Abundant Joy

As I promised, I am going to delve into deliverance ministries in this blog post. This is a growing field in some circles of Christianity, and it has raised some serious concerns with many people, me included. God has given us his Word, the Bible, and everything that I look at today will be anchored in that. And most importantly, it will be anchored in context. So many of these deliverance ministers take verses out of context to make them say what they want to say. So much destructive teaching of all kinds can happen when we take verses out of context.

This came up on my radar a couple of months ago when the movie “Come Out in Jesus Name” was released in theaters. During the first night’s live broadcast, Greg Locke did a mass deliverance from one theater, which was broadcast to theaters around the world. Since that movie came out, another has been released called “The Domino Revival” which stars several of the same pastors. This topic has been coming up on my Facebook feed, so I wanted to learn more about this movement.

I started by researching the movement online, but decided the best way to do it was to watch some of the sermons for myself. I love the Honest Youth Pastor’s YouTube channel because he has entire uncut sermons and teachings available along with his commentary. I started by watching a sermon by Vlad Savchuk titled “You are Esther!” on breaking bloodline curses. Next, I watched a video of Mike Signorelli and Alexander Pagani talking about generational curses. Then I watched Greg Locke’s sermon “Tearing Down Strongholds.” The last sermon I listened to was an Oral Roberts sermon from 1955 titled “Anointing for Deliverance.”

I’ll start with the last one. Oral Roberts was likely the beginning of deliverance ministries as we know them today. He held huge tent revivals where thousands came for healing and deliverance. The sermon I watched was from the 1950s and he used scriptures that the ministers from today still use. The methods he used were different, but the scriptures are the same. In this message I watched, he had his audience turn to Matthew 10, verses 1 and 7. He skipped the middle five. He also read verse 8 to them. It is important to note that in this passage, Jesus is giving his disciples authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to be able to heal every disease and sickness. He summons his twelve disciples to him. By now, he has many followers, but he takes the time to gather these twelve. These instructions are for them. That is why in the next verses they are named. These are not instructions for us. Something that all the deliverance ministers do is take instructions that Jesus gave his disciples and place them on us.

The second passage that Oral Roberts uses is Matthew 12:43-45, where Jesus talks about an unclean spirit coming out of a person, roaming through a waterless place looking for rest, but does not find any. The passage says it will go back to the house it came from. Then it goes back with seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they settle in making the person’s last condition worse than the first. Jesus concludes with “That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.” I heard every pastor I watched use this illustration for demon possession and why deliverance ministries are necessary. But is this what Jesus was talking about? To understand what Jesus is talking about here, we must go further back in the passage. The Scribes and Pharisees are asking for a sign. Jesus tells them that an evil and adulterous generation demands a sign. Jesus tells them that the Ninevites recognized God’s warning from Jonah and that the Queen of Sheba recognized God’s wisdom in Solomon. They both repented. Now the Pharisees and Scribes have Jesus, a greater one than Jonah or Solomon is among them, and they don’t recognize him. Jesus then goes on to the analogy of the unclean spirits. He tells them that it will be worse for them after he is gone, because they saw him and rejected him. He concludes with this: “As a result that person’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will be also with this evil generation.” As you can see, when this passage is read in context, it does not mean what any of the deliverance preachers are trying to make it say.

To wrap up Oral Robert’s sermon, he ends with the salvation prayer and tells his audience that once they accept Jesus, no demon can cross the bloodline. He states, “If the blood of Christ is on your soul, you are safe from demon power.” He then finished the service by having people come up for healing and deliverance. One boy came up to be healed from epilepsy and Roberts placed his hands on his head and said he was healed from the demon of epilepsy.

I spent a lot of time going through this message with you because Oral Roberts is the “grandfather” of all deliverance ministries we see today. There are many similarities (the verses used) but there are some differences also. Today, Christians are told that they can be possessed by demons. Christians not only need to be delivered from demons, but they need strongholds taken down, and generational curses broken. In addition, the methods for deliverance have changed, as I will go into later.

