It may seem strange to argue that aliens are demons. We may be used to Christians talking about whether they believe in aliens, reading books like UFOs and the Christian Worldview to consider what they should believe. But bringing demons into the discussion makes it even weirder.
Does the Bible tell us anything about aliens and whether demons may be connected to them? Let’s explore what the Bible says about spiritual and extraterrestrial life.
Does the Bible Ever Talk about Aliens Posing as Demons?
The short and simple answer to this question is no. The Bible never explicitly mentions any event that is clearly aliens appearing on this planet, much less argue that the event was demons playing at being aliens the entire time.
However, just because the Bible never mentions an alien encounter may not necessarily prove aliens don’t exist. One of the curious but important things to remember about the Bible is that it does not answer every question we want to know. It answers everything we need to know. There are many topics (like what exact date Jesus will return on, who Cain was married to) that the Bible doesn’t answer outright.
The Bible does offer a cosmology, a vision of how creation and spiritual beings fit together, which is more complicated than we may think. If we are going to understand what the Bible does say about demons and deception and what those ideas mean for our discussions about aliens, we need to look at this larger picture.
What Does the Bible Say about Demons and Other Spiritual Beings?
While the Bible’s narrative focuses on creation (humans being created, how God relates to them), it also mentions several different kinds of spiritual beings.
Most obviously, it mentions angels, beings who serve God as messengers and occasionally as protectors or warriors (like Gabriel speaking to Mary). It also mentions demons or unclean spirits, beings who defy God by harming humans. Based on passages like John’s vision of angels and a dragon fighting in heaven in Revelation 12, many theologians have concluded that demons were originally angels and rebelled against God.
There are also hints of other beings in Scripture. Genesis 6:4 mentions “the Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” Scholars debate whether “sons of God” was a common term for pagan chieftains (lots of ancient rulers claimed to be sons of gods) or children from demon-human relationships. Some believe that the groups of giants mentioned later in the Old Testament (the Anakim that Moses’s spies meet in Canaan, the giants that David and other Israelites fight) could be descended from the Nephilim.
The Bible also refers various times to ancient pagan societies that believed many gods existed, usually claiming that each god was connected to a particular territory. For example, when Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant and disasters follow, they conclude they have angered “the god of Israel” and “his power is against us and against our god Dagon” (1 Samuel 5:7). Meaning, they think Dagon has power, but that they have now met a more powerful god from another territory who Dagon can’t stop. This is polytheism, a belief in many gods, as opposed to monotheism, the belief in one god. While the Bible describes polytheistic cultures, it also affirms that there is only one god, so all pagan gods are either fake or malicious spirits deceiving people.
To sum all this information up, the Bible does affirm that there are more beings in the material and spiritual realm than just us and God. However, aliens are usually understood to fit into yet another category: not demons, not angels, not demon-human offspring, nor demons pretending to be gods.
While definitions vary, when most people discuss aliens, they mean created beings on other planets who have traits traditionally believed to be human-only traits. Scientists debate what sets humans apart from other creatures on earth, but the definition usually involves having self-awareness and rationality—the things we often associate with having a soul. Finding something like bacteria on another planet may be “proof of extraterrestrial life,” but most people’s concern is whether we will ever find life on another planet that could have a soul. If so, that would raise interesting questions for what it means to be made in God’s image, to be saved. Perhaps alien life would even raise questions for what it means to evangelize the lost. For more on this point, check out the article “What Does the Bible Say about Aliens?”
Even though the Bible does not mention UFOs and aliens appearing among us, it does offer some warnings about demons that may apply when we discuss aliens.
Does the Bible Talk about Demons Posing as Other Creatures?
One of the Bible’s clearest warnings about demons (and the devil, their leader) is to watch out for deception.
Jesus warns in John 8:44 that the devil was a liar from the beginning. Paul warns readers in Galatians 1 to watch out for spirits, including ones that claim to be angels, that appear to Christians and claim to offer a new gospel.
