Archive for May, 2009
Posted by owner on
May 30, 2009
I usually don’t have time to explore the WEB. These days I’m much too busy trying to promote The Blind Prophet and the Invisible War novels, and writing articles for demondope. But every now and then I find some time to dabble.
Recently I ran across an interesting article at http://fspp.net on warning signs of demonic Possession. It looks at mental, emotional, and physical symptoms that may be associated with demonization. As the author points out, many of the same symptoms fit mental and other illnesses (and, I might add, dissociative identity disorder.) The author also adds to the list Outward Manifestations, and warns of the need for evidence from each list of symptoms before jumping to the demonic conclusion.
I also ran across an illustration of how the unsuspecting are lured into dangerous practices that may lead to demon possession. It seems that there’s a technique that “transforms anyone–and I mean anyone–into universe-hopping utopian beings, with the ability to consistently accomplish any goal, master any skill, and manifest endless abundance [that means, get rich!], health and happiness.” It seems the purveyor of this breakthrough secret, labeled “Quantum Jumping,” will teach anyone to Quantum Jump, billed as a “far more powerful form of astral projection.” It promises to help anyone–and he means anyone–attract wealth, boost creativity, get guidance from other dimensions, find inspiration, wisdom, and knowledge, and MANIFEST everything you DESIRE.” And best of all, the first course is FREE! [No price structure is provided for follow up courses.]
Shades of L.Ron Hubbard and Scientology. Can Quantum Jumping be the next new religion?
Posted by owner on
May 30, 2009
The country preacher explained. “First, I tells ‘em what I’m gonna tell em. Then I tells ‘em. And then I tells em what I told ‘em.”
I suspect the country preacher got this approach from the Apostle Paul, who used something like it in the Book of Ephesians. Paul had “told” the believers in Ephesus when he was with them. He “tells ‘em” in the Ephesian epistle. And then he tells ‘em what he told ‘em at the end of this brief letter.
Actually, understanding the country preacher’s approach is the key to understanding Paul’s famous words about “the whole armor of God,” a resource which is specifically designed “so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (6:11).
I’m not aware of any commentary that treats Ephesians as a treatise on spiritual warfare, but I suspect that’s what it is.
The situation in Ephesus
When Paul went to Ephesus it was the center of the cult of Diana [Artemis]. Her temple dominated the city, and pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean world flocked to Ephesus to worship. The economy of the city depended on these pilgrims, and whole industries had developed to sell souvenirs and religious items to the visitors.
But the worship of the goddess failed to satisfy the spiritual hunger of the population, and Ephesus was also a center of occult activity. Books of magick were bought and sold, spells and curses were cast, and those who claimed the power to cast out demons,like the seven sons of Sceva, were in great demand. In short, Ephesus was one of Satan’s strongholds, a city where the darkness was intense.
Then Paul arrived with the Gospel, and in just two years of preaching and teaching tore down the system Satan had spent decades developing . . . and in the process destroyed the economy of the city! Silversmiths couldn’t sell their amulets, and millions of dollars worth of books of magick were burned publicly by converts.
Paul had launched spiritual warfare against Satan in one of the centers of his power . . . and had been victorious.
Throwing down strongholds
Introducing the “full armor of God” Paul writes that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (6:12). He then goes on to state that to take our stand against the onslaughts of these demonic forces, God has provided us with a complete set of military equipment, the “full armor” (panoply) which a Roman legionnaire wore when going into battle.
Many commentators have written on the pieces of armor Paul lists. More than a few have missed the point. That point is that Paul, like the country preacher, is using the analogy of armor to “tell ‘em what he’s told ‘em.”
That is, the armor we’re to wear when engaged in spiritual warfare is intended to serve as a review of the book of Ephesians itself.
Only “the sword of the Spirit” in this list is defined [as "the Word of God"]. Why define the sword while leaving the other pieces of armor undefined? Because the other pieces of armor have already been defined in the book itself.
