“Magic...the most deceptive of all known arts...has exercised the greatest influence in every country and in nearly every age. And [has] thoroughly amalgamated with itself the three other sciences [medicine, religion, astrology] which hold the greatest sway upon the mind of man. That it first originated in medicine, no one entertains a doubt; or that, under the plausible guise of promoting health, it insinuated itself among mankind, as a higher and more holy branch of the medical art. Then, in the next place, to promises the most seductive and the most flattering, it has added all the resources of religion, a subject upon which, at the present day [70's CE], man is still entirely in the dark. Last of all, to complete its universal sway, it has incorporated with itself the astrological art; there being no man who is not desirous to know his future destiny, or who is not ready to believe that this knowledge may with the greatest certainty be obtained, by observing the face of the heavens. The senses of men being thus enthralled by a three-fold bond, the art of magic has attained an influence so mighty, that at the present day even, it holds sway throughout a great part of the world.” - Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 30.1
Does this apply to Christianity? Let's survey some of the various types of magicians:
Astrologer – tells the future by the stars
“We have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.” Mt2:2
Augur – tells the future by the flight of birds
“I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.” Jn1:32
Bibliomancer – tells the future by reading passages from books
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Lk4:21
Conjurer – communicates with demons and spirits
“Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Mt4:1
Exorcist – banishes demons and spirits
“He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” Mt9:34
Faith Healer – heals by the faith of the patient
“Your faith has made you well.” Mt9:22
Juggler – performs sleight-of-hand tricks
“Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel.” Mt17:27
Necromancer – communicates with the dead
“Christ is speaking in me.” 2Cor13:3
Among the very first Christian converts were Simon the Sorcerer & many of his worshipers, converted by Philip in Samaria (Acts 9:13), and several unnamed magicians converted by Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:18).
What does the Bible say about magic?
"You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not practice augury or witchcraft." Leviticus 19:26
"Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them." Leviticus 19:31
"If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams--and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee--saying: 'Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them'; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." Deuteronomy 13:2-4
"When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an auger, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominable practices the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, give heed to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you so to do." Deuteronomy 18:9-14
"The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ - when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him." Deuteronomy 18:20-22
"Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you. I have not sent them, says the Lord, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.” Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you." Jeremiah 27:14-16 [Note: the false prophets, in this case, are, like Christians, "preachers of the Good News."]
"Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions." Lamentations 2:14
"The diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers speak falsely, they comfort in vain; therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd." Zechariah 10:2
"[When the temple is cleansed] I will remove from the land the prophets and the unclean spirits. And if any one again appears as a prophet, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord’; and his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; he will not put on a hairy mantle in order to deceive, but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil; for the land has been my possession since my youth.’ And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds?’ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’” Zechariah 13:2-6
"I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers." Micah 5:12
"I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers." Malachi 3:5
MIRACLES IN MILAN
Reliquary box believed to contain the hand of St. Stephen.The following accounts of early-5th century miracles are provided by Augustine in book 22 of The City of God. Most of these wonders are facilitated, one way or another, by the relics of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. According to Augustine, the location of his remains were revealed in a dream to Bishop Ambrose of Milan. Similar accounts are not related by second- or third- century church fathers, nor any from the fourth century prior to Eusebius of Caesarea a few decades before Augustine. It appears that miracles disappeared from the church for three hundred years, only to return when the church gained political status. The miracles returned, but the nature of the miracles changed. While Jesus practiced Jewish magic – driving out demons and disease by evoking the name of God – the Gentile Christians clearly practice a modified form of pagan magic, an important characteristic of which is the use of special objects imbued with supernatural power. In this case, the special objects are the remains of saints or anything which has come in physical contact with Jesus or one of the holy martyrs.
“A blind man was restored to sight...by virtue of [Stephen's] remains...”
Demons were driven away and a paralytic healed by “some holy earth brought from Jerusalem, where Christ, having been buried, rose again the third day...”
A blind woman..."entreated that she might be led to the bishop who was carrying the relics [of Stephen]. He gave her the flowers he was carrying. She took them, applied them to her eyes, and immediately saw...”
A boy, crushed by a wagon wheel “seemed at his last gasp. His mother snatched him up, and laid him at the shrine [of Stephen], and not only did he revive, but also appeared uninjured...”
A "religious female"..."so ill as to be despaired of, had her dress brought [to the shrine of Stephen], but before it was brought back she had gone... her parents wrapped her corpse in the dress, and, her breath returning, she became quite well...”
A man...“was praying at the relics of [Stephen] for his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He too had brought her dress with him to the shrine. But as he prayed, behold, his servants ran from the house to tell him she was dead... [when he] had thrown on his daughter's body the dress he was carrying, she was restored to life...”
The son of a man..."took ill and died...One of the friends who were consoling the father suggested that the body should be anointed with the oil of [Stephen]. It was done, and he revived...”
