So, with that in mind, let's talk about demons.

By church tradition, demons are explained to us as "fallen angels". Now given the sequence of hypothesis I've just gone through, that assertion does make sense. Here is where we get a monkey wrench thrown in the works though, since "evil" (or calamity) and "spirit" can carry a wide variety of meanings.

"Evil" and "spirit" can be as benign as "Tom has a sorrowful spirit because his mother died." Now that context is pretty understandable and most would not imply (under normal circumstances) that Tom is possessed by devils. On the other end of the spectrum though, we have people who commit heinous crimes are often seen as "possessed by The Devil". The third monkey wrench that gets thrown in here also though, is that there are times when terminology of "evil spirit" is used to describe something we'd label as a medical condition now; such as epilepsy or cerebral palsy.

Some aspect of "evil spirits" might be well explained by what psychology deems as "addiction model" today. Alcoholism, sexual abuse, domestic violence and other dysfunctional family systems are often seen as having their own "accompanying demons"; which could be labeled as traits of personality that are easily identifiable of the roles people play in those systems. Is this just a nuance of Scriptural language used prior to the advent of psychological labels to pin on these behaviors? That could be; but it could also entail external non-carbon influences exerted on a human soul. I think the "real world" (and wisest) answer to this is "either" and "both".

Now, let's do some comparing and contrasting here as to "possibilities" of "different types of demons". We know the Scriptures name different types of angels. There are Seraphim and Cherubim, beasts and other types of creatures that seem to have their parallel in the system of species of carbon-based life forms. There appear to be more types of demons and evil spirits than there are types of angels named; but I think some of that is nuance of language description.

As mentioned before we have:

"emotion / spirits"

"medical / spirits"

"addiction / spirits"

Along with the possible variety of non-carbon based life form "fallen angelic spirits"

Now the first "emotion / medical / addiction" seem to be born out of some aspect of a person's carbon-based being. Emotions are linked to brain chemicals and medical conditions can affect behavior. Addictive behavior can be driven by either emotions / medical issues, both or "other". These "evil spirits" are "self limiting" to the individual whom they "possess". All of these which can be dealt with to varying degrees, with behavior modification and/or medical intervention. They exist like parasites which "die" with the "host", or can be "passed on" either genetically (medical problems) and / or in a dysfunctional behavioral system outside of the "host". They are also capable of being discarded by the "host", which for all intent and purposes they "die" at that point. It's quite clear from Scripture that some "demons" or "evil spirits" fall into this type of category.

Now can a person be possessed by a non-carbon based fallen angelic spirit? According to traditional church understanding of the Scripture, that also appears to be the case.

Non-carbon based fallen angels and material manifestations:
Now assuming these types of demons are of the same non-carbon based life form as obedient angels, they would also be able to exercise an ability to manifest themselves in the physical world. If obedient angels can appear as human beings, it would be reasonable to conclude that so can disobedient angels.

Here's the clincher though. Since the canon of Scripture is closed and no additional revelation is coming to man through the Holy Spirit or angels, there would be no obedient angels manifesting themselves in carbon-based solid form any more. So, if God by decree has closed the door to obedient angels doing this, has He closed the door to demons doing this? I believe the answer to that question is yes and for a couple of reasons:

First – God is not going to allow certain ability to demonic forces that He is not exercising of His own obedient forces. The basic reasoning for this assertion is that the forces of Satan being thus defeated, would not be able to "force" God's hand in the exercise of powers they may have been given originally.

Secondly – God is not a god of confusion. When He "closed" the supernatural world, to the extent that He has, He is still pointing us to where the truth is. Just as supernatural wonders followed the believers to show forth where the truth was emanating from (as they were still penning the Scripture), once the canon was completed, that door closed until the day Christ returns.

Now what's one way that we know this? The Scripture does say that in the end times, the agents of evil will come performing "lying signs and wonders". Now of course we know Satan, or his cronies have never healed anyone. Not only is that antithetical to his nature, he can't. Healing, by the very definition of what it is, entails the power to "create". Satan can't "create" anything.

This of course brings to bear the question of what is "supernatural"? Now, I think would be a good time to make a distinction between a supernatural event and a Biblical miracle. If I go to the doctor, get some antibiotics and am "healed" of an infection that would have otherwise killed me. Is that a miracle? In a certain sense, we could say that it is, (it's certainly an act of God performed in His Divine providence) we might even say something is "supernatural"; but it's not a Biblical miracle.

What were Biblical miracles?

One thing I notice with Biblical events, is that they demonstrate some property of God's Divinity. There were creative miracles; (healing people, conception of the barren, the incarnation of Christ).

There were miracles that demonstrated God's power over the physics of the universe; (parting the sea, some of the plagues on Egypt, turning water into wine).

There were miracles that demonstrated God's sovereignty over time; (stopping the sun, raising the dead (which involves reversing entropy).

There were miracles that demonstrate His infinite power; (manna in the wilderness, multiplying loaves and fish).

Finally, there were miraculous events that demonstrated God's authority to pass judgment; (flooding the earth, the angel of death, the darkening of the sun and moon at the crucifixion). Prophecy that involved telling someone what would happen in the future, was a demonstration of God's omniscience.

