HC6335: The Demonic in Christian Thought

1
HC6335 The Demonic in Christian Thought

• Old and New Testaments

2

• The Demonic the form destroying eruption of
  the creative basis of things.
  
• Tillich, 85

3

• Whereas the common view claims that the demonic
  is the primitive externalization of dark aspects
  of human experience, Tillich counters that only
  through such externalization can the seriousness
  of the human condition be fully grasped. The
  demonic is not simply the ancient articulation of
  psychic states, but an authoritative series of
  formulations that witness to the objective
  reality of individual and corporate life. It is
  thus essential to the full comprehension of evil.

4

• Daemon
• Theos
• Daemonia
• Elohim

5
Deuteronomy 331 This is the blessing with which
Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites
before his death. 1 Kings 131-4 While Jeroboa
m was standing by the altar to offer incense, a
man of God came out of Judah by the word of the
LORD to Bethel 2 and proclaimed against the
altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O
altar, altar, thus says the LORD 'A son shall be
born to the house of David, Josiah by name and
he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high
places who offer incense on you, and human bones
shall be burned on you.'" 3 He gave a sign the
same day, saying, "This is the sign that the LORD
has spoken 'The altar shall be torn down, and
the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.'"
4 When the king heard what the man of God cried
out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam
stretched out his hand from the altar, saying,
"Seize him!" But the hand that he stretched out
against him withered so that he could not draw it
back to himself. Psalm 901 , the man of God. Lord, you have been our
dwelling place in all generations.
6
Numbers 2238 38 Balaam said to Balak, "I have
come to you now, but do I have power to say just
anything? The word God puts in my mouth, that is
what I must say." Genesis 308 8 And Rachel s
aid, With great (elohim) wrestlings have I
wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed
and she called his name Naphtali.
Exodus 93 3 the hand of the LORD will strike w
ith a deadly pestilence your livestock in the
field the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the
herds, and the flocks. Judges 1324-25 24 The
woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy
grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 The spirit of
the LORD began to stir him
7
Feelings and sensations, moods and impulses, even
physical conditions, which might otherwise be
described as obtaining autonomously within a man,
are portrayed on this basis, as outer forces
working upon him. T.H. Gaster, Demon, Demono
logy, IDB, I, 818
8
Revelation 127-10 7 And war broke out in
heaven Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8
but they were defeated, and there was no longer
any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon
was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is
called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the
whole world-- he was thrown down to the earth,
and his angels were thrown down with him. 10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,
"Now have come the salvation and the power and
the kingdom of our God and the authority of his
Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been
thrown down, who accuses them day and night
before our God.
9
Genesis 61-4 When people began to multiply on
the face of the ground, and daughters were born
to them, 2 the sons of God bene ha-elohim saw
that they were fair and they took wives for
themselves of all that they chose. 3 Then the
LORD said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals
forever, for they are flesh their days shall be
one hundred twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were
on the earth in those days-- and also afterward--
when the sons of God went in to the daughters of
humans, who bore children to them. These were the
heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.
10
Zarathushtras dualism was a radical innovation
in the history of religion. It denied the unity
and omnipotence of God in order to preserve his
perfect goodness. Zarathushtra was the first
person to put forward the idea of an absolute
principle of evil, whose personification, Angra
Mainyu or Ahriman, is the first real Devil in
world religion. Although the two principles are
entirely independent, they clash, and in the
fullness of time the good spirit will inevitably
prevail over the evil one. The Prince of Dark
ness, 19
11
Angra Mainyu
12
Ahriman
13
Zoroastrianism Cast of Characters

• Angra Mainyu/Ahriman
• Spenta Mainyu
• Ahura Mazda
• Azi Dahaka
• Ormazd
• Zuvan Akarana
• Az
• Amesha Spentas

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Deuteronomy 3239 39 See now that I, even I, am
he there is no god besides me. I kill and I make
alive I wound and I heal and no one can deliver
from my hand. Isaiah 457 7 I form light and
create darkness, I make weal and create woe I
the LORD do all these things. PANTOKRATOR
15
Shedim

• Deuteronomy 3217-19 17 They sacrificed to
  demons, not God, to deities they had never known,
  to new ones recently arrived, whom your ancestors
  had not feared. 18 You were unmindful of the
  Rock that bore you you forgot the God who gave
  you birth. 19 The LORD saw it, and was jealous
  he spurned his sons and daughters.

