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Who are Satan and his demons?

                           

                                   Renette Vermeulen                                          

 

    

[Acknowledgement to the person who published this image]

 

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Content 

· Who is Lucifer the devil, “son of the morning?”

· “How have you fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning!” 

· Is it possible that God created the devil to be evil? 

· Hell was made for the devil and his angels, not for humanity 

· What is hell really like according to Jesus Creator God Himself? 

· What about purgatory, soul sleep, reincarnation, and annihilation? 

· Was paradise moved to heaven with the Tree of Life? 

· Why was the Tree of Life planted in the garden but now we find it in heaven? 

· Where is Hades, Sheol, and Gehenna? 

· Jesus’ teaching on hell opposed that of the Sadducees and Pharisees 

· Where is “the bosom of Abraham?” (Lu. 16:19-31.) 

· How will Jesus judge those who never heard the Gospel? 

· Did Jesus go to hell, where He was tortured by demons to atone ‘more fully’ for humanity? 

· Did Jesus preach the Gospel to human spirits and demons in “prison” and took them to heaven?” 

 

The Following is, in part, an Extract of the Free Book, Relationship Versus Religion 

Relating articles:  Are the supernatural angels of God real and who are they?  Extra Scriptural Revelations of Heaven and Hell

 

WHO IS LUCIFER THE DEVIL, “SON OF THE MORNING?” 

Jesus, the Son of God Who became a Man, is Almighty God Himself.  Although Christians say He is “merely the Mighty God” not “the Almighty God,” the Book of Revelation clearly states that Jesus Is the Almighty God, (Rev. 1:7-8; 4:8; 15:3; 16:5-7.) 

He declared triumphantly, “[I Am] coming [bodily Col. 2:9] with clouds… [The “clouds of heaven,” Dan. 7:13.]  As “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight, the same Jesus will so return in like manner as you saw Him go [bodily] into heaven,” (Acts 1:9-11.)  And every eye will see [Me return,] even they who pierced Me…  I Am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End… Who Is, Was, and Is to Come, the Almighty…  I Am He Who lives and was dead… and I Am alive forevermore. I have the keys of Hades [the grave or abode of the dead,] and of Death…” (Rev. 1:7-19.) 

Jesus is also the Creator God.  “Without Him nothing came into being that exists,” (Heb. 1:1-14.)  Thus, He also created Lucifer as a perfect, free-willed, holy angel, “an anointed cherub who covers,” and ruled most successfully in pre-Adam Eden on earth, (Ezk. 28:13; Isa. 14:9-12.)  Lucifer was a most important, high-ranking angel in charge of bringing light.  Thus, he was also called “the morning star” [meaning angel] or “son of the morning.”  Ezk. 28:12-19 describes Lucifer as follows, “...You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty... Perfect in all your ways…  Every precious stone was your covering… Emerald with gold... [everything] was prepared for you on the day you were created…”

Lucifer is one of the cleverest, strongest, most beautiful creatures of God; not the ugly devil as depicted by theologians. 

 

“HOW HAVE YOU FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, O LUCIFER, SON OF THE MORNING” 

Many aeons ago before God created life on earth, Jesus made this angel such an intelligent, beautiful, mighty ruler that he decided to test his power against the Almighty.  Lucifer’s incredible kingdom in the mystical pre-Adam “Eden” was not enough anymore, (Ezk. 28:13.)  He became dissatisfied with what he had.  As billions of his followers through the ages, this perfect angel wanted to own, experience and control more than what God had intended for him to have.  He wanted to be God, and had the audacity to commit mutiny against his Almighty Creator of heaven and earth.  Ezekiel 28:17 reports, “Your heart [‘anointed cherub’] was lifted up [or became proud and full of self-adoration] because of your beauty.” 

Some allege this does not describe the birth of all evil; it relates to a mere human being.  That people many ages later equated Lucifer to the “king of Babylon” and the “king of Tyre,” symbolize the danger of great distinction and power, which easily foster pride and limitless ambition that do not overlook anyone or anything to gain more and more.   

