Table Of ContentTehom-at
Demonic History & The
Rites of Exorcism
David P. Aguilar Jr.
Tehom-at: Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Tehom-at
Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Introduction
ost people in the world have never encountered a demon in a
recognizable form. In fact, most people reading this book may
never be called upon to cast out a devil, or to treat someone
suffering from possession by a malignant spirit. Why, then, a book about
exorcism?
There are several factors that motivated me to write this book. The first is
that though “few” may directly need the information contained herein, it is
best to make sure that the ones who do are properly armed. Most modern
cars contain airbags, although there are relatively few occasions on which
they save the lives of passengers. In many cases, the cost of not having
preventative measures far outweighs the cost of providing them, and this is
one of those cases.
Second, books that have been written in the past by scholars and priests
often contain as much mythology as they do Biblical doctrine. Certainly,
some mythology must be examined in the study of demons, because the
stories handed down in various countries are windows into the beliefs and
knowledge of the past. At the same time, we must take great care to
distinguish between myth and reality, lest we present one as the other – a
practice that has not been strictly followed in the writings of many authors.
If we wish to have a firm handle on our commission to “Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils,” (Mat 10:8) we must have
an accurate picture of our enemies, those who are responsible for
“wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Third, as the world has become more “sophisticated,” Satan has also made
his methods more difficult to detect, and thus more dangerous. Mental
disease is a true, psychobiological phenomenon, but it does not
automatically explain every potential case of supernatural activity. We
must be able to distinguish between the two based on sound, Scriptural
reasoning, and we must be able to provide help for both types of affliction.
This book will provide methods for facilitating the healing of both the
mentally disturbed, and those truly suffering from oppressive intelligences.
Finally, in the examination of demonology, we will become more familiar
with their activities. I present an extensive treatise on evil spirits throughout
the course of this book, and we will thus learn both what motivates them
and what they use to motivate their unprotected human victims.
Ultimately, the Being who both Created and Saved humanity stated,
“Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because
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your names are written in Heaven.” (Luke 10:20) True healing comes when
a servant of the Messiah can lead an individual from a life of sin to a life of
holiness, a life that is bound for everlasting reward in Heaven. That is the
primary motivation behind this work.
Right up front I make it known that I am writing this book from the
perspective of fundamental Christianity. Specifically, I am approaching the
topic from the standpoint of Seventh-day Adventism. Why is this important
for my readers to know? Chiefly, this: I believe that the Ten
Commandments continue to declare the standard of righteousness for
human beings. I believe that the Messiah did not make void the Law, but
rather made it honorable, and established it as an unchanging transcript of
the character of the Godhead. Every instruction given to us according to the
Divine Will, from the commandment against adultery to “Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” (Exodus 20:8) constitutes an important factor
in the makeup of a victorious, Christian life.
No human being is justified by obedience to the Law, yet those who are
commandment-keepers in these days are often accused of being legalists.
But far from this being the case, even the Old Testament saints were
justified by faith, (Hebrews 11) yet they knew the importance of the
instructions given to humanity for our own sakes. (Genesis 26:5,
Deuteronomy 5:29, Mark 2:27) Christ was “the end of the Law for
righteousness, to everyone that believeth,” (Rom 10:4) but not the end of
the Law period. Those who have come to Christ realize that the Law does
not directly lead to righteousness – it merely describes it, simultaneously
defining “sin,” the state of lawlessness. (Romans 7:7, 1John 3:4)
We must acknowledge that keeping the “Letter” of the Law while
neglecting the “Spirit” of the Law is death – for it is the Spirit that brings
life. (2Corinthians 3:6) But while the Spirit is contrary to the “flesh,”
(Galatians 5:17) it is not in opposition to the “letter.” Both must work
together to produce a sanctified life; like the Son of Yahweh Himself, our
example, we must be “manifest [seen, made known] in the flesh, justified in
the Spirit.” (1Timothy 3:16) The works we do in the flesh testify to the
state of our spirit. (James 2:20)
A more detailed explanation of this principle may be read in Appendix A; I
have included it in this introduction because it is not at all irrelevant to the
issue of exorcism. The rites of exorcism will remove a demon, but they will
not prevent a re-infestation. In fact, we were warned of such an event in the
Gospels. “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through
dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, ‘I will return into
my house from whence I came out,’ and when he is come, he findeth it
empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven
other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there;
and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also
unto this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45)
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This must be prevented at all costs, and the exorcist must know how to
instruct an individual in righteousness after he has been cleansed. The life
lived in the newness of victory will be such that the demon can find no door
or window back into its former home. The final chapter of this work deals
with the life that is immune to possession – how to get it, and how to
maintain it, for as those who live this life are promised, “he that is begotten
of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” (1John
5:18b)
We must learn what the apostle meant by those words, and how to claim
that kind of protection.
