06 - Signs of Demon Possession
CHAPTER 6.
- Possession indicated by certain signs.
- Madness an indication.
- The Pythia.
- Unusual bodily contortions.
- The Gadarene and Gergesene demoniacs were madmen.
- Lunatics.
- Epileptics.
POSSESSIONS, daimonia, must have been indicated by certain signs, otherwise such possessions could never have been inferred. Some deviations from the usual habits of the individual must have been presented to have induced the belief that the individual was influenced by some “supernatural” power. What then were the indications that the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews, beholding in an individual, ascribed to possessions?
“And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out of her the same hour,” Acts 16:16-18. The phrase, here rendered, “possessed with a spirit of divination,” a spirit of divination,” is echousa pneuma Puthonos - that is, “having a spirit of Python” or “Apollo:” one supposed to be influenced by the god Apollo. The history of this damsel shows that her conduct, in continually following Paul and his companion, was contrary to the usual decorum manifested by her sex. And this deviation was a sign of her being influenced by something not usual; we would say madness: the ancients called it “a possession.” She followed Paul many days, continually crying, “These are the servants of the most high God.” She exhibited, in other words, a kind of insane fury or excitement. And that this exhibition was common to persons supposed to be possessed is evident from the following description of Pythia, the priestess of Apollo at Delphi: “She delivered the answer of the god to such as came to consult the oracle, and was supposed to be suddenly inspired by the sulphurous vapours, which issued from the hole of a subterraneous cavity within the temple, over which she sat bare on a three-legged stool called a tripod. In this stool was a small aperture, through which the vapour was inhaled by the priestess, and, at this divine inspiration her eyes suddenly sparkled, her hair stood on end, and a shivering ran over all her body. In this convulsive state she spoke the oracles of the god, often with loud howlings and cries, and her articulations were taken down by the priest, and set in order. Sometimes the spirit of inspiration was more gentle, and not always violent; yet Plutarch mentions one of the priestesses who was thrown into such an excessive fury that not only those who consulted the oracle but also the priests that conducted her to the sacred tripod and attended her during the inspiration, were terrified and forsook the temple; and so violent was the fit that she continued for some days in the most agonising situation, and at last died” (Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary - Article. “Pythia”).
Virgil gives a still more vivid description of the excitement of the priestess or sybil. The Trojan Eneas wishes to consult the oracle respecting his future proceedings. With this view he approaches the cave (after having made the usual offerings-paid priests in all ages requires these)- “Now to the mouth they come. Aloud she cries, ‘This Is the time! Inquire your destinies!
He comes! behold the god!’ thus while she said (And shivering at the sacred entry staid), Her colour changed; her face wan not the same. And hollow groans from her deep spirit came. Her hair stood up; convulsive rage possessed Her trembling limbo, and heaved her labouring breast.
Greater than human kind she seemed to look, And, with an accent more than mortal, spoke. Her staring eyes with sparkling fury roll; When all the god came rushing on her soul.
Swiftly she turned, and, foaming as she spoke.”
Aeneid - Pope’s Translation. A sort of insane fury was manifested by those supposed to be possessed, and such manifestation was regarded by the Greek as indicative of possession, it was so among the Latins. The Cerriti and the Larvati, already referred to, were supposed by the Latins to be possessed by the goddess Ceres and by the Lares. In the sacred ceremonies of Ceres, Calepinus records, they were seized with fury. “And, in the same manner,” adds he, “as we say a Bacchanal from Bacchus, we say a Cerealian from Ceres.”
Pliny, the celebrated Latin naturalist, describes some persons as being agitated by the nocturnal gods, and by the Fauni. These Fauni were the supposed gods of the fields.
INSANITY, of which this fury is a beginning, was another indication of possession. Cicero, in regard to the absurdity of this that a person being insane should be regarded as “possessed,” inquires, “What authority truly can that fury which you call divine have, when it happens that the things which a wise man cannot see, an insane man can see: and he who may have lost his human senses, has attained to divine”* thus demonstrating that the insane were regarded as “possessed”.
