10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Satan

8/9/2019 10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Satan

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10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About SatanDEBRA KELLY NOVEMBER 4, 2014There are many ideas about what or who the Devil is,even among believers. The number of differing sources and translations have ledto plenty of inconsistencies, rumors, and assumptions surrounding the Prince ofDarkness. What is Satans position in Hell? Who was Lucifer? Theres a whole lot thats made its way into the popular belief system that just isnt supported by the Bible or Christian canon.10 The Church Of Satan Doesnt Worship Satanchurch of satanPopular images of the Church of Satan frequently depict ethically questionable people who perform dark rites, sacrifice animals, drink the blood of small children, or something else to that effect. According to the Church of Satan itself, though, worshiping Satan isnt what theyre about at all. Their mission statement stresses that they dont believe in a literal Satan.Instead, Satan is used as a metaphor to represent their belief in the power of fantasy, which they say they sharewith many other religions. Satanists use Satan as an opposition to the fictionand the fantasy of the presence of an otherworldly, divine figurelike Christ. Rather than worshiping someone they consider just another fictional character, Satanists do the opposite by putting their faith in the worldly and tangible. The use of Satan is simply a symbol for their devotion to earthly things and their belief that they should revere other people at the same level usually reserved forthe deities of other religions. The church goes on to say on its website that these are complicated concepts, and some people dont understand. Satanism is not intended for dummies. Satanism demands studynot worship. The capacity to think is expected of Satanists.9 The Number Of The Beast Isnt 666666Frequently featured in heavy metal posters a

nd bad tattoos, the number 666 has long been identified as the number of the beast. Its cited from the Book of Revelation, in which John associates the number with the Antichrist, but the details of the story arent entirely clear. Archaeologists have stacks and stacks of nearly indecipherable manuscripts from historic dump sites in Egypt that date to the third or fourth century. Researchers have been able to translate more of the writing by utilizing recent improvements in photographic imaging techniques.On one piece of parchment, the number assigned to the proverbial beast is 616not 666. According to Oxfords Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents, deciphering the number of the beast all comes down to numerology. In the time this parchment was made, writing could be a dangerous act, especially for those who expressed their opposition to the controlling power by drawingcomparisons to the Devil. For this reason, numerology was used to give people the option to assign numbers and leave out names. In order to decode the numbers,

we need to know a little about both the writing system and how people thought.The number of the beast is derived from the name of the person who, at the time,was thought to be the earthly incarnation of the Devil, Nero. The number itselfdepends entirely on the translation of the name. When the name is translated from its Greek formNero Kesarto its vowelless Hebrew formNRWN QSRthe numerical valueis 666. One theory states that the earlier text has a Latin base. This makes thenumerical value 616 when translated back into Hebrew again. 8 Lucifer Isnt Another Name For Satanmorning starAnyone whos been to Sunday School knows the story: Satan was originally an angel named Lucifer who turned on God and was cast down from Heaven. The thing is, that story is nowhere in the Bible. The one time Lucifer is mentioned is from a relatively new translation, and its also a misinterpretation. The only occurrence of the name Lucifer in the Bible is in Isaiah 14:12,in this verse: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Ho

w are thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!Seems pretty straightforward, but it turns out that its another case of misinterpretation and mistranslation. If you go back to the original Hebrew text, you find a story notabout a fallen angel, but about a Babylonian king who figuratively fell from histhrone when he began persecuting the Israelites. By the time the book was translated by Christian writers, the king became an angel. The name Lucifer comes inwhen the kings name, Helal, gets translated. Helal means day staror son of the daw.The Romans found a word close in meaning. Lucifer is the Roman name for the planet we call Venus, which is often the first visible celestial body to appear near dawn. The name didnt have anything to do with the appearance of a Satan-like fi