A father..."laid his infant son, who had died, on the shrine of [Stephen]... and, after prayer...he took up his child alive...”
A young woman..."was immediately dispossessed of a devil, on anointing herself with oil, mixed with the tears of the presbyter who had been praying for her.”
To believe in Jesus, one must believe in the Devil, lest Jesus & his disciples be reckoned liars. This prompts the prudent Bible reader to ask: if there is a Devil, how can we know for certain that Jesus wasn't the Devil or possessed by a demon, as his critics claimed (Matthew 9:34, John 10:20)?
In John 8:44, Jesus accuses the Jews of being children of the Devil. If he can malign an entire race of people - and call it "God's word" - it's fair to speculate about his own infernal origins. In fact, it's imperative. Here we will attempt to examine the available evidence. To do so, we must accept certain assumptions for the sake of argument.
The Devil is a fallen angel
The Devil is called Satan
The Devil was the serpent of Eden
The Devil is clever and deceptive
The Devil wants to be worshiped as a god
Second, we'll accept these Gospel assertions about Jesus:
Jesus performed miracles
Jesus existed before Abraham (Jn8:58)
Jesus conversed with demons and the Devil
Jesus appeared to Paul as a bright light (Acts9:3)
Jesus intended his worship to spread to “every creature” on earth (Mk16:15)
Satan
Satan is, by all accounts, as old as the universe itself. Compare that to Jesus: The Gospels tell us that Jesus existed “before Abraham” (Jn8:58) and was with God since “the beginning” (Jn1:1). Meanwhile, Jesus confesses that he is not “good” and admits that he is not God (Mk10:18, Lk18:19).
Jesus begins his ministry by meeting with Satan (Mt4:1-11, Mk1:12-13, Lk4:1-13), and only after his meeting with Satan is Jesus able to perform miracles (Mt4:23-24, Mk1:25-26, Lk4:35).
Temptation
Satan's temptation of Jesus was threefold:
If you're the son of God, prove it by performing a miracle (Mt4:3, Lk4:3).
If you're the son of God, put your life in danger and see if God rescues you (Mt4:6, Lk4:9).
If you follow me, I will make you a king (Mt4:9, Lk4:6).
- First, he performs miracles to prove that he's the son of God.
- Second, he gets arrested for the capital crime of declaring himself emperor of the “kingdom of God.”
- Third, he exhibits, on the cross, his profound disappointment at being disgraced and forsaken by the Almighty who sent neither angels nor prophets to his rescue.
Magic
According to the Gospels, immediately after his meeting with Satan, Jesus' relatives report that Jesus is insane; that he's “beside himself” (Mk3:21). Other eye-witnesses say Jesus is “out of his mind” (Jn10:20) and that he “has a demon” (Jn7:20, 8:48, 10:20). John, who baptized Jesus, also “had a demon” according to popular belief (Mt11:18, Lk7:33), while Jesus is said, by some, to drive out demons “by the Prince of Demons” (Mt9:34, Mk3:22, Lk11:15).In pagan magic, the familiar spirit or “supernatural assistant” appears as a bird, endows its master with the ability to perform miracles and, in death, escorts the soul of its deceased master to the heavens. We know this from the section of the ancient Papyri Graecae Magicae titled “On Acquiring A Supernatural Assistant.” Lutheran theologian Rudolf Bultmann calls the Holy Spirit “a personal power which like a demon can fall upon a man and take possession of him, enabling him or compelling him to perform manifestations of power.” So even some Christians admit that Jesus and his disciples were possessed of a spirit “like a demon” which played the role of a “supernatural assistant” or a witch's familiar.
The Gospels tell us that demons recognize Jesus (Mt8:29, Mk1:24, Lk4:34) and Jesus grants the request of the Gerasene demons to possess and destroy a herd of swine (Mt8:28-34, Mk5:12-13, Lk8:26-37). Jesus could have commanded the demons to flee elsewhere, but in this instance he capitulates to the demons without hesitation and, in so doing, bears greater responsibility for the death of the swineherd than the demons themselves.
Self-Destruction
Violence
Christian violence begins with its founder. Jesus assaults the moneychangers at the Temple (Mt21:13, Mk11:17, Lk19:46, Jn2:15) and ensures his men are armed before his arrest (Lk22:38) where Peter, drawing his sword, attempts a fatal blow to the head of Malchus, servant of high priest Ciaphas (Jn18:10). As a result, the servant's ear is severed. Later, Ananias and Sapphira are slain by the Holy Spirit itself (Acts5). Regarding an adulterous church member, Paul instructs the Corinthians to "deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved" (1Cor5:5).Justin Martyr spends 15 chapters of his First Apologia pleading with Emperor Antoninus Pius to end the persecution of Christians, only to make an exception in the 16th chapter: "as to those who are not living pursuant to [Jesus'] teachings, and are Christians only in name, we demand that all such be punished by you" (Apologia 1:16, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. I).
