The Devil Made Me Do It!

A Plea to “Deliverance Ministers”

A new trend is bursting onto the scene in the Christian Church. Certain ministers are making much effort to convince their congregants that they do the things that they do because of demonic influence in their lives. The cry of these men and women is that people must be delivered of these demons in order to live the life that Jesus wants them to live.

I say that this trend is new because in the chronology of the Church it is less than 100 years old. In fact, this idea of demonic deliverance is perpetrated by one group of people within the Church. Let’s begin with a little history of the “deliverance ministry” phenomenon. Later, I will explain why it is unbiblical.

History

As I said, the history of this idea is relatively new in theological circles, and it is perpetrated by one group of people. I am sure that anyone who has had any dealings with deliverance ministers knows what group of people within the Church has the most people teaching this.

It barely comes as a surprise that deliverance is rooted in the early charismatic scene. Even though the Charismatic Church as we know it today has only been in existence since the 1960s, its roots go back to modern Pentecostalism which gained significant headway in 1906 with the Azusa Street Revival. There are four primary forms of deliverance ministry.

Form 1

The first form of deliverance ministry traces its roots back to a book written by Don Basham in 1972 called Deliver Us From Evil. In this book, Basham relates experiences with demonic powers. He describes conversations that he has had with demons who are extremely talkative. He even describes demonic presence as being everywhere, all around us.

This form of deliverance ministry tells us that there are demons everywhere and they can attach themselves to anything, emphasizing that any object we come into contact with could open the door for a demonic presence in our lives.

Form 2

The second form of deliverance ministry began with the publication of Mark Bubeck’s The Adversary in 1975. This form of deliverance ministry has a more thought-out theological approach. Other authors in this camp include Merrill Unger, author of What Demons Can Do To Believers, and C. Fred Dickason, author of Demon Possession and the Christian. 

This form of deliverance is the first to teach that spiritual warfare is how demons are kept away from believers. Basham is known to propose “warfare praying” formulas for believers to keep demons at bay.

Form 3

The third form of deliverance ministry comes out of the so-called “Third Wave” movement out of Fuller Seminary and the Vineyard churches. Proponents of this form of ministry include C. Peter Wagner and Wayne Grudem, both highly influential in the Charismatic movement.

This form of deliverance is centered around the idea of “signs and wonders” flowing through believers. It is most famous for introducing the idea of “territorial spirits” which must be defeated, cast down, or removed through deliverance in order for the Church to grow in an area.

Form 4

The newest form of deliverance ministry developed in the 1990s. This form builds on the idea of spiritual warfare and deliverance, while also introducing an idea known as “self-deliverance.” It is not difficult to see that this form of deliverance also sprang up around the self-help movement that gained popularity in the 1990s.

Some proponents of this form of deliverance ministry are Neil Anderson, The Bondage Breaker 1990, Timothy Warner, Spiritual Warfare 1991, Tom White, The Believer’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare 1990, Ed Murphy, Handbook for Spiritual Warfare 1992, and Ray Beeson, Strategic Spiritual Warfare 1995.

Other Historic Notes

It is fascinating to study the short history of this movement, especially as it is gaining more traction in the modern Charismatic Church.

The first man to really bring deliverance ministry to the forefront was evangelist A. A. Allen. Allen is known to those in the Charismatic Church as, primarily, a traveling preacher whose tent revivals and local meetings would see people saved and healed. However, in the deliverance ministry, Allen was also the first to give demonic spirits names. He regularly exorcised demons known as Lust, Pride, various disease names, and Death.

Personally, I came across deliverance ministry around 15 years ago. I was taught all the prayers and all the renouncements. I was trained in how to remove demonic influences from people. I was taught how to talk to demons, make them talk back to me, make them give me “vital information on the movement of demonic spirits,” and so forth.

I say this so that those who read this will understand that what I am about to say in this article is not just my opinion or some attack against those who walk in deliverance ministry. I have experienced these things. I have done these things. I have spoken to demons and made them flee. But I also read the Bible.

The Fundamental Flaw

The idea that a believer, one who is saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can be influenced by demonic spirits comes down to one issue. Those who believe this is possible have an extremely low view of God. More specifically they believe that God the Holy Spirit is too weak to resist these demonic spirits.

So, the first question we must answer is, who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. We understand that God is One being eternally existing in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead has the same qualities as the others. However, each One is unique in His interactions with mankind.

