Apostle Paul Breathing Out Spirits | A Lost Biblical Practice PART 1 of 2

The Apostle Paul was working with demonic spirits. Several obscure passages in the book of Acts carry way more context about what Saul actually was doing to the Christians, and how he was persecuted. Christian teachers have skimmed past these verses, but this presentation will allow you for the first time to see into a deeper reality about how demonic spirits were utilized and were continued to be used by the early church. Saul was a man who was to be avoided at all cost. Crossing paths with this high-level sorcerer never seemed to end well. But what exactly was he doing to the Christians in Judea? Why were they so afraid of him? New found alarming evidence by researcher and author Truthseeker sheds light on some of the nefarious practices that Paul and many of the early Jewish sorcerers were participating in. The Greek manuscripts suggest that Paul was summoning evil spirits, a practice which was used by early sorcerers. The Pharisees were also involved in secret occult magical acts, and used divine rites and enchantments to bind spirits to individuals who are of the way of Christ. In this episode we will explore controversial newfound evidence which suggests that Saul was using ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek magic to send out evil spirits and bind them to God's people. Saul of Tarsus was a man who was well trained in the magical arts, and he was using his spiritual knowledge to persecute the disciples of Jesus Christ and their followers. What was the Apostle Paul actually doing that had the early church so afraid of him? When we read over his story, people think that he was just persecuting or putting the Christians in prison. Some would even say that he was killing Christians. A deeper look at the context of the words that are used within the Greek version of the New Testament show us exactly what Paul was doing to the Christians and why they were so afraid of him. According to new evidence found within the Greek Septuagint, researchers are finding that many of the words that were translated into English are in no way connected to the words in their original context. How was the Apostle Paul dealing with these spirits, these demons? And when we begin to look into these words that many of us have just kind of read over, we didn't know how to interpret them, but when we look at them in a proper context, we're seeing a story within a story. As the scripture talks about the wheel within the wheel. There's one story at face value, but once you begin to break down the Greek and Hebrew definitions of these words, the Phoenician, Canaanite, Egyptian context there, you're getting a lot more to the story than meets the eye. In Acts chapter 9, Paul has his conversion experience. He's headed to a town called Damascus and on this journey, he's with two other men. Paul falls to his knees on the road to Damascus and he's blinded by this bright light. This bright light is actually Jesus. He sees the spirit of Christ that's appearing to him, but no one else can see it. He's the only one. So he's laying on the ground and his hands are on his eyes and he's freaking out and his friends that are with him see him having this encounter, but they can't see Christ. They can't see the light. It's only Paul that sees it. And Jesus comes to him and asks him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? After this encounter, Saul gets up off the ground and he's blind. So the two men that are with him have to lead him into the next city. And as they go into Damascus, he's there seeking Christ. He's there in prayer about what he's going to do next. Jesus prophesies to him and tells him great and mighty things that he's going to do for the kingdom of heaven. So Paul is still blinded days into this encounter, but he's in prayer. Jesus appears to another disciple in the vision by the name of Ananias. He says, Ananias, I need you to go into a house. And in this house, there's a man praying. He's waiting on you. His name is Saul of Tarsus. And when Jesus comes to Ananias in the spirit, mind you, Ananias freaks out. What? There's no way. I'm not, I'm not going to go to him. This guy's persecuting Christians and he's doing all of these things and he has authority to bind all that call upon your name in this region. So Ananias is scared to death of Saul. And this is what we're going to get into deeper. Why is Ananias so scared? I mean, you can just imagine that he's asking God to use him while he's in prayer. Father, whatever you have for me to do, use me, God, for your glory. These kinds of things. It's the average Christian prayer. And then Jesus himself appears to Ananias, tells him what to do. And he says, no, there's a lot of things that I'll do. I won't do that. But Jesus reassures him and says, listen, I've been working on him. I've told him things that he's going to be doing for the kingdom. And he's now waiting on you in prayer. And I've told him that you're coming. So Ananias goes forth, finds the house that Saul is in, lays his hands on Saul, prays for him to receive the Holy Spirit. And the scales that were on Saul's eyes after his encounter with Jesus fall off. From that point on, Saul goes on to be Paul the apostle and writes the majority of the New Testament. When we read this in the scriptures, in Acts chapter 9, some of the terminology tends to stand out a little bit. Some of these words in this story have a way deeper meaning than any of us have been told. Hidden in plain sight in the book of Acts chapter 9, the Bible tells you which spirits that Paul was working with and exactly how he was doing it. Acts chapter 9, verse 1 says that, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. And we can read past that really fast. But wait, what does Saul breathing out threatenings and slaughter? What does that mean? Now in Christendom, I've heard hundreds of sermons on this. And every single one say that, well, he was just gossiping about the disciples. Well, he was saying, I'm going to get you, I'm going to kill you. So he's breathing out, he's speaking threatenings and slaughter to them. He's saying he's going to kill them. And many people just breeze on past that. When we look deeper into these words that we're now finding, that they have a whole another meaning that when you read at face value, it's easy just to skim over. But let's look a little bit deeper into the first word here. