Archive for the ‘healing’ Category
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October 9, 2009
Studies of events reported in the Gospels
Each of the synoptic Gospels contain certain stories of Jesus “driving out” demons from individuals. Luke also uses a passive construction, “demons came out of” this or that individual. In this series we take a look at specific incidents described in the Gospels.
The Case of the Bound Believer
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?” (Luke 10:10-16)
Observations
1. Crippled by a spirit. This is simply additional evidence that demons can influence physical health, even to the extent of crippling a victim. Later Jesus revealed that Satan had kept this woman bound for “eighteen long years.” While this and other stories in the Gospels hardly warrant claiming that all illness is caused by evil spirit, together they certainly seem to support the idea that any illness may have a demonic cause.
2. nexpected Healing. In this case the woman had not expected Jesus to heal her, nor did she ask him for healing. Luke pictures Jesus taking the initiative: he “called her forward” and set her free.
Too many limit Christ by insisting that a person must have faith to be healed. The claim is made that if anyone has enough faith, God will [must?] heal him or her. Then if an attempt at healing fails, the sufferer can be blamed for the failure by claiming he or she lacked the elusive “enough faith.”
It’s true that in some cases faith is associated with Christ’s miracles of healing, particularly that faith that led a person to seek Jesus in the first place. But there’s no evidence that God is bound to heal those with “enough faith.” We can hardly accuse Paul of lack of faith when he sought God three times for healing, yet God chose not to heal him (2 Cor. 12).
What is determinant in healing is not the amount of faith exercised by a sick person but the freedom Christ has to heal or not to heal, and the love-driven wisdom that moves him to heal or to refrain from healing for his own good purposes as well as for our benefit. It is the height of arrogance to assume that God must do this or that if only we have “enough” faith. God is God, and the corollary is, we’re not. Let faith drive us to Jesus. And let faith in his wisdom and love move us to submit to his judgment as to whether to heal us now, or not. Our ultimate healing is assured, for in the resurrection perfection waits to greet and to enfold us. Until then let faith function as is should, as trust in the loving wisdom of God and as willing submission to his will.
3. The woman was crippled by “a spirit.” But later Jesus says that Satan had bound her. Evil spirits act as they are commanded by Satan, looking up the chain of command to their master and mentor. They share his hostility toward God and toward human beings, and delight to cause suffering of every kind.
4. Jesus called the woman a “daughter of Abraham.” The phrase may simply indicate physical descent from Abraham. But in the minds of the Jewish people the claim of relationship with Abraham had powerful spiritual connotations. The rabbis of that time taught that Abraham, by responding to God’s call to leave Ur and travel to an unknown land where he fathered God’s people, had done God such a great favor that the Lord God owed Abraham a great debt. In fact, the merit Abraham had gained by his initial obedience was deemed so great that it covered every one of his physical descendants. Thus a Jew had to do something truly terrible for him to be rejected by God in the world to come. As a physical descendant of Abraham, a Jew not only could count on the merit he earned by obeying God’s law and doing good works; he also could count on the merit earned by Abraham.
Thus we can understand the shock of the Jewish religious leaders when Christ called them “sons of your father, the Devil,” and stated that God could fashion sons of Abraham from the stones under their feet.
Still, in the context of Jewish belief, it is significant that Jesus identifies the woman as a “daughter of Abraham.” He was confirming that the woman who had been bound by Satan was a true believer, one of God’s own.
This is important because today there are sill those who insist that a believer cannot be demonized. Certainly this believer was, and the demon had “bound her” for eighteen long years. I’m sure that today no demon can access the spirit, that central location of our true identity. The Holy Spirit, who enters our life on conversion, settles down there, at the core of who we are. But our bodies, our minds, our attitudes, our beliefs, are still accessible to Satan’s agents.
5. “Woman, you are set free.” This is what Jesus does. He sets people free. This woman who had suffered for so long wasn’t out seeking Jesus’ help. But she found herself in his presence. And Jesus took the initiative to heal her and set her free.
We may not be aware of our own needs, even as the woman apparently was unaware that it was an evil spirit that had bound her. But let’s seek out Jesus’ presence, for his own sake. As we live in his presence, Jesus often takes the initiative in our lives. And when Jesus does, he sets us free. From whatever it is that binds us.
Summary
Don’t make the mistake of pining your hopes of being freed from whatever binds you on the amount of your faith, or of assuming that God must act if only you have “enough” faith. Focus on being in Christ’s presence. Leave it to him to take the initiative, and you may well be freed from burdens you didn’t even know you carried.
Posted by owner on
October 2, 2009
I’m not comfortable with every aspect of Deliverance Ministry. Oh, I’m right there when the topic is Deep Healing or Casting Out Demons. I have no trouble being convinced that demons are active in our world and, more importantly, in our lives. I have no trouble believing that many of our physical, psychological and spiritual problems have their source in early-age trauma. But I’m uneasy with the teaching I run into on curses.
I have two books on curses her on my desk. The first is Blessing or Curse: you can choose, by Derek Prince. The second is John Eckhardt’s Identifying and Breaking Curses.
The Authors
Derek Prince (1015-2003) is considered one of foundational writers on deliverance ministry, and many of his over 50 books are seminal in this field. Eckhardt is describe as a man with a “apostolic and prophetic call, who has a daily radio program, “Perfecting the Saints,” and a weekly television program. Eckhardt cites Prince, and clearly follows his lead in writing about curses.
What is a “curse”
Both authors view curses as divine recompense (repayment) for human sin or iniquity. This recompense provides a legal basis for demonic presence in a person’s life, and the curse itself shows up in troubles a person experiences in various aspects of his or her life. The actions which bring about a curse may be ancestral–the “sins of the fathers”–or may be personal sins. Prince lists a number of things which cause curses:
False gods
Various moral or spiritual sins
Anti-Semitism
Legalism, Carnality, Apostasy
Theft, Perjury, Robbing God
Self-imposed curses
Soulish Talk and Prayers
Etc.
