People are infatuated with the supernatural. The last 30 years have shown us the popularity of the Vampire, Zombie, Witchcraft, and Superhero story lines increasing at an alarming rate. The world is now flooded with books and movies that entertain us with supernatural fiction that has its roots in the demonic. This is causing cultural changes in our society and cultist practices within the Church.
Everyone has an inherent desire for the spiritual and the supernatural. This is normal because we are spiritual beings designed by God to function in a realm other than the natural physical realm.
Because of this inherent desire, Christians are easily duped into gravitating toward ministries that focus on counterfeit spiritual warfare and lying signs and wonders.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Christians are steadily moving away from a love for truth. It is very sad. They rely on others to interpret the Bible for them instead of developing an understanding of truth learned from personal Bible study and an intimate relationship with God. They read the latest books with the “latest revelations” but don’t read the Bible enough to get their own life-changing revelation. This is extremely dangerous, and Satan absolutely loves it!
Deliverance ministry is real and has its place among believers without a doubt. However, counterfeit deliverance ministries have become a major stumbling block to the body of Christ, and it is time we learn the difference and return to God’s word and His incorruptible truth.
Spiritual Warfare, and Deliverance Ministry
The only fight we are called to engage in is the good fight of faith. So let us define that from God’s word.
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
The good fight Timothy is talking about is the fight to maintain a certain perspective of truth. Faith is a perspective. It is a very narrow way of seeing, thinking, believing, behaving, and speaking. Our fight is not against demons in others, but against demonic influences that fight to change our perspective on God and who we are in Him.
The enemy has many strategies to keep people from being saved. However, once saved, the enemy fights tooth and nail to keep the Christian from learning the truth about the gospel and their identity in Christ. He does this primarily by keeping people from reading and listening to the Bible for themselves.
He doesn’t mind so much if Christians attend church, listen to preachers and teachers, watch Christian TV, or read Christian books about the Bible. He knows that Christians who get most of their spiritual nourishment from those sources can easily be manipulated into believing his lies. These things should be supplements to our personal reading and studying of the Bible, not our primary source of spiritual food. It would be like trying to live and be healthy by only taking vitamins and supplements. Those supplements may keep us alive, but we will never thrive; we will remain weak, spiritually malnourished, and an easy target for the enemy.
Without a personal relationship with God through His holy written word, Christians have very little spiritual strength or discernment. Furthermore, they have no understanding of how to wrestle with the demonic forces coming against themselves, let alone other people.
Ephesians 6:10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
We must make the effort to take up, and put on the armor of God for ourselves. No one can do it for us. No one can dress us for battle, and only the Holy Spirit can make us skilled in the use of the sword. Listening to preachers and reading books about the Bible is not picking up our sword. WE MUST COMMIT TO PERSONAL STUDY OF THE BIBLE FOR OURSELVES.
1 Peter 2:1-2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Newborns eat eight to twelve times a day. The truth is, most Christians who struggle with being demonized don’t need deliverance; they just need truth. It is the truth that sets people free with lasting freedom, not ministry.
John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Notice it says, “IF” you abide in My word, you are a true disciple indeed? Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Without abiding in God’s word, we will remain bound to some degree and an easy target for deception. Lasting freedom only comes from flooding our souls with the truth, not other men’s opinions of the truth. The first part of the armor of God we are to put on is the belt of truth. Christians can’t dress themselves with someone else’s belt. It won’t hold their pants up, and they will be exposed. We need our own revelation from God.
When people ask me to pray for deliverance from demons or demonic activity, I don’t immediately pray for them. First, I ask them questions about their personal relationship with God, specifically their devotion to His word. If they do not spend time daily reading and listening to the Bible, I won’t immediately pray for their deliverance. Instead, I will pray for a hunger for God’s word and that Christ would be formed in them and make certain that they have some kind of ongoing discipleship. If I cast out a devil without some spiritual disciplines in place, the last state of that person will eventually be worse than before we prayed. This is what Jesus says about it.
Matthew 12:43-45 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
If we cast out a devil and the vessel remains empty, the last state of that person is worse than before we prayed, and it is partly our fault if we don’t make sure that discipleship is in place for the one we pray for. This is the current state of this wicked generation and one of the dangers of ignorant and immature deliverance ministries.
