Shaman Jesus

Jesus had a different way of looking at the world around us.  He saw spirits in the lakes and rivers.  He saw many sicknesses caused by spirits attempting to attack humans.  He saw some mental illness caused by spirits.  The whole world is filled with spirits, or so did Jesus see it.

The funny thing, is any spirit-- good or bad-- he also considered to be under his authority.  If someone was sick, or even dead, he could command any spirit to do what he wanted, to the benefit of those in need.  He would command storms to shut up, tell fevers to leave and order epileptic seizures to get out.  Of course, he wasn't talking to the symptom, but to a spirit behind a symptom.

How silly, we think.  What a ridiculous way of looking at the world.  As if there were a demon behind each rock. (Just to clarify, Jesus didn't see a demon behind each rock, but a spirit-- a spiritual power that may or may not be an enemy to God or humanity).

The funny thing is, it worked.  This philosophy worked for Jesus.  He told a seizure to go and it did.  He told a storm to shut up and it obeyed.  Is this coincidence?  Rumor?  We don't know.  All we know is that we have a number of examples of this happening.

And Jesus taught about it.  He talked about an oppressed person attacked by demons, the demons being commanded to leave and then coming back eventually.

This is a part of Jesus we don't like to talk about much.  The one who considered the world under the thumb of the demonic realm and he was there, as a soldier of God, to use his authority to get it back, one person at a time.

This is a foreign Jesus, a Jesus we wouldn't ever make up.  A Jesus who doesn't fit into our way of looking at the world.  But this is also a Jesus that makes sense the ancient world would follow after him.  Jesus: Powerful Shaman is a Jesus that both ancient Jews and Pagans would follow, if it would help their problems.

The Shaman Jesus is the one people would follow, the one who would listen to his teachings, no matter how insane they were. So we are clearly getting to a Jesus that is closer to the ancient one and less one that we made up if we accept that Jesus considered himself some sort of Spirit Power.