- May 3, 2022
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Based on several factors, many people who listen to "pastors" in church buildings today believe that "demons can possess people," "Satan and evil spirits can cause people to sin," tempt people," "can put thoughts into people's heads or have conversations with people," fill your head with lies," and "cause sickness and disease." The primary two sources of this are how the English translations read and how the English translations are taught. Add to that the general perception of society due to the media explosion that started in the '70s, fueled by the commercial success and popularity of three movies, The Exorcist, 1973; the Omen, 1976 and The Amityville Horror, 1979. Let's not forget the movies Halloween, 1978, Friday the 13th, 1980; Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984; and Hellraiser, 1987. All of these movies firmly implanted into people's minds that a realm of "supernatural evil" is alive and well, and there are "evil, demonic creatures" whose only goal is to torment and kill humans. Yes, even the churchgoers went to these movies (and still go to these types of movies) and drank the Kool-Aid. Ever since then, there has been a plethora of books, movies, T.V., and cable shows all based on supernatural evil, evil creatures, and possession.
Coinciding with this was the birth and explosion of the Evangelical movement, which not only brought in a generation of "pastors" who quit studying actual Scripture and promoted the "sinister work of the Evil Kingdom." The study of the book of Revelation exploded and began to be taught from the "evil demonic" view. There is much more I could tell on this subject, but this is the ground floor of what is now believed. Believe it or not, before the '70s, most preachers didn't even focus on these things, and many preachers understood and taught that there are no such things as demons.
Before I continue, I will put in my usual disclaimer. I don't expect anyone to believe anything because I write it. I do put forth what I have learned from the study of Scripture and Jewish history and culture, but people believe what they want to believe. While you might disagree with what I post, you must acknowledge that I did put in time and effort to research Scripture rather than just reading some English translation and taking everything at face value.
The Jewish people have been in existence for around 3500 years or so. The Old Testament is written based on the beginning of man. It develops how they came into being, starting with their Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and after escaping Egypt, as a nation. With the Babylonian captivity, beginning in 597BC, and the return of the Jews to rebuild the Temple and city walls, much of what the Jewish people believed began to change. It wasn't a change for the better. The Babylonians, the Persians, and the Greeks influenced the Jewish people, especially in theology. It wasn't so much that aspects of true Judaism were removed; parts of the different pagan mythologies were incorporated into Judaism and the Jewish culture. As it applies to this study, we are going to look at what the Jews believed before the captivity and after the captivity. Before the captivity, the Jewish people did not believe:
1 In any place of eternal punishment.
2 In an intermediate state of existence before a final judgment, with two compartments, one for the righteous and the other for the wicked.
3 Any awareness of anything while dead.
4 A personal devil who was the active enemy of God, one who was powerful and could operate outside of God's sovereignty.
5 Good angels obeyed God, and evil angels obeyed the devil.
6 That the good angels were always fighting the evil angels.
7 Fallen angels who turned against God in rebellion.
8 Demons, evil spirits, and unclean spirits.
9 That the fallen angels turned into demons.
10 That demons or evil spirits could possess people.
12 That demons or evil spirits caused sickness, disease, or death.
I'm aware that most of you are not aware of these facts because you haven't been taught these things. You are led to believe that what the Jewish people believed in the 1st Century, during the days of Jesus, were the same things they believed in the Old Testament. This is not true! The things I have listed are common knowledge to those who have spent time studying Scripture. By study, I mean research into what Scripture teaches rather than "pastors" who read English translations and take the words at face value. These facts would take time to teach and would eat into the precious time necessary for announcements, songs, and music. I wonder how it would be if a church service devoted an hour and a half to teaching and ten minutes to music. Would most people attend, or would that be too boring?
I know that some of you want to bring up the book of Danial, but this study doesn't allow for that discussion. Nowhere in the Old Testament do you ever find any sickness or disease ever attributed to anything except God. All deaths are caused by God, man, animals, or nature. No "demon or evil spirit" is responsible for any death in the Old Testament." Neither do you find any example of a demon/evil spirit "possessing" a person."
But, when we enter the New Testament, we seem to find a different circumstance. We seem to find quite a few "possessions" and evil spirits causing sickness. Did things change from Old Testament times to New Testament times? Not at all. What changed is the Jewish people's perceptions and what needs to be understood is the way the Jewish people describe things in the New Testament.
I will quote two sources that summarize what I am trying to communicate. The first is from a man named Dennis Bratcher, from a source called, The Voice, Christian Research Institute, crivoice.org. I will only show a small part of the excellent article, which everyone should read.
"There are places in the Old Testament where some English translations use the word "demon" or "devils."... In other places, it is easy for people in the modern world who are accustomed to reading the New Testament to think "demons" when they read things like "an evil spirit"...In spite of the translations, there is no word in Hebrew equivalent to the English word "demon," nor any word that communicates the same meaning that the term (demon) communicates in English as a malevolent being in the service of the devil out to destroy humans. That idea today has been shaped by the imagination of medieval writers and popularized in the modern church in terms of evil beings against which Christians need to wage "spiritual warfare." Yet, the ancient Israelites lived in a world where that view of "demons" was not a part of their culture or way of thinking.
