I actually have a simple point of view on this.

1. There are actual demons that you can choose to believe in.

2. Or you can believe in demons that don't exist.

Is there really any difference?

I have never met a demon, and I don't believe in them, partly because if I choose to, then I give them the power to control my life, real or not.

I have seen people who appear to be "possessed," but who in reality (from where I am standing) are just fighting inner demons of their own construction.

From a biblical perspective I do. These are entities that are classified as devils. These are real beings (as the bible describes them) with a mission.

Definition: DEVIL, n. An evil spirit or being; a fallen angel, expelled from heaven for rebellion against God; the chief of the apostate angels; the implacable enemy and tempter of the human race.

I had found an interesting verse in Job 41:12 werein God says, "I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion."

What does God mean, "I will not conceal his parts"? In short, I will expose him.

Consider the meaning of part.

Definition: Part , n 1. A portion, piece or fragment separated from a whole thing; as, to divide an orange into five parts.

1. A portion of man; as the material part or body,or the intellectual part, the soul or understanding; the perishable part; the immortal part.

2. Particular division

3. Something relating or belonging to

4. Action; conduct.

Basically, that is what God did in the bible. He unveiled or exposed Satan, the devil, and every facet of his being. Who he is, what he is, what he is up to, where he comes from, where he's going, How he tempts man, How we can resist him (Even this aspect is a universal law that the devil himself cannot break), the spiritual armour given to all those who are willing to protect themselves from this evil being (for it is said in Ephsians 6:11-12,"11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.)

I will not expound on this list. This post would become way to long. Suffice it to say that all I mentioned in the above list could be found in the bible. A person armed with this knowledge will understand many things in this life and world we live in. The many 'why's', that we have or ask, would be answered.

One reason there is such a vehement attack on the bible (as compared to other books in the world) discrediting it on all facets is to cause or produce such a heavy smoke screen as to discourage any person from attempting to get to its truths and believing them. Among them, would be to get to the belief of a real, personal entity known as the devil. A little like Indiana Jones trying to get to the ark of the covenant. All kinds of hurdles to stop him, yet he persisted and got his prize. So it is with all those who truly search the scriptures and everything about it to understand this life, us, what we're doing here, etc. These who persist and go over the hurdles will get their prize, i.e. their many questions answered.

So this assault is the only way the devil can hide himself and keep man back from all the blessings God has for mankind here in this life and the one to come.

One major way in discrediting the bible is the myriad of translations confusing what was spoken by God. From here stems questions like the authenticity of the bible, the authority of it, the preservation of it, the exactness of it, the truth of it etc.

Think about it, if I could cause doubt about something that was said, could there be an authority or exactness of what was said? I don't think so.

Consider the first time the devil shows up on the scene, his first words were, "Yea, hath God said" (or Did God really say. Genesis 3:1). This caused doubt, to which lead to perversion of what was said, by the one speaking it.

The Devil has been saying this ever since, and sad to say, many are still falling for it. I was one of them.

Listen to what they are saying, "I think it says this, I think it means that, a better translation would be..., older manuscripts say.., in the original it is written..., this portion was inserted, this word cannot be translated, a better meaning is..., the translators of this particular bible mistranslated..., the origin of this word/passage is obscure, I feel that this is wrong, I feel that this is right, I don't believe, we can't be sure, the bible was written by man, we can't trust the bible, it's full of contradictions, there are so many interpretations.... and the list goes on.

After hearing someone say one of the above statements, would you be sure you had the words of life? I think not.

I have plowed through many of these 'sayings' wanting to get to the bottom of it. Incredible what I found.

Consider this one point.

The devil causes doubt in people's minds about what God said, in the end will not believe everything that was said in written form. This being the case, the people reading about one who is called the devil will not believe because of doubt. Having accomplished this feat, he has now disappeared from the minds of men. He can now roam around and cause havoc without getting blamed because he does not exist (he made us to believe).

As I began this answer by stating 'definitely' there is an evil entity called the devil, many will say, "I don't believe you because..." case in point. I say take your answer and investigate deeper, if you want to get to the bottom of it.

If you do, hold on tight, you'll be going on a wild ride.

Hi Jai, you said, "...I used to think it was all nonsense (or something that only happened in the Bible)- but now, I feel differently...

If I understand your thought correctly, you might be (at this point) willing to take a closer look about information dealing with the devil or devils.