In short, we can and we should approach Ephesians as a manual for spiritual warfare against the demonic powers that rule this world.
Deadly thrusts
In future posts I’ll look at each piece of armor Paul mentions, note its function, and relate it to the relevant teaching in Ephesians. For the rest of this post I want simply to comment on the one piece of equipment not expanded on in Ephesians, the “sword of the spirit.”
Roman military doctrine required soldiers to fight the enemy together, pressed close side by side. Roman ranks advanced, each man’s shoulder pressed against the shoulder of the man next to him, shields held before them, a solid wall bearing down on the enemy. This approach left no room for a soldier to swing a sword with the great looping blows we’re familiar with from pirate movies, or to lunge and retreat, thrust and parry as in fencing. Instead as the ranks of Roman legionaries pressed in to engage the enemy behind their shields, they thrust at their enemy with short, pointed blades. There was no slashing with the Roman broadsword; just deadly thrusts aimed an exposed bodies, arms, legs, or throats; blows that crippled even if they did not kill.
Roman legionaries did carry two javelins. which they hurled as they approached the foe. But when the battle was joined the struggle was face to face, intimate, body straining against body. In this kind of battle the Roman sword was decisive, easy to wield, designed for deadly thrusts in melees where there was no room to swing a longer, sharpened blade.
This is what the Word of God is in spiritual warfare, a Roman short-sword, used by the Spirit of God to strike the enemy deadly blows. This is how Jesus used the Word of God when he was tempted by the Devil (Matthew 4). Jesus found in the book of Deuteronomy truths with which to strike down every test by Satan) Similarly we find in Scripture truth the Spirit will bring to mind to counter every threat and lie of the enemy, and send him reeling in defeat.
Don’t be like Eve
In the temptation in Eden Eve proved vulnerable. As Satan probed, Eve misquoted Scripture, and then questioned God’s motive for commanding the first pair not to eat the forbidden fruit. Thus disarmed, Eve had nothing to rely on but her own appetites and reasoning. The fruit looked and smelled good, and surely God would want her to gain knowledge. So she ate…as Adam, who was not deceived, stood by and let her.
Adam could have stepped in. He could have challenged Satan’s deceits with an accurate statement of the Word God had spoke to him. With one thrust of this Sword provided by the Spirit Adam could have wounded Satan and driven him away . . . and changed the course of human history.
The believer who knows the Word of God and uses it to deal Satan a deadly blow each time the evil one seeks to attack and deceive us is assured of victory.
Let’s learn from Eve, who failed to accurately quote the divine Word, and from Adam, who failed to act on the Word he knew. Let’s equip ourselves with a knowledge of that Word
the Spirit both inspired and brings to our mind when needed, and so make sure we’re equipped not only to defend ourselves against Satan’s schemes but to strike him deadly blows each time he attacks us.
Posted by owner on
May 13, 2009
The Gospels portray humans as the victims of demonic attacks that cause both mental and physical suffering. Jesus deals with this type of possession or oppression by casting out the demons.
The book of Acts portrays human beings cooperating with demons, with the target of the demons efforts not the demonized but those who are deceived by the powers given the one who is possessed. In such cases there are apparent benefits for the demonized individual. Simon the sorcerer was viewed with awe as a “great power.” Elymas gained influence with the Roman procouncul of Cypress and a place in his court. The slave girl of Philippi earned a prosperous living for her owners.
In pointing out such benefits I do not suggest that such persons are not victims of demons. They are . . . and increasingly so as the demonic gains greater and greater control of their lives. At the same time, the fact that the apostles rebuked such persons rather than immediately expelling the demons suggests that there is definite cooperation by the person with the demon possessing him or her. There appears to the demonized individual to be some benefit to be gained through the relationship with the demon(s).
We can place all contemporary practitioners of the occult who exercise any real powers in this group. There are those who argue that some clairvoyants, fortune tellers, etc. exercise native human gifts rather than supernatural gifts. However, as Deut 18 forbids reliance on all occult practices, the association of such practices with the demonic seems to me to be established.
