Exorcism: Reality or Myth?

A scene from the classic horror film The Exorcist

The advent of modern psychology was supposed to do away with the so-called myth of demon possession and the subsequent need for exorcism. That was considered ancient superstition and the outmoded thinking of simple-minded people.

Psychology and its close cousin psychiatry claimed to have all the answers to aberrant human behavior. Hallucinations, disembodied voices, nightmares, unusual sensations, paranoia and strange behavior could now be explained by early childhood experiences or chemical imbalances inside the brain.

Thus, it became cruel to suggest that someone's erratic behavior could be the result of demon possession and or oppression. The folks who believed in that stuff were simpletons and cretins who were too ignorant to understand modern science. Mentally ill people needed therapy and treatment rather than witchdoctors and exorcists.

But along came the 1960s counterculture and hallucinogenic drugs. And along with the drugs came the eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism that opened doors to the spiritual realm.

Millions of people who had been extremely skeptical of the supernatural became convinced that it not only existed, but that it offered them a plethora of benefits from inner peace to holistic healing to material prosperity.

In reality, those people tapped into a dark and sinister spiritual realm ruled by Satan and his demons. The devil and his fallen angels willingly promoted the con to people who were completely oblivious to what they had encountered. And in some cases, they took possession of the bodies, souls and minds of their ignorant dupes.

They didn't always enter people through drugs and eastern mystical practices. They also entered through occult devices such as the Ouija Board. That was the device that an adolescent boy named Roland Doe (a pseudonym) used to try and contact his deceased grandmother.

Doe didn't make contact with his grandmother, but he did make contact with a powerful demonic spirit that took possession of his soul. After Doe became possessed, he began speaking Hebrew, a language he had never learned. And the furniture in his house began rearranging itself. And deep, guttural voices came out of his mouth; voices that were impossible for his adolescent vocal chords to produce.

Though you may not be familiar with Doe's story, you're probably familiar with the classic horror film, The Exorcist, that was released in 1973. That movie was based upon Doe's experiences. Did psychology have an answer for Doe's behavior? Of course not.

And it doesn't have answers for a host of bizarre behaviors that people are exhibiting these days; behaviors that are rapidly increasing. Such as? Such as the type of behavior that a troubled young boy displayed before Jesus Christ cast a demon out of him.

Christ encountered the boy's father one day when he greeted Jesus from a large crowd that had gathered to hear the Messiah preach. The man pleaded with Christ: "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not." (Luke 9:38-40) 

After Christ rebuked His disciples for failing to deliver the boy from the evil spirit, He cast out the spirit and healed the young man. That was just one of the many exorcisms that Christ performed during His ministry in ancient Israel.

In fact, Christ gave His disciples and all of His followers the authority to cast out demons. Shortly before He returned to heaven after His resurrection, He gave these commands:

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. (Mark 16:15-18)

Certainly, we see very little of that today. Even much of the Christian church has turned away from Christ's commands to utilize God's power to deal with emotional and behavioral problems that are rooted in the demonic. Many churches offer psychological counseling, completely ignoring the fact that God's power is more than sufficient to deal with spiritual problems.

Is every emotional malady related to demonic oppression and possession? Of course not. But some are, and they can't be treated by godless methods that don't work. Some churches are finally starting to figure that out and are returning to Christ's commands.

And naturally, those churches are being ridiculed as backwards, ignorant and "anti-science." Obviously, the devil counts on you not knowing your rights as a Christian. Ignorance is one of Satan's most powerful weapons. And you can't defeat him without God's weapons. Unless, of course, you don't mind losing.

As the Insanity Increases

From faith in God to faith in psychology

Mental illness is a very serious problem that affects hundreds of millions of folks throughout the world. For many centuries, those who possessed a Judeo-Christian worldview trusted God to help them overcome their emotional problems brought on by mental illness.

But since the 19th century, more and more people have been turning to other sources to help them cope and ultimately deliver them from emotional afflictions and stresses. Not coincidentally, the Christian church began to lose its influence in the world about the same time because it abandoned the Bible in favor of empty, humanistic ideologies.

One of those ideologies was humanistic psychology that grew from the ashes of the decaying church. With God's word deemed archaic and irrelevant, the world needed a new source of spiritual nourishment to define the human existence and deliver folks from the misery of emotional anguish.

While the Bible clearly identified sin as the root cause of all our emotional problems, psychology denied that and placed the blame for mankind's emotional woes on neuroses and psychoses caused by painful memories that were suppressed and stored in the so-called unconscious section of the mind.