Most of what is taught, spoken about and believed about the devil seems to come from the bible. This will be one of your main sources to get information about this evil being.

Again, if you are willing to take a look in the book, I suggest you use a concordance to help you isolate the passages dealing with this subject.

Hope I was able to clarify this a little more for you.

As related elsewhere I was attacked by something I couldn't see - it was terrifying. And no I am not mentally unstable.

I have also had an apparition that imparted useful news to me at the time. And no I am not mentally unstable.

So - so far as my experiences go, I must admit that there are influences out there that we cannot see with the physical eyes, and which are intelligent.

Apart from all that, I do believe that even some of 'the dead' can move things.. as told by many a person that has lived in 'haunted' houses. If it is their mind doing the moving by remote control, isn't that just as amazing?

I don't want them to exist in my life, so I don't let them exist in my mind. That doesn't mean that thoughts about evil or evil entities don't show up, because they do.

From somewhere deep within myself I am being told "don't be afraid of any knowledge", the trouble is that it is the guidance from within.

The person that I am on the surface and within my body is very much afraid of ghosts, evil entities etc. So I am slowly working on overcoming these fears by gradually exposing my mind to what I am afraid of, and then devising a strategy to analyze my fear and trying to vanquish the fear response.

Without the foundation in spiritual interests, there is no way I would be able to handle the information that I have been exposing my self lately. I know that I have to face this information. Maybe this is not everybody's journey. But for myself, I have found that simultaneously being interested in both extremes of the nature of the spirit keeps me grounded in a realistic acceptance of the true nature of this world and this reality.

Here we are being interested in thoughts of higher consciousness, yet there is so much evil around us, and dare I say, sometimes within us. We have all wanted to "get even" in a moment of anger, although we quickly ground ourselves back to the center of discernment.

I happened today. The place where I work, somebody came by last night and painted a giant graffiti on the warehouse door. When I saw that I had visions on hiding in the bushes and catching the culprit in the moment of painting the graffiti and I fantasized of all the ways I would have loved to punish and perhaps seriously injure the offender. And I didn't feel any sense of guilt with this imagination. This was the only way for me to release the anger I felt over the act of vandalism.

I am not upset about these thoughts going through my imagination. I am fascinated by why the vision of vigilante justice is so soothing to the tension and anger I felt at the time. Now I could pretend on the outside and say "well because of my spiritual interests, I am calm under any situation, and I don't feel any compulsion to be angry towards this offender" but who am I fooling?

This is why I believe that this journey we are on is a discovery in a new direction, if we are willing to be completely honest with ourselves. We have to rise up out of this fantasy that if one is interested in spiritual matters, somehow bad things disappear, because they don't. And maybe this is our journey; to figure out how to spiritually awaken within a reality where evil is still going to exist. Not to slay or fight evil with spiritual effort, because it will only attract more evil for the joy of the fight, but to assimilate and accept the reality we know exactly the way it is but through awakened spiritual eyes and awakened spiritual minds.

I don't know if we will get there, but to me, it feels like this is the road we are on.

I am starting to think that for every person that lives the planet, there are that many truths.

If one believes they exist, then they exist...for them.

I do not believe they exist then for me, they do not exist.

My perspective is that if we do not take responsibility for EVERYTHING that comes up, whether it be psychological, emotional, et cetera, then we will remain where we are - stuck.. if one is trying to change.. What happens when the mind virus like 'demon' comes in? One's mind becomes subsceptible to thinking 'its not me its something else' where in reality (my perspective not the way it is just my idea) its only really you. If something comes up for you the best thing to always do is to take responsibility for it.. because once one starts to work with developing his/herself through processes like NLP and mastering the control of the mind.. one will realize that, literally, it is only you.. My perspective is that 'possessed' people are possessed because they think they are possessed.. and they probably have a lot of stuck emotions.. where if they'd just go through something like NLP - Neuro-linguistic programming they'd master their mind and realize that, after being able to literally destroy any thought that comes into his/her head, it really IS ONLY him/her BECAUSE HE/SHE HAS THE ABILITY TO CONTROL THAT THOUGHT,.. (since he/she has the ability to control EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT (and emotion).. then therefore it is only him/her because if it wasn't him/her then he/she couldn't control the thought, but since he/she can control the thought AND EVEN THE ABILITY TO CHANGE THE WAY IT LOOKS AND THE EMOTIONS LINKED WITH IT (emotions = energy in motion).. then him/her IS THE ONLY ONE THAT IS RESPONSIBLE and therefore one's mind may begin to become convinced that IT REALLY IS ONLY HIM/HER. Often what happens when such ideas are introduced into the mind of a person who does not know how to controll/ disguard his/her thoughts is many things can cause LIMITING BELIEFS (I can feel the chemical components in the brain even when a limiting belief is coming on) and these limiting beliefs can cause a problem = 'stuck emotion' and having a stuck emotion causes a block and the more blocks the harder it is to fully function. That is my perspective..

