ANGELS & DEMONS

The Western religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
have
all accepted the belief that there is, between God and
mankind, a class of
intermediary beings called angels. The word angel
comes from the Greek word
angelos, meaning "messenger." Angels are
considered to be bodiless minds or
spirits who perform various
services for God or for people on God's behalf.


Angels are good spirits. They have their counterpart in demons, or
evil
spirits. The word demon is derived from the Greek word daimon,
meaning
basically any supernatural being or spirit. Belief in spirits
of all kinds was
quite prevalent in the ancient world. But when
Christianity appeared, nearly
2,000 years ago, it condemned belief in
such spirits and assigned them the
name demon. Ever since, demons have
been thought of as evil spirits.

The
origins of belief in angels and demons can be traced to the
ancient Persian
religion of Zoroastrianism. Followers of the prophet
Zoroaster believed that
there were two supreme beings, one good and
the other evil. The good one,
Ahura Mazda, was served by angels; the
evil one, Ahriman, had demon helpers.
Zoroastrians referred to demons
as daevas, hence the word devil. Belief in
good and evil spirits
worked its way into Judaism and later into the religions
of
Christianity and Islam.

Angels are frequently mentioned in the Bible,
mostly in the role of
messengers from God to mankind. Their appearances on
Earth seem to
have been in human form. In the Old Testament books of Job,
Ezekiel,
and Daniel, as well as in the Apocryphal book of Tobit, angels play

significant roles. In the Book of Job the leading demon, Satan, is
also
introduced. But it is not until the New Testament that Satan is
portrayed,
under the name Lucifer, as the first of the fallen
angels--the angels that
rebelled against God.

In the New Testament, angels are present at all the
important events
in the life of Jesus, from his birth to the Resurrection. In
the very
dramatic Book of Revelation, angels are portrayed as the agents of
God
in bringing judgment upon the world. Other New Testament writers also

speak of angels. St. Paul especially takes note of them by assigning
them
ranks. He lists seven groups: angels, archangels, principalities,
powers,
virtues, dominions, and thrones. The Old Testament had spoken
of only two
orders: cherubim and seraphim. Early Christianity accepted
all nine ranks and
in the course of time developed extensive doctrines
about both angels and
demons. The latter were conceived of as Satan's
legions, sent out to lure
mankind away from belief in God. Angels and
demons play similar roles in Islam
and are often mentioned in its holy
book, the Koran.

Belief in supernatural
spirits has not been limited to the major
Western religions. In the
preliterate societies of Africa, Oceania,
Asia, and the Americas, spirits were
thought to inhabit the whole
natural world. These spirits could act either for
good or
for evil, and so there was no division between them as there has
been
between angels and demons. The power of these spirits is called
mana, which
can be either helpful or hurtful to people.

Fascination with angels and demons
has led to their frequent depiction
in works of art and literature. The
paintings, stained glass, mosaics,
and sculptures of the Middle Ages and
Renaissance are especially
replete with figures of both. In John Milton's long
poem 'Paradise
Lost' (1667), Satan himself is a main character; and the
angels
Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael play prominent roles. In Dante's
'Divine
Comedy' (1321?) angels appear as both messengers and guardians, and

Satan is vividly portrayed frozen in a block of ice.

Rixter
telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23
http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080

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