If nobody believed in superstition it would be unable to hurt anyone

The Demons Advertised Jesus
 
The gospels speak of demons possessing people and of how they are powerful and of how Satan told Jesus he could give him the whole world if he wanted. They allege that Jesus forbade the demons to tell people who he was. Yet we read of occasions when he let them tell. What was he up to? If he didn't want them to say he was God's holy one and God's son then why did he validate what they said by telling them off and throwing them out of the person which would only draw attention? If he had to do something he could have done it discreetly. He did not act like a sincere man. If Jesus' worst enemies broadcast his holiness are they really enemies or are they pretending?

JESUS ADVERTISED THE DEMONS!

Jesus said that a demon can be put out and return if the possessed person does not change his life and also bring its friends to live in the person and torment them so the demons are stronger than any human person.  Paul calls Satan the god of this world as if Satan is hugely powerful.  Given that Satan has power and we have to placate tyrants on earth at times and give in why aren’t we allowed to do that with Satan? Allowed or not we will try to stay on his good side!  The Bible warns that he is very aggressive so surely it is unwise to mess with him? Christianity does not save you from the notion of gods and evil spirits that have to be appeased otherwise they will hurt you.  No it gives you the gods who oppressed the pagans except it says the gods are not gods but demons.  That hardly matters for the demons are gods to us for they know more than we do and have magical invisible powers.
 
ANY PUBLICITY IS GOOD PUBLICITY
 
Jesus Christ was supposedly an exorcist. He claimed that exorcisms have an apologetic significance. He alleged that exorcisms cannot be done by the Devil for Satan cannot put Satan out so they must be attributable only to God (Mark 3). This was a lie as we will soon see.

He was not interested in putting demons out at a distance and only bothered if there was an audience or somebody around to tell others he could eject demons.  This was not about helping people but about show.

The demons are said to be terrified of him but if so why did they let the victim go to him and why did they not stay dormant when Jesus was there?  Why did they even provoke?

Jesus whether you think he was God or not, was still an ordinary person and the Christians say his being God did not mean he didn't have his struggles with God.  So he had to do what we would have to do.  He commands prayer and fasting to get demons out of possessed people. Jesus himself though never prays or fasts to get demons out. He just orders them.  That could be evidence that they were only pretending to go and he was playing along.  What would you expect when his culture regarded many charlatans as talented exorcists!  Yet he claims only God puts demons out!  It was more complicated than that!
 
The Jews accused Jesus of being in league with evil spirits. They surmised or knew that he was what we now call a Satanist. A person who worships the fallen angel of Christian superstitionism who is now the king of the damned in the evil realm of Hell is a Satanist. Christians might faint at the thought that the gospellers used material that lets it slip that that was exactly what their icon Jesus was. The early Christians never denied the exorcisms and healings done by Jesus’ rivals like Apollonius but said they were of the Devil. The Jews said the same thing about the miracles of Jesus. The Christians say, "So they prove that Jesus did miracles though they falsely accuse him of using the Devil to do them. At least it is proof that the miracle tales are true." It is dishonest to say the Jews could assess that the miracles were real but their assessment of the cause was incorrect. They were in the best position to judge for they were there. Also the Christian's logic would mean that all the other Messiahs of the time who were accused of doing miracles by the power of the Devil must have done real miracles too (Kooks and Quacks of the Roman Empire ON THE INTERNET). And they deny that. If anybody can do miracles then it follows that we may as well believe in one of these miracle workers instead of Jesus.
 
Jesus said that to say he cast out devils by the devil’s power was to commit an unforgiveable sin even though the Jewish leaders that said that were sincere. He never said they were saying it for malice and if it had been malice why did he bother trying to refute them by saying it had to be wrong?
 
Jesus said that demons leaving was proof that the devil was not casting them out. In saying that he shot himself in the foot. It does not follow that if a demon leaves that Satan is done any harm. Satan can move demons to new territory. The gospels do not record that Jesus was told that though he would have been!
 
Jesus did exorcisms to get people to believe in him alone forgetting that he wasn’t the only one that claimed such powers and forgetting that other rival exorcists had followers who swore their methods were effective. Evidently, we are not allowed to even think or know that exorcisms happen outside the Jesus context. Or we are to attribute them to the Devil and thus commit the unforgiveable sin?
 
It is the Christians not the Jews who are guilty of the permanent sin. They say that Spiritualists who get rid of evil spirits by doing rescue work as they call it and Mormons who cast out demons in the name of another Jesus and Buddhists who cast out demons too are all doing it by the Devil’s power. They see good being done and they say its Satan who is doing it. They do to those people what the Jews did to Jesus.
 