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gure until much later, when its imagery was cemented with a fourth-century translation of the text by Jerome.7 The Satanic Pentagram Is Pretty NewpentagramSimilarly to the perversion of the swastikas symbolism from good fortune to the ThirdReich, the pentagram has undergone a surprisingly recent transformation. Today,the upside-down pentagram is often decorated with the goats head of the Devil, but its original meaning and connotations were polar opposites of Satanism. Earlyreferences to the design attribute the five points of the star to the five wounds Christ suffered as he was crucified. Its often still used in this way in Mormonart and architecture. It was only with the founding of the Church of Satan thatthe pentagram was used to represent a goats horns, ears, and beard. Church historians have traced the goats head pentagram back to an image in an 1897 book called La Clef de la Magia Noire written by Stanislas de Guaita, a French occultist and proponent of the distinction between occultism and Devil worship. Not long before that, another French occultist named Eliphas Levi wrote about the evil connotations between the pentagram and a goat-headed figure. By 1924, the goats headhad crept into the pentagram and the image was labeled the pentagram expressive of subversionin a text called Science Occulte et Magie Pratique. The Church of Satans adoption of the image further tied its meaning to the Devil. 6 The Goat-Headed Satan Is Also Pretty NewgoatIf one were to search the Bible for descriptionsof Satan with a goats head, one might turn up a few mentions of the forbidden worship of goat idols and demons in Leviticus 17:7 and maybe some calf idols in Exodus. So, where does the goat-headed man come from?The symbol of Satan as a half-goat creature is known as Baphomet, and the link between the goat-headed demon and Satan only happened when people started throwing stones at the Freemasons. Th

e story says that when the Pope turned his attention to the Knights Templar andissued arrest warrants for those he knew to be members of the organization, he cited the worship of a demon called Baphomet as one of the foremost pieces of evidence against them. The name hadnt been assigned to the image yet, though, and trial records show that of the 231 knights who were interrogated by the popes agents, only 12 admitted (under torture) that they had a passing familiarity with theimage of the unnamed, demonic goat. But as for the depiction of the goat, thatsbeen traced back to the writings of Eliphas Levi, about 600 years after the Templars had their run-in with the Pope. Levi gave the goat-headed creature the nameBaphomet, harkening back to a ram-headed Egyptian god named Banedbjedet. The image of the goat within the pentagram then came from the adoption of the image ofthe Goat of Mendes, which was associated with another ram-headed Egyptian god,Amon. Today, the link between the Satanic goat and the Devil is complete with th

e trademark of the image by the Church of Satan.5 Christians Didnt Get Satan FromPanpanThere seems to be an obvious connection to be drawn between Pan, the goat-legged satyr, and the habit early Christians had of adopting othersdeities andthen assigning them less-than-favorable roles. This leads us to another misconceptions about Satan: The Devil was not originally associated with Pan, but Christwas. Pan, the son of the god Hermes, was one of a handful of figures in the pastoral pantheon in Greece. They were worshiped by farmers and shepherds, many ofwhom would pray to Pan to watch over their flocks, and he was often called on protect sheep from vicious wolf attacks. Sounding familiar? Christianitys patron saint of shepherds, Saint Bartholomy, even shares an island shrine with him. According to one rarely repeated part of the story about the birth of Christ, when the ChristiansGood Shepherd was born, a voice was heard by a shipmaster named Thamus, instructing him to recite, Magnus Pan mortuus est,(The great Pan is dead!) whe

spreading the word of the birth of Jesus Christ.Why did the image of Pan switchsides? The church might have approved of Pans image as a shepherd, but they certainly didnt approve of his other role as a fertility god. While the parallels between Pan and Christ survived as far along as Miltons Paradise Lost, the church soon decided that the lusty satyr was more in line with the sexual morals of the Devil than of Christ.4 The Upside-Down Cross Is A Respectful SymbolCross, coins and Jesus figure.One of the most prevailant assumptionsespecially in movies like The Omen and in the death metal worldis that the upside-down cross is one of Satanssymbols. This assumption is based in the idea that its a reversal of Christs ultimate sacrifice, but thats only half true.The upside-down cross is traditionally v


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iewed as not only a Christian symbol, but as one of humility. As the story goesand its a story that can be traced back to some of the earliest Christian writingsof men like St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and Eusebius of CaesareaSt. Peter was crucified in Rome by the order of Emperor Nero, who was making astand against the then-burgeoning religion of Christianity. Not wanting to dishonor the supreme sacrifice that Christ had already made, Peter requested that hebe crucified upside-down. The upside-down cross then became a symbol of humility, worn by those who, in the same spirit of Peter, wish to pay respect to the sacrifice made by Christ. Thats why its on the back of the Popes chair: The man actingas Pope steps into the shoes first worn by St. Peter, and the symbol of the cross has also been passed down. Its been suggested that the presence of the cross on the back of the Popes chair suggests that hes actually in league with Satan himself, but it seems like a pretty unlikely (and rather obvious) way of showing it.For some, the upside-down cross has been moved into the territory of fashion, with jewelry-makers selling not only crosses facing in both directions, but also sideways.3 His Demons Arent That Baddemonaccording to The Goetia: The Lesser Key of King Solomon, an anonymously written grimoire. The story says that King Solomon was once the most wise of all kings and could speak with man, beast, demon, and angel alike. Solomons temple was built only with the assistance of demons, particularly one named Asmodeus. While Solomons demons had a handful of the traditional characteristics we associate with themtendencies to trick, lie, and manipulatetheyre not the mindless, mind-controlled troublemakers we usually think of now. They definitely werent little, red, fork-tailed monsters. As far back as the 16th century, writers were compiling lists of demons and how to summon and control the