I have seen the effect of casting out devils and demons, it is miraculous! Chronic pain gone instantly! Years of fear and worry and torment over past events gone instantly! All fears of the dark and of being attacked and worries gone instantly!

I know my command, power and authority as a king of earth in Christ, I cast out devils and demons in Jesus name and miracles of healing happen mental and emotional wounds that people had spent years in therapy over vanished, I have seen it I know it is real.

Whether you want to call them devils and demons, or negative energy or dark beings or just nuisance beings (like they don't belong here and don't realize the harm they are doing) I don't care what you think of them but I do know when you cast them out miracles happen.

ADDED NEW because of interest in this i decided to add the full story as I posted in a group I belong to

An old friend called me a said she was in excruciating pain, her back was really hurting. I started trying to talk her down with hypnosis but then she told me, "I am a bad Christian, I am going to hell when I die."

I thought "Whoa this is not just pain, I said to her you are being attacked, I am going to cast them out for you." Over the phone I cast out demons and devils of everything bothering her, everything tormenting her, completely commanding with force and authority all devils and demons to be gone in the name of Jesus.

Her pain vanished, she was no longer scared, she no longer felt she was bad or going to hell, she no longer felt like she had to battle anything. She told me for 50 years she battled demons, trying to block them out of her mind finding things to do to drown them out, but now she felt complete calm relaxed freedom that she never knew even existed!

She lost the desire to smoke and threw her cigarettes away, she felt like "now what?" She said she felt like she had just been let out of prison and told she is free but never knew this kind of life existed so she feels like she doesn't know what to do like bored now, she said she was never bored before because she had to always battle those past demons. She now sleeps deeply for eight hours perfectly relaxed and at peace, she said she can't remember the last time she sleep like that, she was always disturbed and worried and scared now it is like nothing is there. She said she doesn't fear dark rooms anymore, she even asked me is this "what normal is?" I said yes most people go through life with no fear, relaxed and enjoy doing things because they want to not because they have to.

She said she feels like I came into her head and totally rearranged the furniture, I total new person she feels now, she now goes to church and bible study and the is studying in school to be a minister.

I changed her entire life in three days time of casting out devils and demons for her including horrible past memories, all gone. I think the memories may still be there but the effect is nullified and void now.

Namasté Wade

IN RESPONSE TO THIS QUESTION, MY ANSWER WOULD BE NO

TO COMMENCE, LET US ESTABLISH CERTAIN REALITIES

WE KNOW VERY LITTLE OF OUR COSMOS/PHYSICS

AND WE KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT SPIRITUALITY IF WE INCLUDE SPIRITUALITY IN THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE

DESPITE ALL, WE HAVE MANAGE TO UNDERSTAND SOME TRUTH OF OUR COSMIC AND PHYSICAL REALM

I.E. GENERAL REALITIVITY (EINSTIEN)

I.E. GRAVITY (NEWTON)

SO TO MAKE THE STATEMENT THAT THERE IS NO PHYSICAL REALITY WOULD BE FALSE

MANY PHYSICAL SCIENCES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED AND TESTED AND WE CAN STATE ITS DETERMINISM

EVEN IF THEY ARE SIMPLE OBSERVATIONS, TESTS SHOW A PREDICTIVE NATURE EVERY TIME

NEGATIVE ENERGIES STEMMING FROM SCIENCE DOES EXIST IN OUR PHYSICAL REALM BUT VERY LITTLE OR NONE AT ALL

IF THIS ARTICLE IS REFERING TO NON SCIENTIFIC NEGATIVE ENERGIES, THEN WE HAVE PROBLEM AS WE ARE NOT ON THE SAME PAGE

ANYWAY, LET US PROCEED ON THE TOPIC OF NEGATIVE ENERGY FROM A SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING

NOW GETTING BACK TO NEGATIVE ENERGY, WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT WHOLEHEARTEDLY, BUT WE UNDERSTAND ITS SIMPLE MECHANISM AND FRAMEWORK

SOME EXAMPLE OF PHYSICS THAT FALL UNDER THE CATEGORY OF ANTI PHSYICS WOULD BE THE FOLLOWING: ANTI-GRAVITY, ANTI-MATTER, ANTI-ENERGY, ETC.

