THE DISTINCTIVES OF THE DELIVERANCE MODEL
THE DISTINCTIVES OF THE DELIVERANCE MODEL
There are three central theological distinctives of the deliverance model of spiritual warfare. They are: the authority of the believer, the demon possession of the believer, and the commanding, or binding of Satan. Each one will be described and then examined in the light of scripture.
THE BELIEVER'S AUTHORITY
The first distinctive involves the believer's authority in Christ. According to Dr. Anderson, the believer must come to understand and exercise the authority he has in Christ over the demonic realm. The lack of knowledge and practice in this area is a primary reason for much of the spiritual defeat and lack of power amongst Christians today. Anderson says, "and as long as we fail to perceive our access to Christ's authority over the kingdom of darkness, we will fail to exercise that authority in our lives, and we will live in bondage."4
According to Dr. Anderson, the believer has the same authority, not only as the apostles, but even of Christ. He writes, "Do we enjoy the same claim to authority in the spiritual realm as those who were personally sent out by Him? Absolutely!"5
He then goes on to say further that our authority is the same as Christ's. He says, "Build your faith in your authority by studying how Jesus operated against the power of darkness in the Gospels and how we are commanded to do so in the epistles."6 He builds his case from Ephesians 1:22 and 2:6, which says, "and He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church...and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Commenting on these verses, he says, "Furthermore, when God seated Christ at His right hand and conferred on Him all authority (Ephesians 1:20,21), He also seated us at His right hand and conferred on us, through Christ, all authority (2:6) because we are 'together with Christ' (2:5)."7
Amazingly, Anderson, without any qualification, says that all of Christ's authority has been conferred on the believer. He must simply learn to exercise it. The believer exercises his authority by confronting and commanding Satan and his demons. For example, he advises one woman, who says she is terrorized by snakes that "crawl" on her at night: "I'll tell you what to do," I continued. "When you're in bed and the snakes come, say out loud, 'In the name of Christ I command you to leave'...The next week when Daisy walked in she said, 'the snakes are gone.' "8
The first element, then, in waging spiritual warfare, is recognizing and exercising your authority in Christ. This authority is equal to Christ's and the Apostles'. Exercising this authority involves commanding the demons in a direct confrontation.
Dr. Anderson's thinking is fraught with faulty biblical exegesis. He draws conclusions from faulty premises, and develops his methods and practices from them. He jumps from the false premise of the believer's supposed equal authority with Christ into his deliverance doctrine and practice, which involves "taking authority over" Satan and binding him.
It is true that the believer is identified with Christ and positionally seated with Him in heaven (Ephesians 2:6). It is also true that Christ has been given as head over all things to the church (Ephesians 1:22). Having said that, it does not follow that the believer is equal in authority to Christ, nor does it follow that the believer is to confront demons as Christ did. Christ's authority is unique. He is the Lord of glory. Every knee will bow to Him (Philippians 2:11), not to believers. Christ will judge the living and the dead (I Peter 4:5), not us. God has fixed a day in which "He will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). We are under the umbrella of Christ's authority. We benefit from it, and in that sense we share it.
However, the direct display of it over nature and the demonic realm was His unique prerogative. It clearly demarcated Him as the Messiah. Mark records that "whenever the unclean spirits beheld Him they would fall down before Him and cry out, saying 'You are the Son of God' " (Mark 3:11). Mark also records that an unclean spirit cried out, "What do we have to do with you Jesus of Nazareth. Have You come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!" (Mark 1:24). After Christ directly and openly rebuked the spirit, Mark says that people were "amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, 'What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits and they obeyed Him' " (Mark 1:27).
The terrified response of the demons was to Christ's unique authority. He was the Son of God and as such He could destroy them. He could consign them to eternal torment. It simply is not accurate to say we have Christ's authority conferred on us. The Ephesians passage speaks of Christ's enthronement in heaven and His headship over the church. It says nothing of the authority of His headship being directly conferred on us. Even less can it be deduced from these texts that Christ prescribes His authority be used by directly confronting demons. To do so is to go beyond what is written. It is to read an assumption into the text.
Apostolic authority was also unique. The authority of the apostles was something delegated by Christ specifically to them (Mark 3:15; Luke 9:2,3) and to those working closely in conjunction with them (Luke 10:17-19). They were given unique authority as those who would deposit binding revelation on the entire church. They were divine legislators. That is, Christ's authoritative will and law, by which He would govern and instruct His church, were committed and imposed on His people by the apostles. Their direct power over the demonic directly identified them with Christ. It confirmed their role as revelators of Christ's will and word to His people (Hebrews 2:4). Their ministry was unique. Who else has such authority? Who also can say that they are revelators of God's will and word, binding on all churches for all time? This was their foundational ministry, never to be repeated (Ephesians 2:20-3:3). If we have the same authority as the apostles, does it extend to revealing final authoritative revelation on the church? If not, then we do not have equal authority, nor the accompaning works that verify it.
The apostle Paul understood his unique role as an agent of divine legislation. He demanded compliance to what He wrote. He wrote to the Corinthians, "If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment. But, if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized" (I Corinthians 14:37,38). The apostles were, in relation to the New Covenant, as Moses was to the old.
Miriam and Aaron sought to assume the same authority as Moses, and the Lord Himself defended Moses' unique position. He struck Miriam with leprosy (Numbers 12:1-6)! Just as no Israelite would be tolerated who claimed equal authority with Moses, neither should someone who claims equal authority with the apostles. The apostles' direct authority over the demonic was part of their credentials as Christ's personal, authorized spokesmen (I Corinthians 9:1) who impose Christ's law on the church for all time. Speaking of this, Paul said: "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles" (II Corinthians 12:12).