The Evangelical Universalist Forum

The Lucifer Mythology - My Studies.

Theology Biblical Theology
#1

Who is Lucifer?

He is the son of the Roman God Aurua, his Greek name is Phospheros. In Roman Religion, he is a minor god, God of the Morning Star1,2 Lucifer is Latin for ‘Light Bearer’ and a Roman deity associated with the planet Venus, which was known as Lucifer in Roman astrology before Venus, daughter of Jupiter, was promoted from Goddess of vegetation to Goddess of love and beauty with the planet renamed in her honor.3

There is no Scriptural source which defines Lucifer as Satan. In fact, the word Lucifer was an addition to the Scriptures in place of the Hebrew word, Heylel, which was the literal name of Venus; and, Shahar, which just means “Star of the Morning” or sometimes translated, "Son of the Morning’. The word was in reference to Babylonian Kings and titles they used to claim their divine right to rule. Artifacts such as the Cyrus Cylinder, confirm such assertions were made by kings of the ancient world.

Babylonian Kings such as King Nebuchadrezzar, who according to Babylonian culture, was either worshipped as a God, or an agent or son of God and very common title which they bestowed upon themselves. According to Daniel, Nebuchadrezzar was given all authority and dominion over mankind, beasts of the field and birds of the air, and where they live. God made him ruler over them all with the title of King of Kings;4 a title also reserved for Persian King, Artaxerxes5; and in Christianity to Jesus Christ6. In such way, a man who has dominion over the beasts of the field, birds of the air, and over mankind, indeed had his power based in heaven and were called by the title, Light Bringer, Morning Star, Son of the Morning, etc. and to lose such authority would have him fall to earth.

In all actuality, there is no scriptural source which defines Lucifer as Satan, nor has any description of Satan being an Angel of Light who rebelled against God and was cast out from heaven and changed to the serpent, Satan. The Latin word was added to the Hebrew Text by Jerome in the 4th Century and was in fact the first to ever present the belief that Lucifer was the serpent in the Garden with Adam and Eve. In addition, the reasons for Jeromes misguided and inaccurate translation of Heylel, may be found in his religious politics within the church itself. One of Jeromes main adversaries (satan means adversary) was the Bishop of Cagliari, who was also named Lucifer Calaritanus, who founded the Luciferians. Hoping that the allusion itself was strong enough to condemn the Bishop of Cagliari and his followers as heretics, Jerome hoped to have their ideas and movement abolished. In the 7th Century, Augustine focused on the Vulgate mistranslation and added more to the idea of an angel named Lucifer who rebelled against God because of pride and took down 1/3 of the angels.2,7

[size=50]REFERENCES
1 pantheon.org/articles/l/lucifer_2.html - Lucifer (retrieved 03/03/08)
2 Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1942.
3 castleofspirits.com/origindevils.html - The Origin of Devils and Demons - Castle of Spirits.com (retrieved 03/03/08)
4 Daniel 2:36-38, Ezekiel 26:7 KJV
5 Ezra 7:12 KJV
6 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, 19:16 KJV
7 jewishencyclopedia.com/view.j…earch=Lucifer- JewishEncyclopedia.com - LUCIFER (retrieved 03/03/08)
[/size]

#2

Of course, you know these questions are forthcoming, and I suspect you have satifactory answers to them.

What do you make of the various New Testament passages that suggest some of these things (not Lucifer primarily, but Satan)?

*“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” - Romans 16:20 (alluding to Gen. 3:15)

“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” - 2 Corinthians 11:14*

And naturally:

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” - Revelation 12:9

#3

What is Satan?

For all intensive purposes, when I speak of Satan, I also include the other titles he has from devil, serpent, etc.

I need you to suspend your previous beliefs concerning Satan for a moment. Forget the medieval red man with a pitchfork and goat horns; forget Dante’s Inferno; forget Augustine’s fallen angels and Jerome’s (perhaps even Origen’s) Lucifer.

Satan means adversary; that is, one who opposes.

It is a spirit, a spirit which we anthropomorphizing giving it human features, attributes of mankind, and although we call it a he, it is not but a spirit; a spirit that is called the adversary.

What is Satan? It is a spirit.

Where did Satan come from?

Contrary to popular belief, Satan actually came from the earth not from a rebellion in heaven. It is a spirit formed from the very soul of mankind, which opposes God as a result of mankind’s very own ignorance.

