Like his brethren
This Prophet is the Lord Jesus Christ. He was “made like his brethren” (Hebrews 2:17) in that he shared with them the same physical characteristics. He knew the same temptations that trouble men and women every day; he grew older and felt weariness and pain; and he died. In all these things he was the same as anyone else who has ever lived. Yet there was one significant difference. Whereas everyone else has been disobedient to God, he was not. Everyone else has transgressed and sinned; he did not. Though he lived in the circumstances introduced into the world because of the first sin, he proved himself worthy of something better. If death was God’s judgement on sin, Jesus’ obedient life showed that though he died willingly at God’s command, he did not as other men deserve to die. God raised him up “because it was not possible that he should be held by it (i.e. death)” (Acts 2:24).
He therefore has become the way of escape from sin and death for all who associate themselves with his victory. Moses told Israel that God would send someone they needed to listen to – “him you shall hear”. How different all this was from the occult practices of the nations around. God’s word is a light showing men and women the sort of life they should live (Psalm 119:105). Jesus is the light of men (John 1:4), the light of the world (John 8:12). Satanic, demonic and occult practices are dark and secret, and God sent Jesus as a light to shine even into their dark recesses and expose the serious errors indulged in by those who follow them.
Yet some people believe that Jesus himself recognised the existence of a satanic control over mankind. We need to be certain that Jesus spoke and acted in accordance with his Father’s word spoken through earlier prophets if we are to accept him as The Prophet promised when Moses spoke to the nation of Israel warning them against meddling with occult practices.
Did Jesus believe in supernatural evil spirits?
During Jesus’ ministry, when he healed many people suffering from a variety of complaints, it is recorded that “he cast out many demons” (Mark 1:34). This is taken by those who believe there are occult powers controlling the world as proof that Jesus also recognised such a power.
A careful examination of the Bible accounts of the miracles of Jesus and his disciples shows that where there was clear physical evidence of the cause of the disease, the ailment is simply explained: men were blind, lame, or deaf; they had withered limbs, could not straighten themselves, had continual bleeding, or were lepers. Only when there was no obvious physical cause, or where the illness was inexplicable by the information available at the time, are evil spirits ever mentioned.
One example from many will make the point. In Matthew’s Gospel two incidents of healing are brought together. The first concerns two blind men whom Jesus healed. The record says simply, “their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:30). But straight afterwards, when the two men had left, another man was brought to Jesus. He was “mute, and demon-possessed” (verse 32). How strange that two men were blind because their eyes needed opening, but a man was dumb because he was possessed by demons! If there really is a spirit-inhabited world, then both illnesses would have been caused by unclean spirits. The only explanation that makes sense of the information, and which accords with the rest of Bible teaching, is that illnesses without any obvious cause were ascribed in those days to evil spirits.
This does not mean that Jesus himself was uneducated about these things. He knew that there is only one God, who has no rival. But through his miracles Jesus was showing the people how in the kingdom age sin and mortality will no longer bind those whom he raises to be made like himself – immortal and incorruptible. Even if he had described to them some of the processes discovered by medical science in the last two centuries, Jesus’ countrymen would not have understood. But they were able to understand his power and the promise it held for the future.
The effect of this knowledge on Jesus’ followers in the years immediately following his period of ministry in Israel was that they clearly perceived the truth about the occult, about magic, and about Satanism – that they are based upon false claims, and only exist where there is a climate of fear; a climate they seek to create and preserve. Those who practised these things also saw the difference between their alleged powers and the power exercised by the apostles. One man in Samaria, for example, “of a long time had bewitched the people … with his sorceries”. When he witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit, he knew it surpassed the ‘powers’ he claimed to possess, and tried to persuade the apostles to sell it to him (Acts 8:9-24).
In another city, Ephesus, there were some people who had also been caught up in occult practices. They were convinced of the supremacy of the power exercised by the apostles when some “itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits … and the evil spirit answered and said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’” The effect of this incident was that “many of those who had practised magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all” (Acts 19:11-20).
The only authority
There is a compelling honesty about this reaction to the Gospel message. Once their books were burned, they could not be used again! It expressed the firm belief that Satanism and Christianity cannot exist side by side, or as the Apostle Paul wrote, “What communion has light with darkness … what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:14,16). Anyone today who has been caught up in occult practices, and who may be fearful of the consequences of rejecting them can take great comfort from the example of these early disciples in Ephesus. They knew that God has granted His Son Jesus Christ unlimited use of His supreme power; they recognised the truth spoken by Isaiah:
“When they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter’, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:19,20)
This is the advice we have attempted to encourage in this booklet. Only one authority exists which is trustworthy in these matters. How can the dead offer any hope to the living? What can they teach us except that death is certain for every man and woman on earth? Mediums and wizards, practitioners of occult arts, all claim to have contact with the after-life where the spirits of dead men reign. But there is no such place. There are no ‘spirits of dead men’. Spiritists’ claims do not stand up to careful scientific examination. But more importantly, those who say these things “do not speak according to this word” – the word of God – which denies the existence of such a world.
Jesus – the light of the world
If we want to know what hope there is for the living, we must turn to the living Christ! Having been raised from the dead, Jesus is now immortal and waiting in heaven for the day when his Father will send him back to the earth to raise and judge the dead and establish a kingdom centred upon the city of Jerusalem. This is a reliable and trustworthy promise revealed to all mankind, not a hazy notion deliberately kept secret or hidden. After Jesus’ resurrection his apostles went all round the world of their day preaching “the good news of the kingdom of God”. They were able to claim “this thing was not done in a corner” (Acts 26:26). The same is true today. The information about God’s plan of salvation is freely available in the Bible. It must become the test of all other human ideas. When they coincide with its message, they speak the truth. When they diverge or disagree, they are false.
Do you want to be associated with life, or death? With light, or darkness? God recognises only those who approach Him in the name of Jesus Christ. He is light, and he is life.
All quotations from the Revised Authorised (New King James) Version of the Bible.