Conversations with Demons
Nowhere in the New Testament do we see prolonged battles with demons in other people. We do, however, see that we contend with spiritual forces and demonic influence that constantly attack what we believe and why we believe it. This is our battlefield. This is our faith arena.
Deliverance ministries that focus on knowing the names of the demons, having prolonged dialogue with demons, and spending a lot of time speaking to, and fighting with devils in others are fighting devils on their terms, in their arena, and playing into the enemy’s hands. We don’t see this modeled in Jesus’ life or the lives of the apostles. If we can’t see our religious practices in the life of Jesus, we should not have them in ours. Jesus Christ’s life is perfect theology. We should always keep this in mind.
Jesus never let demons draw Him into an extended conversation. Matthew 8:16 says, “He drove out the spirits with a word.” The most interaction between Christ and demons recorded in scripture is His dealing with the demoniac of Gadara. That brief conversation consisted of the question “What is your name?” (Mark 5:9), along with the command to “come out.” Yet, deliverance ministries have formed a false doctrine by emphasizing this practice of needing to know the devil’s names. It is a trap of the enemy. When Jesus asked the man his name, I believe He was literally asking the MAN what his name was. The devil responded instead of the man, revealing full demonic possession of that individual.
Typically, Jesus would not allow the demons to speak. In contrast, deliverance ministers enter lengthy arguments with demons, often taunting them, demanding answers to irrelevant questions, and expecting the lying spirits to tell them the truth. It is foolishness. This is a form of spiritualism or spiritism, which is communication with evil spirits. The two main things about communicating with demons you will learn from Jesus’ ministry are “Be still,” and “Come out.”
We are cautioned to be careful when dealing with evil spirits. We are admonished not to “believe every spirit,” but rather to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Jesus also encouraged the testing of fruit as a means of evaluation. Many times, the fruit of the deliverance ministry adversely affects not only the individuals but the Church as well, causing division and confusion within the ranks by allowing false teaching and false doctrine to take root.
Many “Deliverance Ministries” contradict the basic truths in the Bible. Many deliverance ministers have read very little of the Bible for themselves. They lack a foundation built on truth and therefore have little or no authority over demons. They throw the name of Jesus around like it’s a magic pill. This is using the Lord’s name in vain and brings a reproach on Christ. We only have the authority of the King’s name to the degree that we are submitted to the King.
The authority to cast out devils comes from abiding in the truth. There is no other way. To have the authority of the King, we must abide in His kingdom. To abide in His kingdom is to abide in His truth, not visit it from time to time or just pop in for 20 minutes a day during our so-called devotional.
Christians with no Authority
There was a young lady named Brittney Griner, a basketball player and Olympic medalist, who was arrested in Moscow, Russia on drug charges in 2022. She was sentenced to nine years in prison. Russia detained her for ten months and eventually freed her in exchange for a notorious Russian arms dealer.
Brittney Griner was a citizen of the United States, but once she was detained in Russia, she had none of the privileges and rights afforded to a citizen of the USA. She found out the hard way that when you operate in another kingdom, you are subject to the laws that govern that kingdom and forfeit the rights of the kingdom you were born in.
This story is a perfect picture of most Christians today. We claim our citizenship in the Kingdom of God, but we remain imprisoned in another kingdom. We try to exercise our kingdom rights and kingdom authority, but we are powerless because we are not abiding in the King and His word. We try to use the authority of the King’s name, but it falls on deaf ears because we are not abiding under and submitting to the authority of the King. Devils have no obligation to obey anyone who has one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot in the kingdom of darkness.
Why We Must Abide in Truth
Abiding in Truth is like building a fire within us that burns up all things unholy and impure from our lives. It is like using a hammer that destroys every demonic stronghold, setting our souls free from wrong thinking and wrong believing.
Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
John 1:1-5 (My paraphrase) In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God. 2 The Word was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through The Word, and without The Word nothing was made that was made. 4 In The Word was life, and the Life in The Word was the light of men. 5 And the light of The Word shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot comprehend it.
To fellowship with Jesus is to fellowship with His word. To be intimate with the Father is to be intimate with His word. The truth of His word is what sets people free and keeps them free. Don’t be deceived, God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Sow the words of truth into your heart and mind, and give no place for the devil.
Galatians 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
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