Deliverance or Ghost Hunting?

Introduction:
I recently received a telephone call requesting that my church deliverance ministry team perform a deliverance service because the people thought they were being influenced by demonic or negative spirits and energy. When I told them that we would also have to check out their residence and that we would be using such tools as EMF meters and cameras, they became quite concerned and confused. They said they did not want a "ghost hunting" team because they were afraid that ghost hunters would stir up the spirits and make things much worse for them. They were already experiencing such phenomena as the sound of footsteps, objects moving, and feelings of oppression and didn't want the situation to become worse. It became apparent to me that they did not know the difference between a deliverance ministry and a paranormal research group, and I want to discuss two of those differences in this post.

Differences in Purpose:
Most paranormal groups exist in order to simply document phenomena. They do not intend to disrupt or change the supernatural environment in any way. They may attempt to make a judgment as to whether the phenomenon is dangerous or not, but their ultimate goal is simply to report substantiating evidence that something supernatural is actually happening. While this goal can have a positive effect in confirming to the people experiencing the phenomenon that in fact something supernatural is happening, it does not bring any relief from or real understanding of the phenomenon itself.
The purpose of a deliverance ministry is totally different from that of a paranormal research group. A deliverance ministry attempts to determine what is actually going on spiritually, and then to bring about significant spiritual change both in the individuals involved as well as the environment.
While a deliverance ministry may use the same tools as a paranormal research group to establish the reality of the supernatural phenomenon, the deliverance ministry has no intent to either communicate with spirits or to give them permission to continue interfering with the lives of living people. In other words, a paranormal research group is there to document the phenomenon, while  a deliverance ministry group is there to eliminate the impact and influence of spirits and negative energy.

Differences in Power and Authority:
If a paranormal research group or a ghost hunting group does attempt to change the paranormal environment it may use some form of shamanistic or ritualistic method. Exorcisms of this type do not depend on the faith of the group, and are not founded in the authority and power of Christ through the Holy Spirit. These types of exorcisms may bring about a measure of relief, but because they do not exercise real authority in the spirit universe,  this relief is temporary or may actually make the situation much worse over time. In most cases, however, a paranormal group simply does not have the power to initiate any kind of change in the energy environment. They may record the presence of spirits or energy, but they can not do anything about it.
The Christian deliverance ministry is based on the authority and power of Christ through the Holy Spirit. While the group itself does not "possess" this power, it is authorized by Christ to bring about a change in the supernatural environment through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. As a result, spirits can be dismissed and commanded to leave both the individual and the environment, and negative energy can be transformed into positive energy. There is no spirit or negative energy that can resist the power of God, and so no matter how difficult the situation may seem, the deliverance ministry is more than capable of handling it.

Conclusion:
While both the deliverance ministry and paranormal research group might use the same tools to document spiritual phenomena, their purpose, power, and authority is radically different. With these differences in mind, individuals experiencing troublesome paranormal phenomenon should not hesitate to call a deliverance ministry to help free them from both frightening and potentially harmful experiences. Because of the absolute control that Christ has over the spirit universe, a deliverance ministry shall always produce positive effects. On the other hand, a group who simply documents paranormal phenomena may, unintentionally, make the situation worse and therefore extreme care must be exercised by paranormal research groups to do no harm.

Check The Source

Introduction:
An individual who receives paranormal information is doing so through his nervous system. That nervous system does not change based on the source of the information. For a Christian who is Spirit filled, this means that his nervous system will be involved whether the source of his information is demonic or divine. I would like to talk about three sources of paranormal information commonly experienced by a hypersensitive person.

God is the source:
The path for Christian God consciousness is biblically clear. There must first come belief in Jesus Christ so that salvation takes place, that is followed by water baptism as a means of dedicating one's life to following the Lord Jesus, and finally there must be an empowering or energizing of the Christians through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Once these three objectives have been reached, the conscious awareness of the presence of God becomes a daily experience. Most importantly, the individual is now able to discern between godly and other sources of influence and knowledge. This ability to discern the source of his paranormal experience is based on the fact that he has experienced the person of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. At this point he can reject any other source of information and focus on only that which is inspired by the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in first Corinthians 12.