The Apostles
Jesus knowingly picks Judas - “a devil” (Jn6:70) - as one of his twelve disciples (Jn6:70) and addresses Peter as “Satan” (Mt16:23, Mk8:33). Mary Magdalene, prior to her exorcism by Jesus, had been, for some unknown duration, the host of no fewer than seven demons (Mk16:9, Lk8:2). Satan “entered” Judas (Lk22:3, Jn13:27) and “filled the heart” of Ananias (Acts5:3). Demons not only know Jesus by name (Mt8:29, Mk1:24, Lk4:34), but Paul as well (Acts19:15). While preaching in Philippi, Paul and Silas are publicly endorsed by a demon-possessed soothsayer (Acts16:16-17) and Paul suffers from a "thorn in the flesh" which he calls a "messenger [or angel] of Satan." (2Cor12:7)
In The City of God, Augustine tells us that demons are capable of sending visions (as to the bovine mother of the divine Apis calf in Egypt); Peter is said to go into “trances” and have “visions” (Mt17:9, Acts10:3, 12:9). Paul has visions throughout the book of Acts. John has visions throughout the book of Revelation. See the Bible's warnings against false prophets and “dreamers of dreams” (Deut13:1-5, Zech10:2).
From the available evidence, it's not unreasonable to suspect that the apostles were riddled with demons. But it doesn't end there: among the first Christians was Simon the Sorcerer (Acts8:13) who is called the “angel of Satan” in the Acts of Peter. Several magicians were among the first Christian converts in Ephesus (Acts19:19). Some early Christians – gnostics and proto-gnostics - openly practiced magic, including Menander, Saturninus, Valentinus & Marcus (see Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book I).
Mockery
Is it possible that the Devil uses Christianity to mock God? The Holy Trinity is a mockery of the first commandment (Ex20:3, Deut5:7), which forbids polytheism. The Christian symbols of the Fish, the Dove and the Crucified Man are a blatant and very specific mockery of the second commandment (Ex20:4, Deut5:8), which forbids idolatry in the form of anything that walks, swims or flies. Peter takes God's name in vain when he swears under oath not to know the Nazarene (Mt26:72-74). Jesus mocks the sabbath (Mt12:10, Mk3:2, Jn9:14-16), and the commandment to honor mothers & fathers (Mk3:31-35, Mt8:21-22, 23:9) while Paul is not only a liar (1Cor9:20-23) who celebrates dishonesty in others (Philippians1:18) but is covetous as well (1Cor9:5), and the whole of Christianity is covetous of Israel, Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God. In addition, the Eucharist mocks the Bible's prohibition against consuming blood (Lev17:17) and the delayed Second Advent mocks the Bible's imminent prophecy standard for the identification of true prophets (Deut18.22). According to the Bible, Jesus is cursed as both a descendent of Jeconiah (Jer22:30, Mt1:12) and a criminal hanged from a tree (Deut21:23). Finally, the religion of Paul is preoccupied with the notion that evil people should be allowed into heaven right alongside good people, and he endeavors to find a way to sneak them in through the back door.
The Church Fathers
In his 4th century Life of Paul the First Hermit, St. Jerome informs us that St. Antony once met a satyr in the Egyptian desert. The creature introduced itself as one of the beasts the Egyptians erroneously worship as gods (universally regarded as demons in Christianity) then offered an unsolicited declaration that Jesus was its Lord. We learn from the same author that Antony was led to the home of the ancient recluse, Paul of Thebes, by the assistance of a centaur, which may or may not have been the Devil.
According to legend, Satan is credited with helping St. Wolfgang build a church, c. 990, and, per another legend, Satan became a Christian monk in Abyssinia for 40 days following his conversion by St. Tekle Haymanot in the 13th century. Also in the 13th century, Satan is said to have provided daily offerings to the monastery at Mount La Verna, Italy.
Conclusion
Was Jesus, in fact, the son of Satan? Was he possessed by a demon? Was he the Devil incarnate?Probably not. We say this only because there is no evidence of the existence of the Devil. If the Devil exists, that's another story and we leave the reader to draw their own conclusions. The point of this exercise is to demonstrate how easily one might use the Bible to prove someone is something they're not, as when the prophets are cited to prove that Jesus is the Messiah or the son of God.
Anonymous, Papyri Graecae Magicae
Augustine, City of God
Irenaeus, Against Heresies
Jerome, Life of Paul the First Hermit
Justin, First Apologia
Tacitus, The Annals
Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy
Job, Jeremiah, Zechariah
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts
1 & 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Ephesians, Revelation
Acts of Peter
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The Entombment by Peter Paul Rubens (1612)
Was Jesus' tomb empty? If so, what happened to the body? The evangelists tell us it walked away and, later, appeared "in another form" (Mk16:12). Occam's Razor suggests that the body was either stolen or relocated.