WE HAVE GREATED ANTI-MATTER IN A LAB, FOR EXAMPLE

WE HAVE CREATED MANY EXOTIC PHYSICS IN A LAB, SUCH AS QUANTUM ENTAGLEMENT

QUANTUM ENTAGLEMENT IS A SINGLE PARTICLE THAT CAN BE AT TWO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS AT THE SAME TIME AND ACT IN UNISON

THERE IS NO TRANSMISSION OF DATA AMONG THE PARTICLES

THEY ARE SIMPLY "ONE", BUT YET THEY ARE AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

CONFUSED, THEN YOU HAVE UNDERSTOOD QUANTUM MECHANICS... IT IS CONFUSING, BUT WE USE QUANTUM PRINCIPLES FOR VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING (I.E. ALL ELECTRONICS)

I HAVE BROUGHT UP THESE PHYSICS EXAMPLES BECAUSE AS STRANGE AS THEY MAY APPEAR, WE HAVE MANAGED TO MAKE CONCLUSIVE OBSERVATIONS AND TESTS ABOUT THESE STRANGE PHYSICS

WE HAVE MADE PROGRESS USING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS TO UNDERSTAND PHYSICS

BUT FOR THE MOST PART, WE ARE CONGNITIVELY SHUT OFF FROM ALL-UNDERSTANDING PHSYICS

IF WE CANNOT TEST AN OPEN SYSTEM, A CLOSED SYSTEM, OR ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER, THEY ARE BEYOND OUR COGNTIVE UNDERSTANDING AND BEYOND OUR PHYSICAL REALM... EVEN IF WHAT WE DO KNOW IS A SHRED OF EVIDENCE AND UNDERSTANDING

NOW, ANTI ENERGY OR ANTI ENTITIES CAN HAVE AN EFFECT ON US IF THEY WERE TO SUDDENTLY CROP UP ON US

THERE ARE MANY UN-NATURAL AND UNUSUAL ENERGIES THAT MAY CROP UP IN OUR PHYSICAL REALM FOR A SPLIT SECOND OR MORE

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE (SOURCE: QUANTUM MECHANICS)

BUT AS A WHOLE, THEY ARE NOT PART OF OUR PHYSICAL REALM

WE DID NOT EVOLVE FROM NEGATIVE ENERGY, ANTI MATTER OR OTHER STRANGE PHYSICS

OUR BIOLOGICAL DESIGN IS NOT MADE UP OF STUFF STEMMING FROM EXOTIC ENERGIES

WHEN THESE STRANGE AND SPOOKY ENERGIES CROP UP, THEY WOULD PROBABLY HAVE AN EFFECT ON US

WHAT THE EFFECT MIGHT BE - WHO KNOWS

HOWEVER, SHOULD A FORCE OF NEGATIVE ENERGY SUDDENLY FALL UPON US FOR A SPLIT SECOND OR MORE, SCIENTIST WOULD THINK IN THE QUANTUM REALM AND THAT IT IS ONLY AN ENERGY ON A SHORT VISIT, THEY ARE ANOMALY, AN ACCEPTED PROBABILITY (QUANTUM PHSYICS), AND THEY WILL GO ABOUT THEIR MERRY WAY AND LEAVE

ON THE OTHER HAND, THEOLOGIAN WILL INTERPRET THIS AS A DEMON MANIFESTATION

DEMONS DO NOT FALL IN THE CATEGORY OF SCIENCE AND PHYSICS

DEMONS ARE THE STUFF OF MAN

WE HAVE NEVER SEEN A BIBLICALLY DESCRIBED DEMON UNDER A MISCROSOPE

WE HAVE NEVER OBSERVED A DEMON IN A LAB

DEMONS FALLS UNDER THE CATEGORY OF NON-REALISM

DEMONS ARE SO HIGHLY UNUSUAL AND SO UNREALISTIC IN NATURE AND IN PHSYICS THAT WE UNDERSTAND HIGH BROW, PSEUDO, AND FRINGE PHSYICS MORE THAN WE CAN UNDERSTAND DEMONS

