7 Ways To Determine if you Need Deliverance

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7 Ways To Determine if you Need Deliverance 

The presence and nature of evil spirits can be known by two principle methods: 

(1) Discernment. The verse I Cor. 12:10 lists “discerning 
of spirits” as one of the nine supernatural gifts of the 
Holy Spirit. An example of the operation of the gift of 
discerning spirits happened to me two days after I was 
baptized in the Holy Spirit. I had been asked to give a 
testimony at a meeting of the Full Gospel Businessmen 
and was sitting on the platform. In the back of the large 
auditorium were a number of hippies. One of them got 
up and started towards the front. Two others got up and 
followed him. As I looked at the first fellow a pain 
struck me in the stomach as though I had been hit with 
a fist. Turning to a stranger sitting next to me I 
whispered, “Is that man in the spirit of the Lord?” He 
replied, “I don’t know, but he surely doesn’t look too 
good:” “Why, he has a demon!” I exclaimed. The 
brother next to me suggested, “Perhaps you have a gift 
of discernment.” With an assurance that I could not 
account for, I said “I don’t know what I have, but I know 
what he has. He has a demon!” Now, the gifts of the 
Spirit were relatively unknown to me at that time, and I 
had learned nothing about demon spirits. 


As it happened the long-haired hippie came to the 



platform, took over the microphone, and lifting his 
hands in the air declared, “I am the Way; I am Jesus.” 

Then everyone knew he had a demon. As he joined his 
friends at the edge of the platform several in the 
audience simultaneously rose and rebuked the demons 
in the three young men. No one was touching them but 
they all fell to the floor, struck down by an unseen 
power. They were picked up bodily and carried out of 
the room. As a result of this demonstration of the Holy 
Spirit’s power several in the hippie community were 
brought to Christ. These three young men were their 
leaders. 

(2) Detection is the second method of knowing the 
presence and nature of evil spirits. Detection is simply 
observing what spirits are doing to a person. When 
Jesus was here on earth in the flesh he found people 
well acquainted with demons. Jesus did not have to 
teach them of the existence of evil spirits or explain 
how they can indwell; this was common knowledge. An 
example is found in Mark 7:24-30. A Syrophenician 
woman came to Jesus with an appeal that He cast an 
“unclean spirit” out of her daughter. In Matthew’s 
parallel account the mother says, “My daughter is 
grievously vexed with a devil (demon).” How did she 
know this? She knew it by the symptoms. We can learn 
today to detect evil spirits by observing what they are 
doing to a person. 

Some of the most common symptoms of indwelling 
demons are as follows: 



1. Emotional Problems 


Emotional problems disturbances in the emotions 
which persist or recur. Some of the most common 
disturbances are resentment, hatred, anger, fear, 
rejection (feeling unwanted and unloved), self-pity, 
jealousy, depression, worry, inferiority and insecurity 

2. Mental Problems 

Disturbances in the mind or thought life, such as 
mental torment, procrastination, indecision, 
compromise, confusion, doubt, rationalization and loss 
of memory, 

3. Speech Problems 

Outbursts or uncontrolled use of the tongue. These 
include lying, cursing, blasphemy, criticism, mockery, 
railing and gossip. 

4. Sex Problems 

Recurring unclean thoughts and acts regarding sex. 
These include fantasy sex experiences, masturbation, 
lust, perversions, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, 
incest, provocativeness and harlotry. 

5. Addictions 


The most common addictions are to nicotine, alcohol, 



drugs, medicines, caffeine and food. 

6. Physical Infirmities 

Many diseases and physical afflictions are due to spirits 
of infirmity. (See Luke 13:11). When a demon of 
infirmity is cast out there is often the need to pray for a 
healing of whatever damage has resulted. Thus, there is 
a close relationship between deliverance and healing. 

7. Religious Error 

Involvement to ANY DEGREE in religious error can 
open the door for demons. Objects and literature from 
sources of religious error have been known to attract 
demons into houses. 

(1) False religions, e.g. Eastern religions, pagan 
religions, philosophies, and mind sciences. Note: This 
includes such popular interests as yoga exercises and 
karate which cannot be divorced from heathen 
worship. 

(2) Christian Cults, e.g. Mormonism, Jehovah’s 
Witnesses, Christian Science, Rosicrucianism, 
Theosophy, Unity and many more. Such cults deny or 
confuse the necessity of Christ’s blood as the way of 
atonement for sin and for salvation. Cults also include 
some lodges, societies and social agencies which use 
religion (scripture and even God) as a foundation, but 
omit the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. All such cults 
may be classified as “bloodless religions”... that is, those 



“having a form of godliness, but denying the power 
thereof” (II Tim. 3:5). 

(3) Occult and Spiritism, e.g. seances, witchcraft, magic, 
ouija boards, levitation, palmistry, handwriting 
analysis, automatic handwriting, ESP, hypnosis, 
horoscopes, astrology, divination, etc. NOTE: Any 
method of seeking supernatural knowledge, wisdom, 
guidance and power apart from God is forbidden! (See 
Deut. 18:9-15) 

(4) False doctrine. I Tim. 4:1 warns of great increase 
of doctrinal errors promoted by deceiving and 
seducing spirits in the last days. Such doctrines 
are designed to attack both the humanity and 
deity of Jesus Christ; to deny the inspiration of 
Scripture; to distract Christians from the move of 
the Spirit; to cause disunity in the Body of Christ; 
to cause confusion in the Church through 
obsession with doctrines coupled with a 
compulsion to propagate such doctrines; to puff 
up with a sense of superiority in revelation, 
making the one in error unteachable; and to 
foster emphasis upon fleshly activities as a 
gateway to the spiritual, as in asceticism and 
vegetarianism.