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God has raised up true, Satan has raised up lying prophets. If God has commissioned his
servants to work real miracles, Satan has employed his to exhibit counterfeit ones. If to
the Jews were committed the oracles of God, to the heathen were committed the
pretended oracles of Delphos and Dodona, and many others. If the intrinsic excellence
and the purifying tendency of the doctrines of the gospel, and the beauties of holiness
adorning the character of those who have been commissioned to publish them, are
amongst the means which God has employed to recommend His truth, the servants of
Satan have been transformed as the ministers of righteousness, and have pretended deep
concern for the happiness of those to whom they have delivered their message. And it
has been thought, and is maintained at the present day by some, that his giving answers
by the oracles to which our attention is now to be directed, has been amongst the
principal means by which he has carried on his intercourse with our fallen sinful world"
(Existence of Evil Spirits).
There is a growing tendency to "explain away" the references to demon possession
which we find in the Scriptures. It is suggested that our Lord merely accommodated
Himself to the superstitions of the age, and that, if He had lived to-day, He would
have called the disease by its true name of "epilepsy". The symptoms recorded in
Matt. 17: 15, Mark 9: 17 and Luke 9: 39 are certainly very like those of epilepsy, but
the Lord's words clearly attribute these very symptoms to actual demon possession. The
demoniacs of the Gospels do not express themselves as they would if they were insane or
hypochondriacal (Matt. 8: 29; Mark 1: 24); they answer question put to them in a
rational way. They also recognize that they are possessed by demons (Mark 5: 9), and
the Lord commands these demons not to make Him known as the Messiah (Mark 1: 34
margin). We also learn that these demoniacs knew that Jesus was the Son of God
(Matt. 8: 29), and the Christ (Luke 4: 41). If he is at all uncertain, the reader should
not remain satisfied with the few remarks given above, but should tabulate for himself all
that is written in the Gospels in this connection. We believe that the result will be a
conviction that actual demon possession is the truth of the matter.
The damsel that followed the Apostle at Philippi was "possessed with a spirit of
Python". Python, in Greek mythology, was the name given to the Serpent that was born
of the mud left by the flood. The Serpent was killed by the god Apollo, to whom it was
supposed that the Serpent's powers of prophecy and oracular utterance were transferred.
Apollo's prophecy was at Delphi, where a priestess called Pythia gave cryptic replies to
questioners' enquiries.
The following are some of the cases of Satanic opposition encountered at various
stages of the apostolic witness:
(1)
At the entry of the gospel into Samaria, we find Satanic opposition represented by
Simon the Sorcerer. This man "believed", but had very questionable ideas
concerning the bestowal of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8: 9-24).
(2)
At the entry of the gospel into Galatia, under the separate ministry of Paul and
Barnabas, we find again Satanic opposition represented by Elymas the
Sorcerer, who was smitten with blindness, "not seeing the sun for a season"
(Acts 13: 6-11).
(3)
At the entry of the gospel into Europe, we find Satanic opposition represented by
the damsel possessed with the spirit of Python. This spirit was cast out
(Acts 16: 16-18).