Demons and Fallen Angels Are Not the Same Thing

Are demons and fallen angels the same thing? Here’s another question that may sound strange but is actually very closely connected: What if every demon Jesus confronted, every unclean spirit cast out by the apostles, and every demonic power operating on the earth today came from only ten percent of the spirits that were once present on the Earth with us?

According to Jubilees chapter 10, that’s exactly what happened. After the Flood, Noah prayed because evil spirits were attacking and misleading his descendants. God responded by ordering those spirits to be bound. Then Mastema, who I believe is probably another name or title for Satan, asked God to leave some of them under his authority. God permitted him to keep one-tenth while the other nine-tenths were sent into a place of condemnation.

My belief is that those bound spirits are the same beings who are released when the abyss opens in Revelation chapter 9. If that reading is correct, all the demonic activity recorded throughout history, including every demon Jesus encountered in the Gospels, came from the smaller group Mastema was allowed to keep.

This idea might be new to the majority of you and we’re going to walk through it carefully because several different groups are involved. Christians often use the words demons and fallen angels as if they mean the same thing. I don’t believe they do. They have different origins, they behave differently, and the ancient sources describe them receiving different punishments. Once we sort that out, the fear demons showed toward the abyss starts making a lot more sense. It also gives us a way to understand what John saw coming out of that abyss in Revelation 9.