by Julia SternbergGrowing up, I didn’t really believe in demons. Or at least, I didn’t see the need to take them seriously. Of course, I knew of the many during Jesus’ time who were madly possessed, even by multiple demons. But in my mind, that was in the past. In my little corner of the world, demons only existed in horror films. Then I learned that there are still men who are in the business of exorcism today. I learned some things that still make my hair stand on end whenever I think of them. We live in an age of science and reason, an age where the supernatural is often scoffed at as make-believe, an age where mankind believes he has advanced far beyond such fairytales. Angels and demons only exist in cinema, and “God” is merely a thought experiment. None of it is real; it’s all for entertainment. Unlike the fairies of the Tinker Bell world, however, demons don’t cease to exist when we stop believing in them. They don’t want us to believe in them. We’re much easier to deceive if we remain ignorant. Back in Jesus’ time, there was a particular psalm that was commonly used by exorcists to cast out demons. That psalm was Psalm 91. You might recognize it from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, when the devil references it (rather ironic, isn’t it?) as he tempts Jesus in the wilderness. The psalm has continued to be well-beloved by Christians in the centuries following Christ. According to an Orthodox priest by the name of Patrick Henry Reardon, it was the tradition of western Christians to recite this psalm every evening, while for Christians in the east, it was tradition to recite it at noon (p. 179). This was because of the references the psalm makes to these two times of day:
Treading on Demons
Treading on Demons
Treading on Demons
by Julia SternbergGrowing up, I didn’t really believe in demons. Or at least, I didn’t see the need to take them seriously. Of course, I knew of the many during Jesus’ time who were madly possessed, even by multiple demons. But in my mind, that was in the past. In my little corner of the world, demons only existed in horror films. Then I learned that there are still men who are in the business of exorcism today. I learned some things that still make my hair stand on end whenever I think of them. We live in an age of science and reason, an age where the supernatural is often scoffed at as make-believe, an age where mankind believes he has advanced far beyond such fairytales. Angels and demons only exist in cinema, and “God” is merely a thought experiment. None of it is real; it’s all for entertainment. Unlike the fairies of the Tinker Bell world, however, demons don’t cease to exist when we stop believing in them. They don’t want us to believe in them. We’re much easier to deceive if we remain ignorant. Back in Jesus’ time, there was a particular psalm that was commonly used by exorcists to cast out demons. That psalm was Psalm 91. You might recognize it from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, when the devil references it (rather ironic, isn’t it?) as he tempts Jesus in the wilderness. The psalm has continued to be well-beloved by Christians in the centuries following Christ. According to an Orthodox priest by the name of Patrick Henry Reardon, it was the tradition of western Christians to recite this psalm every evening, while for Christians in the east, it was tradition to recite it at noon (p. 179). This was because of the references the psalm makes to these two times of day: