Eat the Chicken and Spit Out the Bones

People ask about the history of our ministry and how we have developed the process that we use. Jesus instituted the ministry of deliverance during his time walking the earth, he trained the disciples (and gave them power!) in His way and so it has gone since that time. In the best case, I believe, modern day deliverance or inner healing ministries typically build upon the collective “wisdom”of those who have gone on before and modify and augment that understanding. Often the Holy Spirit brings new and fresh revelation to each so that our earthly understanding can evolve in a proper way.

In our case, we have learned from Warfare Plus Ministries, Ellel Ministries, Derek Prince, Francis MacNutt, Frank & Ida Mae Hammond, Henry Wright and others during the course of our thirteen years. It is of great comfort to see that most ministries have comparable and overlapping teachings in many areas, specifically about open doors from occultic sin, sexual sin, soul ties, curses and unforgiveness.

Just as Paul said we see through a glass darkly as it relates to our earthly understanding of the heavenly realm, so it is likewise with the machinations of deliverance ministry. There are many different models and approaches people take and we try to learn and incorporate nuggets of wisdom that help our model to progress and be more effective in ministry. I am a voracious reader and have found that the Holy Spirit, as I come across useful insights, will prompt me to add incorporate that.

For example, repeated exposure to Henry Wright’s name led me to buy his book (“A More Excellent Way”) and was blessed to discover that his knowledge and views about spiritual roots of sickness and disease were very compatible with ours and with the model and process we were using. We modified our teaching to include some of his content and I know that our deliverance ministry is more effective because of that. Sometimes I encounter material that is too “mushy” for us or that we believe has ingested too much secular “data” and in those instances, we selectively choose something that might be of value. In the vernacular, as with eating chicken, we eat the meat and spit out the bones!

The bones are not necessarily wrong teaching (although they may be) but we have found typically they are teachings that are either too complicated to understand or do not mesh biblical understanding or terminology. Put simply, our model comprises the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, demons, human body, human soul (mind, emotions) and human spirit and we find we can accommodate most issues within this framework. Some of the terminology used in Christian materials we feel, adds more confusion than clarity to the human condition so we eliminate that and move on