These were not magician's tricks. They were not optical illusions. They weren't movie clips spliced together. They weren't computer animation. They were events that countered the natural laws that govern the universe. They were instantaneous. They were complete. They were verifiable. They were not subject to someone's arguable interpretation.

Compare this definition to that of a lying sign and wonder. Lying signs and wonders are performances that base the quality of their performance on the ability to deceive the witness. Today we understand them primarily as magic tricks. Sadly though, today anyone who claims a "Biblical miracle"; we are either looking at a "natural miracle" (someone getting well), a "case of mistaken identity" (something that is not verifiable - "I went to the doctor, he said I had cancer and now the tests are clean!"), or the person is flat out lying. I've yet to see a true verifiable miracle; like a group home full of profoundly mentally retarded individuals confined to wheelchairs is suddenly healed. Someone walks into St. Jude's Hospital and cures all the kids with cancer. Now those would be Biblical miracles and these indeed had equivalent events in past history. It was crowds of thousands who came to Jesus to both be healed and hear him preach. Just imagine the media ruckus that would surround him today if his first advent had been in our era.

Now, why do I make this point in a study about ghosts, why is it important?

To answer this, let's talk a bit about Harry Houdini. Most of us know Houdini was a magician and an escape artist. He was very good at his trade. One thing I'm not sure many know about Houdini is that he became involved in the "Spiritism" movement. I do not recall the circumstances of Harry Houdini's mother's death, but I do know he had a great desire to contact her. He went to many mediums and tried repeatedly to contact his mother. Finally, he got to the point where he was so disillusioned with the movement and disgusted with these people, that he presented a challenge. The challenge went along the lines of "I Harry Houdini will prove you are a fraud. If I can't prove you are a fraud. I will pay you X amount of money." Many lined up for the challenge initially, but as Houdini proved they were frauds, those willing to undergo the test, dwindled significantly. Now Harry set out to prove they were all frauds and this he did quite successfully. He could expose them all, because he knew every trick in the book. So, invariably Harry Houdini proved to the public something the Scriptures already tell us; that the unregenerate dead cannot communicate with the living.

So, since disembodied saints don't communicate with the living and the unregenerate dead can't; what of footage seen on shows like "Ghost Hunters", that portrays things like partial manifestations of human forms, or "shadow people"; (as they are often called, which are darkened forms that resemble humans).

Now some may argue that this is doctored footage and I will grant to those, that they may be correct. Personally, I'm not convinced it's all fake though. Now if partial manifestations of non-carbon based entities are what is indeed being captured on this footage, the only conclusion we could draw from Scripture; (in the time and place we are now) is that these entities would be demonic. The only reason they could partially manifest themselves, is that they have been denied the ability to "fully put on" a carbon molecular form. Of course being disobedient entities, being denied the ability, would not necessarily prevent them from trying and this is why I believe it's certainly possible that their efforts would be able to be recorded on tape.

"Evil Spirits" or "Non-carbon based fallen angels"?

Now another thing we know the Scriptures tell us about demons is that they are capable of "possessing" other life forms. How exactly they do that, I'm not sure; but we do have examples of this in Scripture. Their "favorite" host to "occupy" apparently are human beings, but they have been known to flee into animals.

And here is something I was pondering when the story of Balaam's donkey came to mind. (Numbers 22) Now here is an incident where this false prophet is riding a donkey. The animal veers to one side and than the other and Balaam begins beating her. (The donkey is doing this because she sees an angel in her path with a sword drawn.) Suddenly the donkey starts to talk to Balaam. Now of course this is interesting from a physiological vanish point, since donkeys don't have the cerebral cortex, or possibly even the vocal mechanism to be able to utilize human language. How did this donkey start talking than? Well, my theory is that she was possessed by another angelic being, which provided the venue to be able to translate her donkey thoughts into human speech.

Now of course the message she gave Balaam was significant to the story; but I think this could also be giving us some interesting information about the cognitive intelligence of animal life, as well as some of the possible capabilities of angels. I'd mentioned earlier that I believe animals have souls, they just aren't the same as human souls. A donkey articulating rather sophisticated thought processes is an intriguing thing; but so is the idea of an angel being the conduit thereof. If angels are "ministering spirits" who "give voice" to unspoken prayers, one acting in this capacity for this donkey does make sense. Now if that's what actually happened; I don't know? It is an intriguing hypothesis though.

So, continuing on with the theme of angelic beings and carbon-based animal life; there is an example in the gospels, where Jesus casts out a group of demons, who than request to go into a heard of swine and eventually run over a cliff and are destroyed in a body of water. This story, of course brings up a good question. Can demons be "put to death" in like manner as carbon-based life? These passages in Mark and Luke seem to indicate that is a possibility. The verb of "choking" in the sea is imperfect tense, indicating that the action of (their) choking took place at a particular point in time. It's not a continuous action indicating a continuous "under the wrath of God" at that specific time. Now of course this could be talking about the pigs choking, as it seems from Scripture that the natural life span of an angel is the duration of time as we understand it.