Satan is the source:
By using the word "Satan" I mean any kind of demonic spirit or entity. Some higher spirit, that is a spirit that does not obviously  portray itself as a simple demon, has been been Biblically called a "spirit of light" and can very cleverly portray itself as a divine source. These kinds of spirits can cause a great deal of religious confusion because their primary purpose is to prevent establishing a genuine relationship with God through Christ. People in contact with these "spirits of light" honestly believe they are in contact with an angel or some emissary of God. This type of spirit always violates God's Word and will preach a gospel contrary to the gospel preached by the Holy Spirit as found in the Bible. They will also teach and preach psychic methodologies which, when practiced, bring the individual into captivity.

Self is the source:
People  are influenced by all sorts of psychological needs and drives, some of which are subconscious and will only appear when there is a an attempt to release the subconscious into the consciousness through meditation or disassociation techniques. The information derived from this release can often appear to be paranormal and supernatural, but is actually only the psychological interpretation of the individual. This kind of source is actually a "mental guess" put together by a complex mental process of deduction which goes beyond normal everyday consciousness. The difficulty with this source is that it is biased by the attitudes, beliefs, and previous mental assumptions of the individual. As a result, it can produce incorrect or defective information on which the hypersensitive acts. For example, a psychic doing a psychic reading may project his own psychological state on the person he is supposedly doing a reading for. This type of source can be not only defective, but it also can be dangerous and harmful to other people.

Conclusion:
It is extremely important that a hypersensitive check the source of his information. If he is in a ministry which utilizes the spiritual gifts, he can be confident that God is the source and that he can learn to be highly accurate as he serves God through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, those who have sources that are either demonic or that originate from self, can give harmful and destructive information to other people, even though it appears to be paranormal and godly in nature. To those who seek paranormal information, one must aware of the source and reject any ungodly source be it demonic or simply originating out of self.

Side effects of being Hypersensitive

Introduction;

 

In this blog and in my book, those who have a higher than normal level of sensitivity to the spirit universe are called "hyper sensitives". If sensitivity to the spirit universe is distributed like intelligence in the human population, then the degree of sensitivity can vary from nearly normal to extreme. In most cases, the farther away a person operates from  "normal" sensitivity towards extreme sensitivity is also a measure of the comprehensiveness and frequency of the side effects that a person will experience during his life time.

 

Side effects:

 

The side effects resulting from being spiritually hypersensitive cover every aspect of   life. Such sensitivities influence his child hood development, emotional / physical health, and his social standing, .  I will not be able to fully discuss each of these categories, but I would like to mention a few of the more significant side effects commonly experienced by many hypersensitive people.

Childhood Development:

Most hyper sensitives begin to realize that they are "different" than other people at a very young age. If this understanding does not come from himself, his peer group will certainly let him know that he is strange and unacceptable. This produces three responses:

1. he isolates himself from his peers,
2. he will try to normalize himself by rejecting his hypersensitivity,
3. he will, at a later age, pursue both coming to terms with his abilities and developing a greater understanding of how they operate so that he can control them.

 By in large, hypersensitive kids have a tough going of it, and too often develop both painful and dysfunctional ways of coping with their sensitivity.  Ultimately, these side effects shape and control who he is as an adult. 

Emotional/Physical health:

Both the emotional and physical health of a hypersensitive person can be disrupted by the sheer volume and intensity of what he is experiencing. If the hypersensitive does not learn to differentiate between his own emotions from those that he is sensing, emotional chaos will take place. The more sensitive, the more likely that the person will experience mental and emotional illness. If the sensitive person has practiced meditation techniques which also produce disassociation, the person can develop a personality fragment which is out of control and can produce psychotic  and delusional mental states. (For more about this see my book.)

In the same manner, constant exposure to spiritual negative energy can weaken the immune system to produce recurrent physical sickness, most of which is stress related. If the person is involved with demonic spirits, such spirits can have a direct effect on both  the mental and physical, resulting in depression, anxiety, and disease.

Social Standing:

The desire to belong to a group of people who are also sensitive to the spirit universe, who are experiencing the same things, and who will accept him and allow him to feel that he finally belongs to a group, is highly understandable and should be encouraged. The difficulty is that many of the groups offering these benefits are involved with basically negative uses of hypersensitivity. Groups that practice witchcraft, the occult, and meditative practices can only make the situation of the hypersensitive much worse, as they involve him in more and more destructive energy and practices.  In many cultures, a role is found for the hypersensitive as a priest or local spiritual leader, but once again, the direction of these people tends to be negative and can actually victimize the hypersensitive.  