When Jesus told the demons to leave their hosts it was as if it was up to them if they wanted to go. You don’t tell a burglar to get out when you can press a button that can make some machine suck him out of the house and dump him outside. When the demons freely obeyed Jesus he was as much a demon as they were. Not one account speaks of Jesus forcing the demons out.

When the seventy-two men Jesus sent out to exorcise and proclaim the kingdom of God came back to him, they were rejoicing because they could expel demons by using Jesus’ name. Jesus told them he had given them power to tread underfoot the entire strength of the enemy and that nothing would ever hurt them (Luke 10). When we never read the verification of this we see that Luke had no right to put this unverified miracle in. Also, when the apostles were not preserved against being injured why would they be? And the promise that they had the power to defeat all the enemy seems like a boast. They could not have been given that power unless they were going to use it but evidently they did not for demons had been active after that. There was no point in God giving them the power unless they could use it. And God would be too wise to give people power he does not want them to use. The implication is that the power did not come from God at all. Jesus is confirming that his power came from Satan or from black magic. He is also confirming that he did not want the seventy-two to release all people from the demons which is a hint that he was in collaboration with the demonic powers and was allowing some exorcisms as a stepping-stone to get more people under demonic control. He told them not to be glad that they could cast out devils but to be glad that their names were written in Heaven. Really good people would be happier about doing good and destroying evil then they would be about being guaranteed the happiness of Heaven.
 
The demons that Jesus cast out may have been mere psychological forces that behaved like evil spirits. When they were called evil spirits like the damned in Hell were it shows that there is a link. The evil spirits have something to do with causing the bad forces – they possessed and hurt people through making them mentally ill. Nobody should say that the demons were merely mental illness. And the gospels never even think of mental illness as being an explanation. How could they? Mental illness was this huge mystery to them in those pre-scientific days.
 
In Acts 16 a slave girl is possessed by a pythonic spirit (v 16). It helps her with clairvoyance and to predict the future. This refers to the python or snake that was thought by the superstitious to guard the Oracle at Delphi. The serpent was supposedly killed by the god Apollo. Presumably its ghost was possessing the girl! Her gift was very lucrative to her associates. Paul and Silas and others were preaching about Jesus. She went about annoying them for days telling people that they were the servants of the Most High God who would lead them to salvation. Paul finally had enough and told the demon to leave her. It did. The source of income was gone! Paul and Silas were thrown in jail to punish them. It is surmised that the reason demons advertised these men and their message was because they thought they were superior to God. That is nonsense and a rationalisation. We read that the demons were scared of God. It was all a demonic scam to get converts for a demonic saviour. The fact that Paul let her demon preach for him for days before doing an "exorcism" proves that. A demon would certainly be happy to leave if it were helping to get converts for a false Messiah.
 
In Acts 19, Jewish magicians try using the name of Jesus to cure a possessed man. The demon tells them they have no right to use the name of Jesus and that he knows Jesus. He then attacks the magicians who were lucky to get away with their lives. Again this is blatant advertising for Jesus. The demon would not tell them how to exorcise him or tell them Jesus was the saviour unless Jesus was a son of the devil pretending to be a saint. It is like a Republican candidate for the US Presidency recommending his Democrat rival.
 
Mark 5: Jesus casts out a legion of demons - a critic takes a look

New International Version (NIV)

1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.

2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

THE GERASENES WAS ABOUT 60 KM INLAND SO JESUS COULDN'T HAVE GOT THERE BY BOAT.

3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

THE MAN GOES TO MEET JESUS - STRANGE BEHAVIOUR FROM ONE THAT WAS POSSESSED. IT MAKES AS MUCH SENSE AS ONE WHO WANTS TO BE SICK GOING TO THE DOCTOR.

THE MAN IS SAID TO BE DANGEROUS THUS IMPLYING THAT HE COULD NEED TO BE KILLED IN SELF-DEFENCE. THAT GOD ALLOWS A POSSESSION TO GO THAT FAR IS WORRYING.
 
5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.

7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!”

8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” 

AGAIN HE IS EXPERIENCING POSSESSION AND STILL RUNS TO JESUS AND HONOURS HIM BY GOING ON HIS KNEES!

JESUS TELLS THE SPIRIT TO DEPART. THE MAN NOT THE SPIRIT REPLIES. HE REPLIES THAT EXORCISM IS CRUEL AND TORMENTS HIM. HE MAY HAVE MEANT THAT IT TORTURES HIM, NOT JUST THE DEMONS.

