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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

The Old Serpent

Genesis 3:1-5

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 2And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Revelation 12:7-9

7Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

John 13:26-27

26Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."

“I still did not know precisely when and why Beccah had become possessed. I knew that around age six she had developed an abnormal attraction to a book of woodcuts that told one version of the pact with the devil story,” M. Scott Peck, Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist’s Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption (Free Press 2005), 214-15.

“The extraordinary amount of restraint required was one of the less remarkable features of the exorcism. The most remarkable was the change in the appearance of Beccah’s face and body. Except during break times and a few other occasions when Satan would seemingly be replaced by Beccah, she did not appear to be a human being at all. To everyone present, her entire face became like that of a snake. I would have expected it to be the usual kind of poisonous snake with a triangular head, but that was not the case. The head and face of this snake were remarkably round. The only exception to this roundness was its nostrils, which had a distinct snub-nosed look. Most remarkable of all were the eyes. They had become hooded, ibid. 173.

“During another appointment, again for but a minute, Beccah’s face appeared to be that of a very dry, thick-skinned, lizardlike creature—possibly an iguana. Definitely a reptile but nothing like a snake,” ibid. 225.

10 comments:

  1. Are there any photos?! You don't really believe this (#$*@)#($!$, right? This is Mary Cheese Sandwich stuff.

    And there's a biblical inconsistency here as well with the John passage. Why in John is satan trying to *move forward* Jesus crucifixion by possessing Judas, whereas in Matthew ("get thee behind me") he is trying to prevent it? Does he or does he not know that in the long run it's against his interests for the crucifixion to take place?

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  2. Peck strikes me as a credible witness. He was a distinguished, Harvard educated, psychiatrist.

    He had no predisposition to believe in possession. He converted to the faith late in life.

    He had no motive to lie about these cases, that I can see. Nothing to gain. He published this book at the end of his career. If anything, a book like this would injure his professional reputation.

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  3. I've been wondering about this for a while... I used to be charismatic and we took encountering the demonic as a When it happens as opposed to a Probably won't happen, and if we encountered it, we'd take authority in Jesus' Name over it and have victory, etc.

    Any idea on what we as Reformed peeps might do on encountering a possessed individual? That could be an interesting post, if you're looking for ideas! :-)

    Grace and peace,
    Rhology

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  4. thnuhthnuh said:

    "Are there any photos?!"

    What difference would that make to you? If there were photos, your next move would be to dismiss the photographic evidence on the grounds that it was doctored.

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  5. I'd trust that experts can detect photoshop or masks, etc.
    Or if there were expert witnesses there in the field of investigating paranormal claims who could perform tests.

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  6. Alan,

    One of these days I hope to do a big post on the paranormal and occult.

    In answer to your specific question, my first impulse would be to create a hostile work environment for the devil, viz. praying for the demoniac, reading the Bible aloud, singing hymns, &c.

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  7. This stuff literally scares the hell out of me.

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  8. thnuhthnuh said:

    "Or if there were expert witnesses there in the field of investigating paranormal claims who could perform tests."

    You mean like EMF scanners to pick up spooky vibes?

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  9. Belief in "demons" leads to dualism and blaming your depravity on Satan (a la Flip Wilson).
    It causes people to become paranoid and neurotic.

    And as I'm sure you all know the "satan" concept evolved over time, showing it was of human origin (as Pagels shows in "Origin of Satan").

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  10. thnuhthnuh said...

    “Belief in ‘demons’ leads to dualism and blaming your depravity on Satan (a la Flip Wilson). It causes people to become paranoid and neurotic.”

    Belief in evolution leads to moral nihilism and blaming your depravity on Mother Nature. It causes people to become Nazis and Social Darwinians, viz.

    Robert Ardrey, African Genesis

    Craig Palmer & Randy Thornhill, A Natural History Of Rape: Biological Bases Of Sexual Coercion

    Cheryl Brown Travis, ed. Evolution, Gender, and Rape

    Richard Weikart, From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany

    “And as I'm sure you all know the ‘satan’ concept evolved over time, showing it was of human origin (as Pagels shows in ‘Origin of Satan’).”

    Pagels is a flakey radical chic feminist masquerading as a scholar:

    http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=4108

    http://www.denverseminary.edu/article/beyond-belief-the-secret-gospel-of-thomas

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