We know that all three persons of the Godhead were present at creation. (Genesis 1:1-2 John 1:29-34) We also know that all three were present at the baptism of Jesus. (Matthew 3:13-17) These verses should be enough to convince anyone with doubt that we serve a triune God and that the Holy Spirit is God.

Our second question, then, is, when does a believer receive the Holy Spirit?

This is where many people misunderstand the role of the Holy Spirit. Those in historically orthodox Christian churches would say that a believer receives the Holy Spirit at the time of his or her conversion. Those within the Pentecostal and Charismatic camps will agree with this statement on a surface level, but also disagree.

Pentecostal and Charismatic groups will say that a person receives a portion of the Holy Spirit at conversion and then later receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Despite the fact that speaking in tongues is only one of the spiritual gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12, the people in these camps say that only those who speak in tongues have the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some even go so far as to say that this is “the” sign that a person is saved.

However, when we look at Scripture, we see that a believer receives the Holy Spirit at the time of conversion. Specifically, we can read Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 8:1-11, and 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 to see that this is true.

The Bible only mentions a baptism of the Holy Spirit once, Acts 19:1-7. On the surface this passage seems to indicate that there is a second baptism that believers should look forward to. However, this is not the case.

Paul arrives in Ephesus and discovers that people there have already come to believe that they need to be saved. They repented and were baptized, but they did not hear about the Holy Spirit. This is because of the person who initially evangelized them. Apollos was the man who came through Ephesus first. He was originally preaching repentance and the baptism of John the Baptist, one into a repentant life, not the life of being led by the indwelling Holy Spirit. However, he later encounters Aquila and Priscilla who teach him more fully the way of Christ. From that time forward, his preaching changed from simple repentance to the fullness of the Gospel.

We must make a distinction between repentance and salvation. Many people may repent and never be truly saved. Repentance is simply the act of turning away from sinful activity. Many people have falsely repented. We only need to look at some modern televangelists to understand this. Salvation is when God, through the drawing of the Holy Spirit, pulls people to Himself and the Holy Spirit then indwells them, taking up residence within them.

With this understanding we ask our next question: what is the Holy Spirit’s role in the lives of believers?

He convicts us of sin and draws us to God. (John 16:5-14) He indwells us, and we become His temple. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) He bestows upon us those gifts which He sees fit to give. (Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11) He sanctifies us and molds us into the image of Christ whereby we display certain fruits. (Galatians 5:16-26)

The Big Question

Now that we have studied a little bit about who the Holy Spirit is and how He interacts with us, we can finally ask the big question.

Can the Holy Spirit coexist with demonic spirits?

According to those who teach and practice deliverance ministry, the answer is yes.

Here is how they get by with such an outlandish claim. They teach the three-part man. According to the three-part man ideology, man is a spirit, has a soul, and is enclosed within a body. When a person is saved, their spirit is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, however, the body of man is still susceptible to demonic attack. This distinction between spirit, soul, and body is the only way that they can claim demonic spirits have a foothold.

However, according to Scripture, this is not true. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, does not mingle with demonic spirits. Even if we believe the three-part man idea, we can still say that this coexistence is impossible. At the time of our salvation, we become temples of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) Herein lies the fundamental flaw in the deliverance camp.

Given the idea of a three-part man, we are still the temple of the Holy Spirit. The body is the temple, according to these two verses. So, if the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then the idea of Him coexisting with demonic spirits in the body is absurd. We can see this in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

Casting Out Demons, a Biblical View

Does the Bible say anything about casting out demons?

Yes. It is one of the signs that follow believers in Mark 16:14-20. We see Paul casting a demon out of a woman in Acts 16:16-24. However, we never see demons being cast out of a believer.

Before the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus there were plenty of people who had demons removed from them. We have several accounts in the gospels. We can look at the demoniac at the cemetery whose demons were cast into swine. We have Mary Magdelene who had 7 demons cast out of her. We have the demon who caused the boy to go into convulsions, even casting him into the fire.

What we do not have, however, is a single instance recorded in Scripture of a demon being cast out of a person who is a believer in Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, after the Acts 2 Pentecost experience of the Holy Spirit being sent. None. Zero. Zilch.

If this was something that we were supposed to do in the lives of believers, then the book of Acts and the letters to churches and people that follow would be filled with examples. Instead, we only have one example written for us, and that is in Acts 16:16-24. That woman was not a Holy Spirit indwelt believer in Jesus Christ.

We do have the account of Paul in Ephesus and the Jewish exorcists, including the seven sons of Sceva. However, nothing in the text tells us that these people were believers, even after the demonic spirits left them. I am sure some of them became believers since that is how the ministry of the Apostles often worked, but the text does not tell us this.

