Demons

the demonized, evil spirits, and the Devil

(replies to readers' questions)

ver.: 18 February 2008

On the demonized

a site user writes:

> It's been some time since she the demons were cast out, but now she's back in a life of sin.
> She tells lies, and curses at me. How can I tell if she's infested with stronger demons than before?

I would doubt that she is infested with demons. But even if she is, you have to start asking, 'Why would she be welcoming them back?' Unless that's found out, casting out demons is not enough, she'll open the front door for them again. It's hard to know through the lies, so the best thing is to take a good look at her character. What is she angry at? What is it which draws her into anger? Is she afraid of something? Or running away from something? These are things you might be able to discover as a friend; that is what you have to be for her first.

The next thing is, don't tackle this alone. Intercessory prayer works, and it works best when many people passionately pray for a person. So pray for her, with others -- at the very least, with a small circle of Christians, which may include others who know her.

Whether she can pull for herself with you depends on her awareness of her problem, and her willingness to face it. But at least you can pull for her.
more on spiritual warfare

> I've always tried to come to a conclusion if there really is an "evil spirit" or is what
> we call "satan" really an ABSENCE of God. Like dark is an absence of light. In
> your writing , you said the evil one is a sham god who really doesn't exist (if I
> interpreted it correctly!) but has a "mask" with nothing behind it! I'm not looking for
> an answer but just curious about your interpretation.

It is, of course, just an interpretation, based on the idea of God being ultimate Reality. That which commits against God becomes unreal -- or better, surreal (a something that is placed on top of or over (Old French sur-) reality). The mask sits on top of the real absence of a life-giving reality that can only come from God. Another way to say it is to think of a person apart from God who gradually hollows out into a bizarre distortion and sometimes even a sad and/or pathetic caricature of him/herself. This is what happened in real life to the once-feared Anton LeVey of the Satanic Bible; in fiction, to the wizard Saruman in *Lord Of the Rings*. If that is so for people, picture what that effect does to the one most sold to it, the former archangel dedicated to rebellion against God !

Both are admittedly only indirectly-Scriptural images, though both have ties to the imagery of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and Madeleine L'Engle. Those Christian writers sought new ways to communicate the Scriptural truth of Satan's inability to defeat God or of Satan's weakness in the face of the truth. Or, as Luther put it in 'Mighty Fortress', "one little word subdues him."

I refuse to term Satan an 'un-god' or 'anti-god' only because that raises the image of the balance of yin and yang, which would give Satan way too much credit and evil too 'positive' a role.

> You said it was like a "force". But do you
> feel an individual could be Satan, just like an individual could be
> an angel? If so, have you ever met that individual and what was it like.
> I was curious as to your experiences with this.

The analog to an 'angel' is a 'demon', not Satan (who is the analog to Michael or Gabriel, archangels). A person cannot become either one. I believe one can get so twisted by Satan's lies and tricks that one can be almost as one with the demons. At some point, the only meaningful difference between such a person and a demon becomes that last hope which remains for all who breathe, that the Spirit has found a way inside and is pursuing this child of God with the diligence that marks a true parent.

About the closest I came to seeing that was back in the late 1970s. In the late 1960s and early '70s, I was a child raised in a congregation that was being pulled apart by a Messianic group quartered in another church of my denomination. As time wore on, they became more and more authoritarian and manipulative, until it became too much for even their outside supporters, and they shrunk to nearly nothing. I met one of the three leaders in 1980. Instead of the kindly visiting pastor I had known, I saw a broken man with a burning fire in his eyes. Not 'energy', not 'enthusiasm', not 'vision', but the opposite, a fire that consumed such things. I wasn't scared, just sad.