Consulting Baal-Zebub

"The devil, you say!" Uncle Fred at age 99, when telling a ribald story, would always commence by saying "The Devil got into me and I (did this)!" and then he would go on with his story. Many disallow it, but "the devil  is real!  In the Old Testament he is referred to by many names, but the name of the sun god "Baal" was borrowed and altered for his name:

Baal-Zebub or Beelzebub was a Philistine (pagan) god which means "Lord of the Flies" or "the devil". For the scholar it's noted that one of the most literary books for required reading in high school is Lord of the Flies. In the book "the Beast" is the monster within the water and took on life because of a parachutist whose landing caused him to flounder in the water. The Beast represents the monster within us all.The "Lord of the Flies" was a decapitated pig who became an emblem of that which provokes the beast within us. Obviously, the book is an allegorical story about the battle between "good" and "evil". Evil is the result of the devil's work and is whatever is in opposition to God. It's sin. It's unrighteousness! Truly the devil is a monster and the Lord of the Flies is the evil spirit of Satan who tempts us!

King Ahaziah tampered with this Lord of the Flies; the Beast:

2 Kings 1:2  (NIV) "Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.” 3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ 

 It appears for healing, rather than seeking God for restoration, the king turned to the devil. Rather than turning to prayer and faith in God for healing, the king sought to consult Beelzebub. He was consorting with the devil, believing there to be more power in the occult than in God.

The "angel of the Lord"  in contrast to "an angel of the Lord", is "The Word" which was with us in Old Testament times. (Angel means messenger and the messenger speaks "the word", hence this Angel is The Word which became Jesus!)  The Word was troubled. He asked a rhetorical question "Is it because I don't exist?" God, who was to become Emmanuel, was not respected and he was sorely disappointed, just as he is with us when we turn away from God to find answers elsewhere

We may not think about it, but if we seek and accept answers from a source in disagreement with God's Word, then it's turning to the same Beelzebub. "The devil got into me!" as Uncle Fred would say. None are immune from deception. We all fall victim to the lies and deceit of the devil and he puts just enough "good" into the evil advice to make it palatable, even to the non-discerning Christian.

When my son was in drug rehab I became enamored with the mystery of counseling. I believed that the psychologist had "secret knowledge" where he could bend the minds of the children and cure the addictions. I had the same faith as King Ahaziah! I consulted the writings of Beelzebub over God's word. I was so enthralled with this alternate "cure" that although I was and engineer, I commenced my graduate degree in psychology, turning to counseling later on.

For some reason, as I was earning my credentials in what I now call "psychobabble", I read my Bible cover to cover. Most of what I studied was at odds with God's word with just enough benign strategies and "right" taught to make it palatable. Since many Christians want to help people they are drawn to the psychology field. Their intentions are good, but they seek Beelzebub, as I did!

First off, according to their own words, (paraphrased) "No research has been done where anyone has improved more with therapy than without." That's an honest admission, but for some reason people still fall prey to the theory of psychology. (No, it's not truly a science, but a faith... a religion). In fact psychology means "study of the soul"! Did you know that? I didn't! I made a statement to my professor: "Psychology appears to be another religion!" She replied "Are you just now figuring that out?" and later she said "Our job is not to teach, but to remold!" Being a realist I understood "remold" to mean "brainwash"!

Do we turn to other things for our needs and turn our backs to Jesus? If so, then we rebel against God and turn to the adversary; the devil.  The Pharisees even accused Jesus of being the devil:

Mark 3:22  (NIV) "And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He (Jesus) is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons' .”

Here we see that Beelzebul was the "Prince of Demons". Who would that be? I would say "The Prince of the Power of the Air"; Satan:

Ephesians 2:2 "...in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—"

Things seemingly innocent are "following the course of the world" is following Satan, "the prince of the power of the air". He's Beelzebub. Psychology, for instance,  is the course of this world and is at odds with God's word. For those who pick and choose what they believe in the Bible, those same people would be comfortable with "picking and choosing" with which psychology "tool" is pulled from the tool box. Pulling diverse and varying theories is called  eclecticism. The patient becomes the guinea pig of the day with little, if no, accountable on the part of the counselor!

And so you like Ellen, Ann Landers, Opray Winfrey and Dr. Phil? What they present is "the course of the world" and three of the four are not even trained to boggle your mind! What fools we are! Gullible people are beguiled by consulting Baal-Zebub. If they are not teaching God's word and only God's word, you're being deceived. Instead of consulting God, you are consulting his adversary!

Yes, I know that I'm harsh on psychology, both professional and pop, but after all "Is psychology a science of entertainment?" From their television and newsprint counseling it would appear that even psychologists can't figure that out!  When I finished my graduate work in counseling I was asked if I wanted to participate in group therapy with the class. My reply "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" They looked at me as if I was crazy, but scripture points toward their craziness and craziness attracts crazies to psychology!

Just as God can fix anything if we have the faith, he can fix in whom your confidence lies. For me and my household, we choose God's word! I seek God... Baal-Zebub doesn't fix anything. Don't let the devil get into you!