Spiritual Warfare

Most of the time, deliverance ministry is paired with some form of spiritual warfare. I would call your attention to the numerous books on the subject in the first part of this article. But what does the Bible say about spiritual warfare? It is most definitely a real thing, otherwise the Bible would leave it alone.

Spiritual warfare is just that; it is spiritual. The warfare we wage is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. (Ephesians 6:10-20) It is not that people cannot be influenced by demonic spirits, but those people cannot be believers. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

So, how do we respond to and interact with pastors, evangelists, and preachers who claim that they walk in deliverance ministry and claim to cast demons out of believers?

False Teachers Among Us

Hopefully I have been able to clearly state why the idea of demonic spirits having influence in believers is a false doctrine. I also hope that you have not grown bored with this lengthy article. I jokingly told my wife that I could probably turn this into a book. The eye-roll of her response was enough to let me know that might not be a good idea. (She is my editor as well as my wife and does an absolutely amazing job at both of those tasks.)

There are twenty-seven books in the New Testament. Twenty-six of them have some kind of warning against false teachers and/or false doctrine. Paul warns the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 that false teachers would even arise from their ranks. We know that there are false teachers out there, we simply need to know how to identify them.

Anyone who claims to preach the Word of God but adds anything to their teaching that is not backed up by and supported by the truth of Scripture or who twists Scripture to fit their theology is a false teacher. This includes those who teach about demonic influence in believers.

I recently had a conversation with a minister who claims to walk in deliverance. We sat in his office for over an hour. When I asked him to show me evidence in Scripture that supports his claims of demons influencing believers, he could not do it. However, he continues to teach this doctrine despite the fact that Scripture goes against it.

Would I brand such a man as a false teacher?

Yes.

This man is supposed to be a shepherd to his people (1 Peter 5:1-3) yet he refuses to tell them the truth of the Word of God. He boldly told me, to my face, “I believe the same thing you do, I just believe more.” If by more he means that he believes things that people have told him which do not line up with Scripture, then I suppose he does believe more than I do.

A pastor cannot go beyond the Bible to establish doctrine and practice within the church. That is the bottom line. Anyone who teaches “more” than what the Bible does is a false teacher.

The New Mentality, An Old Claim

Most deliverance ministers claim that everything can be attributed to a demon somewhere. While this sounds like a wild claim, the pastor I spoke about above boldly proclaims this to be true.

Today, in deliverance ministry, every sin can be traced back to a demon, every sickness can be traced back to a demon, every disease, physical ailment, or mental and emotional issue can be traced to a demon.

The pastor I spoke to claimed that my arm (I broke my arm on Mother’s Day and was wearing a brace when I met with him.) could be traced to some kind of demon. According to him, there are demons that flow through bloodlines, so anything that happened in the past needs to be renounced and the demon removed. Poverty, cancer, mental illness, sickness of any kind, and even the female menstruation cycle can be traced to demonic activity, according to this pastor. This is delusional thought and a lack of understanding concerning how the human body operates.

When pressed, this pastor would not give a straight answer. I asked him simply, “If I go out and commit murder, is it a sin or was it a demon?”

His answer? “Why couldn’t it be both?”

It can’t be both. I am a believer. I am indwelled with the Holy Spirit. My body is His temple, and He does not share His temple with a demon.

Sin is sin. We commit sin because we live in this world and sin is the default setting for humanity. We do not commit sin, as believers, because we are overcome with a demonic spirit. We do not have bad things happening in our lives because of something our parents or grandparents did. The idea of a generational curse is absurd. Galatians three tells us that Jesus became the curse for us. When we are saved, if there was any kind of generational curse on us, that curse is broken by the power of God.

The idea that we can lay our sin upon the shoulders of demonic spirits takes away the need for personal accountability. The thought that sin can be erased by expelling a demon erases the need for sanctification and personal holiness.

Deliverance ministry says that the Holy Spirit is too weak to stop demons from infiltrating and influencing believers. It allows for a “The Devil made me do it,” mentality instead of acknowledging and repenting of sin.

If the God that these people serve is that weak, then they need to meet the God of the Bible.

Stay away from these false teachers and tell everyone you know to stay away also. Unfortunately, they draw large crowds because it would be so much easier for all of us if we could look God in the face and say, “The Devil made me do it.”

Thank you and God bless you all.

Soli Deo Gloria.