ALL ABOUT DEMONS [PART I] EXISTENCE

EXISTENCE OF DEMONS
Among those who accept the existence of
demons there are various views with regard to
their origin. In ancient times, many thought
that such beings were the spirits of deceased
wicked people. According to Merrill Unger,
this thinking was popularized by Greek thought
and culture and, among others, the Jewish
historian, Josephus, took this view (Demons in
the World Today, p. 11). Some still believe this
just as many believe that holy angels are the
spirits of good people. Of course we have
already seen from Jesus’ account of the rich
man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 that the
spirits of people who die have a destination to
one of two places. They are not left to wander
the world making mischief.
Another view among some is that demons are
the disembodied spirits of a pre- Adamic race.
That is to say, some believe that God created a
race of men prior to Adam. But God destroyed
this race and their world completely and
started over (which is where Genesis 1:3 picks
up). However, their spirits survived and
became what we know today as demons. Those
who believe this make a sharp distinction
between the words “angels” and “spirits” in
order to support their view. They assert that
“spirits” always refer to human spirits while
“angels” are beings God created separately. In
light of Hebrews 1:14 this distinction is
certainly refutable. It must also be noted that
there is no scripture which supports the
concept of a pre- Adamic race whatsoever.
Also, there must be an imagined gap between
Genesis 1:1 and v. 2 in which all the rebellion,
destruction and the resultant chaos occurred.
Proponents of this theory sometimes point to
the use of the Greek word for demons in the
New Testament. In classical Greek literature its
meaning was “the good spirits of departed men
of the golden age” (Unger, Demons in the
World Today , p. 12). However that usage was
several hundred years before the writing of the
New Testament and the meaning of the word
had changed before it was used by the
Apostles and other writers. This view has very
little (if anything) to recommend it.
Still another view is that demons are the
offspring of an unnatural union between the
“sons of God” (wicked angels)and the
“daughters of men” (human women) recorded
in Genesis 6:1-4. The theory is that the
children of this union were wiped out in the
flood which followed and their spirits became
the demons. If we assume, for argument’s
sake, that this is the correct interpretation
(angels cohabiting with women), still we are
faced with the fact that nowhere does the
Bible address what became of the offspring
after their deaths. Obviously this view of the
origin of demons is highly speculative. (More
later on the Genesis 6:1-4 passage.)
These are all minority views based on incorrect
ideas about the Bible or filling in where God’s
word is silent. Now in the interest of honesty
and accuracy, we must admit that there is no
specific passage in the Bible that spells out in
plain, simple terms exactly where demons do
come from. Some of the background details
related to this matter are definitely sketchy.
But the Bible does provide information which
helps us deduce a much more reasonable
explanation than the ones above. The majority
view among fundamental Christians is that
demons were originally angels who fell from
their holy state by committing sin against God