Expelling the Demons
We have spent considerable time exploring the realm of deliverance ministry – a movement impacting the lives of millions of Christians worldwide. In the last teaching part, we examined the teaching of Dr. Derek Prince and Frank Hammond as it relates to how demons “supposedly” enter a person. In this sixth teaching part, we want to look at how they “supposedly” leave.
We shall first undertake a brief survey of the New Testament to see how Jesus and the disciples cast out demons. Having done this, we shall then turn our attention to look at how leaders within the deliverance movement cast out demons. You are going to see that the two stand poles apart and the biblical evidence supporting the “expelling” of demons (as they maintain), is non-existent. You are going to have to make a choice, whether to stand on the side of man’s word or to stand on the side of God’s Word.
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Revelation 22:7-15
Many have endeavoured through the ages to predict the date of Christ’s Second Coming. In the 1830s, a Baptist minister from New York by the name of William Miller began publicly sharing his newfound belief, that Jesus Christ was going to return around the year 1843. This belief began to gain momentum across denominations, and by 1840 it had become a nationwide campaign with between 50,000 and 100,000 followers. This growing group was dubbed ‘The Millerites’. When 1843 passed without Jesus coming, one of William Miller’s followers, a preacher by the name of Samuel Snow, pinpointed an exact date for the Lord’s return — October 22, 1844. Such was the expectation and hope placed in the October 22 1844 date that many of those devout Millerites cast in everything, giving away all their possessions. If my dates are correct, today marks the beginning of a new year, January 1st, 2023, and what do you know? Jesus hasn’t come back yet!! When October 22 1844 came and went without the Lord coming, William Miller’s followers were left devastated, their hopes dashed into pieces!! Many were left to pick up the pieces and begin the painful process of rebuilding their lives from scratch. This event became known as the ‘Great Disappointment’.
If the Millerites had cared to consult the Bible, it would have saved them a great deal of disappointment! What did Jesus say? “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Mt. 24:36). Though we know not the day nor the hour, we can know the season. All around the signposts of prophecy declare the soon return of Jesus Christ. It is one thing to read the signs and another to allow these signs to move us to readiness to meet the Lord. A cry goes forth from the heart of God, “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready”.
How Demons Enter
As we have begun peeling back the veil of deliverance to see the teachings that lie beneath, there’s one thing that has been striking to discover, and that is the all-consuming nature of the movement. According to the deliverance practitioners, there is no Christian outside the scope of needing deliverance.
Having looked at the list of the identifying characteristic hallmarks of supposed demonisation in the last teaching part, we turn our attention in this teaching to ask the question, “How do Demons Enter?”. As we explore this question by comparing Scripture with what leading figures within the movement teach, namely Derek Prince and Frank Hammond, what you will discover will both shock and horrify you.
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1 Timothy 2:1-6
A presentation of the Gospel!
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time”.
Identifying the Demons
If you were tasked with answering the question, “…how do I know if I have a demon”? How would you respond? In the case of the Gadarene Demoniac, you wouldn’t even need to be a Christian to spot something was seriously wrong with the man. “Normal” people don’t live naked among the tombs, screaming and cutting themselves with stones. “Normal” people don’t speak in the second person plural! Admittedly, this is an extreme case, but I want to submit, those in the Bible possessed with demons are known to be, not only by themselves but by those coming into contact with them.
Why do I take the time to point out the patently obvious? Those within the deliverance movement would have us understand that the vast majority of believers in Jesus have demons in them, but the problem is, they know it not! If this is the case, the question that follows is, how is one to identify whether or not they have a demon from which they need deliverance? It is this question that is the focus of this fourth teaching part.
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2 Samuel 11:1
There’s something inherent within the heart of man; an instinct that he carries with him from birth. If tasked with the mission of travelling from A to B to C, if there’s a route that will take him straight from A to C, he's sure to find it out! It’s the lazy postman syndrome, rather than go up the path and down the next, he cuts straight across the lawn, much to the annoyance of the resident whose garden it is! Go to a rectangular field and look for the public right of way. Seldom is it ever the two paths forming a right angle, it’s usually always the diagonal distance right through. Now in this particular instance, mathematically speaking, it is always profitable to cut the corner. But what about the spiritual? What happens when God’s people begin cutting corners in matters of holiness? Tragedy always follows in its wake.