May the reader be blessed by this study I have composed at the prompting
and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and may the benediction of the House of
Levi (Numbers 6:24-26) find place in the life of everyone who gains
wisdom from this work:
Yahweh bless thee, and keep thee;
Yahweh make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;
Yahweh lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
David Aguilar.
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Tehom-at: Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Tehom-at
Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Technical Notes
few conventions have been adopted for the text of this book,
which I believe will allow the reader to obtain the most complete
and clearest level of understanding of its contents. The concepts
presented here may be new to most people, even those with a thorough
familiarity with the Bible. That being the case, I have attempted to assume
minimum prior knowledge in the presentation of this information, and a few
technical notes are included here regarding my style of writing.
1) All Bible quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise
noted, with the exception of the Divine names being restored to their
original pronunciation. Some examples:
a) "God" becomes "Almighty One" or “Elohim,” and "the LORD"
becomes "Yah" or “Yahweh” in the Old Testament readings.
“the lord GOD” becomes “Adonai Yahweh” as it appears in the
Hebrew manuscripts.
b) When quoting New Testament verses, "Jesus" becomes
"Yahshua", "God" may become "Yah," and "Lord" becomes
either "Yah" or "Yahshua" depending on the Subject of the
passage.
c) Pronouns referring to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit ("He,"
"Him," "His," "It," etc.) are all capitalized in Bible verses. So are
certain key terms such as Book of Life, Sanctuary, Araphel and
Woman, when the latter is used in reference to the Church.
2) I will sometimes capitalize the word Church, and sometimes leave it with
a small "c." This is not an inconsistency; where I use the word "church" it
refers to one of the many ecclesiastical organizations claiming that title.
When I use the form "Church," it is in reference to the spiritual Body of
Christ, the Body of believers that is currently (or from the perspective of the
timeframe used) being faithful to the Head, which is Yahshua.
3) Quoted sentences that are "broken" as the speaker moves from one idea
to another are sometimes preserved "as is," with ellipses [...] indicating this
shift in subject matter.
4) Brief comments on Bible verses or quotes are added directly into the text
in [square brackets]; longer comments and discussions of the verses are
recorded outside of the "quotation" signs that enclose the referenced text.
5) Bible verses are not always quoted in full. Generally, only those portions
produced by the speaker/author are recorded with the reference given in
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(brackets) or mentioned before the quote itself. Readers are encouraged to
have their Bibles handy to see the original text, unbroken by comments and
insertions, in order to get the most meaning out of both the original
passages and this material.
6) Numbers enclosed in [square brackets] that appear within the body of
this work indicate quotations from external sources. At the end of each
chapter, a list of Footnotes is provided that gives relevant information about
each of those sources.
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Tehom-at: Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Tehom-at
Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................i
Technical Notes..........................................................................................iv
Table of Contents.......................................................................................vi
List of Illustrations....................................................................................vii
Ch. 1 – Araphel...........................................................................................1
Ch. 2 – Legacy of The Apostate................................................................18
Ch. 3 – Azazel and Other Demons............................................................38
Ch. 4 – Legion, For We Are Many...........................................................59
Ch. 5 – Through Dry Places......................................................................79
Ch. 6 – Ephphatha...................................................................................100
Ch. 7 – Sealing The Gate........................................................................122
Appendix A – That It May be Well With Them ....................................144
Appendix B – Spirits of The Bible..........................................................151
Appendix C – The Promises of Christ....................................................156
Appendix D – Commentary on Romans and 1 John...............................171
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Tehom-at: Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Tehom-at
Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
List of Illustrations
Figure 1.1 – The Veil of Araphel..............................................................13
Figure 1.2 – Demonic Veil........................................................................15
Figure 2.1 – The Cosmos..........................................................................28
Figure 3.1 – Hebrew Transformation........................................................44
Figure 4.1 – Magnetic and Electromagnetic Fields...................................62
Figure 4.2 – A Diagram of Possession......................................................74
Figure 4.3 – Multiple Persecutors.............................................................75
Figure 5.1 – The Cyclical Creation of Paganism......................................81
Figure 5.2 – The Spiritual History of Earth..............................................86
Figure 6.1 – The Degrees of Possession.................................................101
Figure 6.2 – The Levels of Possession....................................................108
Figure 7.1 – The Two Trees....................................................................123
Figure 7.2 – The Ladder of Security.......................................................132
Figure 7.3 – The Seal of God..................................................................142
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Tehom-at
Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
Chapter 1: Araphel
n the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth. And the
earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim moved upon the face of the
waters.” (Genesis 1:1, 2)
Before the Creator began most of His significant work on the physical
plane, we find a particular term used to describe the state of objects in the
universe: “the deep.” In Biblical Hebrew, that word is tehom, and it takes
on various meanings depending on its usage, including the following
definitions: the depths of the ocean, a wide and empty place, and the grave.