So, if Jesus' body was missing, who moved it?
1) The primary suspect would be Peter and/or one of the other 10 disciples. We only have their word for any of this, after all.
2) Mary Magdelene. She and the women are first on the scene. We really know nothing about Mary or her companions except that they seem quite comfortable creeping around tombs and embalming corpses, in secret, at 4 in the morning when most people are asleep. “Who will move the stone?” is not something someone asks when their business is conducted in broad daylight, where a group of women might easily request the assistance of a passerby.
3) Judas. Judas disappears from the story after Jesus' arrest and what eventually became of him remains a mystery. Legends attribute a variety of deaths to Judas: he either hanged himself (Matthew), fell in a field (Acts), was crushed by a chariot (Papias, 2nd century), was stoned by the eleven disciples (Gospel of Judas, 2nd century) or was crucified (the medieval Gospel of Barnabas). If, as some suppose, Judas was a radical religious zealot of the Sicari sect, then perhaps he was the only one of the Twelve disciples who truly embraced the idea that the expected Messiah was a military leader who would vanquish the enemies of God. This may have led him to take drastic measures: forcing a confrontation between Jesus and the Roman authorities, then stealing the body in the hopes of striking fear and repentance into the hearts of the Romans, thus preparing the world for the coming of the Messiah.
4) The Gardener. This theory is mentioned by Tertullian in the late 2nd century. The Gardener was believed to have moved Jesus' body to prevent pilgrims from trampling his lettuce.
5) The Family of Jesus. They may have taken the body to Galilee, to the tomb of his father, perhaps traveling with a post-Passover caravan heading north. There wouldn't have been time to locate Jesus' disciples, even if they were inclined to do so. For one, the disciples were in hiding. Secondly, when approached by strangers, Peter denied having ever met Jesus. So if Jesus' family sought out the leader of the Christians to inform him that Jesus' body was about to be relocated, it would have been next to impossible to accomplish.
6) Enemies of Jesus. His enemies could have dragged his body to the wilderness so as not to curse the holy city.
7) The Family of Joseph of Arimathea. Perhaps one or more relatives objected to the family tomb housing the body of a cursed magician.
8) Joseph of Arimathea himself. He might have changed his mind over the weekend or been otherwise forced to remove the body by the authority of the Romans, perhaps upon the complaint of the gardener or his own family, as previously stated.
9) Secret Disciples. John tells us that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were secret disciples. So if there were two secret disciples who are named, couldn't there be dozens, if not hundreds, who are not named? If people were spreading rumors that John the Baptist had risen from the dead (Mk6:14, Mt16:14, Lk9:19), perhaps some of the same or similar characters could have stolen Jesus' body and started another resurrection rumor. The gospels tell us nothing of the burial of John the Baptist. For all we know, his body was also missing from its grave. At any rate, if there were “secret disciples” there is no reason to believe they were in communication with Peter, James or the others. Perhaps they were rivals. Perhaps they were unaware of one another. Maybe they had no deception in mind but merely relocated the body to a more secure location to prevent desecration from Jesus' enemies. This could have been somewhere in Galilee, and these disciples might not have concerned themselves with any Jerusalem-based empty-tomb controversy thereafter, as the end was at hand and the messiah was to appear at any moment. Perhaps they eventually heard resurrection stories coming from the Twelve and, like the initial reaction of the Twelve, dismissed them as “wives tales.” On the other hand, they may have heard the stories and believed them, spiritually, in spite of their knowledge of the body's whereabouts, viewing the spiritual resurrection as an integral part of the mystery, not unlike the Eucharist: physically, it's bread and wine; spiritually, it's the body of Christ.
10) Aside from this, there is another equally probable option: no one knew where Jesus' body ended up after the crucifixion, leading the Gospel writers to invent the story of Joseph of Arimathea.
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"These signs will accompany those who believe...they will lay their hands on the sick & they will recover." - Mk16:17-18
"Handkerchiefs were carried away from [Paul] to the sick, & diseases left them." - Acts19:12
Paul informs us (1Cor2:9) that some Christians are endowed with "gifts of healing by the one Spirit," yet elsewhere in Paul's letters we learn that Paul himself had a "bodily ailment" (Gal4:13) & a prayer-resistant "infirmity" (2Cor12:7-8), leaving Trophimus in Melitus due to his "illness" (2Tim4:20) while Timothy suffered from "frequent ailments" (1Tim5:23).
So, believers can heal the sick (Mk16:17-18, Acts19:12, 1Cor2:9) except when they can't:(2Cor12:7-8, Gal4:13, 1Tim5:23, 2Tim4:20).
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