EXORCISM

EXORCISM

Hugh Fogelman

Exorcism is the attempt to drive out evil spirits by commands, prayers, or ceremonies.

In the Roman Catholic Church, it is a religious act performed in the name of God. Exorcism is a form of magic when not performed in the name of God. ¹

In 418 CE, the Catholic Church council decided that every human child is born demonic as a result of its sexual conception, because the baby inherits the sins of their parents; thus automatically damned unless baptized. During a Catholic baptismal ceremony, the priest still addresses the baby,

“I exorcise thee, thou unclean spirit…Hear thy doom, 0 Devil accursed, Satan accursed.”

This “exorcism,” described above, is the Church’s (Catholic as well as many other Christian variants) means to remove any obstacles resulting from the effects of Christianity’s original sin and association the power of their Satan over humans. Paul wrote that Satan is “god” of THIS world in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Paul’s Ephesians tells about God and His battle against the rulers and the powers of this dark word (6:12) and in Paul’s 2^ndTimothy, he says Satan has his own will (2:26). In Acts, Paul said he was told to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the POWER of Satan (Acts 26:18).

In Christianity, a demon is an evil spirit, or devil, in the ordinary English usage of the term. This definition is, however, only approximate. In polytheistic religions the line between gods and demons is a shifting one: there are both good demons and gods who do evil. In monotheistic systems, evil spirits may be accepted as servants of the one God, so that demonology is bound up with angelology and theology proper, or they may be elevated to the rank of opponents of God, in which case their status as diabolic powers differs from that of the demons in polytheism.

Moreover, in none of the languages of the ancient Near East, including Hebrew, is there any one general term equivalent to English "demon." In general, the notion of a demon in the ancient Near East was of a being less powerful than a god and less endowed with individuality. Whereas the great gods are accorded regular public worship, demons are not; they are dealt with in magic rites in individual cases of human suffering, which is their particular sphere. ²

Exorcism, process of expelling evil spirits from an object, person, or place; is also used as a preventive measure against illness and misfortune, especially during times of celebration, such as the New Year; in Buddhist and Taoist exorcisms both laity and priests participate; in early Christianity any person could exorcise spirits, but since about 250 CE only certain clergy are allowed to perform rite; regulated by canon law in the Roman Catholic church; such rites of preliterate people sometimes considered witchcraft. ³

New Testament demonology in part reflects contemporary popular belief, and in part the dualism attested in the sectarian literature from Qumran. Demons are called "unclean spirits" or "evil spirits," as in rabbinic literature. They are believed to inhabit waste places. Possession by demons causes, or is associated with, various sicknesses, especially those in which there is a perversion of the human personality, so that the demon, not the man himself, directs his acts and speech (Mark 1:23, 26; 9:17–29).

The story of how Jesus cured a demonic by sending a legion of unclean spirits into a herd of swine (Matt. 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39) illustrates vividly the persistence of very ancient popular belief in Christianity, as does the parable of Matthew 12:43–45, in which the unclean spirit after wandering through the wilderness takes seven devils with him.

On the other hand, in the New Testament lesser demons have little independent personality or power, but are subject to a prince, Beelzebul or Satan, and the demonic is often presented, not as something occasional and relatively harmless, but as a cosmic reality of great importance, the enemy of God and man (Eph. 6:12). Beelzebul (Beelzebub) is a name applied to the chief demon by both Jesus and his opponents (Matt. 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15–19). The correct explanation of the name is much disputed, and new evidence from Ugarit has not completely cleared up the etymology. The spelling Beelzebub reflects identification of Beelzebul with Baal-Zebub, god of Ekron (II Kings 1:2). Possibly there were two different original forms, Beelzebul meaning "Baal is prince" or "Lord of the shrine," and Beelzebub "Lord of flies" (cf. Ugaritic il dbb [in Gordon, Textbook, nt 3:43]). [Delbert Roy Hillers]

Demonology in the Hebrew Bible is practically nil. Magic was prohibited among the Israelites from very early times, for already the oldest collection of laws, the Book of the Covenant, contains the command: "You shall not tolerate a sorceress" (Ex. 22:17 [Eng. 22:18]; cf. Deut. 18:10–12), and Saul put the practitioners of necromancy out of the land (I Sam. 28:3). Since much of pagan magic was protective—intended to keep demons away or to expel them—obviously Israel's religion aimed at a very radical extirpation of traffic with demons.

The Israelite conception of demons, as it existed in the popular mind or the literary imagination, resembled in some ways that held elsewhere. Demons live in deserts or ruins (Lev. 16:10; Isa. 13:21; 34:14). They inflict sickness on men (Ps. 91:5–6). They trouble men's minds (Saul, I Sam. 16:15, 23) and deceive them (I Kings 22:22–23)—but nevertheless these evil spirits are sent by the Lord.

If these “evil spirits,” demons are sent by God, why would the Roman Catholics go through the ritual of “casting out” these demons in the name of their god, Jesus Christ?

This is all part of the master plan to put fears into the minds of church believers. It is the same mind-set of their “hell and damnation” which church-goers hear every Sunday. This fear tactic is the only way to keep their congregationalisms from leaving. Along with these head games, the Church throws in the “guilt” card―this simple man died for you― knowing human nature would bring out the sympathy and love for the martyr.

Remember just who rewrote the Christian bible. Remember that the Early Church leaders never had any formal Jewish seminary education. Remember that the Church Fathers were once pagan Gentiles who converted into the religion of Paul. And finally, please remember the Council of Nicea in 325 CE, where the pagan concepts were assumed and adopted in 381CE of the trinity – the virgin birth, honoring the day of the Sun-god; human blood sacrifice; original sin, all concepts they were raised in.

FOOTNOTES:

1- The World Book Encyclopedia

2- Encyclopedia Judaica

3- Compton’s Encyclopedia 2000

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