In the beginning, Adam and his helpmate, woman, did not have the knowledge of good or evil when they were created. We also know, they did not have knowledge of the Life, which is the Tree of Life until they had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

At the same time, Satan, according to Jesus, also was not created in the truth and did not have or know the knowledge of the truth.

So with Adam and Woman and the serpent, each was created outside the truth and was ignorant of any knowledge including good and evil and therefore with this relationship could only act of ignorance concerning everything they did.

If we do not know what is true, and lack knowledge of what is true, we come to understanding of the truth with both experience and imagination. The truth from experience will inevitably result in an ignorant rebellion. The truth from imagination will inevitably result in an ignorant falsehood, a lie.

Satan is both that experience and imagination which stands in opposition as and adversary to the truth because it doesn’t actually know what the truth is.

This spirit is found within all mankind, it is internal not external.

Where did Satan come from? It is a spirit, which it’s origin is internal to mankind.

Realizing that Satan is an internal spirit, and not external spirit; it destroys the presumptions of most unsound Christian teaching concerning what Satan actually is. That is, it is not an external enemy that arrived from heaven; but an internal enemy that is birthed from earth.

This changes our way of dealing with Satan, and how it is defeated and under our feet.

So what about the external evil we suffer which is external to mankind?

One of the objections to Satan being an internal enemy that find’s it’s origin within mankind and not outside mankind, is the external evil we suffer which is not a result of any action or thought of mankind. Death or mishap caused by external situations outside the control of any man.

Examples of these evils falling upon Job and Jesus Christ are given as evidence, though I would disagree.

Though it seems that Job was suffering an external attack from Satan, we recognize by the words and actions of Job, the battle was in the mind of Job and the minds of those around him. The loss of Job’s family and wealth is a result living in a world that is not completely perfect or good to it.

Though it seems Jesus was suffering an external attack from Satan, we recognize by the words and actions of Jesus, the battle was in the mind of Jesus and the mind of mankind around Him. The loss of Jesus life is a result of living in a world that is not completely perfect or good to it.

Ultimately, Scripture states there are external evils; catastrophe’s that befall mankind which is from God Himself. Although God does not tempt any man to sin, He is also habit of testing him.

Keep in mind, Satan is the spirit that is created through the mankind’s ignorance and exercised through ignorant experience and imagination. We would not, therefore, always recognize a catastrophe or testing which occurs externally as something that is neutral or good to our being prompting us to learn the truth.

As a result of our ignorance, we can form vain imaginations concerning it and as a result Satan is formed, even if it was not the cause of the perceived evil event. That is the nature of the adversarial spirit.

So what about the external evil we suffer which is external to mankind? It is a neutral part of creation or good from God Himself.

So how do we deal with Satan in our lives?

How both Job and Jesus thought and acted toward these internal battles in their mind resulted in what their reward was. Job received twice what he lost, and Jesus rose from the dead.

The secret? We must submit ourselves to God; that is, not our will but His be done. Then we can resist the devil and he will flee from you.

What does it mean to submit ourselves to the will of God? It means that we must look past our subjective thoughts and experience and focus on the objective truth. In short, it means repentance and renewal of our mind according to the Word of God, according to the Knowledge of the Truth.

When we do this, like Job and Jesus, we receive a harvest of righteousness.

How do we deal with Satan? It is repentance and the renewal of the mind.

So now we do not need to suspend our previous beliefs concerning Satan, we can now recognize to reject it as the lie it is. Satan is not the medieval red man with a pitchfork and goat horns; forget Dante’s Inferno; forget Augustine’s fallen angels and Jerome’s Lucifer.

Satan is the adversarial spirit formed within the heart of mankind by our ignorance and strengthened through our rebellious action and vain imaginations.

A spirit that is easily defeated through our submission to God, repentance and renewal of the mind by the washing of the Word.

#4

Judiasm, and Hebrew Culture has never assigned Satan as being anything than an adversarial spirit that dwells within mankind. It was Zoroastrianism, the Persian Religion, that actually externalized it.

What about Jude talking about the angels that fell from heaven? Pay attention that we are not using presumptive erroneous reasoning to make our conclusions.

Here is what Jude 6 says,

“Messengers also, those who did not keep their own principality, but did leave their proper dwelling, to a judgment of a great day, in bonds everlasting, under darkness He hath kept”

The 4th Century fallacy further expounded by Augustine, taught that us everywhere in Scripture where ‘messenger’ is written, that it is referring to celestial spirits in service to God, commonly known as angels.

Jude spoke nothing of angels falling from heaven, he spoke of men who had not kept their positions of authority.

