Chapter 3
Biblical Demonology as a standard of evaluation
1) BIBICAL DEMONOLOGY LOFTY IN ITS TONE
"Demonology in the Old Testament as well as in the New moves on a high plain..."
"In the call of Abram, and the creation of the nation. Israel, God purified and separated a small stream from the vast polluted riser of humanity. His purpose was to keep this branch pure and separated, that with it He might eventually cleanse the great river itself. Its purity consisted in its clear-cut separation to the one true God in the midst of universal idolatry (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10-12). Israelite religion began as pure monotheism, in a radical and complete purge from polytheism,"
2.BIBLICAL DEMONOLOGY AND SUPRETITION
"...it is completely uncontaminated with exaggeration and superstition. this tendency is but the recurrence of one of the difficulties which embarrass this field of inquiry problem of doubt."
Skepticism seeins to center in the apparent great increase of demonic activity in the time of our Lord, and the large number of striking cases of demonic possession.
Biblical demonology remains upon its lofty plain. Its freedom from superstitious excesses and exaggeration offers every possible inducement to devout and enlightened faith.
"...New Testament cases of demon possession. Such instances, it is maintained, were not what they are plainly described to be, supernatural occurrences, but merely attacks of unusual disease's of body and mind..."
"The case of the entrance of the demons into the swine at Gadara (Mark 5:10, 14) and the violent effect produced upon them, is sufficient, without further arguments to show the falsity of that contention. It is a mere naturalistic rejection of the supernatural, the outcropping of the ever-recurring problem of unbelief."
(Amen)
4. BIBLICAL DEMONOLOGY VAST IN ITS SWEEP
"Evil is not an insignificant passing fad or some trivial temporary aberration affecting only mankind, to be lightly regarded and triflingly dealt with. Far from being inconsequential, the whole subject is invested with the weightiest consequence."
5) Biblical Demonology Practical in its Purpose.
So far from satisfying an idol curiosity, or pandering to a morbid imagination, its chaste reticence is indicative of its high aim to enlighten and warn the unwary against the ever-impending peril of evil supernaturalism, and to point the way to deliverance and victory. More knowledge than this is not needed, and hence more is not given. This is likely the key to the explanation of the problem os the silence of revelation, so notable in many aspects of this study. What we wish to know, may not always be what we ought to know."
(Hear that cosmologist?)
6. Biblical Demonology Sound in Theology.
Demonology as portrayed in the Bible is consistent with the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.
Born and bred in rigid monotheism, Biblical demonism was purified at its source, and kept itself unpolluted from those crooked and grass superstitions which impinge upon the majesty of God.
Even frequent apostasy, and the inroads of idolatrous contamination made little or no impression upon crystallized theological thought, and these transient aberrations inevitably met with a virile monotheistic reaction that purged away defilement. Revealed truth remained untouched, and continued to be the impregnable standard to call back straying people from the error of their way.
Israel's monotheism, moreover, kept its demonism singularly uncontaminated from a threatening dualism. Persian religion, for example, divides the world into two distinct empires, good and bad. Each is provided over by an absolutely independent god...He will be vanquished by the god of the good realm only at the end of the world...
In complete contrast to this conception is the sublime undualistic tone of Biblical demonology, Satan is a fallen creature, and head of a vast kingdom of evil spirits, though majestic and puissant, is completely under the suzerainty of Jehovah, who alone is the Creator and all-powerful God. Satan can create nothing, nor can he perpetrate any evil, physical or moral, without Jehovah's sanction. His purpose in the divine program is outlined, the span of his perpetration is set, and his inevitable doom is sealed. In spite of this evident antithesis, it is frequently asserted that Persian demonology affected the Biblical conception of Satan."
"Biblical demonology is also congruous with the doctrine of mans moral free agency."
"In antithesis to this affluence of morbid fancy, Scripture sacredly guards the dignity of human choice. No one choosing can be invaded by the forces of darkness. It is only as the enlightened will deliberately chooses darkness, or yields to sin. that it exposes itself to demonic power. It was certainly Saul's repeated deliberate disobedience to the divine will (1 Sam. 13:13; 15:22 23) that rendered his weakened will susceptible to demonic influence (1 Sam. 16:14)....
(Seen this with friends, neighbors, church members etc., its absolutely the truth
"repeated deliberate disobedience to the divine will"
Somebody just found out a lil bit ago what can happen when that's the choice you repeatedly, continuously make.