RELIGION DOES NOT WANT TO ADMIT THAT EXORCISM IS VIOLENT AND ABUSIVE. SO IT SAYS THAT THE MAN SOMEHOW IS THE DEMONS AND YET THEY ARE DISTINCT FROM HIM. THEY SEEM TO BE DISTINCT BUT NOT SEPARATE. IT HOPES THEN TO ARGUE THAT THE DEMONS ARE SAYING THAT TO JESUS AND NOT THE MAN WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO INSIST THAT EXORCISM IS NOT ABOUT HURTING. BUT WE MUST REMEMBER IT IS SAID THAT IT IS THE MAN WHO PROTESTS ABOUT THE PROSPECT OF TORTURE. AND IT WOULD BE VINDICTIVE TO FEEL THAT THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH JESUS DELIBERATELY TORMENTING DEMONS!

9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

JESUS ASSUMES THERE IS ONE DEMON.

THE "HE" IN HE REPLIED HAS TO BE THE MAN HIMSELF. HE DIDN'T WANT RID OF THE DEMONS. HE WAS SPEAKING IN THEIR NAME.

IT IS INTERESTING THAT JESUS TELLS THE SPIRIT TO COME OUT AND THEN AFTERWARDS FINDS OUT THAT THE SPIRIT IS STILL THERE AND NOT ONLY THAT BUT HAS A LEGION OF DEMONIC COMPANIONS. DOES HE NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING? DID MORE DEMONS ENTER WHEN HE TOLD THE DEMON TO LEAVE? MAYBE JESUS WAS ONLY PRETENDING TO WANT IT OUT.

EXORCISTS ARE SUPPOSED TO FIND OUT HOW MANY DEMONS IF ANY ARE THERE FIRST. IT SEEMS THAT JESUS DOESN'T EVEN HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO ATTEMPT DIAGNOSIS.

IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT THE HE HERE DOES NOT MEAN THE MAN PERSONALLY - IT MEANS THE MAN AS POSSESSED. IT IS NOT THE MAN TALKING HERE. OR YOU COULD SAY THAT MAN IS THE DEMONS IN SOME WAY. JESUS EVEN GOES AS FAR AS TO SAY IT WAS A DEMON AND THEN THAT IT WAS DEMONS - IT IS AS IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THE TRINITY HERE WHERE ONE PERSON IS THREE PERSONS AT THE SAME TIME.

BUT THE MOST SENSIBLE INTERPRETATION IS THAT INSTEAD OF THE DEMON OBEYING JESUS WHEN HE TOLD HIM TO LEAVE IT SUMMONED HUNDREDS OF OTHER DEMONS.

IT IS STRANGE THAT THE DEMONS WANTED TO STAY LOCALLY. IF JESUS REALLY HAD POWER OVER THEM SURELY THEY WOULD HAVE WANTED TO PUT AS MUCH DISTANCE BETWEEN HIM AND THEMSELVES AS THEY COULD.

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

OBVIOUSLY, JESUS' PERMISSION DECIDES WHO IS GOING TO BE POSSESSED OR NOT! IT IS REALLY JESUS WHO SHOULD BE EXORCISED FROM PEOPLE NOT DEMONS! ALSO, THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR THAT DEMONS CAN KILL OR THAT GOD KILLS POSSESSED ENTITIES TO SAVE THEM. THE IMPLICATION IS THAT IT COULD BE RIGHT AT LEAST SOMETIMES, IN PRINCIPLE, TO MURDER POSSESSION VICTIMS.

A CATHOLIC BOOK CLAIMS THE PIGS DID THIS BECAUSE THEY SAW THE DEMONISED MAN AND IT SCARED THEM. THAT IS RUBBISH. THEY DID IT BECAUSE THE DEMONS WERE IN THEM. IF THE MAN HAD SCARED THEM THEY MIGHT HAVE DROWNED THEMSELVES ALREADY AND WHY DID THEY ALL DROWN? MERE FEAR CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR THAT.

14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

THE PIG TENDERS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE IF THE MAN HAD BEEN AS DANGEROUS AND ROAMING FREE AS THE START OF THE STORY WOULD LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE. AND IF THEY ARE SO SURPRISED AT THE MAN BEING NORMAL THAT WOULD IMPLY THAT HE WAS CONSTANTLY POSSESSED BEFORE. HE MUST HAVE BEEN POSSESSED WHEN HE WORSHIPPED JESUS TOO.

16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

NO WONDER! HE HAD DONE BLACK MAGIC AND NEEDLESSLY HURT THE PIGS. WHY DIDN'T THEY EVER BEG THE POSSESSED MAN TO LEAVE? WHAT WAS IT ABOUT JESUS THAT UNSETTLED THEM? THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS!