Let us look at the full context of Jude, to destroy the presupposition that spoke of celestial spirits in service to God.

Jude
Beloved, all diligence using to write to you concerning the common salvation, I had necessity to write to you, exhorting to agonize for the faith once delivered to the saints, **** FOR THERE DID COME IN UNOBSERVED CERTAIN MEN****, long ago having been written beforehand to this judgment, impious, the grace of our God perverting to lasciviousness, and our only Master, God, and Lord – Jesus Christ – denying, and to remind you I intend, you knowing once this, that the Lord, a people out of the land of Egypt having saved, again those who did not believe did destroy; messengers also, those who did not keep their own principality, but did leave their proper dwelling, to a judgment of a great day, in bonds everlasting, under darkness He hath kept, as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner to these, having given themselves to whoredom, and gone after other flesh, have been set before – an example, of fire age-during, justice suffering.*

If we read this without our presumptions, we realize Jude was always talking about those same unobserved men, even calling them messengers who had fallen from their place of authority and power whose end is just like Sodom and Gomorrah. He does not change his context, he is not talking about Celestial beings or some mythological cosmic event.

In the same way, when we read Isaiah 14, and Ezekiel 28, and the countless number of passages used to erroneously prove fallen Satan was once a Celestial spirit in service to God, without this presumption we recognize they are speaking concerning a man, or men.

The belief or doctrine of creatures created in heaven who had fallen to earth, is held only by erroneous circular reasoning. A lie that is perpetrated but cannot be proven by any of the series of Scriptures it tries to use to prove itself which on their own cannot prove anything.

Example, when Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven”?

Nowhere do we have inclination or even an education that this is speaking of a fallen Archangel Lucifer? If that would have been the case, Jesus would have said, “I saw Lucifer fall like lightning from heaven” or, “I saw the Serpent fall like lightning from heaven.” Jesus’s use of words tells us what He knew, He was talking about Satan.

Satan means adversary; that is, one who opposes.

Now with the same as we did with Jude, let us look at the context of Luke 10.

Luke 10:13-18
**** AND THOU, CAPERNAUM, WHICH UNTO THE HEAVEN WAST EXALTED****, unto hades thou shalt be brought down.

`He who is hearing you, doth hear me; and he who is putting you away, doth put me away; and he who is putting me away, doth put away Him who sent me.’

And the seventy turned back with joy, saying, `Sir, and the demons are being subjected to us in thy name;’

and he said to them, `I was beholding the Adversary (Satan), as lightning from the heaven having fallen; lo, I give to you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you; but, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subjected to you, but rejoice rather that your names were written in the heavens.’

Again, where did Jesus ever say it was the creature we know as Lucifer, the arch-angel?

He did not. He in fact told us who was the Satan in heaven who would fall as lightning from the heavens was, it was Capernaum, or the men of Capernaum. Jesus warned that all men, like those in Capernaum, who did not listen to the 72 would be cast down from their lofty places in the heavens. Interestingly, do a search for the word Capernaum in Scriptures and discover where Jesus has the most opposition to his ministry, yes it was Capernaum.

Now this leads us to the next question, which heaven did Satan fall from? The literal cosmos, the sky? That would have been a sight to see, a floating city or nation. The Celestial Realm of God in the spirit? Perhaps but we know there is three heavens and one of these heavens is actually more probable.

Jesus was a man who spoke the knowledge of the Truth, and because He spoke the Truth we know no lie comes from it. Let us look at another passage in which Jesus rebukes Satan.

Mark 8:33
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Another heaven, mentioned in Scriptures, is the mind. In this case, Satan was a man who has his mind on the things of men.

When Jesus said he saw the adversary fall from lightning, he was not talking about some mythological event in times past, we was speaking of the pride of a people had been humbled as they could not compete with the Truth that came from the Words of Jesus and His disciples.

Just as Isaiah 14, and Ezekiel 28, and the countless number of passages used to erroneously prove fallen Satan was once a Celestial spirit in service to God is actually speaking concerning a man, or men.

It will take some time to understand this truth. A truth which will set all mankind free from the lies which had been past down for ages, masquerading as an angel of light (Paul wasn’t lying, Satan sure has been doing that for a while).

#5

So you are saying that Satan is really our carnal conscience? You said, “This spirit is found within all mankind, it is internal not external.” Is this an actual part of man? Or is it a separate internal entity? Is all that which opposes the things of God?