In the mythology of the ancient Babylonians, the primordial oceans were
personified as a great dragon, which they named “Tehom-at,” or Tiamat.
Of this mythical creature we find the following written: “In the Babylonian
[system] the greatest of the primeval dynasts is Tiâmat, the sea, the mother
of the gods and also all monsters […] we note also that the Babylonian Sea
is decidedly evil, the aboriginal foe of the gods of light.” [1]
Although in the Akkadian version of the story, written as a part of the
Enūma eliš, Tiamat is female, (the “mother” of the gods) in other records it
may be of either sex, or have a male counterpart. The conflict between
Zeus and the dragon Typhon, found in classical mythology, is considered a
direct parallel to the battle between the Babylonian figure Tiamat and the
god Marduk. [2]
The parallels between these old legends and the Biblical account of creation
have hardly gone unnoticed. In the book Dictionary of Deities and Demons
in The Bible, the authors note: “Tĕhôm is etymologically related to
Akk[adian] Tiamat, which derives from an older, Semitic root, thm, known
in Ugaritic and other Semitic languages as a designation of the sea. [...] In
Akkadian the root is known in the female form, tiāmtu, or tâmtu, ‘sea.’ The
divine name Tiamat, especially well-known from the Babylonian Creation
Myth Enūma eliš, is the absolute form of the noun.” [3]
They further go on to say, “The motif itself was probably inspired from the
mythology of Western Asia, where it is represented by the Ugaritic myth of
Baal. After Yam [the personified seas] had demanded Baal’s surrender,
Baal defeats Yam by means of two clubs given him by Kothan-wa-Hasis.”
[emphasis added]
We read with some interest that the myths about Tiamat probably had an
older, Semitic origin, as does the Biblical record. Now, I have emphasized
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Tehom-at: Demonic History & The Rites of Exorcism
the term “Ugaritic” in both quotations because this is a significant language
for Bible scholars. Of all the books of the Scriptures, the Psalms have
proven to be among the most difficult to translate into modern languages.
Not only are the identities of some of their authors unknown, but also some
of the terms employed in their poetic language are not found elsewhere in
the textual record. Definitions based on usage, therefore, have been
impossible to utilize.
In 1929, excavations in the north Syrian site of Ras Shamrah uncovered a
great number of clay tablets. Many of them were inscribed in a cuneiform
script known as Ugaritic, which is a Semitic, Canaanite dialect. Due to the
close parallels between Canaanite languages and ancient Hebrew, research
into the deciphering of these tablets has allowed a previously unmatched
understanding of the Psalmists’ words to be attained. [4]
We see, then, the close tie between the likely Ugaritic sources of the Enūma
eliš and the Scriptural account.
Of the great, primeval conflict between good and evil, according to the
ancient legends, we read this climax: “Marduk then rode to battle on his
storm chariot. The sight of him overwhelmed the enemy; only Tiamat
dared to face him, but after an angry exchange of words, as she opened her
maw to swallow him, he drove in the winds and killed her with an arrow.
Her army he took captive, enclosing it in a net held by the four winds. Out
of the carcass of Tiamat Marduk then created the extant universe. He split
her in two, and made out of one part heaven; out of the other, earth.” [5]
Those readers who are familiar with the Creation account of Genesis may
rightly be impressed by how closely associated the descriptions are, and the
Scriptures themselves make a clear connection between all the pagan deities
we have seen up to this point:
“Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish,
and conceal not; say:
Babylon is taken,
Bel is confounded,
Merodach is broken in pieces;
Her idols are confounded,
Her images are broken in pieces.” (Jeremiah 50:2)
The Babylonian gods Bel (Ba’al) and Merodach (Marduk) are associated
with each other in this poetic parallel; and we know also that Ba’al is the
name given to the false heathen deity to whom the Israelites turned in times
of apostasy. (1Kings 18:21) The very word means “Lord,” or “Husband,”
and if used as an improper noun (i.e., not a name) it was an allowable
appellation for Yahweh: “‘And it shall be at that day,’ saith Yahweh, ‘that
thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.’” (Hosea 2:16) In
2
