Lucifer, Satan, Devil
 

When people speak of the Devil they wrap their minds in imagery of what we see on T.V. They think he is some red looking daemon man running around with a pitch fork with thorns on his head with his extremely long and pointed tail. With this imagery in our minds some people even tend to believe that he just doesn’t even exist at all. This is one of Satan’s key devices into making us believe that he does not exist. Another problem people have with the Devil is that they hold him up almost equal with God. One thing we do know is that God created him therefore Satan is NOT eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, nor omnipresent. Being composed of only spirit or mind (Ephesians 2:2), Satan is undetectable by the five senses and is usually invisible to the eye (Luke 22:3).

How, when, where and why did Satan become Evil?

In the book of Isaiah 14:12 we find that God created a beautiful Angelic being called Lucifer. He was probably an Angel of extreme rank close to Michael or Gabriel because he is compared to them in Jude 9 and in Revelation 12:7-12. God originally created him good but also He created him with a free will just like us. The greatest sin that overcame him was the sin of Pride (1 Timothy 3:6) which led to his casting out of Heaven and declared defeat by God (Luke 10:18). From there we know the rest when he was on earth and decieved Eve and then Adam fell as well and then came death. Also another thing we do know is that he still has access to Heaven as seen in Job 1:6 to accuse us before God (Revelation 12:10) until the final battle comes (Revelation 12: 7-13).

What are the names given to Lucifer in the Bible?

When you see these names in the bible you can be sure of whom you’re reading about. Satan alone is mentioned 53 times in scripture, The Devil 31 times, the Dragon 13 times, the Evil One 12 times, Beelzebub 11 times, the Serpent 10 times, the Prince of this world 3 times, the Adversary 2 times, and also the prince of daemons, the price of the power of the air, the god of this age, the accuser of the brethren, the spirit which works disobedience, the deceiver of the whole world, a ruler, an authority, the father of lies, the tempter, and a murderer.

What is Satan’s device's he uses to hinder the salvation of sinners?

  1. Satan does all in his power to keep people from hearing the Good news of the Gospel. He knows that if you have ignorance in the Gospel then this will lead to eternal damnation (Revelation 10:13-17).
  2. Satan creates false religions and philosophies to satisfy man. Then what he does is he will tie all of these false religions or philosophies to culture and make it very difficult for someone to receive Christianity (Romans 1:18-25).
  3. Once a person has heard the Gospel, Satan will give him all three reasons why the Gospel should be ignored (Matthew 13:19-22).
    • Some popular excuses are “All religions are the same”, ‘There is no Hell or Satan”, “There is no God or life after death”, and “People are all basically good and as long as I do more good than bad I’m ok”

Hell (Greek word is Gehenna)

What is Hell? The only answer you find to this very answer is in scripture. Hell or The Lake of Fire is a place filled with people who rejected Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It’s a place where the un-repented will eventually go. Even our Lord Jesus talked about Hell more than any other thing. One thing we must remember though is that Hell was not created for us. It was created for Satan and his daemons. But eventually if a person does not believe in Jesus as the Bible says he is either for Me or against Me. That decision will decide where and who you will spend eternity with (Revelation 14:12, Revelation 20:10,14,15, Revelation 21:8, Hebrews 9:27).

"If you are a believer in Christ then you are born twice but only die once. If you are a non believer you are only born once but you will die twice".
- Greg Laurie

What is the purpose of Hell? The main purpose is for God’s wrath to be poured out. Wrath is God’s righteous judgment on sin (Matthew 3:11, Romans 2:8, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Psalm 7:11, Titus 2:11).

What type of punishment will there be in Hell?

  1. There will be fire… in scripture we find the fire is described in hell 27 timesMatthew 25:41Luke 3:17Revelation 14:10Matthew 13:48-50
  2. There will be outer darkness… You will not be able to see anyone down there. Not even people right next to you! Some people say well if I go to Hell I will be with all my friends and we will be partying! Uh… no you won’t even be able to see them; you will be separated from them and alone.Matthew 8:11-12Matthew 22:13Matthew 25:30Romans 3Daniel 12:2
  3. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth… The pain and agony and separation will cause this because you will have total conscience of what happened in the past before you were there. The other sad thing is that these people are wishing they were in Heaven; rather they are shaking their fists at God and to Heaven.Matthew 8:11-12Luke 13:18Acts 7:54
  4. There will be destruction… This can also be translated as Ruined. This word is described about 18 times in scripture. Now it does not mean “annihilate” or “pass into non-existence”. They will be totally still here and will have new bodies that will be able to handle everything in Hell.Matthew 10: 282 Thessalonians 1:9Matthew 7
  5. Lastly you will be eternally separated from God… this will be the worst part in Hell. You will also remember the very one who you rejected, all that you did, and also all the times you heard the Gospel and rejected it.