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter. Breathing out. Let's look into it. To understand what breathing out means in a scriptural context, we got to know what the word breath is. We got to know what the idea of breathing is. So the word breath in the Greek and in the Hebrew within the scripture, both mean spirit. In Hebrew, it's the word ruach. And in Greek, it's the word pneuma. And they both mean breath, wind, or spirit. A rational spirit, one that has the ability to make decisions. A spirit is the life force that animates the living. So the breath, according to the Holy Bible in ancient tradition, is the word spirit. Paul was performing a magical form of ancient breath work. He was using breathing techniques to invoke and imbibe spirits into his body and then release them into people as he desired. The only thing is that these were not good spirits. Now, all throughout the Bible, there's all types of spirits. There are spirits that are mentioned of the spirit of slumber, spirit of deep sleep, the spirit of whoredoms, the spirit of error. Many people know about the scripture says that God does not give us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. So there's many different types of spirits. And these spirits are personas or essences that carry information. So in the sense of understanding demonology and how spirits function, these spirits function according to their name. For example, the spirit of slumber would make someone tired, make someone stay asleep. The spirit of error that literally is a personification that comes down. And when it rests upon individuals and they breathe it in through the breath, they begin to fall into error. And so this would happen to entire people groups many times within the scriptures. But these are all just examples in the Holy Bible of different types of spirits and different types of breath. There's so many instances in the scriptures where it talks about the types of breathing or someone opening up their mouth and something coming out. So King David would articulate that his enemies would come for him and they would open up their mouth in cruelty. Job talks about that his breath has become strange and unfamiliar. Other verses talk about the unclean spirits or the unclean breath that leaves an individual when demons are cast out. To understand how an individual would breathe out a spirit, they first have to inhale and breathe one in. In John chapter 20, verse 22, Jesus breathes upon his disciples, and they receive the Holy Spirit. This is an act of blessing and breathing out the spirit of God, the spirit that is within him. And when this happened, his disciples received an impartation of the Holy Spirit. So for us to understand what the Apostle Paul was breathing out, we gotta understand what he was breathing in. Breath is spirit, and there's many different types of spirits. So again, the breath is the spirit, and to inhale is to be inspired. Inspire is to breathe in spirit. The word spire is spirit. And to exhale is to expire or release the spirit, as in give up the ghost. Inhale, exhale, breathing in and breathing out, spirit. These are the same words for respiratory, to respire, the respiratory system, to inspire, to inhale, and to exhale, to expire. It's the same words when we're talking about the breath within the Holy Bible. Acts 9, 1, and saw, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter. Breathing out, what does the word mean? The word breathing out here is a combination of two words, and it's only used once in the entire Bible. The word here that is used is the word empino, and it means to exhale violently, to breathe in, and also to exhale, to breathe out with force. Now, where the breath, and the spirit, and breathing out spirits, and inhaling spirits, where this gets really interesting, there was a practice known by the early church, and it's still practiced by many churches today, called sufflation. Sufflation is a ritual act of blowing. Sufflation, definition, the action of breathing forth or blowing, especially used as an exorcism in some rites of baptism. Two, forcibly breathing or blowing out, as in clearing the respiratory tract, forcible expiration. The inhale or insufflation would be partnering with a spirit to enter yourself or someone else, usually tied to working with or embodying a benevolent spirit. Exsufflation, the exhale or exsufflation would be releasing a spirit that is residing within the body. This was done during exorcisms and before baptismal Christian initiation. Within the book and movie, The Green Mile by Stephen King, there's an interesting scene that stands out from the movie. The character John Coffey seems to be very empathic, and can feel what other people are going through, but he's painted out to be this monster. During one scene within the movie, the prison guard played by Tom Hanks, his character has kidney stones, and he's played with this excruciating pain. And John Coffey, in this act of compassion, asked him to come close near the prison cell. And when he does, John Coffey's character reaches out and grabs him in the private area. And Tom Hanks freaks out. But when he does this, he begins to suck the spirit that's plaguing Tom Hanks. He sucks it into his mouth and he takes it upon himself. And then he gets really weak. And Tom Hanks' character gets healed immediately after. This is a Hollywood adaption of the ancient rite of sufflation. John Coffey takes the spirit of infirmity into himself, and then exhales it, and releases it. This is actually done a couple times throughout the movie. To inhale a spirit, allow it to go within his body, and then exhale it, and give it something to do. In one scene, he exhales a spirit, and it goes into another person, and makes the person mad, and they do something very vile. Another time in the story, John Coffey visits one of the prison guard's mothers, who's sick and bedridden with a terminal illness, and performs another rite of sufflation to pull the spirit out of her through the breath. There is no exhale of spirit without first inhaling. And this is exactly what happens in the means of prophesying within the Bible. By definition, a prophet in the scripture is a man who is under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He literally has inhaled the breath of life, the breath of God, the Holy Spirit. And when he opens his mouth and he utters words, he speaks on the behalf of God. It is as if God himself is speaking through the individual. It's the act of inspiration. Inhale