The theme of “deliverance ministry” evokes very different reactions. This is evident from the interviews in this thematic issue. While Prof. Glas is very reserved as a psychiatrist, Rev. Vreugdenhil believes that deliverance ministry should be part of church ministry.

Our culture has an ambivalent attitude towards spiritual powers. The world of spirits is “in,” as we see, for example, in the great attention for this theme in popular children’s books. At the same time, many reject everything that cannot be rationally explained or measured. Invisible, spiritual powers do not fit into our modern, western worldview.

Possession⤒🔗

The great difference in approach to the theme of “deliverance ministry” undoubtedly has to do with the professional and cultural experiences of the authors. However, there are also different theological choices, mainly concerning the relationship between the New Testament and our time. whether the possession that the Bible speaks of can be directly transferred to our situation, or not.

In the New Testament, the work of evil spirits is sometimes closely linked to illness. For example, it tells of a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb. Jesus heals this man; this apparently goes hand in hand with the casting out of the demon, although the latter is not mentioned separately (Matthew 12:22-24). However, not every illness is associated with possession and not every possessed person shows this in striking phenomena.

The biblical talk about possession cannot simply be explained as a part of the worldview of that time, while we could make do with medical or psychological categories. We have perhaps lost too much of the awareness of spiritual powers and of spiritual warfare.

Development←⤒🔗

However, in Scripture there does seem to be a development in speaking about possession. By far the most texts about demons, possessed people or unclean spirits are in the Gospels. Apparently, there is a great concentration of the work of Satan during the work of Jesus on earth. When the kingdom of heaven breaks through, the fiercest resistance also becomes public. Jesus shows his power by casting out the devils with his word.

After the death and resurrection of Christ, there is much less mention of demonic power or possession in the New Testament. In the book of Acts, there is mention of unclean spirits (Acts 5:16; 8:7; 16:18) but unlike the Gospels there is only one mention of actually casting them out. Acts relates the resistance of Satan and tells about spiritual warfare, but says much less than during Jesus’ life on earth about people who are possessed. The sorcerer Elymas is called a devil’s child and an enemy of God, but not possessed (Acts 13:10).

These examples raise the question of whether the New Testament talk about possession is not sometimes too quickly directly linked to situations in our time. Rather, there seems to be a development in the history of salvation. This fits in with the proclamation that Christ disarmed all powers on the cross (Colossians 2:15). Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians called upon to banish devils, but they are called upon to resist the evil one and to put on the spiritual armor. Nor does Paul mention the casting out of demons among the gifts of the Spirit.

Is there more needed than that someone comes to the cross of Christ with his sins? In his complete victory, Satan and his kingdom are defeated for good. After surrendering to him and daily battling against sin is there then still need for a special moment of “liberation”? As far as I am concerned, there are still some unanswered questions before we have to move on to a special form of “liberation ministry.” Of course, in certain situations intensive pastoral care may be necessary, but that is different from special rituals of exorcism.

Generational Curse←⤒🔗

An element that is sometimes mentioned in connection with deliverance ministry (and touched upon in the interviews) is the idea that someone could be occultly burdened. That is to say that someone experiences things or cannot let go of a certain sin because of sins of their ancestors. There would then be a generational curse, which affects children and grandchildren. This idea is mainly based on the second commandment. There the Lord says that he “will visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” But is it not unjust if children are punished for the sin of their parents? Would God be so unfair? Sometimes people have difficulty with the second commandment for this reason.

Our difficulty is partly due to the fact that in our society we think strongly in an individualistic way. In the Bible, and for example in Eastern cultures, there is much more thinking in terms of the community: you belong to a family, a tribe, a people. In such a culture, the community (“we”) is more important than the person (“I”). We have difficulty with this, especially in the judgment of God. The entire people of Israel are punished for the sin of King David during the census. The entire family of Achan is punished for the sin of their father. A collective judgment occurs many times in the Bible.

The second commandment shows that sin continues to have an effect. Humanly speaking, you can see that happening too: addiction or abuse often continues to have an effect on the next generation. When parents make a mess of their lives, the children are the first to suffer. But why does God act this way?

God punishes the sin of the children, says the second commandment — but there is an important qualification: “of those who hate me.” The curse that children share in the guilt and the punishment applies if they continue on the path of their parents. You can even see something of God’s faithfulness and patience in it: when parents say goodbye to the service of God, God still sees those children and even their children. He continues to pursue them with his call to repent.

Proverb←⤒🔗

The message of the second commandment is not fate: that my ancestors did things wrong and now I get it. That was the thought in Israel at one point. The prophet Ezekiel addresses a proverb among the people: “the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Ezekiel 18:2). The Israelites then considered themselves to be the children. They are struck by the judgment of exile because of the sin of their ancestors. They consider that to be injustice from God.

Ezekiel, on the other hand, emphasizes everyone’s personal responsibility. Everyone will die for their own sin. He must shake people awake with this: that they are not being punished for the sin of their ancestors, but they are guilty themselves and they must acknowledge that. It is also striking that in the criminal law of the Bible the perpetrator is always punished, never someone else. Among the nations around Israel, it did happen that someone’s children were punished instead of the perpetrator himself, but not in Israel.

Message for Parents←⤒🔗

The idea that someone can carry a certain burden or generational curse from his ancestry seems to me to have no basis in Scripture. Nowhere in the Bible do we find an example of anyone being punished or burdened for the sin of their ancestors. The message of the second commandment is not a threat to children (“You never know what you are carrying”), but it is a warning to parents (“What you do affects your children”).

And over against the wrath of the Lord for those who hate him is his mercy for those who love him. His mercy is not a little greater, to the fifth or sixth generation, but endlessly greater, to the thousandth generation. Ezekiel 18 therefore ends with the message that God has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but in this that he turns and lives. The God of the covenant precisely wants to work in the line of generations. That is a plea for parents and children. And the riches of God’s grace is that there is a new beginning. Whatever has happened in the past, you may now take refuge in the merciful God. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin and sets sinners free as the children of God.