Eckhardt’s categories are:
Sexual sins
Financial perversions
Religious perversions
Spiritual perversions
Behavioral perversions
Familial perversions
Perverse speech
The authors find biblical texts to demonstrate the perversions that they believe are the cause of curses.
What are symptoms of a curse?
Both men also list symptoms that may indicate a person is under a curse. Prince lists seven symptoms, and Eckhardt adds two more. The symptoms they list are:
Chronic financial problems
Chronic sickness
Female problems
Being accident prone
Marital problems
Premature deaths
Mental illness
Abuse by others
Vagabondism (constant moving)
While neither would go so far as to argue that every one’s financial problems are the result of a curse, or that every woman who has difficulty conceiving has been cursed, each seems to suggest that many, if not most, such problems are curse related. Thus it follows that if the curses causing problems are “broken,” a person is likely to see an increase in wealth or be healed of curse-induced illnesses, etc.
Generational curses
Pivotal to the teaching of both Prince and Eckhardt is the belief that curses are generational in nature. That is, that the sinful behavior which brings down a curse may have been committed by an ancestor, while the consequence is visited on that ancestor’s descendant. This rather common view is based primarily on two Old Testament passages:
“You are loving and kind to thousands, yet children suffer for their father’s sins” (Jeremiah 32:18, Living Bible)
and Exodus 20:5:
“I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”
The authors interpret these verses in a strictly legal sense. That is, they take the statements as a judicial sentence imposed by God on the children because of their forefather’s sins. However, this is not the only possible interpretation. It is just as possible to understand these statements as descriptive. Taken in this sense the verses state a principle which experience shows works out in every family. If a father is an angry, abusive individual, that father’s behavior will damage his children psychologically, socially, and spiritually. And the impact of the father’s sins echo on through several generations. If a father abuses a son or daughter sexually, that abuse will scar the children in ways that will damage the children’s children and grandchildren.
It seems to me that rather than taking this verse as a judicial pronouncement, it is much better understood as descriptive; as a warning issued by God that our sins have consequences not only for ourselves but also for generations to come.
If this verse should be interpreted as a warning and a description of the impact of human sin, then the basis for the teaching on curses and blessings, which takes the verses judicially, is seriously undermined.
Generational demonization
Part of the reason for the teaching on curses by deliverance ministers is the fact that often demonization has a generational dimension. Most deliverance ministers have deal with demons who have been linked to the family line, not just to an isolated individual. This is frequently the case when there has been occult involvement by parents or grandparents. And the demons have claimed that their legal basis for infesting an individual is that the individual has been dedicated to them by parents or grandparents. In such cases the deliverance minister will lead the demonized individual to go back, confess the sin of his or her ancestor, renounce the relationship with the occult, and remove the basis on which the demon claims a right to be present in his or her life. In this sense, the idea of breaking a curse makes sense.
However, to extend this process to the breaking of other kinds of curses seems to me somewhat suspect.
What’s wrong with the curse theory
As we noted above, deliverance writers on this topic see in curses the causes of such things as illness and financial difficulties. Their response is, break the curse, and gain prosperity and health.
This thinking is in turn linked to other assumptions. For instance, Isaiah 53 states that by Jesus’ stripes we are healed. Some deliverance ministers teach that this provides a basis on which a person can claim healing by faith, and that God will then restore their health. I certainly believe that God can and does heal. I also believe that the promise of healing in Isaiah 53 has an essentially eschatological focus. That is, only our ultimate healing is guaranteed. As Revelation 21 states, after Christ returns “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.” But that is then, this is now. When Paul’s friend Epaprodus was on his death bed, Paul prayed for him and rejoiced that he recovered. But he didn’t tell the sick man to claim healing by faith. When Paul was ill, buffeted by a messenger of Satan, he asked the Lord to heal him three times. But God’s response was that his strength was to be expressed in Paul’s weakness, and Paul remained subject to what most commentators believe was a painful and disfiguring eye disease.
The notion that our relationship with God is somehow legal — sin, and be cursed financially or with poor health, break the curses and prosper or be healed — seems to me to rob God of his Sovereignty, and to place relationship with him on a tit for tat basis. And nothing that I see in Scripture supports the notion that our God is this kind of Person, or that our relationship with him is this kind of relationship.
Summing up
I do agree that demons can and do enter believer’s lives at through our sinful acts and choices. i have no doubt that in some cases demonization has a generational dimension. And I go believe that identifying the entry point, going back to it for confession, repentance, and forgiveness is an essential element in deliverance ministry. However, I find the teaching on curses and breaking curses questionable at best, rooted in a hermeneutic that is flawed and that results in a distorted picture of who God is and of relationship with him.
You, however, have both the freedom and responsibility of making up your own mind, doing so in the full appreciation of the fact that neither Prince and Eckhardt, nor Richards, know it all.
Posted by owner on
August 31, 2009
I mentioned the role of “deep healing” in my review of Charles Kraft’s Defeating Dark Angels. In that book Kraft argued that many in deliverance ministry make a mistake by confronting demons too quickly. Kraft believes that while demons may be successfully cast out of a person by such a power confrontation, the individual may still be left with deep-seated psychological or spiritual problems. Kraft argues that if these problems are left unresolved, the individual will not be truly free even though the demons have left. And, he contends, the inner “garbage” [Kraft's term] may lead to re-infestation by the demons who left or by other demons.
Psychological and spiritual problems
It’s important here to see the significance of our deep seated psychological and spiritual problems. [Examples of such problems are self-hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, etc.] Such problems serve as entry points for demons, giving access to the human personality. They also serve as what I call “standpoints,” and others call “grounds” or “rights.” Whichever term one uses, these problems serve as a “base of operations” for demons, giving them a place to stand or a “legal right” to be present in a demonized person.