If we take a look though at two other passages (Mk 1:24 & Lk 4:34) it's quite clear here that devils can be put to death, for in these passages, it is these demons that are asking Jesus: "Are you come to destroy us?" In both gospels, Jesus tells these devils to hold their peace and "come out of him". Now the phrase "come out of" has an interesting nuance to it. It indicates point of origin. The next phrase "and he came out of him"; is of different nuance than the first. This phrase means "to come away from" (or off of).

So if in the case of these passages in Mark and Luke; if this devil's origin started with this individual, commencing at some point in the person's life, this would seem to indicate that devils (or certain types of devils as mentioned above) could very well be some byproduct / creation birthed out of human sin? So thus my a fore mentioned point about certain types of "devils" exist like parasites. They can not survive without a host organism, which could be why these certain ones cast out of a person requested to go into the swine? Of course this would indicate that these particular devils were separate entities from the host. None the less, there is not any other information given us about the nature of the "uncleanness" of these devils. The only clue we have is that this took place in the synagogue in Capernum. So it's possible that these demons were unclean in the sense of exercising false religion.

The other thing that is interesting about these devils is that they say to Jesus "Are you come to destroy us?" It's not clear from the language who the "us" is that they are referring to, although since the pronoun used is a personal pronoun, (referring to a specific identifiable person) the assumption is that they are also talking about the human host. Jesus's answer is interesting too because he never gives these devils a specific "yes" or "no" answer, only that he tells them to leave the person. In both passages they depart without causing the death of the human host. The question still remains though is what happened to these devils after they left the affected person? I don't have a definitive answer on that, but based on the nature of the question they asked Jesus; their departing very well may have caused their "death". This certainly appears to be the case for the devils who inhabited the swine.

Mental Illness and Demonic Possession?

Now looking at this passage about the demons going into the swine; we see they originally came out of a man who'd probably be classified as schizophrenic, or maybe DID (disassociative identity disorder) today. Is this passage teaching us that such types (or even all types) of mental illness are demonic in nature?

I know there are people who have come to that conclusion; although I would not be so quick to say that. Others have concluded that some people classified as "mentally ill", they believe are demon possessed, while others are not. I think that is a much fairer assessment. Although I would also point out that there are people who I'd say are demon possessed, who would not be classified with a psychiatric disorder under any diagnostic criteria. So though mental illness and demon possession appear to have some correlations, they are not mutually exclusive to one another.

The other factor that has made me "scratch my head" when it comes to people's theories of mental illness and demon possession; is what of cases successfully managed with medication? Reason would have it that an external entity that is influencing the thoughts and behaviors of a host, would not be controllable with anti-psychotics. So thus in a case like that, we'd have to conclude that the problem is an organic brain issue.

Another factor is that certain types of therapies have better success rates for particular psychiatric disorders than others. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is quite effective for things like PTSD and depression, since it is true that how we think about a subject most certainly can affect our mood. I think it's important to note though that therapies and medications are just tools to manage these issues and rarely "cure" anyone. This of course is another interesting nuance of the question of demon possession and mental illness. The "proverbial demons" that can be managed by good medical care and strong social supports, I would not classify as extra non-carbon based life forms who exert destructive influence on a host.

Demons and False Religion:

Now here is another subject to be circumspect about. Although it's easy to say that generally speaking, false religion has inherent in it's nature, Satanic influences; I think it's also wise to be humbly cautious of falsehoods that creep into our own thoughts and belief systems. I think it's part of our fallen nature to be easily deceived. Anyone who's been a Christian for any length of time can certainly see a progression in their growth in faith and recognition of truth from error.

The path of wisdom here is to be humble, as well as a diligent searcher for truth in the Scripture. This I think is the best way to keep oneself from following down silly bunny trails of self deception, even as we ask hard questions and ponder the difficult things to understand. I don't think the problem is in asking the questions. The problem comes when we think we know and we don't really. Some of these answers become apparent with more study and better understanding of the Scripture. Some answers make more sense with a better understanding of the natural world. God designed both and uses both. This is one of the reasons He tells us that the creation bears a testimony of its own.

Demons and Judgment:
The book of Revelation tells us that the devil and the beast are cast into the lake of fire. Making an assumption that Satan is a fallen angel, is where church tradition comes to the conclusion that fallen angels are also cast into the lake of fire, although the Scripture does not say that specifically. If church tradition is correct, than that is a reasonable conclusion to come to, although I can not say that I know for sure this is the case? Again though, this may be true for certain "types" of demons, but not for others. The "others" being the self limiting "evil spirits" who are "done away with" upon the part of the host's recovery process, or their death.

The question of devils being killed and also being cast into hades, where the unregenerate dead are also held (unheard and unseen) is also a possibility. We know the Scripture says that believers will judge angels, (1 Cor 6:3) so thus we also know they will face consequences for their actions. Of course this does not answer the question of whether or not they can be killed; but it seems a logical conclusion that they could be killed, since we know they are also subject to death.

Conclusion:

So here concludes this study; unless or until I think of something else? Questions, or other ideas to "chew on" are always welcome. I extend my thanks to those who have already contributed to such conversations. Thank you all for your interest in the subject material.