Blumhardt and the Exorcism of Gottliebin Dittus – 6
Background of the Analysis
The accounts of Blumhardt are filled with much that would cause a Modernist, Enlightenment-driven, Christian to disengage with this material. In fact, demythologizer and existentialist theologian, Rudolf Bultmann, once wrote that he detested the Blumhardt stories [1]. Theologies which see evil purely as human constructs (either personal or those such as Wink’s corporate “angels”), will struggle with the accounts of Blumhardt that are filled with self-conscious, spiritual forces external to an individual.
Many Christian demythologizers, would attempt to portray all accounts of possession within the Bible as purely down to epilepsy or other psychological illnesses. Whilst the contextual understanding of these instances certainly involves some attribution of medical conditions to demonic influence [2], it would be foolhardy to attribute all instances this way. No medical condition of a patient has ever made over 2000 pigs run off a cliff into the sea (Mt. 8, Mk. 5, Lk. 8) [3]! Space does not permit a full analysis of the arguments of the demythologizers – much ink has been spilled in this area over the past century.
The a priori belief of the author is that there are a variety of spiritual personal beings in the heavenly realms which are fallen evil, which are set against humanity and the Kingdom of God, and which seek to disrupt, bring chaos, enslave the minds, bodies and spirits of humans, and which will one day, like humanity, be brought to judgement. However, one should not fall into scapegoating, which would put all this realm as being entirely the reason why there is evil in the world – humans too can behave in evil ways. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against cosmic forces in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). One should also be aware of the complexity of the human mind, which can perform incredible feats, both consciously and unconsciously, and can be afflicted with various mental imbalances that can cause “possession” type scenarios to be perceived when they are not in fact from a spiritual cause. Sometimes treating these cases may eventually exhaust mainstream psychiatric understanding. However, a new field of treating what is termed “demonosis” or “possession syndrome” is beginning to be accepted as a valid dissociative disorder, which somehow can be treated using ritual elements from traditional exorcistic rites (often based in the afflicted persons spiritual worldview). Fiore (1987) was one of the forerunners in this field, and to save time, I point you to her work as a starting point – it’s eye-opening!
What were Gottliebin’s Demons?
For this analysis, we shall assume these beings were conscious entities separate to the psyche of Gottliebin, not any dissociative disorder, based upon the various physical knockings and the spiritual awakening which resulted from her treatment.
In order to discern the situation, Blumhardt tentatively entered into conversation with these particular beings, conscious not to seek out more than was necessary to deal with it. We are often told to not converse with anything in the spirit realm, being given examples of prohibitions of spirit divination (Lev. 20:27; Deut. 18:9-14) and the example of what happened to Saul and the Medium of Endor (a series explored in detail here). However, it should be observed that these prohibitions are against using spirit possession as a function for initiating divinatory practices, not against actually speaking with a spirit if it should somehow present itself to us. Blumhardt is known as a very godly man and deeply spiritual theologian, and his awareness of the danger of the situation he found himself in, coupled with resolve to stick to prayer and Scripture is something to take on board. He did not seek out spiritual contact with the demons, but let them make themselves known first – contra to spiritualistic and many paranormal investigation practices today. 1 John 4:1 tells us to test the spirits, which will obviously involve communication of some sort. In Blumhardt’s experience, these were manifest in the voices heard from within and without Gottliebin, being tested against Scripture through his theological reflections.
One of the most striking (and challenging) things about Blumhardt’s engagement with the spirits possessing Gottliebin is the majority of them claiming to be human in origin. Reflecting upon the Gadarean Demoniac story, prayer and discernment allowed him to entertain this possibility, despite his theological training which would have said this was impossible.
He was prepared to ask himself whether the information from the spirits could be a deception of non-human spirits – a wise move. Certainly there will be those who will argue this using the proof text of 2 Cor. 11:14 – “… Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” but this verse is nothing to do with the context of Blumhardt and rips away the context that Paul was discussing with the Corinthians [4].
We have to ask ourselves some difficult questions regarding the identity of these beings, namely, could they really be spirits of humans?
Blumhardt certainly thought so, and discerned one which most definitely claimed to be an angel of Satan – ie non-human in origin. He didn’t accept the Roman Catholic teaching of Purgatory, and categorically denied he was converting spirits. For him it was liberating the souls of believers who had been engaged in practices which they didn’t understand as sinful, reflecting on Romans 8:19-23 and how the spirit realm was still part of the Creation – under bondage.
Any deals done with the spirits for them to leave were always done ‘If Jesus permits it.’ It’s interesting to note that possessing spirits were not simply sent to “the Abyss” as per modern ‘travelling stageshow exorcisms’ performed by the likes of Rev. Bob Larson et al. Instead, Blumhardt exercised prayerful discernment in order to deal pastorally with these spirits, sending them to his church or other geographical locations where they were instructed to do no further harm.
