Deliverance ministry

In Christianity, deliverance ministry refers to groups that perform practices to cleanse people of demons and evil spirits. These groups attribute certain people's physical, psychological, spiritual and emotional problems to the activities of these evil spirits in their lives. The doctrines and practices of these ministries are not accepted by all Christians. Deliverance is meant to cast out evil spirits (a.k.a. "demons" helping people overcome negative behaviors, feelings, and experiences. Each individual event is different, but many include some or all of these major steps: diagnosis, naming the demon, expulsion, and some form of action taken by the afflicted person after their deliverance to keep the demon from returning. The distinction between deliverance ministry and exorcism is that exorcism is conducted by priests given special permission from their church, while deliverance ministry is prayer for people who are distressed and wish to heal emotional wounds, including those purportedly caused by evil spirits. In both cases in casting out spirits, intercessors are following the example of Jesus Christ and his disciples given in the New Testament. Many believers in deliverance ministry cite Biblical precedent as an authoritative source for their rituals; this forms a significant part in arguments surrounding deliverance practices. The Biblical precedent for cleansing people of evil spirits goes back to Jesus. The New Testament mentions Jesus casting out evil spirits fifty-five times, but only describes the events in detail five times. He casts demons out of a man in a synagogue (Mark 1) and two men near tombs (Matthew 8). In both episodes, Jesus converses with the demons and they acknowledge him as the Son of God before he casts them out. This is a common occurrence in modern deliverance rituals as well. Jesus also casts demons out of a little girl (Mark 7) and a young boy (Luke 9), both events that the Bible expressly connects to strengthening the faith of their parents; modern practitioners of deliverance ministry interpret their experiences expelling demons as an opportunity to strengthen their own faith as well.