Furthermore, as noted by Jonas Clark1, if you partake of sins or many different things, you've opened yourself up to demonic "attachment". Therefore, your only solution to the problem of demonic attachment is, of course, deliverance ministry.
In practicality, the basic tenants, however, behind deliverance ministry, deal with the subject of casting out demons. Pablo Bottari notes that even the name, "deliverance" means, "the process of casting out demons."2
We're even told that issues such as fornication, addictions, and even smoking are concepts that require deliverance ministry.3
Such notions and concepts, however, lead me to adopt Dr. Jay Adam's understanding of deliverance ministry, "demon possession or oppression affords a ready-made cop-out from personal responsibility."4
Deliverance ministry undoubtedly places way too much emphasis and focus upon the demonic. Does Satan and his evil ones exhibit such incredible dominance and influence upon the world, that Christians especially Christian ministers and counselors must become "warrior" ministers to battle the satanic realm? And that's the primary or even only effective realm of ministry and counseling?
The first response that one may have is, "of course, Satan is the god of this world". And certainly Satan is mentioned as such in 2 Corinthians 4:4. However, he is not called god of this world, he is called god of this age to be more literal, and only with a jurisdiction to "blind the minds of the unbelieving". I can't help but think of what this means. Unbelievers are already blind (1 John 2:11), so really Satan is only contributing to something that is already happening in the lives of the unbelievers. That doesn't seem like much of an influence.
I think at that point, the book of Job is incredibly important to mention. Notice some key concepts about the "jurisdiction" of Satan. He didn't speak until spoken to (Job 1:6, 7). When he was spoken to, he only responded in accordance with what was requested of him (Job 1:7, 9; 2:2, 3). Satan didn't bring up Job, God did (Job 1:8). And Satan couldn't do anything to Job that God didn't allow (Job 1:12, 2:5, 6).
From this account Satan can't plan anything and Satan can only act and speak as God permits. Is it not then safe to deduce that those under Satan's command (demons) would have even less prominence in this world? Indeed it is.
But is not Satan referred to with a little more jurisdiction?
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
(Ephesians 2:1–3 NAS95)
The typical response would be, "Satan is the prince of the air". Does this mean that Satan rules the air? No. The prepositional phrase, "of the spirit" is appositional to "of the air". In other words it renames it. So Satan's authority is limited towards the "sons of disobedience" which would be unbelievers. Even then, this doesn't reference demon possession of unbelievers.
Passages of Scriptures that keep coming to my attention during this as well would be very beneficial to bring forth.
2 Pet. 2:4 "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment."
Jude 6 "And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day."
So for those angels who became demons, there is a particular issue for them. They are kept in "eternal chains". I'm not denying demonic activity, but one must simply recognize the significance behind the amount of limitation on Satan and demons. This begins to make deliverance ministry diminish in it's influence upon the already subdued demonic realm.
One other passage of Scripture is increasingly important if one wants to understand the nature of the influence of the demonic realm upon humanity, "Through the cross the power of demons has been conquered. Christ conquered Satan and his demons at the cross and made a public display of them—as a victor displaying the spoils of war (Col. 2:15)."5
Colossians 2:15 states, "When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him."
The context is in fact, as Paul Enns pointed out, the cross of Christ. And we can see the reality that Paul when addressing the sexual immorality of the Corinthian church, such that not even unbelievers do (1 Cor 5:1), did so from the perspective of only the cross of Christ (1 Cor 2:2). Why didn't Paul cast out the sexual demons? Especially considering the demons understood who Paul was and understood his authority (Acts 19:15).
If we reviewed up until this point, we would be forced to conclude: the cross of Christ disarmed the already chained, limited demonic realm. In fact, to the degree that they were publicly humiliated.
