Christian Demonology from the Biblical Perspective - Essay Example

?Hansol Na Kalleres Religion 144 December 12, Christian Demonology Christian Demonology is the study of demons from the biblical perspective. it is primarily based on the understanding of the Scriptures and what it says about the existence and evil-doings of demonic spirits. Early Christian society was filled with demonologies and perilous doctrines from the theories of Rabbis. Those theories have taken roots from the old Oriental religion in the heart of the Roman world. The Christian Catholic theology relies on the creation and fall of rebellious angels who were the fallen spirits or demons afflicting the children of God. The purpose of this paper is to create a new Christian demonology within a particular period and context. The Christian demonology discussed in this paper belongs to the Medieval Period between the 5th to 15th century around the European region, where the belief in the power of demons and grimoires were widely existent during that era. This demonology evolved from the old Christian tradition, on basis of the scriptures, mentioning that the demons were the rebel angels that were cast down from the heaven by God. Though they are spiritual, immortal and immutable, like the good angels, these demons are not omniscient or omnipotent. As per the Christian demonology, the demons were intended to induce sin into the world by possessing and tormenting people in the world. The ultimate mission of the demons was to abandon the faith of God from the people and turn them into adversaries of God. The demonology of the Medieval Period identified demons as evil supernatural beings, who take control over the departed souls of men or their bodies for executing their evil schemes on earth. According to the biblical notion, they are the inhabitants of the Hell and whoever is possessed by these evil spirits are destined to do whatsoever the demons wish to. The demons were considered as the ‘elements of the world’ as supernatural being living in the air and ruling the entire universe. Paul writes in Galatians 4:3, we were in bondage under the elements of the world, which means that both the physical and spiritual cosmos comes under the power of these demons. What distinguishes this demonology is that the medieval demonology held a demonic plurality comprising not only the fallen angels as demons but also the evil spirits and souls of dead humans, in general. This is far from this demonology, as it takes the stand that the entire demonic world comprises of the fallen rebel angels, taking control over the whole world and the universe, for their evil possessions, after being cast away from the Heaven to Hell. The demons exercised power over the world including the wind, water, air, sand as well as the stars and the entire universe. The peasant communities in this medieval period were particularly concerned of these demons as they hindered the nature. They comprised of various occults, witchcrafts, ritual magic and more for either abolishing or inducing the evil acts of the demons for various purposes. These demons also hold influences over the passions of mind, sexual, mania and melancholy by inflicting pain and pleasure. The witches and occultists make use of these demonic powers to perform their actions, choosing the demon with power of Hell that well suits their operations like seeing the future, seducing the object of lust, finding hidden treasure, etc. As the demons have control over the world, it possesses the humans and takes various physical forms for deceiving the world. In this Medieval Period the demons were believed to be the reason for the pagan cults and other religious practices. It was thought that these rituals would help to expel the demons, by diminishing their evil acts and possession in the lives of humans. According to them, these cultic practices and rituals were the cause for their worshiping of demons which was indeed viewed as rebellious among the Church and Christian beliefs.  However, demonic administration used for handling magic, astrology, and mantic arts through the powers of Hell was accepted to be both good and evil. These evil acts performed through the demonic powers were considered as solely antagonistic among the church community. The Dark Ages of medieval superstition and popery with its magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and mediums produced levitations, apparitions, spirit communications and miraculous cures. (Unger 160). It was during the Middle Ages that the pagan worships were thwarted without demarcating the practice of demonic magic. So, the Church’s perspective towards these demonologists and occultists were adverse as they were viewed as sinners, on respect to the intent of act that they were performing. Since occult acts were performed for both good and evil causes, the intention of the demonologist created the difference in the clergy’s credence towards these acts. Even the church held an official demonologist for demolishing the acts of the evil spirits towards the community. This was often handled with a view to save the people from the influences and possessions of evil demons. During this period in European communities, occult arts were practiced by the occultists through conjuration from the grimoires. Demonologists used various grimoires to perform their ritual magic and occult acts against the demons. Some of the influential medieval grimoires related to the biblical King Solomon such as The Sworn Book of Honorius and The Key of Solomon were referred for invocations or summoning and rising of demonic entities. The pictorial view of devils in Medieval Period is remarkably of great variety representing anthropomorphic creatures of no definite form. They may resemble any of the common creatures or even take the form of invisibility. The demons are also chaos dragons, monsters and animal-shaped devils, as mentioned in the Old Testament. Isaiah 27:1, on that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea. The demons may appear as a serpent, a fierce lion, dragon-like or a distorted human figure with wings, tail or hoof-limbed. The demons of different rank are accustomed to appear in different forms and registered shapes by its armorial bearings. Many myths were associated with the apparitions of demons and their intentions. The myth of Nephilim was existent for generations. Despite transforming their shapes, demons are capable of changing sex for propagating monstrous offspring called Nephilim into the world. The bible describes in Genesis as the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. (Gen 6:4). According to the Christian demonology, these lascivious sexual acts were performed by the demons to contaminate the human bloodline for preventing the coming of Messiah. It was believed that God put an end to these human-mating demons by bounding them with everlasting chains in the Abyss. Though demons were considered to be of no particular sex, demons such as the male incubus and the female succubus were the cause for demonic sexual harassment and coitus among the susceptible humans for possessing their bodies. One of the popular succubus myths was the Lilith, the first succubi, who left the Garden of Eden and joined archangel Samael, leaving Adam. In order to dispose these demons, the medieval community handled exorcisms and confessions. During Exorcisms, demons, ghost or any dark malevolent spirits were purged out of the possessed humans or any objects. The demonologists perform various rituals through sacrifices, conjurations, amulets or by sprinkling holy water to invoke God’s angels against the demons.   Satan being the sovereign over the monarchy of Hell, the entire demonic world consists of devils of various commands, powers and principalities. These demons have a great desire for deification and a drive for exaltation, which is what, makes them terrible creatures to torment mankind for abolishing the Will of God to redeem his people. From the Christian perspective, demons are the spiritual enemies that exist in the world. However, they could be resisted and overcome by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ as the power of Satan in the air does not exercise over the ultimate power of God. A clear understanding of Christian demonology would help the believers demolish the evil spirits and its possession through the Holy Spirit which lives within them. As mentioned in Bible, greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. (I John 4:4). Works Cited Unger, Merrill F. Biblical Demonology: A Study of Spiritual Forces at Work Today. Kregel Publications, 1994. The Holy Bible, New International Version, Hendrickson Publishers, 2004. Read More