His conversations with the spirit of the widow reveal the following:
- She was under the influence of an evil spiritual being (perhaps the final spirit cast out of Katharina at the end of the battle). Could this be something similar with Legion as the “mouthpiece” for the multitude of demons residing in the demoniac?
- She wanted to belong to “the Saviour” not the devil – would a rebellious non-human spirit be able to say this in all honesty?
- She applauded Blumhardt for his methodology of prayer alone, not resulting to any apotropaic magical practices which would have not worked. Why would a rebellious non-human spirit say such a thing?
- She condemned folk-magical practice – again, why would a rebellious non-human spirit say this?
- She claimed to be in the chasm. The nature of this is not described, but has parallels to 1 Enoch 22 and Luke 16, and if so, no-one can cross this chasm – ie is there an element of being “stuck” here. If this is so, is there a potential to come under the negative influence of an evil non-human entity lurking around for opportunities like these to cause misery to the living and the dead?
- She was happy to go and reside in the church building instead of Gottliebin, fading away over time. This has a parallel with the Gadarean demoniac and Jesus’ deal with their leaving the demoniac and entering the swineherd (but with less devastating consequences). It may also potentially answer why some ghost apparitions (bar non-interactive place memories [5]) disappear over time as she would have heard Blumhardt’s preaching and perhaps this could have had some effect upon her? This is conjecture however.
The conversation between Blumhardt and the apparent spirit of the man who had made orphans homeless raises the following:
- He discerned that not all the spirits got their wishes granted, implying that God permitted the requests of some of these beings to reside in the church building. Why would God allow this if they are merely rebellious, irredeemable, fallen angels?
- the lack of permission for a human spirit who makes others homeless to enter under any roof raises the question that after death, is there a form of intermediate judgement taking place before the final judgement? Possibly one involving the Refiner’s Fire, burning away our works that are stubble and hay in the proverbial ‘crucible for silver and furnace for gold’?
We also have the situation where Blumhardt reported that the demons spoke with various earthly languages: French, German, Italian, as well as other unknown ones to him. Had someone been able to record these, it would have been interesting to put them forward for analysis by ancient language experts. One of the features of possession can be speaking in a different language, often unknown to the possessed person and sometimes ancient in origin [5a]. Why speak a variety of languages which were earthly in origin when they could have conversed with Blumhardt in his mother tongue of German alone? This evidence again points to these probably being the spirits of people from a variety of nations in and around the country.
Curiously, Blumhardt regarded these spirits as humans, yet labelled them as ‘demons’. To our modern mindset, that implies they are all evil beings, of non-human origin, possibly even fallen angels. However, given the cultural context of the New Testament, demons (or diamonion – Greek) were regarded as being a broad category, including gods, intermediary spirit beings including messengers, and human spirits. This is what would have been in the mindset of the original hearers of the writings of the NT authors. Reading passages like the Gadarean demoniac in the light of this broad category may help shed light upon what may have been possessing the poor demoniac in that story, leading to a rather satisfying answer for the bizarre destruction of the swineherd.
We shall explore the Gadarean (or Gergesene) Demoniac through the lens of Blumhardt’s experiences in a later series of articles, but not before having done the groundwork of investigating the beings known as ‘Fallen’ Angels, Evil and Unclean Spirits and Demons in an upcoming series (this is going to be a corker of a series!)
The Fruit
We explored the fruit of Blumhardt’s battle in the last part. We have to ask whether these healings, the love and joy, and the spiritual awakening which poured from this work are the product of a mental illness being cured? The simple answer is ‘No’.
Importantly, Blumhardt never saw any of the miraculous healings that were performed as being alternatives to orthodox, medical science. Never did he discourage people from seeing a doctor [6]. Physical healings were never the main focus of any of his work, merely byproducts.
Final Thoughts
This requires us to develop a theology which brings together:
- Scripture – in its original context and which underpins the following three
- Tradition – of dealing with exorcism and deliverance – in places and peoples
- Reason – discerning whether something is of a spiritual or physical source
- Experience – a practical, reflective theological approach to what people are telling us about their haunting encounters
Blumhardt’s experiences show that we need to ask whether our understanding of the Communion of the Saints and prayers for the dead are things currently thinned out through our Tradition’s approach to the dead and the afterlife. Hundreds of years’ worth of water has flowed under the bridge since the Reformation and the hot-headedness of theo-political argument has cooled. Even the Anglican Church began last century to offer prayers for the dead [7]. There are even a few members of the Anglican clergy at least who have their 22nd cassock button ‘undone’, though not with the same understanding as a Roman Catholic would.