Such are a few among many illustrations which might be brought to prove that the indications of “possessions” were unusual conduct, unusual mental exhibitions, unusual mental exhibitions, such as insanity presents; or unusual bodily contortions, such as epileptics and the convulsed exhibit.
Insanity therefore may be regarded as that which the ancients regarded as most distinctive of possession. This belief prevailed among the Jews: who, holding this view, referred much of the conduct of Christ to insanity. Our Saviour asks the Jews,
“Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil (diabolos) , and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there was no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you of the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why, do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil (daimonion)?” John 8:43-48. This argument, so clear to an unbiased hearer, but so obscure to their biased minds, made them reply, “Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a possession (daimonion echei).” Jesus answered, “I have not a possession, (daimonion ouk echei), “but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying he shall never see death,”
John 8:49-51. This last statement astonished the Jews still more, and they exclaimed, “Now we know that thou hast a devil (daimonion). Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying he shall never taste of death,” John 8:52. The Saviour on another occasion had been describing himself as “the good shepherd,” as “the door” of the sheep, as having sheep of “another fold” (this touched, it is likely, their Jewish pride), “laying down his life for the sheep,” and further, what, no doubt, startled them, that though he did lay down his life, it was of his own free will: and that, further, the laying down was a matter quite within his own power. The effect was as might be expected: “There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, he hath a devil (daimonion), and is mad; why hear ye him? Others said, these are not the words of him that bath a devil (daimonion). Can a devil (daimonion) open the eyes of the blind?” John 10:19-21. On another occasion Jesus had astonished them by his knowledge, and yet they were unwilling to give credit to him, although they professed such a reverence for Moses, who spoke of him. He thus reproves them, “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet no one of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, thou hast a devil (daimonion), who goeth About to kill thee?” John 7:19-20. They inferred that he was insane, because they lid nor know their own intention to kill him.
Jesus was so much the subject of attention, on account of the wonderful cure he performed that numbers gathered about him; “And the multitude cometh together again,” and that in such a constant succession, “so that they could no so much as eat bread,” Mark 3:20-21. His kinsman (for so the word is) - wishing it may be to take advantage of Jesus’ popularity, and thereby to gain notice through him with the people, or, it may be, influenced by a kindly motive of preventing their kinsman injuring himself, when they heard, “went out to lay hold of him! for they said, He is beside himself” - that is, poor creatures, they thought man would never go without his dinner unless he were mad.
Whenever one gives another a bad name there are plenty who will join in the cry; and the scribes, the divine code explainers of the day, who came down from Jerusalem (the regularly-authorised place for scribes to come from), politely added, “He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils (daimonia) casteth he out devils (daimonia) “ Mark 3:22. His reply to these fashionable devotionists was a perfect demolition:
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be, divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils (daimonia) through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils (daimonia), by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils (daimonia), no doubt the king -of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger that he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils,” Luke 11:17-22. The Jews seemed to have been a most prejudiced people: Our Saviour tells them that not nothing could please them, “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say he bath a devil (daimonion). The son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners? But wisdom is justified of all her children,” Luke 7:33-35. Blessed Jesus, thy reasoning did not show thee insane: no; wisdom was indeed justified of thee, her child. But mental obliquity, or insanity, as regards reasoning, was not the only evidence of being “possessed”. Any striking deviation from the usual order of life wits referred to the same cause. Such an exhibition was presented to Christ on entering the country of the Gadarenes: “And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man which had devils (daimonia) long time, and wore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not,” Luke 8:27-28. The wearing no clothes, the abiding in no house, the residence in tombs, were sufficiently striking deviations from the usual routine of every-day life to cause the people to refer such exhibitions at once to the fact that the party was possessed. Jesus freed the man from his insanity. The circumstance became known: “Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils (daimonia) were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind; and they were afraid,” Luke 8:35. “Clothed, and in his right mind” they found him: a point of observation which demonstrates that they did not before regard him as in his right mind. The belief in the influence of “possessions” had became so extended in the time of the Saviour, that the Jews referred their bodily diseases to such “possessions”. It has already been noticed that Ahaziah sent to consult Beelzebub, the chief of the supposed possessing agents, respecting a bodily disease.
