I have considerable experience in deliverance ministry, both as a helper to those who are ministering to others, and also as a recipient, having received a lot of deliverance myself. One of the replies in this thread made reference to two types of deliverance ministry - casting out demons and getting free from bondages. I know something about both, having received both.
I would like to share a few things I have learned, and hear any comments from others.....
First of all, it is pretty useless to attempt to cast a demon out of someone who has not dealt with the reasons why the demon is there in the first place. For instance, if someone has a demon of rage and murder because he/she is angry at a parent for abuse suffered in childhood, then that demon is not going to leave until the person truly forgives the parent and takes away the demons right to stay.
I have witnessed an experienced deliverance minister who should have known better get into a knock down drag out confrontation with a demon in a woman who had been abused as a child, and was just unable to forgive her abuser. The minister wrestled with the demon (spiritually), and the demon thrashed her body around the floor almost in convulsions. At last after a few hours it seemed to leave, and she got up and felt better. But I can guarantee you that it came right back at her in the parking lot after she left, because she had refused to forgive her father, and that was the demon's legal right to torment her.
I have read countless books on spiritual warfare and deliverance -- too many to name or list. There seems to be three major approaches:
1) The Frank Hammond "Pigs in the Parlor" or Win Worley "Battling the Hosts of Hell" approach, which is just command them to leave - don't bother to deal with any underlying issues - and keep commanding them to leave until they do, even if it takes hours and a physical battle to get them out.
2) The Neil Anderson approach, described in "Victory Over Darkness" and "The Bondage Breaker", which takes the opposite stance..... he says you MUST deal with the underlying reasons that the demon has access to you, and once you close whatever door in the spirit is opened, by forgiving, etc., then the demons will just leave.
3) The Bob Larson approach, which is a little bit of the first two. Deal with your stuff, close all the doors in the spirit, take away whatever right the demons have, then command them to leave, and keep telling them to leave until they do.
I guess I tend to agree more with Neil Anderson and Bob Larson. Having witnessed and been a part of numerous deliverance sessions (many of them where I was the "subject"), I question the need to have a knock down drag out fight with any demon. If you deal with an issue, like unforgiveness, and the demon does not leave when commanded to, I now think that it must be because there are more underlying issues that have not been dealt with that allow it to remain.
One complicating factor can be dissociation, which I saw someone refer to in another thread. For anyone not familiar, the term "dissociation" refers to what used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), and is now called "Dissociative Identity Disorder" (DID). If the person in need of deliverance is dissociative, it can be much more difficult to deal with their "stuff", because while they may have forgiven their Dad for molesting them, a part of them (or alter personality) may not have, and that is what the demon holds on to.
This is very controversial, and I don't want to derail this thread with a lot of talk about MPD/DID unless the others involved in the discussion are interested.
I would just like to say one more thing for those who may be thinking this -- it is a common misconception that MPD/DID is extremely rare and hardly ever seen. That is simply not true. It is a lot more common than people realize. As a matter of fact, many of you probably either have met or know someone who is dissociative, especially if you work in Christian ministry, counseling or deliverance.
Karen