Two types of demonization
So far in looking at our spiritual warfare with the devil we’ve focused on two types of demonization. The one involves a direct attack on the victims, with its symptoms being physical and/or mental distress. We can call this “hostile demonization.” The normative response to this type of attack is to “meet the devil head on” and exorcise the demons.
The second involves the demon(s) launching an indirect attack on others through the demonized person. Here the symptoms are the exercise of some occult ability by the demonized individual. We can call this “beneficial demonization.” The normative response to this type of attack is (a) to avoid all reliance on such a person’s powers, and (b) to rebuke the individual.
Satan’s strategy
To put this second type of attack in perspective we need to understand something of Satan’s basic strategy for dealing with humans. Simply put, that strategy is “deceive them.”
It’s not difficult to demonstrate this thesis. The Bible call’s Satan a “liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Paul points out that Satan “masquerades as an angel of light” and notes that it’s not surprising if his agents “masquerade as servants of righteousness.”
Revelation portrays Satan as the deceiver of the nations, a characteristic we observe in early Genesis as the serpent works at deceiving Eve in Eden.
Underlying most if not all demonic activity is the intent to deceive and thus to gain control of humans.
Truth vs falsehood
Jesus encouraged his disciples by promising them that if they acted on his words they would know the truth, and that the truth would set them free. Satan’s strategy is to distort truth, so that humans wander through life in darkness, never able to identify the truth they are to live. Wandering in darkness, a person finds himself in bondage to the evil one.
A brief digression
One of the cleverest of Satan’s strategies is to play with the connotations of words. As the meaning of words is distorted, humans are blinded to the truth and deceived. This is in total contrast with God’s strategy of filling words with freshly defined meaning.
In the first century there were two Greek words we commonly translate by “love.” One was philos, associated with the warm relationships experienced with friends and family. The other was eros, associated with sexual passion. Neither of these words were capable of expressing the character of God’s love, so the writers of the New Testament selected a seldom-used and undistinguished word, agape, to use in the New Testament to express God’s love. They filled that new word with unique meaning by using it to described God’s decision to send Jesus into the world to sacrifice himself for human beings who were his enemies. Suddenly agape, “true love,” conveyed a commitment to the well-being of others so deep that one loving willingly sacrifice himself for his beloveds benefit. And so a word conveying self-less love, a “true love,” was born.
Today Satan has succeeding in draining muddling the meaning of our English word “love” almost beyond recognition. The concept of self-less and self-sacrificial love that was added by agape to the vocabulary of the New Testament has been almost stripped away from our English term. When a person says “I love you” all he is likely to mean is, “I want to have sex with you,” while the enthralled listener understands him to say “I care about you.” It’s likely neither understands “I love you” to mean “I care about you so much I’m willing to sacrifice my own interests for your benefit.” In the process of confusing the meaning of “I love you” the statement “God loves you” has been drained of much of its power.
This process of confusing meanings is taking place constantly in our culture. When I was a youth “gay” was associated with happiness and joy. Not it describes a perverted lifestyle. Not long ago “tolerant” meant “accepting of persons with views that differ from our own.” Today to be tolerant means accepting views that were once believed to be morally wrong as totally acceptable, and even “good.” Just as Miss California has recently been viciously attacked for stating her belief that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman rather than a homosexual pair, “tolerance” has become a word that means forsaking all moral judgment.
“Adult” which once con notated mature and responsible, now has been co-opted to cloak the pornographic with a veneer of respectability.
Satan truly is constantly at work in human cultures to distort truth by manipulating words and their meaning to deceive speaker and listener alike.
But, back to the point
Satan’s basic strategy in dealing with humans is to blind us to the truth, using distortions and half-truths to deceive us. He shapes culture [the world] to resonate with man’s sinful tendencies [the flesh], and convinces us that the evil which results is actually good.