Kraft points out that even if a demon of unforgiveness [whose function it is to further harden the individual's heart and increase the hostility felt by the unforgiving individual] is driven out, the individual still will be unforgiving. The basic problem, that served as the point at which the demon first entered and gave him ground to stand on within the individual, hasn’t been resolved. Just because the demon has gone does not mean that the person has forgiven the person(s) he refused to forgive before!
The solution, Kraft suggests, is to start with the basic problem or problems. Deal first with the unforgiveness, or the self-hatred, or the temper, which served as the demon’s entry point and the ground on which he continues to inhabit the individual. In Kraft’s experience if we are successful in bringing healing to the individual, we weaken the demon(s) hold on the individual by cutting out from under the demon the grounds he had for being in the individual in the first place.
Given this perspective, it’s not at all surprising that Kraft wrote the book I’m reviewing here now. It’s titled, Deep Wounds,Deep Healing. And it’s subtitle is, “Discovering the vital link between Spiritual Warfare and Inner Healing.”
Deep Wounds
In Kraft’s experience the kind of wounds that are most intimately linked to demonization are wounds that area administered early in life. A young girl is ignored by her parents, who can’t be bothered to take time aware from their pursuits to pay attention to their toddler. Or a son’s spirit is crushed by the critical parent who is always saying demeaning things to and about him, Or a young child who is sexually abused by an older brother or an uncle. When such things happen during a person’s earliest years, deep wounds are administered that continue to haunt the person into adulthood. These deep kinds of wounds, Kraft points out, call for “deep healing.”
Kraft in speaking of “deep healing” is not inventing a new ministry. Others have pioneered ministry to the deeply wounded. You may be somewhat familiar with this ministry under such names as “prayer counseling” or “inner healing.” Earlier books that deal with this issue include David A. Seamands Healing for Damaged Emotions, John and Paula Sandford’s The Transformation of the Inner Man, etc.
While Kraft is not unique in his emphasis on this sort of healing, his book is, as usual, lucid, helpful, and filled with stories drawn from his personal experience. It is also helpful because of Kraft’s emphasis on the interrelationships between inner healing and demonization. Once again I’m forced to say, as I said of Defeating Dark Angles, if you could only have a few books on deliverance ministry, Deep Wounds,Deep Healing would simply have to be one of them.
Deep Healing
Kraft does an excellent job of showing us what Deep Healing involves. There’s no way in a post as brief as this one that I can sum up all the insights he shares with us. I can, however, note that at its core deep healing involves guiding an individual back to those terrifying experiences that first caused the wounds, and inviting him to see Jesus present during those experiences, letting the love of Christ bring healing as the Holy Spirit ministers in those awful experiences.
We’ll never understand why God permita such experiences in the first place. But as Kraft points out to those who ask “Why?”
Satan wanted to destroy you.
You weren’t destroyed.
Someone more powerful than Satan was there, protecting you.
In the end, person after person has found freedom from those deep woulds. The scars remain. But healing is possible. And for many, healing has come. And the demons who worked to keep those wounds open and bleeding have be driven out.
Posted by owner on
July 30, 2009
If I could only have one book on the subject of deliverance, it would be Defeating Dark Angels: breaking demonic oppression in the Believer’s Life, by Charles H. Kraft. There are other excellent books on the subject, notably Fred C. Dickason’s Demon Possession and the Christian. But if forced to choose just one, Kraft would win this one hands down.
I ought to note that Kraft’s book isn’t a replacement for the two books on Dissociative Identity Disorder, one by Tom Hawkins and the other by his wife Diane. Although Kraft mentions the problem of what was until recently called Multiple Personalities, it’s increasingly clear that anyone in any kind of deliverance or healing ministry simply must study what the Hawkins’ say. But with this disclaimer, I’m convinced that Defeating Dark Angels is THE classic in the field of dealing with demons.
Kraft’s background
As I noted in my review of another of his books, Charles H. Kraft was nurtured in an conservative evangelical setting where the possibility that demons might be attached to believers was totally discounted. For decades of his ministry as a missionary and as a professor at Fuller Theological seminary, Kraft suppressed questions about this aspect of the supernatural. Yet through a class taught by John Wimber and his own growing involvement in deliverance ministries, both his view and his experience changed. When he wrote Defeating Dark Angels Kraft had confronted and cast many hundreds of demons from believers. And his insight into many passages of Scripture that he’d passed over was transformed.
I have to note here that my own background is much like Kraft’s. I was trained at Dallas Theological Seminary and provided an outstanding education. Yet the blinders that were on Kraft’s eyes concerning Satanic activity today were also on mine, until I began to write my Invisible War novels, a series of six novels that traces the struggle between angels and demons from Creation to history’s end.
But, back to Kraft. His Defeating Dark Angels seems to present the most balanced and Scriptural view of deliverance ministry I’ve come across. Here are some of the emphases that make this book the standard in the field.
Kraft’s Thesis
For Kraft, exorcism and what is sometimes called “inner healing,” “the healing of memories,” or “prayer counseling” are tightly linked. His thesis is that emotional damage provides demons with both an entry point, and a “stronghold,” or place to stand.
For example, suppose a child is sexually abused by a relative. The experience causes a flood of emotions, and in their grip the child may respond in a variety of ways. There may be anger, deep hurt, fear, feelings of guilt, etc. The emotions and the way the child deals with them provides both an entry point for demons, and a stronghold for the demon’s continued presence in the child’s life. The dominant emotions, whether rage or fear or self-loathing, are amplified by demons in an attempt to ruin the individual’s life and maintain influence over him or her.
