Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 50
are doing good things. Thus when a Catholic bishop decided to investigate one covenant
community in the Midwest, the impression spread through the group that the devil was
using him as a pawn to undo the good God was doing through their community. This is a
dramatic and serious claim. It was not alleged that the bishop was morally wrong or
corrupt he was admittedly within the bounds of his episcopal authority. But even then, he
was playing Satan‟s game, because he did not know Satan‟s plan. Satan is so devious and
deceptive that one can be free of his designs only by following those who have discerned his
true plans. These, of course, are the leaders of the community.
Because any member can fall unwittingly into the devil‟s traps and because the influence of
evil spirits is supposed to be so pervasive, most of these communities require new members
to submit to the “prayer of deliverance” during the early weeks of membership. “Being
prayed with for deliverance” is, in fact, a major spiritual event, a turning point in the new
member‟s life. This prayer originated among the nondenominational pastors of the Gulf
Coast Fellowship in the early 1970s, and they taught it to some Catholic charismatic
leaders. The very existence of covenant communities is attributed to the discovery of this
prayer. Addressing an audience of covenant community leaders from around the country in
August 1977, Kevin Ranaghan commented that without deliverance “we would have been
just a happy little Holy Spirit group.”
The prayer of deliverance assumes a kind of demonic intervention midway between ordinary
temptation and outright possession. This is a kind of oppression or obsession by which
demons lay siege to a particular area of a person‟s life. So, for example, a young man may
be oppressed by a spirit of lust, which constantly urges him to lustful acts and desires. The
victim may well believe that he suffers from a particular character weakness, whereas in
fact he is being constantly harassed by demons.
The effects of this obsession need not correspond directly to the sinful area represented by
the obsession. The spirit may work “negatively.” For example, the spirit of lust may cause
his victim to be reluctant to relate to members of the opposite sex. A spirit of anger might
not inspire outbursts of anger but instead cripple his victim‟s capacity to confront evil. Thus,
there are no unequivocal signs of demonic obsession. A seemingly virtuous life can still
mask the workings of a host of evil spirits.
The prayer for deliverance depends neither on some kind of analysis nor on confession.
(Indeed, the person undergoing deliverance may have no pertinent sins on his conscience.)
Rather a prayer team attempts to discern on its own in prayer what evil spirits may be at
work. The Pastoral Guidelines of the People of Praise states:
Normally within the first year of being underway each member of the community is
prayed with for deliverance. Normally this is done in a general deliverance session.
It is also normal for people to be prayed with again for deliverance if they and their head
feel it would be beneficial for them. (Lk. 10:19-20) ...The team does not “interrogate
the spirits,” but rather discerns their presence and prays against them in the name of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The person being prayed with is to renounce any
spirits that are named.
The method here is significant. The “victim” plays a passive role in his or her deliverance. In
the early days of covenant communities, the spirits were interrogated, and this gave the
victim a more active role. At the prompting of the prayer leader, the victim was to respond
for the spirits, trusting that the Holy Spirit would ensure that the evil spirits involved would
be honest. This “discernment” might run something like this:
Leader: I sense the presence of a spirit having to do with money. (To the victim, gently)
Just respond with the first thing that comes to mind. (To the demon, sharply) I
command you evil spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, to tell us your name!

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 51
Victim: I have a sense of claws, maybe something grasping?
Leader: Good! I command you, you grasping spirit, you spirit of greed, to come out in
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and return to hell and never to
oppress this child of God again.
Although it rejects the practice for its public deliverance sessions, the People of Praise
continues to endorse such interrogation of spirits during private deliverance prayers. In
public or “general” services, the prayer team members discuss among themselves what
“leadings,” “senses,” and “discernments” they may have. Those leading the prayer include
the person‟s “head,” who represents the community‟s authority in the victim‟s life. This
person (usually male) is normally regarded as the most reliable voice of God in the
community member‟s life. Other members of the prayer team are drawn from the
leadership of the community. Their “discernment” consists of the first thing that comes to
mind as they pray. (This is taken to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.) The discernment will run
like this:
Leader: Let‟s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what evil spirits are at work in this sister.
Lord, give us the gift of discernment and reveal what demons are at work here....
Team member: The word resentment keeps coming to mind, and I have an image of a
child who is very angry about a toy her sister has.
Leader: That sounds right. Let‟s cast out the spirit of resentment.
And they all proceed to cast the resentful spirit into hell in the name of the Lord. The
victim‟s job is simply to renounce the demon.
On the face of it, this seems fairly harmless. No attempt is made to psychoanalyze the one
receiving prayer. Neither are accusations of wrongdoing made nor confessions required. The
victim is seen as being delivered from malevolent evil beings which are crippling his life in
Christ. All he need do is pray and renounce this evil.
In fact, the entire procedure is fraught with psychological traps. One of the most serious is
the opportunity for manipulation of conscience. Frequently when a member expresses
reservations about some aspect of community life or criticizes community leaders, those
who pray with her will discern a “critical spirit.” If the head has been encouraging a
particular course of action (e.g., that a woman accept a particular marriage proposal) which
the member has resisted, then the prayer team will likely discern a “spirit of rebellion.”
Once the “demon” has been cast out by the team and renounced by the victim, then the
matter is not put to rest. Rather, in the future when the member begins to criticize or rebel,
her head will remind her that the critical or rebellious spirits have been cast out she must
continue to renounce them and claim her deliverance. To revert to the demon-inspired
behavior is to risk falling back into the devilish trap that Christ had delivered her from.
Deliverance from evil spirits can thus easily become a means for controlling behavior and
manipulation of consciences.
In trying to understand the power of this process, it is important to interpret the prayer of
deliverance according to the member‟s conceptual framework, not one‟s own. The member
knows he is not expert in spiritual matters, and he has learned to trust his leaders, who
claim to be such. What may seem silly to some readers is a conviction to members. Leaders
gain in power by exploiting the profound fear that comes from this conviction.
When a Catholic goes to confession, he must prepare beforehand by examining his
conscience. In so doing, not only must he identify general areas of moral weakness, but he
must recall specific incidents of wrongdoing to confess. A wise confessor may well lead the
penitent not only to a deeper repentance, but also to a clearer identification of general
tendencies toward sin. However, the penitent is not bound by his analysis. In the prayer for