• Psalm 10637-42 37 They sacrificed their sons
  and their daughters to the demons 38 they
  poured out innocent blood, the blood of their
  sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the
  idols of Canaan and the land was polluted with
  blood. 39 Thus they became unclean by their
  acts, and prostituted themselves in their doings.
  40 Then the anger of the LORD was kindled
  against his people, and he abhorred his heritage
  41 he gave them into the hand of the nations, so
  that those who hated them ruled over them. 42
  Their enemies oppressed them, and they were
  brought into subjection under their power.

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Sheirim

• Leviticus 172-7 This is what the LORD has
  commanded. 3 If anyone of the house of Israel
  slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp,
  or slaughters it outside the camp, 4 and does
  not bring it to the entrance of the tent of
  meeting, to present it as an offering to the LORD
  before the tabernacle of the LORD, he shall be
  held guilty of bloodshed he has shed blood, and
  he shall be cut off from the people. 5 This is
  in order that the people of Israel may bring
  their sacrifices that they offer in the open
  field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to
  the priest at the entrance of the tent of
  meeting, and offer them as sacrifices of
  well-being to the LORD. 6 The priest shall dash
  the blood against the altar of the LORD at the
  entrance of the tent of meeting, and turn the fat
  into smoke as a pleasing odor to the LORD, 7 so
  that they may no longer offer their sacrifices
  for goat-demons, to whom they prostitute
  themselves. This shall be a statute forever to
  them throughout their generations.
• 2 Chronicles 1114-15 14 The Levites had left
  their common lands and their holdings and had
  come to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and
  his sons had prevented them from serving as
  priests of the LORD, 15 and had appointed his
  own priests for the high places, and for the
  goat-demons, and for the calves that he had made.

17
Azazel

• Leviticus 166-10 6 Aaron shall offer the bull
  as a sin offering for himself, and shall make
  atonement for himself and for his house. 7 He
  shall take the two goats and set them before the
  LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting 8
  and Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats, one
  lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. 9
  Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot
  fell for the LORD, and offer it as a sin
  offering 10 but the goat on which the lot fell
  for Azazel shall be presented alive before the
  LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be
  sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

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Lilith

• Isaiah 348-14 8 For the LORD has a day of
  vengeance, a year of vindication by Zion's cause.
  9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into
  pitch, and her soil into sulfur her land shall
  become burning pitch. 10 Night and day it shall
  not be quenched its smoke shall go up forever.
  From generation to generation it shall lie waste
  no one shall pass through it forever and ever.
  11 But the hawk and the hedgehog shall possess
  it the owl and the raven shall live in it. He
  shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and
  the plummet of chaos over its nobles. 12 They
  shall name it No Kingdom There, and all its
  princes shall be nothing. 13 Thorns shall grow
  over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its
  fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an
  abode for ostriches. 14 Wildcats shall meet with
  hyenas, goat-demons shall call to each other
  there too Lilith shall repose, and find a place
  to rest.
• The Alphabet of Ben-/Sira (8th to 10th centuries
  A.D.)