In this sermon, we look at the fall of King David and try to lessons for us today.
Breaking Down the Walls
We have spent the last two teachings introducing the topic of deliverance ministry and the key architects who helped shape and fashion it in its formative years in the early 1960s and 70s. Due to the anecdotal nature of the movement, it is impossible to speak with one united voice for all the leading figures within it. However, what we are able to do is examine the teachings of two of the founding fathers of the movement, Dr. Derek Prince and Mr. Frank Hammond. I think it would be fair to say, no two other people have done more to shape and influence the deliverance ministry movement than these two individuals. Frank Hammond, for his legendary book “Pigs in the Parlor”, and Derek Prince, for his pioneering efforts in this field long before Frank Hammond ever got involved in the deliverance ministry.
It may be that as you have heard the teachings thus far critiquing deliverance, you have asked yourself the question, how on earth can Christians get sucked in by this. How as a Christian, can I be demon possessed and not know it until some so-called minister came and told me so? Surely, if I were possessed by a demon, I would know it! How is it even possible for a Christian to be possessed by the Holy Spirit and at the same time by an evil spirit, and if so, where is the Biblical evidence to support this? It is my aim in this third teaching part to answer these questions in the hope that we can better understand the deliverance movement so as to bring its teaching into the light of the Holy Scripture and expose the error which I believe is deeply damaging the lives of God’s people.
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1 Samuel 16:6-7
Imagine for a moment, if upon awaking out of sleep, you were caught up to the third heaven beholding things indescribable, and hearing words unspeakable, “...which it is not lawful for a man to utter”. Suddenly, you find yourself before a throne and glancing upward, you see one seated upon the throne, high and lifted up. “...he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone” (Rev. 4:3). Oh, what a scene most glorious! A voice is heard coming from around the throne, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?” (Is. 40:13-14). By this point you’re on your face, prostrate before the majesty of God, when suddenly a voice is heard; “Let him be His counsellor”. Terror grips your soul and before you can even think, another sounds aloud, “What shall he counsel?”, to which he gives answer, “Have him choose from among the children of men, a vessel of service unto the LORD”. Tell me this morning, how would you counsel?
In this sermon, we look at the qualities of the vessel God chooses for service in His house.
Derek Prince
Derek was born into a military family in Bangalore, India in 1915. At the age of 13, Derek won a scholarship to the prestigious Eton College, England where he studied Greek and Latin. From Eton, he progressed to Cambridge University where he furthered his understanding of languages, graduating with first-class honours in Classical Tripos (a course studying Greek and Latin languages, culture, and history). Academically, Derek Prince was a brilliant man, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over time it’s this; brilliance in one area of expertise does not make you brilliant in every field of expertise. No one can question the academic background of Dr. Derek Prince, but when it comes to his revelations and ideas on demonology, it is shocking! So much of what Dr. Prince has to say about this topic is purely anecdotal, it is his experiences, his encounters. When he does turn to the text of Scripture in an effort to support what he is saying, his exegesis at the best of times leaves little to be desired.
In this teaching, I don’t want so much to examine the teachings of Derek Prince as it relates to deliverance but to look at Derek Prince the man, and the personal journey which led him into the deliverance ministry.
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James 4:14
James, writing under the inspiration of God, asks his audience a question —and by extension, to us also, “For what is your life?” Everyman thinketh in his heart, though he may not say it, LONG…PLENTEOUS...OF GREAT LENGTH!!!! But what saith James? “It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away”. Selah!! Job puts it this way, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days...He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not” (Job 14:1-2). “Behold (saith David), thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah” (Ps. 39:5).
Tell me Christian, what are you living for, or can I put it this way, WHO are you living for? Oh that each one us might say, “For me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).