Those who do not accept, understand, and live the truth and who buy into Satan’s distortions of truth are deceived, and vulnerable.
We could, if we had time, go through the Scriptures and contrast hundreds of truths with the half-truths and lies promulgated by Satan. The apostle Paul takes this approach in 2 Corinthians 2. The church in Corinth has disciplined a sinning brother, who has now repented. Paul urges them to now forgive him and accept him back into fellowship, “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2:11). In this situation Satan would over-emphasize the importance of church discipline, insisting “let’s really make him pay for his sin” to the exclusion of complimentary truth about forgiveness and restoration.
However, since I don’t want to publish a book on Satan’s distortions on this blog, let’s focus on a Scripture that speaks of combating specific distortions and deceits through which the Devil attacks believers.
The Armor of God
In Ephesians 6:10-18 the Apostle Paul describes a Roman foot soldier arrayed for battle in his panoply–fully armored. Paul tells us to put on full spiritual armor; armor provided by God “that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Paul then develops his analogy by linking each piece of the soldier’s armor to a particular divine provision for standing against the devil’s schemes [strategies].
As we look at each piece of armor we see (1) our vulnerability, (2) Satan’s exploitation of that vulnerability, and (3) how we “stand against” Satan’s attack.
So in following posts I plan to examine each piece of armor as well as our vulnerabilities and Satan’s corresponding schemes. I’m personally looking forward to this study to see just what we discover. And to apply what we discover to dealing with both hostile demonization and beneficial demonization.
Posted by owner on
May 7, 2009
When we look at demonic attacks in the Gospels we get the impression that demons target individuals and then attack their physical and metal health. We see the demoniac of Gadara howling among the tombs, mutilating himself and attacking anyone who comes near. We see the tragic figure of the woman bent over in pain for some eighteen years. And we see a child victimized by seizures as the inhabiting demon struggles to throw his body into a nearby fire. The counter to these demonic attacks reported in the Gospels is exorcism. Jesus confronts the demons and orders them out of the victim’s body.
Not so in Acts
But when look at demonic activity recorded in the book of Acts we see another dimension. At Philippi we meet a slave girl who tells the future for her clients. There too Paul’s response is to expel the demon. But in this case there is no direct attack on the girl. Rather the demon uses to girl to alter the direction of the lives of her clients. Given the unchanging character of demons, any guidance from the demon, although it may seem to the client to be positive and helpful, will be destructive, in full harmony with Satan’s elemental hatred of God and of humans.
Strikingly, we see this same phenomenon in other recorded incidents in Acts. IN Acts 8 we meet Simon, who practiced sorcery in Sameria and who was viewed with awe. He held up his powers as evidence of the working of a deity called “the Great Power,” and his apparent miracles gave him influence over “all the people, both high and low” (Acts 8:10). Later, as the Apostle Paul set out on his first missionary journey, he was opposed on Cyprus by a man named Bar-Jesus, or Elymas, who was a Jewish “sorcerer and false prophet.” Bar-Jesus used his influence in an attempt to keep the Roman procounsul from accepting Christ. In this case Paul called on God to [temporarily?] blind the demonized man, demonstrating the power of Jesus. Later still, in Ephesus, which was both a religious center and a center of occult activity, the so many turned to Christ that not only was the worship of the goddess Diana threatened, but the people brought out books of witchcraft and spells whose value in today’s funds would rise into the millions, and burned them.
Note the contrast between the stories in the Gospels and in Acts.
The Gospel stories picture demons directly attacking their victims by causing physical and mental illness’s. The demonized individual is the primary target.
The Acts stories picture demons using possessed individuals to influence others. The primary target is not the demonized individual, but others who are impressed by the demonized person’s “gift.”
Two strategies, two responses
The Gospels describe demons directly attacking individuals. When demons directly attacked individuals,the response of Jesus, and that of the disciples whom he empowered, was to cast out the demons.
