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. 

Jesus: The Exorcist

The Father of heaven and earth declared Jesus to be the Son of God—the inheritor of the kingdom of God.  Jesus and John the Baptist were the only humans who heard and understood this to be true.  But the whole spirit world also heard this—and many were very displeased at this announcement.  Satan and the demons of the world knew that their rule and judgement of God’s people were soon to be at an end, and they determined to stop Jesus. 

Jesus himself declared that he was at war with Satan and demons.  He said, “How can anyone plunder the warriors house unless he first ties up the warrior?  I am here to take the household of Satan away from him—and so I must first defeat Satan.”  So Jesus did battle with Satan.  Anytime he saw a spirit judging or destroying a human, he cast that spirit out of his realm.  Thus, one by one, Jesus exiled Satan’s workers out of God’s land.

Jesus’ habit was to travel to different places within Galilee and teach in their synagogues, where those who worshiped God met and prayed.  He was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum, when a man who was demonized came up to Jesus and said, “Why are you here, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are—the Son of God!”  Jesus told him, “Shut up!  Come out of him now!”  Suddenly the man had a seizure and shrieked loudly.  Then, just as suddenly, the man became quiet and was acting normally. 

            Those watching this were shocked.  They said, “This man came to teach us—but he also has authority over the spirit world!  He commands evil, judging spirits and they obey him!”  They left the synagogue that day, and the news of what Jesus had done began to spread all over the countryside.  Soon crowds of people began to come to Jesus in Capernaum, hoping to be healed from demons, or to see someone be healed.

            Jesus said, “We need to go to other towns as well, so that the news of God’s kingdom can be given to them as well.”  So Jesus began travelling around Galilee.  The crowds became so large that soon they followed him between towns, as well as in them.  Jesus took a boat and traveled across the Sea of Galilee, a large lake between Galilee and Decapolis.

 Decapolis was an area inhabited by both worshippers of God and worshippers of many gods.  As Jesus arrived in Decapolis, a man met him at the boat.  He was a wild man, who lived in a cemetery, and he was demonized.  He would scream all night long and cut himself with stones. In the past, people had tried to chain him up because of the damage he caused, but he broke the chains and did what the demons told him to do.  As he came up to Jesus, the man bowed before Jesus.  Jesus attacked the spirit, commanding him, “Evil spirit, come out of him!”  The spirit just replied, “What business do you have with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High?  Stop tormenting me!”  Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?”  The spirit replied, “My name is legion, for we are many. Please, Son of God, do not send us out of this land!” 

            Jesus noticed a large group of pigs feeding near a mountain, around two thousand.  The spirits said, “Please, send us into the pigs!”  Jesus permitted them, saying, “Go, then, into the pigs.”  The demons left the man, and entered into the pigs.  Suddenly, all two thousand pigs went wild, and started running.  They ran up the mountain and over a cliff, and they all fell into the sea and died. 

            The pigs, however, were owned by a local and he had hired men to watch over the pigs.  Soon, a group from the town, upset at the loss of livestock, came up to Jesus and asked him to leave the area.  Jesus agreed and went back on his boat.  The man who was delivered, however, ran up to Jesus before he left and begged him, “Please, let me come with you!”  Jesus refused and said instead, “Go back to your home and tell everyone what God has done for you.”  The man obeyed Jesus, and everyone who listened to his testimony was amazed.

            Some, however, who did not like Jesus’ teaching, and did not think that God was going to change the government of God’s people, were not impressed with Jesus’ authority over evil spirits.  They said among themselves, “He is only casting out these demons by the power of Satan.  He is really supporting Satan, and is using the authority of Satan to move demons on, temporarily.”

Releasing Others From Judgment

Jesus’ Life

Matthew 4:23-24
Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

Wherever Jesus went, he healed and cast out demons. But he did not do this by the knowledge or power of human beings. Instead he depended on the Father, speaking by his authority over the spirit world, delivering people from their ailments caused by the spirit world. Some followed him because of his teaching, but most people followed Jesus because they wanted him to perform a miracle and to show his authority. But Jesus did not do the work because he wanted to give a show. Rather, he had real compassion on the people who came to him and wanted to see them be delivered (Matthew 14:14; Luke 7:12-16)

Mark 2:1-12
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk '?