Rather than go over all the other videos I watched individually, I am going to summarize here what I saw. I will provide links at the end, in case you want to watch for yourself. Vlad Savchuk talked about generational demons that could jump on you at the funeral of your parents, bringing on diseases such as cancer, and problems such as alcoholism. His word for the audience was, “It stops with me.” Alexander Pagani and Mike Signorelli talked about generational curses. They said that natural death is a generational curse that comes down from Adam. The cross broke the power of sin, not the presence of sin. The cross broke the power of the curse, but not the presence of the curse. They go on to say that if, after you crucify the flesh, the problem still occurs, it’s a demon. If after you go through deliverance, and the problem still occurs, it’s a curse. Greg Locke says something similar in his sermon. He says that deliverance takes care of demons. Discipline takes care of strongholds. (When the demon leaves, it leaves behind a stronghold). Decreeing and declaring takes care of the curses.

I decided to watch one of Greg Locke’s deliverance services online. I could only get through about 15 minutes before I had to turn it off. He said this was the 85th straight Sunday they had been doing it. He said they relied solely on the Holy Ghost and that there was no power of suggestion, yet he talked the whole time, priming the audience on what was to come. He said they would need no music, yet the keyboardist played softly in the background the entire time. He set the stage for about five full minutes before he had them all repeat after him a very long prayer of deliverance. It was interesting. He did mention several times prior that there would be vomit bags available in case people needed to throw up the demons. In his sermon “Tearing Down Strongholds,” he mentioned that people threw up during his deliverance sessions because they were getting rid of the nest demons had made in them. He gave the credit to Derek Prince, another deliverance minister, for this teaching. People throughout the audience were calling out, waving their arms, and I saw at least one man vomiting. This was very different from what I saw in Oral Robert’s deliverance session. After the prayer, he had people release the demon of unforgiveness, naming people who have hurt them, and telling them to let them go. Some of the hurts he had them name included sexual abuse, rape, physical and mental abuse, et cetera. The service was over an hour long, so I’m sure there were other demons that were going to be mentioned. In the other videos I watched, demons were the cause for cancer, drug addiction, anger, illness, autism, alcoholism, so many things! There is so much more I could say, but I now want to show what the Bible teaches.

I have a shirt that reads “Bad Theology Hurts People.” Deliverance ministry is bad theology. People who are genuinely hurting, in need of help, go to these men and women and they do not get the help they need. They might find short term relief, but based on the design of the ministries, they will have to come back for more. When they don’t get delivered from the demon, they are told that it’s a stronghold. Then it’s a generational curse. I do not know the hearts of these deliverance ministers, but I do see a lot of ego when I watch them. They talk of “anointing”, and “God told me.” They use a lot of emotion and power when they speak, and it is easy to get caught up in the movement. John warns us in 1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Jesus warns, “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:15-16a). What is the fruit of these ministries? Are they causing division in the body of Christ? Are the leaders following the guidelines for elders and overseers as seen in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1? There have been divisions in churches and some of the leaders do not meet these qualifications. The fruit is not good.

The next thing I want to look at is the ministry itself. We live in a world of instant gratification. When we want something to eat, we can microwave it in minutes. When we want information, we can Google it in seconds. Sanctification? No thank you! I’ll just go and have a demon cast out instead. Do you see the problem? We have ascribed every problem to a demon. Every sickness, a demon. In fact, it might not even be our fault. It might have been our parents, or our grandparents fault! But is this what the Bible teaches?

When Jesus began his ministry on earth, there had been four hundred years where there were no prophets and nothing new was revealed to the Jewish people. Demon possession was a real thing, because Jesus devoted time to casting out demons and healing the sick. He also authorized his disciples to do this. Remember, this is during his earthly ministry and before he sent the Holy Spirit. As Jesus came to the end of his life, he met with his disciples in the upper room. It is here that he told them about the Holy Spirit, whom he would send to them.

“If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful. You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe. I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me. On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me” (John 14:15-31).

It is important to read this entire passage. Look at verse 23. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Jesus is saying that when we have the Holy Spirit, we have God the Spirit living in us. Do you honestly think that God is going to allow a demon to coexist with him?

When Jesus ascends to heaven in the first chapter of Acts, the disciples wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. In the second chapter of Acts, we can read about it. So now we have the promised Holy Spirit, and when we accept Christ as our savior, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Paul recounts his conversion story in Acts 26. He writes that Jesus appeared to him and says, “I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (vv. 17-18). When our sins are forgiven, we are justified before God, which means we have been made righteous in his sight.