According to the worldview of humanistic psychology, you are today what you experienced earlier in life, going all the way back to your mother's womb. And so, those who grow up to become violent adults must have been beaten by a violent parent or parents in their childhood who destroyed their self-esteem. Those who become pedophiles in adulthood must have been sexually abused as children by adults. And so it goes.

Certainly, there's a correlation between dysfunctional families and people who come from those families. However, many people overcome bad parents or childhood bullying and lead successful lives. While mass-murderer John Gacy's evil was attributed to his father who was a violent drunk, Gacy had a sister who didn't become a sadistic murderer when she became an adult.

Though Ted Bundy was a sadistic mass-murderer, he refused to blame his parents for his behavior and took full responsibility for his actions. Jeffrey Dahmer was yet another sadistic murderer who had siblings who didn't turn out like him. Thus, evil is the choice of the individual rather than the consequence of a bad childhood. If psychology's theories are correct, then everyone who comes from a dysfunctional family should have serious emotional problems. But many folks overcome.

However, it's becoming harder to overcome emotional problems these days when many people are told to place their hope and trust in psychotropic drugs rather than in God through His Son Jesus Christ who overcame the world 2,000 years ago on the cross. Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who purposely crashed a Germanwings jetliner into the French Alps, killing himself and 150 people on the plane, was reportedly taking psychotropics for depression and a psychosomatic illness.

Lubitz was obviously a brilliant but troubled young man who either didn't believe in God or didn't believe that God had the power to deliver him from his problems. And so, he turned to a psychiatrist who in turn placed him on mood-altering drugs.

The problems with psychotropics have been well-documented. While they provide relief to some people, they not only don't help others, but they can cause dangerous mood swings that can lead to erratic, violent behavior including murder and suicide.

According to his associates, Lubitz complained of vision problems that he feared could end his flying career. It's not known what type of psychotropics Lubitz was taking, but drugs such as Tricyclic antidepressants can cause vision problems. Ironically, Lubitz's associates claim the young pilot was depressed about his vision. If so, then the pilot's vision problem and resulting depression may have been caused by the very medication that was supposed to make him feel better.

Psychology has become a counterfeit faith for millions of people that's replaced true faith in God. Like all false religions, psychology ultimately fails to deliver on its lofty promises to make people emotionally healthy and happy. The true antidote for depression and mental anguish is repentance from sin and a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.

That comes by faith in God rather than by faith in the failed theories of humanistic psychology, psychiatric therapy or psychotropic drugs. As the apostle Peter stated 2,000 years ago: "Cast all your anxiety on him (Jesus Christ) because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) Amen.

Blind Guides: Part II

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung

The roots of modern humanistic psychology can be found in an ancient lie. What lie is that, and where is it found?

It's found in the Book of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. Who uttered the lie and what does it say? The lie was uttered by the ancient serpent who is more popularly known as Satan. This is what he said to Eve: "You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it (forbidden fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5)

The serpent's lie was in response to a command that God gave Adam and Eve concerning a particular fruit-bearing tree in the Garden of Eden. The Lord allowed the first couple to eat fruit from all the trees in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He warned them that if they ate from that tree, they would be shut out of eternal life and would die. 

Why? Because the tree's fruit contained a deadly substance that if ingested, would forever corrupt man's soul, spirit and flesh. But how? By injecting the sinful nature into the human genome that would drive all human beings toward rebellion and evil.

But how does that relate to modern psychology? This is how it relates: The serpent seduced Eve by appealing to her pride; telling her that she could be like God if she disobeyed Him and ate the forbidden fruit. 

Psychology and its selfist theories seduce human beings by appealing to their pride; telling them that the emotional traumas that afflict them aren't their fault but rather, are the fault of a variety of circumstances such as bad memories that are repressed in the so-called subconscious, poor self-esteem or chemical imbalances in the brain. 

Psychology's theories directly contradict the Bible that reveals sin as man's downfall that causes emotional disorders. The Bible makes all human beings directly accountable to God through His laws and commandments. Sin is a violation of those laws and commandments and sin has consequences. 

Such as? Such as guilty consciences that condemn sinners and can bring on depression to the curses that are spelled out in God's law. (Deuteronomy 28:15-68) Where does that guilty conscience come from? It comes from God's laws that are written on everyone's heart. (Romans 2:13-16) When we sin, we violate God's commandments and our consciences call out our rebellion.

For over 1,800 years, many folks recognized that sin was mankind's greatest scourge that caused all sorts of emotional traumas and behavioral problems such as addictions, anger, demon possession, hallucinations, nightmares, bizarre fetishes, depression and suicidal thoughts. 

