What are Demons and Where they Come From?

We saw the Devil’s organizational chart in the last article. The devil is on top, then the gods who also rebelled against God; these are the rulers of nations and cities that rule under Satan, then the fallen angels and then, on the bottom of this demonic organizational chart, are demons. Demons are found in many places and they have specific roles that we will be discussing in later articles. Let’s start answering the key question for this article, what are demons and where they come from?

To help us understand demons let us remember that it is the spirit in us that gives us life.  In Genesis 2:7 the Bible tells us, “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (ESV) The word breath is the word spirit. Why do I point this out? Because in the New Testament Demons are the same as unclean spirits (Matthew 10:1; 12:43; Mark 1:26; Luke 4:36; 6:18; Acts 5:16; 8:7) Why are demons unclean? Because they were the spirits that came out of the Nephilim in Genesis 6 after they died in the Great Flood. Enoch tells us in the Book of the Watchers, 

“And now, the giants, who produce from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits on earth… And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble. They take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.”^[1]

Later, we will look through Scripture to confirm the demonic job description according to Enoch. Demons are unclean because the fallen angels went after the women forming something that it was not of God. Jude 1:6 tells us, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” (ESV) In order for these Nephilim to have life they also needed a spirit, but in this case, it is an unclean spirit. Spirits do not die! 

Demons are looking for bodies to manifest; we see this in Matthew 8:28-32, “And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰ Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹ And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” ³² And he said to them, “Go.” So, they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.” (ESV) 

Satan is not like God, he can’t be in every place at the same time, but his army is well organized. There are demons everywhere in this world. On this earth we are either under demon influence or, even deeper, demon possession. To learn more about demons we will be looking at demons in the Old Testament, Demons in the New Testament and How to Engage in Spiritual Welfare Effectively.

To be continued… 

^[1] The Complete Book of Enoch, Dr. Jay Winter, Page 19.