the spirit to inspire, and then to speak or to breathe out. And when you do a study of the ancient practice of sufflation, there are so many stories about the saints and about the prophets of old, who talk about hissing at spirits, and breathing out, and kissing under the cheeks. All of these rites of breathing that, when performed, an individual got healed, and the evil spirit that was tormenting the person left through this act of blowing a spirit out of somebody. This film captured the ancient practice of sufflation perfectly. It shows not only the act of breathing in spirits as a magical rite of exorcism, but also exhaling both good and bad spirits as well. Greek Magical Papyri The Greek Magical Papyri is a collection of ancient magical spells that date from the early Egyptian period and contain a combination of Greek and Egyptian ritual magic. The manuscripts contain Egyptian magical rites, ranging from everything to summoning spirits, to curing headaches, and invoking ancient gods. These spells would have also been around during the time of the early church. The Greek Magical Papyri spells and enchantments date back to 30 BCE. This is a spell that was found that's within the Greek Magical Papyri as well, but it's welcoming a spirit to enter, to give the individual a dream, and then to exhale and allow the spirit to go about its way. Hail, entire system of the acrid spirit. Hail, spirit who extends from heaven to earth, and from earth which is in the middle chamber of the universe unto the borders of the abyss. Tilde hail, spirit who enters into me, convulses me, and leaves me kindly according to the will of God. The interesting thing about this particular spell is that it says, the spirit enters me and convulses me, and then leaves me kindly. This idea of a spirit entering an individual and the person begin to shake and convulse is very interesting. In the Holy Bible, in the book of Mark, chapter 9, verse 26, Jesus is ministering to a crowd, and a young boy has a spirit within him, and the spirit would enter the boy, throw him to the ground, and cause him to convulse. It would cause him to shake violently, partnering with spirits through the breath, inhaling and allowing the spirit to enter you, sometimes giving you wisdom, dreams, visions, supernatural strength, healing, and then exhaling and thanking the spirit for what it brought you. Sufflation was practiced by the early church in the rites of exorcisms, christenings, and baptisms until the time of Martin Luther and the separation of the Protestant church. It's interesting to note that Martin Luther, during the time of the Reformation, said that he didn't want any part of these superstitious activities that the Catholic church was involved in. He said he thought it was all superstitious, and that the devil wasn't afraid of holy water, of sufflation, blowing and hissing, and all of these things. He made it a point that he wasn't going to take that with him when he started the Protestant church during the Protestant Reformation. But again, in many of these Protestant denominations, they still practice some of these ancient magical rites, if you will. Mystical experiences continued after the Reformation into many denominations, such as the Charismatics, one of them being the Shaking Quakers. In the 1600s, in England, there was a group of Christians known as the Quakers, and they received the nickname, the Shaking Quakers, because they would get so full of the Holy Spirit that while they were singing, dancing, and in praise, and in worship, and in prayer, they would begin to convulse. They would fall on the floor, they would roll around in holy exotic laughter, and they would get full of the Holy Spirit, and they were known as the Shaking Quakers. This is also where you get the term, holy rollers from. These individuals who get so full of the Holy Spirit that they begin to roll around on the floor like wild men. This again points to the Holy Spirit entering the individual, but still causing this shaking or this convulsing to happen. Many Christian denominations still today practice this spirit incubation or receiving the Holy Spirit and beginning to go into convulsions. This is where the Charismatic Revival, the Charismatic Renewal comes from, and you can trace it back to the ancient magical traditions as well. And many people within the Charismatic circles, some of their icons such as Benny Hinn would blow upon people, would wave his hand, and when he would breathe, speak the word, or blow, the person would receive the Holy Spirit and fall out, and he would do this to entire crowds of people. Now again, just because a person receives the Spirit within them and they begin to shake and convulse and cry and all of those things, it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. I think the idea is what spirit are you entertaining? What spirit is entering your body? And so for the Shaking Quakers and many within the Charismatic Renewal, they were partnering with what they believed to be the Holy Spirit and having these divine encounters of spiritual ecstasies. This is a religious practice that was done by all cultures, including the early Christians. Another name, another term for this is called spirit incubation or spirit cooking. To allow a spirit to live inside of an individual and allow it to grow, to nurture it, give it your energy, give it your strength, and then to release it or to send it out and to do harm to another individual. It is well known that Solomon was working with evil spirits. The Jews had exorcists who were operating within their temple, but the research shows that many of the higher-ups weren't expelling demons out of the townspeople, but in fact, quite the opposite. These trained magicians are not taking demons out, but in fact, placing the souls of the fallen ones inside of unsuspecting people by ritualistic means. So again, in order to move forward and understand what the Apostle Paul was breathing out, we got to know what breath is and we got to know what he was breathing in. And this is just the beginning. The Apostle Paul breathing out threatenings and slaughter. In the next video, we'll look deeper into the word threatenings that's used here and we'll tie it in to exactly what the Apostle Paul was breathing in, in order to breathe out threatenings and slaughter. In the next episode, we will explain exactly what it was that Saul was working with and how he continued to work with these spirits well after his conversion.