In some traditions, divinities can become demons.
The Teutonic gods demonized the Giants.[30]
Gnostic religions
See also: Demiurge § Gnosticism, and God as the Devil
A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en
figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge.
Gnostic and Gnostic-influenced religions postulate the idea that the material world is inherently evil.
The One true God is remote, beyond the material universe, therefore this universe must be
governed by an inferior imposter deity. This deity was identified with the deity of the Old Testament
by some sects, such as the Sethians and the Marcions. Tertullian accuses Marcion of Sinope, that
he
[held that] the Old Testament was a scandal to the faithful … and … accounted for it by postulating
[that Jehovah was] a secondary deity, a demiurgus, who was god, in a sense, but not the supreme
God; he was just, rigidly just, he had his good qualities, but he was not the good god, who was
Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.[31]
John Arendzen (1909) in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) mentions that Eusebius accused Apelles,
the 2nd-century AD Gnostic, of considering the Inspirer of Old Testament prophecies to be not a
god, but an evil angel.[32] These writings commonly refer to the Creator of the material world as
"a demiurgus"[31] to distinguish him from the One true God. Some texts, such as the Apocryphon of
John and On the Origin of the World, not only demonized the Creator God but also called him by the
name of the devil in some Jewish writings, Samael.[33]
Mandaeanism
According to Mandaean mythology, Ruha Qadishta fell apart from the "world of light" and gave birth
to the devil,[34] called "Lord of Darkness" (malka dhshuka)[35] or Ur. According to one tradition, Ur is an
androgyne lion-headed dragon with the wings of an eagle. Together they create several evil
demons, liliths and vampires. Ruha Qadishta is described as a liar and sorcerer.
Several Abrahamitic prophets are regarded as servants of these devils or their subordinates such
as Adonai, including Moses.[36] Jesus appears as another son of Ruha Qadishta and Ur, who
distorted the Baptism-ritual thought by John the Baptist.[37][38] Eventually Ruha will be rehabilitated and
return to the world of light.
Catharism
In the 12th century in Europe the Cathars, who were rooted in Gnosticism, dealt with the problem of
evil, and developed ideas of dualism and demonology. The Cathars were seen as a serious potential
challenge to the Catholic church of the time. The Cathars split into two camps. The first
is absolute dualism, which held that evil was completely separate from the good God, and that God
and the devil each had power. The second camp is mitigated dualism, which considers Lucifer to be
a son of God, and a brother to Christ. To explain this they used the parable of the prodigal son, with
Christ as the good soon, and Lucifer as the son that strayed into evilness. The Catholic Church
responded to dualism in AD 1215 in the Fourth Lateran Council, saying that God created everything
from nothing, and the devil was good when he was created, but he made himself bad by his own
free will.[39][40] In the Gospel of the Secret Supper, Lucifer, just as in prior Gnostic systems, appears as
a demiurge, who created the material world. [41]
Hinduism
Further information: Deva (Hinduism) and Demon § Hinduism
The earliest Hindu texts do not offer further explanations for evil, regarding evil as something natural.
[42]
However, later texts offer various explanations for evil. According to an explanation given by
the Brahmins, both demons and gods spoke truth and untruth, but the demons relinquished the truth
and the gods relinquished the untruth. [30] But both spirits are regarded as different aspects of one
supreme god. Even some fierce deities like Kali are not thought of as devils but just as darker
aspects of god[43] and may even manifest benevolence. [30]