Kraft is convinced that getting rid the demons is only one aspect of deliverance ministry. He makes a strong case that since the goal is the total healing of the individual, one must deal with what he calls “the garbage” left over from the early experience. Thus his approach is usually to begin with an attempt to heal the memory, dealing first with the emotions and the reactions they generated. This process, Kraft believes, not only helps us get to the root of the persons problems, but also the process of dealing with the damaged emotions,the sins they’ve generated and the distorted views of reality they have shaped, weakens the demons and makes them easier to cast out.
What is especially valuable is the way that Kraft models the entire process, sharing examples from his own experience and providing clear, simple guidelines for the reader to follow. Kraft states his purpose in writing the book near its end, on page 240.
“I have sought to present both spiritual insights and practical tips that will enable you to obey our Lord by doing what he did. I have aimed to decrease ignorance and fear about the ministry of deliverance and to “demystify” the whole subject of demonization. I pray that this book has provided you with enough issues and advice on how to deal with them so that you can begin to minister yourself.”
Kraft has certainly achieved his goal of demystifying. And he has provided outstanding advice. Most importantly, perhaps, he’s demonstrated that a deliverance ministry doesn’t depend on possession a particular spiritual gift, or an advanced degree.
Kraft’s conviction is that Jesus has given his followers–today, as well as in the first century–”authority over evil spirits” (Mark 6:12) and “to overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). You or I might not be called to a deliverance ministry like that of Kraft and others. But its important to understand the authority we have. And to be ready to respond should God call us.
Posted by owner on
April 21, 2009
This is the fourth in the spiritual warfare vs the Devil series.
Demons and sickness
Take it from the New Testament. Demons may very well play a role in human sickness. Questions that we need to address include, How do we tell that a particular illness may have a demonic dimension? And, if so, how do we go about dealing with the demons.
The best book that I’m aware of on the subject, and the most balanced, is the second of Peter Horrobin’s Healing Through Deliverance: The Practical Ministry. [I reviewed the first book exploring biblical evidence of demonic influence earlier on Demmondope.] Horrobin goes into a variety of issue:
> Observable symptoms of possible demonization
> Demonic entry points
> Preparing a person for healing through deliverance
> The process
> Staying free
There’s no way that I can reproduce all the helpful insights Horrobin shares in this blog. If you are interested, or involved in counseling, I suggest you get the book. I’m confident you’ll glean more than one truly helpful guideline from it.
Helpful guidelines
Don’t oversimplify. We humans are complex but whole beings. Our physical health is intimately linked to our spiritual and psychological health. Before attempting deliverance its important to do an assessment of spiritual and psychological factors that may be causative factors in the illness. Here Horrobin provides a helpful survey of truths that a person needs to understand and apply. For instance, realizing that we are loved and accepted by God is vital. And riding ourselves of bitterness and anger through forgiveness is often a necessity for healing.
Don’t neglect demonic entry points. In most causes of demonization, if not all, the individual gives tacit if not explicit permission for the demon to enter and to stay in the personality. Most who have had experience with exorcism note that demons seem to be highly legalistic: E.orcism frequently involves discovering what the demon claims to be his “right” to be in the person. That “right” can then be challenged, and the individual helped to repent of and reject any tacit permission he or she has given the demon(s).
Don’t dismiss discernment. Horrobin’s list of possible symptoms of demonic involvement is extensive. Reading it one gets the impression that almost anything can be symptomatic of demonization. The question is complicated by the fact that there may also be natural physical or psychological causes for every symptom! Thus just looking for possible symptoms without discernment provided by the Holy Spirit is almost a useless exercise. At the same time Horrobin points out that when symptoms are associated with such things as earlier occult involvement, a distorted understanding of God and of Christ’s work, a counselor’s sense of demonic involvement will have confirming evidence.
Don’t jump in without preparation. That preparation involves preliminary prayer and–something Horrobin emphasizes–the involvement of at least two persons in the deliverance process. Horrobin’s own ministry uses a questionnaire to aid in this assessment. While the questionnaire is not reproduced in the book, the book does tell how to obtain a copy.
Don’t treat deliverance as if it were a magic bullet. While believers have authority over demons deliverance efforts can fail unless the patient deals with the initial incident that provided the demon with access. It would seem that no believer is delivered permanently without his or her rejection of the demon, and without dealing with the issue that provided the demon with his right to be present in the life.
Let’s get theological
It’s common for “faith healers,” who rely on their supposed gift of healing and conduct mass crusades to argue that “healing is in the atonement.” They typically rely on Isaiah 53 to proof text this theology, pointing out that this powerful passage about the work of the Messiah claims that since by Christ’s “stripes we are healed,” all a believer needs to do is claim healing by faith.
I’m not about to reject the conviction that God can and does heal supernaturally. The problem lies in the assumption that healing is guaranteed, now, depending on one’s faith. Ultimately healing of all our infirmities will take place in the resurrection, fulfilling the promising of complete healing. But guaranteed healing in this life, here and now? If that were really the case the Apostle Paul would have told Epaphroditus “believer, brother,” and that worthy mentioned in Philippians 2 would have jumped up rather than almost dying. And Paul himself, who can’t be faulted for lack of faith, would simply have claimed healing rather than praying three times for a deliverance God choose not to provide.
Physical healing simply isn’t a “right” that can be claimed by any Christian at any time.
At the same time there is evidence in the Gospels that some illness is either caused by or exacerbated by demons. And in such cases Christians do have authority to drive out the demons, and to heal through deliverance.
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April 14, 2009
Spiritual warfare against the Devil (#3)
As we look at the Gospels we see Jesus confronting demons on a number of occasions. On eight of these occasions Jesus spoke to or with the demons. By analyzing these occasions we can develop an initial picture of how demons attack believers today.
Remember the assumptions I stated in the last post.
> NT descriptions of demonic activity are authentic and accurate.
> Demons are capable of doing today what they did then.
> Demonic character hasn’t changed…thus we can expect demons to be doing today
what they did in NT times.
