"As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons." Matthew 10:7-8

      This ministry is meant to help people who are struggling with spiritual bondages and oppression in their lives. Jesus gave his followers the authority to cast out demons in the power of His name. Throughout the Bible and the early church this was considered normal and one of the great blessings of being a follower of Jesus Christ! 

If you want to learn more about deliverance ministry there is a great website that answers a lot of questions thoughtfully and biblically. It can serve as a great resource if you have questions throughout the process.

www.greatbiblestudy.com

(From August Newsletter)

Staying Free

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 2:7-10

Deliverance is easy . . . staying free is hard work. Whenever I am a part of a Deliverance as a pastor, I am amazed at how God always comes through. When a person chooses to forgive and repents from their sin, the demons leave when they are told to in the name of Jesus Christ. Deliverance is easy because God does all the work! As we mention in Deliverance sessions, it is a TRUTH encounter . . . not a power encounter. Our greatest weapon is not our muscles, or the loudness of our voice, or our religiosity-it is speaking the Word of God, speaking the truth to evil. Believing the truth rather than a lie. Once the truth is confessed and forgiven, demons must leave when commanded. That’s Deliverance and God makes it easy. The hard work comes after Deliverance.

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that it is hard to stay free—just that it takes hard work and dedication. A demon cannot enter a person without that person’s permission. The problem is that it’s easier to just give in and let them in rather than fight to keep them out. It’s easy to become lazy or forget how nice it is to be out of bondage.

Staying free is hard work and that may be why more people don’t come for Deliverance. Honestly, even though that is sad, it is probably a good thing. If you aren’t serious about staying free from sin, don’t waste time freeing yourself from it in the first place. Jesus says that when a demon leaves and then returns, the state of a person is worst than at first. Deliverance is a great gift for believers in that it frees us from bondage, but if we don’t work hard to stay free from that bondage, the gift is like throwing pearls to swine—we trample over it without thinking twice.

Staying free is hard work, but it is certainly doable and worth it. James says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Think about it. Do you truly believe you CAN’T say “no” to ice cream? Of course you can say no! But you don’t WANT to say no. It’s hard to say no! So you give in. Now imagine that we are talking about your desire for pornography, or to get drunk, or to gossip, or hate someone. It’s not that you CAN’T say no—you can, but it’s HARD WORK! It’s easier to just give in.

If you have already had a Deliverance, I want to encourage you to keep up your hard work. The longer you say “no” to a particular sin, the easier it is to see the benefits of being free. If you have not had a deliverance, I want to encourage you to consider why you haven’t. Is it because you don’t think it would work? Or is it because you just aren’t ready for the hard work that’s going to come after it—staying away from the sin that has you in bondage?

Please know this: it is worth it to work hard and stay free. Submit yourself to God—he can set you free.!And commit yourself to resist the devil. Staying free is hard work, but it is definitely worth it! Amen! 

(From June Newsletter)

When Pigs Move In by Don Dickerman

            Each month, in the newsletter, I have been trying to get our congregation more informed about the Deliverance ministry that our church provides. I understand that it is very unfamiliar to most of you who grew up in the church and, if you didn’t grow up in the church, it is probably even more confusing. My pastors certainly didn’t talk about casting out demons from Christians when I was little, nor was it really discussed much at Seminary; however, as I have mentioned before, Jesus was doing it all the time, the disciples did it, other followers of Jesus were given the authority to do it and, believe it or not, lots of other Christians and churches have been involved in Deliverance ministry for a long time. My point is that just because you didn’t hear about it before, doesn’t mean that this ministry doesn’t exist nor does it mean that it is not extremely important. 

This month, I thought that I’d give you a couple of other resources if you would like to learn more about Deliverance.  While the Bible talks a lot about Deliverance, sometimes it’s hard to imagine what it would look like in today’s world.  There are four books that we have available at the church that I would recommend. While I don’t agree with every biblical interpretation or opinion in all four books, I believe that, overall, they are helpful in understand what Deliverance is and why we should be involved in this ministyr. Of course, if you have any questions about what you are reading, talk to me and search the Scriptures for answers.

First, I would encourage you to read a book by a man named Don Dickerman called When Pigs Move In. We have four or five copies in our church that you are free to buy ($15 each) or read and return. It has a lot of real life stories about how the author became involved in Deliverance ministry and answers a lot of questions Christians might have about demons and casting them out. The beginning is filled with a lot of stories while the second part is more theological and practical in nature.

Another great book to read is called Healing by Francis MacNutt, a doctor turned Catholic priest. The main focus of this book is healing prayer, but it has some good sections on Deliverance as well. Because of MacNutt’s experience with medicine, he does a good job of dealing with a lot of questions you might have or skepticism you might be carrying about all of this. If you like his writing style, you may also choose to delve a little deeper into this subject by reading another of his books called, Deliverance From Evil Spirits. It is much more in depth.

