Q: #228. Can Satan (or his demons) create things or take on human form?
A: No, he cannot. This is a common misconception amongst a number of Christians that has no Biblical basis, and really should be refuted.
Satan is a created angel who was kicked out of Heaven. Most believe he was named Lucifer, who was kicked out because of pride (Ezek 28:12-19) and wanting to become like God (Isa 14:12-15). Based on (Rev 12:3-4,7-9), it appears that one-third of the other angels that God created fell with him. These are Satan’s angels/demons. These created angels are spirit by nature (Heb 1:14) and invisible (2 Kin 6:16-17)(Num 22:22-31). God is also spirit (Jn 4:24), and invisible (Col 1:15)(1 Tim 1:17)(Heb 11:27). Jesus said that a spirit is not made up of flesh and bone (Lk 24:39)(Mt 16:17).
God did give HIS angels human form in several places in the Bible (Heb 13:2)(Gen 18:1-16)(Lk 24:4), but nowhere is it shown in the Bible that angels/demons took on or can take on human form.
Having said this, it is important to understand that Satan and his angels/demons can clearly POSSESS people (non-Christians ONLY). This is shown in a number of places in the Bible (Lk 22:3)(Mk 7:25-30)(Lk 9:38-42). They can also possess animals (Mk 5:8-13)(Lk 8:32-33)(Mt 8:30-32), and I believe Satan possessed the snake in the Garden of Eden that tempted Eve into committing the first sin (Gen 3:1-15).
Because neither Satan nor his angels/demons can take on human form, and do not have physical bodies, they can ONLY manipulate what God has already created, and cannot create something from nothing. There used to be an old commercial that said, “We don’t make the things you buy, we make the things you buy better.” In describing Satan’s power, we might rephrase this, saying, “He doesn’t make things, he makes the things (God) created worse.” He can take the people God created and possess them, he can take the people God created and make them sick (Lk 13:16)(2 Cor 12:7)(Acts 10:38), I believe he can sometimes take the weather God has created and manipulate it to cause disaster (Q: #203), among other things.
Therefore, neither Satan, nor his demons, can do such things as put blood on a person’s shirt (something I heard which prompted writing this study), they cannot write on walls (such as God did with Belshazzar in Dan 5:5,23-24)) or mirrors, bite people, or appear as monsters in your child’s room (as a popular Christian author teaches), nor can they beat people up. Demons can do these kinds of things THROUGH others who they possess, but they cannot do them personally because they are spirit by nature and invisible, and cannot create a body to do these things.
Satan can and does counterfeit many things that God does (See: Q: #34), but he can only imitate, not create.
*** Note: It is also for this reason that I do not believe angels mated with, and married human women in (Gen 6:1-4)(See: Q: #140). The question could also be asked that if angels COULD have done this in the past, why couldn’t they do it today?