Satanic Possession by Rosina F. Phippeny

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 22, 1865

Satanic Possession.

By Rosina F. Phippeny

We need not go back to ancient times, to find proof to substantiate the claim that some people are actually possessed of the Devil. A number of instances have come under my own observation, that would warrant the conclusion to be correct, that persons are at the present day, actually possessed of the Devil.

Meditating upon the horrible, and revolting conduct of those I have seen, and upon the inroads Satan is making upon the children of men, my eye accidentally fell upon a paper containing a piece on the very subject of which I was thinking. The paper (American Baptist) was printed three years ago, and the article is this:

“The whole subject of Satanic possession is mysterious. We cannot deny, however, that creatures with flesh and bones like ourselves, were, during our Lord's earthly ministry, possessed of the Devil, though persons now tell us that it was only a strange kind of disease which such creatures had.

“1. Our Saviour repeatedly recognized the fact of such possession, which manifestly he would not have done had it not been a fact.

“2. He repeatedly discriminated between the casting out of unclean spirits, and the healing of any kind of disease. Matt. x, 1.

“3. The acts of those possessed were peculiar, not indicative of bodily disease. They prostrated themselves before him, and acknowledged him as the Son of God. Mark iii, 11.

“4. The evil spirits went out of the unhappy people possessed, and entered into swine. Mark v, 12, 13.

“If it is asked why such possession was allowed at that period, and not allowed now, we may reply that it might have been to make it plain, by the triumphs of Christ over it, that he 'came to destroy the works of the Devil,' and was stronger than he.

“Moreover, it is not absolutely certain that it is not allowed now—that the possession of the bodies of individuals by the Devil, was wholly confined to that particular period. No one can prove this. That there are those who conduct as if Satan possessed them, must be admitted; and, revolting as the thought may be, it is admitted by distinguished physicians both in Europe and America.”

Rosina F. Phippeny.

North Star, Mich.