One argument that has been forwarded against the historicity of the Book of Mormon relates to its demonology; according to a number of critics, the presence of demons ("devils") and an external, supernatural Satan has been deemed as anachronistic. I have dealt with this argument elsewhere. However, I wish to highlight an important article by Dr. Michael Heiser, "Does Deuteronomy 32:17 Assume or Deny the Reality of Other Gods?" The text in question reads as follows:
They sacrificed to demons, not God, to deities they had never known, to new ones recently arrived, whom your ancestors had not feared. (NRSV)
Some translations try to downplay the theological significance of this verse (i.e., the Israelite acceptance of the ontological existence of these supernatural evil beings), evidenced by the 1985 JPS Tanakh:
They sacrificed to demons, no-gods, Gods they had never known, new ones, who came but lately, who stirred not your fathers' fears.
While the entire article should be read, Heiser shows that the authors/redactors of Deuteronomy accepted the ontological existence of these "demons," Heiser concludes that:
[T]he passage assumes the reality of the other gods as demonic spiritual entities. This rendering and its result are internally consistent with other statements in Deuteronomy where YHWH disinherits the nations to the governance of lesser gods who are qualitatively and ontologically inferior to YHWH.
(Do note that Heiser tries to sneak in "species uniqueness" to Yahweh (something refuted by Blake Ostler [Of God and Gods] and David Bokovoy))
This is another refutation of the claim that the demonology of the Book of Mormon is anachronistic.
