Bible Word of the Day
Beelzebub, Beelzebul (Prince of Demons, Lord of the Flies)
Meaning
Beelzebub was a name given to a high ranking demon, possibly Satan himself. The name means, “prince of demons.” It comes from the name Baal-Zebub which was the name of a Philistine deity. The name also means “lord of the flies.” The Apocryphal book “Testament of Solomon” tells us Beelzebul appears and “claims to be the prince of the demons and claims to be a former leading heavenly angel.” He claims his activities include “to cause destruction through tyrants, to cause demons to be worshiped among men, to excite priests to lust, to cause jealousies in cities and murders, and to bring on war.” The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us he is, “the Philistine god of Accaron (Ekron), which was located 25 miles west of Jerusalem, whose oracle king Ahaziah attempted to consult in his last illness.”
We need to keep in mind the activities listed here are common activities of Satan and his demons. We should also keep in mind that Satan and his demons know and understand the Bible. The book of James tells is they know what the Bible says and they shudder. They do so because they know how things end. They know in the end where they are going and their only goal is to get as many of us to follow them as they can. They do this through deception and lies. The Bible calls Satan the father of the lies and tells us he was a liar from the beginning. If Satan and those demons who follow him can get us to follow the world, disbelieve the Bible, then they know they can turn us away from God. They will do this by creating as much chaos and confusion as possible for the purposes of causing doubt in the minds of people.
“Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said to them, ‘Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.’But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Now therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’ So Elijah departed.” (2nd Kings 1:2-4)
“Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’ But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. ‘If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.'” (Gospel of Matthew 12:24-29)