In Job’s case, he was seen as blameless before God, doing the will of God, so why would all these destructive things happen to him if the answer is to “submit ourselves to God; that is, not our will but His be done. Then we can resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Was God testing His faithfulfulness, using the external evil?

In Jesus’ case, who was He speaking to during His temptation? Himself, or an actual man? If it was some internal part of Himself, then He was having an internal conversation with Himself, and therefore appears schizophrentic? Would there be such evil inclination in Jesus anyway, seeing that He is God in the flesh? Which leads to the same conclusion as in the case of Job, He was already doing the will of God perfectly, why then would such conflict arise in the first place if that is the answer?

But then you go and say that “Satan was a man who has his mind on the things of men”. So I’m a bit confused on this.

If it were some man, what was he doing out in the desert? What possible motive would he have in tempting Jesus? What would make him thing that he could beguile Jesus? If it were a man, how could he live so long between Job’s time and Jesus’ time.

Or maybe Satan is just the secular mindset of the world system? Again, opposing the things of God, all things carnal and immediate.

#6

Dondi, thanks for the questions and the concerns brought up.

I saw an apple that was red, I saw a corvette that was red, I ate a red chili and my face turned red. This is impossible! How can all these things be red, they aren’t even the same things!

What does Satan mean? It means adversary.

What does adversary mean? It means that which opposes.

So Satan is our carnal conscience. Satan is a man who has hi mind on the things of men and not God. Satan is secular mindset of the world system.

Because the carnal nature is foreign to Jesus, as He is God manifest in the flesh, it was these thoughts which came from the desires of the body due to the stress it was under, appeared to be external to Jesus, but that didn’t mean it was. What happened to Jesus, happens to everyone of us, it is internal to all mankind.

We all have negative thoughts that jump into our head from time to time, and we must rebuke them as they are not my thoughts but the thoughts of this body which sometimes is in pain, must work, must eat, must sleep; it would be great to steal that money on the counter as it would feed me, it would be great to cheat my business partners because then I don’t have to work and live comfortably; but, I do not steal, I do not cheat because those actions are foreign to me as I desire what is good and trust the Lord for my life.

Romans 7:21-23
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

Job, by the way, is a allegorical play. It never happened as it is fiction explaining a spiritual principle, so there was no created being named Satan who made a deal with God to test a man. This was a story with the principle which says despite things that may happen, misfortune, catastrophe, etc. we must still trust in the Lord.

Fill in the blanks: “Shall misfortune or catastrophe occur and the ******* not caused it?” Amos 3:6b

#7

As I demonstrated before, the word “Lucifer” is name of the Morning Star, it is not the Name of Satan prior to falling to earth. It is LITERALLY the name of the planet 2nd from the Sun, also known as the Heylel in Hebrew, Eosphorus in Greek and Lucifer in Latin, then later Venus in Latin as it remains today. Although Roman religion was used to name the lights in the skies, literally, the usage of Morning Star does not refer to the Roman myth, it refers literally to what we know today as the Morning Star, a light that precedes the Sun to announce a new day is coming, the 2nd planet from the Sun. The word ‘Lucifer’ is not found in the Hebrew translation, it is Heylel. Heylel has never been anything more than the 2nd planet from the son. There was no legend or myth surrounding it for the Hebrew people, other than it was the title the kings of ancient word called themselves. Artifacts from the time period, demonstrate this soundly.

Heylel actually means, “Mourning”, it literally means to ‘Grieve the end of the Day’, which by Hebrew tradition, the day begins in evening and ends in morning. The Morning Star was an announcement that the day is almost over. This helps people understand why Paul called Jesus the Morning Star in the letter to Timothy, and that everything ends in the Light of Day. Jesus is also quoted by John in Revelation as being the Morning Star, the star which is signifies both the Beginning and End (the Morning Star is also the Dawn Star, they are the same Star).

Instead of using the Hebrew word for the Morning Star, Heylel, Jerome used the word ‘Lucifer’. This was done in the 4th Century A.D. and gained acceptance by the Roman people who already believed and were taught the Roman religion where Lucifer, god of the morning, the Morning Star, challenged Apollos/Sol (the Sun God) to who is the most powerful. Lucifer led a rebellion against Apollos/Sol, but lost and was cast down to prison on earth and replaced by Jupiter’s daughters, Venus. Later, Augustine expounded on the invented doctrine and found new ways to incorporate, perhaps not consciously, the Roman myth into Christianity. He used it in reference to his political adversary, the Bishop of Cagliari, Lucifer Calaritanus. He then, for the first time in Christian doctrine and theology, said that it was the name of Satan prior to his fall from Light, a doctrine which had never been taught previously and applied it to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. He used it deceivingly, in order to discredit his political and theological adversary.

