Doctrine of Demons: How Yahshua Taught Against The Superstition of Demonic Possession.
“Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” (I Thes 5:21)
It is demonstrably acknowledged that Jesus, Yahshua the Messiah, was the wisdom of Yahweh (1Cor 1:24). It is also settled that He had an understanding of the Holy Scriptures that could not be compared with any other individual before or after Him. For modern theologians to presume that the Messiah could err in scriptural doctrine is a faulty assertion, one that has been promulgated, codified and believed in by almost all. Claiming that Yahshua Jesus had an eschewed knowledge on the actual nature of what many modern believers agree to be disembodied living human spirits, or disordered angels, is a great oversight in the theologian’s tradition-motivated diligence to substantiate radical demonology and literal demoniac possession. Because of misunderstandings regarding the Messiah’s culture and the Holy Scriptures, many have run head first into superstitious conclusions about doctrines concerned with demons, and this is due to the New Testaments simple and clear matter of fact-ness regarding demonism. A great problem that exists is that the superficial treatment of demons in the New Testament is, when read outside of and apart from its natural context, incorrectly understood in almost every one of its treatments on the matter. Meaning that in order for any to correctly understand what’s truthfully stated, a certain amount of work is required, and this work is the reader’s responsibility. In order for the Messiah to have believed in the existence of literal beings whom possessed the bodies of living people, He would have to have been receptive to pagan ruminations and their vain philosophies. Furthermore, for the Messiah to believe in literal demons He would have to have been acting in a way latently antagonistic towards the various and plainly stated truths discussed in the only scriptures He had as foundationally sure, those being they found in the Tanakh. If it were true that He did ignore the words in the Tanakh, this would have brought multifarious problems into His ministry, problems that scripturally could not exist if He was to remain the promised Messiah. With acknowledgement of this, it is our responsibility to re-align the actions and teachings of the One Holy Messiah with the truths found in His Tanakh, and then understand the sure road of explanation for why Yahshua would seem to both teach and substantiate the existence of disembodied spirits who afflict, disease and possess the living in a Gentle influenced Israel, while the Scriptures He lived upon clearly stated exactly the opposite.
The Messiah was a law giver. It could be argued that He was also the very Word that spoke to the Prophets. In the flesh He was demonstrated to be the wisdom of Yahweh Himself. To suggest that the Messiah had erred in one of the most fundamental and clearly defined Old Testament doctrines (regarding posthumous spiritual existence before the judgment), would be first on behalf of the educated a gross oversight, and secondly, a reading into, or more properly stated eisegesis of the scriptures. By inspiration, the Messiah told Paul that men were appointed once to die than after this the judgment (Heb 9:27), and the Spirit of Holiness also told Solomon that when men died they could no longer think or act (Ecc 9:10), yet the superstitious Hellenized Pharisee would have all people believe that after death those who passed away in an angry state of mind could spiritually leave their graves and seek new lodgings in the abodes of the sinful or somehow susceptible persons. Teachings on the spirits of the dead have not come from 1st Samuel verse 28, nor had it come from the Messiahs parable about Lazerous and the rich man, which I mention arose much later than the belief of the spiritual life of evil spirits, but was one attained from historical heathendom, either Greek, Roman, Babylonian, Indian or Persian; this idea came fully prepared with a complete demonology as well. Such beliefs were so well feared by the people of the first century, that the apostles on no less than two occasions believed Jesus to be a wayward spirit, and this was after they had been educated by Him during His ministry. The notion of demonic possession was a superstition that was very firmly rooted in the cultural consciousness of their time – as it remains so concreted everywhere today.
For brevities sake here are the Old Testament scriptures that confirm the impossibility of posthumous thoughts and existence before the judgement.
Ecc 8:8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death
Ecc 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
Ecc 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
Psa 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
Psa 146:3-4 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
One of the first Old Testament examples of an individual expressing the belief in spiritual possession comes from the King of Babylon. This is fitting, seeing that spirit possession is an belief taken from Babylonian mysteries.
Dan 4:9 “O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. (KJV)
The Aramaic source says the “Spirit of the Holy God” singular. This still promotes belief in the notion of spiritual possession.This scripture has many different translations, but all hold to the idea that a spirit inhabits the body of Daniel.
What Jesus actually taught about Demonic Possession
Many people believe that Jesus never corrected the unashamed errors contained in the beliefs of demonic possession existing all over the 1st century world, but such conjecture is incomplete and because of its incompleteness absolutely erroneous. In actuality, Yahshua Jesus openly condemned the heathenized Pharisee belief that demons could ever enter the body and control one’s mind or will. The rebuke of this notion took place while He taught in Galilee which was a section of Israel that had been utterly steeped in demonic superstitions.