Still, it is a misconception that Ezekiel and Isaiah were speaking only of human kings or in human terms.  No human being has been ‘perfect in all his ways’ since Adam fell in Eden — except the Man Jesus Christ.  We know that only Jesus led a completely sinless life on earth, as He was, in full human form, the Perfect Lamb of God, Who laid down His life for all humanity, (Jn. 3:16.) Yet, Ezk. 28:15-17 described this ‘anointed cherub’ who ruled ages ago in his perfect Eden as follows, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you…Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, you [yourself] have corrupted your [own] wisdom by reason of your brightness… [or great intelligence.]” 

Þ In Isaiah 14:9-18, the prophet also taught that the origin of all evil started in the proud, entitled heart of Lucifer.  He stated, “Hell from beneath is excited about you to meet you at your coming [to join those in in the eternal flames…]  How have you fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning… [Jesus said He saw the devil fall from heaven like lightning when Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven during their mutiny against God, Lu. 10:18.] For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven [to] exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God…  I will be like the Most High…”

And so, the most holy “cherub that covers” turned himself into the destroying devil when he decided to become Satan, (the Adversary or Accuser), Abaddon or Apollyon (the Destroyer,) Beelzebub, (Ruler of demons or Lord of the flies,) Belial, (Worthless,) Leviathan, (the Great Snake,) Behemoth, Beast, or by what other name God choose to call him. 

In ancient Hebrew Scripture, the devil was perceived as a mighty, evil being called Ha-Satan, the Adversary.  But in many Christian denominations, just as in Rabbinical Judaism, the devil is no longer viewed as a real spirit being, who influences the whole world against God, (1 Jn. 5:19.)  They ignore the truth of Scripture to see Ha-Satan merely as human adversaries, who act solely on their own ‘bad’ insight and decision without any spiritual influence whatsoever.  That is why, in both Rabbinical Judaism and many forms of Christianity, they say the devil and sin do not really exist. 

However, the context, symbolism, and language, as well as statements such as “anointed cherub,” in Ezekiel and Isaiah make it impossible that this angel could have been a human being.  Of course, at the fall in the garden in Eden, the death of Lucifer’s sin also infected humanity, who remains in league with the devil for as long as they choose to follow him instead of crying out to the Redeemer and Savior of all true believers, the Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Jn. 5:19; Jn. 3:16.) 

 

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT GOD CREATED THE DEVIL TO BE EVIL? 

False teachers produced another terrible deception from Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, alleging that God is the Author of evil.  However, as seen in these passages, God did not create Satan to be evil and to do evil.  According to the full context of Scripture, God created everything perfect - the angel described in these passages included, (Gen. 1:31; Ezk. 28:15-17.) 

Nevertheless, God created all the angels as free-willed beings with highly intelligent thought-processes.  The Scriptural declaration that Satan deliberately decided not to remain holy and subjected to God, does not imply that God was responsible for Satan’s fall, just as God was definitely not responsible for mankind’s fall in the garden in Eden.

Ezekiel wrote in chapter 28 that this beautiful cherub was created perfectly, but “he [himself] corrupted his wisdom” through his own iniquity.  This proves that God created Lucifer as an ingenious, imaginative being; completely capable of corrupting the great wisdom God had entrusted to him.  James confirmed this in 1:13-17: “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil and He Himself tempts no one, but everyone is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust…  Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights...”

Þ Satan or the fallen Lucifer’s sin, which humanity inherited from him at the fall in the Garden, is actually a state, position, or place he chose for himself.  The sin that Satan intentionally thought up and executed against God does not, as such, consist of particular sinful acts like stealing or lying, although sin was born from the seed of the devil’s discontent, pride, and rebellion.  The Greek word hamartia, used to describe sin, means ‘from sin’ or ‘from the being of sin,’ and hamartanö means, ‘to miss the mark and not to share in the prize,’ (Jn. 8:44; Rom. 3:23.)  The word ‘sin’ actually means a spiritual state, position, or place of sin, from which particular sins like idolatry, disobedience, etcetera, flow.  Acts of sin, which all transgress God’s Moral Law, (such as lies, slander, hatred, murder, deception, fornication, adultery...) are mere symptoms of the terminal spiritual illness called hamartia and hamartanö – the spiritual state or position without God. 