The question one must ask, is why did Jerome change one instance of ‘Morning Star’, and not all the instances of ‘Morning Star’ to the name, “Lucifer”? Well history shows he in fact did. He also replaced other places he thought spoke of the 2nd Planet from the Sun with the name “Lucifer” as well.

Job 11:17
Life will be brighter than noonday,and darkness will become like Lucifer [morning].

2 Peter 1:19
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and Lucifer [the Morning Star] rises in your hearts.

Revelation 22:16
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and Lucifer [the Bright Morning Star].”

The Catholic Dictionary defines Luficer: The Syriac version and the version of Aquila derive the Hebrew noun helel from the verb yalal, “to lament”; St. Jerome agrees with them (In Isaiah 1.14), and makes Lucifer the name of the principal fallen angel who must lament the loss of his original glory bright as the morning star.* In Christian tradition this meaning of Lucifer has prevailed*; the Fathers maintain that Lucifer is not the proper name of the devil, but denotes only the state from which he has fallen (Petavius, De Angelis, III, iii, 4).

As the evidence piles up, even the Catholic church admits that it was an invention of Jerome, and not a Christian doctrine at all. It is a tradition of Christianity that prevailed, but not correct. There are many ‘Christian’ traditions that prevailed, but have no truth in them at all. Personally, I am still astounded after all the facts are shared, that people still continue to believe other things.

#8

Craig, I might be mis-remembering this, but wasn’t Augustine originally a pagan from the Roman tradition before becoming a believer? (Albeit a misguided one). It seems like there were a number of those “converted” pagans who brought a lot of those ideas into Christianity, corrupting it (like Constantine).
Heck, most of our religious holidays are just hijacked pagan holidays given Christianized names and meanings, for that matter…

#9

Indeed, as I said in the pm (which I thought I was replying to you…silly me), I have a study around here somewhere on Augustine and what he believed prior to his ‘conversion’ to Christianity. It is laughable, but no laughing matter, that Augustin Christianity (modern Christianity) is actually matches what Augustine’s Pagan past believed. He was by far, not a follower of Christ, only one who claimed to be.

#10

Well, I did think it was a bit odd that you were replying in a PM, but thanks for the (double) confirmation!

#11

The name “Lucifer” is not original to the Scriptures, it is added in the 4th Century AD. It was not until the 4th Century when the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures were translated in to Latin Vulgate.

You got the myth of Lucifer, the one that says that He was the lead angel and rebelled taking with him other angels against God because that is the etymology of the word “Lucifer” which refers to a Roman myth.

The Roman minor god, LUCIFER, son of the Roman god Aurua, his Greek name is Phospheros. God of the Morning Star, heard Lucifer is Latin for ‘Light Bearer’ the Roman deity associated with the planet Venus prior to his fall and Venus, daughter of Jupiter, was promoted from Goddess of vegetation to Goddess of love and beauty and took over his place in the sky.

Lucifer was the light bearer, he was in charge of heralding Sol arrival until one day he grew proud of his own light and beauty challenged Sol for leadership. Lucifer gathered among him other lights in the sky and led a rebellion against Sol, but ultimately lost and was cast down to prison on earth and his place replaced by Jupiter’s daughters, Venus.

A classic Roman use of “Lucifer” appears in Virgil in Georgics (III, 324-5):
Luciferi primo *** sidere frigida rura carpamus, dum mane novum, dum gramina canent" “Let us hasten, when first the Morning Star appears, To the cool pastures, while the day is new, while the grass is dewy”

And similarly, in Ovid:“Aurora watchful in the reddening dawn, threw wide her crimson doors and rose-filled halls; the Stars took flight, in marshalled order set by Lucifer, who left his station last.”

The actual reason why Lucifer lost his place in the cosmos was that Roman astrologists assumed that the 2nd planet from the Sun (what we today call Venus) was actually two stars one that ushered the morning, Lucifer, and one that ushered in the night, Vesper until they discovered they were one and the same. Instead of admitting they were mistaken, they created a story about how Lucifer and Vesper allied together, led by Lucifer with other lights in the sky in order to take on Sol (the Sun) but they lost and Lucifer and Vesper lost their place in the heavens, and was replaced by the minor god, Venus of which it has remained.

#12

Thanks for the insightful info on the subject. thumbs up