Wink makes great observations about the power dynamics involved in oppressive practices and regimes of corporations and nations being “angelic”. Granted, he does tip the hat to there potentially being a spiritual background under the bonnet to these things, but Old Testament Jewish beliefs understood that kings and rulers were often subject to negative spiritual beings (rephaim) and places themselves had territorial spirits (shedim, sarim, Azazel, seirim, iyyim, siyyim and lilit) [8]. Perhaps we should be considering a fusion of Wink’s corporate business approach and Blumhardt’s recognition of the reality of spiritual beings, including the dead-but-not-departed influencing humans to cause harm to others? As power becomes focused upon individuals and groups, their ability to influence others (for good or bad) increases, thus forming excellent targets for disruptive, chaotic and evil entities to create greater havoc. Perhaps why this is why Christians are encouraged to pray for their leaders, despite political differences?
I have come across cases where ministers have commented that they have struggled with particular people in their congregations who somehow appear to be blockages to spiritual renewal in their churches. Sure, they are known as very godly people, even sitting on church councils, but, somehow there’s an influence through them which seems to block attempts at being a Kingdom-oriented, missionally minded church. I remember going to a new church where at the end of the service, one particular lady, well-known in the church, came directly over to us and introduced herself, wanting to know all about us as a family. For some reason, all my spiritual alarms were going off and I mentioned to my wife, “Be careful, there’s something dark about that person.” Sure enough, within a year, trouble had kicked off as a result of new attempts to help the church become more missional. When the lady died, one of the congregation mentioned to my wife that they felt there was now a time for the church to breathe again, the church being released from this particular person’s influence. What spiritual dynamics were going on there, I don’t fully understand, but I do know that something dark jarred my own spirit when she approached us, and I’ve only had that happen twice before, both again involving dark entities. We need to pray for the blocking ones and be alert, attempting to discern what may be influencing them.
Another member of the clergy had been experiencing issues in one of her churches, which we narrowed down to the possible influence of a particular type of prison in her parish, which would almost definitely have some very unclean spiritual influences surrounding it. Further clergy relate stories of grudges between neighbouring villages many hundreds of years old, or various families in the village which somehow prove a blockage to missional activity. All of this makes no sense to those who do not accept an intermediate state for the dead, but perfect sense to those who accept it, both inside and outside of the Church.
What are the Winkian “angels”, or Blumhardian “demons”, the spiritual strongholds operating in our communities, and what can we learn from Blumhardt’s battle? How can we find liberation for the afflicted, both the living and possibly the dead-but-not-departed, in order to further release the Kingdom of God?
Bibliography
Byrne, G. (2010), Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England, 1850 – 1939, Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press.
Church of England (1562) Articles of Religion. [online] Available at: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/articles-religion, [Accessed 22 May 5 2020].
Fiore, E. (1987), The Unquiet Dead – A Psychologist Treats Spirit Possession, New York: Ballatine Books.
Heiser, M. (2020), Demons: What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness, Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Myers, C. (2002) Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books.
Perry, M. (1996) Deliverance – Psychic Disturbances and Occult Involvement, London: SPCK.
Scurlock, J. (2006), Magico-Medical Means of Treating Ghost-Induced Illnesses in Ancient Mesopotamia, Leiden: Brill Publishing.
Twelftree, G. H. (2011) ‘Deliverance and Exorcism in the New Testament’, in Kay, W. K. and Parry, P. (eds.), Exorcism and Deliverance: Multidisciplinary Studies, Milton Keynes: Paternoster, pp. 45-68.
Wink, W. (1999), The Powers That Be, New York: Doubleday.
Zuendel, F. (1999) The Awakening – One Man’s Battle with Darkness, Farmington, PA: The Plough Publishing House
Footnotes
[1] Zuendel, 3.
[2] Scurlock, 5.
[3] The author doesn’t attempt to demythologize this as merely a polemic against the Roman Empire (Myers, 191), but aligns with Twelftree (59) that it actually happened.
[4] Here Paul talks about various false preachers of a different gospel message, who were claiming equality with the apostolic credentials given by Jesus to both himself and the other apostles. They sought to pull people away from the teachings of Jesus to their own with, claiming to be super apostles, with no weaknesses etc.
[5] Perry, 32.
[5a] ibid, 123-124.
[6] Krugel, 433.
[7] Byrne, 182-220.
[8] Heiser, 10-30. Note: I am not encouraging embracing concepts such as “strategic level spiritual warefare”, which endorse human engagement with high ranging evil spirit beings, merely the bringing in of the Kingdom of God by the release of captives under these beings. We are given power as Christians, to cast out demons, not Powers and Principalities, which are set in place by God – Deut 32:89; Psalm 82,89 and Genesis 10:25; 11 (the earth divided in the time of Peleg into the table of Nations).
[9] Kruger, 435.
