A) INTRODUCTION.

B) UNDERSTANDING THEIR CONTROL.

C) TO THE BIBLE.

D) IN SUMMERY.

 

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

In the Bible, we are told practically nothing about the origin, nature, characteristics, or habits of demons, in regards to how it comes about that one is possessed by them (other than that if you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you can be filled with them -- Mat. 12:45).  In a highly figurative passage (Mat. 12:43) our Lord speaks of demons as passing through “waterless places,” also brought out in the story of the Gadarene demoniac (Luke 8:31).  In Luke’s passage, “the deep,” Greek, “abussos,” meaning “abyss,” is mentioned as the place of their ultimate detention (and destruction).

 

From a non-Biblical look at the subject, places such as India and Polynesia have given us great insight as to how people come to be possessed.  And that is, by worshipping or playing around with the powers of them (see 2Ch. 11:15).  By possessing books of how to communicate with them, and by séances are other problems.  In other words, by placing your efforts and powers towards seeking them, instead of seeking the One and True God, one may open the doors to being possessed by them.

 

“And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring.”  Leviticus 17:7.  “They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.”  Deuteronomy 32:17.  Notice that the end result is “fear;” and not that of a Godly “fear,” but of a fear in which one is out of control, and not in control of the situation.

 

 

B) UNDERSTANDING THEIR CONTROL

 

 

The method of their control over human beings is represented in two contrasted ways (compare Mark 1:23 with Luke 4:33), indicating that there was no fixed mode of how it is that one comes about to be possessed (other than what was mentioned above).  However, in the New Testament, demons belong to the kingdom of Satan, whose power and mission is to destroy Christ in you, or anything that is Christ’s values.

 

Understanding demon possession deepens and intensifies its representations of the earnestness of human life and its moral issues by extending the sphere of moral struggle to the invisible world.  It clearly teaches that the power of Christ extends to the world of evil spirits, and that faith in Him is adequate enough protection against any evils to which men may be exposed.

 

 

C) TO THE BIBLE

 

 

There are, taking repetitions and all, about 80 references to demons in the New Testament.  In 11 instances, the distinction between demon-possession and diseases that occur naturally, is clearly made distinctive by our Lord in many places (see Mat. 4:24; 8:16; 10:8; Mark 1:32 & 34; 6:13; 16:17 & 18; Luke 4:40 & 41; 9:1; 13:32; Acts 19:12).

 

The results of demon-possession are not exclusively mental or nervous (Mat. 9:32 & 33; 12:22).  They are distinctly and peculiarly mental in two instances only (the Gadarene maniac, see Mat. 8:28 and parallels, and Acts 19:13).  Epilepsy is specified in only one case (see Mat. 17:15).  There is a distinction made between demonized and epileptic, and demonized and lunatic (see Mat. 4:24).  There is also a distinction made between diseases caused by demons and the same disease not so caused (compare Mat. 12:22 with Mat. 15:30).  In most of the instances, no specific symptoms are mentioned.  In an equally large proportion, however, there are occasional fits of mental excitement often due to the presence and teaching of Christ our Lord.

 

 

D) IN SUMMERY

 

 

A summary of the entire subject leads us to the conclusion that, in the New Testament cases of demon-possession, we have a specific type of disturbance -- physical or mental -- distinguishable not so much by its symptoms, which were often of the most general character, but by its accompaniments.  The “aura,” so to say, which surrounded the patient, served to distinguish his symptoms and to point out the special cause to which his suffering was attributed.  Our Lord spoke directly to them, telling them to come out.

 

Another unique feature of New Testament demonology should be emphasized.  While this group of disorders is attributed to demons, the victims are treated as sick folk and are healed.  The whole atmosphere surrounding the narrative of these incidents is calm, lofty, and pervaded with the spirit of Christ.  Every feature of the New Testamentnarratives points to the conclusion that in them we have trustworthy reports of actual cures.

 

This is more important for New Testament faith than any other conclusion could possibly be.  It is also evident that Jesus treated these cases of invaded personality, of bondage and depression, of helpless fear, as due to a real superhuman cause, to meet them and overcome them, by which He directly addressed them Himself.  The most distinctive and important words we have upon this obscure and difficult subject, upon which we know far too little to speak with any assurance or authority, are these:  “And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”  Mark 9:29 (Mat. 17:21).  That instruction is for the one who is obviously not possessed; but helping the one who is.  It would also appear that the one possessed is wanting to be unpossessed.

 

See my Bible Study:  “DEMONS, CASTING OUT OF.”