Christian Cyclopedia

Possession is the condition in which a person is controlled by an evil, foreign being, which maltreats and tortures the body in various ways, sometimes causing the features to become distorted into ferocious mocking and often causing the victim to express disrespect for religion in a bold, cynical way. The demoniac at Gadara (Lk 8:26–39) showed the following characteristics of possession: He recognized Jesus as his opponent and knew His divine nature; he had supernatural strength; the demons in him desired to escape into swine.

Some object that such an account as Lk 8:26–39 cannot be accepted at face value but that Jesus only humored a notion of the time in seeming to recognize the existence of demons, that demons do not really exist, and that He only seemed to cast them out.

Some commentators attribute these struggles bet. Christ and demons to limitations of knowledge on the part of Jesus. But it is apparent that Christ recognized Satan's power and that the evil spirits recognized Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah.*

Instances of demoniac possession are occasionally reported in contemporary times. TG

See also Demonology; Devil.

T. Graebner, “Demoniacal Possession,” CTM, IV (August 1933), 589–603.