JESUS CAST DEMONS OUT OF A MAN. THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS THAT DEMONS WHEN EXPELLED WILL RETURN IF THEY CANNOT GET ANOTHER HOST. SO JESUS PUT THE DEMONS INTO PIGS. THE PIGS THEN DROWNED THEMSELVES. THIS IS SOMETIMES SAID TO BE A SIGN OF HOW DEMONS DESTROY WHATEVER THEY INHABIT. IF SO, IT WAS EVIL OF JESUS TO PUT THE DEMONS IN THE PIGS FOR THEM TO KILL HIM AND HE IS AS MUCH TO BLAME AS THEY ARE. NO HE WAS MORE TO BLAME - HE PUT THEM IN. IT WAS KIND OF SICK TO GIVE INTO DEMONS WISHING TO DESTROY FOR WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TO THEM AFTER THE PIGS DIED? WHAT WAS THE POINT?

I WONDER DID THE DEMONS THEN RETURN TO THE MAN AFTER ALL? JESUS' EXORCISMS ARE TOO SHOWY. IF DEMONS WANT TO STAY IN A MAN WHY DO THEY ABUSE HIM AND MAKE THEIR PRESENCE OBVIOUS? DEMONS THAT ACTED NICE IN ORDER TO SEDUCE PEOPLE TO DESTRUCTION WOULD HAVE MORE SUCCESS.
 
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

ALL THE PEOPLE MUST HAVE BEEN GULLIBLE. EVEN IF THE STORY WERE TRUE, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT ALL THE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SO UNCRITICAL AND SO AMAZED.

THE STORY SEEKS TO SHOW JESUS' POWER OVER DEMONS. BUT IT DOES NOT DO THIS VERY WELL. HE DOES BIZARRE THINGS AND DOESN'T SEEM TO KNOW IF IT IS ONE DEMON OR MANY.

HE CURES POSSESSION BY SENDING THE DEMONS TO POSSESS SOMETHING ELSE!

AND THIS AFTER ONE OF THE DEMONS HAILS HIM AS THE HOLY ONE OF GOD!

THE DEMONS DID NOT NEED TO POSSESS THE PIGS. THEY WANTED BODIES TO INHABIT AND DIDN'T WANT THE PIGS DEAD. IT IS THOUGHT THAT THE PIGS WENT MAD BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T HANDLE THE DEMONIC PRESENCES AND THAT THAT WAS WHY THEY KILLED THEMSELVES. BUT WHAT IF THE DEMONS MADE THE PIGS KILL THEMSELVES TO SHOW OFF AND POPULARISE JESUS? TO STUPID PEOPLE, IT LOOKED LIKE JESUS PUT DEMONS INTO PIGS AND GOT RID OF THEM FOREVER WHEN THE PIGS RUSHED TO THEIR DEATHS. BUT THAT WOULD ONLY LEAVE THE DEMONS FREE TO POSSESS PEOPLE ELSEWHERE! JESUS DIDN'T SAVE THE PIGS DESPITE HAVING THE POWER TO DO SO AND HIS ALLEGED POWER COULD STOP DEMONS DRIVING THE ANIMALS MAD. THE WHOLE THING WAS ABOUT FOOLING PEOPLE TO GET FOLLOWERS FOR JESUS.

THE STORY SHOWS THAT THE DEMONS WERE PUTTING ON A SHOW IN ORDER TO GET FOLLOWERS AND PRESTIGE FOR JESUS. IT HAS ALL THE HALLMARKS OF A SETUP. THE STORY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT GIVING US A NICE EXAMPLE BUT CARES ONLY ABOUT SHOWING THAT JESUS HAS THE RIGHT AND POWER TO BOSS DEMONS AROUND.

THE STORY IS NOT THE STORY OF THE SON OF GOD BUT THE STORY OF A BLACK MAGICIAN OR MALE WITCH

LET US LOOK AT OTHER POSSESSION STORIES

Mark 1:24, 25, 34 New International Version

Demons tell Jesus, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

COMMENT: THE DEMON PRETENDS TO BE AFRAID. WHY DO THE DEMONS PLURAL SAY THEY FEAR JESUS AND WHY DOES IT SWITCH TO ONE DEMON SAYING HE KNOWS JESUS IS THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.

IF THE DEMONS ARE AFRAID WHY WOULD THEY SPEAK TO HIM AT ALL AND REMIND HIM TO DESTROY THEM IF THAT WAS HIS WILL?

