The Psychology of Belief in Demons

Demons are never described in the Bible as trying to tempt people or corrupt them; demons in the sense of demon possessed people often express faith in Christ. This is in sharp contrast to the assumption commonly made that demons are fallen angels intent on tempting people to sin—in Pentecostal churches we hear of a shopping demon, a smoking demon, a speeding demon, etc. But this simply isn’t how ‘demons’ are referred to in the New Testament. The Bible speaks of demons as being the idols which had been built to represent them; and it is stressed that these idols and the demons supposedly behind them don’t exist. And therefore “be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil”, nor have they any capacity to in fact do anything (Jeremiah 10:3-6; Psalms 115:2-9).

Bullinger has some interesting comments upon the woman with an unclean “spirit of infirmity” (Luke 13:11) that resulted in her being unable to lift herself up straight. “The negative is me, not ou; and is therefore subjective. She felt as if she could not do soit appears, therefore, to have been a nervous disorder; and had to do with her pneuma“or mind1. And yet she is described as having been ‘bound by satan’. The ‘satan’ or adversary to her standing upright was her own mindset. And it was this spirit or mindset “of infirmity” from which the Lord released her. Here we clearly see the connection between ‘spirits’ and mental disorder or dysfunction; for ‘spirit’ in Scripture so often refers to the psychological mindset of a person.

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Author: Duncan Heaster

Keywords: demonology, mute spirit, demon, demons, devils, foul spirit, dumb spirit, evil spirit, deaf spirit, baalzebub, baalzebul, unclean spirit, Casting out, Casting out devils, Casting out demons, Demon possession, Madness, Epileptic seizure, Devil possessed, Possessed by demons, moonstruck, moon struck, possession, possessed by the devil, Mental illness, wicked spirits, demoniac, epilepsy, epileptic

Bible reference(s): Matthew 4:24, Matthew 7:22, Matthew 8:31, Matthew 9:33, Matthew 9:34, Matthew 10:1, Matthew 10:8, Matthew 11:18, Matthew 12:24, Matthew 12:27, Matthew 12:28, Matthew 12:43, Matthew 17:15, Matthew 17:18, Mark 1:23, Mark 1:26, Mark 1:27, Mark 1:34, Mark 1:39, Mark 3:11, Mark 3:15, Mark 3:22, Mark 3:30, Mark 5:2, Mark 5:8, Mark 5:12, Mark 5:13, Mark 6:7, Mark 6:13, Mark 7:25, Mark 7:26, Mark 7:29, Mark 7:30, Mark 9:17, Mark 9:25, Mark 9:38, Mark 16:9, Mark 16:17, Luke 4:33, Luke 4:35, Luke 4:36, Luke 4:41, Luke 6:18, Luke 7:21, Luke 7:33, Luke 8:2, Luke 8:27, Luke 8:29, Luke 8:30, Luke 8:33, Luke 8:35, Luke 8:38, Luke 9:1, Luke 9:42, Luke 9:49, Luke 10:17, Luke 11:14, Luke 11:15, Luke 11:18, Luke 11:19, Luke 11:20, Luke 11:24, Luke 13:32, John 7:20, John 8:48, John 8:49, John 8:52, John 10:20, John 10:21, Acts 5:16, Acts 8:7, Acts 19:12, Acts 19:13, Acts 19:15, Acts 19:16, 1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Corinthians 10:21

Source: “The Real Devil A Biblical Exploration.”

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