Demons – The Basics
Demons are not the spirits of deceased people. They are supernatural beings that possess intelligence and desires, just like humans. Contrary to popular belief, not all demon-like beings are "evil" or malicious, although most beings people label "demons" are malevolent to some degree. The level of malevolence a demon exhibits can range from mere mischievousness to causing physical harm to possessing living humans. Christians people believe that demons are the minions of Satan, who rebelled against God. Other religions have different theories for demons.
There are many famous cases of people being possessed by demons and even killed by demons. However, most modern cases can be explained by reference to mental illness or even things like poisoning and brain tumors. Actual demon possession is exceedingly rare.
Demons should not be taken lightly and ought to be avoided. If a person believes they are being attacked by a demons they should seek expert assistance immediately.
Demons – Characteristics
The following information is from Wikipedia.
In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, meaning storm-demons. They were represented in winged bull form, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective genii of royal palaces, the name "shed" assumed also the meaning of a propitious genius in Babylonian magic literature. It was from Chaldea that the name “shedu” came to the Israelites, and so the writers of the Tanach applied the word as a dylogism to the Canaanite deities in the two passages quoted. But they also spoke of “the destroyer” (Exodus xii. 23) as a demon whose malignant effect upon the houses of the Israelites was to be warded off by the blood of the paschal sacrifice sprinkled upon the lintel and the door-post (a corresponding pagan talisman is mentioned in Isaiah lvii. 8). In II Samuel xxiv; 16 and II Chronicles xxi. 15 the pestilence-dealing demon is called “the destroying angel” (compare “the angel of the Lord” in II Kings xix. 35; Isaiah xxxvii. 36), because, although they are demons, these “evil messengers” (Psalms lxxviii. 49; A. V. “evil angels”) do only the bidding of God; they are the agents of His divine wrath.
There are indications that popular Hebrew mythology ascribed to the demons a certain independence, a malevolent character of their own, because they are believed to come forth, not from the heavenly abode of God, but from the nether world.
Hebrew demons were workers of harm. To them were ascribed the various diseases, particularly such as affect the brain and the inner parts. Hence there was a fear of “Shabriri”(lit. “dazzling glare”), the demon of blindness, who rests on uncovered water at night and strikes those with blindness who drink of it; also mentioned were the spirit of catalepsy and the spirit of headache, the demon of epilepsy, and the spirit of nightmare. These demons were supposed to enter the body and cause the disease while overwhelming or “seizing” the victim (hence “seizure”). To cure such diseases it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, in which the Essenes excelled. Josephus, who speaks of demons as “spirits of the wicked which enter into men that are alive and kill them”, but which can be driven out by a certain root, witnessed such a performance in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian, and ascribed its origin to King Solomon.
Pre-Islamic mythology does not discriminate between gods and demons. The jinn are considered as divinities of inferior rank, having many human attributes: they eat, drink, and procreate their kind, sometimes in conjunction with human beings. The jinn smell and lick things, and have a liking for remnants of food. In eating they use the left hand. Usually they haunt waste and deserted places, especially the thickets where wild beasts gather. Cemeteries and dirty places are also favorite abodes. When appearing to man, jinn sometimes assume the forms of beasts and sometimes those of men. Generally, jinn are peaceable and well disposed toward men. Many pre-Islamic poets were believed to have been inspired by good jinn, but there are also evil jinn, who contrive to injure men.
Those demons in the Hebrew Bible are of two classes, the se'irim and the shedim. The se'irim (“hairy beings”), to which some Israelites offered sacrifices in the open fields, are satyr-like creatures, described as dancing in the wilderness, and which are identical with the jinn, such as Dantalion, the 71st spirit of Solomon. Possibly to the same class belongs Azazel, the goat-like demons of the wilderness, probably the chief of the se'irim, and Lilith. Possibly “the roes and hinds of the field”, by which Shulamit conjures the daughters of Jerusalem to bring her back to her lover, are faunlike spirits similar to the se'irim, though of a harmless nature.
The evil spirit that troubled Saul (I Samuel 16:14 et seq.) may have been a demon, though the Masoretic text tells us that the spirit was sent by God. Some benevolent shedim were used in kabbalistic ceremonies (as with the golem of Rabbi Yehuda Loevy), and malevolent shedim (mazikin, from the root meaning “to damage”) were often creedited with possession. Similarly, a shed might inhabit an otherwise inanimate statue.
In some rabbinic sources, the demons were believed to be under the dominion of a king or chief, either Asmodai or, in the older Haggadah, Samael (“the angel of death”), who kills by his deadly poison, and is called “chief of the devils”. Occasionally a demon is called “satan”: Stand not in the way of an ox when coming from the pasture, for Satan dances between his horns“.”“”
Demonology never became an essential feature of Jewish theology. The reality of demons was never questioned by the Talmudists and late rabbis; most accepted their existence as a fact. Nor did most of the medieval thinkers question their reality. Only rationalists like Maimonides and Abraham ibn Ezra, clearly denied their existence. Their point of view eventually became the mainstream Jewish understanding.
