Abilities
Demonic supernatural powers are believed to include psychokinesis, levitation, divination, possession, ESP, telepathy, witchcraft, and curses, as well as superhuman strength, controlling the classical elements, animal control, and provocation. Demons use variants and combinations of these powers to harass, demoralize, confuse, and disorient the victim, or the willing subject of demonic interest. All of these attacks, as well as their effect or scope, can be nulled by God.
Demons are believed to have the power to physically or mentally hurt people, but only within the boundaries of what God will allow. Demons can destroy any material on the earth; these supernatural powers are always inferior to the power of God. God may use His will to cancel or destroy any effect the demon chooses to invoke. According to the gospels, Jesus also had full power over demons, and they always obeyed his commands when he told them what to do, as opposed to a more general sense in which demons only do that which God tells them to. Often Demons are said to create negative emotions, wreaking havoc, ensuing chaos, and disrupting peace.
Read more about this topic: Christian Demonology
Famous quotes containing the word abilities:
“We may not pay Satan reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents. A person who has for untold centuries maintained the imposing position of spiritual head of four-fifths of the human race, and political head of the whole of it, must be granted the possession of executive abilities of the loftiest order.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The art of using moderate abilities to good advantage is a way of stealing the esteem of others, and often brings a man into greater reputation than does real merit.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“At twenty you have many desires which hide the truth, but beyond forty there are only real and fragile truths—your abilities and your failings.”
—Gérard Depardieu (b. 1948)