So, what did demons do in NT times that we can assume they are doing today? The first thing I want to look at is, causing illnesses.
Demon-caused physical “illness”
Luke 13 relates the story of a woman who attended a synagogue where Jesus was teaching on a Sabbath. Luke tells us she was “crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.” Jesus called her to him and free her from the oppressing spirit. When challenged for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus confirmed Luke’s diagnosis, saying, “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?”
Mark 9 relates the story of a child who was the victim of deafness and subject to seizures. The father attributed this to a demon, a diagnosis which Jesus again confirmed when he commanded the “deaf and unclean spirit” to “come out of him and never enter him again.”
In these two cases and others healing was brought about by driving out the demon, and the victim of the demonic attack was set free.
Normal “illness”
While some stories of healing in the NT depict demons as a causative factor, it’s clear that not all sickness should be attributed to demons. The Gospels frequently place Jesus’ healing of the sick and casting out of demons in separate categories, side by side, as in Matthew 4:23-24. At other times healings are described with no mention of demonic involvement, as in Matthew 11:4-6.
Such passages lead us to conclude that while some human illness is caused or exacerbated by demons, other illness has “normal” rather than supernatural causes.
Treatment
Jesus exercised his authority both by healing “normal” illness and by casting out the demons who were the cause of other illnesses. These miracles were not only authenticating signs of Christ’s commission by the Father, but as in the Matthew 11 passage, the fulfillment of prophecies marking Jesus as the promised Messiah (Cf Isaiah 35:5-7).
Jesus also at one time transmitted the exousia, the power or “right” to heal and cast out demons to his disciples. It is interesting that while the apostle Paul did not exercise healing authority, as in the case of Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-30), and did not seek a “healer” when he himself was ill (2 Corinthians 13), Paul did exorcise demons.
Evidence from the Epistles and from the early church fathers indicate that the Christian community recognized demon possession as a reality, and when recognized acted to drive out the demons.
Complications
In his book, Deliverance and Healing,Peter Horrobin relates three types of situations he has dealt with.
> Some people’s chronic or other illness is demonic in origin. Deliverance from the demonic influence results in healing.
> Some people’s chronic or other illness is contributed to by demons. Deliverance is only one aspect of the healing process, while medical and/or psychological treatment is also required.
> Some people’s chronic or other illness has no roots in demonic oppression or possession.
Medical and/or psychological treatment is all that’s required.
It goes without saying that prayer is an important spiritual factor in each of the three situations, but I say it anyway.
The complications arise in discerning which situation we face in dealing with any specific illness. Is this a “normal” illness? Or is there a demonic element?
The medical profession is increasingly aware of the impact of psychological states on recovery and general health. It is generally recognized that depression or other psychological states can significantly impact the effectiveness of medical treatments. Unfortunately, the idea that there can be a demonic dimension to physical and/or psychological illnesses is foreign to medical professionals, psychiatrists, and counselors.
It is a truism, but also the truth, that when the demonic is ruled out a prior medical professionals, psychiatrists, and counselors are most unlikely to identify it. They give no credence to causes which they are not looking for and, worse, which they do not believe can exist.
Tragically, even pastors and Christian counselors seldom even consider demonic influence in those who come to them for help, or who are referred to them by psychiatrists or medical professionals.
Recognizing the demonic
Acknowledging the possibility of demonic influence in human illness raises an obvious question. How do we recognize demonic causation or influence in a person suffering from an illness?
The book I referred to earlier, Horrobin’s Healing Through Deliverance, is his first volume on the subject and provides a biblical and theological framework in which to address the question. I’ve sent for his second volume, which focuses on the practice of healing through deliverance, and documents a number of his experiences.
While his basic answer to the question of how one recognizes the presence of the demonic in a person who is sick is “spiritual discernment,” there seem to be a number of steps a person counseling with a sick or ill person should take.
I’m hopeful that his second book, which I’ve ordered, will provide more practical guidelines. If it does, I’ll report on those guidelines in a forthcoming post. If it doesn’t, I’ll share with you the steps I’ve come up with from reading his first book.
It certainly is correct to say that spiritual discernment is a must in dealing in this area. And that is the providence of God the Spirit, who provides the spiritual gifts individuals and the church needs. At the same time, its important that we understand clues which the spiritually sensitive person will recognize as indicative of possible demonic involvement.
More about that later . . . hopefully, next post.
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December 17, 2008
Exorcism in the Ancient World
People who lived in cultures that readily acknowledged the possibility of demon possession or sickness caused by demons struggled to find defenses against their evil oppressors. These defenses typically involved incantations and calling on gods or goddesses to purge the demon from the sufferer. What a contast from the New Testament’s direct approach of commanding demons to depart in the name an power of Jesus.
An incatation from Ancient Babyon
A source named Maqlu, written in cuneform, contains the most significant of the Babylonian magical incantations, and undoubtedly reflects traditions dating back to 3000-2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. One incantion recorded there is:
Be off, be off, begone, begone,
Depart, depart, flee, flee!
Go off, go away, be off, and begone!
May your wickedness like smoke rise ever heavenward!
From my body be off!
From my body begone!
From my body depart!
From my body flee!
From my body go off!
From my body go away!
To my body turn back not!
To my body approach not!
To by body near not!
On my body abut not!
By the life of Samas, the honorable, be adjured!
By the life of Ea, lord of the deep, be adjured!
By the life of Asulluhi, that magus of the gods, be adjured!
By the life of Girra, your executioner, be adjured!
From my body you shall indeed be separated.
Another incantion from the same source includes instructions for the priest to follow while reciting the incantation.
You [the priest] recite the incantation,
“Evil demon, to your steppe”
all the way to the outer entrance;
then you encircle the entrance with parched flour.
You then enter into the house, and at the
place where you performed the ‘burning’ you
libate water and recide the incantation,
“I cast an incantation upon the assemblage
of all the gods.”