The illnesses that Jesus cured were seen as caused by spirits who were given opportunity to judge people because of their sins. When people came to be healed, they were looking for mercy from the One who allowed them to be judged because of their sin, or the sin of their community. Here, a group of people are going to Jesus with one of their friends, asking for forgiveness for all of them, although only one was punished. Jesus gave them forgiveness—telling the man that he was acceptable to the Lord. As a sign of that acceptance, he commanded the spirit world to release the man from his infirmity.

Luke 13:10-17
There was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness."

This woman had a back pain, but it was clear that this was an infirmity caused by Satan as a judgement. Jesus insisted that the woman be healed immediately because she had suffered long enough under Satan’ judgment. So Jesus commanded the spirit world to release her from judgement and so she knew that she was acceptable before the Lord.

Matthew 12:28-29
"If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house."

Jesus said, that if a slave is to be delivered, the master of the slave must first be bound and placed under the authority of the one delivering the slave. Jesus came to deliver people from slavery of sin and Satan. But Jesus first has to bind the master of the person—the one who is controlling them through judgement from the spirit world. Jesus releases people from the judgement and gives them an opportunity to be a slave of God.

Our Lives

Luke 10:19-20
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

The authority over the spirit world that Jesus had, he passes on to others. And so the followers of Jesus are to use that authority to set people free from the bondages of evil spirits. However, Jesus said, we are not to be impressed with ourselves because we are able to do that. Rather, we are to rejoice that it indicates that God has accepted us and will receive us into his kingdom.

Matthew 10:8
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.

In being able to control spirits, there are many sicknesses and even deaths that we can reverse. We have to be aware and listen to the Spirit to determine when we are to do this.

Mark 16:15-18
"These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Every believer has some authority over the spirit world, granted to them by their Lord Jesus. Signs will follow every believer that they are people who are powerful in the Spirit world.

Ephesians 6:10-12
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Our task is not to battle against other people, as if we were warriors on the earth. Rather, we are to be fighting for people’s lives in the spirit realm. We are to battle against spiritual forces, which, in some ways, are more powerful and dangerous than anything we have on earth.


Examples

• After receiving the Spirit, Peter met many opportunities to heal and to release people from spiritual judgement. He taught about Jesus, but he also healed a paralytic, he raised a woman from the dead, and healed many others by the authority given to him by Jesus.

• Paul also healed many and cast out many demons. He wrote that a sign of a true apostle is “miracles.” He was deeply concerned about others but he primarily used his authority granted to him by Jesus to build up the kingdom of God.


Living It Out

• Look for how people are bound by Satan. Most everyone has at least one area of bondage, more often than not many more. But don’t assume that you know what their bondage is—sometimes one sin pattern is covering up a deeper bondage and sometimes it is difficult to see at all. Everyone, before they come to the Lord, is bound by Satan and sin and that bondage is displayed. If one says that they have never needed to be delivered from anything, then it probably means that they still need to be delivered from something.

• When you speak the gospel, pray for others. Speaking the gospel and prayer go hand in hand. To speak a message of deliverance means to pray for deliverance and to see God’s kingdom at work in our lives.

• Speak by the authority given to us by Jesus. We need to remember that we ourselves do not have the authority necessary to command the spirit world to do anything. Only Jesus gives us the power to do this and so we must use that power only for the sake of Jesus’ kingdom and for love of others, even as Jesus’ commanded.

• Don’t overstep your authority. If you do not have the authority to command spirits, don’t. If you attempt to command spirits that have not judged anyone unjustly, then they do not need to listen to you. Take care, as well, not do disrespect any spiritual authority.

• Be alert! Take care in attacking the spirits to realize that you will be attacked as well. Be aware of these attacks and do not allow them to overwhelm you. Cry out to the Lord for deliverance.