Randy Clark - The Biblical Guidebook to Deliverance

I WANT TO END THIS BOOK ON THE MINISTRY OF deliverance by bringing our focus backto Jesus, our deliverer. Satan and his demons know exactly who Jesus is and so mustwe. Born as God in the flesh into a world that understood and demanded an earthlyking, one to rule them all, Jesus came as our heavenly King, bringing with Him heavento earth.

This book, like most books on the ministry of deliverance, has focused a great dealon an understanding of Satan. Those called to the ministry of deliverance must havea firm grasp of who Satan is and the many ways in which he operates in order to ministereffectively. But it is not our knowledge of Satan nor how skillfully we apply itthat we bring to those who are struggling, caught in Satans web of deceit and destruction.As we look into the faces of those we minister to, we must offer them Jesus, ourdeliverer, for there is no one that can bring freedom from the bondage of Satan exceptour matchless King, Jesus Christ. When we shine the light of Christ into the darknessof bondage and despair, His light overcomes all darkness. Understanding our enemyis key to the battle, but understanding the One who brings victory is how the battleis won.

The world was seething with unrest, violence, brutality and darkness when Jesusbroke upon the scene. Gods chosen people, the Jews, had been longing for the Messiahpromised by the prophets for centuries. This Messiah would deliver them from theirenemies and establish His reign, and the people of God would find safety and prosperityin His earthly kingdom. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the one who would bind up thebrokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for theprisoners. His words resonated with the Jewish people who had struggled under theyoke of captivity and oppression for generations. They didnt understand that Isaiahwas prophesying of a heavenly king whose rule from heaven would change the earth.

At the time of Jesuss birth the Jewish people were under the control the Roman Empire,ruled by Herod the Great, a cruel and ruthless right-hand man to Augustus Caesar.Herods brutality knew no bounds. Executions were commonplace and numerous and includedHerods own wife, who was put to death at his command, as were two of his sons. Humanlife had little value. Human sacrifice was rare but still practiced at times forspiritual purposes.

Every aspect of Jewish life was impacted by Roman rule. Struggling mightily to remainthe people of God, Jewish nationalistic opposition took many forms. The Zealot movementopposed all things Roman, while the Sadducees sought coexistence and were allowedby the Romans to rule an internal government for the Jewish nation. The Phariseespracticed strict adherence to Jewish law in the hopes of hastening the coming ofthe long-awaited Messiah.

The culture surrounding the Jewish people was religiously pluralistic. The Romansand Greeks worshipped multiple gods, and paganism was rampant. The city of Corinth,like most major cities in the region, seethed with unbound immorality. Temples dedicatedto Greek gods filled Corinth. Those who worshipped Aphrodite, the goddess of love,practiced prostitution in the name of religion, with hundreds of sacred prostitutesserving at the temple.

Against this backdrop the Jewish people longed for their Messiah, the conqueringking who would liberate them from Roman rule and establish justice and peace. Godbrought them the promised Messiah, but Jesuss birth, life, death, and resurrectionwere so unlike what they had expected that they failed to recognize Him. The conqueringKing with a sword in hand and a throne to sit upon didnt materialize in Jesus ofNazareth in ways that the people expected.

CHRIST THE DELIVERER

The world at the time of Jesuss birth was not unlike the world today. Corruption,immorality, greed, lust, brutality, and godlessness still live in the hearts of men.And many of us fail to see that our promised Messiah has come.

I believe it is in the ministry of healing and deliverance that we are most ableto see Jesus today. It is when the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the deadare raised that we see Jesus bring His kingdom to bear on the earth, as well as theministry to the poor done in His name. When demons are cast out of a person in thename of Jesus, and that person is restored to his right mind and able to live asGod created him to live, we are seeing Jesus wield His sword from His throne at theright hand of God.

When we minister deliverance in the authority of Jesus Christ, spiritual bondagegives way to the kingdom of heaven because Satan and his demons know that all authorityin the spiritual realm rests with Jesus Christ and Him alone.

After His temptation in the wilderness Jesus returned to Nazareth, to the synagogue,on the Sabbath day. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him as He stoodto read. With the words of Isaiah 61 He declared His identity: The Spirit of theSovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news tothe poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for thecaptives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of theLORDs favor (vv. 12).

A great light had come to shine upon a people walking in darkness. A child had beenborn, a son given. And the government was to be upon His shoulders. And He was tobe called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.There will be no end to the increase of His government and peace, and He will rulewith justice and righteousness forever.

This is Jesus who saw Satan and his fallen angels cast out of heaven.This is Jesus of the Gospels who went about healing and delivering. Storms calmedin His presence, food multiplied, and water turned to wine. Leprosy, paralysis, bleeding,blindness, deafness, and withered limbs were healed. The dead were raised. Demonsfled at His command. Those in bondage to the demonic were set free by the word ofHis mouth.

This is the Jesus of the gospel that Paul proclaimed, the Jesus that,... havingdisarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphingover them by the cross (Col. 2:15).

The powers and authorities here are referring to spiritual evil powers and authorities.The public spectacle refers to how conquering Roman generals would often return toRome after battle. When possible they would drag the defeated general of the opposingarmy, hands tied to his chariot, all his regalia stripped away, naked, exposing himto public humiliation as the defeated one. This is the picture Paul is referencingin Colossians 2:15. Jesus is the conquering general of the Lords heavenly host,which outnumbers the fallen demons two to one. He is also the captain of our faith(Heb. 2:10, KJV) and the head of the church (Eph. 5:23).

If you have ministered healing and deliverance, you know that these same things arehappening today. Jesus continues to heal and set the captives free. As humanity groansand thrashes about in the midst of our sin, we have a deliverer, and His name isJesus. The ministry of deliverance advances the kingdom of God in the world, andthat is why Satan fights so hard against it. He has tried to keep the church tiedup in spasms of confusion over the reality of evil for centuries, but he has notfully succeeded nor will he ever because Jesus is alive.

When we understand that freedom equates to advancement, and appropriate that understandinginto ministry, God will use us to bring the reality of His incomparable Son JesusChrist to the lost and broken. Even one deliverance can impact the world for alltime. Take for instance the apostle Paul. Paul experienced deliverance in the midstof his conversion. A rabid antagonist of Christianity, with a slavish devotion toJewish law, Sauls (Pauls) passion was to eradicate the followers of Jesus therebydestroying the fledgling church. He went about his mission with great zeal. He gaveapproval for the death of Stephen and took part in inciting the crowd to begin torise up and persecute the church in Jerusalem. But Saul began to destroy the church.Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison (Acts8:3).