Pigs in the Parlor: A Practical Guide to Deliverance

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The Bible does not support the many “suppositions” this author has made to create his own ideas about how demons ought to be handled. A shame to hear how some believe it’s based in fact. When literally there are passages about how to interpret dreams and how these authors are literally making money off of your incompetence. “Demon of pain, come out of Fred!” -Is literally in the book.

Demons return when they are cast out of unbelievers: Jesus clearly warned us that if we cast demons out of unbelievers, they are bound to return, each spirit bringing 7 even worse spirits with it (Matthew 12:43-45). I read some of ‘Pigs in the Parlour’ as a young Christian many years ago. At the time I simply dismissed it as over the top and I felt that the authors were twisting scripture to get their point across. I also had some ‘amateurs’ try casting demons out of me at the time and I was thoroughly put off the whole idea of looking for demons. Well, that is what I thought… However as I have studied this I now see that things are not that straight forward for Christians. One aspect is that demons are ‘trespassers’– they have a number of ways to get into people and don’t tend to leave that person until they are made to do so. The New Testament makes it clear that it is only in the power of Jesus name that Jesus disciples could command demons/afflicting unclean spirits to leave people. So it follows then that when someone becomes a Christian unless demons are told to leave using the authority of Jesus name that demons won’t just leave. I will say this cover is absolutely gorgeous and should be something akin to animal farm but alas it’s not. Unbelievers aren't prepared to receive deliverance: Colossians 2:13-15 shows us how Jesus forgave our sins, and thereby disarmed the demonic spirits in our lives. In the life of a non-believer, there is no disarming of the demons, because there is no forgiveness of sins.I read this book many years ago, it was an assignment I had in a class about demon-possession and spiritual deliverance ministry. It is a book I will keep all my life and over the years have used it many, many times to help people who struggle with religious issues and strongholds in their Christian walk. The doctrine that Christians are no longer subject to demonic activity can lead to one or the other of two unfortunate results. Either a believer may yield to demonic pressures with some comment like ‘ I can’t help myself; that’ just the way I am”. Or he may seek to suppress the pressures within, and in so doing expend much spiritual energy that could have been used for more positive purposes.

Frank Davis Hammond (Oct. 12, 1921 - March 17, 2005) was an author of Christian related books, particularly on deliverance ministry. In 1980 Hammond founded 'The Children's Bread Ministry' with his wife (and sometimes coauthor) Ida Mae Hammond. Hammond was an alumnus of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. As this world gets crazier and more evil, my prayer is that we tap into, that we fully embrace, all that Jesus has given us to fight, to endure, to stand firm, and to be a warrior that He can send out for battle. I pray you reflect on His Word and His promises and how it can be lived out through you and your circumstances. Through all that I’ve learned from books like Pigs in the Parlor, friends like Jeannette, and other resources throughout this season, my faith and confidence in Him has grown exponentially. I’ve been stretched in more ways than I ever could imagine, yet I’m truly thankful and actually do consider it all joy. I’m so grateful too, that my kids were able to see this at a young age so that they can be better equipped for the battles that lie ahead for them — and as we know, there will be many. Paul speaks here about people who, through yielding to the influence of demons, “depart from their faith”. Obviously they could not depart from their faith unless they had been in the faith. As Christians they had apparently opened themselves up to deceiving demons and consequently turned away from their faith in Christ.In the Gospels, the symptoms of those who had a demon included extreme strength, epileptic-like fits, self-destructive behavior, screaming, and revulsion at Jesus Christ (a symptom no Christian can have). Compare some of the symptoms that Hammond says are common in people who have a demon: worry, procrastination, gossip, caffeine addiction, and the like (28-29). In fact, these things supposedly *are* demons. Also on the list of nearly 300 demons are stubbornness, shyness, daydreaming, discouragement, headache, retardation, forgetfulness, heartache, embarrassment, sexual frigidity, and intellectualism (113-15). I suppose I have the last-mentioned demon. Ignorance and stupidity, however, did not make the list. Anyway these tormenting spirits caused the baby to cry incessantly until he was held by the authors wife who delivered him from these demons