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• Job 26 7-14 He stretches out Zaphon over the
  void, and hangs the earth upon nothing. 8 He
  binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the
  cloud is not torn open by them. 9 He covers the
  face of the full moon, and spreads over it his
  cloud. 10 He has described a circle on the face
  of the waters, at the boundary between light and
  darkness. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble, and
  are astounded at his rebuke. 12 By his power he
  stilled the Sea by his understanding he struck
  down Rahab. 13 By his wind the heavens were made
  fair his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14
  These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways
  and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But
  the thunder of his power who can understand?"
• Job 388-11 8 "Or who shut in the sea with
  doors when it burst out from the womb?-- 9 when
  I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness
  its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed bounds for
  it, and set bars and doors, 11 and said, 'Thus
  far shall you come, and no farther, and here
  shall your proud waves be stopped'?
• Psalm 1045-9 5 You set the earth on its
  foundations, so that it shall never be shaken. 6
  You cover it with the deep as with a garment the
  waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your
  rebuke they flee at the sound of your thunder
  they take to flight. 8 They rose up to the
  mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place
  that you appointed for them. 9 You set a
  boundary that they may not pass, so that they
  might not again cover the earth.
• Proverbs 827-31 27 When he established the
  heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on
  the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the
  skies above, when he established the fountains of
  the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its
  limit, so that the waters might not transgress
  his command, when he marked out the foundations
  of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a
  master worker and I was daily his delight,
  rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his
  inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

20
me on the matter which is not only nothingness
but is active, unconquerable resistance to form.

Tillich, 109
21
Genesis 11-2 In the beginning when God created
the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a
formless void and darkness covered the face of
the deep, while a wind from God swept over the
face of the waters.
22
. . .this second verse speaks not only of a
reality that once existed in a preprimeval period
but also of a possibility that always exists. Man
has always suspected that behind all creation
lies the abyss of formlessness that all creation
is always ready to sink into the abyss of the
formless that the chaos, therefore, signifies
simply the threat to everything created. This
suspicion has been constant temptation for his
faith. Gerhard von Rad, Genesis, 50f.
23
Jeremiah 423-26 23 I looked on the earth, and
lo, it was waste and void and to the heavens,
and they had no light. 24 I looked on the
mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the
hills moved to and fro. 25 I looked, and lo,
there was no one at all, and all the birds of the
air had fled. 26 I looked, and lo, the fruitful
land was a desert, and all its cities were laid
in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce
anger.
24

• Ezekiel 3814-20 14 Therefore, mortal,
  prophesy, and say to Gog Thus says the Lord GOD
  On that day when my people Israel are living
  securely, you will rouse yourself 15 and come
  from your place out of the remotest parts of the
  north, you and many peoples with you, all of them
  riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army
  16 you will come up against my people Israel,
  like a cloud covering the earth. In the latter
  days I will bring you against my land, so that
  the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog,
  I display my holiness before their eyes. 17 Thus
  says the Lord GOD Are you he of whom I spoke in
  former days by my servants the prophets of
  Israel, who in those days prophesied for years
  that I would bring you against them? 18 On that
  day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,
  says the Lord GOD, my wrath shall be aroused. 19
  For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I
  declare On that day there shall be a great
  shaking in the land of Israel 20 the fish of
  the sea, and the birds of the air, and the
  animals of the field, and all creeping things
  that creep on the ground, and all human beings
  that are on the face of the earth, shall quake at
  my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown
  down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall
  shall tumble to the ground.

25

• Daniel 71-12 In the first year of King
  Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and
  visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he
  wrote down the dream 2 I, Daniel, saw in my
  vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring
  up the great sea, 3 and four great beasts came
  up out of the sea, different from one another. 4
  The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings.
  Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off,
  and it was lifted up from the ground and made to
  stand on two feet like a human being and a human
  mind was given to it. 5 Another beast appeared,
  a second one, that looked like a bear. It was
  raised up on one side, had three tusks in its
  mouth among its teeth and was told, "Arise,
  devour many bodies!" 6 After this, as I watched,
  another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had
  four wings of a bird on its back and four heads
  and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw
  in the visions by night a fourth beast,
  terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.
  It had great iron teeth and was devouring,
  breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left
  with its feet. It was different from all the
  beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns. 8
  I was considering the horns, when another horn
  appeared, a little one coming up among them to
  make room for it, three of the earlier horns were
  plucked up by the roots. There were eyes like
  human eyes in this horn, and a mouth speaking
  arrogantly. 9 As I watched, thrones were set in
  place, and an Ancient One took his throne, his
  clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his
  head like pure wool his throne was fiery flames,
  and its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of
  fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A
  thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand
  times ten thousand stood attending him. The court
  sat in judgment, and the books were opened. 11 I
  watched then because of the noise of the arrogant
  words that the horn was speaking. And as I
  watched, the beast was put to death, and its body
  destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.
  12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion
  was taken away, but their lives were prolonged
  for a season and a time.

