What happens when you build a house with out a foundation? Or with parts of the foundation missing? It’s less likely to withstand storms and remain intact for long. The house settles and flooring becomes uneven.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of deliverance ministry taking place across the country, and those that have had a solid foundation in that, have been bringing freedom to a lot of people in bondage. At the same time there has been some messes made that have needed cleaned up, and odd practices untangled out of the process.  Some foolish trends are happening in camps where people think it’s ok to call a devil onto yourself to bear the burden of the deliverance, and to have long drawn out discussions with manifested demons for informational purposes. Forgetting that the devil is a liar and there is no truth in him. Jesus is our example, and he never called for a demon to jump on him in the process of a deliverance, to make it easy for the person to get free. That’s Hollywood stuff, and it’s also rooted in heathen practices. God’s power doesn’t require such a thing.
Another trend (oddly enough) is the belief that casting out devils are one’s graduation papers in ministry and the doctrine of Jesus Christ. When simply, it is a sign that follows them that believe in the power of His name, regardless of their knowledge or maturity. We still need to remember discipleship includes learning by example, few have been that example in this modern age.  Jesus reminded the disciples not to be distracted over the fact, that they have power over devils, but that there name is written in the lamb’s book of life! Luke 10:20

He never called a demon on to himself, and he usually told them to be quiet or to stop when they cried out and manifested. I’ve had demons cry out at me, cuss at me, and chant in a false tongue, and everyone of them  stopped when I told them too. We don’t need information from evil spirits, we don’t need entertained by them, and we certainly don’t need to be calling for them to channel through anyone. I really think error in this area has been because pastors (who have been given all the tools they could possibly need, to learn about deliverance ministry) stayed away from it all, and ignored something, that was a huge part of Jesus ministry whom He delegated to the Church, in no uncertain terms, in

In the 20th century God began to restore back to the church, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in the power of His name. The Church began to see tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy, come back in unprecedented ways. Healing and miracles, mantles and anointings, exploded on to the seen, and began to cover the globe with signs and wonders that displayed the power of God.  At the same time the fivefold ministry spoken of in Ephesians 4, became more prominent in the earth to teach and equip the church on her authority in Jesus Christ, on a larger scale than ever before. “The complete gospel” schools were established in nations all over the world to raise up leaders in the body of Christ to keep apostolic works going. Many called these movements part of an outpouring of the latter rains! A deluge that serves the ripening stages of the end time harvest of souls. As the latter rains of summer supply needed water to the ripening stage of the ultimate harvest, so the last century has prepared us for the times we are living in now!  In the 20th century, the teacher’s mantle (where all of the above, including deliverance ministry), were taught by some of the greatest Spirit filled teachers of our time. God established these in the body with revelation and understanding that brought back the power of God that operated in the first century church, in full form, to assist in this great latter day harvest. Much of what we walk in now, what we know now, came from these teachers of the 20th century, who had to pioneer through a forgotten landscape, and bring us back to where it all started. Of course that is never to say that there were not others before them, but it is to say that many answered the call, in the early 1900’s,  just in time to carry believers through to the time of harvest where his WORD is manifesting in a powerful way, now.

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the Ancient  way, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Jeremiah 6:16

Even though God did an amazing thing by restoring (on a much larger scale than ever before) His giftings, mantles, and graces that we read about in the New Testament; still, many resisted it, and persecuted moves of God erupting from those out pourings. Some didn’t pay attention to the teaching ministries, in the area of deliverance, and later when more modern moves and out pourings took place,  when demons manifested, in the presence of God’s glory and the power of His anointing, they didn’t cast them out! They even thought some demonic manifestations were the Holy Spirit! The movements became defiled, by neglect and ignorance. Those occurrences caused great divisions. Lately, with this new surge of deliverance ministry, finding its way through the ranks, young people are stepping up and this is great. However, I think that it is important to go back and visit where the road was paved in recent history, and make sure we don’t miss anything,  and I’ll explain why.

We need to remember Christ is the Chief cornerstone forever, and what ever is restored back into the earth (because of neglect) must have its lines drawn and plumed by the WORD back to the WORD. If it’s involved with His ministry on this earth. One of the most amazing teachers of deliverance in the 20th century‘s surge of Holy Spirit ministry, was Dr. Lester Sumrall. He wasn’t the only one but he was the first to bring this practice back to the nations and into the churches all over the world, through his international teaching ministry called LeSEA. Lester Sumrall’s Evangelistic Association. If you are involved with deliverance ministry it would be extraordinary, that you wouldn’t know his name; nevertheless, more than likely if you had an influencer in your life that cast out devils, to fulfill that part of the great commission, that person or another who influenced them, was more than likely impacted by the ministry of Lester Sumrall. You know your authority in Christ, more than likely, by teachers that went back to the ancient path ways and revisited the first century church and its doctrine in the last century. Back to that great foundation and learned Christ ministry to bring it out of the religious haze of the dark ages and back to power. For the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the POWER of God unto salvation, and we actually had to go through a time in history where much of the church was apostate and the light of the true doctrine of Jesus Christ was almost extinguished, if such a thing was possible. However, the truth of His word, and the good news of the gospel, this great salvation wrought for us, was restored in such a powerful way that humanity was literally lifted out of the dark age, and reestablished into his glorious light! With the mass producing of the Geneva Bible, and later the King James Bible, millions of English speaking people began to have ownership of their own Bible. With the printing press translations of God’s Word began to go out into the nations. We were no longer bound in error, and the entanglements of heresy any more. This was a God thing, and it was done through Him.