KFLCC / New Age Bible Versions - Gail Riplinger

The Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology: demon: s.v Guiding Spirits. Socrates said, "[A] voice has been heard by me throughout my life.. .1 call it a God or a daemon."3

Clutching to an aura of intellectuality, New Agers attempt to sway their audiences with quotes, such as the following in which Plutarch explains Socrates' elevated view of demons. Everyone has a demon, a god, or a spirit that swims above and touches the extremest part of man's head. . .the more intelligent, who know it to be without, call it a Daemon. Socrates. . .taught that he had a daemon, a spiritual something that put him on the road to wisdom. The Greeks meant by the word Demon, a demigod.4 All of the world's religions, except biblical Christianity and Judaism, believe that those entities which the bible calls evil spirits are demigods, worthy of veneration or placation. In the West, New Agers are told that Nathaniel Hawthorne, "ascribe[s] some measure of importance and success to his prompt obedience to the wise Daemon's direction."5 Eastward, Buddhists tell of "good demons," mosri sho shu and mischievous demons, nushi sho shu. Both the New Age and Webster's have adopted definitions which reflect this worldwide consensus. By switching to the globally acceptable 'demons', new 'International' versions follow their admitted philosophy of choosing words which "allow each reader to decide for himself' what a verse means.6 God, however, has already decided. N.T. Greek dabblers may jump to the floor with reference to the Greek's use of both diabolos and daemonium to refer to Satan and the devils, respectively. Any objection to translating two different Greek words as one English word fails disastrously since new version editors themselves translate two different Hebrew words, shed and sair, as one word 'demon'. Scholars who live in glass houses should refrain from throwing 'original language' stones, particularly when their house of cards appears to have been designed by a New Age architect.