Thereafter you encircle the bed with flour
paste and recide the incantation,
“Ban, ban” and the incantation,
“adjured is the house.”
An incantation from Ancient Egypt
This spell, a charm for driving away the demon causing a headache, is particularly interesting because the magician, after calling on the gods to expel the malevfolent spirit, then threatens to harm the gods if they do not do as asked! In essence the speaker tells the gods, We can do this this easy way–or the hard way.
“As for the head of [name], born of the woman [name], it is the head of Osiris Wen-Nefer, on whose head were placed the three hundred and seventy seven divine Uraei, and they spew forth flame to make thee quit the head of [name]. born of the woman [name], like that of Osiris. If thou dost not quit the temple of [name], born of the woman [name],I will burn thy soul, I will consume thy corpse!I will be deaf to any desire of thine concerning thee: If some other god is with thee, I will overturn thy dwelling place; I will shadow thy tomb, so that thou wilt not be allowed to receive incense, so that thou wilt not be allowed to receive water with benificent spirits, and so thou will not be allowed to associate with any of the Followers of Horus. If thou wilt not hear my words, I will cause the sky to be overturned.and I will cast fire among the Lords of Heleopolis. I will cut off the head of a cow taken from the Forecourt of Hathor! I will cause Sebek to sit shrouded in the skin of a crocodile, and I will cause Anubis to sit enshrouded in the skin of a dog! Then indeed shall thou come forth from the head of [name] born of the woman [name]! I will make for thee the magic amulet of the Gods, their names being pronounced to this day.”
This incantation was to be recited over a piece of fine linen which had the names of several gods inscribed on it, and the cloth was to be placed o the temple of the man who had the headache.The papyrus sheet on which the spell was inscribed contained pictures of the gods to be copied onto the linen; two jackals, four seated gods with human heads, four Eyes of Horus, and four serpants.
Early Jewish incantations
Alfred Edersheim (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, pp 775-776) identifies a number of magical formulae and incantations against demons that reflect first century practices, even though they were written down later. He notes that the exorcism formulae “mostly consist of words which have little if any meaning.” The following is an incantation against boils.
“Baz, Basiya, Mas, Masiya, Kas, Kasiaya, Sharha and Maria–ye Angels that come from the land of Sodom to heal paintful boils! Let the color not become more red, let it not farther spread, let its seed be absorbed in the belly. As a mule does not propagate itsealf, so let not this evil propagate itself in the boy of [name], son of [name].”
Here is a simple incantation to expell demons.
“Burst, curse, dashed, banned be Bar-Tit, Bar-Tema, Bar-Tena, Chashmagoz, Merigox, and Isteamam.”
[By the way, if you should read any of my Invisible War novels later, you'll recognize the names of Chashmagoz and Merigox, who are cast a members of Satan's counsel in the books!]
These few examples contrast significantly with the exorcism stories found in the Bible. The ancient magical literature makes it clear that people in antiquity were not only aware of demons and their powers, but were desperate to find release from their evil influence. Still, the writings on demonology from the ancient worled offer no hope at all. In contrast, the New Testament offers hope to every believer.
[adapted from my Every Angel in the Bible, Nelson, 1997]
Posted by owner on
November 11, 2008
I’ve been reading M.Scott Peck’s book, “People of the Lie.” And right away I want to make it clear that he’s an exception to my general criticism of psychatrists as professionals who’ve deteriorated into mere pill pushers.
Not that Peck doesn’t prescribe medication for depression and such. It’s just that he recognizes that there’s more to pyschological problems than can be explained by how the brain functions.
Dr. Peck is best known for his book, “The Road Less Traveled.” He’s a Christian, and though in “People of the Lie” he doesn’t seem sure whether Satan is a person or an influence, on most issues he’s very sensitive to biblical truth.
His general thesis in this book is that some people are just plain evil, “people of the lie,” and that psychiatry needs to better understand evil. As you might expect, this notion hasn’t proven popular with Peck’s peers, and he’s been criticised harshly.
There are several reasons why the issue Peck raises is relevant to our exploration of the role of deliverance in healing. First, there’s the question of whether “good” people as well as “evil” people can be possessed. Second, there’s the question of whether possession causes people to become “evil.” And third, there’s the question of whether “evil” people can experience deliverance.
What is an “evil” person
So what does Peck mean when he says that some people are “good” and some are “evil?”
Well, he doesn’t mean that “good” people are sinless. Peck believes in original sin, and that we all fall short in many ways. Peck’s “good” people may do mean and selfish things, they may lash out at others, they may even perform criminal acts. Interestingly, Peck see’s most “evil” people as individuals who outwardly appear to live exemplary lives and who are respected by others in their communities.
The difference is that the “good” people recognize they are flawed and feel guilty when they do something that is mean or harmful. The people who are “evil” refuse to recognize that they are flawed, and are driven to project an image of themselves as faultless. Strikingly, this image is both public and private. That is, “evil” people are committed to protect their public image and to rationalize away any of their own behavior that might normally lead a “good” person to accept responsiblity for a wrong act.
Peck’s classic examples are two sets of parents who acted out their hostility toward their sona, but rather than acknowledge such image-shattering truth, cloaked their hostility as concern and blamed the child rather than face the truth of their own failures.
It’s an interesting, and theologically accute insight. The “good” realize they are sinners and face that reality. The “evil” refuse to acknowledge their sins, and will sacrifice any person or any relationship to protect their distorted image of themselves. The more evil a person is, the fiercer the drive for self-protection . . . and the more actual evil they do to others in order to preserve their self- and their public image.
The first question
The immediate question this analysis raises for us is, can “good” people as well as “evil” people be demon possessed? This is an important question, because it raises the issue of whether the demon possessed should be blamed for their situation.
