this, including pleading the blood of Jesus, praying, reciting Biblical verses and using other forms of sacrament. These forms of prayer may be used to call on the Lord for deliverance from demons, to rebuke the demonic spirit or to pray in response to specific requests.

Some of these methods involve confrontation and the addressing of the possessed person directly. These methods can be very effective, but they can also be dangerous.

Often, a possessed person can become enraged and attack the exorcist. This can be a sign that the spirit is strong, or that the possessed person is angry with the exorcist for some reason. The rage and anger can lead to serious injury to the possessed person.

This kind of direct confrontation can also be a distraction from the primary goal of Christian Deliverance ministry: to restore people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. In addition, this kind of confrontation can be extremely traumatic for the possessed person and can lead to emotional and psychological damage that may be irreparable.

There is a danger that deliverance workers will stray into extrabiblical practices. These may include misinterpreting genuine life conditions in terms of satanic influences and even believing that poverty is a sign of satanic control. These practices are incompatible with the biblical teachings that Christians should not seek to acquire all of the material things this world has to offer.

Another danger of this kind of ministry is that it can become a trap for naive and untrained Christian workers. These people can easily become overwhelmed by the burdens of deliverance work and begin to think that they are unable to trust God to handle the case in His own time and in His own way.

These workers can also begin to believe that their own ability to deliver is limited and that they must rely on others to do this for them. This can be a source of frustration for the Christian worker and a potential source of conflict with other members of the team.

In addition to these dangers, there is the possibility of a distorted view of God’s sovereignty and a twisted theology of the Holy Spirit that is rooted in deliverance ministry. This can result in Christians claiming greater power over Satan than they really have and can lead to a dangerous and potentially deadly division of the body of Christ.