Dumbness was referred to “possession”. “As they went, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed” (daimonizomenon). Here it is worthy of remark that the translators have rendered this word daimonizomenon correctly, namely, “possessed”. “And when the Devil (ton daimonion, the possession) was come out, the dumb spake,” Matthew 9:33. Here, then, is a bodily infirmity distinctly referred, not to the “devil,” but to, the daimonion, the “possession.”
Blindness, as well as dumbness, was referred to the influence of a possession: “Then was brought unto him one possessed-with-a-devil (daimonizomenos), blind and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw,” Matthew 12:22. The phrase, “he healed him,” is worthy of notice, ethera peusen auton: a phrase evidently expressing a cure and not a dispossession. The further application of the term to bodily infirmity is seen in the following history: “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canitan came out of the same coast, and cried unto him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed-with-a-devil,” kakos daimonizetai. “But he answered not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me! But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour,” Matthew 15:21-28. Here again, it will be observed, that the phrase “made whole,” iathe, is used in reference to the possession and the being freed therefrom.
Mark gives some additional facts in connection with this woman’s daughter: “And Jesus said unto her, for this saying go thy way: the devil (daimonion) is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil (daimonion) gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed,” Mark 7:29; Mark 7:30. The disease called epilepsy was referred to “possession”, as has been already noticed. The following description affords an almost medically-drawn portrait of an epileptic patient: “And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him he teareth him: and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation how long shall I he with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him: and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child: and ofttimes it bath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straight way the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus say that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him; and he was as one, dead: insomuch that many said, he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up: and he arose!” Mark 9:17-27. The “spirit possessing” is described first as “a dumb spirit,” afterwards as a “foul spirit,” and finally as a “dumb and deaf spirit.” A passage occurs in which the epileptic is designated as a lunatic: “And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a (certain) man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord have mercy on my son; for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil (daimonion), and he departed out of him,” Matthew 17:14-18. It is worthy of remark that it is not said, as it is in the Common Version, that Jesus rebuked the devil; but that he rebuked the youth, and when the daimonion, “the possession”, departed out of him, his reason was restored. The ancients, finding that epileptic seizures were influenced by the moon (selene in Greek, luna in Latin), called epileptics lunatics. A similar epileptic is described by Luke: “And as he was yet a coming, the devil (daimonion) threw him down and tare [him]. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and, healed the child, and delivered him again to his father,” Luke 9:42. The spirit is here called “unclean spirit,” and Jesus is said to have “healed the child.”
It is further said, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed-with-devils (daimonizomai), and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them,” Matthew 4:23; Matthew 4:24.
“The-possessed-with-devils” are daimonizamenous; “the lunatic,” seleniazomenous. In reference to both these and to the palsied, Jesus is said to have healed, etherapeusen, them. The same again is stated by Matthew: “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed-with -devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.” possessed-with -devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.” Matthew 8:16.
The “possessed-with-devils” are daimonizometious; and “healed” is represented by etherapeusen. “And these things were done “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken, by Esaias the prophet, saying, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,” Matthew 8:17. There is nothing said of casting out “devils” by Isaiah. “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.”
It may be inferred from the frequent use of the word “heal,” that these “possessions” were bodily diseases which Jesus cured. This view is strengthened by the following passage: “And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? When the men were come unto him, they said John Baptist bath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? And in the same hour Jesus cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, go your way and tell John what things we have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me,” Luke 7:19-23.
It is a curious fact that Christ does not say, “Behold I cast out spirits”: if the doing of this was a positive reality, Christ would have pointed it out; for the historian adds, “he in the same hour cured many of their evil spirits:” but Jesus sends no message as to casting out “spirits.” The conclusion therefore is, that those possessed were afflicted with bodily and mental diseases, which Christ cured.