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I Enoch 10. 8-14

• And the whole earth has been corrupted 9 through
  the works that were taught by Azazel to him
  ascribe all sin.' And to Gabriel said the Lord
  'Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates,
  and against the children of fornication and
  destroy the children of fornication and the
  children of the Watchers from amongst men and
  cause them to go forth send them one against
  the other that they may destroy each other in 10
  battle for length of days shall they not have.
  And no request that they (i.e. their fathers)
  make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers
  on their behalf for they hope to live an eternal
  life, and 11 that each one of them will live five
  hundred years.' And the Lord said unto Michael
  'Go, bind Semjaza and his associates who have
  united themselves with women so as to have
  defiled themselves 12 with them in all their
  uncleanness. And when their sons have slain one
  another, and they have seen the destruction of
  their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy
  generations in the valleys of the earth, till the
  day of their judgement and of their consummation,
  till the judgement that is 13 for ever and ever
  is consummated. In those days they shall be led
  off to the abyss of fire and 14 to the torment
  and the prison in which they shall be confined
  for ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and
  destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together
  with them to the end of all

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I Enoch

• Chapter 85
•  
• 1Again I looked attentively, while sleeping, and
  surveyed heaven above.
  
• 2And behold a single star fell from heaven.
• 3Which being raised up, ate and fed among those
  cows.
  
• 4After that I perceived other large and black
  cows and behold all of them changed their stalls
  and pastures, while their young began to lament
  one with another. Again I looked in my vision,
  and surveyed heaven when behold I saw many stars
  which descended, and projected themselves from
  heaven to where the first star was,
• 5Into the midst of those young ones while the
  cows were with them, feeding in the midst of
  them.
  
• 6I looked at and observed them when behold, they
  all acted after the manner of horses, and began
  to approach the young cows, all of whom became
  pregnant, and brought forth elephants, camels,
  and asses.
• 7At these all the cows were alarmed and
  terrified when they began biting with their
  teeth, swallowing, and striking with their
  horns.
• 8They began also to devour the cows and behold
  all the children of the earth trembled, shook
  with terror at them, and suddenly fled away.

28

• Genesis 31 Now the serpent was more crafty than
  any other wild animal that the LORD God had made.
  He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall
  not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
• Genesis 61-4 NRS Genesis 61 When people began
  to multiply on the face of the ground, and
  daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God
  saw that they were fair and they took wives for
  themselves of all that they chose. 3 Then the
  LORD said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals
  forever, for they are flesh their days shall be
  one hundred twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were
  on the earth in those days-- and also afterward--
  when the sons of God went in to the daughters of
  humans, who bore children to them. These were the
  heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.
• Isaiah 1412-14 12 How you are fallen from
  heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut
  down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
  13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to
  heaven I will raise my throne above the stars of
  God I will sit on the mount of assembly on the
  heights of Zaphon 14 I will ascend to the tops
  of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most
  High."

29

• Satan 2 Samuel 1922 22 But David said, "What
  have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that
  you should today become an adversary to me?
  
• Zechariah 31-2 Then he showed me the high
  priest Joshua standing before the angel of the
  LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to
  accuse him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, "The
  LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen
  Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand
  plucked from the fire?"

30
Job 16-12 6 One day the heavenly beings came
to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan
also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan,
"Where have you come from?" Satan answered the
LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and
from walking up and down on it." 8 The LORD said
to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?
There is no one like him on the earth, a
blameless and upright man who fears God and turns
away from evil." 9 Then Satan answered the LORD,
"Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not
put a fence around him and his house and all that
he has, on every side? You have blessed the work
of his hands, and his possessions have increased
in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now,
and touch all that he has, and he will curse you
to your face." 12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very
well, all that he has is in your power only do
not stretch out your hand against him!" So Satan
went out from the presence of the LORD.
Malak Yahweh
31
Psalm 826-7 6 I say, "You are gods, children of
the Most High, all of you 7 nevertheless, you
shall die like mortals, and fall like any
prince."
32
Evil is personified because we feel it as a
deliberate malignancy that intrudes upon us from
outside ourselves.
Russell, The Devil, 32
33
The demonic comes to fulfillment in personality
and personality is the most prominent object of
demonic destruction, for personality is the
bearer of form in its totality and unconditioned
character. Tillich, 86
34