Gods will aint to be messed with, it will be done, he don't care what you think, he didn't need to ask you, you might wanna stand down less you get hurt by the spirit,)
Rejection of truth for a lie lays one open to "wandering spirits and doctrines of demons"
(I Tim. 4:1)....
From the time of the Fathers, many Christian theologians have contended that a mural responsibility is involved in the demoniacs, sin being a precursor to the demonized state
Biblical Demonology Revealed in Effectual Deliverance
The whole dark drama, at first glance, might appear to be a tragedy of unparalleled scope, unmitigated in is its woe. But, on the contrary, the cataclysm of diabolical darkness calls forth an effulgence of divine light. The eruption of hellish hate evokes a flood of divine love. The doleful spectacle of rebellion and destruction becomes the occasion for the greatest and grandest event of the ages, the demonstration of God's unfathomable grace in the revelation of Himself in Christ, who completely conquers all enemies, and "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb.9:26). "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3.5).
Except for His redemptive work-His sinless life, His vicarious death, His triumphant resurrection, His glorious ascension, His present intercession, and future coming again the vast drama of evil would truly be the blackest tragedy of the ages, unilluminated by any ray of hope. But it is He who brings salvation out of ruin, and triumph out of disaster. His glorious Person and finished work constitute the only but all-sufficient ground of deliverance from the baleful power of evil supernaturalism. He is "the Way," leading out of darkness; "the Truth," protecting from error, and "the Life," delivering from death (John 14:6). In Him there is full redemption; apart from Him, unalleviated woe.
("it is He who brings salvation out of ruin, and triumph out of disaster"
I got a couple of dear friends that always need to remember that.
You didn't do it, Others didnt do it for you, although they may have had a hand in the process
HE DID IT.
"brings salvation out of ruin, and triumph out of disaster")
"Contrast with non-Biblical demonologies is complete. Weighted down with paralyzing fear, and cruel superstitions, they offer no emancipation from the dread tyranny of sin. Supposed deliverance by their false deities is but the chimera of a darkened imagination. Moreover, there is little improvement over polytheism n in the vagaries of a monotheistic system like Mohammedanism."
"...infinite wisdom."
(Just like the fact that he used the term :-).
"The character of Biblical demonology not only proves that it is what it claims to be, a revelation from God, but also, as such, demonstrates that it is true and thoroughly reliable as a criterion of appraisal..."
(Amen)
B. THE CHARACTER OF ETHNIC DEMONOLOGY
Without the chart of revealed truth to guide, it would be an impossible and hopeless task to try to steer a straight course rough the intricacies and complexities of heathen thought and practice. With such amazing complication of detail, and often with such refined and subtle intermixture of truth and error,
(Thats one of Satan's stratagems right there, a big one he uses.)
the student of religion proceeding on mere naturalistic hypotheses, without the infallible guide of revelation, is like a vessel without dart, rudder, or compass, tempest-tossed on a reef-strewn sea. Truth and accuracy of interpretation must inevitably suffer shipwreck. Only in the light of the Word of God can truth be differentiated from error, fact recognized from fancy, and reality perceived as actuality. A divine standard alone can supply the valid criterion for estimating pagan systems of thought. Only in divine ight may the character of ethnic demonology be confidently evaluated.
1. ETHNIC DEMONOLOGY LOW AND DEGRADING IN ITS TONE
Polytheism, which is the corrupt basis of ethnic demonological systems spreads the leaven of its pollution in all religious thinking constitutes a part...the moment departure is made from one Infinite Being, supremely good and holy, and deities are multiplied, by so much are they degraded, and degrade those who worship them. Degraded deities, circumscribed in power, often of questionable holiness and goodness, offer no check to the independence, malignity, and caprice allowed to demonic conceptions. Indeed, the deities themselves, being mm-entitles (Jer. 16:20; Ps. 96:5), and mere figments of bedarkened minds (Amos 2-4), are nothing but the visible delusive bait for the worship of the invisible demons themselves. The demonizing of heathens gods, so conspicuous in the Septuagint (Pss. 91:6, LXX 90:6, 96.5, LXX 95.5, and Isa. 63:3, 11) is proof, that already in the third century BC. demonism was recognized as the dynamic of idolatry, and idol-worship was considered but demon-worship, as Paul also declares (I Cor. 10:20, 21).