m. Precisely when The Goetia: The Lesser Key of King Solomon was first organizedis unknown, although parts of it echo through earlier works. The book is said to contain all the information you need to summon 72 demons, the same demons thatSolomon used to build his temple. While we might usually think of demons beingsummoned into the world to quite literally unleash hell, theyre not that one-dimensional. The 10th demon, Buer, teaches his summoners the healing properties of plants and herbs, gives good familiars, and can heal distempers.Eligos, the 15th demon spirit, appears as a knight and can see the future and reveal secrets. Naberius can give the gift of rhetoric and restore lost position and honors. See? Theyre not so bad.2 Satan Is Not Destined To Rule In HellhellmosaicCall him the Prince of Hell or the Prince of Darkness, and the job is clear. When it comes to the place where Satans going to spend eternity, its clearly Hell . . . right? According to Paul in Hebrews 2:14, Christ will destroySatan. That doesnt mean killing hi

m thoughthe word used is katargeo,which means defeating or putting someone away. Hell isnt the domain of Satan. Its his prison, where the Bible says hell be torturedjust like all the others who have turned away from God. Revelation 20:10 also supports this interpretation. According to this verse, Satans destiny has alreadybeen decided, and its being cast into Hells lake of fire. This blurs into anothermisconception about Satans role in Hell; according to popular belief, its Satan that barters for souls and banishes them to Hell for eternal punishment. In this same part of Revelation (and in Matthew 25:46), its also said that because of thebestowing of free will on mankind, its not Satan thats stealing souls and turningthem evil; evil is a choice made by each person. Its also said that God will punish all those who turn to evil in the same wayincluding Satan himself.1 Satan Doesnt Live In Hell . . . He Lives In TurkeybrassbullOne of the most universally accepted facts about Satanthat he rules over all the demons in Hellis also one of the

most incorrect. According to the Bible, Satan doesnt rule in Hell and doesnt livethere, either. He lives on Earth, walking among us and tempting us to commit sins and turn to his side. The Book of Revelation goes a step farther and names theancient Turkish city of Pergamum as the Throne of Satan.Specifically, its thoughtthat it was a literal throne, with the temple once known as the Great Altar ofZeus repurposed as the Devils throne. The prophet John says: To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satans throne is. And you hold fast to my name, and did not deny my faith even in the daysin which Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satandwells.In the context of the time, a throne is much more than just a chairits a ho


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me. Johns words to the people of Pergamum are an expression of gratitude for their faith while one of their own suffered one of the many horrible deaths inflicted upon the martyrs. Pergamum was home to the Asklepion, one of the most successful hospitals of the day, built in honor of the healing god Asklepios. Those whowere ill would take a sleeping potion and spend the night surrounded by snakes said to bring them dreams from Asklepios. Once the dreams were interpreted by their doctors, they could be cured. Once Christianity came to the city, the prieststhat were doing the interpreting pleaded with the city officials to run the Christians out of townthey were interfering with their spirits and the presence of their gods. One of the most vocal, a man named Antipas, was instructed to forsakehis Christian ways and swear allegiance to Rome. He refused and was burned alive in the brass bull on the top of the Altar of Zeus. But thats absolutely not theend of the story. In the mid-19th century, a German engineer named Carl Humannvisited the ruined city. He petitioned the respective governments to excavate the city and remove and take what artifacts he could back to Germany. The PergamonMuseum opened in 1930. Its center attraction was the reassembled Great Altar ofZeus. Several years later, Albert Speer would look to the altar for inspirationto create an eerie parallel. Adolf Hitler wanted him to design parade grounds,and Speer took the altar and recreated it on a massive scale. He replaced the bronze bull in which Antipas had been martyred with Hitlers podium, where he wouldstand to announce the Nuremberg Laws.