H3 - Deliverance from Demonization
Handout #3 Deliverance from Demonization
The will of God is to deliver every person afflicted by demonic spirits (Acts 10:38; Matthew 10:1, 8; Luke 10:18-20, 13:16; Mark 7:25-30, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, etc.).
Sometimes this takes some discernment and persistence. And sometimes, like one woman I prayed for, there really isn’t a demonic issue that any of the team could discern, and she felt freed just by that truth. Now she could get on with growing in Christ and other healing in her life.
The spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12) are invisible to human eyes, but they are the saints’ true adversaries who line up against us every day to challenge our salvation and sanctification momentum. We are to throw them to the ground so in the end we are the ones standing in victory. Are you walking in your authority as a believer with dominion over “snakes and scorpions” of the spiritual forces of wickedness? Are you facing the right direction in your daily wrestling match? In Greco-Roman wrestling the goal was to throw your opponent to the ground from a standing position—the last one standing wins. (See the three-time emphasis of that word in Ephesians 6:13-14.)
Remember Jesus saying he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven? (Luke 10:18). It’s like he said, “The Father and I kicked his tail once and threw that rebellious, murderous angel and his hosts out of heaven. And now I’ve come here to earth to throw him out of here. And someday I’ll toss him in the lake of fire already prepared for the devil and his angels.” That’s pretty aggressive advancing of the
This is the ministry and message of reconciliation we carry in this era of reconciliation, before the age of heaven and hell. That’s what time it is on God’s clock (2 Corinthians 5:17–6:2)—time to reconcile the world to God.
At least two-thirds of real human life is not visible to the physical senses (never mind our western culture bias toward the material, scientific world). God is spirit, and the Holy Spirit living in the saints is like wind (we see the effects, but not the wind itself). The holy angels who serve the saints are not often seen, but are always near (Matthew 18:10, Hebrews 1:14, Revelation 3:1, Acts 12:15). The devil and his “third of heaven” that fell are not usually visible, but just as real as the visible realm (1 John 5:19) and more eternal that what was made (2 Corinthians 4:4, 17-18). The supernatural realm is where the eyes of our heart operate by faith. (Hebrews 11:1 teaches that faith is seeing the invisible, living by revelation and God’s promises in the holy Word.) So like an iceberg, where most of the object is underwater and even more dangerous there, so the two-thirds unseen realm shapes the one-third visible and more temporal realm. The spiritual shapes the physical, as in prayer’s powerful results (James 5:16-18). Like the light spectrum, where ultraviolet rays and infrared light waves are at either end of the visible light spectrum, more of real life is invisible than visible to our five physical senses. We are spiritual beings born again in Christ, who have a soul, mind, emotions, and will, and who live in a body…so we are equipped to live and war in spiritual realms as well.
Sometimes in severe cases I’ve witnessed, the manifestations of the evil spirits are obvious (physical contortion, superhuman strength, strange voices coming from the person, fear of or reaction to the presence of Christ in us, etc.). These are all seen in the Bible, too, as well as experienced today.
A couple helpful ideas: better than thinking in terms of all or nothing, “demon possessed” or not, try to think in terms of a scale from one to 10, with 10 being severely demonpossessed. I have not met a Christian yet at this end of the scale, since the Holy Spirit dwells in the new creation of a true believer. I do think I’ve seen some level six or seven stuff in believers, but this is usually just in the early months of their conversion and Christian walk, still kicking out the junk from the old life, tearing down strongholds (stubborn patterns of behavior or thinking contrary to the will of God) and “robbing the house” after binding up the strong man (Matthew 12:22-30). But it can occur later with a rather obvious change in a person, like habitual addictions or letting a root of unforgiveness and bitterness grow to a high-consuming level.
The New Testament verb is translated well as “demonized,” and clearly we see different levels of demonic activity as demons seek to affect the mind, emotions, bodies, and worldly environment of human beings. They cannot control the spirit/new creation of the saints (we are in union with God’s Spirit) or directly manipulate the will of a human being, but they can influence, even from the inside dimensions of the unrenewed or unsurrendered soul. Human beings are accountable to God for every choice done in the body, whether good or evil. The enemy can influence mightily, but cannot substitute his own wicked will for the will of a human, so that ultimately the human being is accountable for actions and choices, no matter how heavily “under the influence” of fallen angels. God always provides a way out if the human being will seek freedom in Jesus.
