Can True Mystics Really Accept A Supernatural Figure Of Evil?

      

By Stephen William

By Stephen William, author of: ”Nostradamus His Prophecy Finally Explained.” Available on Amazon Kindle now. Available on Kindle now. https://amzn.eu/d/0czjaIns   One of the statements Mystics and Mediums are sometimes confronted with is “ Direct spiritual contact could endanger you by contact with demons or the Devil himself ,  and that is why it is banned by the Bible.”  or words similar to that.  But is there really a Devil and demons? Perhaps a look of the background of these  sinister and elusive beings, will enlighten us? Perhaps finding out the origins of them will help us see if they are really a threat to people exploring the spiritual dimension to existence.   As the Serpent (Genesis 3):   The first time an evil entity interacts with humans is in the Garden of Eden near the beginning of the Old Testament . While Genesis simply calls him a "serpent,"  The  New Testament retroactively identifies this creature as the Devil  many hundreds of years after the Old Testament was written .   However the story of Adam and Eve is regarded as being based on an ancient heathen  Sumerian tribal origin myth by many Biblical historians. It was probably only added by Jewish scribes whilst they were in captivity in Babylonia ,the former land of the Sumerian people. The similarities between the two stories are very clear.    THE SUMERIAN ADAM AND EVE SEAL IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM IN LONDON DATING FROM BEFORE 2000 BC. AS YOU CAN SEE THERE IS NOT ONLY A FRUIT TREE, BUT ALSO THE SERPENT AS IN THE BIBLICAL STORY. THIS VERSION SHOWS “ADAM AND EVE” CLOTHED AND ADAM IS WEARING A HORNED HEADRESS AS MANY HEATHEN PRIESTS OR GODS WERE SUPPOSED TO WEAR.    By Name (The Book of Job):  The literal Hebrew word Satan (meaning "accuser" or "adversary") first appears as a heavenly  entity in Job 1:6. In this context, he operates as an angel in God's court rather than an ultimate rival of God. He is not a fallen angel; in fact he only appears to work under God’s commands.  In the Book of Job, Satan (referred to as the satan or the accuser) torments Job with God’s explicit permission. God sets strict boundaries on what Satan is allowed to do, initially forbidding him from harming Job's physical body, and later allowing him to afflict Job's health but forbidding him from taking his life. Satan apparently said that Job was only faithful to God because Job was rich and in good health and equated that with his devotion to God. However Job passed the test when he was reduced to poverty and illness and still had faith in God. Hence the expression “the patience of Job.” Strangely enough, the compilers of the Book of Job did not see this story of God sending an angel to torment the apparently blameless Job as showing God as not being  very fair! Interestingly Job is a Gentile not an Israelite, he is  from the Land of Uz of which there is no archaeological proof of its existence. However it is referred to being in the land of Edom elsewhere in the Bible. Perhaps it is meant to be a parable or fable to illustrate you must always be faithful to God , whatever occurs to you. The choice of a Gentile as the sufferer of these setbacks ,however, makes you wonder why he was so devoted to the God of Israel? Job seems to be an anomaly compared to the other main righteous characters in the Old Testament. Modern Biblical  scholars believe the Book of Job by its style and language was  written during or just after the Babylonian exile, which may explain the presence of a tormenting supernatural figure . The Jewish people were generously  freed by the Persians after they conquered the Babylonians. The Persians then let them return to their home country ,which eventually became the Judea of the New Testament. The main religion of the Persian Empire was Zoroastrianism . This is a religion which is still practised in parts of world now. It has a Supreme Creator God(Ahura Mazda) who is opposed by a slightly less powerful tempting and tormenting evil god( Ahriman) who Ahura Mazda will destroy at the end of time.  Ahriman is supposed to be responsible for all the temptation and chaos in the world and universe. It is probably likely that the grateful Jewish writers of the Book of Job were influenced by this concept and it gave birth to the figure of Satan as figure who questioned God and tempted the faithful. AN IMAGE OF THE SUPREME CREATOR GOD OF ZOROASTRIANISM., AHURA MAZDA. HE OFTEN IS SYMBOLICALLY PORTRAYED AS  A WARRIOR KING SIGNIFYING HIS CONSTANT BATTLE  AND EVENTUAL VICTORY AGAINST AHRIMAN THE GOD OF EVIL AND CHAOS. MODERN ZOROASTIANS SUCH AS THE PARSEES OF INDIA  ARE KNOWN TO BE GENEROUS, KIND AND GOOD EMPLOYERS , LIKE THE QUAKERS ARE IN WESTERN SOCIETIES.  Generally, Spiritualists and  various other Mystics  do not believe in the Devil.  They reject the concept of a literal, personalized embodiment of evil. I agree with that. The Spiritualist worldview differs  from traditional religious dogma:   Natural Progression: Spiritualists believe that the Afterlife is a continuation of human life where everyone has the opportunity to learn, grow, and progress. They do not believe in a place of eternal damnation (Hell) or a ruler of such a place.    