11.12: Examples of Demonic Miracles 1 Chapter 11.12 Ancient & Modern Examples of Demonic Miracle Working Demonstrating the not Everything Supernatural is Holy Table of Topics A) The Simonians B) Levitations C) “Eyeless” sight D) Elongations E) Psychic healing F) Psychic surgery G) sai baba: the greatest miracle worker today . & he’s not a Christian Extras & Endnotes Primary Points There is no qualitative difference between what these demonically empowered miracle workers do and what their counterparts in super-supernaturalism are performing. The greatest miracle worker in the world today is not a Christian. 11.12: Examples of Demonic Miracles 2 Below are a few examples of what we would suggest to be possibly demonically empowered miracle workers, not just magicians. As noted in previous chapters, while fraud and psychological manipulations may have been involved in the following examples, it would seem the particularly supernatural nature of the phenomena suggests demonic involvement. Unfortunately, there is no qualitative difference between what these demonically empowered miracle workers do and what their counterparts in super-supernaturalism are performing. Our primary point here is one that needs to be heard loud and clear in American Christianity: not everything supernatural is holy. A) The Simonians Luke records: Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God." And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. (Acts 8:10-11 NASB). Simon had obviously performed miracles that were numerous and supernatural enough that he had “astonished” (the same word used several times to describe the effect of Christ’s own miracles on people, i. e. Mt.13:54) a whole province of people such that they believed his powers to be from God. What kind of miracles Simon could do we are not told, but the early Church believed he was demonically empowered. First, as demonstrated elsewhere, even though Simon “believed and was baptized”, (Acts 8:13), his belief was the superficial, short-lived variety that the King warned about (cf. Matt 13:18-23). 1 Accordingly, this same Simon the Sorcerer who appears in Acts, started what would appear to be a cult known as the Simonians who, “were both active and influential for several centuries after the death of their founder.” 2 The early Christian apologist Justin Martyr (c. 150) reflects the demonic nature of Simon Magus’ miracle working when he writes: [A]fter Christ's ascension into heaven the devils put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods; and they were not only not persecuted by you, but even deemed worthy of honours. There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native 11.12: Examples of Demonic Miracles 3 of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Caesar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome:-"Simoni Deo Sancto," "To Simon the holy God." And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him, and acknowledge him as the first god; and a woman, Helena, who went about with him at that time, and had formerly been a prostitute, they say is the first idea generated by him. 3 Likewise, in the fourth century, the premier early Church historian Bishop Eusebius (c. 260-c. 340) wrote of Simon Magus: [T]he enemy of man's salvation, in a wily attempt to capture the imperial city [Rome] in time, brought there Simon . and by lending his [satan’s] own weight to the man's artful impostures took possession of many people in Rome and led them astray. 4 While there may be mere legend mixed in with the historical accounts of this man, it is clear that he was a demonically empowered miracle-worker. Early church Fathers speak substantially about Simon Magus’ followers as well. Justin Martyr wrote: Another Samaritan, called Menander, from the village of Caparattaca, became a disciple of Simon and like him was driven mad by the demons. It is known that he arrived in Antioch and deluded many by magical trickery. He even persuaded his followers that they would not die: and there are still some who on the strength of his assertion maintain this belief. 5 Likewise, Eusebius added: Irenaeus also writes that contemporary with these was Carpocrates, father of another heresy known as that of the Gnostics. These claimed to transmit Simon's magic arts, not secretly like Basilides but quite openly, as if this was something marvelous, preening themselves as it were on the spells which they cast by sorcery, on dream-bringing familiar [demonic] spirits, and on other goings-on of the same sort. 6 It is sobering to notice that many of these same phenomenon occur in super-supernaturalism today, and because they clearly do 11.12: Examples of Demonic Miracles 4 not reflect biblical attributes or purposes, they must become suspected as demonic counterfeits, much like those encountered by our early Christian ancestors. However, while such people are glorified now in the modern Church, they were condemned then by the more sober leaders of the early Church. Along these lines, Dr. David Aune, a respected authority on the early Church observes, “It is clear [that] ancient magic had a profound impact on early Christianity, both as an external enemy and as an internal threat.” 7 Why do so many in the Church assume that the same is not true today? B) Levitations Kenneth Hagin (1917-2003), a foremost leader of super- supernaturalism, related the following story: [One] night when we gave the alter call, I sensed the power of God was upon one of the women. She began exhorting people to be saved. With her eyes closed, she stepped upon the wide altar, and began walking from one end to the other, exhorting sinners to be saved. She would walk right up to the end of the altar, and you would think she was going to step off, but each time she would turn. God is my witness, my wife is my witness, and each person in that building is my witness, she began to dance right off the end of the altar. She stood in mid-air dancing! Her feet were not touching the floor. Everyone saw it. I could have reached out and touched her. 8 We believe that such an event is undeniable and defies any natural explanation. Unless there was intentional fraud involved on the part of Mr. Hagin, such a feat would seem to require supernatural power, either the direct and divine kind, or the delegated and demonic kind. As we will discuss below, we are not at all impressed with the woman “exhorting people to be saved,” as satan-serving false apostles in the first century did the same. Particularly considering the unbiblical doctrines of Mr. Hagin, 9 we do not believe this event was empowered by the Holy Spirit, but a demonic spirit. And such an event in a “Christian” setting illustrates how much of the miraculous occurring in super-supernaturalist environments may be explained in this way. Such a levitation becomes particularly suspect when such occurrences are found among the occult. The Encyclopedia of 11.12: Examples of Demonic Miracles 5 Occultism & Parapsychology (EOP) reports the following regarding the phenomenon of levitation: [Levitation is] the rising of physical objects . or of human beings into the air, contrary to the known laws of gravitation and without any visible agency. As such, the phenomenon was reported from ancient times. The power was claimed by wizards of many primitive tribes, by mystics in the East, and it has been repeatedly claimed . by several modern Spiritualist mediums. The mediums [have] offered themselves as evidence to science that the miracles of rising in the air recorded in the life of . ecstatics, witches, and victims of demoniac possession might rest on a solid basis of fact. Henry Jones, a 12 year old English boy of Shepton-Mallet, England, was believed to be bewitched in 1657 as he was carried by invisible means from one room to another, and sometimes wholly lifted up, so that his body hung in the air, with only the flat of his hands placed against the ceiling. One afternoon in the garden of Richard Isles, he was raised up and transported over the garden wall for about 30 yards. With no other [occultic] medium was levitation so often and so reliably attested as with [Douglas D.] Home. In Britain, Sir William Crookes narrated his own experiences [with Home]. “There are at least a hundred instances of Mr. Home’s rising from the ground, in the presence of as many separate persons . To reject the recorded evidence on this subject is to reject all human testimony whatever; for no fact in sacred or profane history is supported by a stronger array of proofs. On several occasions Home and the chair on which he was sitting at the table rose off the ground. This was generally done very deliberately, and Home sometimes tucked up his feet on the seat of the chair and held up his hands in full view of all of us.