Deliverance Information

 

7. DELIVERANCE SHOULD ONLY BE DONE ON BELIEVERS

In fact, not only can a believer have a demon, but also Jesus instructs that deliverance should only be offered to a covenant believer.

In Matthew 15:22-28 we read the following account:
“A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”

Again note that deliverance is called a healing.

The bible says this Canaanite woman comes to Jesus to drive out demons from her daughter. At this time, God’s covenant was with Israel alone. Christ’s mission of salvation had not been fulfilled and there was no covenant with the gentiles yet. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”

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Only the Israelites were the children of God by covenant of faith (believers). The Gentiles were not (non-believers). This Canaanite woman was in the category of being a non-believer, outside of a covenant relationship asking Jesus for deliverance. What does Jesus say?

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.

What does Jesus call deliverance? He calls it children’s bread. Whose children? God’s children! If Jesus calls deliverance “bread for God’s children”, and we know that bread is an important part of daily life, should we not be giving this bread to God’s children? Are we not starving the children if we do not provide deliverance? Jesus says it is not right “to toss it to their dogs” (unbelievers, those outside a covenant relationship with God).

But the story doesn’t end there. When she demonstrated her faith, when she showed that she believed Jesus was the “master”, she demonstrated that she was a believer – not an un-believer. It was her FAITH as a believer that convinced Jesus to grant her request for deliverance. Because she was a believer, deliverance was in order. This is a powerful piece of scripture that shows that deliverance is bread for God’s children and also that it should not be given to non-believers.

8. ILLUSTRATIONS FROM SCRIPTURE OF BELIEVERS HAVING DEMONS.

1) SAUL
When Israel wanted a king, God had Samuel, his prophet, anointed Saul as God’s anointed ruler over all of Israel. We read in 1 Samuel 16 that despite being the anointed ruler of God’s people, through an act of
disobedience, Saul opened himself up to demonic attack. An evil spirit tormented him.
Saul called David in to play his harp, and we see that, under the power of the Spirit of God the evil spirit would leave. But it kept coming back! Later, in 1 Samuel 18 we read:
The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.
Two objections might be raised in this example. First, that this was prior to the Holy Spirit being given permanently. Well, we have seen examples of people receiving deliverance after the after the Holy Spirit was permanently given, and we will see more examples following.
Second, the evil spirit came and went which means that he was not demonized. Well again, I think that is a question of semantics. This evil spirit had access to Saul to such an extent that he could come forcefully and cause Saul to try to kill David. As I said at the start, we are not talking about believers being possessed by a demons but being oppressed. Influenced to such an extent that self-control is almost lost.

2) Crippled Woman
A great example of a true believer and church going woman who was set free from an evil spirit is the daughter of Abraham that we find in Luke 13:10-17:
“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.”

Let's back up and take a look at the setting here; she was a church going woman who was in the congregation listening to Jesus preach, and while He was preaching He noticed her and stopped everything He was doing so He could set her free:

“When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” (v. 12-13)

Now are you going to honestly try to tell me that this woman with this condition was a hypocrite, and she went to church just to look good before others? This woman was severely handicapped, and made a regular effort to attend church, even though it would have been much easier for her to stay home! It cost her a lot of hassle to make it to church each Sabbath! Furthermore, have you ever seen Jesus cast a demon out of a hypocrite such as the Pharisees? No, instead He went around rebuking them for their hearts were not right before God!

After Jesus healed her, He then referred to this woman in a tone of honor as a daughter of Abraham, which was something He had never done to a non-believer:

"Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" (v. 16)

The first thing people try to claim after I point out that she was a daughter of Abraham is that she was a mere physical Jew. This is simply not true. Let's examine what the requirements are to be considered a child of Abraham:

John 8:34-44
“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.[b]” 39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires”

Looking at the context of this passage, it is clear that Jesus was speaking to non-believing physical Jews. He made it clear that they were not true children of Abraham, yet they had full physical blood-line rights to consider themselves Abraham's children!

What does it mean to do the works of Abraham? What works was Abraham known for? The answer can be found in Romans 4:3:
"What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

It is also impossible to believe in God, and reject Jesus, because God prophesied about and testifies that Jesus is indeed His son, and whosoever believes upon Him will have everlasting life. In other words, he who does as Abraham is a believer in Jesus Christ.
Another argument that is very common, is that people were unable to be saved before Jesus died and rose again. But as Luke 19:9 shows us, salvation was quite possible while Jesus was here on earth:

" Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham."

Romans 2:28-29 also makes it clear what the requirements for a true child of Abraham are:

" A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.”

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As we look at these passages, it becomes very evident that a true child of Abraham is not a physical Jew, but a spiritual Jew. The daughter of Abraham was a true child of God who was crippled by a demonic spirit.

3) JUDAS
Jesus’ disciple Judas had Satan enter him. In Luke 22:3 we read “ Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.” Being a disciple of Jesus did not prevent him from being demonized.

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4) ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA
In Acts 5 we read of two “post Holy Spirit Baptism” believers whose hearts where filled with Satan.

​"Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?"

Peter puts the blame squarely on the root cause of Satan filling the hearts of these two believers.

