Detroit — John Kazanjian wants people to know deliverance ministry isn’t scary, and it’s not just for people who need exorcists.

Rather, it’s a “quite beautiful” way of renouncing sin, turning back to God and asking Jesus to heal past wounds.

Kazanjian and his wife, Michelle, lay missionaries with Ann Arbor-based Renewal Ministries, were the main presenters during a Jan. 28 training conference for priests and deacons at Sacred Heart Major Seminary on the concepts of deliverance ministry and how to apply it to help people dealing with past sins, wounds and spiritual oppression.

Deliverance is often the subject of misunderstanding among Catholics who equate it with “the kind of stuff that’s messy and ugly and unseemly,” Kazanjian said.

“Deliverance, in my mind and I think in a lot of people’s minds, was more about having this confrontation with demonic things, demonic beings,” Kazanjian told The Michigan Catholic during an interview in between talks at the daylong conference, which was attended by about 50 priests and deacons. “That’s a common misconception. A better way to think about it, and I think a more direct way to think about it, is that deliverance is about what happens when you decide you want to give your life to Jesus.”

People don’t like to use the word “deliverance” because of its often dark connotation, Kazanjian said, but “the point of this conference is to try to bring our attention to the beautiful part of deliverance and what it really is, but also to share the truth of the Gospel.”

That truth is essential to the method of deliverance, Kazanjian said, which focuses on the healing offered by Jesus through repentance, forgiveness and renouncing evil.

Without the realization that Jesus is the most powerful key to defeating evil, people often struggle in patterns of hurt, self-reliance and unforgiveness, especially if they’ve been subjected to painful life experiences involving serious sin, Michelle Kazanjian said.

“Sin is doing things our way instead of God’s way,” she said. “When we don’t forgive, we have the same problem, we refuse to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. We refuse to take up our cross and imitate our master.”

The Kazanjians outlined five “keys” to deliverance ministry, following the method laid out in Neal Lozano’s book, Unbound: A Practical Guide to Deliverance.

The first key, John Kazanjian said, is to repent and turn to Jesus in faith as the Lord of all.

“Is Jesus just a person who came to preach a good moral life? Is he a guy who did some pretty extraordinary things, or is he the Lord?” he said. “We come into it asking God to forgive our sins, and to tell Jesus we believe he is who he said he is.”

The second step is forgiveness of others who have caused a person pain, which often can be the most difficult part.

“Modern confusion is that forgiveness is connected with forgetting. People don’t really understand that forgiveness is letting go of the hurt, the pain, the desire for revenge, the desire to get even. It’s putting the person who hurt you in God’s hands,” John Kazanjian said. “A lot of people want to hold onto that.”

Unforgiveness is one of the main ways the devil tricks people into remaining in bondage, and unforgiveness itself can be a serious sin, he said.

“It’s not for me to decide in the end the eternal destiny of this person; that’s God’s responsibility,” John Kazanjian explained. “Once you give your life to the Lord and repent of your sin and forgive, you’ve really taken the teeth out of the enemy’s jaw.”

Once the first two steps are complete, the third key is “the easiest part,” he said: to renounce evil by identifying the lies and deceptions Satan uses to keep people from trusting in Jesus and forgiving others.

After that, keys four and five involve invoking the name of Jesus to take authority over evil and commanding such spirits to leave, and then asking the Lord to bless, heal and confirm a person in their identity and purpose as a child of God.

While anyone — not just priests and deacons — can do deliverance ministry, following each step and placing trust entirely in Jesus is essential, John Kazanjian said.

Because of the nature of dealing with spiritually oppressive beings, however, sometimes cases are more serious and can’t be effectively dealt with through deliverance alone, said Fr. Scott McCaig, CC, an exorcist and general superior of the Companions of the Cross who spoke at the conference.

Fr. McCaig warned that in rare cases, if a person isn’t able to respond to deliverance, stronger measures might be required.

“If a person is so unfree that they can’t cooperate with Unbound, refer the case to a trained exorcist,” he said.

But most of the time, deliverance is an underutilized tool in fighting off evil, John Kazanjian said.

“When people come to me and ask for Unbound prayer, they’re giving me an excuse; they’re saying, John, preach the Gospel to me,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

 

Live Free! Conference

A Live Free! conference for lay Catholics will take place June 10-11 at SS. Cyril and Methodius Parish, Sterling Heights. Email [email protected] for information.