DEMONOLOGY by KING JAMES I of ENGLAND

I recently read a small treatise by King James the I of England (yes, that King James, who gave us our King James Bible), written in 1597 on the subject of "Demonology." Or to be fair, the title as written in Old English is: "Daemonologie, in form of a Dialogue, Diuided into three Bookes."

It was a very interesting booklet with very interesting subject matter, of which I will attempt to comment upon shortly. However, I most declare that those who reprinted the orignial booklet (The Book Tree in San Diego, California) did not seem to be very much into God, the Bible, or truth. In fact, I think they might even be a New Age book publishing company. Their summary of the book on the back page shows their bias to the fact that biblically demons do exist, and that witchraft is a very real system:

Although he did not know it at the time, the author of this book, King James, was to become one of the most influential people in mankind's religious history. King James the I of England was responsible for the widely accepted King James Bible, based in part on the beliefs he puts forth in this book...It seems that the beliefs of King James had a profound effect on the translation used for the King James Bible. This book is an important historical and religious study, written by King James' own hand. It allows one to study King James and his concerns at the time this book was written. He hated "witches" and believed that they had tried to kill him on at least three occasions. We know today that the witchcraft craze was nothing more than a delusion--in fact, historians refer to it as "the witchraft delusion." This book is important because it shows how the superstitions of leaders can translated into mass hysteria like the Inquisition's witch hunts and the reign of Bloody Mary. It also shows how new religious creations like the King James Bible can come about."

The book's Foreword, written by a Mr. Paul Tice, further slanders King James, and King James Bible readers, when he states, "This belief was only the beginning of Jame's dysfunctional weirdness. He preferred the company of young boys as opposed to mature woman. In fact, his homosexuality has been documented in numerous books and public records--to such a degree that there can be no argument on the subject. This is something to consider for those devot and pious Christians who oppose this type of activity yet swear by this man's bible.

From just this paragraph alone, one can see Mr. Tice's hatred towards King James and those who believe in and read the King James Bible. As the preface contiunues, it's hard to understand why they would even reprint King James' treatise on Demonology, as the writer of the Foreword does all he can to paint King James as superstitious, wicked, dysfunctional and ignorant.

Further, his stating "there can be no ARGUMENT," on the subject of King James being a Homosexual, shows his liberal bias. The truth is King James' critics and enemies wrote that he was homosexual, but history and public writings prove most certainly that he was not! (Get a book entitled, "King James: Unjustly Accused" for PROOF that King James was not a sodomite!)

So as I read the treatise, I did not allow the Foreword to sway my reading. Rather, I listened to what James had to say and compared it to scripture, and what I found was very enlightening.

The entire text is a narration between two men--Philomathes and Epistemon--who discuss demonology in a question and answer setting. As I read the dialogue between the two talking about what devils are, and how they are active in witchcraft, I learned a lot.

From studying the Bible, I already knew that demons (which the King James Bible calls devils) were real. And I knew from my reading my bible, that somehow they are connected with idols and idol worship, while being intertwined with pagan blood sacrifices. (The subject of Where Demons come from and what they are, I hope to write soon in another blog.) I futher knew that the Bible speaks of those who practice witchcraft and sorcery, but I never really seemed to put it all together until I read the book, as it really tied everything together for me.

Blatantly put, Witchcraft is the art of summoning devils to do one's bidding! And this book gave detailed examples of witches and warlocks practicing this evil art for gain, pain, and pleasure.

It still made me wonder. Why would demons want to work for human beings and do their bidding? I guess they just have nothing better to do. Or, I guess, since they are pure evil, they enjoy letting humans give them evil ideas to put into practice.

At any rate, King James talks about how three times evil men used witchcraft and devils to try to assassinate him. Is there a reason for this?

Interestingly enough, as I read the book, a friend of my called, and we talked about his time before he was saved. He told me he used to talk to demons, and he said from his understanding, there are two things that all devils hate:

1. The Blood of Jesus Christ!

2. The King James Bible!

No wonder in the preface of this book, they attacked the KJV! And no wonder it tried to make King James look supersticious!

As I read through the booklet, I noticed a ton of scripture and quite a few biblical illustrations. King James was not superstitious. He was a Bible Believer, and he used scripture to back up his treatise!

As I read certain passages of actual examples of things King James himself witnessed, I couldn't help but think of the demon-possed maniac of Gadera in Mark chapter five. Below are the words of King James himself discribing a story of a witch who bewitched a man (conjured up demons to afflict the man). The story is in old english, written the exact way King James wrote it, but I believe you'll be able to understand it:

"...He [one Dr. Fian, alias John Cunningham] confessed that by his witchcrafte he did bewitch a Gentleman dwelling neere to the Saltpans, where the said Doctor kept Schoole, onely for being enamoured of a Gentlewoman whome he loued himselfe: by meanes of which his Sorcerye, witchcraft and deuilish practises, he caused the said Gentleman that once in xxiiij. howres he fell into a lunacie and madnes, and so contiued one whole hower together, and for the veritie of the same, he caused the Gentleman to be brought before the Kinges Maiestie, which was upon the xxiiij. day of December last, and being in his Maiesties Chamber, suddenly he gaue a great scritch and fell into a madnes, sometime bending himselfe, and sometime capring so directly vp, that his head did touch the seeling of the Chamber, to the great admiration of his Maiestie and others then present: so that all the Gentlemen in the Chamber were not able to holde him, vntill they called in more helpe, who together bound him hand and foot: and suffering the said gentlemen to lye still vntill his furye were past, he within an hower came againe to himself, when being demaunded of the Kings Maiestie what he saw or did all that while, answered that he had been in a sound sleepe..."

Scary, huh? Oh, but wait! You are just supposed to believe that none of that really happened. According to the Foreword, King James is just "superstitious," as he lived in a time of..., oh, what was that called again by historians, oh yeah... "the witchcraft delusion." So, I guess King James just made all of this up!

If that be the case, then Mark chapter five must be superstition as well, and completely made up. How interesting that two examples of the same thing that historians can say are "not real" can sound so close!

Nope, that won't work. I believe it really did happen. I believe the King James Bible is the word of God, and I believe old King James himself was a very smart man, who wrote an interesting book about real witchcraft and real demons which he witnessed in his time. I further believe throughout history there have existed people who have the power to conjur up spirits, and that these people are still around today.

Thankfully, the blood of Jesus Christ is more powerful than they are!