Deliverance Ministry

Deliverance ministry is a part of pastoral care that involves the prayer and physical act of freeing someone from the influence of evil. It is also a part of the spiritual gift of prophecy, which can include the power to cast out demons (Mark 16:17).

The church should not use this form of ministry to impose or promote any personal preference, especially in the case of children or young people. It is important to ensure that a medical professional is consulted and any consent issues are addressed prior to any formal rite of deliverance being carried out.

There is a wide variety of deliverance practices that can be used in ministry. Some involve direct confrontation and address to the “possessing” demon. This is often ineffective, and can even be harmful. Others involve prayer, fasting and supplication, but are more likely to produce fruit in the life of the person being delivered.

A number of well-meaning deliverance ministries use terminology and processes that more closely resemble ancestral worship than Christianity. These include family-curse breaking, family-cleansing and overcoming sessions that are based on a belief that all problems, both physical and spiritual, are tied to ancestral curses that can be broken in certain rituals or processes.

Many of these deliverance services teach a distorted view of God’s sovereignty and a distorted theology of the Holy Spirit. They do not acknowledge that Christ has a personal relationship with each believer and is the author of each Christian’s salvation, nor does they recognise that the Holy Spirit is able to work in the soul and body as well as the spirit (Ephesians 3:20).

These services are based on a Deliverance ministry half-truth; that is, if you apply yourself, then you can overcome all your problems, whether physical or spiritual. This premise is erroneous and incompatible with biblical teaching.

Some of the more egregious examples of this type of “deliverance” are those that attempt to “cast out” or “remove” the demons from the person. Often these are done by using methods which have little to do with Jesus’ own exorcisms in the New Testament, such as cross-examination of family histories and identification of so-called generational curses.

The practice of asking the spirits what they are and whether they are a part of the person is a common theme in these sessions. It can be helpful in identifying the root cause of the problem, but is often a distraction from the focus of the prayer session, and should not be done on a regular basis.

Other common practices in contemporary deliverance sessions are the use of trances and visions. These are sometimes useful tools in a personal relationship with the Lord, but can also be used to manipulate or control the person being delivered into submission or obedience.

In order to avoid these situations, it is best to encourage the person being delivered to make a commitment to prayer before a deliverance is conducted. The prayer must be in the name of Jesus, and should not include supplication or praise to the demons that are being released.