Difference between revisions of "Beelzebub"

In Mark 3:22, the scribes accuse Jesus of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, the name also appears in the expanded version in Matthew 12:24,27 and Luke 11:15, 18–19. The name also occurs in Matthew 10:25.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."

Beelzebub is commonly described as placed high in [[hierarchy of Hell|Hell's hierarchy]]. According to the stories of the 16th-century [[occultist]] [[Johann Weyer]], Beelzebub led a successful revolt against [[the Devil]], is the chief lieutenant of [[Lucifer]], the Emperor of Hell, and presides over the Order of the Fly. Similarly, the 17th-century exorcist Sébastien Michaëlis, in his Admirable History (1612), placed Beelzebub among the three most prominent [[fallen angel]]s, the other two being Lucifer and Leviathan. John Milton, in his epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', first published in 1667, identified an unholy trinity consisting of Beelzebub, Lucifer, and [[Astaroth]], with Beelzebub as the second-ranking of the many fallen angels. Milton wrote of Beelzebub "than whom, Satan except, none higher sat." Beelzebub is also a character in John Bunyan's ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', first published in 1678.