9. A WARNING TO CHRISTIANS FROM PAUL
Paul instructs the Ephesus Christians in living as Children of the Light. In Ephesians 4 we read:
Living as Children of Light Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." GREEK (nor give place to the devil).
Here Paul clearly teaches that a believer can give place to the devil. In fact the Greek word “topos” for place means a physical space, a part of the body or a room in a house. Clearly we are warned not to give a place or a room in your house to Satan. When Jesus talks about deliverance he also talks about the body as a house.

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone
stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up
the spoils. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
Here we see that in reference to deliverance, Jesus warns that anyone who is not gathering is scattering. Clearly from this (and Mark 16 which says that the believer will cast out demons) deliverance is required to be as much a part of Christian life as preaching the gospel.

10. CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
The argument that many use that "a Christian cannot be demonized" is that the Holy Spirit would not reside or be at work in a person who is being demonized, or that they cannot co-exist in the same person. This is an argument from silence, since the Bible does not state categorically that the Holy Spirit cannot be in the same location as evil. Rather it gives many examples where the Holy Spirit was at work in demonized believers. Part of the problem is our perception of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. God is the creator, Omnipresent and omniscient. Since He is omnipresent He would already be where the devil and demons are at the same time. I would propose the concept that He is a different being than the creatures He created, which include the angels, devil and demons. It may be entirely possible for the Holy Spirit, who is the agent, the seal of God unto salvation for those who believe in Jesus, to be at work in a Christian's life who is, at a particular time, being demonized. He certainly is there working with the "new self" which is still residing with the "old self". Can the Holy Spirit work in a sinful believer? Thank God He can!

We have seen that the concept that “dark and light cannot co-exist” (as biblical as it sounds) is in fact not in the bible. The bible says that light and dark should not co-exist. Also, there is no passage in the bible that declares a “Christian cannot have a demon”. This belief is a recent teaching based on a mistaken inference from a few texts. To believe this teaching requires you to ignore both the central ministry and teaching of Jesus and the early church.
Jesus declared several times that his ministry was to preach the good news, heal the sick and broken-hearted and cast out demons. He taught his disciples to do the same. As disciples of Jesus should we not be doing the same? In Mark 16 we see the clear instruction that we should be doing this three-fold ministry!

We have also seen from scripture that deliverance is often referred to as healing and was often done alongside healing. To suggest that Jesus and his disciples divided those coming for prayer into two groups -believers [for healing] and non-believers [for deliverance] is ludicrous. Obviously, every believer received both healing and deliverance after hearing the gospel preached. The bible clearly states that healing and deliverance were done to verify the truth of the gospel and therefore should still be done to verify the gospel.
Deliverance is healing, so if you believe that a Christian can be sick and requires healing prayer, then we must also include deliverance as a healing prayer.

We have seen biblical examples of believers with evil spirits and Paul’s warnings to believers not to give a physical place to the devil. We know that when a believer comes to Christ, they don’t automatically change into perfect sinless people in their outward behavior. They are sinless and perfect, a new creation, but it takes time for that reality to move from the spirit into your mind, to change the thought and behavioral patterns in daily life as instructed in Romans 12:2:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

The bible says that salvation must be worked out with fear and trembling. This is the process of sanctification, and this is where the ministries of inner healing and deliverance can be very helpful. When John the Baptist asked if Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus pointed to healing and deliverance as proof that he was the Messiah in Luke 7:21,22:

“21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.“

This was the ministry of Jesus – preaching, healing, deliverance all lumped together. Do you not think it still is? Jesus does not change. And if we are dead to self and Christ lives within us, shouldn’t we allow Christ to work through us? Obviously yes. We should be doing the ministry that Jesus did.
Rather than be afraid of the demonic, we need to de-mystify it. Healing and deliverance prayer should be as common as many other gifts God gives uses to build up his church. After all one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is discerning of spirits (1 Cor12:7)!

The ministry of deliverance didn't end when Jesus' ministry was over!
John 20:21 makes it clear that we are sent fourth into the world just as Jesus was sent fourth:

"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."

Jesus demonstrated the casting out of demonic spirits so that today we can follow in His steps and do the works that He did and even greater works! as John 14:12 tells us:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."

What was one of the single most popular works that Jesus did? Casting out demons! Casting out demons was one of the signs that followed Jesus around, and in Mark 16:15,17, He said that them who believe will also have that sign following them around as well:
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature... And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils."

As we can see in Acts 8:6-7, the early church continued to cast out demonic spirits:
"And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed."

As we can see the early church was still very active in this ministry. We ought to be following suit today as well and continue the ministry that Jesus has bestowed upon us. It is a shame that many churches do not do what Jesus did. They separate out the preaching. Sometimes they might carry on and do some healing, but deliverance is often omitted. Many suffering people don’t know where to find help and they know they have demonically rooted problems, continue in confusion, torment and anguish, because they are told that a Christian cannot have a demon.

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Regardless of the location of the demon, it is always important to Submit to God and resist the devil. Focus your eyes on Jesus and draw near to Him. Reject evil thoughts whether they come from the flesh (our old sinful nature) or demons and renew your mind to have the mind of Christ.

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