Exorcism and Deliverance Prayer Continued

As Fr. Don and I posted below, we were both shocked by the poor treatment of exorcism by Hannity. I have gone through different phases of thought about exorcism and deliverance. Here are some of the things I believe I have learned.

When I became a Christian, I was heavily oppressed by interaction with demonic spirits in seances. While I thought this spiritual practice was benign - even helpful - it was a counterfeit. Trying to find God through direct experience, I became intangled with bondages of fear that could only be released through deliverance prayer.

I emphasized the need for deliverance prayer in much of my early ministry. At a certain point, I realized that deliverance prayer alone cannot produce long-lasting change. In addition to evicting troubling spirits, my mind needed renewing through biblical, redemptive truth. So, I explored psychology as a means to understand why I was the way I was. Some of the most life-transforming truths came to me through that exploration. Every psychological insight became a place of meeting with God as I invited Him to work in the depths of my being. I swung too far in that direction and began to de-emphasize the role of the demonic and spiritual warfare.

The last few years have been a time of digging ancient wells in my spirit. Many truths that had informed my earlier years of ministry have sprouted again and are releasing spiritual life in me. One of those ancient wells is deliverance prayer. Over the last several years, I walked through some difficult times in ministry that I honestly thought were going to kill me. It was only my personal experiences of the presence of Christ Holy Spirit that kept me alive. I felt layers of emotional and spiritual toxicity building up on my - like layers on my skin. It was like have layers of spiritual sewage wrapped around me without any way to get it off. I hoped the changes I made in ministry would bring the inner release I knew I needed - but they didn't. Some days I thought I would just have to live with it.

That changed when I turned back to deliverance prayer. I attended a Kathie Walters/Bob Jones conference - and didn't even want to be there. Sitting there in the building that night, I was secretly wishing I hadn't come. My mood was dark and heavy - and I felt that I didn't have a friend in the world. I sat as far away from others as I could. To my dismay, a lady who had heard about my ministry in the Spirit came running over to me. She is one of those rare individuals who only have an "on" switch. This sister in Christ archs constantly with spiritual power when she is in the Spirit. I thought, "She is going to mess with me - and I don't want to hug and be nice. I want to be left alone." There is not much you can do with a Christian like her other than let them do what they are going to do and hope they stop soon and leave you alone.

Anyway, she came over to me in a state of spiritual intoxication. She grabbed me around the neck and began to stagger. Just when I was wishing seriously that she would just fall over in the floor and leave me alone - or go off and arch with spiritual power around someone who would actually appreciate it - I felt the power of God shoot through me. As the power of the Spirit passed through me from this lady, I felt a band break off my mind. For the first time in weeks, I felt the peace and love of God. I realized in that moment that my psychological mood had a spiritual root - an attack from an evil spirit that I mistook for a bad mood. The power of God broke that off me and I was able to receive. This opened up a spiritual door in me to which I could not find the key alone. In the course of that weekend, I was touched a second time. Layers of spiritual oppression were literally knocked off me as my body convulsed under the impact. When the power of God finally lifted off me, I felt those layers of accumulated spiritual oppression and bondage break off me - down to my very skin. I was astonished at how much spiritual oppression I had contracted - and understood why my little faith pep talks had not lifted the cloud that had accumulated over my life.

Deliverance prayer - casting out demons and breaking demonic bondage - brings the kingdom of God into our lives. It lays the foundation for renewing the mind - and sometimes renewing the mind breaks the bondage be removing the house that the enemy inhabited.

I have seen many mistakes in deliverance prayer over the years - and am sure I have made plenty. Yet without deliverance prayer, I would still be bound. I know there are still unrenewed parts of my mind. Daily I deal with the issue of sin through the power of the Cross. But I know that evil targets us - evil that comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus gave authority to his disciples to cast out demons. Without that ministry, some strongholds of the devil will not be removed - including some sickness and disease. In spite of the mistakes and misunderstanding, it is imperative that the Church claim and exercise this important ministry of Jesus. It is not the domain of specially trained and licensed exorcists - but the commission of all believers.