Since the beginning of humanity, demons have been hell-bent on leading us to eternal damnation.
Satan is not alone in his mission to destroy humanity. He is accompanied by demons — evil spirits whose primary mission is to disrupt the purpose of our lives and take us away from God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that, “The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: ‘The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.’ Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels. This ‘fall’ consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign” (CCC 391-392).
The book of Revelation is seen to support this notion that Satan was not alone in his rebellion against God.
Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it. (Revelation 12:7-9)
Prior to these verses the author writes how the dragon’s “tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth” (Revelation 12:4). This is often interpreted as referring to a “third” of the angels in heaven joined Satan’s rebellion.
It is generally believed that there is a vast number of angels in Heaven, a number difficult for the human mind to fathom. With this in mind, the number of fallen angels cannot be thought small and this is one reason why Satan’s influence is spread throughout the world.
Since this initial fall at the beginning of creation, Satan and his demons have had humans in their crosshairs. The book of Revelation again reveals how, “the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus” (Revelation 12:17).
Humans are the pearl of God’s creation and Satan wants to do all that is in his power to destroy that pearl. This means tempting us to essentially destroy ourselves, making wrong choices that create a spirit of rebellion in our hearts. His endgame is to have us fully reject God, joining him in his eternal misery.
The good news is that demons do not have infinite power and are technically quite harmless to a soul in union with God. They can do nothing but try to frighten us, while we can invoke God’s power to cast them out of our lives. They are powerless when compared to the majesty and glory of God.
Demons can certainly wreak havoc on our world, but only if we cooperate with them. In truth they are cowards, separated from God by their foolish choice.