IF THEY ARE REAL, THEN THEY ARE BEYOND OUR SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING AND NOT PART OF OUR NATURAL AND PHYSICAL DIMENSION

BUT THEN AGAIN, THE EXCUSE ALWAYS GIVEN, SCIENCE CANNOT EXPLAIN SPIRITUALITY

IF ONE WISHES TO ENTERTAIN THE THOUGHT THAT DEMONS DO EXIST BUT CANNOT BE EXPLAINED BY SCIENCE, THEN THEY ARE MAKING OBSERVATIONS THAT ARE BEYOND OUR DIMENSIONS

IF SCIENTISTS AND THEORETICAL PHYSICISTS CANNOT CROSS OVER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON IN OTHER DIMENSIONS, THEOLOGIANS DO NOT HAVE A CHANCE IN HELL EITHER (NO PUN INTENDED)

IF ONE UNDERSTANDS, BELIEVES, AND CAN PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF DEMONS USING ESTABLISHED SCIENTIFIC METHODS WITHIN OUR DIMENSION, I WELCOME THEIR OBSERVATION

NO ONE UNDERSTANDS BEYOND OUR RESEARCHED AND TESTED PHYSICAL REALM

THEOLOGIAN, WHO DO NOT ASCRIBE TO THEORETICAL PHSYICS AND WHO CONDUCT RESEARCH STEMMING FROM THEIR GUT FEELINGS RATHER THAN SCIENTIFIC METHODS, THINK THEY ARE ABOVE IT ALL

AND ITS THEIR PERSONAL AND ISOLATED EXPERIENCES THAT RULES IN CONSTRAST TO MILLIONS OF CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS

THIS IS NOT RATIONAL

THANK YOU

Love is the power to healing everything...Elisabeth - Colin Bloy

Evil isnt a person,place or thing. It is an abscence of something therefore not a real entity.

I just cant believe that the all mind would somehow share its power with another entity,and an evil one at that.There can only be one God,one creative spirit, in fact really theres only spirit,the originating one which were all part of and have a share in.

We are all literally "IN" the Father.The Father is literally "IN" us.

How could an inherantly and completely evil entity live inside the Father?

I dont care how many times Satan is mentioned in the bible ( and its actually not as often as people would think,especially in the old testemant) Its just not possible for that to exist.

But im sure there are many who believe Satan does exist,indeed some of my eveangelical friends and family seem to respect him and his powers almost as much as they do Gods!

Graham

Excerpt from "Ithaka" by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafi:

"The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you."

I posted the complete poem on my profile.

I don't believe in "evil" as something separate. I believe we're all capable of great evil and great good depending on the choices we make. In my life, I've had good people committing great evil for the supposed greater good! I've also had evil doers doing great good! I love them all and have learned not to judge them and that two wrongs don't make a right.

As far as Satan is concerned, he is most definitely needed the same way I have to constantly threaten my stubborn 6 year old of her dad finding out what she's up to (usually something that puts her in grave danger of breaking her neck!) The threat of her dad clapping her behind is the only thing that stops her from fully experiencing herself!So, for all the young stubborn souls determined on fully experiencing themselves in the world around them before they're ready to understand the ramifications of their actions, Satan is a great "boogie-man" as you call it!

It is funny because we've been brought up as atheists and my mom's threat was that the "mongol" would come and take us! And yes, it worked up to the time we found out the meaning of the word and how far away is Mongolia!

Thank you, namaste

negative and positive exist. and eventually you will make that choice. once that choice is make something will be given to you. experience and enjoy.

The Word of God is light(Psalm 119:105),

Whether there is a Devil or not, he only has the power over you that you give him. Many people glorify the devil every time they say, "The devil made me do it." Whether the devil is real or not, he is real to those who believe that he is real. And in that reality, the more attention, credit, glory, etc... that is given to him, the bigger and the greater he becomes. Even wher the devil is concerned, we have a choice to submit to temptation, or to submit to God.

Well the Bible teaches that evil do exist, but we must be careful not place our mind on it, in other words, not to believe in it, and not to practice it. So I guess we do have a choice in the matter, and it is up to us to decide and choose how to come against the enemy, and evil in the name of Jesus Christ.

As you know good shall always over come evil in the name of Jesus Christ!