Evil spirits illustrate the nature and fate of moral evil: see _Mat 8:29_—“_art thou come hither to torment us before the time?_” _25:41_—“_eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels_”; _2 Thess. 2:8_—“_then shall be revealed the lawless one_”; _James 2:19_—“_the demons also believe, and shudder_”; _Rev. 12:9, 12_—“_the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world ... the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time_”; _20:10_—“_cast into the lake of fire ... tormented day and night for ever and ever._” It is an interesting question whether Scripture recognizes any special connection of evil spirits with the systems of idolatry, witchcraft, and spiritualism which burden the world. _1 Cor. 10:20_—“_the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God_”; _2 Thess. 2:9_—“_the working of Satan with all power and signs of lying wonders_”—would seem to favor an affirmative answer. But _1 Cor. 8:4_—“_concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world_”—seems to favor a negative answer. This last may, however, mean that “the beings whom the idols are designed to _represent_ have no existence, although it is afterwards shown (_10:20_) that there are _other_ beings connected with false worship” (Ann. Par. Bible, _in loco_). “Heathenism is the reign of the devil” (Meyer), and while the heathen think themselves to be sacrificing to Jupiter or Venus, they are really “_sacrificing to demons_,” and are thus furthering the plans of a malignant spirit who uses these forms of false religion as a means of enslaving their souls. In like manner, the network of influences which support the papacy, spiritualism, modern unbelief, is difficult of explanation, unless we believe in a superhuman intelligence which organizes these forces against God. In these, as well as in heathen religions, there are facts inexplicable upon merely natural principles of disease and delusion. Nevius, Demon-Possession, 294—“Paul teaches that the gods mentioned under different names are imaginary and non-existent; but that, behind and in connection with these gods, there are demons who make use of idolatry to draw men away from God; and it is to these that the heathen are unconsciously rendering obedience and service.... It is most reasonable to believe that the sufferings of people bewitched were caused by the devil, not by the so-called witches. Let us substitute ‘devilcraft’ for ‘witchcraft.’... Had the courts in Salem proceeded on the Scriptural presumption that the testimony of those under the control of evil spirits would, in the nature of the case, be false, such a thing as the Salem tragedy would never have been known.”