Most people are aware of the worship of demons and more specifically the worship of Satan. The word worship is being used in the sense of a religion based around the glorification of and service to the entity in question. I contend all religions apart from true Christianity are in fact demon worship. I will list here the major religions and how/why I think they connect to demonic activity. In my first part, "Demons Part I: A Biblical Framework" I listed most of my research sources.
1. Paganism
If you asked a random person on the street if demons were worshiped anywhere they would probably reply "sure, Africa." That would be a creepy questions to ask a random person on the street but for the sake of argument say you did. Africa has the unfortunate combination of incredibly rich natural resources and incredibly weak nationalism which has led to a viscous cycle suppressing much of their development. In Europe, the "tribes" were united under national flags and the resulting unity gave the people strength. The African tribes have no such desire, or have not so far, and therefore the nations are weak and the continent is marked by strife and blood. Paganism has be known to flourish in a tribal society. In this case, paganism is the belief in an active and primarily malicious spirit-world closely connected to humanity. It often includes child sacrifice, blood feuds, magic and deep superstitions rooted in real events that have been sensationalized through the practice of oral history. I don't expect it to be difficult to convince anyone that demons are a part of this. In Spirit of the Rainforest, narrator and former witch doctor "Jungleman" describes his relationship with the spirit-world in grotesque detail. He describes a "house" inside his chest, something I dare say we'd call a heart, where his spirits would live. He describes how a drug induced trance would allow him to communicate with them and even travel great distances with them to do harm to his enemies. He describes the horror he felt when he realized they were not his friends but instead were controlling him. He describes how chasing them off was only half the solution and that the Great Enemy Spirit (what the other spirits called God) had to come and send His Son to live in his "house" in his chest to protect him from the spirits. I highly recommend reading Ritchie's book if you plan on doing any missions work, it'll change your view of the forces we are up against.
Like I said, not a tough sell that Paganism is influenced by demonic activity. However, as I address other forms of religion, consider how the demons manifest in the Pagan system. They are guides to the "spiritual" leadership, witch doctors/wizards etc. They openly admit enmity with God and encourage their subjects to do the same. They are not bound by the rules of science.
2. Polytheism
Similar to paganism, often put in the same category, but there are several differences in my opinion. I am not including Hinduism here even though it is the most popular Polytheistic religion, it will get its own paragraph. In this category I am referring to the Canaanite, Egyptian, Greco/Roman, Norse and South American religious structures. While Pagans have "little friends" on their shoulders, Polytheists have gods to look up to and appease. The Roman gods are the most famous, Zeus and Co, but from Baal to Loki to Isis you've got demons. Molech, for instance, was a deity of Ammon that God specifically mentions in Leviticus for Israel to avoid. Go figure, Solomon built an altar to Molech and Jeremiah pronounced judgment on the worshipers of Molech. Why? Molech demanded child sacrifice. The description of Molech are very specific. God does not say "do not burn your children before the altar of Molech" He does not say "do not sacrifice your children in Molech's name" He says "do not let your children pass through the fire to Molech." Molech, and the other gods, are not considered non-entities in Scripture, they're considered non-gods. Molech is powerless to kill God's children but if they offer themselves to him that is when he gains power. A modern scholar may suggest that this language is merely ancient-near-eastern and that the original author would have understood the Ammorite god to be a being but we are free from the cultural bias and understand him as a figment of the Ammorite imagination. This is a lazy approach in my opinion. The argument, that the idol being worshiped is just wood and can do nothing for the Israelites, that Isaiah uses still stands. The idols are what the people trusted in which is fruitless and as Isaiah says completely insane. They had built those idols, how could they have power? However, I believe Isaiah would have used a different tact when referring to who/what the idols represented. Molech was an evil power that had convinced the Ammorites to kill their own children. Molech was/is a demon. So next time you read about Zeus and watch Thor consider the original stories, most of which are born out of real events and have a real being trying to get a certain message across. I did like Thor though, cool movie.
3. Hinduism
The oldest world religion, if you're reading a secular history, was founded in India sometime c.3000 BC. A word religion has a particular culture/set of teachings which has been adopted on a global scale. Not many people would say Hindus are demon worshipers. Unfortunately, not many people know what Hindus believe. 30,000,000 gods and goddesses is the most famous aspect of Hinduism, but they are not merely Polytheists. These gods (to be simple and of course chauvinistic I'll just say gods for gods and goddesses from now on) are almost pantheistic and at the same time almost humanistic. Placing the Hindu belief system into words is extremely difficult. Try talking to one, you get very little a western modernist can easily understand. I say the gods are pantheistic-ish because all things can be and in some Hindus' minds have a god attached to them. However, the thing is not the god, like a Pantheist would say, but instead the thing has a deity which is of it and for it. Kinda like how a Catholic Saint would be "the Saint of lost wallets" or something. They are also humanistic-ish because you and I can just create a god for a new thing. More or less. When computers showed up, I'm sure devout Hindus began believing in ___________ the god of computers. They are fully aware they have "imagined" him but they are not worshiping a being they are worshiping to fulfill their inner desire to worship and to reach the great soul and escape the cycle of reincarnation from the suffering and pain of this world. So where do demons fit in? A practice common among Hindus which has branched off into its own religion of sorts in the west called Transcendental Meditation is eerily similar to the trance Jungleman describes in Spirits. It is a centering of oneself which calms the mind and opens the soul to the guidance of the inner spirits. Demons. I have a book called The Spirit sent to guide us which I picked up figuring it was about the Holy Spirit. Nope, it could be naively read as a treatise on the conscience but a careful reading reveals the truth. Demon guides which can be used "to find peace and happiness in this life and the next." Listen to Linkin Park's song Blackout from their album Ten Thousand Suns (I must interject with an explicit content warning for both album and song). The first 2+ min Chester screams about his anger and frustration in his life. Then, with a brilliant musical shift, finds a peaceful eye-of-the-storm like place and gives his "inner voices" the credit. I say its Hinduism and by extension demon worship.
Wow, that was more words then I expected. Guess we'll be amending to at least a 4 part series on demons and next time we'll hit up a few more religions.
Braves have won 4 straight, looking good again. Teheran with a dominant 8 1/3 shutout innings against Minnesota yesterday. The injury bug has decimated our bullpen with Venters and O'Flaherty, our two best lefties, out for the season with Tommy John surgeries, Walden and Martinez on the DL with shoulder problems and Luis Ayala on the DL for acute anxiety disorder which is typically extremely dangerous. Despite that we still have a top 5 bullpen in the NL with top Closer Craig Kimbrel, effective southpaw Luis Avilan and young but talented righties Cory Gearrin and Anthony Vavarro (David Carpenter and Cory Rasmus, both right handed rookies, fill out the last spots).
Being a Braves fan rocks the socks.
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