JESUS And Beelzebul

Hello! and happy TGIF to all of us; and, it's just 77 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  For this weekend's "food for the soul":

 

THE GOOD NEWS (09 October 2015)

"One day JESUS was driving out a dumb demon.  When the demon had been driven out, the mute person could speak, and the people were amazed.  Yet some of them said, 'HE drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the chief of the demons.  So others wanted to put HIM to the test by asking HIM for a heavenly sign. 

But JESUS knew their thoughts and said to them, 'Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin, and will fall.  If Satan also is divided, his empire is coming to an end.  How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul?  If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your fellow members drive out demons?  They will be your judge, then. 

Syrian Civil War

But suppose I drive out demons by the finger of GOD; would not this mean that the kingdom of GOD has come upon you?  As long as the strong and armed man guards his house, his goods are safe.  But when a stronger one attacks and overcomes him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on and disposes of his spoils.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.

When the evil spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through dry lands looking for a resting place.  And finding none, it says, I will return to my house from which I came.  When it comes, it finds the house swept and everything in order.  Then it goes to fetch seven other spirits even worse than itself.  They move in and settle there, so that the last state of that person is worse than the first'." - Luke 11:14-26

 

(HE drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul.  More than the healings, the exorcisms unsettled the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law.  They, the religious authorities, traveled from Jerusalem to see this JESUS for themselves.  The Jews of JESUS' time were obsessed with the belief that illness was a form of possession.  JESUS does not concern HIMSELF with distinguishing between illness and possession.  Actually, the Devil is behind all human misery.  Beelzebul, the name of an ancient idol, was a Jewish term for the Devil.

 

 

By the finger of GOD.  In Exodus 8:15, the same expression is used to designate the power of GOD working miracles.

 

Whoever is not with ME...  This phrase seems to contradict Luke 9:50:  Whoever is not against you is with you. In fact, in Luke 9:50, JESUS admits that HIS spiritual family goes much beyond the visible group of HIS disciples:  those who, without belonging to the church, work for the same goals, must be considered as friends.

 

In Luke 11:23, on the other hand, JESUS speaks of people who refuse to stand with HIM and HIS message and who want to remain uncommitted:  they do not join HIM, and later they will criticize HIM.

 

The Jews believed that evil spirits preferred to live in the desert or, rather, that GOD had banished them there.  Here JESUS is speaking of people who only believe for a while because they do not repent enough of their past sins.  They enjoyed listening to the word, but they did not take the costly measures that would have allowed them to heal the root of evil.)