That dreadful day when the beautiful, mighty cherub conceived and executed his rebellion against the almighty God, he became the personification of sin.  Satan is sin and sin is Satan, (2 Ths. 2:3-13; 2 Cor. 11:14, 13-15.) 

He knows all that is good because he was once the perfect holy angel.  He also knows all that is bad, because he deliberately became the spiritual ‘embodiment’ of evil.  Hence, the description that Satan is “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  The problem is that he rarely manifests himself as totally evil.  Though he never does any good without the intention of using it for bad, he usually acts the part of the holy angel.

Lucifer is a spirit being.  When he became the personification of evil in prehistoric Eden, (before humanity or any physical being existed,) sin only lived on a spiritual level inside of him, (Ezk. 28:13-15.)  Consequently, he wanted to extend his might and domain.  He wanted God and all the other angels to submit to his evil authority.  He wanted to rule the universe.  Isa. 14:13-14, “He said… I will ascend into heaven, exalt my throne above the stars [or other angels] of God and… be like the Most High.” 

 

SATAN AND HIS DEMONS WERE CAST OUT OF HEAVEN AND FELL TO EARTH, (LU. 10:18.) 

To execute this inconceivable rebellion against God, Satan convinced a third of the angels to commit mutiny with him.  John described this conflict in Rev. 12:7-9, “There was war in heaven: Michael, [the captain of God’s angel armies: Dan. 10:13; Jude 9,] and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven, (Lu. 10:18.)  The great dragon, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world, was cast out into the earth…  He… drew a third of the stars (or angels) from heaven, and cast them to the earth…”

If we ignore the fact that the Book of Revelation was not written entirely chronologically, one could understand why some denominations believe that Rev. 12 describes an angelic war that will only occur at Jesus’ return.

However, Revelation 12 actually describes Satan’s initial fall from heaven, as Rev. 20:10 explicitly states that with the last battle, Satan “will be cast into the lake of fire,” not onto the earth.  Satan and his demons will never be cast out of heaven again; they were chucked out of God’s holy city in an age before time, before humanity lived on earth.  Rev. 20:10 firmly states, “The devil, who deceived [a third of the holy angels as well as trillions of human beings,] will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are.  And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” 

It seems that the battle of Revelation 12, when Satan and his evil legions were cast out of heaven, was fought in a time aeons before Genesis, for in the beginning of Genesis we already know the old serpent of Rev. 12:9 as the devil and Satan.

One thing we can never doubt,  the archangel Michael and his armies had no difficulty to cast Satan and his demons out of heaven.  Jesus Himself said in Lu. 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” 

When Satan’s onslaught against God’s throne came, God was unshakable.  Unmoveable.  Unstoppable.  Even so, His holy kingdom of light, peace and righteousness was forever divided between good and evil.  In that prehistoric day wickedness was born.  Darkness and obscurity were brought into being.  Violence, separation, expulsion, rejection, and punishment took form.

Since that dreadful day, God’s creation became subjected to the destruction of the evil one, as he can never accomplish anything against the Most High God Himself.  The devil lives throughout all the millennia to torture, bully, and humiliate the defenceless, and to maim and slaughter the mute and the weak.  But God Jesus became a Man to fully atone for humanity’s lost state of sin without Him, and to bring eternal life to all those who would choose to accept and follow Him, (Jn. 10:10; 1:12-13.) 