What is Hades?

Hades is found in the New Testament 10 times. Hades is a temporary place where non believers go until the great white throne judgment. In the Old Testament we find that when either believer or non believer would die they would both go into Hades. The believer would go to a place called Abrahams Bosom and the Non Believer would go to the place of torment in Hades. Now with Christ’s death on the cross believers when they die go into eternal paradise (Luke 23:43), which is the third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2, 4) you are with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:23), you are in the very presence of Him (2 Corinthians 5:6-8) and will be worshiping with the Angels of Heaven (Hebrews 12:22-23). You can find examples of this in…Luke 16:232 Peter 2:9

Matthew 11:28, Matthew 5:22, Matthew 5:29-30 and Matthew 23:33

Belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the first step in God's plan of salvation. Belief is the first step toward salvation, not the end of it, as some people will have you believe. Remember, the Lord spoke about being the door that we go through for salvation, and also the path that we stay on. (The only door, and a narrow path, or way).  So, if the demons have knowledge of Christ (as the verses below will show) what separates your belief from those of the demons destined for hell??  First, let me give you some scripture to prayerfully consider:

Even The demons Believe....

  • James 2:19 -  You believe that God is one. You do well; even the demons believe and shudder.
  • Mark 1:23-24 - and a man with an unclean spirit were in their synagogue. And he cried out, saying, what have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
  • Mark 1:34 - And He healed many who had illness of various diseases. And he cast out many demons, and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.
  • Mark 3:11 - And when the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him, and cried out, saying, you are the Son of God!
  • Mark 5:2 - And He coming out from the boat, immediately out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit met Him,
  • Mark 5:6-7 - and seeing Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed the knee to Him. And crying with a loud voice, he said, what is to me and to You, Jesus, Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.

You who believe that it is simply enough to know that Jesus is Lord, and that he died for the sins of the world, do you not see the folly of your thoughts?  The demons all knew who Jesus was, personally knew Him! After all;  “All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being”. - John 1:3. Jesus is the creator of all things, and that would include the angels before the fall.  The demons had a previous intimate knowledge of Christ that we cannot even possess at this point, and they lost their “first estate”; Jude 1:6 and the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

(Much of the book of Jude speaks to those, men and angels, Old Testament and new, who have walked with God at one point, and then began to walk after the desires of their own flesh.)Do you still think that knowledge of Christ is still enough to save you? In the above verses, Christ had not yet risen. Continue reading:

Act 16:16-18And it happened, as we went into a place of prayer, a certain girl slave having a Pythonic spirit met us, whose divining brought much gain to her lords. Following after Paul and us, she cried out, saying, these men are slaves of the Most High God, who are announcing to us a way of salvation! And she did this over many days. But becoming distressed, and turning to the demonic spirit, Paul said, In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out from her! And it came out in that same hour.

In the above verse, this demon was actually confirming Paul and company’s witnessing!!  Imagine that! We could actually witness and still never make it into the kingdom!! It is plain to see that this demon was actually speaking truth. It was not preaching lies. You see, the truth has nothing to do with us, it is all God! It is HIS word, not ours. Even if the word gets distorted, God will always point you to truth in and through His word!  We are the ones that distort it.

Hence, you could be a pastor with a million members, and still not make it in to the Promised Land yourself. (Does this sound just a little familiar to you?)It is about your life and your total surrender to the Lord, not your testimony, or your words. Does God use those things? Of Course!! But, that is not what gets you into the kingdom. God will use those things in spite of you, and not necessarily because of you!  It is in our obedience to Him, our surrendered hearts, and the fruit of the Spirit that is produced in the life of true believers. God says plainly that we shall be known by our fruit. He does not say that we will be known by our words. (Though He does instruct us to bridle our tongues and mind our words) He even tells us in His word exactly what that fruit is!! (P.S., it is neither in witnessing nor in how many people come to the lord “because” of you)

Heb 2:1-3   Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;

3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

I am sorry if I am stating some obvious things here. In martial arts, all things are built on the basics. A building cannot be built properly if the foundation is askew. Nor can we grow to maturity, if our basics in understanding of Christ has been bastardized be so many people. Whether in greed, desire for material wealth, or just ignorance, God is calling His children to get right with Him and get back to basics. In the above scripture we are instructed to give more earnest heed to the Word of God. When the writer says “things we have heard” that’s what they are speaking about. Another way of saying “earnest heed” is to sincerely, intently, and deeply pay more attention. The writer then goes on to say that the penalty for not doing so, will be to incur the same reward as the angels who were disobedient. And we all know their ultimate outcome.