The word “Sozo” comes from a Greek word which means “save” or “deliver” and thus the prayer is a “prayer for deliverance.” The prayer is meant to “deliver a believer from anything in their life that is hindering their fellowship with God.” This sounds good for we (as believers) should always be praying for such deliverance. A good example of a prayer for this kind of deliverance is David’s prayer in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (NKJV).

Sadly, the “Sozo prayer” is not that simple and it involves many things that are NOT scriptural. According to those who invented this prayer (a group of people in Redding, CA associated with the Charismatic Movement), the following STEPS are necessary in order to pray the Sozo prayer:

1) There must be a MEDIATOR or GUIDE who is trained to walk the Sozoee (the person seeking deliverance) through their time of prayer.

2) The mediator “guides the Sozoee through an ascent of the ‘Father Ladder,’ in which the Sozoee is encouraged to VISUALIZE God and speak to the image of the Lord created in the mind’s eye.

3) One must then identify “doors” that have been opened to allow sin in their lives, followed by “closing and sealing” the doors by the blood of Jesus.

4) Once the door is closed and sealed the Sozoee is “told to give a single clap of the hands, supposedly to help disengage the lie that had taken root in his or her mind.”

Does this sound strange to you and foreign to Scripture? It should, for you will look in vain for anything that even resembles this “ritual of prayer” in the Bible. Those who espouse this kind of prayer claim complete healing of the body, soul and spirit. Besides the need to go through the steps outlined above, the Sozoee must be willing to grant forgiveness to any and all who have offended them and this will help them to “close and seal the doors” mentioned above, resulting in fellowship with God being restored.

As is always the case, Satan is very clever at “mixing truth with error” in order to make something palatable. The truth is we should be willing to extend forgiveness to those who have offended us. In Matthew 18:21-22 we read, “Then Peter came to Him (Jesus) and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Ephesians 4:32 states, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, just as God in Christ forgave you.” Forgiveness is indeed necessary if we are to go on in fellowship with God the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Fellowship with God should also be our number one priority, for that is one of the main reasons God has saved us and brought us into His family. We read in John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John also wrote about this fellowship in 1st John 1:3, “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” But we are never told that we need a human “mediator or guide” to walk us through a prayer in order to restore us to complete fellowship with the Father and the Son. The Sozo prayer has its origin in the fertile minds of mere humans and its step by step instructions that have absolutely no support from Scripture.  (379.3)  (DO)