Regarding "about 1880" it is not "my date." It is the era that a text (click here) thought by scholar-authors Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort to be older--hence better--was introduced. It is synthetic, cobbled together out of three text traditions. All modern Bible New Testament translations (excepting the New King James Version) have followed it.
Jesus was himself fasting for forty days in the desert, when He had victory over Satan; . . .
Prersonally, I don't think that fasting ave Jesus any greater power, since already having the attribute of omnipotency there is nothing that could make Him any more powerful should He choose to exercise it.
Whom do you think is to do the fasting? The exorcist? And why is that supposedly necessary discipline is left out of modern additions?
Again, I think this has little to do with the outcome of the election that is now upon us as a nation. Now we will get what we numerically deserve, be it a good or evil outcome. But prayer and alignment with God's view of it can affect how we handle the results, going forward.
Anyway, Jesus was not omnipotent while He walked the earth; if He was, His death on the cross would be meaningless.
Rather, Christ lived and walked in the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit, which were poured out for all men after the Ascension at Pentecost. Walking in the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit is not the same as being omnipotent, but it is the way modern day Christians are all supposed to live, as Christ did.
If Christ was omnipotent while in human form, why did He cry out at His death on the cross “Eli, Eli, why has thou forsaken me?”
Jesus did NOT walk on earth as God, but as Man, to show us how we are supposed to live.
Likewise, Jesus’s fasting in the desert for forty days would have been meaningless, and the angels would not have to attended to Him, if He just zapped Himself into some sort of supernatural state where He wasn't hungry, etc.
No, Christ walked in the fullness of the gifts that were poured out on all mankind, in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy as Peter spoke of on that day at Pentecost.
Christ said that the disciples could not cast out the demon because of their unbelief... and then said that this kind comes out only by prayer and fasting... meaning somehow that fasting is a part of gaining faith and overcoming unbelief.
Remember, Christ demonstrated true spiritual warfare while fasting in the desert for forty days, and He showed how to overcome the devil in so doing.
You have to understand that being demonized is not like catching a cold or being infected with something physically.
The reason people are demonized is because they have given access or come into agreement with some vile lie or distortion or deception of Satan, the father of lies.
Fasting, as demonstrated even by Daniel when he was in the Chaldean court, sharpens the mind and the spirit. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand how to gain victory over the devil.
When David's child by Bathsheba was dying, he fasted and prayed to God before he knew the outcome.
Fasting and prayer is the clarion call for us on election day.