The writers of this book don’t express any doubt about the issue, the first sentence of chapter 1 starts : ” Demon Spirits can invade and indwell human bodies.” No debate, no argument – just in effect ‘They’re real and people get them… The only deliverance you will be shown in this book is the deliverance of your time, money and sanity. Hammond quotes scripture quite a lot and seems in no doubt about what he is teaching through this book. He even makes a large – but he says incomplete – list of all the demons he has encountered in his ministry – which is a lot of types, and explains that there is the potential to get a demon of just about anything! I don’t know what to think about that last assertion or how Biblical it is. As I talk about what can be controversial topics regarding demons and the spirit realm even in Christian circles, it comes with hesitation and concern that some may be offended. That is not my intention at all as I write. I can only tell you what I experienced and what God has shown me during the last 4-5 years. When I told a friend my concerns, he reminded me that “we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” (Revelations 12:11) I needed to hear that. All of this is part of my testimony and I need not be ashamed. Because of His blood and the testimony He’s given me through this, I HAVE overcome. However, PIGS IN THE PARLOR is one of the worst Christian books I have ever read. Hammond teaches that *everyone,* including every Christian, has at least one demon and should seek to be delivered from it . In the Gospels, though, no one who had a demon ever approached Jesus and requested deliverance. No one! Loved ones had to bring the demoniacs to Jesus because they had no control over their bodies.

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He once expelled demons from a childs mobile which had pictures of a frog and some owls on it (demons quite like frogs and owls apparently) And finally let me post a comment made to someone who dared call this book 'unbiblical', and which leaves me hope that maybe I too will receive some learnin' Do consider that if Christians could have demons so could non Christians as the authors point out. However if you are a Christian reading this you may be saying: What? How could this be? No way can that be right – Christians can’t have demons! Well, lets talk about that a little. There was just so much stuff in this book that was laughable (and this isn't even going into the entire chapter dedicated to explaining how Schizophrenia isn't an illness but is actually caused by multiple demons)

If an unlicensed person set themselves up and described themselves as a Psychiatrist or a Surgeon, would you go to them for treatment or an operation ? Well in conclusion, all I can say is that while don’t know of many Christian Churches practising this stuff, the practice does sound like it makes a for rather more literal reflection of what Jesus went around doing for suffering people and of what called his disciples to do. In fact I now notice that the Gospels talk rather more about Jesus casting out demons than I ever realised they did. Read them for yourself (again?) if you’re wondering. They say – The Gospels that is – that he did it for A LOT of people – and his doing it made big waves from the descriptions of how people reacted. I will read further on this I think and get some other angles from those who claim to practise it. They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.* [22] The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.* [23] Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil* spirit cried out, [24] “What do you want with us,* Jesus of Nazareth?* Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”* The scripture does not suggest that new Christians are automatically exempt from all the consequences of what happened to them before they became believers. Consider a woman who suffers from chronic sinusitis caused by bacteria. She becomes a Christian but the sinusitis continues. The natural explanation would be that the sinusitis is still caused by the same bacteria. No one would dispute that conclusion on doctrinal grounds. Now let us consider a man who has severe emotional problems caused by demons. The man becomes a Christian but the problems continue. Is there any scriptural reason to question that his emotional problems are still caused by demons? To stretch the meaning of Mark 16:17,(18) to accommodate a strange variety of self-appointed people who seek to perform exorcisms for personal motives, but decline to be bound by any form of oversight or professional standards, and refuse to enter the priesthood to be ordained first, then authorised – the accepted and normal route (where they are properly screened, trained and authorised on a case by case basis), is wishful thinking and only benefits these non-authentic ..exorcists’, and… intelligent evil.Since it has already been shown that demon spirits are able to gain entrance to a fetus and to children.” Where? Where in the world is that a proven statement?? Hammond's books helped to transfer the ideas of deliverance ministry into the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, in particular the concept of demonic influence short of the demonic possession that requires exorcism by a priest. [4] Personal [ edit ] Frankly, this book terrified me as an impressionable young convert. I was convinced that my own fleshly appetites must be the result of demons inside of me. Then a remarkable thing happened: I began to open the Bible and read for myself what God has to say about the sin nature. Deliverance is for those who are in covenant with God: In Matthew 15:26, Jesus tells a non-Jewish woman who was seeking deliverance for her daughter, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." Obviously the context of this verse tells us that He wasn't speaking of physical children, but spiritual children. I also believe Jesus made it clear in this verse that it is not fit to cast deliverance before those who are outside covenant with God.