Hearing someone say, “I have a deliverance ministry,” causes my underarms to drip with a fearful cold sweat. My eyes dart here and there like a cornered cat, looking for an escape route.
Without thinking, my hand reaches into a pants’ pocket, searching for car keys. Where are they, I think to myself. O Lord, where are the keys? Help!
“Uh, well, uh, you know,” I stammer, edging toward the door. “I need to check prices on alligator burial plots. You just never know when you might need one, right? And Forest Lawn has a big sale going on now. So, bye!”
Then, Larry Who exits stage left or stage right or jumps over the orchestra pit into the audience. But whatever, he’s gone.
Okay, I admit this is slightly exaggerated, but not by much.
Most (98.3%) believers who announce they have a specialized ministry of casting out demons are Flakes, with a capital F. They’ve read a mumble-jumble “how-to” book like Pigs in the Parlor …and now have it all figured out.
My advice: beware of specialized deliverance ministers, especially if they mention Pigs in the Parlor once or twice. Who knows, they may be cousins of the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14).
But yet, many believers in the Body of Christ need deliverance from drugs, alcohol, porn, perversion, insanity or whatever. They are still slaves of sin (John 8:34).
So, what can we do? Pray according to Luke 4: 18 –
Lord, send Your Spirit to deliver the captives.
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.
Larry Who 
At the time of our salvation, we received the power of the Holy Spirit and the strength that raised Jesus from the dead. While I admit that there are believers who fail to use the power that is given, the Holy Spirit does not need additional help or deliverance ministries. We must pray that we grow in the knowledge that Christ has equipped his people with ALL that they will need in the battle. Those who are still wavering need our prayers. Remember, the enemy cannot steal our inheritance, his job is to get us to forget that we have power to move mountains right now!
Meh, I went through a deliverance phase. I know that people can still be demonized today (it’s demonized, not demon possessed, not that you said that, but that phrase demon possessed is a tick of mine for what it implies). So, there is a need in certain cirumstances. But, it’s a small piece of the big ministry pie. It’s when it becomes the whole pie that it becomes a huge mess imo.
Marianne and Scott,
Thanks for your comments.
I, too, have gone through a major deliverance. Was I demon possessed? Not in my spirit, only the Spirit of the Lord resides there.
Was I demon possessed in my soul or flesh? Probably not. Scott’s usage of the word, demonized, is probably a good one-word description.
My revelation is that after a believer has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light at salvation, there still may be some strings from Satan attached to the person’s soul or flesh. Usually, these strings are lopped off as a believer grows in Christ.
But some believers who have been involved in certain hard-core stuff (willingly or not), like alcohol, drugs, sexual perversions, porn, the occult and whatever most always need the Spirit of the Lord to be set free.
Now, the Lord can deliver oppressed believers by Himself, in a sovereign move on His part without the help or discernment of others. But many times, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon another believer(s) and the Lord works through that person(s).
But at the same time, if a person says he is in the deliverance ministry, I’m outta there. Why? If the person is anointed, he just performs his ministry without drawing attention to himself, like Jesus did.
as I sat in the darkness, center stage in the pit of hell, I stood up and walked away… on the way out of the auditorium, someone called me back… I stopped for a moment. It was as if someone had physically pushed me to the ground. I thought, “Oh! Hello God! Shall we?” and we finished my exit together.
Outside the auditorium wasn’t so hospitable either. Despite God being right there, judgements and accusations were thrown like stones in efforts to send me back. It felt like someone physically pushed me to the ground.
I thought, “OK, it’s time for a new and different kind of church” and we looked and found one that didn’t expect us to be anything we’re not.
I concurr, deliverence is only one part of the master plan.
cindy,
Sadly, I’ve been there and done that, too. You’re right! Time for a new and different kind of church. Maybe, a Flake-less one. Or at least, one with fewer Flakes in it.