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Demonic possession, in supernatural belief systems, is a form of spiritual possession whereby certain malevolent extra-dimensional entities, demons, gain control over a mortal person's body, which is then used for an evil or destructive purpose. Unlike in channelling or other benign forms of possession, the subject has no control over the possessing entity and so it will persist until forced to leave the victim, usually through a form of exorcism. Many cultures and religions contain some concept of demonic possession, but the details vary considerably. Some cultures, in particular the Roma people also believe that demons can also possess animals, plants, deceased persons or inanimate objects.

Demonic possession in History

The oldest references to demonic possession are from the Sumerians, who believed that all diseases of the body and mind were caused by "sickness demons" called gid-dim . The priests who practised exorcisms in these nations were called ashipu (sorcerer) as opposed to an asu (physician) who applied bandages and salves . Many cuneiform tablets contain prayers to certain gods asking for protection from demons, while others ask the gods to expel the demons that have invaded their bodies.

Nevertheless there are no descriptions of specific punishments against possessed persons as it happened later many times in Christian societies. Shamanic cultures also believe in demon possession and shamans (witch doctors) perform exorcisms too; in these cultures often diseases are attributed to the presence of an evil spirit or demon in the body of the patient.

Demon possession became a plague among Christians; exorcisms and executions were performed on persons allegedly possessed; many mentally ill people were accused of being demon-possessed and killed. The Malleus Maleficarum speaks about some exorcisms that can be done in different cases. In Christianity, animals were also believed to be able of being possessed; during the Middle Ages, hundreds of cats, goats, and other animals were slain because of the idea that they were either an incarnation of a demon or possessed by one.

Demonic possession in the Bible

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: Demonical Possession:

"In the Old Testament we have only one instance, and even that is not very certain. We are told that "an evil spirit from the Lord troubled" Saul (1 Samuel 16:14). The Hebrew rûah need not imply a personal influence, though, if we may judge from Josephus (Ant. Jud., VI, viii, 2; ii, 2), the Jews were inclined to give the word that meaning in this very case. In New-Testament times, however, the phenomenon had become very common."

The New Testament mentions several opportunities in which Jesus drove out demons from diseased persons, believed to be these entities responsible for those illnesses.

Acts of the Apostles contains also a number of references to people coming under the influence of the Holy Spirit (1:8, 2:4, 2:17–18, 2:38, 4:8, 4:31, 6:3–5, 7:55, 8:15–19, 8:39, 9:17, 10:19, 11:12–16, 11:28, 13:9, 16:6–7, 19:2–6, 20:23, 21:11, 23:8–9) which is believed to be a good thing in contrast to demonic influence.

Demonic possession in Christianity

Despite its widespread currency, including traditional use among Christian writers, the expressions "demonic possession" or "possessed by demons" are problematic and controversial from a Biblical perspective. Despite English language translation tradition, the Bible never refers to people as being possessed by demons. The main New Testament expressions referred to demonic influence are:

  1. 'to be demonized' (daimonizomai) - this is the most frequent expression.
  2. 'having a demon' (echon daimonion) - note it is the person who possesses the demon, not the demon who possesses the person.

Certainly the language of "possession", like other mistranslations, has gained a life of its own, as is reflected in the title of this article. Murphy comments on the traditional language of "possession": "Fortunately, the practice of using these terms is now in the process of correction because of renewed historical-contextual studies of Scripture and renewed experience with the demonized." Some allow the term "possession" but restrict its use only for the most extreme cases, which are thought to be extremely rare.

Many mainstream Christian churches, particularly in western society, reject the concept of demons entirely, instead supporting the mainstream scientific position that supposed demon possessions are in fact a symptom of mental illness. Churches that accept demonization still may agree that many apparent cases may actually stem from natural causes. The literal view of demonization is still held by a number of Christian denominations. Official Catholic doctrine affirms that demonic oppression can occur as distinguished from mental illness, but stresses that cases of mental illness should not be misdiagnosed as demonic influence Catholic exorcisms can occur only under the authority of a bishop and in accordance with strict rules; a simple exorcism also occurs during Baptism (s1673 Catechism of the Catholic Church,).

A great deal of controversy surrounds the book "War on the Saints" originally published in 1912. The original edition is long out of print. Over the years various publishing houses have produced abridged and pseudo-unabridged editions which have largely eliminated the original thrust of the book as a resource to the Christian faced with combating demon influences.

