17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”
26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. (Mark 9:17-26 NLT)
Buddhism
Many years ago I watched a documentary on network TV. It was documenting the search for a new Dalai Lama – for Tibetan Buddhism. The old one had died, and the process was initiated to find the new reincarnation. The means to find this new reincarnation was through the oracle. The oracle chanted and meditated for a while, and then something unusual happened. Something took control of him. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the ground. Monks stood nearby and caught him so he would not be injured. On the ground, he contorted and went rigid, and then he foamed at the mouth. And he started speaking in a language only the monks could understand and could interpret. They listened and recorded his utterances, on where to find the next Dalai Lama. Afterward, the spirit left the oracle and he fell into unconsciousness.
A demon directs Buddhism.
Upon further research, I have found that the oracle, when under the control of the spirit, will occasionally do feats of superhuman strength, such as bend metal bars.
There are parallels for these types of feats (Biblically) as well:
5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones. (Mark 5:1-5)
Islam
So, how did Islam start? Muhammad was in the cave of Hira meditating. And he had an encounter with a spirit. (later to be interpreted as Gabriel, but initially thought to be a demon).
“The Prophet added, ‘The angel forcefully caught me and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me …”
(96.1, 96.2, 96.3) . . . .’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 1, Number 3).
This encounter was so terrifying and violent that Muhammad was frightened that he was possessed by a demon. It is recorded he attempted to kill himself 3x out of fear of being demon possessed.
"Woe is me, poet or possessed -- Never shall the Quraysh say this of me! I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest." (The Life of Muhammad: Sirat Rasul Allah, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, translted by Alfred Guillaume, Oxford Press, page 106).
During these possessions … Muhammad would:
- Hear a loud ringing in his ears and become covered in sweat (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 1, Number 2).
- Turn red and breath very deeply. (Sahih Muslim, 2656, Abdul Siddiqi Translation, Vol. 2, p. 700; Ibn Kathir, The Life of Prophet Muhammad, [Darul – Ishaat Karachi, 2010], p. 126),
- Was choked. (Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 1, Book 1, Hadith 3)
- His mouth would spasm (Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 1, Book 1, Hadith 4)
- Collapse and tremble (The History of al-Tabari, Vol. 6, [State University of New York Press, 1988], p. 68)
- Have a severe fever (Ibn Kathir, The Life of Prophet Muhammad, [Darul – Ishaat Karachi, 2010], p. 126).
For those interested, there is several other demonic inferences regarding Muhammad. One when he was a child, his wife’s cousin’s reaction to his encounter, the satanic verses, etc.
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