Let’s start from the lower end of everyday demonic activity in our world, which Christians and non-Christians are likely to encounter. In fact, Christians will face lots of wrestling matches, because we truly are citizens of the other kingdom (by grace) and dangerously potent with the Holy Spirit living in us for the mission of God in the world (Ephesians 1:17-23). However, Christians can be demonized on at least the first eight levels under the influence of a demon’s strategy of sin (Matthew 15:26: deliverance is the “children’s bread” from Jesus). Whether that influence is recognized and defeated, resisted so that the devil “flees from you,” or becomes a pattern of wrong thinking or behaving is based on our response or lack of it. Ignorance due to worldview issues, lack of fellowship, fear, pride, lack of confession and reading the Word of God, etc., can all contribute to the length of time before victory and freedom in Christ is established in the believer (1 John 5:18). For example, Peter was hit in Matthew 16:22-23 with a demonic deception shortly after receiving a great revelation from the Father, that Jesus is truly the promised Messiah and anointed Christ. But Jesus was there to expose the lie and Peter was freed quickly, it seems. Later, Peter would be sifted as wheat in his denial of Jesus at the trials, but Jesus had prayed for him and after a night of fear and weakness he repented and became a bold witness. The individual stories of deliverance in Scripture with Jesus and Paul are often on a higher level of entrenchment. I do not believe this is to show it is more common, just that Jesus and his followers have authority to win in even the most severe cases we will face in this life, right on up to a level 10 as we use the Spirit’s power and wisdom (see Matthew 8:16; 10:1, 7-8; Luke 10:17; 1 John 3:8; Colossians 2:15 Ephesians 6:12 notes that people battle spiritual forces of wickedness.
The 10 levels of demonization are:
1. Demonic Accusation: general lack of peace and joy for believers; general blanket of guilt and shame contrary to Romans 8:1 (not for specific sins, since that would lead to repentance by conviction of the Holy Spirit); persistent feelings of being unworthy, unloved, incapable, and useless (Revelation 12:10).
2. Demonic Deception: believing a lie and absorbing it into your mind’s worldview as opposed to just the world or flesh issues. Fear as a controlling effort from the enemies’ lies contrary to the Father’s protection and promises is common (2 Timothy 1:7). Examples: manmade traditions, racial prejudices, and the spirit of “religion” and legalism (John 8:43-47), believing certain “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1) perpetrated on the church, e.g., cessationism of spiritual gifts, demeaning the authority of the Word of God, universalism, and calling sexual perversions “good” or from God (2 Corinthians 10:4-5; Galatians 1:6-9; Revelation 12:9, 19:20; Jude 3-4, 7; 2 John 1:7; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1, etc.).
3. Demonic Temptation: a strong, pervasive, or persistent trap laid for a person around a weakness of the flesh or blindspot. Examples: Judas in Luke 22:1-5, 1 John 2:15-17, etc.
4. Demonic Oppression: consistent harassment that often involves parts of 1-3 above and manifests in personality change, such as depression, fits of anger, self-hatred and acts of violence toward self, suicidal thoughts and pressure on the will to attempt it, and hearing voices. Example: Judas in Matthew 27.
5. Demonic Attachment: a specific fallen angel assigned and taking up residence in some part of the human being’s soul or body, usually through a foothold of unrepentant and persistent sin. The demon brings defilement and claims a right to be there. It can be a spirit of infirmity or specific disease (Luke 13:10-16), a lying spirit, confusing spirit, spirit of anger/rage/violence/murder, a deaf and dumb spirit (Mark 9:25, Matthew 9:32), spirit of bitterness, spirit of shame, spirit of pride, spirit of jealousy, spirit of lust, a religious spirit, spirit of death, etc. This level of demonization requires eviction by the superior power and presence of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28) in the name and truth of Jesus, often with a ministry team of empowered believers. I’ve seen clear cases of Christians manifesting on this level.
6. Demonic Entrenchment: mainly a matter of degree here, where the dark “power” of this fallen angel is gaining more and more impact on the person, shaping daily behavior and reactions, making them shun the places where God’s anointing is at work and love the places where it isn’t. (See 1 John 2:18-19, 26-27;4:1-6.)
