Rabbi K. A. Schneider - Self-Deliverance: How To Gain Victory Over The Powers Of Darkness

Let me begin by telling you that many of the problems you and I deal with are coming from the realm of darkness and are demonic.

If you find this hard to believe, you are not alone.

The topic of demons is almost foreign in the Western Church. While Scripture looks squarely at the reality of demonic bondage, many people who love Jesus shy away from it. It seems easierand somehow saferto think that demonic effects are the result of natural phenomena or perhaps a medical issue. Or they conclude that maybe demons do affect some people, but this must be a rarity, occurring in only extreme cases, as in the movie The Exorcist .

Whatever way they choose to bypass the subject, many of Gods people are letting wrong paradigms keep them from the truth. They never consider that the Bible is specific about this: Demons are a problem for all of us. And unless we come to grips with the fact that we are dealing with spiritsspirits that plague us with false perceptions of reality, false perceptions of God, false perceptions of life, false perceptions of ourselvesunless we realize that these false perceptions are delusions from the realm of darkness to destroy us and to mock God, we are never going to get free.

The Lord wants us to have spiritual discernment about what is happening in our own lives and the lives of those around us. He wants to show us the nature of this battle and equip us so that we can defeat Satan and put him under our feet.

Think for a moment about how much of Jesus ministry dealt with casting out demons. From the very beginning, Jesus dealt with people who had problems with demons. Matthew 4:2324 states this specifically:

Jesus was going throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.... [They] brought to Him... demoniacs... and He healed them.

Matthew 8:16 says: When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word.

How many? Many who were demon-possessed.

Not only did Jesus Himself set people free, but He also taught His disciples to deliver people who had been snared by these evil spiritual beings: He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons (Mark 3:1415).

He then appointed seventy others to go out and proclaim the Good News, and they returned saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name (Luke 10:17).

Casting out demons was a pillar in the ministry Jesus established. Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus spoke these parting words to His disciples, known as the Great Commission: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.... These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons (Mark 16:15, 17).

The question to us, then, is this: Should the call on Jesus Church today be any different from the call on His followers when He walked the earth? He wants us to preach, to share the Gospel, to healbut He also wants us to use the authority He has given us to cast out demons. Demons are for real. Jesus does not want us to be destroyed by these spiritual beings.

Maybe you picked up this book because you sense that something is happening around you in the spirit realm, but you are not exactly sure what it is. Or perhaps you are well aware that demons are plaguing your life, and it seems as if you cannot escape the harassment.

I want to encourage you that help is available for you. You can live in freedom from demonic bondage. And you do not have to wait for somebody else to deliver you. You can free yourself.

Throughout this book we will learn the principles from Scripture that teach us how to drive demons out of our lives. Not only is self-deliverance possible for every believer, it is a necessary and important part of our walk in Yeshua.

How does this happen?

In order to gain victory over evil spirits, we need to confront them, to take authority over them and to replace their lies with truth. You will learn how to do this. We will explore every aspect of the process of self-deliverance.

Not only will you discover that you are winning the battle against demonic spirits, but you will find that taking hold of these simple truths affects the way you experience the presence of God. As you move into His freedom, you will begin to notice a change in the atmosphere that surrounds you. You will begin literally to see darkness dissipate. And you will find yourself being surrounded by peace and clarity that you have not known before.