Deliverance Ministry

It is almost impossible to be involved in the healing ministry and not encounter situations where there is a need for deliverance. We have been given authority over evil through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is vital that we as Christians and prayer ministers understand what this aspect is all about in order to minister effectively.

First, we must understand the difference between deliverance and exorcism. In the early history of the church, a lay person could pray for deliverance. This is what we do and teach about at CHM, since we primarily teach lay ministers involved in the healing ministry. Deliverance is a process of freeing a person from the influence of an evil spirit.

Exorcism is a bit different. The word "exorcism," means "casting out" in Greek. In the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches, an exorcism is a more formal act performed by a priest who has been especially commissioned by his or her bishop. Exorcism is performed on a person who is possessed, and that must be proven. Possession means the person has been totally taken over by satan, that the person no longer has any will of his own. As you read in Francis' article on page one, in all his years of ministry, he has only encountered one person whom he believed to be possessed.

Discernment is needed to know accurately which areas of a person’s life are being targeted, the sources or root causes and the entry points of a particular demonic influence or attack as well as the channels of such affliction. Discernment is especially needed to know whether a person needs medical or psychiatric care rather than deliverance, or whether we are dealing with some sort of occult control or ancestral influence, or if there is some connection with a new religious movement, or a link to a questionable alternative medicine, or even if there may be some infestation of a building or place etc.

The process of deliverance becomes even quicker and more certain if there is a possibility of what is called “inner healing”. This involves finding out the root cause of emotional disturbances which often open a person to demonic disturbances. Inner healing also removes the blocks of a lack of repentance, a lack of forgiveness and a lack of renunciation.

Although only priests officially designated as “exorcists” may deal with cases of “possession”, we can all by virtue of our baptism pray for deliverance for ourselves and in simple cases for our family members or friends. But there are those, both priests and lay people, who seem to have a special charism of praying for deliverance, which can be discerned by the fruits of their success and by their sober and well balanced approach, which needs to be confirmed by the community and the Church.

Because of the nature of this demanding but necessary ministry those involved need to pray for protection for themselves and their families. They need to be humble, compassionate, fearless, prayerful, knowledgeable, prudent and wise, working in teams, even including psychiatrists and be under the authority of the Church.

The promotion of such an ongoing and systematic ministry of deliverance within the local church is and should be an integral part of the New Evangelisation in the New Millennium, especially today when, as the Vatican’s Obsservatore Romano warns us, Satanism in all its forms and through all the modern means of communication, is rearing its ugly head.