What are your thoughts on churches that hold 'deliverance services'?

TruthSeek3r said:

What are your thoughts on churches that hold deliverance services? Is it biblical? Is it real or just psychological? Do you have any personal experience with churches that hold deliverance services or with deliverance ministries in general?

Click to expand...

Casting out and binding demons is Biblical, and something the Lord gave to believers in His Name. It's real just as God is real. I've been to deliverance services before and I approve of the work, it helps save people. God bless 'em.

Deliverance is an extremely important and often neglected ministry. We do deliverance services at my church quarterly, but we don't let the crazy stuff happen. I also strongly disapprove of recording and publicity posting any deliverance session.

TruthSeek3r said:

What do you mean by crazy stuff, and how do you guys prevent it?

Click to expand...

The strange manifestations you mentioned. We bind them from happening beforehand, which works in most situations.

TruthSeek3r said:

Is there any particular reason why?

Click to expand...

A) it should be a private experience and often can involve very personal information.
B) no reason to give the devil an audience.

Abaxvahl said:

Casting out and binding demons is Biblical, and something the Lord gave to believers in His Name. It's real just as God is real. I've been to deliverance services before and I approve of the work, it helps save people. God bless 'em.

Click to expand...

Exactly, I haven’t been in one but this is what people need these days more than anything. There is always those people who are faking and wanting only attention but don’t let those people ruin important deliverance service.

Churches that have deliverance sessions are doing what Scripture says "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." Matt 10

There's several Scriptures about how demonic spirits act such as
-"And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming." Mark 9:20 Jesus healed the child. So understandable to instruct them from the beginning and when they depart.

Believe that those receiving should be clearly instructed on how to maintain their deliverance because
"When a demon is cast out of a person, it goes to wander in a waterless realm, searching for rest. But finding no place to rest, it says, ‘I will go back and reoccupy the body I left.’ 25 When it returns, it finds the person like a house swept clean and made tidy, but empty. 26 Then it goes and enlists seven demons more evil than itself, and they all enter and possess the person, leaving that one in a much worse state than before.” Luk 11

TruthSeek3r said:

I see. Have you ever encountered a case of deliverance that got out of hand and you couldn't quite contain it? I have this mental picture from horror movies where you see Catholic exorcists struggling with extreme cases of possession, where even paranormal phenomena might start happening (best example: the movie 'the Exorcist').

Click to expand...

Yes and no. We've had sessions that escalated quickly and briefly got out of control, and I've seen some crazy things, but part of our training is to always remain calm and in control. If it happens to one of my teams, that is when they grab me. Usually in those situations, I take a step back, pray in the Spirit, and listen intently to God for a strategy. He always gives me one, and it has always worked. In fact, often it is in these types of situations that I learn a new element of deliverance that can help in the future.

tturt said:

Believe that those receiving should be clearly instructed on how to maintain their deliverance because
"When a demon is cast out of a person, it goes to wander in a waterless realm, searching for rest. But finding no place to rest, it says, ‘I will go back and reoccupy the body I left.’ 25 When it returns, it finds the person like a house swept clean and made tidy, but empty. 26 Then it goes and enlists seven demons more evil than itself, and they all enter and possess the person, leaving that one in a much worse state than before.” Luk 11

Click to expand...

Yes, a key part of deliverance that is often overlooked is, what we call, "filling them back up" to fill those empty places with the things of God. And in addition, instruction on how to walk out and maintain their freedom.

TruthSeek3r said:

What would you say are the top reasons that cause deliverance sessions to escalate and become more 'spectacular' (for lack of a better word)? Do deliverances tend to get more crazy when people have dabbled in witchcraft, the occult, stuff like that?

Click to expand...

Actually the craziest situations are when the person is oppressed, but they (the person) are also attention seeking. This is difficult because the deliverance session itself is a form of attention. There is a very real thing that happens which I call a "fleshly manifestation" where someone is acting up, not because of the demonic, but because they are seeking attention or somehow think that's what they are supposed to do. But when such a person also has demonic oppression, the fleshly feeds the demonic and visa versa. It becomes a cycle that is very hard to break them out of. If you are not careful in your discernment you can give them exactly what they want by yelling at a demon to leave when it's their flesh that's making them shake (or whatever). Sometimes the best strategy is to calmly walk away for a while and act like absolutely nothing unusual is going on.

I've had people growl at me and say things like, "I am ANTICHRIST", spitting in my face, eyes rolled back. I just calmly look at them and without raising my voice say, "I don't care" and then more forward with whatever the Lord has shown me to do. You'd be surprised how that can take the wind out of their sails. I've dealt with Legion. I've got a funny story about pythos trying to deliver pythos (not in my meeting). I've seen a great deal of witchcraft and the occult. Surprisingly, you don't see as many manifestations with that as one might think, although it does happen. You truly never know what you're going to get with this particular ministry.

TruthSeek3r said:

What are your thoughts on churches that hold deliverance services? Is it biblical? Is it real or just psychological?

Click to expand...

You could see a person doing things the way Jesus did them (highly doubtful), or you can see people fighting demons like Win Worley.

TruthSeek3r said:

Do you mean like in this mass deliverance where a Karate guy went crazy?

Click to expand...

No, I meant what I said.

TruthSeek3r said:

What are your thoughts on churches that hold deliverance services? Is it biblical? Is it real or just psychological? Do you have any personal experience with churches that hold deliverance services or with deliverance ministries in general?

Click to expand...

If the person doing the deliverance cannot discern whether it is actually demonic in nature, they don't need to be doing it at all. However, at the very least, it's real for the person receiving the deliverance. I believe though that it should continue to be followed up with discipleship, mentoring, and counseling. Years of demonic oppression or possession can take its toll on a person mentally and they should receive counseling services.

I have been to deliverance meetings with a former Anglican Reverend, and also Pentecostal.

TruthSeek3r said:

But do you believe that real demons manifested in those services or that it was all just psychological? How can we tell the difference between real demons and mundane mental health problems?

Click to expand...

My opinion is that it is for some real and others a show. I was raised in a revival and in a church where deliverance and manifestations in the spirit were common.
From a childs eyes I felt the Holy Spirit very powerfully, his presence was all over that church and because of it, it has given me a strong faith in Gods realness. It has also given me a discernment for when it isnt God but a false display.
Through the years as I grew I came to rely on his presence and recognise it, even when my life went in the direction of pain and often failures ive known he is with me.
I am grateful that I was able to witness and feel these Spirit filled services.