Rabbinical demonology has three classes of demons, though they are scarcely separable one from another. There were the shedim, the mazziḳim (“harmers”), and the ruḥin (“spirits”). Besides these there were lilin (“night spirits”), ṭelane (“shade”, or “evening spirits”), ṭiharire (“midday spirits”), and ẓafrire (“morning spirits”), as well as the “demons that bring famine” and “such as cause storm and earthquake”
“Demon” has a number of meanings in Christianity, all related to the idea of a spirit that inhabited a place, or that accompanied a person. Whether such a daemon was benevolent or malevolent, the Greek word meant something different from the later medieval notions of “demon”, and scholars debate the time in which first century usage by Jews and Christians in its original Greek sense became transformed to the later medieval sense. Some denominations asserting Christian faith also include, exclusively or otherwise, fallen angels as de facto demons; this definition also covers the “sons of God” described in Genesis who abandoned their posts in heaven to mate with human women on Earth before the Deluge.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus casts out many demons, or evil spirits, from those who are afflicted with various ailments. Jesus is far superior to the power of demons over the beings that they inhabit, and he is able to free these victims by commanding and casting out the demons, by binding them, and forbidding them to return. Jesus also lends this power to some of his disciples, who rejoice at their new found ability to cast out all demons. By way of contrast, in the book of Acts a group of Judaistic exorcists known as the sons of Sceva try to cast out a very powerful spirit without believing in or knowing Jesus, but fail with disastrous consequences. However Jesus himself never fails to vanquish a demon, no matter how powerful (see the account of the demon-possessed man at Gerasim), and even defeats Satan in the wilderness (see Gospel of Matthew).
There is a description in the Book of Revelation 12:7-17 of a battle between God's army and Satan's followers, and their subsequent expulsion from Heaven to Earth to persecute humans – although this event is related as being foretold and taking place in the future. In Luke 10:18 it is mentioned that a power granted by Jesus to cast out demons made Satan “fall like lightning from heaven.”
The contemporary Roman Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that angels and demons are real personal beings, not just symbolic devices. The Catholic Church has a cadre of officially sanctioned exorcists which perform many exorcisms each year. The exorcists of the Catholic Church teach that demons attack humans continually but that afflicted persons can be effectively healed and protected either by the formal rite of exorcism, authorized to be performed only by bishops and those they designate, or by prayers of deliverance which any Christian can offer for themselves or others.
Building upon the few references to daemons in the New Testament, especially the visionary poetry of the Apocalypse of John, Christian writers of apocrypha from the 2nd century onwards created a more complicated tapestry of beliefs about “demons” that was largely independent of Christian scripture.
At various times in Christian history, attempts have been made to classify these beings according to various proposed demonic hierarchies.
According to most Christian demonology demons will be eternally punished and never reconciled with God. Other theories postulate a Universal reconciliation, in which Satan, the fallen angels, and the souls of the dead that were condemned to Hell are reconciled with God. This doctrine is today often associated with the Unification Church. Origen, Jerome and Gregory of Nyssa also mentioned this possibility.
In contemporary Christianity, demons are generally considered to be angels who fell from grace by rebelling against God. However, other schools of thought in Christianity or Judaism teach that demons, or evil spirits, are a result of the sexual relationships between fallen angels and human women. When these hybrids (Nephilim) died they left behind disembodied spirits that “roam the earth in search of rest” (Luke 11:24). Many non-canonical historical texts describe in detail these unions and the consequences thereof. This belief is repeated in other major ancient religions and mythologies. Christians who reject this view do so by ascribing the description of “Sons of God” in Genesis 6 to be the sons of Seth (one of Adam's sons).
Islam recognizes the existence of the jinn. Jinns are not the "genies" of modern lore, and they are not all evil, as demons are described in Christianity, but as creatures that co-exist with humans. In Islam the evil jinns are referred to as the shayātīn, or devils, and Iblis (Satan) is their chief. Iblis was the first Jinn who disobeyed Allah. According to Islam, the jinn are made from the fire (whereas angels are made from light and mankind is made from altered clay).
Hindu mythology include numerous varieties of spirits that might be classified as demons, including Vetalas, Yakshas, Bhutas and Pishachas. Often Rakshasas and Asuras are mistakenly taken to mean demons. Originally, Asura, in the earliest hymns of the Rig Veda, meant any supernatural spirit, both good and bad. All words such as Asura, Daitya (lit., sons of the mother “Diti”), Rakshasa (lit. from “harm to be guarded against”) are incorrectly translated into English as demon. Unlike Christian notion of demons, asuras are not the cause of the evil and unhappiness in mankind (unhappiness in humans, according to Hinduism is by one's own actions (Karma) and/or due to the continued ignorance of Brahman, the unchanging reality. Asuras, if any, are cogs in the wheel of Karma); they are not fundamentally against the Gods, nor do they tempt humans to fall. In fact, asuras, much like devas, do worship the Gods of Hinduism: many Asuras are said to have been granted boons from one of the members of the Hindu trinity, viz., Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva when the latter had been appeased from their penances. This is markedly different from the traditional Western notions of demons as a rival army of God. In Hindu mythology, pious, highly enlightened asuras, like Prahlada and Vibheeshana, are not at all uncommon. Prahlada even said to have secured enlightenment to his entire lineage (of asuras). All Asuras, unlike the devas, are said to have born mortals (though they ever strive to become immortal). Many people metaphorically interpret asuras as manifestations of the ignoble passions in human mind and as a symbolic device. There were also cases of power-hungry asuras challenging various aspects of Gods, but only to be defeated eventually and seek forgiveness—see Surapadman, Narakasura.
Hinduism advocates the theory of reincarnation and transmigration of souls according to one's Karma. Souls (Atman) of the dead are adjudged by the Yama and are accorded various purging punishments before being reborn. Humans that have committed extraordinary wrongs are condemned to roam as lonely, often evil, spirits for a length of time before being reborn. Many kinds of such spirits (Vetalas, Pishachas, Bhūta) are recognized in the later Hindu texts. These beings, in a limited sense, can be called demons.
In the Bahá'í Faith, demons are not regarded as independent evil spirits as they are in some faiths. All evil spirits described in various faith traditions such as satan, fallen angels, demons and jinns are metaphors for the base character traits a human being may acquire and manifest when he turns away from God and follows his lower nature. Belief in the existence of ghosts and earthbound spirits is rejected and considered to be the product of superstition