Louis Berkhof comments on the activity of demons as such:
Like the good angels, the fallen angels, too, are possessed of superhuman power, but their use of it contrasts sadly with that of the good angels. While the latter perennially praise God, fight His battles, and serve Him faithfully, they as powers of darkness are bent on cursing God, battling against Him and His Anointed, and destroying His work. They are in constant revolt against God, seek to blind and mislead even the elect, and encourage sinners in their evil. But they are lost and hopeless spirits. They are even now chained to hell and pits of darkness, and though not yet limited to one place, yet, as Calvin says, drag their chains with them wherever they go, 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6.6
First, we can easily recognize that while Satan was tempting Eve and introducing doubt. However, Eve's sin happened when she looked at the fruit as desire some and then took and ate it. Eve is personally responsible for her sin (Gen 3:1-6). James picks up on this problem, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” (James 1:14 NAS95)
Sin, then, is not the problem of a particular demon, it's the problem of our fallen state of humanity. We are personally responsible for our sin and need to be counseled as such.
What about sickness? First, it's important to note that Jesus healed people in the New Testament that had nothing to do with demonic activity of any kind. So it's essential to recognize that just because a person is sick, this does not mean they've been demonically possessed or oppressed.
Second, not everyone who went out to cast out demons in Jesus name could actually do so. Only Jesus, the 12, the 72, and one mysterious man in Mark 9:38-41 are ever recorded as actually having done so. And as seen in Acts 19, just because you use the name of Jesus doesn't mean you can actually cast out demons.
Third, the only mentioning of casting out demons in the New Testament is found in the Gospels and in Acts. One of the mentioning in Acts actually refers to Jesus before His death, however.
Fourth, none of the epistles mention deliverance ministry as a means of turning people from sin or sickness. The majority of these were written by Paul, why didn't he pass on the ability to cast out demons and heal people?
Lastly, James gave us instruction on how to deal with sick people, and Paul only preached the Gospel (the cross of Christ) as a means of correcting sin and problems. James tells us,
“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
(James 5:14–16 NAS95)
So, according to James, the ministry of those who are sick is performed by elders, by praying for them to be healed and anointing with oil. Furthermore, the ministry of those who are in sin is confession and repentance. Where's the deliverance ministry in or outside the church, once there are established, local congregations?
Another thing to take into incredible consideration, didn't Paul have a messenger from Satan to buffet him? The word "messenger" is even the word, "angel". Paul would in fact be saying he had an angel from Satan to buffet him, and this was a "thorn in his flesh" and this was to "torment" Paul (2 Cor 12:7). Why is it that one such as Paul, whom even the demons know, who casted out demons, who healed people, would be tormented by seemingly demonic influence, and be able to do nothing about it? Paul even prays to God that it be taken away, and God says no, that His grace is sufficient and power is perfected in weakness and this actually kept Paul from exalting himself. Where's the deliverance ministry? It actually sounds like God was using demonic influence as a means of a ministering humility to Paul. What was meant for evil is clearly meant for good by God.
Of course the next question we must ask is, "Can true believers actually be possessed by demons". The answer from the testimony of Scripture is a resounding, no. Let's take this into consideration. On multiple times, when Jesus was even in close proximity to the demonically possessed, the demons inside the ones possessed immediately feared for their lives (Mark 5:7, Luke 4:33, 34, c.f. James 2:19). And if we can say as true believers what Paul said in Galatians 2:20, that it is Christ who lives in us, then clearly no demon could even stand being so close to one so great as our Savior, especially since we have the evidence that shows they couldn't. Not to mention, how many of us think that upon receiving the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit wouldn't result in having no room for the demonic internally?
Not to mention this, “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” (1 John 5:18 NAS95)
The evil one does not touch those who are born of God.
So the ministry exhibited towards God's people is not deliverance ministry. There is no such thing as Christians being demonically possessed. And the demonic influence of Christians in the New Testament can be seen completely as simply an influence of deception, or a means to quell pride, and as a means of church discipline, etc. (c.f. 1 Cor 5:5, 2 Cor 12:7).
And in the realm of unbelievers, certainly demonic possession would still be viable, however, if Christ is so powerful in the lives of the believers so that not even Satan himself can touch Christ's sheep, then would it not behoove us to engage (not in deliverance ministry) but pure Gospel evangelism? Certainly the later is the case.
Notes:
1). Come Out!: A Handbook for the Serious Deliverance Minister, 65-71
2). Free in Christ: Your Complete Handbook on the Ministry of Deliverance, 39
3). Come Out!: A Handbook for the Serious Deliverance Minister, 60-61
4). Jay Edward Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1973), 129.
5). Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 298.
6). L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 149.
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