Did the Apostle Paul practice ancient spirit summoning? What if the scripture passages you’ve read your entire life contain hidden layers of ancient Greek ritual terminology: pointing to a form of spiritual warfare far more intense than modern Christianity acknowledges? In this deep-dive study, we unpack the ritual magick of Paul the Apostle and the hidden truth about summoning spirits in the Bible, buried inside the words of Acts 9.
We read past the scriptures so fast that we miss the worlds hidden inside the words.
In standard Sunday school, you are taught a sanitized version of history. You are told that before his conversion, Saul of Tarsus was just an angry religious zealot executing legal warrants against early Christians. But when you break down the original languages and look at the historical context, a far more intense reality unfolds.
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Saul wasn’t just fighting a flesh and blood battle. He was operating in high level spiritual warfare, using an inverted spiritual technology to systematically attack the early Church.
The Secret of Impeno: Weaponizing the Breath
In Acts 9:1, the text states that Saul was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” In English, we read “breathing out” as a simple metaphor for being angry. But in the original Greek, the word used is impeno, which means to breathe in, to exhale, and to animate.
The early church was deeply aware of the power of the breath. They openly practiced rituals they called:
- Insufflation: To breathe in (spiritual activation).
- Exsufflation: To breathe out (expelling or projecting spiritual forces).
This wasn’t just poetry; it was practical breath work found across multiple ancient spiritual traditions. Jesus used it when He breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Saul was doing the exact same thing, but in reverse. He was using his extensive training in the spirit world to bind entity groups, breathe them in, and project them upon (the Greek reads epí, meaning “upon,” not “against”) the disciples.
The Reality of Saul’s Reputation: This is exactly why the early church was utterly terrified of him. When the Lord told Ananias to go meet Saul after his blinding encounter on the road to Damascus, Ananias argued back: “Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints…” (Acts 9:13).
Unmasking the “Threatenings” (The Nightmare Spirits)
When the text says Saul breathed out “threatenings,” the Greek word is apeilé.
While modern concordances translate this as a “menace,” ancient Greek history reveals a deeper truth: Apeilé was the personification of nightmare spirits and night terrors. In mythology, this family of spirits was known as the Ormi (dream spirits), and their leader was Morpheus (the one who morphs or changes shape).
The word apeilé is derived from apeileo, which literally means “to lay upon.”
The Anatomy of a Night Terror
This matches the universal human experience of night terrors and “night hags,” waking up paralyzed, feeling a heavy dark presence laying directly upon your chest, suffocating you, and pulling your breath away.
Every single culture across history has identified this exact gang of spirits under different names:
| Culture / Tradition | Name for These Entities |
| Ancient Greek | Apeilé / Phobetor / Phantos |
| Hebrew / Middle Eastern | Shadayim / The Djinn |
| Native American | Skinwalkers / Night Maraers |
| Western Folklore | Incubus / Succubus |
When Saul was hunting Christians, he wasn’t just throwing them in jail. He was unleashing apeilé (nightmare spirits) to terrorize them in their sleep, drain their life force, and break their psychological resolve.
Unmasking the “Slaughter” (The Ghastly Faced)
The second half of Acts 9:1 says he breathed out “slaughter.” The Greek word here is phonos, the singular form of the Phonoi, anciently known as the “ghastly faced” personifications of murder and positive horror.
To be “ghastly” means to be shockingly frightful, death like, and physically pale.
Think of Mark 9, when Jesus rebukes a spirit out of a young boy. The text says the spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently, and left him looking so much like a corpse that the crowd explicitly said, “He is dead.” That pale, corpse like, drained manifestation is the hallmark of the Phonoi, the spirits of slaughter.
Ancient texts like the Greek Magical Papyri and historic Coptic curses explicitly outline how sorcerers would summon these “Demons of Slaughter” or “Knife Bearers.” The texts describe them as wandering spirits who “shoot their arrows from their mouths.” This is the exact literal translation of what Saul was doing: shooting dark spirits like arrows out of his mouth via inverted breath work. It gives immediate context to Ephesians 6, which warns believers to take up the shield of faith to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Those darts were spiritual missiles projected by trained practitioners.