• In the New Testament this dark backgroundthe
  existence of a power of darkness. . .is integral
  to the story of Jesus Christ. Nullus diabolus
  nullus redemptorthis thesis can scarcely be
  denied.
• Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of
  Creation and Redemption, 134

35

• Matthew 41-11 Then Jesus was led up by the
  Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the
  devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights,
  and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter
  came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God,
  command these stones to become loaves of bread."
  4 But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not
  live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
  from the mouth of God.'" 5 Then the devil took
  him to the holy city and placed him on the
  pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, "If you
  are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it
  is written, 'He will command his angels
  concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will
  bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot
  against a stone.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "Again
  it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to
  the test.'" 8 Again, the devil took him to a
  very high mountain and showed him all the
  kingdoms of the world and their splendor 9 and
  he said to him, "All these I will give you, if
  you will fall down and worship me." 10 Jesus
  said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is
  written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve
  only him.'" 11 Then the devil left him, and
  suddenly angels came and waited on him.

36
"'The wise and dread spirit, the spirit of
self-destruction and non-existence,' the old man
goes on, great spirit talked with Thee in the
wilderness, and we are told in the books that he
"tempted" Thee. Is that so? And could anything
truer be said than what he revealed to Thee in
three questions and what Thou didst reject, and
what in the books is called "the temptation"? And
yet if there has ever been on earth a real
stupendous miracle, it took place on that day, on
the day of the three temptations. The statement
of those three questions was itself the miracle.
If it were possible to imagine simply for the
sake of argument that those three questions of
the dread spirit had perished utterly from the
books, and that we had to restore them and to
invent them anew, and to do so had gathered
together all the wise men of the earth -- rulers,
chief priests, learned men, philosophers, poets-
and had set them the task to invent three
questions, such as would not only fit the
occasion, but express in three words, three human
phrases, the whole future history of the world
and of humanity- dost Thou believe that all the
wisdom of the earth united could have invented
anything in depth and force equal to the three
questions which were actually put to Thee then by
the wise and mighty spirit in the wilderness?
From those questions alone, from the miracle of
their statement, we can see that we have here to
do not with the fleeting human intelligence, but
with the absolute and eternal. For in those three
questions the whole subsequent history of mankind
is, as it were, brought together into one whole,
and foretold, and in them are united all the
unsolved historical contradictions of human
nature. At the time it could not be so clear,
since the future was unknown but now that
fifteen hundred years have passed, we see that
everything in those three questions was so justly
divined and foretold, and has been so truly
fulfilled, that nothing can be added to them or
taken from them. Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisi
tor The Brothers Karamazov, V/5
37
Spiritual Laws of Conflict with Satan

• 1) Temptation rarely comes when we are ready to
  take it on but rather when we are most vulnerable
  to it.
  
• Our desire for possessions always outstrips
  anything we might possess.
  
• Suffering is the path to mature wisdom.
• We worship power and success.
• James 21-5 My brothers and sisters, do you
  with your acts of favoritism really believe in
  our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2 For if a
  person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes
  into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty
  clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice
  of the one wearing the fine clothes and say,
  "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who
  is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my
  feet," 4 have you not made distinctions among
  yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
  5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has
  not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich
  in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he
  has promised to those who love him?

38

• Evil is portrayed not as a plurality of
  haphazard forces but rather an empire ruled by a
  single Power.
  
• Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of Creation
  and Redemption, 134.

39

• Mark 322-26 22 And the scribes who came down
  from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by
  the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." 23
  And he called them to him, and spoke to them in
  parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a
  kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom
  cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided
  against itself, that house will not be able to
  stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against
  himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his
  end has come.

