Devil Possession

before i write anything i just wanted to see if people really do believe in the powers of evil and devil possession.
This direct assault covers what the Bible refers to as "demon possession," the outright control of human personality by the power of a wicked spirit. It also extends to such activities as soothsaying, occultism, spiritism (or spiritualism), and related black magic arts such as astrology, fortune telling, ...

Demon possession is defined by the a human who has become inhabited or "taken over" by a demon and who cannot, consequently, exercise his own will - Mark, Chapter 5, ver. 12.

First, the Bible itself is very careful to distinguish between mental illness and demon possession. The writers of the Scriptures were certainly aware of this distinction. One of them, Luke, was a physician himself and was certainly acquainted with the distinctions between diseases and mental illnesses, as well as demon possession. In Matthew 4:24 a careful distinction is made between those who were afflicted by diseases, those who were demon possessed, and those who were lunatic or mentally ill. Luke refers to the same thing in Luke 4:40-41.

It should be noticed that ancients also had a sort of faith in the prophetic words spoken by those whom they believed to be possessed by demons, and this was sometimes a component of ancient oracles. Later, exorcists of the Church have stried to improve its knowledge of demons and theology by asking precise questions to the (demons that occupied) possessed.

One of the activities of evil spirits mentioned in the Bible is that of "familiar" or "divining" spirits. These demons appear to have the ability to rouse the dead from their ordained sleep. They also seem to be able to foretell the future, to some extent. The first mention we see of these spirits in the Scriptures is a warning from God to avoid consorting with them or the mediums that contact them.

"Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God."Leviticus 19:31

"And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people."Leviticus 20: 6

"A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them."Leviticus 20:27

'There shall not be found in thee one who purges his son or his daughter with fire, one who uses divination, who deals with omens, and augury, a sorcerer employing incantation, one who has in him a divining spirit, an observer of signs, questioning the dead.'Deuteronomy 18:10

'Then Saul said to his servants, Seek for me a woman who has in her a divining spirit, and I will go to her, and enquire of her: and his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has in her a divining spirit at Aendor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he goes, and two men with him, and they come to the woman by night; and he said to her, Divine to me, I pray thee, by the divining spirit within thee, and bring up to me him whom I shall name to thee. And the woman said to him, Behold now, thou knowest what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who had in them divining spirits, and the wizards from the land, and why dost thou spread a snare for my life to destroy it?'I Samuel 28:7

'It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation." She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out at that very moment.' Acts 16:16

Cases of possession are numerous in the New Testament and Jesus appears a the great figure of the 'Exorcist' among his people. This practice seems to be inherited from the Apolyptical sects.

Below are a few of the examples available from the Scriptures records where evil spirits possessed and took up residence within human beings..

'There was a man in the synagogue who had a spirit, an unclean demon. And he cried out: 'Ah! What have we to do with you, Jesus, the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you, you are the Holy One of God.' And Jesus rebuked him and said: 'Hold your peace and come out of him.' And when the demon had thrown him down in front of them, he came out of him without hurting him...' Verse 41: 'And demons went out from many, the demons crying out and saying 'You are the Christ, the Son of God.' And he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew him to be the Messiah.' Luke 4:33

'But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.'Mark 7:25

'Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when He stepped out on the land, there met him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!" For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss [abusson]. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.' Luke 8:26

The notion that the name of Jesus in itself has power over demons was disproved by the Biblical incident of the Jewish exorcists who attempted to use the names of Jesus and the apostle Paul as magical words of power to cast out a possessing demon from a man. The demon said through the voice of its human host "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?".

Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.Acts 19:11

According to the doctor of Louis XV, Monsieur de St André in his 'lettres au sujet de la magie, sorcellerie et des sorciers' in 1725, it was believed that somebody displaying the following signs was convinced of being possessed by the Devil.

People being able to levitate without any exterior help or art
People being able to speak foreign or unknown languages (glossolalia) without any prior knowledge of them. Inquisitors used to ask questions in foreign languages (german, latin,) and expected answers in the same language.
People being able to inform about events occuring in distant places or in the future.
People being able to discover hidden things without any knowledge of them.
People being able to guess thoughts and feelings that are not expressed to them
Other visible signs of possessions include contortions, unnatural body movements, insults, blasphemies, stigmata or wounds that vanish as quickly as they appear.A lot of possession cases include the production of hysterical ailments. The person accused in a desire to attract attention and sympathy will readily cast an accusation to justify its own delirium. While the paranoiac develops a distrust and fear of a particular person and then invents his injuries, the hysteric produces symptoms of injury and only then casts out around for a scapegoat on which the blame can be laid. It seems possible that in some cases the hysteric is not completely unconscious about the origin of his self-induced afflictions and therefore finds it necessary to have a good explanation for himself.

There was little realization, in the centuries of persecution, that vomiting pains, disturbance of the senses, impotence, paralysis and fits could be hysterical and psychosomatic ailments. Usually believed by the subject himself to be genuine, they are provoked by the sufferer's own fear and desire for attention rather than any organic interference.

Delve into the problem. Focus on the solution: HOPE.