Paul also tells Christians that while they don’t have to agonize about buying or eating food originally offered to pagan gods in ceremonies (1 Corinthians 8), they should avoid doing pagan ceremonies where they give offerings to those pagan gods (1 Corinthians 10). He warns that offerings made to pagan gods are effectively made to demons (1 Corinthians 10:19-20). As Christopher J.H. Wright explains in his book Here Are Your Gods, this is one important place where the Bible warns that demons sometimes appear in disguise.
The Bible also warns that demons have some powers that they can exercise. Stories about Jesus exorcising demons from children and adults describe those demons doing things to people they possess, such as causing convulsions. The story about Jesus in the Gerasenes reports that the man (or men) possessed by demons had supernatural strength and that the demons made a herd of pigs drown themselves.
Based on this information, we know that demons may appear disguised as other beings to people and may even exhibit power that appears to prove they are real. This is why various Christian teachers warn about being careful around not just pagan religions, but also around practices like tarot card readings or New Age ceremonies. The fact a spiritual being appears who shows power is not necessarily proof that the being (or system they are connected to) is good.
Given that demons want to impress people before they manipulate them, they will take whatever form people find harmless or powerful. In Paul’s period, when his readers were either Gentiles from polytheistic cultures (who revered various pagan gods) or Jews from monotheistic cultures (who revered God or angels), that meant appearing as other gods or spiritual beings. In today’s context, an increasingly post-Christian culture, that may mean posing as aliens.
Given this point, do we have any clear guidelines on how we could tell a demon and an alien apart?
How Can We Tell the Difference between Aliens and Demons?
As of this writing, no definitive proof exists that sentient life exists outside of Earth. Therefore, any discussion about how we can identify an alien, much less tell it apart from a demon, is inherently speculative. Granting that fact, we know two principles that can help us.
First, we have something we must do no matter what kind of being appears: avoid any offers of a “new gospel.” Paul’s warning in 1 Galatians about spirits appearing as angels stresses the need to see if otherworldly beings claim to offer a new gospel that contradicts what the completed Bible teaches. If a being appears who claims to be an alien from another planet and proclaims secret knowledge about “what really happened to Jesus,” we know to avoid it on principle. It may be a demon playing at being a demon. It may be an alien that has been deceived by a demon. Either way, we know the Bible warns that no one can add to its story (Revelation 22:18-19).
Second, we know that demons are spiritual beings without any bodies. Therefore, any evidence that aliens have bodies (even something as simple as being made of natural gases) would be good evidence that they are not demons. These bodies may look radically different from the bodies we have. For example, scientists currently believe the most likely other place in our solar system to hold life is Ganymede, a moon with water covered in ice that orbits Jupiter. If any alien life exists there, they would presumably look more like fish or aquatic plants than land mammals.
All this information leads us to an important question: does it matter? Should we worry about demons posing as aliens?
Should Christians Worry about Aliens Being Demons?
We are told clearly throughout the Bible that God is all-powerful and that, as his followers, we have nothing to fear. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:17, Christians have received a spirit of courage and self-discipline. Therefore, we know that whatever knowledge we receive about alien life in the future, whatever concerns we have about demons potentially deceiving people, we have divine guidance and aid we can draw on to give us confidence.
We also know one key reason not to worry: it implies we are focusing on this more than we are focusing on our main priority as Christians. As C.S. Lewis discusses in his article “Religion and Rocketry,” there are many things we do not know about what Christians should do if interplanetary travel occurred and aliens were found on other planets. Would they have sinful natures and require evangelism? Could they be sinless or have been reconciled already to God in some way? We simply do not know.
What we know is we are told to focus on reaching the lost and building up the church. We focus on what the Bible tells us outright to do, follow the gospel message as best we can, and treat other concerns as secondary or tertiary concerns.
Once we remember that Jesus and his message (that he saved us, that he calls us to follow him) are the center of our theology, we know how to frame conversations about aliens and demons. We may talk about them, but this is only a useful discussion if it doesn’t distract us from our main duty. The minute these speculations take more of our time or priorities than following Jesus, seeking to share his message with others and building the church up, we have a problem.
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