THE DEMONS KNEW THAT PEOPLE WOULD BELIEVE THEIR ASSERTION THAT JESUS WAS THE HOLY ONE OF GOD IF HE MANAGED TO GET THEM OUT.

"Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”

JESUS DIDN'T HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING TO GET THEM OUT. HE TELLS THEM TO BE QUIET. HE COULD HAVE SAID NOTHING. SAYING "BE QUIET!" MEANS "I COULD HAVE STOPPED YOUR MOUTH WITH MY SUPERNATURAL POWERS BUT I LET YOU SPEAK AND THEN TELL YOU TO BE SILENT. THIS IS TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE LETTING MY GREAT SECRET OUT!"

"Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was."

SO THE DEMONS WERE NOT GUESSING WHO HE WAS. THEY KNEW. IT SEEMS HE WAS NOW SILENCING THEM WHICH A BIT LATE UNLESS IT MEANS HE LET THEM CALL HIM THE SON OF GOD AND THEN FEIGNED OPPOSITION TO THEIR STATEMENT AND THEN THREW THEM OUT.

Mark 3:11,12 “Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him, and cried out, 'You are the Son of God.' But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.”

The demons are very interested in venerating Jesus aren't they?

WHY WOULD DEMONS TELL PEOPLE THAT JESUS WAS FROM GOD?

The Church performs exorcisms in the name of Jesus. Exorcism is a placebo at best for Jesus certainly had no power to exorcise anybody.  Placebos are based on lies and nobody has the right to use a cruel placebo.  You might give a patient sugar pills and tell him they are anti-depressants but you will not tell him to cut off his little toe for a miracle cure.Demons would not advertise the son of God. They would advertise a fake son of God. The gospels say that Jesus let them speak and say that he was the Son of God and then he silenced them. If he really didn't want them to advertise he could have spoke with them when nobody else was in earshot or silenced them as they spoke - not after. No - he let them call him God's son and then shut them up. It was so obvious that he agreed that any publicity was good publicity. It had to look like the big mouthed demons knew who he was and let it slip out.

However Jesus wanted to stop them advertising too passionately in case people would realise that he and the demons were on the same side.

Christians speculate that the demons were telling people about Jesus before he was ready to tell them. And it is guessed that if people started believing in him because demons were testifying to him, that would just play into the hands of the Pharisees who were trying to make out that Jesus and Satan were in it together.

All that is pure speculation. The notion that the demons were telling before Jesus was ready overlooks the fact that he let the demons let the cat out of the bag. Nothing in the Bible says why Jesus silenced them. We are told that demons testifying to Jesus would make people disbelieve that testimony. That is nonsense. It would make some disbelieve. The Pharisees didn't perpetually try to make Jesus out to be consorting with demons nor did they emphasise it except occasionally. The New Testament does nothing at all to lay peoples worries about Jesus connection to the demons at rest. That it fails to shows that it does not care or isn't able to explain it. And it is something that calls for an explanation by people who know the circumstances and who were there. It is a serious matter.

What if the demons had to be told to keep quiet because they were saying that Jesus Christ was the Son of God before he wanted to advertise it? When demons start telling people that this is the man they should listen to for he is of God it proves that Jesus was one of their own kind. He was a son of the Devil. The demons would not say such a thing about him if it were the truth.

If evil spirits say you are the son of God and you snap at them to shut up you are clearly trying to confirm what they are saying.

Jesus would not have needed to tell the demons to keep quiet if they were speaking in a language unfamiliar to the people who were there. All he had to do was to put them out. If he was afraid to let people know that he claimed to be the Son of God then he was no miracle-worker and had no faith in divine providence.

Were the demons hoping that by confessing that Jesus was of God that this confession would stop people believing that he was? No for Jesus didn’t explain nor did anybody else think that the demons speaking for Jesus was a bad sign. It does not follow that everything a demon says is necessarily a lie. And why didn’t Jesus put the demons out before they spoke if it was a bad sign?

Why did the Christians preserve these stories when there was a chance that some would realise there was something sinister about Jesus? The gospels and Jesus denied the demonic support for Jesus showed his true colours for they proclaimed that the exorcisms were evidence that what the demons said was true. The demons would have known that it would have been a better idea to give no opinion on Jesus’ status if he was the Son of God for they knew Jesus’ supporters would use their testimony to get people to believe in him.

It is said that Jesus did not magically force them to tell for he did not want them to speak. Maybe he forced them to act as if it had slipped out and did want them to speak.
 
The demons were doing promotional work for Jesus and making it look like he was expelling them from people as a sort of confirmation of what they were saying about him. It is all so obviously contrived. He was their ally. He was their forbidden friend.