Possession and exorcism in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)

Throughout time, different cultures have had varying views regarding demonic possession, but in most cases they are all rooted in similar beliefs and doctrines. 

Pagan cultures surrounding the ancient Israelites appear to have been obsessed by these two topics. But Judaism was an exception in the Middle East. The Hebrew Scriptures contain relatively few references to demon possession, and none at all to exorcism.  The only references to evil spirits indwelling humans are found in 3 stories about Abimelech (Judges 9), some prophets (1 Kings 22) and Saul (1 Samuel 16, 18 & 19). In each case, it was God who specifically sent an evil or lying spirit to torment individuals. The relative scarcity of demonic spirits in the Hebrew Scriptures might have been caused by the Hebrew's strong monotheistic beliefs. Their belief in a single God may have caused them to reject the existence of any other supernatural entities.

There has been speculation that the Hebrew Scriptures originally contained descriptions of interactions between people and demons, but that that material has been deleted from the text. 

For example:

	The account in Genesis 32 of Jacob wrestling with an unknown assailant by the side of a river might have once referred to Jacob battling a river demon.
	The account in Exodus 4 where God attempts to kill Moses might have originally described Moses' battle with a demon.
	The description of the smearing of lamb's blood on the door frame in Exodus 12 might have been derived from an ancient ritual which protected the household from demonic attack.

But these, and similar, suggestions must remain pure conjecture. In no case do they imply either indwelling of a human by a demonic spirit, or discuss an exorcism ritual.

Numerous cases of demonic possession and exorcisms by Jesus and his disciples are reported in the Gospels and Acts. The Epistles by Paul and other authors and the book of Revelation are silent on these topics. We can gather certain conclusions about the exorcism procedures used in Palestine during the first century CE from the Scriptures:

	Cause of possession: In the Bible, victims of possession are never held responsible for their situation. There are no references in the Christian Scriptures which imply that their possession was caused by some sin in their life. None of the victims were criticized for having allowed themselves to become possessed.
	Animals can be possessed: Matthew 8:30, and parallel passages, describe that demons can possess pigs.
	Multiple possession: Various passages refer to possession of a single individual by multiple demons. Luke 8:30 describes a man who was possessed by many demons; he used the term "legion" which was a unit of 6,000 soldiers.
	Gifts of demons: Demons can grant special powers to people. In Acts 16:16 a woman was given the power to foretell the future by her indwelling evil spirit. But this appears to be an exception; other passages describe how demons harm people.
	Illnesses and disorders generated by demons: Luke 9:39 apparently describes a case of epilepsy caused by a demon. Luke 11:14 documents a person who was unable to speak because of an indwelling demon. Luke 13:10-13 describes a woman who had been unable to straighten her back for almost 2 decades because of a evil spirit.
	Demonic speech:  Numerous passages in the Bible describe indwelling demons speaking to the exorcist, presumably by taking control of the individual's vocal chords.
	Demons' strength:  Mark 5:4 describes how an indwelling spirit causes its victim to have superhuman strength, so that fetters and chains could not hold him.
	Demons vary in wickedness: Matthew 12:45 describes how a spirit left a person, but returned with seven others who were more wicked than the original spirit was.
	Exorcisms were usually easy to perform: With one exception, Jesus or an apostle simply ordered the evil spirit to depart, and the demon immediately complied.
	Some exorcisms require special preparation: Jesus' disciples were unable to rid a boy of an evil spirit that was apparently causing the child to be both mute and epileptic. Jesus cured the child and explained that the only way to rid a person of this type of demon was through prior prayer and fasting.
	Using items of clothing: Acts 19:12 described how items of clothing or facecloths that once been used by Paul had magical powers and were used to cure people suffering from diseases or evil spirits.
	Only Christians can perform exorcisms: Acts 19:13 describes how seven non-Christians attempted to exorcise demons in the name of Jesus and Paul. They failed. All were attacked and beaten by the demon-controlled man who ripped their clothes off.
	Commanding in the name of Jesus: After Jesus' execution, exorcisms were done in the name of Jesus: Acts 16:16 described a slave girl who was possessed. Paul exorcised a "spirit of divination" from her. He commanded the spirit to leave "in the name of Jesus." Acts 19:13 described how some itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to exorcise a demon   saying "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." They were unsuccessful, apparently because they were not  Christian believers.
	Danger in exorcism: In Acts 19:13, the demon-possessed man exhibited superhuman strength. He turned on seven Jewish exorcists, beat them, and expelled them from the house with their clothes ripped off. The evil spirit had apparently recognized that the exorcists were not Christian; he refused to follow their commands.
	The sick went to the exorcist: The sick were brought to the apostles; the apostles did not seek out the sick. With one exception, all were cured, whether they suffered from demon infestation or physical illness. Nobody in the Bible had a exorcism ministry.
	Return of demons: Matthew 12:43 describes a demon who left a man, presumably because of an exorcism. He returned later with seven other evil spirits to repossess the person. However, there is no mention of any of the exorcisms by Jesus or his followers having produced only temporary cures.
	Exorcism is dependent upon the victim's faith: In Mark 9:18, Jesus explained to a man that all things are possible, including the exorcism of his son, to those who believe.

PARANORMAL S.W.A.T.

Radio and Human Frequency Vs. EVP

Thomas Edison once wrote: “If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, other faculties and knowledge that we acquired on this Earth.

Therefore…if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something.” This was written in the 1920’s. Almost forty years before Friedrich Juergenson* started examining the voices he captured on his recorder in 1959. Since that time skeptics have waved off the idea of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) by explaining it as natural sounds or radio waves. And yet others believe that the voices recorded are paranormal in nature. In the following paragraphs I will try to explain the reasons why I think the skeptics explanations for true EVP’s are mistaken.