I’ll discuss this in a future article, but the short answer is, Yes, “good” people as well as ”evil” people can be oppressed and even possessed by demons. While there appear to be things that pople do that give demons “lawful” access, there usually isn’t necessarily an intent to open one’s life to the dark side. As I said, we’ll take this issue up in another article.
The second question
The second question is, Will demon possession cause people to become “evil”? The short answer to this is, Not necessarily. Typically demons persecute those they possess. Typically the possessed are victims of evil, not the perpetraitors of evil. Demon possession will not necessarily change an individuals total character.
Let me explain what I mean. We are all sinners, and are capable of sins that cause others pain and suffering. But not everyone is committed to “evil”, either in Peck’s sense of refusal to accept responsibility for moral flaws and immoral actions, or in the sense of a person truly committed to doing evil, as Hitler’s cabal was dedicated to the holocaust. Demons generally fasten on one aspect of a person’s life and seek to control it. It’s relatively unusual for demons to gain control of the total personally so as to cause the person to become truly “evil.”
At the same time, it’s important to remember that demons ARE evil. In fact, Satan is described as a liar and a murderer from the begining, and the “father” (source) of lies. Like Peck’s “people of the lie,” demons dread being exposed for what they are, and will attempt all manners of subterfuges to remain hidden. Because of this it may seem that some who are possessed are trying to hide when actually its the demon who is unwilling to be exposed.
The third question
The third question is, Can “evil” people experience deliverance? The short answer to this question is, It’s not very likely.
The reason for this is that “evil” people by their very nature resist exposure of their flaws. In this the person is cooperating with the demons, who are even more committed to resisting exposure.
For deliverance an individual needs to cooperate with the process of expelling the demons. This cooperation involves acknowledging the demon’s presence, rooting out the “lawful” basis for the demon’s presence, and often the confession of sin, repentance, the acceptance of forgiveness, and rejection of the demon.
Needless to say, a person who is “evil” by Peck’s definition is unlikely to acknowledge a demon’s presence. He or she typically will resist any attempt to root out the “lawful” basis for the demon’s presence. He or she will actively fight confession of sin and repentance. Even an offer of forgiveness is repellant to the “evil,” for to accept forgiveness is to admit the need for forgivess–something the “evil” are desperate to avoid.
Peck’s contribution
W. Scott Peck’s definition of “evil” is unusual. And incomplete. There are definitely other definitions, both philosophical and theological, that we would need to take into account in any study of evil itself.
Nevertheless Peck’s psychological definition makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of deliverance and healing. His “evil” people will resist every effort of the Spirit of God to touch their hearts, in essence taking sides with the demons who torment them rather than face exposure of the self they are committed to hiding from others . . . and from themselves.
Add your questions and comments.
Posted by owner on
November 4, 2008
The current “scientific” view of man doesn’t quite cut it, as I suggested in my last post. The idea that any condition that afflicts people must have an origin in the physical realm is to conceive of humans as no more than living machines, and to strip us of all responsbility for our choices. This hardly fits the biblical view of humans as individuals who have an eternal destiny which will be fixed in accord with our choices in this life. But what is a biblical view of human beings?
The traditional tripartate view
Many theologians posit a human nature that is a composit of three elements: body, soul, and spirit. While these three elements are intimately linked, the “soul” is generally viewed as the essential “person,” and the body and spirit as attributes possessed by the soul.
The “soul,” which generally is identified as the immaterial “true person,” is further broken down into mind, emotion and will. Thus persons think, feel, and make choices. Following Scripture, most theologians would argue that each of these capacities has been corrupted in Adam’s fall, so that neither our minds or feelings can be trusted and the choices we make will be flawed.
The body is the physical, material aspect of a person. Most would say that we “have” a body, making a distinction between personal identity and the body a person inhabits. Thus the body can’t really be identified as “us.”
The third element, the “spirit,” is generally define as that aspect of humankind which is God-conscious. That is, humans have a “spiritual” aspect which cries out for relationship with some power beyond itself, and is often depicted by Christian theologians as a void which can only be filled by relationship with God.
The problem with this analysis of human nature is that it imposes Greek philosophical categories on biblical terms and concepts. While Hebrews 4:12 describes the living words of divine revelaion as a scalple capable of “dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow,” the verse hardly supports the view that soul and spirit are distinguishable. In fact, the verse suggests that it is almost impossible to distinguish between soul and spirit, for this feat is only possible with God.
An alternative view
While the terms “soul” (nephesh, psyche) and spirit (ruah, pneuma) are used frequently in Scripture, it’s counterproductive to attempt to describe each in isolation from the other. In fact, Scripture depicts humans as whole persons. Terms like “soul” and “spirit” represents viewpoints from which these whole persons are to be understood.
Thus “soul” does not refer to some immaterial part of a human being, but looks at a man or woman as a person living his or her life in this present world. Every experience a person has, every characteristic that marks him or her as an individual, is suggested in the word “soul.” The soul is the person himself, the unique individual being, who is both shaped by his life experiences and who expresses his individuality in his responses to those experiences. it’s no wonder that translators of the NIV Old Testament frequently translate nephesh by “life,” “being,” and “self” as well as “soul.”
We can see how important this is by looking at Ezekiel 18, where God warns that “the nephesh [soul] that sins, it shall die.” In context God is warning the people of Jerusalem and Judah that unless they repent they will be killed in the coming babylonian invasion. There is no suggestion here that the “soul” (as the immaterial “real person”) will suffer eternal punishment. Instead the warning should be translated, “the person who sins will be killed,” for here nephesh is used as a reflexive pronoun.
Also, in this alternative view, “spirit” depicts each human being as unique and immortal, gifted by God not only with a unique self but as a “living soul” (Genesis 2:7), shaped originally in the image and likeness of the Creator. While this likeness has been distorted by sin, the fallen image-likeness still persists, and human beings have a spiritual dimension that transcends their experience in this world and provokes a consciousness of the eternal.
