07 -- MARKS OF POSSESSION
All abnormal traits, contrary to the normal or usual personality, may be strongly suspected
as being of demoniacal agency. Their one purpose is to deceive, and to accomplish this they
camouflage or cover their workings like the mysterious, hidden gun which bombarded Paris. One
who was apparently the victim of demon influence, said as we called her attention to the subject in
the word of God and to the confirmatory evidences in her own condition, "Do you take me for a
lunatic or a maniac?" Demon possession is not the far developed case of insanity. To be the
subject of demon possession, influence or working, one need not be in an asylum, though the minor
degrees of demon influence may so develop as to place them there unless the light comes which
brings deliverance. Demons cause many of the world's woes. The general conception of temptation
is that it is of Satan. There is one Satan but many demons. Satan himself has been blamed for many
a result brought about by his colleagues, the demons. The frequency of temptation has been
attributed to his lightning-like powers of locomotion, rather than to his numerous and almost
omnipresent co-workers, the demons.
Christians must locate the mysterious batteries which cause such havoc and, by truth and
knowledge of their workings, silence havoc-working demoniacal shells.
Conscious double consciousness, division, separation, or contradiction of another
personality intruding upon the normal personality and constraining to that which normal personality
does not approve, but which in well developed cases is unable to help, is an evidence of
possession.
Universal depression, groundless melancholy, (e. g., a woman whose husband earned a
large salary annually, worried about what would become of her children) -- great stupidity, and an
inexcusable, unreasoning indecision all come from the binding power of demons.
Change of character after the entrance of the demon is noticeable -- a complete or partial
change of moral character. Other characteristics of possession are dual personality -- Dr. Jekel
and Mr. Hyde, -- a second self, an unexplainable contrariness. In the language of a sister: "There
seems to be two of me." Still another insisted a certain thing should be done and the obligation on
the one spoken to was very strong and binding; but when the decision was made to comply with the
insistent demand for action they were turned upon and as insistently told not to do it. We once saw
a little boy in this strange state of dual or double consciousness, who said: "I want it!" (an article
of food). On it being handed to him, in a fit of rage, he cried, "I don't want it." And as quickly as it
was put back on the table, again he cried with violent anger, "I want it," and as soon as again
given, "I don't want it." Was it only contrariness? A spell? Ugly disposition? Yes, all of these, but
back of the heart of sin, demon-domination forcing their will on the child. Constant contradiction is
here seen in the child, an involuntary self, another self, contrary to normal self. "There is
consciousness of change or attending personality. The testimony of the fathers, like that of the
Chinese and other nations, shows that these cases are distinct from mania, epilepsy, and other
diseases, and characterized by a new personality quite different and distinct from that of the
normal personality of the subject possessed."
I recall a little girl, sweet and affectionate, who would throw herself on the floor of an
outside porch, without her outdoor wraps on, when the thermometer was much below zero, and lie
there and kick and scream and throw her hands and pound her head and go through all manner of
angry contortions. Her parents suspected at these times the active agency of demons, but were
powerless to aid her. Praying in Jesus' name for the exorcising or casting out of the evil spirit
quieted her down and she was again normal and sweet. She has been a different child since, and
free from those violent spells.
Demons are other personalities dwelling in men, single, dual, or multiple, which dominate
the possessed, working out their wills according to the yieldedness of the victim.
A Theory
Dr. Tyler regards the theory of demon possession in the same light as the generally
received theory of the human soul, that is, "the outward normal manifestations of human life, such
as thinking, speaking, acting, are accounted for by the supposition of a soul-a distinct, separate,
surviving entity, in which man's personality inheres. So the abnormal states which we have been
considering are explained by the supposition that during these states the body is possessed of
another spirit, which also has a distinct entity -- a new personality."
The symptoms of demon possession have been accounted for by physicians on the ground
of "hysteria epilepsy."
"While the convulsive movements, bodily contortions, gnashing of teeth, falling into fire
and water, are the ordinary symptoms of epilepsy, in demon possession there are manifestly other
phenomena that do not occur in epileptoid diseases. For instance, those possessed seem to be
endowed at times with a new personality and to have remarkable intellectual powers, shown both
in the speech employed and in the knowledge of things that are beyond their ken before possession
took place and which remarkable powers do not remain after the victim's recovery." -- Satan and
Demons, page 26.
