Читать книгу Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside - Brad Steiger - Страница 67

Demons are inhabitants from another dimension, another plane of being. They have never been angels and they have never been human—although they may adapt the trappings of a ghost of a dearly departed one if it will serve their ultimate purpose—which is to prey upon the human soul.

Demons are the ultimate shape-shifters, for they can manifest in any form they choose. They are unlikely to appear as slit-eyed, reptilian monsters, however, for then they would be easily recognized as evil-doers. They are more likely to appear to their potential victims in as an attractive, seductive, and alluring a manner as possible.

The main task of demons is to disseminate errors among humankind and to deceive mortals into committing evil deeds, which, in turn, “feeds” them. The Middle Ages in Europe was a devil-infested period, and perhaps the demon horde’s greatest accomplishment lay in deceiving officials of the Church that there were millions of witches, werewolves, vampires, and other shape-shifters that required the torture chamber and deserved death by burning at the stake.

Demons are inhabitants from another dimension, another plane of being. They have never been angels and they have never been human (art by Ricardo Pustanio).

Throughout the centuries, the wisest priests among their flocks have acknowledged that it is very difficult to develop an adequate litmus test that will unfailingly distinguish between good angels and bad ones. Unless one is pure in heart, mind, and soul, it is an exceedingly complex task to discern accurately the true nature of spirits. It is generally known that good spirits will never attempt to interfere with our free will or possess our physical body. And, on the other hand, it is acknowledged that demons, the evil ones, desire the physical body of the human. In fact, they must have it in order to experience earthly pleasures and to work spiritual harm against other humans.