The Book of Acts describes demons empowering individuals with a view to gaining indirect influence over others. A critical difference here is that the demons enabled those they possessed to perform some extraordinary feat that enhanced their reputation and influence.
And here the response of the Apostles does not seem to be to cast the evil spirit out of the demonized individual!
It’s striking that while demonization in the Gospels unquestionably harms the victim, demonization in Acts appears to help the person in whom the demon resides! Further, the reaction of the demonized individual in Acts seems to indicate cooperation with the demon. That is, the demonized individual welcomes the ‘gift’ the demon brings, and is quick to take advantage of it.
As noted, the enhanced reputation gained by the demonized person is rooted in the possession of some occult ability provided by the demon. That is, the demonized person possesses an ability which cannot be explained in terms of native human abilities. Whether the occult ability is clairvoyance–the ability to see the future–is sorcery or witchcraft–the ability to manipulate events by supernatural means–the occult ability sets the demonized individual apart and gives him influence over others.
Surprisingly, the response in such cases seems not to be direct exorcism of the demon, but a direct challenge to the occult power. The clairvoyant girl’s ability to foretell the future is stripped from her (although by the expelling of the demon). Simon’s the sorcerers powers are eclipsed by the power of the Spirit, Bar-Jesus pernicious influence is destroyed by the blinding of the sorcerer. And the hold of witchcraft in Ephesus is broken as the converted burned the books of spells on which they had previously relied.
Another distinction
There seems to be another significant difference between the demonization stories told in the Gospels and those told in Acts.
In the Gospels The demonized people are seen as victims of a demonic attack. And there seems to be no direct responsibility of the victims for their situations. Indeed, the demonic presence in each case causes devastating harm to the individual.
In Acts the demonized people seem to be the beneficiaries of demonic possession. Rather than being harmed by the evil spirit, the demon possessed in Acts appear to gain from the demonic presence. Whether that gain is monetary, a gain in reputation, or an increase in influence, there is a definite benefit to the demonized. In such cases it appears that the demon’s target is not primarily the person demonized but those around him or her. In Acts the demons use those who are given occult powers to ensnare others, and as in the case of Bar-Jesus, to keep them from responding to the Gospel.
How are we to respond?
The Apostles Peter and Paul came into direct conflict with demonized individuals who had been given occult powers. They responded in a variety of ways, but each response seems to undermine or destroy the influence of the demonized individual, rather than drive out the demon. We can’t say for certain why this is, but it is possible that the demonized person had become so dependent on the occult powers granted that he or she wanted the demon to remain. In such cases destroying the individual’s influence released the demon’s hold on his primary targets.
If we are not to exorcise such demons [and certainly not try to do so without the active consent and participation of the demonized person], what are we to do?
Our basic response to those with occult powers is laid out in the Old Testament in a passage we’ve cited before. In Deuteronomy 18 Moses lists a number of occult practices and warns believers against them. Essentially, believers are never to seek or to accept supposed aid from any supernatural source other than God Himself.
A surprising focus
The focus in Acts is not on the deliverance of the demonized individual, but rather on protection from such a person’s influence. Our first responsibility seems to be to refuse to seek or permit ourselves any contact with the occult or with those who claim occult powers.
There really are critical differences here. The demonized in the Gospels truly were victims of the demonic presence. The demons manifested themselves by causing physical and metal illnesses. The appropriate response to such attacks is to cast out the demon.
The demonized in Acts were apparent beneficiaries of the demonic presence. We can assume that rather than desire freedom from the demonic presence they welcomed that presence. In such cases the appropriate response is to limit the occult influence.
Did the demonized in Acts truly benefit from their demonization? Of course not. But some people are more than willing to trade eternal rewards for temporal benefits. They, as well as the demons’ true targets, are deceived. And they are blinded to the Gospel’s good news.
Posted by owner on
May 7, 2009
The experience excerpted here appeared on the Internet in “Paranormal Phenomena: Your True Tales,” and is titled Battle with a Demon.