The Nature of Evil: Rather than viewing evil as an opposing cosmic force, Spiritualists generally believe that negative actions and malevolent behaviour stem from human ignorance, greed , selfishness, a lack of spiritual development, or earthly attachments and obsessions.  Spirit Communication: Spiritualism focuses on communicating with the spirits of departed loved ones or advanced spirit guides. While some mainstream, fundamentalist religions have historically accused Spiritualists of dealing with demons or Satan, Spiritualists themselves maintain that their practice connects them with the departed beings of the Afterlife. Personal Responsibility: The philosophy focuses heavily on personal accountability, with adherents believing that the consequences of one's actions must be faced in the spirit world, effectively eliminating the need for a vengeful devil.   Following on from the Old Testament, in the New Testament Satan is transformed into a complete enemy of God, with his own terrible kingdom and  determined to undermine God in this world and promote evil over goodness. Quite a transformation for a minor character in the Old Testament! As mentioned this may have been a development from the Zoroastrian concept of a god of evil as some of the beliefs of the Persian Empire religions had spread to the Roman Empire over the centuries. Yet  the  Roman Empire in which Western Christianity mainly spread, had various gods of punishment in various underworlds. This probably influenced various early Christian sects in their concept of the Afterlife. The Nicene Creed which eventually unified Western Christian belief throughout the Roman Empire  was not formulated until 325 AD(CE) , This gave plenty of time to allow non -Christian influences to permeate the Christian religion. The new Christian religion once it was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire, found one way to convert people swiftly was to equate all previous gods whether they were punishment and underworld gods or not, as evil and allies of the Devil. Two gods that particularly were affected by this ,were the Greek /Roman god Pan a nature and pastoral god and the Celtic god  Cernunnos, also a nature god. Because of their horned appearances it was easy to identify them with bestial behaviour ,so they became figures of evil and their horned appearance became grafted on to the supposed appearance of the Devil and his demons. THE GREEK ROMAN NATURE AND PASTORAL GOD PAN’S APPEARANCE WAS ADOPTED BY THE NEW CHRISTIAN RELIGION TO SIGNIFY THE DEVIL IN SOUTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPE.   THE CELTIC NATURE GOD CERUNNOUS’ APPEARANCE WAS ADOPTED BY CHRISTIANITY IN NORTHERN AND WESTERN EUROPE ALSO. TO SIGNIFY THE DEVIL. INTERESTINGLY HE MOSTLY WAS DEPICTED WITH DEER’S ANTLERS WHICH TIES IN WITH THE SUMERIAN ADAM’S HEADRESS ABOVE. IN VERY ANCIENT TIMES A HORNED OR ANTLERED HEADRESS SIGNIFYED EITHER A RELIGIOUS FIGURE OR A GOD.   Spiritual Mediums as mentioned previously are often accused by conventionally religious people to be communicating with demons who pretend to be departed human beings . Well that is nice of them to acknowledge we actually make contact with the spiritual dimension and prove it exists! But in conventional religious terms, if you were contacted by  an angel or a demon how would you tell the difference between them? Horns on demons are a human invented convention as mentioned and even wings on angels appear to have been  based on winged Roman gods and goddesses such as Cupid and Victoria. There are winged servants of God in the Old Testament, but angels are not mentioned with wings. Very occasionally mediums do encounter a bad-tempered  and nasty spirit, but that is very often  a continuation of their behaviour ,whilst they were alive! Free will still exists on the “Other Side of course. We do not encounter sheer spiritual  evil, partly because we do not seek to contact it and  also because it  does not possibly exist in demon form. Other World religions do not believe in a Devil. Sikhism which is a monotheistic religion which originated in India does not for example. Sikhs do not believe in Satan or opposing evil forces. Instead of an external entity, Sikh philosophy teaches that evil originates from within the human mind. The root of all wrongdoing is ego (Haumai), which gives rise to "The Five Thieves":  Kaam (Lust) Krodh (Anger) Lobh (Greed) Moh (Attachment) Ahankar (Ego/Pride) Rather than blaming an evil Devil, Sikhs believe individuals are entirely responsible for their own thoughts, words, and actions. When humans fall victim to ego, they act with a self-centred mindset (manmukh). The spiritual goal of Sikhism is to conquer these inner vices and align one's life with truth, compassion, and the divine will of God. Sikhs it should be pointed out are known for their generosity and most Sikh temples  have a weekly free meal served for the destitute and poor, who are mostly not of their religion outside of India in particular.   So perhaps people of whatever spiritual beliefs they have, should not blame their  personal wrongdoing down to an external “force of evil” but to  our own personal unkindness and seek to improve on their own behaviour towards our fellow beings and the world around us. Then we do not have to wait to ascend into the Afterlife to live in a happier and kinder world!   © Stephen William International Copyright.   If you wish to read my book ,which is available at only US $ 3.45 on Amazon Kindle Available on Kindle now. https://amzn.eu/d/0eJF8fz5