How do I know if I am ready to perform exorcism?
Well you shouldn’t do ANYTHING unless you FIRST HAVE:
- Confidence in your salvation and personal relationship with Jesus Christ
- Sound biblical knowledge and belief in correct Trinitarian Christian doctrine
- Extremely strong personal faith and prayer life
- Wholeness and togetherness in your mental, spiritual, emotional and physical life. You have truly healed from your past, forgiven your abusers, and pursue a life dedicated to godliness, righteousness and sinlessness.
- Knowledge in spiritual warfare and an awareness of all Satan’s strategies (this is often more complex than novices think it is. Think about all the ways a person can fall apart-mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.)
- Knowledge of typical psychological profiles often mistaken for demons, and the ability to discern if a person has an unclean spirit, as opposed to a legitimate mental illness, paranoia, phobias, etc.
- Knowledge of how to initiate a deliverance session including: leading a person through a deliverance prayer, detecting a demonic manifestations if it occurs, knowing how to press the demon into renouncing its legal rights to be there, and using spiritual weapons to force it to leave.
If you don’t have these things, even if you were to accurately detect the need for an exorcism, which you probably wouldn’t, and then delivered a successful exorcism, which you probably wouldn’t, you will still likely succumb to the onslaught of demonic attacks afterwards and it would ruin your life and possibly cause you to lose your salvation. (Not everyone agrees with this last part but I’m convinced that a Christian can lose their salvation if they choose to later completely reject Christ). No one should be performing an exorcism without realizing these things up front.
Deliverance is not for the faint-of-heart or for those spiritually-immature in the faith. An exorcism is a direct invocation and confrontation with pure evil. Demons are powerful, intelligent, cunning, deceptive, and wicked. They will not only put up a fight when you provoke them, and cause personal harm to both you and the host, but they will also continue to retaliate later, and throughout the rest of both of your lives. The call to become an exorcist should come from God, and you should accept it with hesitation because it puts a target on your back larger than other Christians. The enemy will seek to destroy your life with a greater persistence than they normally would. I’ve known very “together” Christian deliverance ministers to break away and start living in very un-Christian ways after giving in to the torment. Keep in mind they will come after the weakest in your life in order to drag you down. Your spouse, children, parents, partner, etc. You must be extremely strong in your faith walk with a dedicated plan to stay that way.
I am not trying to discourage young spiritual warriors from entering the battle field—Lord knows we need them!!! I’m just trying to warn newcomers of what they need to know up front. Become diligent and keep learning! Grow in your personal walk every day! Join the army—we need you!!
If you’re looking for education, I recommend: International School of Exorcism
If you think you or a loved one might have a demon: Do you have a demon? Find out from 21 questions
If you’re looking to get some experience volunteering under a deliverance minister, are looking for Christian life coaching, Christian discipleship mentoring, or personalized training programs, I’m available for hire.
