12 May 2023
Someone actually asked ChatGPT how to summon a demon.
This has been the subject, or a major element, in a lot of western fiction. It's entirely natural for your fleshly self to be curious about such things. The problem here is that this query gets things backwards. It's not a question of being evil, but that the question assumes a situation that isn't real.
Demons do exist, of course. The Bible indicates through metaphors and parables that they constitute one-third of all the angelic beings God created. Keep in mind the basic principle that Creation is fundamentally feudal. So far as we are concerned, Satan has always been the feudal master of one-third of the angels, and when he was reassigned to his current position, his angelic hoard came with him [we later moved away from the idea that angels and demons are the same kind of creature].
But his position is not what people in the West imagine. Western mythology on this is very wrong. He is not confined to Hell unless you understand "Hell" as this fallen world itself. He is not in some underworld; there is no such thing in biblical thinking. The association of various words in English translations to some underworld is a western flaw. We don't have any equivalent notion of what the Bible is referring to in using words like "Sheol". Satan is here; this is his realm. He is confined to this world as a prison, and all his demons are here. This is their domain.
Thus, one does not "summon a demon". They are always here, all around us. What we are talking about here is trying to persuade a demon to manifest in some visible form. In other words, the whole question assumes that they aren't normally here, but need some kind of bending of the rules for an opportunity they normally don't have. That's backwards.
It also assumes they are not already a part of your life. We are all born with demonic influences present from birth. We are born in Satan's domain. He stakes out certain claims on our human existence. He already owns us; it's part of the Curse of the Fall. To have a mortal fleshly form is to be damned already. You don't have to do anything to become Satan's slave; you are born in his possession. We are all "demon possessed". It requires an act of God to get you out of that situation.
I'm not going to chase down at this point the question of the age of accountability. That cannot be answered to everyone's satisfaction because Scripture does not address it directly. We have some Hebrew cultural notions about it, but these are masked under a load of Talmudic nonsense. All we can reliably suggest is that there is a transition period between ages 6 and 9. After age 9, you become socially significant under Old Testament law because of assumptions about moral development. The point is that, somewhere along the path of human development, we become morally liable before God, but it's some period of time after birth.
Focus on the issue at hand: We are all fundamentally possessed by demons to one degree or another. The whole point of spiritual development is to reduce that stranglehold. That's the reason we are commanded to form churches as incubators of spiritual development. Whether or not demonic presence causes you to do strange things or have bizarre experiences is just a matter of Satan's plans for you. He won't bother unless you are in a good position to be useful.
And his agenda is not what most people expect. He has one job: He is God's left-hand, the Prosecutor and Jailer. Whatever you might imagine as his prosperity and wealth, it hinges not on keeping a grip on sinners; they can never escape without divine intervention. His paycheck is from deceiving the Elect. Once you and I become conscious of election, that's when he goes to work. All the demons and human slaves he uses are focused on keeping us from a clear vision of God's calling and provision on our lives. Nothing else matters to Satan.
The pack of lies that constitute western mythology about Satan are a part of that job. To have us pass through life deceived about his nature, his situation and his mission is very important to Satan. He has succeeded greatly, because western notions dominate the whole world right now. Not in the sense of wiping out non-western thinking altogether, but you can bet the vast majority of the human race is at least acquainted with our mythology. People in non-western countries know that they will have to contend with that mythology in order to do any business at all, because until very recently, all global banking was under western control. And wherever the west has control, it's all based on western mythology.
Thus, you cannot deal with the English language, for example, without having to be aware of western mythology and the notion that Satan is not already master of this world. The English language assumes he is confined mostly to some underworld, and there is no underworld in the Bible. There is a Spirit Realm in which your comfort depends on your divine election.
Don't think in terms of summoning demons to appear. Think in terms of seeking to escape their already pervasive grip on our lives. There are rules and protocols, and that's the subject of an awful lot of stuff already written, and that we could still write, about the Covenant. The Covenant is God's fundamental law of Creation, and there are no back doors for Satan and his demons.
Comments
DarkMirror
I see the summoning thing, as well as the wider ideas of magic, clairvoyance, psychic abilities, etc., as an expressed desire to take control of the spiritual realm through material means. If we can "summon" a demon, it's implicit that we can control their actions while they are "here." Naturally (or supernaturally?), we know God is the one who commands all of that, so we're really trying to take the reigns from God. If we could control demons, what need would we have of God?
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