The value of this alternative view is twofold. One, it teaches us to view others as whole persons. This means first, that we cannot isolate the causes of any condition and say, for example, that this is solely a physical problem, or a psychological problem, or even a spiritual problem. Every affliction has an impact on the whole person, not just on his body or his mind or his spirit. And this means second, that we cannot treat any affliction by dealing with it simply as a physical or mental or spiritual problem. We have to treat the whole person.
This is primary flaw in psychiatry’s current obsession with brain chemicals. It attempts to treat the physical in isolation from the psychological and spiritual. [Not that psychiatry has ever been particularly conscious of spiritual dimensions of even psychological problems.]
Where does deliverance fit in?
In a society where even psychological dimensions are ignored in the treatment of many afflictions we can hardly expect medical science to be enthusiastic about the notion that spiritual healing is an essential element in the treatment of physical or psychological afflictions. Even churches, those institutions supposedly focused on the spiritual, seldom see any role in healing aside from offering prayers for the recovery of sick paitioners. It’s no wonder, given the current blindness to the role of the spiritual in healing in general, that the notion of deliverance from the influence of evil spirits in those things that afflict us is dismissed out of hand.
Yet there is clear evidence in the Gospels that evil spirits, demons, definitely have been actively involved in the sicknesses and chronic illnesses that afflict God’s people.
In the next post we’ll look at some of this evidence, and raise a legitimate question. If
Scripture makes it clear that in the past demons have been involved in illnesses that afflicted God’s people, why should we suppose they no longer torment us in that way? And why should we suppose that deliverance from evil spirits has no place in Christian ministry today?
Feel free to add your comments and questions
Posted by owner on
November 4, 2008
Dorothy is deeply depressed and anxious. It began two years ago, when she had a brief affair with a co-worker. It was exciting at first. But Dorothy had violated deeply held values, and she began to feel guilty. Gradually over the months after she broke off the affair, Dorothy found herself sinking into depression, and the victim of what she recognized as irrational fears.
If Dorothy had gone to a pastor with her symptoms, he might have concluded that her problem was spiritual, and that repentance, confession, and forgiveness were keys recovering a sense of wellbing. If Dorothy had gone to a psychiatrist, he would have written her a prescription.
A question of origins
The notion that conditions that afflict people may have an origin that lies outside the physical realm isn’t popular in our society. We Westerners have inherited the enlightenment’s belief in rationality and science. Today psychiatrists increasingly rely on drugs to treat all sorts of disorders. The fact that many symptoms . . . of anxiety, depression, paranoia, etc. . . . can be reduced by the use of various psychotropic drugs is taken as evidence that every mental disorder has its origin in brain chemestry.
This in turn has led to the growing conviction in psychology that there is no such thing as the individual “mind;” that our personalities, attitudes, likes and dislikes, even our choices, are caused by operations within the physical brain. The so-called “mind/brain” debate seems to many psychatrists to have been resolved in favor of the belief that the brain is real, while the concept of an independent “mind” or “self” is a fiction. No wonder that psychiatry has changed radically in the last three decades. The theories of Freud and Jung and the others have been discarded; working with patients to seek the root and resolution of problems has been replaced by the writing of prescriptions.
I’m not suggesting that prescription drugs hasn’t proven helpful, or that chemical imballances in the brain don’t occur. I’m simply pointing out that as medical “science” focuses its attention on the physical aspects of many conditions that afflict us, the possibiility of a spiritual origin for any condition is ruled out a priori.
Take any person riddled with anxiety. Yes, antianxiety drugs help reduce the symptoms. In fact, the many antianxiety drugs on the market provide billions of dollars for pharmaceutical houses, suggesting how prevelant anxiety is. But the use of these drugs does nothing to identify the source anyone’s anxiety. And none of the drugs cure the anxiety.
Does it matter?
What happens if we travel further down the path psychiatry has taken, and accept the popular view that what happens in the brain is the necessary and sufficient explanation of any conditions that afflicts us? In essence, we reduce human beings to chemical machines.
Genes and chromosomes control human development. The switching of synapses responding to chemical cues controls behavior. The thoughts we think that we think aren’t our thoughts at all; they’re the product of our organism’s response to stimuli imbedded in our past experiences. Like a computer, we’re machines that have been programed. It follows that The choices we make aren’t really “our” choices. They too are programmed responses; responses over which we have no real control, and thus for which we can’t be held responsible. The criminal can’t be blamed for his crimes, nor the benefactor be praised for his good works.
And certainly, there can be no spiritual or psychological cause of any of our disorders. Above all, there is no possiblity that evil spirits may have seized on an originating experience to gain access to our minds and use that experience to render our lives miserable and unproductive.
Seduction central
The assumptions underlying psychiatry’s radical turn to prescription drugs have had a seductive impact on our society. Today pastors are much more likely to direct individuals who come to them for counseling to psychiatrists who will treat their fears and depression with drugs. Christian and secular counselors also are quick to assume that certain kinds of problems are rooted in chemical imballances.
There’s no doubt that some problems are due to chemical imbalances, and that treatment with drugs is indicated. But we as a socity are being seduced into assuming that the problems of nearly all troubled individuals are physically based.
The result is that the psychological or spiritual orgins of many problems often go untreated. And the possibility of demonic involvment in the lives of many who yearn for healing is ignored.
It’s not surprising that in Western society the notion deliverance may be an important dimension in healing is dismissed or ridiculed.
Examining Assumptions
When we see the assumptions that undergird contemporary psychiatry, and realize that views built on these assumptions have been uncritically and often unconsciously adopted in our society, its easy to understand why the spiritual aspect of healing is commonly ignored. What we need is another set of assumptions, this time one based on a biblical view of human nature.
That’s what I hope to take up in the next Demondope article, hopefully tomorrow.
Add your questions and comments