Kakopoieo: The Black Craft of the Pharisees
In Acts 9:13, Ananias states: “Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done…”
The phrase “evil he hath done” is a translation of two Greek words: kakos (evil, harm, wicked) and poieo (to create or craft). Together, they form kakopoieo, a specific ancient technical term for evil craft, or what we call black magic and witchcraft.
Historical research shows that many of the religious elites of that era weren’t expelling demons; they were doing the opposite. They used ritualistic means to place the souls of fallen ones inside unsuspecting people to control them.
This is why the Pharisees accused Jesus of working with Beelzebub. It was classic psychological projection; they were explicitly accusing Him of practicing kakopoieo because that is exactly what they were doing behind closed doors. Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He openly admitted in 1 Timothy 1:13 to being a former blasphemer, a term directly tied to using spiritual power to harm the innocent and attribute the dark arts to the divine.
The Transformation: Renewal, Not Disposal
The most powerful part of Saul’s story isn’t that he forgot everything he learned after encountering Jesus. He didn’t throw his spiritual knowledge away, he renewed it.
He stopped using his understanding of the spirit world to destroy people, and began using it to build the Kingdom. He shifted his source from inverted, parasitic rituals to the infinite, self generating light of Christ.
When you get to Acts 13, Paul encounters a false prophet named Elymas the sorcerer. Paul didn’t shrink back. He understood the science of the spirit. He looked directly at him, spoke a word, commanded a spiritual reality, and instantly struck the man blind. It wasn’t a debate of words; it was a demonstration of superior power.
Breaking the Legal Ground
Spirits operate under cosmic laws and hierarchies. They require legal ground to stay in your life, and they frequently collect their debts when the sun goes down.
This is why the scriptures are filled with practical, dimensional warnings:
- “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” (Because unresolved bitterness gives legal access to the night terrors).
- “Owe no man anything.” (Breaking oaths and cheating others invites the Porcos, the spirits that track broken covenants).
If you go to sleep with unconfessed anger, malice, or deceit, you leave the door wide open for the bill collectors of the spiritual realm to feed on your energy, leaving you exhausted, anxious, and spiritually dry.
Frequently Asked Questions About Summoning Spirits in the Bible
Did the Apostle Paul actually practice spirit summoning?
Paul did not practice spirit summoning in the occult sense. However, a close study of the original Greek text in Acts 9 reveals he used inverted breath-based spiritual techniques: before his conversion: to project dark entities upon early Christians. After encountering Christ, he redirected that same deep knowledge of the spirit world to serve the Kingdom of God.
What does “impeno” mean in ?
The Greek word impeno in Acts 9:1 means to breathe in, to exhale, and to animate. It refers to an active spiritual practice: not simply a metaphor for anger. The early church practiced related rituals called insufflation (breathing in for spiritual activation) and exsufflation (breathing out to expel or project spiritual forces).
What are apeilé spirits in the Bible?
The Greek word apeilé, translated as “threatenings” in Acts 9:1, refers to personified nightmare spirits in ancient Greek cosmology. These were the Ormi: dream-invading spirits led by Morpheus. They correspond to the universal human experience of night terrors: waking paralysis with a heavy, crushing presence. Every ancient culture documented these entities under different names (Incubus/Succubus, Djinn, Shadayim, Skinwalkers).
Conclusion: Paul the Apostle and the Deeper Reality of Spiritual Warfare
The Bible is not a shallow book. Beneath every familiar verse lies a world of ancient knowledge, original language, and hidden spiritual technology. The story of Saul’s conversion is not just a biographical detail: it is a blueprint for understanding how dark spiritual power operates, and how it can be redeemed and redirected toward the light. Summoning spirits in the Bible isn’t just mythology; it’s embedded in the Greek words the early church lived by every day.
📖 Continue to Part 2: Biblical Occultism: Did the Apostle Paul Practice Ancient Spirit Summoning? | Part II →