And for over 1,800 years, the antidote to those maladies was repentance from sin and a life committed to honoring, worshiping and serving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. However, with the advent of secular humanism in the 19th century combined with decline and decay of the Christian church, humanistic psychology began to replace the Judeo-Christian worldview as the new faith system in the western world.

From ucadia.com: "While claiming "tradition" (orthodoxy) and dubious influential mechanisms as testing as somehow scientific, psychology has gone one step further. It has staked its claim of entrance into the league of science in being the "god killer" of the mind by eliminating all notion of soul."

Tragically, not only did humanistic psychology replace the Bible, but even much of the Christian church traded the Bible for the godless theories of atheists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Abraham Maslow who hated God and were determined to dethrone Him and replace him with man.

Sound familiar? It should. That traces back to the ancient Garden of Eden. And the shrewd and wily serpent who deceived the first couple continues to deceive mankind today with the same seductive lies.  And sadly, millions of people keep falling for those lies. 

Blind Guides: Part I

The fathers of modern psychology

During a conversation He had with His disciples one day, Jesus Christ told them this concerning the false teachings of Israel's religious leaders: "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit." (Matthew 15:13-14)

Indeed. While Christ was referring to the spiritually corrupt Pharisees and religious teachers who had deceived the Jews by perverting God's laws and commandments, He also referred to all those who deny and distort the word of God to lead folks astray into moral and spiritual ruin.

Some deny and distort the Bible for personal attention and financial gain while others do it because they are influenced by a dark spiritual realm inhabited by Satan and his demons.

But how do people come under demonic influence? Through rebellion against God's transcendent laws either intentionally or unintentionally. When it's intentional, it's done through involvement in the occult, eastern religions or powerful hallucinogenic drugs. 

When it's unintentional, the influence comes through cultural involvement with false religions. Though most western religions claim to worship God, they supersede the Bible with their own doctrines and dogmas. A good example of that is the Roman Catholic Church that denies the biblical gospel of salvation by faith (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-12, Ephesians 2:8-9) to offer its own gospel of works. 

However, the greatest perversion of faith and denial of the Bible today is found in secular, humanistic psychology that offers mankind its own path to salvation and spiritual enlightenment. 

How's that? Psychology, which offers a plethora of competing and confusing theories on human behavior, inverts the Bible by taking what the Bible condemns as destructive behavior and promotes it as positive behavior. 

One example of that is psychology's mantra of positive self-esteem. While high self-esteem sounds like a good thing, the Bible thoroughly condemns it. What is self-esteem? It's self-love. Psychology claims that mankind's biggest problem is low self-esteem. According to that logic, people do bad things to themselves and others because they have low self-esteem. And so, they must be taught to love themselves rather than hate themselves.

But stop and think about that: If someone truly hates himself or herself, then why do they become resentful when they're insulted by others? If you truly hated yourself then you'd rejoice when someone insulted you. The reason why insults upset you is because you have a lofty opinion of yourself that someone else doesn't share. Thus, when you're insulted, it hurts.

Christ understood that fallen human beings are self-lovers. But rather than encourage them to love themselves even more, He said this: "Love your neighbor as yourself". (Mark 12:31) And He also warned that those who love themselves too much will experience a great fall: "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matthew 23:12)

The self-esteem movement has been responsible for the sharp increase in narcissism, nihilism, immorality and even adolescent and teenage bullying over the past 60 years. Bullies feed their own swollen egos by persecuting those they view as inferior. 

Psychology also teaches that people behave the way they do because of past experiences that are stored as repressed memories in the unconscious. Thus, if you were spanked or deprived of something as an infant, that memory was stored in your so-called subconscious and it motivates you to do bad things in the present. Many psychologists believe that these repressed memories must be retrieved through the occult technique of hypnosis before their patients can be emotionally healed.

But some--if not many--of these memories aren't legitimate and they can be influenced by the demonic while under hypnosis. This can lead to additional anger, emotional pain and even more destructive behavior. 

And again, the Bible thoroughly condemns traveling back into the past to retrieve old emotional traumas. The apostle Paul said this: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

And Paul wrote this: "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." (Colossians 3:12-14)

The Bible tells us the antidote for emotional pain and suffering is through a personal relationship with God by being born again by faith in His Son Jesus Christ who died for all sin on the cross. The apostle Peter said this: "Cast all your anxiety on him (Christ) because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

In Part II, how the roots of modern psychology can be found in an ancient lie.