D32-20: How Can We Tell The Difference Between Demon Possession And Mental Illness?

“They sacrificed to demons, non-gods,
gods that they had never known,
new gods that had come up lately,
which your ancestors had not feared.”
-Deuteronomy 32:17

Alrighty, we’re still in the midst of examining verse 17 which is a short but actually quite comprehensive list of “gods” that Israel would be tempted to worship.

The next term that comes up is “non-gods”.

Hmm…what the heck would a “non-god” be?

The original Hebrew is LO-ELOHIM here.

So literally this would mean “no-gods”.

Can we conclude this term is actually referring to figments of people’s imaginations instead of real spiritual entities?

I think we can.

These are folks who have confused their own twisted and perverted thoughts with reality as they let their evil inclinations get the better of them.

Onward.

The next category introduced to us is “gods they had never known”.

As I explained in an earlier article, these are all the foreign gods of the gentile nations that have nothing to do with Israel.

Next we come to the interesting term “new gods that had come up lately” or “Johnny-come-lately gods”.

Honestly, I’m not exactly sure what this could be referring to.

Probably the latest spiritual fad popular among the pagans in the ancient Middle East that would be similar to how subliminal mind programming and psychic mediums are the hot thing in our day.

One question that often comes up is how can one tell the difference between real spiritual beings and spiritual fantasies that are all just in our minds?

That’s a difficult question to answer considering that demons can be the cause of mental torment.

Because of this the line between actual demonic manifestations and psycho-illness can become quite blurred.

Remember that famous movie The Exorcist in the 1970’s starring Linda Blair.

This film was actually based on a true story.

As the main character (the possessed young girl played by Linda Blair) started to slowly and surely get hog wild out of control, her mother took her to a hypnotist, a psychiatrist and then finally she underwent a series of physical examinations including X-ray brain scans.

Long story short, the doctors weren’t able to find anything physically wrong with her.

No brain tumors or anything.

Finally the chief doctor recommended to the mother of the girl that her daughter get an exorcism.

Now here’s what’s interesting.

Even when the doctor was recommending the girl get an exorcism, he was still only recommending it for psychological reasons.

In the doctor’s own words from the movie…

“The victim’s belief in possession is what caused the mental illness. So, in the same way, the belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.”

My thoughts are that demonic possession and mental illness are interconnected.

That’s why I think a big problem with this world including the doctors in it is that they ignore the spiritual and only focus on the mental.

Scripture should always be our guide.

One thing I can say for sure and I’ve already spoken about this.

According to the books of Job, Daniel and other parts of the Bible, there are indeed mysterious divine beings called BENEI ELOHIM that Hashem has created and placed in authority over the gentile nations of the world.

They are not self-created and even though they are ultimately under God’s control, we know that some of them have decided to turn against God and His will for mankind.

The topic of the BENEI ELOHIM has been debated and discussed among the Jewish sages going back thousands of years.

One interesting thing they have said is…

…there is no doubt that some of these divine beings have allowed themselves to be worshipped as gods by the gentiles throughout history

I have no doubt this is true.

Given the tremendous amount of power they have at their disposal I can see why pagan gentiles would view these “sons of God” as actual gods instead of subservient spiritual beings who must answer to Hashem at the end of the day.

It wouldn’t have been a stretch for the gentiles to mistake one of these beings as a god who in some way rules over their nation.

Heck, even Christianity believes Yeshua is literally God the Father in human flesh.

It’s the same ole’ idolatry under a different name, nothing more and nothing less.

Will Durant, the American writer, philosopher and historian who authored the massive 11-volume “The Story of Civilization” was dead on when he said…

“”Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. . . .
From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity.”

And of course we can’t overlook the common ancient belief that all gods were territorial.

In a sense this is Scriptural because in Genesis, we’re told how God did indeed establish “sons of God” over the nations (with the exception of Israel of course).

Here’s the takeaway for today.

While these divine beings are in no way real gods, their existence is very real and by definition they are territorial.

I have no doubt that these beings have preyed on peoples’ superstitions and have allowed themselves to be worshipped as gods from the beginning of time.

In fact, I betcha these BENEI ELOHOM are those very gods and supernatural beings mentioned in all of the legendary folklore and superstitions of the gentiles.

In addition, I believe that some of these BENEI ELOHIM who have rebelled against God have their own army of subordinates so to speak.

I believe these subordinates are actually demons like what Linda Blair’s character was possessed by in The Exorcist.

However, worship of these BENEI ELOHIM is prohibited for anyone who would call him or herself a follower of Hashem.

In fact, in both the Tanach (the OT or the Only Testament) and New Testament, there are instances of angels warning the people to NOT worship these BENEI ELOHIM no matter how awesome their appearance or powers may seem to be.

Heck, even Yeshua’s disciples warned other folks not to worship them whenever they had performed some incredible miracle.

And Yeshua also denied he was on the same level as the Father in Mark 10:18 when he said “Why do you call me good?  No one is good–except God alone“.

And no Yeshua was NOT referring to himself when he said those words.

I’m done.