What’s it like to be a neopagan? The following was purportedly written by a teenage girl, whose story reveals her involvement in Wicca. The teenager has been working with her mom during a four month internship in her mother’s office. She’s been asked by their boss to “cleanse” the energy in the boss’ office which was filled with “negativity” from from the stress she’d been under the past month.
I share this excerpt to give you just a bit of insight into how the neopagan belief-system and how it shapes perceptions.
“I trotted my happy self into the kitchen of the office, pulled out the salt and dumped some in a bowl, said a little blessing over it, and went into the front office (which is my mother’s) to start the cleansing. Now, what you need to know about this office is that is not only haunted, it had once been a seminary and then our town’s very first . . . um . . . house of ill repute, to put it in a gentle way. So I knew we had ghosts, one of which is named Bradley and still teases and talks with me whenever I’m there. Also, a month before this, my mother had a terrifying nightmare that a demon was in her ear, trying to make her do bad things–which related very highly to this story I’m sharing.
“I had started the cleansing and blessing and had pinched some salt between my fingers, dusting it around the edges of the room. Before this, mom had been listening to the radio on the Internet, and I had told her t shut it off. As I was saying, “Goddess, cleanse this place and give your blessing on it,” and all that other good stuff i say, I heard this . . . I don’t even know how to rightly describe it. It was a deep voice, and it came to me like it was coming from down a long, very deep tunnel–almost like I shouldn’t be hearing it. First I thought it was something outside because we had the windows open, and then I thought it was mom’s radio, so I turned to her to tell her to turn it off, and there my mother sat, white as a ghost, trembling and staring at me. I quickly finished what I was saying and letting the salt out of my fingers, before I moved to the front of her desk.
“She looked at me and asked me if I’d heard it, and I was just bowled over. This voice had been so evil that I had gotten cold chills down my spine. Mom was freaking out at this point, and I was feeling extremely paranoid, so I asked her to follow me around the office as I finished my cleansing.
“We moved back to her office, now looking half in tears, and all she could really say was that it had sounded like a demon. it hit me, then–her nightmare from the month before. So I asked mom if I should do a cleansing on her, which she was against at first because she had very bad experiences with churches and blessings from growing up in a strict Pentecostal home.
“But she assented to it once I assured her I wouldn’t be “laying hands” on her or speaking in tongues. So I moved over to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, my chin on her head as she was sitting down. I began to ask the Goddess to cleanse this demon that had latched onto my mother. As I had never done anything like this before, I was a bit nervous. Mom started bawling, and I mean truly hysterical sobs, and at that pointed I started to honestly flip my lid. My mother is one of the strongest people I know, and to see her truly frightened and crying not only scared the crap out of me, it made me want to deck something, and hard.
“She looked up at me, and said (I will remember her words until the day I die) talking to me. Get it out, Callista. GET IT OUT!
“I hugged her and put my mouth to her hear, just about in tears myself. I didn’t know what to do at that point, really, so I just said what welled up in me. Meanwhile, the ghost Bradley that I had talked about before was hunkered down in the back office, trying to pretend he wasn’t there, or whatever ghosts do when they are upset.
“I told the demon to get away from my mother, which I now know was an incubus. I told it that my more would love me more that it would ever need here, and to get the hell out of he. I head this strange whooshing sound, and then . . . . it was like coming up for air after being under water and holding your breath until you were dizzy.
“For a month, my mother and I had been at each others’ throats, to the point where we would just look at each other and i would have the urge to smash her head into a wall or just start screaming a her. I thought this was stress from work, working with my mother and the normal drama that happens in a relationship between a mother and teenage daughter. I think it was this demon just feeding off our emotions, the most intense being our emotions of anger toward each other.
“When we went home, I did the most thorough cleansing on my house I have ever done in my life. And during the day at the office, I sat there for a half an hour watching a b lack shape flash through our windows, looking like it was trying to get back in. I’m glad to say it couldn’t.