Over recent years, there has been much controversy on whether God has given us the power to cast out evil spirits. Ministry leaders, like Morris Cerullo and Richard Roberts, among others in the evangelical community, have been under attack and accused of heresy for this type of healing practice.

Since Jesus was able to heal the sick and cast out demons, they also believe that we have been given that power through the Holy Spirit. But how can we be sure that God has anointed people with the power to heal others?

The argument people make is that Jesus only gave his twelve apostles the ability to heal the sick. While the apostles were with Jesus on earth to witness him heal people, they were taught to do the same. Scripture tells how the twelve men did drive out unclean spirits and heal people from every disease.

How wouldn’t it be even more possible for people now to heal others after he ascended? That would be a point of what Jesus did through his death and resurrection, by giving people ability to drive out evil forces through the power of his completed work. Unless his death was only done according to his plan of salvation for the next world, what authority can we obtain from him on earth?

God’s power may not just be limited to the twelve apostles; they were given authority to show how others can apply the same commands. Otherwise, we would not have the power to overcome strongholds that people are burdened with.

Sometimes we just have to follow God’s word to understand what’s clearly taught. By being willing to obey his commands, our struggles with sin are covered, but there can still be negative consequences of how it can impact your life. It can easily cause trouble in the world that leads to reproach, persecution, or spiritual affliction that people need cured from, such as anxiety and witchcraft. Those are reasons to avoid taking certain paths, or else it could result in harming people that way.

Whether it affects our relationship with God is another issue, but simply turning from sin is not how we inherit the land; it is obtained by his grace alone, and it’s assured by seeing the wrong in our transgressions. Why sin keeps happening could be yielding us from turning to him the wrong way. But the deeper you are into sin, the worse it can cause those kinds of spiritual attacks.

It’s obvious that those things can cause physical and mental harm, although it does not have to affect your faith if you understand the fault of your sin. The problems it may cause are not only in the mind and body but also theological misunderstandings in your belief system. As a result, one may need a faith healer to help be restored from all kinds of spiritual warfare.

One faith leader by the name of Derek Prince (who was a British medic in North Africa during World War Two) discovered God’s healing power after going through many trials and tribulations. He wrote several books on how to overcome demonic attacks, many of which give biblical direction into God’s healing medicine, his unique method of using scripture passages.

Prince cured people from psychological, physical, and spiritual disorders, just as Jesus and the apostles did, just as Morris Cerullo and Roberts could, and just as others could, through God’s anointing power. Morris Cerullo and Richard Roberts, including his father Oral Roberts, are believed to have healed people from all walks of life, giving them mental, physical and spiritual power over the enemy. According to what the Bible teaches, God can use other people to release his divine healing power.

What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out” (Luke 4:36).

What power does satan have then if we have faith over our sins? Sin shall have no dominion over us if we aren’t deceived and recover properly. Falling into sin doesn’t have to mean you fall away from faith, for God provides enough grace each day.

In order to not fall away, you don’t go astray into destruction that’s caused by unbelief, in which one becomes blameless in their own eyes. Those who think you must become blameless without sin would be what the world sees and not what God sees to replace. Breaking free from addiction is not the only type of sin. Although addiction could harden your heart, only the deception of it can.

Much of the world still needs help over its demonic attack — the right solution that heals people from its problems, including the sickness and confusion that it causes. That solution can only be found through the power of Christ, which may be released by someone you encounter.

Footnotes:

— We are not our own cure.

— To become blameless on our own is infused righteousness

— We are imputed righteousness.

— One must know his sin

— One can only turn from addiction; he cannot turn from sin.