Hey Pastor John,
I had a question about why demon possession seemed to have a lot of occurrences in the new testament and none in the old testament. Also, the same question with generational curses happening in the old testament but not in the new testament.
Thanks a bunch,
Terri
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Hi Terri
Excellent questions!
First, demon possession in the ancient world (prior to Christ) was not seen as a bad thing. It was a well-known fact of life among the nations of earth, but if anything, it was a condition that was desired rather than feared. Men of that time saw demon-possession as a way to gain wealth and secret knowledge, as in the case of the demon-possessed slave girl in Acts 16:16-21. Her owners thought it was a horrible thing when Paul cast the demon out of her.
It was only when Christ came and brought light to men that the understanding came that demons were bad. That is a simple statement, and may be a little over-stated, but that is basically how it happened that men of earth began to understand that demon-possession was not a holy thing.
Secondly, I do not see “generational curses” (a non-biblical term, by the way) such as are mentioned in the books of Moses as necessarily ending. Whether one would call it a curse or not can be debated, but I have seen the wonderful, lingering effect that the righteousness of parents can have on children and grandchildren, and I have seen the horrific, lingering effect that sins of the parents have had on succeeding generations. And if we believe that God, not good or bad luck, determines the circumstances of our lives, can we not say that the good effects of righteousness are His blessings on the children and that the evil effects of sin are His curses on them? Of course, in the Final Judgment, each of us will give account of our own deeds to God, not the deeds of others. But then, even that was the case under the law (Ezek. 18).
Thank you for these very good questions. Such questions help us all. We benefit from thinking about such things.
Pastor John
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Hi John,
I enjoyed Terri’s questions and your responses. I had never thought about being possessed with a demon as being a good thing, but I see how it was looked at differently by the world if they could make money by being possessed.
Thinking about demons gave me a question. If the fallen angels who were cast out of Heaven with Satan are the evil spirits, or demons, that were on earth after Jesus was glorified, who were the evil spirits and demons before Pentecost? God allowed Satan to think he was getting by while he lived in Heaven until Jesus was glorified. So could these “fallen” angels have been evil spirits and demons on earth before Pentecost, while they were still living in Heaven?
Thank you,
Randell
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Yes, Randell, the angels who fell and became what we now refer to as “demons” were the same evil spirits ocassionally mentioned prior to Pentecost. Before God gave us His Spirit on the day of Pentecost, those heavenly beings had access to both heaven and earth, and they were not always thought of as being wicked. After the Spirit of truth came on the day of Pentecost, those spirits were forever denied access to heaven, and because the Spirit of truth was now among men, in time, most people began to realize that demons are very evil, undesireable spirits.
jdc