The concept of demon influence in Christianity was similar to that of Jewish belief. In the New Testament Jesus is reported to have encountered people who were demonized and to have driven the "evil spirits" out of these demoniacs. In the 4th century, St. Hillary asserted that demons entered the bodies of humans to use them as if they were theirs, and also proposed that the same could happen with animals, expelling a demon from his camel to prove his theory. In the 5th century, Gregory the Great (later Pope Gregory I) wrote about a nun that was oppressed by a demon that penetrated her body via a lettuce she had eaten.

Later, in the Middle Ages, a list of symptoms required to confirm demonic oppression was carefully prepared:

  1. The ability to curse/blaspheme in languages unknown to the person.
  2. The ability to find secret things, read the mind, and divine future happenings.
  3. The ability to make physical efforts abnormal for that person.
  4. The act of spitting or vomiting every object the demons would have made the person swallow.

Other symptoms occasionally listed include:

  1. Fear and/or hatred of holy objects.
  2. The inability to say the word "Christ".

Normally, only one of these symptoms was enough to determine demonization. It was said by people of that time that oppressed persons had an ugly and terrible aspect, wrathful eyes, bluish lips, foam coming off their mouth; their body was almost permanently shaking, when they spoke their tongue came abnormally out, their speech consisted mainly in curses and blasphemies, and they were able to imitate animal sounds as well as to speak with human-like voices with a strange sound and a different pitch of theirs. According to Catholic theologians demonization is involuntary and allowed by God to test a person (for more details about God's tests on persons see Job). Involuntary demonization according to these theologians, cannot be negated because this would imply the negation of the cases mentioned in the New Testament (12, some of them repeated in more than one Gospel) and, by extension, the veracity of it. Voluntary demonization can be also mentioned, favored by drugs, alcohol and/or frantic dances, like those of certain ancient cults (i.e. the Bacchanals), still practiced in some Shamanic societies, and alleged to be also practiced by witches during their Sabbaths. Another form of voluntary oppression is that in which a person offers his/her body to be influenced by a demon to serve as a medium among him/her and the other attendants to the reunion.

Demonic possession in Medicine

Demonic possession is not a valid psychiatric or medical diagnosis recognized by either the DSM-IV or the ICD-10. Those who profess a belief in demonic possession have sometimes ascribed the symptoms associated with mental illnesses such as hysteria, mania, psychosis, or dissociative identity disorder to possession. There is, however, a mental disease called demonomania or demonopathy. This is a monomania in which the patient believes that he or she is possessed by one or more demons.

From another point of view, those who accuse others of being demon-possessed have to be mentioned too. In cases like those of the witches of Salem, Massachusetts, or the nuns who accused father Urbain Grandier, a collective hysteria takes place, involving more than one person "contagiously" convinced of that "truth". In particular cases (sometimes a small number of persons, e.g., some members of a family or a small group of friends, but generally one person) the accusation of demon possession is caused because of the diseases above-mentioned or the phenomenon of collective hysteria. Another case that is necessary to mention is that of simulation; simulation is generally considered a psychological alteration of the human behaviour rather than a psychiatric disease, but there are in Medicine cases of simulators mentally ill that act by compulsion. It was common the case of children and teenagers accusing people of having bewitched them and feigning to be demon-possessed, and later apologising for that; unfortunately, due to the processes carried out by the religious tribunals, generally those innocents had already lost their lives, and that was the cause of many of those apologies: the feeling of being guilty, or remorse. There were several cases of simulation in England, most of them between 1533 and 1697, until accusations made by children were prohibited in 1718; there were cases of simulation in France and America too; it is thought that the collective hysteria that generated the accusation against Urbain Grandier was started by a case of simulation. It rests to say that a person easy to influence can be convinced by third parties of being demon-possessed.

Medicine can explain some aspects of the "symptoms" shown by those persons allegedly possessed; it is known that "supernatural strength" is common in some cases of insanity (mania, energumens, etc.).

Demonic possession in Fiction

The theme of demon possession has been by far better exploited by cinema than literature. Maybe the most known work on the subject is the 1973 film The Exorcist, based on the book of the same name, which portrays a typical mediaeval case of demonic possession in which the victim shows all required characteristics to confirm the status of possessed. This was later satirised in 1990 by Repossessed. End of Days (1999) shows another form of demonic possession suggested by Hilarius. Possession (taken seriously) is central to the recent TV series Hex (TV series). The TV series Supernatural has also explored themes of demonic possession, most recently in the second season episode Born Under a Bad Sign.

Notes

  1. Murphy, Ed. 1996.The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Rev. Ed., p.51
  2. Murphy, Ed. 1996. The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Rev. Ed., p.50
  3. MacNutt, Francis. 1995. Deliverance from evil Spirits: a practical manual. Grand Rapids: Chosen Books. p.71

See also

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