 

The Solution:

Since we are focused on spiritual abilities, the answer to dealing with them in a healthy manner is a spiritual answer.  The focus of all hypersensitivity must be to be involved with positive energy which means Godly energy  Such emotions as divine love, compassion, and empathy, as well as such mental abilities as wisdom, knowledge, and understanding can only be found in relationship to God who is the Lord of the spirit universe. This relationship can be achieved through faith in Jesus Christ. Once that faith is established, then the Holy Spirit becomes involved , and the abilities of the hypersensitive  come under the leadership and control of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then insures their safe development and use. One of the most significant changes takes place when the hypersensitive begins to serve God by using the Gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. This elevates the person's hypersensitivity to new levels and gives it a new purpose and so for the hypersensitive a whole new and exciting spiritual adventure begins

 

 



Energy or Spirit?

Introduction:
Does the existence of a heavy energy field automatically mean that spirits are present? This question is the first and primary concern of a deliverance ministry. The second question is like the first, if the energy field is present what do we do about it, especially if it contains spirit?
Confusion:
Sometimes it becomes very difficult to discern whether or not you are dealing with repetitive negative energy or an actual spirit embedded in that energy. This is especially true when the energy field is extremely charged with potent emotions due to a traumatic experience that took place in the environment. When entering into such an area sometimes one can be overwhelmed by the feelings or emotions which seem to be derived from an entity or spirit. So, it becomes difficult to determine what the source of the experience is, and exactly how to identify it. As a result, you can have some members of your deliverance team swearing that you are dealing with a spirit, while others simply say it is residual energy from the past traumatic event. The question is, how do you proceed?
A Key Factor:
The key factor to determine whether or not you are dealing with a spirit or a simple energy field is intelligence. If the source acts intelligently, that is, is able to answer questions and give current information, then you are more likely dealing with a spirit. If you are dealing with one spirit then you are probably also dealing with other spirits in the background. They may choose not to show intelligence or to communicate. You may, therefore, approach deliverance differently with spirits involved than with simple energy. Because there may be more than one spirit involved, you need to determine exactly how many and what their basic motivation is and then deliver based on that information. This is about the only time that a Christian should engage in communication with any spirit but the Holy Spirit. That is, such communication should have the purpose of determining the method of deliverance so that the deliverance can be complete and comprehensive. .

On the other hand, if there is no intelligence involved, than you are simply dealing with an energy field that is having an impact on the observers. Now do not be mistaken, such energy fields can have profound physical, psychological, and spiritual consequences if an individual opens up to the dynamics and content of such fields. In other words, simply because an energy field does not contain a spirit does not mean that is harmless or safe
Methods of Deliverance:
If you simply dealing with an energy field, it will do absolutely no good to rebuke a spirit. Rather, an energy field needs to be converted from something negative into something that is positive. This can be done by through the generation of positive energy in the environment that contains the negative energy. Christians can transform negative energy into a positive energy through praise and worship, prayer, and Scripture reading. The deliverance team dealing with a negative energy field should not stop their efforts until there is a clear-cut sense that the negative energy has been transformed by their activity. Note, the energy will not disappear, but rather it will appear in a new form that is permanent and of the opposite nature of the original energy.

Dealing with a spirit in an energy field is a different form of deliverance. At some point, the spirit must be identified and rebuked away from the energy field from which it is inhabiting. In other words, it must be cast out, preferably by name, and any other spirits associated with it must also be cast away. This can take some time, and repeated attempts, but there always must be the understanding on the part of the deliverance team that the power in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit will always have the victory. Note, a spirit, no matter how intense or powerful that it seems cannot disobey a command given in the Name of Jesus by believers in Jesus who are filled with the Holy Spirit. Once a spirit or spirits have been eliminated from the energy field, then the energy field itself can be transformed through the methods I have already mentioned.

Conclusion:
The existence of energy can be determined through the use of electromagnetic measuring devices, but determining the nature that energy  must take place through the activity of a hypersensitive or a group of individuals Baptized in the Holy Spirit endowed with the gift of discernment. Care should be taken to determine whether intelligence exists in that field, and if so, than steps must be taken to remove the spirits from the energy field , and then transform the field into a positive from a negative. Therefore, the gift of discernment which is part of the nine spiritual gifts mentioned in First Corinthians chapter 12, should be active during any deliverance session by Christians. There should also be team agreement as to what is actually taking place in the energy field so that the deliverance can be complete, whether it is due to the elimination of spirits or the transformation of energy.