After we are justified, we then start the process of sanctification. And this is where the “demon slayers” have it wrong. They attribute almost every sin to a demon. While we can certainly be tempted and oppressed, most of the time, it is our own sin nature which causes our problems. Let’s look at some verses. Jesus told his followers that if they wanted to follow him, they would have to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him (Matthew 10:38; 16:25; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27). In the Luke verse, it says, “Take up his cross daily.” It is a daily denying of self and a conscious following of Christ. Paul writes in Romans 6:22, “But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!” In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 he writes, “For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor,not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.” Notice that Paul does not call it a demon of lust. Paul writes in his letter to Galatia, “I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5 16-21). Paul lists quite a few sins and lists them all as works of the flesh. Many of these are things that deliverance ministers attribute to demons. Paul goes on in the chapter to describe the fruit of the Spirit. He finishes this way. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (v. 25). There is no mention of casting out demons, strongholds, or generational curses. Instead, we are to take up our cross, crucify the flesh with its passions and desires, and instead practice the fruits of the Spirit. It is not instantaneous. It is an ongoing, daily practice. One last verse from Paul. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14).

When we have the Holy Spirit in us, there is no room for demons. First John 1:5-6 says, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.”  In Colossians we read, “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (1:13). 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” And we read in Galatians 5:1, “For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

I think that the most harmful thing that these teachers teach is that sicknesses such as cancer and conditions such as epilepsy and autism are caused by demons. People bring their children to be delivered from the “demon” of autism. I cannot even imagine the harm caused to families because of this. People are told that the demon of cancer has been passed down from generations (causing guilt and anger at parents and grandparents) and that they can stop that curse. I do not know if people stop treatment because they feel the demon has been cast out, but I would imagine that much damage is done to their relationship with God when they are not healed. The same with those who go for other physical healings.

I can find nowhere in the New Testament that Christians are told to go to someone to have demons cast out of them. So how are we to fight? 1 Peter 5:9 says we are to resist the devil, being firm in our faith. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Ephesians 6 describes the armor we are to put on. Paul tells us that because we are fighting against the devil, we need to take up the full armor of God “so that you may be able to resist the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.” If you look up the word ‘stand’ in your Bible, you will find many references to standing firm in your faith. And we have the example of Jesus himself. When he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he used his knowledge of Scripture to overcome him. That is why our offensive weapon in the armor is the Word of God.

It is so important that we know the Word of God. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.” We need to understand passages in context. To whom were they written? Are they prescriptive or descriptive? How do we apply them (or do we apply them?) There is so much more that goes into Bible study than pulling a verse out of context and then trying to make it say what you want it to say.

Deliverance ministers say that a major part of Jesus’s ministry was deliverance, so that is what we should be doing. But what did Jesus say his mission was? In John 17, Jesus prays a prayer before his crucifixion. I encourage you to stop and read it right now. Verses 2 and 3 give a summary. “…since you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent —Jesus Christ.” Jesus then sends his disciples out. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” Jesus commanded the disciples to make disciples. We are to preach the good news of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Paul says that this is of first importance in his first letter to Corinth. “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4a).

This is what we should be doing! We should be proclaiming the good news! We have the forgiveness of sins because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. When we focus so much attention on demons and deliverance, we are taking our eyes off Jesus and putting them squarely on the devil and his work. I am afraid that Satan is enjoying all of the attention that he is getting. It is not healthy for the body of believers to focus this much attention on deliverance. Let’s put our attention where it belongs- on Jesus.

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Grace be with you!

Links: (copy and paste into the browser to watch)

https://www.youtube.com/live/V6FMVXuqx3w?si=FTHXG8AoylSxHNlz  Vlad Savchuk “You are Esther!”

https://www.youtube.com/live/ytkmdJMeZos?si=dMNbmdmWOaQ3FnBM  Mike Signorelli and Alexander Pagani “Generational Curses”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXt04PGI8Y&t=0s  Greg Locke “Pulling Down Strongholds”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw6I60bBs24&t=0s  Oral Roberts “Annointing for Deliverance”

Mass Deliverance Prayer with Pastor Greg Locke – YouTube  Greg Locke’s 85^th Deliverance Service

HonestYouthPastor – YouTube The Honest Youth Pastor YouTube Channel