 

HELL WAS MADE FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS DEMONS NOT FOR HUMANITY

It was necessary for God to restrict the liberty of these rebels, who can move at immeasurable speed and do mighty deeds of evil.  It is not clear whether the devil had a way of escape from his dreadful decision to “corrupt his own wisdom,” but we know that Satan and his followers, now called demons, were already sentenced in a time before Adam lived in Eden, (Jn. 16:11.)  Some are already being punished; others are still free to spread their poison and to inject their evil everywhere on earth.  Peter wrote in 2 Pet. 2:4, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness… [He will not spare spiteful, unrepented humanity.]”  Nevertheless, the multitude of fallen angels that are still unchained, remain the sworn adversaries of all creation, especially of humanity, and they are constantly at war with us, (1 Pt. 5:8; Eph. 6:11-18; 1 Jn. 5:19.)

Þ God did not make hell or the lake of fire for human beings, but for the devil and his demons, (Mt. 25:41.)  But should humanity unrepentedly choose to embrace the lies and ways of the devil, they will certainly accompany him to his final destination of eternal torment in the lake of fire, (Rev. 20:10.) 

God did not strip the devil of his might and power that day when Jesus saw him fall from heaven.  God only demoted him from his holy position to his current state where he will eventually experience inescapable torture and dread, (Rev. 20:10.)

Þ The Bible does not explain why God did not incarcerate all Satan’s demons, (2 Ths. 2:8; Rev. 13:13-14; 2 Pt. 2:4.)  Maybe Satan dared God to prove that, if He had other creatures that were able to choose Him willingly, they would all love the devil’s darkness more than God’s light.  This is mere speculation.  A Scriptural fact is that God gave all His spiritual and mortal creatures the wonderful gifts of free will, free choice, and intellect.

God does not wish to violate that free will, (Deut. 30:19; Jn. 1:11-13; 1 Cor. 14:32-33.)  In the end He will punish all sin and He has a million ways to persuade us to do good instead, but generally speaking, God will not actively prevent our deliberate decisions and actions, (2 Pet. 3:9-10; Jn. 16:13; Jn. 1:12-13; Heb. 1:14; Rom. 6:23.) 

What’s more, if God does not punish unrepented sin, He is not the Just Judge, Whom Scripture declares Him to be.  God rules His Kingdom “with a sceptre of righteousness,” not with a rod of slavery, (Heb. 1:8.)  If God diminishes the ability of His beings to make their own choices on this side of the grave, He changes them into robots.  If He strips them of their free will, He enslaves them.  God never intended to be honored by the dead, or to be served by unwilling slaves, (Mt. 22:32; Rom. 8:14-15; Heb. 2:14-15.) 

Þ The fact that Jesus endowed His creatures with a free will and intellect, greatly clarifies the suffering and brokenness of our divided earth, (Rom. 2:14-16; Jam. 1:13-17.)  For now, God still allows humans to do whatever they choose, be it good or evil, although He will not allow us to sin boundlessly, as our wrong decisions always affect other humans, and the rest of His creation as well, (Mt. 23:32-33; 2 Pt. 2:2-9.)

Þ Still, God even allows us to choose our own eternal destiny by exercising our free will, (Deut. 30:19; Jn. 11:25-26.)  This emphasises our awesome responsibility to seek God’s will for every aspect of our lives – although, on this side of the grave, the other free-willed people with whom we share this divided earth are capable of causing us many problems and sorrows, (2 Ths. 3:2-3; 1 Pt. 4:12-13; 2 Tim. 3:12; Heb. 11:24-27.)  God allows them to do that, because “He is longsuffering with them, not willing that anyone should perish but that all [by their own choice] should come to repentance,” (2 Pt. 3:8-10.) 

The devil wilfully chose his state of sin.  Humankind also chooses either to live in sin or to serve God in the liberty of Christ, (Deut. 30:19; Jn. 1:11-3; Rev. 22:17.) 

The Holy Spirit “is not a spirit of slavery to put us once more in bondage to fear,” (Rom. 8:15.)  He leads us into all righteousness if we allow Him to do so; He “guides us into all truth” if we so choose, but He never forces us to love and follow Him, (Jn. 16:12-15; Rom. 8:14-15; 1 Cor. 14:32-33.)  Pushing humans into submission and driving them along the path of life are the main characteristics of the unmerciful, fallen angel of sin, not of Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Just and Righteous God must, however, always act justly and righteously.  As a result, He will ultimately punish all unrepented sin, and He made hell for this purpose, (Rev. 20:10, 15.)   