40

• Luke 1017-20 7 The seventy returned with joy,
  saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons
  submit to us!" 18 He said to them, "I watched
  Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.
  19 See, I have given you authority to tread on
  snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of
  the enemy and nothing will hurt you. 20
  Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the
  spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your
  names are written in heaven."
• Revelation 129-13 9 The great dragon was thrown
  down, that ancient serpent, who is called the
  Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole
  world-- he was thrown down to the earth, and his
  angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I
  heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, "Now
  have come the salvation and the power and the
  kingdom of our God and the authority of his
  Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been
  thrown down, who accuses them day and night
  before our God. 11 But they have conquered him
  by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
  testimony, for they did not cling to life even in
  the face of death. 12 Rejoice then, you heavens
  and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth
  and the sea, for the devil has come down to you
  with great wrath, because he knows that his time
  is short!" 13 So when the dragon saw that he had
  been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the
  woman who had given birth to the male child.

41
Anti-Christ

• "You have heard," writes the author of First
  John, "that antichrist is coming, so now many
  antichrists have come therefore we know that it
  is the last hour" (2.18). Who is antichrist? He
  (or they) comes out of the community of faith but
  is not part of it. His opposition to God is
  doctrinal. He denies "the Father and the Son"
  (2.23). He refuses to "confess Jesus" (4.3). He
  will "not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ
  in the flesh" (2 Jn. 7).

42
AntiChrist

• Among his companions from the scriptures are the
  pseudochristoi of the Synoptic Apocalypse (Mk. 13
  and parallels) who, says Jesus, will come "in my
  name" and will "lead you astray" "the lawless
  one" (2 Thess. 2.10) who, by the power of Satan,
  will impress the faithful with false signs and
  wonders, offering "a strong delusion" to tempt
  "those who are perishing" "Gog and Magog" who,
  under Satan's command, will gather the nations
  for the final battle with Christ (Rev. 20.2-10)
  the "beasts" of Revelation (16, 17, 19) which
  harken back to the "beasts" of Daniel (7) "the
  sons of Belial" (Deut. 13.13 and passim), those
  who are "base" or "worthless," who practice
  idolatry, drunkenness, disrespect, evil speech,
  who are "empty men" (2 Chron. 13.7) and the
  conspiring nations and rulers who take counsel
  against the Lord (Ps. 2.1-3).

43
AntiChrist

• Christianity has been an essential force in the
  emergence of modernity. Christian faith
  challenged the pessimism and resignation of
  ancient culture and unleashed new possibilities
  for political organization, cultural expression,
  scientific and technical exploration, and the
  emergence of the individual. These possibilities
  resulted from the sacred fact that faith
  confesses Christ frees humanity from the law
  and all the burdens of oppressive, external
  authorities. The freedom of the gospel is so
  powerful that it extends even to those who do not
  call upon the name of Christ. This is the
  historical effect of the gospel in Western
  culture. Without Christ, the divine gift of
  freedom is misused to rebel against God and
  reject his law. This misuse of the gift of
  freedom is the realm of the antichrist. It
  permeates the entire history of Western
  civilization as politics, culture, science, and
  individualism are perverted for selfish ends.
  Even within the church, the gospel, separated
  from obedience to God, becomes a permissive
  principle of undiscriminating tolerance to bless
  human desire and fantasy.

44

• Ephesians 612 12 For our struggle is not
  against enemies of blood and flesh, but against
  the rulers, against the authorities, against the
  cosmic powers of this present darkness, against
  the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
  places.

45

• 1 Corinthians 1524-26 24 Then comes the end,
  when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father,
  after he has destroyed every ruler and every
  authority and power. 25 For he must reign until
  he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26
  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

46

• Romans 835-39 35 Who will separate us from the
  love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or
  persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
  or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we
  are being killed all day long we are accounted
  as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these
  things we are more than conquerors through him
  who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither
  death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor
  things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
  39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in
  all creation, will be able to separate us from
  the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

47

• Demonry breaks down only before divinity, the
  possessed state of grace, the destructive before
  redeeming.
  
• Tillich, 122