2. ETHNIC DEMONOLOGY FULL OF EXTRAVAGANCE AND SUPERSTITION
As has already been shown in a preceding chapter, it is enough to add here that in ethnic demonology excess characterizes whatever phase of the subject may be under consideration, and in whatever epoch, whether in ancient times or in the modern scientific era.
5. Ethnic Demonology Unsound in Theology
"God is considered otherwise than one, and thus the way is opened for endless distortion in demonic conceptions. Gods sovereignty being violated, the door is at the same time opened to a dangerous dualism and all its kindred ills, as in the Persian religion, where an independent evil deity actually creates the demons."
(Nope.
Polytheism is the easiest to debunk to me,
you can do it in just one sentence:
"A pantheon of Gods
created the 26 physical constants of the universe did they?
Interesting.")
"Moreover, the uncurbed activity and the uncircumscribed sphere of demon operation, so characteristic of paganism clashes with a knowledge of the natural world, and the common laws divinely established to regulate it.
(Yup yup...see the comment above.)
C. THE CHARACTER OF RABBINIC DEMONOLOGY IN THE LIGHT OF DIVINE REVELATION
Little that is accurate and conformable to truth can be expected of ethnic demonology, unmoored and unanchored as it is to the divine revelation. Rabbinic demonology, however, having as it does, the chaste and elevated tone of Old Testament demonology as a background, might naturally be expected to be quite different. That such is not the case, but that rabbinic demonology betrays many of the features of contemporary ethnic thought, is not with out considerable significance in evaluating New Testament demonology.
1. RABBINIC DEMONOLOGY FULL OF DISTORTION OF BIBLICAL TRUTHS
The fall of Satan and his angels, in rabbinic demonology, strangely imagined as subsequent to the creation of man, and was occasioned by their jealousy and envy of him. And various ideas are entertained as to the origin of demons, ranging their creation on the eve of the first Sabbath, before their could be finished (this is supposed to account for their being spirits) to generation of multitudes of them as the offspring of Eve and male spirits, and of Adam and female spirits, or with Lilith queen of the female spirits. Still grosser ideas link them to transformations from vipers, or as springing from the backbone from him who did not bow in worship.
Rabbinic methods of managing demons, such as torchlight by night, ablutions, phylacteries, amulets, and magic formulae, bear the strong impress of ancient ethnic custom. Rabbinic modes of expelling demons, through the conviction that the demon could be reached through the avenues of sense, find numerous pagan parallels.
("phylacteries, amulets" Obviously I think they have their place sometimes, depends on the disposition of the wearer and whether or not they have actually received God's blessing or not. They are definitely not for everybody, I think it depends on the task, the commission, your role in a specific function etc.)
"between the Jewish and the ethnic doctrine of demons, there is substantial agreement."
3. RABBINIC DEMONOLOGY UNRELIABLE AS A STANDARD OF EVALUATION
One large sector of Jewish demonology must be rejected as unreliable because it clashes with a pure monotheistic faith and morality. Rigid application of the monotheistic principle would have prevented the incorporation of these ridiculous vagaries, and purged out the contamination of gross demonic conceptions, impinging on the majesty and glory of God. Another considerable portion must be set aside as colliding with simple laws of nature. Spirits so fantastically numerous, and so ceaselessly and indefatigably active, would leave little sphere for the operation of natural law in an orderly universe. And another section must be regarded as directly attributable to purely paganistic speculation. There is little in Jewish thought in this realm unvitiated by error and excess.
4. RABBINIC DEMONOLOGY A VIVID CONTRAST TO NEW TESTAMENT DEMONOLOGY
There would be little point in cataloguing such abject superstitions, or little utility in even a cursory consideration of rabbinic demonology except that it has a vital bearing upon the question whether or not New Testament demonology was derived from con- temporary Judaism. The contention that such was the case "has been so dogmatically asserted," as Edersheim notes, "as to have passed among a certain class as a settled fact."29 But a casual unbiased observation of the facts is sufficient to demonstrate that such was emphatically not the case. Although there may be "similarity of form, slighter than usually," there is "absolute contrast of substance". Greater antithesis could scarcely be imagined than there is between the elevated tone of New Testament demonology and the crude views and practices mentioned in rabbinic writings.
("Although there may be "similarity of form, slighter than usually," there is "absolute contrast of substance".
I love that.
Irish Whisky aint Kentucky Bourbon
if you catch my drift here.)
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