Let me start with the main misconception, which is radio interference, and work my way through. To understand this requires only a little extra information. Frequency is measured in cycles per second. This is called Hertz. Radio waves are measured using the Hertz system. To decrease confusion I will be posting all numbers in Hertz (Hz), as opposed to kilohertz and megahertz and all that. Now, as most people know, there is an AM and an FM band to radio. AM was the earliest with the first radio broadcast being made around 1906 or so. Since technology was fairly new though the band for broadcasting was fairly low with a frequency range between 535,000 Hertz and 1,705,000 Hertz. In 1939 the first FM station was built. This had a higher frequency because the main point behind the creation of FM was to have a higher quality and static free signal. The FM frequency range is from 88,000,000 Hertz and 108,000,000 Hertz.

The human voice is the next main misconception of skeptics. By human voice I mean fake EVP’s. Are fake EVP’s out there? Of that I have no doubt. But are true EVP’s actually someone trying to pull the

wool over all our eyes? No. (Bear with me, I’m getting to why not.) Now, the human voice also has ranges for the minimum and maximum it can go, as does everything. The human voice is a little different though. The useful frequency range for the human voice is 300Hertz to 3,500Hertz. Now the word “useful” is important in the human voice arena. A good example to use is a singer. Or better yet, a chorus. Now if you have ever heard a really great chorus you will know that the men in back (generally) are the Basses. These guys can go low. Super low. And in fact, classical opera states that Basses should be able to hit 87 Hertz. How can I explain 87 Hertz? Hum…well, “A kick drum is usually tuned between 80Hz and 100Hz”. Audible? Yes. Can any words be distinguished at 87 hertz from a human? No. Absolutely positively no. If you know anything about choral music you will know that Bass and Baritones are mainly (no, not always) used as support for the upper registers. The reason why is because the upper registers are easier to make words out of. Where as the lower registers can only go so low (300 hertz) and still form words. So what do we take away from choral music? That the human voice can only talk and make words above 300 hertz. Bellow that is pretty much just vibration.

One more piece of information that needs to be considered is the human hearing range. We now know that the useful human voice frequency range is 300Hz – 3,500Hz. But human hearing can go well over and under what we can speak. The generally accepted frequencies for human hearing are 20Hz – 20,000Hz.

Now that you have some of the facts, let’s get into some of the nitty gritty. That being, what are EVP’s, or Electronic Voice Phenomena? They are thought to be many things. No one really knows for certain,

as with so many other things in the paranormal field. One thing is for sure though, and that is that true EVP’s are based on frequency, not on how good they sound. Some EVP’s are recorded at less than 300 Hertz with some going down to 80Hz (lowest that I have recorded). And some EVP’s are recorded above 20,000 Hz up to 22,500Hz (highest that I know of). EVP’s are generally thought to have four classifications or categories, those being A, B, C and R. A Class A recording is the best. It is very audible and clear. Anyone listening to a Class A recording without being told what it says should all come away hearing the same thing. A Class B recording is audible, but not very clear. Class B’s need to be listened to several times in order to understand what is being said or expressed. A Class C recording is not good. It can be a whisper or something software related (meaning it was recorded on the wrong settings). A Class R recording is when an EVP has a reverse meaning. This is special only to EVP’s. It is almost thought to be a mirror effect that happens. You could have a Class A, B or C recording, and then in reverse have a completely different quality and message. Now this is where Classification can get a bit tricky. You could potentially have a Class A recording saying “Find it” (for example only), but when played in reverse you could have a Class B reverse meaning saying “Over There”. Both of these phrases would occupy the same space on the recording, but have completely different messages when played in forward and reverse. Every EVP should be played in reverse to check for this. But I digress. Back to frequencies.

So the main arguments against EVP’s being paranormal in nature are radio waves and humans. But since true EVP’s are proven by their frequency, and not their quality, these arguments really don’t hold much water at all. Here is a list to help you, please note that I threw several other frequencies in:

EVP’s: True EVP’s are classified under 300Hz **

Human Voice: Useful from 300Hz - 3,500Hz

Human Hearing: 20Hz – 20,000Hz

AM radio: 535,000Hz - 1,705,000Hz

FM radio: 88,000,000Hz - 108,000,000Hz

Cordless Phones: 40,000,000Hz – 50,000,000Hz

Baby Monitors: 49,000,000Hz

Cell Phones: 824,000,000Hz – 849,000,000Hz

Garage Doors and Alarm Systems, etc: ~ 40,000,000Hz

When you look at the above frequency ranges you can clearly see that the skeptics are mistaken in their explanations for Electronic Voice Phenomena. Since the human voice can legibly go down to 300Hz and up to 3,500Hz, EVP’s recorded under and over that should have a bit more credit to skeptics. EVP’s recorded within the human speech range I guess could still be up for debate. This of course is all overlooking that digital and cassette recorders aren’t built to receive radio waves, or the fact that hardcore skeptics even discount when an EVP is recorded with the voice responding to your questions at say 214Hz or 10,120Hz (examples). But that’s another article…

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“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.”

Thomas A. Edison

“Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.”

Thomas A. Edison

“I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

Thomas A. Edison

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”  Thomas A. Edison

*Others are attributed with first discovering EVP’s, but Juergenson is the one who was given the title of “The Father of EVP”. **Obviously in this field not everyone can agree as we work mostly with theories. I am stating this Hz level as a basic level that the majority of paranormal investigators that I have talked with uphold." Jill O'Malley