Finally, we have a couple of copies of the classic book, Unbound by Neal Lozano. It was one of the first books written about Deliverance and is a very practical way to experience this ministry on a personal level. If you are struggling with some kind of oppression, but still don’t know if you want to talk about it with anyone, this book might be very helpful for you. 

I hope that you enjoy these books and that you find freedom in Jesus Christ!

-       Pastor Steven Broers

(From Emmanuel's April Newsletter)

Unforgiveness

                As a pastor, I know that the bitterness and unforgiveness people carry around with them affects a lot of things: people’s health, families and our congregation. However, as a deliverance minister, I can hear and see firsthand how unforgiveness opens up Christians to the Devil’s attacks.

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” 1 John 2:9-11

                Some of you might not consider your unforgivness to be “hate”, but that feeling of bitterness inside you creates the same problems,

“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:14-15

                A root is something that hides underneath the surface feeding something else. While we consider hatred to be more active or noticeable, bitterness might even be worse because sometimes you don’t realize it’s there feeding your negative attitudes. You can pull dandelions all day, but if you don’t pull out the roots, they will just keep coming back. If your hatred for a person simply presents itself in your life as bitterness and unforgiveness, you might not think you have a problem until all of a sudden, for no reason at all, you start getting angry or upset when they start coming around. You might avoid them or become overly sensitive at everything they say. This is how the devil works. And if you struggle with unforgiveness, you are probably tormented by angry feelings or throughts.

                In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the story of an unmerciful servant who was forgiven a great debt, but unwilling to do the same toward someone who owed a debt to him. Jesus said,

“In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:34-35

                In the past, I have told you that the Deliverance ministry is for everyone and, while that is true, I should have been more specific. Deliverance ministry will only be effective if you are repentant. If you are being tortured with feelings of anger, bitterness , hatred or unforgiveness toward anyone, if you really want to forgive them and stop being angry, you should come for a Deliverance. While it may seem impossible for you right now to forgive, through the Deliverance process, you will find freedom.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

On the other hand, if you don’t think unforgiveness is that big of a deal, you are can continue experiencing the torment if you so choose. A deliverance will not help if you would rather be angry or if you feel like you are “justified” to hate. We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone.

You see, that’s the lie the Devil makes us believe when we choose NOT to forgive. It is actually a choice to follow the Devil’s plan for your life rather than God’s. God wants to deliver you, forgive you and free you for a life of peace and love for others. The Devil wants to keep you in bondage, encourage you to hate and keep you in that bondage so that you will be estranged from others who have hurt you. If you struggle with unforgiveness, come for a Deliverance and experience the true freedom a life with Jesus Christ offers. Please contact Pastor Broers with any questions or to set up an appointment: 641-745-7648.

Deliverance Ministry – (from Emmanuel's March 2013 Newsletter)

“Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1^st John 3:7-8

We’ve been doing Deliverance ministry here at Emmanuel for about a year now and have seen amazing things. More importantly, people have experienced freedom from sin that had previously kept them bound to a life of secrecy and shame. Yet still, I see a lot of people who could use the benefits of Deliverance and they don’t come forward. Why?

First, I think that a lot of people still don’t believe in the existence of demons and evil spirits. If you think it’s all just a bunch of silliness, here are a short list of scriptures I would encourage you to read:

Mark 16:15-17;

Matthew 10:1;

Luke 10:1, 17-20;

Acts 16:16-18;

Ephesians 6:10-12

Luke 13:10-13, 16-17.

More to the point, Jesus cast out demons, gave his disciples authority to do the same and encouraged many of his followers to do it as well. And deliverances weren’t just for crazy demoniacs, but for God’s people, a daughter of Abraham who was crippled! If you don’t believe that there is a need for casting out demons why not, because Jesus did and he expected his disciples to do the same!

Second, I think that there are some of you who are interested in getting a deliverance, but you feel awkward and shameful. You don’t want people to think you are weird and you are getting by just fine. Despite what the movies project, deliverance ministry isn’t only for crazy psychotic people, it’s for believers who, despite their best efforts, have fallen into sin and are now paying the consequences. Jesus said that he came that you might have life and have it abundantly. If your sins have taken over your life, if you are struggling with depression or constant anxiety, even if you are sick for no known reason, one of the benefits to being a believer is that God gives the ministry of deliverance. I’m not saying that you for sure have a demon oppressing you, but if you do, why not cast it out? If you don’t even up having a demon, I promise you that a deliverance will remind you of God’s love and healing power anyway.

Contact Pastor Broers at 641-745-7648 for questions or to set up a meeting to discuss the possibility of having a deliverance. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. Jesus died and rose again to give you freedom. Why not take this opportunity to let him set you free?