For the materialistically-minded, demons are difficult to accept because they belong to the unseen world, a realm rejected out-of-hand by such people.
Demons are real, but the biblical description of them and their activities is a far cry from the imaginations of authors and Hollywood writers. Demons are fallen angels who rebelled against God with Satan.
They belong to the kingdom of Satan, and thus are at cross-purposes with God. While they are stronger than men, they are in no way equal to God in power or glory. Demons in the New Testament recognize Jesus as the holy one of God, and know their ultimate fate is eternal punishment. They are purely spiritual beings and there is no record of demons taking on a physical form of their own. There are several instances of demons possessing human beings; though again, the resemblance between what the Bible describes and what our pop-culture imagines is minimal at best.
We do not believe in demons as a physical entity. Heaven and Hell are states of consciousness, not physical places. However, since it's done unto us as we believe, if we believe in demons, we shall experience them, even though their only reality is in our dark imaginings. Just as what we now know that health challenges, and things such as earthquakes, all of which were once considered the work of evil spirits or unhappy gods, to have valid explanations, we learn that 'demons' are our own internalized thoughts and feelings, often operating below the level of consciousness, but showing up in our experiences.
We do ourselves a disservice when we externalize what is, in fact, our own internal responsibility. It's easier to blame something on a demon or devil than it's to take personal responsibility and change. Yet, it truly leaves us powerless victims, rather than standing in our spiritual power and creating better lives.
Like Flip Wilson said, 'The devil made me do it! My grandfather came from Greece and had many superstitions and avoidance tactics based on a belief in staying safe from demons roaming the earth causing peoples' troubles. For example, many believe that the United Nations is part of a plot to create a one world government ruled by the coming Antichrist. Such distrust helps explain why Christians like Immanuel might believe that reptilian creatures work in the U.
Meanwhile the end of the 19th century also saw the emergence of the Pentecostal movement, the fastest growing segment of global Christianity. Pentecostalism featured a renewed interest in the work of the Holy Spirit and its manifestation in new signs and wonders, from miraculous healings to ecstatic speech. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Like many Pentecostals in the Global South, the Mountain of Fire Ministries believe spiritual forces can be the cause of many different afflictions, including divorce and poverty.
For these Christians, spiritual warfare was a battle against a dangerous set of demonic foes that attacked the body as much as the soul. Belief that demons have sex with humans is, then, not an aberration in the history of Christianity. However, because demons have also been associated with influencing culture and politics, it is not surprising that those who believe in them might distrust the government, schools and other things nonbelievers might take to be common sense.
Festival of Social Science — Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. Hell's throngs exist today in vilified nations, multinational companies and religious groups that are unlike our own. Fear of great companies, industries, governments and even other faiths has left many of us suffering from a paranoiac idea that there are forces out there intent on destroying us.
Most of these fears are unfounded. Conspiracy theories, which we sometimes call urban folklore, tell us that fundamentalists and monopolies are trying to take over our world and inflict a new reign of terror on us all, a world of alienation, our living hell. Hell then becomes as much a reality for us today as it was to St Augustine.
Possession exists today as well. Like the other manifestations of evil mentioned above, it has also changed its accidents. Modern possessions are much more subtle than they used to be. The idea that some force within us causes us to do harm is of course an attractive notion.
It removes all personal blame and culpability, it places these on a force beyond our control. The devil made me do it! We are possessed by the demons of our own past. Modern demons have the power of absolution. They are hostile to our doing what is right, they impede our free will and rational action, they make us do wrong to each other, but it's not our fault. It is the demon working through us and that absolves us as we claim: "I am a victim of my own past!
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