 

WHAT IS HELL REALLY LIKE ACCORDING TO JESUS THE CREATOR GOD HIMSELF? 

Hell is not a mere symbol of suffering on earth, or “a state of ‘darkened mind’ without God.  Jesus and all His Bible-writers taught that hell is a tangible-spiritual place, not like any place we know on earth, yet it is as real as can be, (Lu. 24:39.)  Hell is an inescapable dungeon without any way of escape, (Lu. 16:19-31.)  A dark abyss, devoid of the light, presence, and mercy of God.  It is filled with excruciating physical and soulical pain, where the damned live eternally in the burning “lake of fire,” which can never be extinguished, (Rev. 20:15.)  Hell is also described in Scripture as “a bottomless pit” and a place of “darkness in the fire,” (Mt. 25:30.)  A place where the damned “chew their tongues and gnash their teeth” in unbearable anguish and pain, (Lu. 16:24.) 

Hell is an incomprehensibly dreadful location.  Hell confines and continually punishes ever-living spirit creatures: demons and the human spirits of deliberately disobedient people, (2 Ths. 2:9-12.)  Spirit bodies in hell burn, scream, and plead in utter desperation — with all the soulical anguish and indescribable pain that human bodies can feel on this side of the grave, (1 Cr. 15:39-40.)  Because it is not merely a physical place, there is no end to hell.  Spirits, (both angel and human spirits,) can never die but live eternally.  And so, their torment in hell will never cease. 

 

CAN HELL BE PURGATORY, ANNIHILATION AT DEATH, SOUL SLEEP, OR REINCARNATION?

Hell can never be merely a ‘temporal punishment,’ or ‘just’ a position of lostness outside the presence of God.  To diminish the unending suffering and absolute reality of hell, or to say that the Scriptural hell does not exist, is literally playing with eternal fire.  The same goes for those such as the Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Old-New and other Apostles, etcetera, who tell people they will simply go into ‘soul sleep’ or be ‘annihilated’ without experiencing the punishment of hell.  To fool around with deceptions about eternal hell are some of the most dangerous games ever played. 

Þ Additionally, there are no second chances after death.  God made it clear in Heb. 9:27 that the concept of Hindu/Buddhist reincarnation is a great deception.  God Himself declared, “It is appointed for all men once to die, and after that the certain judgment.” 

Þ This inarguable statement of God Himself also nullifies the Roman Catholic teaching that there is a ‘temporal hell’ called ‘purgatory,’ where deceased church members are kept until those remaining have said enough “ten hail Marys and seven hail fathers,” and lit enough candles to let them ‘pass on’ to heaven.  Christianized guiding lights and mantra-prayers for the dead originated from paganism.  Such acts of witchcraft are called “abominations” in Scripture. 

Those who jeopardize for whatever reason their everlasting life in the presence of God and gamble in any way with eternity, deceive themselves to believe that hell is not a reality, (Lu. 16:19-31.)  But it is.  Hell is an everlasting certainty.

Currently, God still allows Satan and his demons, as well as his evil human disciples to mislead, tempt, torture and murder His creatures and His creation, but there will come a day of reckoning for him and all his followers, (Rev. 20:15; 10.) 

In That Day when Jesus returns from heaven, He will send out His angel armies to take hold of Satan and his armies, both demon and human, to cast them alive into the never-ending lake of fire and brimstone, (Mt. 42:27-31; Rev. 20:10, 15.) 

Dear reader, I plead with you to consider the fact that eternal life after physical death is a certainty. 

We will spend it either in heaven, worshipping at the throne of Jesus Christ, or in the eternal fires of hell, screaming and pleading for mercy, which will never come again. 

The choice is ours. 

 

 

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