This disparity between our modern notions and what lies behind the Hebrew terms and concepts often leads to misunderstanding the point of the biblical text and what it communicates. IT IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO READ WHAT THE BIBLICAL TEXT ACTUALLY SAYS ABOUT A TOPIC AND UNDERSTAND THE PASSAGE AGAINST THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF ANCIENT ISRAEL...BEFORE WE IMPOSE MANY OF OUR MODERN ASSUMPTIONS AND PRECONCEPTIONS ABOUT MEANING ONTO SCRIPTURE. (Caps are mine)
Here is a quote from Abbot's New Testament Commentary, which was published in the late 1800s, on Luke 4:41
In speaking of the general phenomena of nature, the sacred writers, no doubt, often employed the modes of expression commonly used in their day without intending to sanction the opinions on which such expressions were based. On this principle, it has been maintained that the cases of demon possessions referred to in the New Testament were simply cases of insanity or other natural diseases.
To be continued...
Coinciding with this was the birth and explosion of the Evangelical movement, which not only brought in a generation of "pastors" who quit studying actual Scripture and promoted the "sinister work of the Evil Kingdom." The study of the book of Revelation exploded and began to be taught from the "evil demonic" view. There is much more I could tell on this subject, but this is the ground floor of what is now believed. Believe it or not, before the '70s, most preachers didn't even focus on these things, and many preachers understood and taught that there are no such things as demons.
Before I continue, I will put in my usual disclaimer. I don't expect anyone to believe anything because I write it. I do put forth what I have learned from the study of Scripture and Jewish history and culture, but people believe what they want to believe. While you might disagree with what I post, you must acknowledge that I did put in time and effort to research Scripture rather than just reading some English translation and taking everything at face value.
The Jewish people have been in existence for around 3500 years or so. The Old Testament is written based on the beginning of man. It develops how they came into being, starting with their Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and after escaping Egypt, as a nation. With the Babylonian captivity, beginning in 597BC, and the return of the Jews to rebuild the Temple and city walls, much of what the Jewish people believed began to change. It wasn't a change for the better. The Babylonians, the Persians, and the Greeks influenced the Jewish people, especially in theology. It wasn't so much that aspects of true Judaism were removed; parts of the different pagan mythologies were incorporated into Judaism and the Jewish culture. As it applies to this study, we are going to look at what the Jews believed before the captivity and after the captivity. Before the captivity, the Jewish people did not believe:
1 In any place of eternal punishment.
2 In an intermediate state of existence before a final judgment, with two compartments, one for the righteous and the other for the wicked.
3 Any awareness of anything while dead.
4 A personal devil who was the active enemy of God, one who was powerful and could operate outside of God's sovereignty.
5 Good angels obeyed God, and evil angels obeyed the devil.
6 That the good angels were always fighting the evil angels.
7 Fallen angels who turned against God in rebellion.
8 Demons, evil spirits, and unclean spirits.
9 That the fallen angels turned into demons.
10 That demons or evil spirits could possess people.
12 That demons or evil spirits caused sickness, disease, or death.
I'm aware that most of you are not aware of these facts because you haven't been taught these things. You are led to believe that what the Jewish people believed in the 1st Century, during the days of Jesus, were the same things they believed in the Old Testament. This is not true! The things I have listed are common knowledge to those who have spent time studying Scripture. By study, I mean research into what Scripture teaches rather than "pastors" who read English translations and take the words at face value. These facts would take time to teach and would eat into the precious time necessary for announcements, songs, and music. I wonder how it would be if a church service devoted an hour and a half to teaching and ten minutes to music. Would most people attend, or would that be too boring?
I know that some of you want to bring up the book of Danial, but this study doesn't allow for that discussion. Nowhere in the Old Testament do you ever find any sickness or disease ever attributed to anything except God. All deaths are caused by God, man, animals, or nature. No "demon or evil spirit" is responsible for any death in the Old Testament." Neither do you find any example of a demon/evil spirit "possessing" a person."
But, when we enter the New Testament, we seem to find a different circumstance. We seem to find quite a few "possessions" and evil spirits causing sickness. Did things change from Old Testament times to New Testament times? Not at all. What changed is the Jewish people's perceptions and what needs to be understood is the way the Jewish people describe things in the New Testament.
I will quote two sources that summarize what I am trying to communicate. The first is from a man named Dennis Bratcher, from a source called, The Voice, Christian Research Institute, crivoice.org. I will only show a small part of the excellent article, which everyone should read.
"There are places in the Old Testament where some English translations use the word "demon" or "devils."... In other places, it is easy for people in the modern world who are accustomed to reading the New Testament to think "demons" when they read things like "an evil spirit"...In spite of the translations, there is no word in Hebrew equivalent to the English word "demon," nor any word that communicates the same meaning that the term (demon) communicates in English as a malevolent being in the service of the devil out to destroy humans. That idea today has been shaped by the imagination of medieval writers and popularized in the modern church in terms of evil beings against which Christians need to wage "spiritual warfare." Yet, the ancient Israelites lived in a world where that view of "demons" was not a part of their culture or way of thinking.
This disparity between our modern notions and what lies behind the Hebrew terms and concepts often leads to misunderstanding the point of the biblical text and what it communicates. IT IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO READ WHAT THE BIBLICAL TEXT ACTUALLY SAYS ABOUT A TOPIC AND UNDERSTAND THE PASSAGE AGAINST THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF ANCIENT ISRAEL...BEFORE WE IMPOSE MANY OF OUR MODERN ASSUMPTIONS AND PRECONCEPTIONS ABOUT MEANING ONTO SCRIPTURE. (Caps are mine)
Here is a quote from Abbot's New Testament Commentary, which was published in the late 1800s, on Luke 4:41
In speaking of the general phenomena of nature, the sacred writers, no doubt, often employed the modes of expression commonly used in their day without intending to sanction the opinions on which such expressions were based. On this principle, it has been maintained that the cases of demon possessions referred to in the New Testament were simply cases of insanity or other natural diseases.
To be continued...