7. Demonic Stronghold: a person is strongly swayed at times to act in line with the will of the evil spirit, and so manifestations (making visible to the physical senses) become common: altered voices and states of being, change of the pupils of the eyes to a sort of involuntary fixed gaze without the use of any drugs, curled hands and fingers or other physical shapes and sounds like crouching as an animal form, foul smell, shrieks and screams, facial contortion, being thrown down into the fire or water “seemingly against the will” (Matthew 17:14-18; Mark 9:20, 26). It is beyond the person’s control as a single human to manage the pain inside, and he or she can become catatonic or unable to speak or move, such as sudden paralysis without medical explanation. (See Acts 8:9-13 with Simon the sorcerer.)
8. Demonic Infestation: multiple demons, often in a chain of hierarchy, plague a person. Example: Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2). Often this level includes manifestations as in level seven, including knowing information about the Christian confronting them or the heavenly realms and speaking it out aggressively (Luke 4:33-36). Ministry here may require a process of deliverance in a team environment, over hours or days or sessions, while the “layers of the onion” come off and the “building up of the new creation” gets put on for new identity in Christ, knowing the Word to set them free. I’ve seen at least two of these cases in Christians in 20 years of deliverance ministry. In 1986 I saw a new disciple in
9. Demonic Empowerment: the demon present is able to periodically exert superhuman abilities through the human being like unnatural strength (think the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13-20) or clairvoyance (think Paul in
10. Demonic Possession: a human personality has been so taken over that in meeting the person you are continually meeting the foul presence of multiple demons, like the one Jesus met across the lake of Galilee from whom he cast a “Legion” of demons that went into the herd of pigs (Luke 8:26-39). Superhuman strength to break chains, living naked among the tombs, cutting oneself in perpetual agony—these were the ugly traits of the demons so-called “possessing” that man, whom Jesus completely delivered.
Some notes to ponder:
· The first four levels of demonic activity against believers or unbelievers require rescue and deliverance through Christ and his kingdom’s power and truth. This is more in the sense of separation and protection, like getting a kidnapped child out of the hands of the kidnapper. Sufficient and effective approaches at this level can be intercession, preaching and teaching the gospel of the kingdom, sacraments, spiritual gifts operating in fellowship and worship, confession, counseling, rebuilding identity and freedom in Christ around biblical truth, positive confession, and renouncing, rebuking, and resisting the devil and his angels. In other words, you can seek freedom as a believer and find it in Christ a number of ways, and using other saints is not a problem either. Truth and grace will set you free. Some people prefer to call this a “truth encounter” instead of a power encounter. Examples: Seven Steps to Freedom, Neil Anderson materials.
· ď€ Levels five to seven often require a ministry team of empowered Christians to identify, oppose, and deliver the person from this dark bondage, since it involves more like a spiritual surgery of extraction or eviction from a part of the person’s being. Unbelievers can have spiritual attachment and entrenchment, connecting to the dead human spirit separated from God (Ephesians 2:1-4). Not all lost people have this attachment in their dead spirit, since fallen angels are a limited supply and demand exceeds this by some margin established by God. So with 6 billion humans now on the planet odds go down on attachment to any one person. So Satan uses these foul spirits strategically to get more for his efforts, attacking leaders, using organizational structures of the world and church to reinforce patterns of disobedience, etc.) Born-again believers have the Holy Spirit indwelling their new creation/spirit, which is now alive to God, who is rich in mercy, and so cannot be attached to in their spirit (the new core of being and identity). The “will” or volitional center of a person can’t be directly controlled, since humans will be responsible and accountable to God for motives, words, and actions on judgment day (“the devil made me do it” won’t work). However, the body, mind, and emotions of a person are far more susceptible to attack and attachment, where in this spiritual clash between two kingdoms we humans are both the “battleground” and the “prize.” The
· Levels eight to 10 are best handled by tested, prepared, and experienced Christian ministry teams, usually after fasting and prayer, or an individual like Paul or Jesus who is walking full of the Holy Spirit and has clearly established patterns of kingdom authority and deliverance ministry already evident in his or her life. You will note Jesus picked the time of his encounter with the demon possessed man across the lake (known as a controlling influence in the whole region) and Paul waited a couple of days before going after the spirit of divination in the girl in Philippi. Teams going into an India village today to deliver the “crazy man” chained or caged in the city square usually do so under direction from the Holy Spirit by revelation, and with fasting and prayer for a couple days preceding it. The effort is worth it as a church planting strategy when the person is fully delivered and restored in the “power encounter” and whole groups of people, sometimes in the hundreds, come to Christ and enter the