God’s word – the holy Bible reveals there is a powerful, invisible spirit being - called Satan or the Devil, is in this world and is the cause or power that has been deceiving an unsuspecting humanity.

Angels existed Before the Creation of the Earth

The Bible reveals that the angels – including the one who became Satan, existed prior to the creation of the earth; Job 38:7 speaks of this time saying: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” The context of Job 38 shows God is supreme creator who created the earth and the angels; and if you notice, the scripture says, “… the morning stars sang together …” These morning stars are cherubims – who are of higher rank than the other angels that are called “sons of Gods.” Lucifer, whose name mean shining star of the dawn, is called “son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12) and is also called the “… anointed cherub …” (Ezekiel 28:14). There are two other angels that are of such high rank; they are mentioned as Michael and Gabriel. In speaking of these cherubims, Psalm 99: 1 says God “… sitteth between the cherubims …” This means, the cherubims or these mighty morning stars, are at the very seat of power – symbolized by the fact that they were near the very throne of God; and this was the very reason why God told Moses to place two cherubs at each end of the throne of God when he (Moses) was given the pattern of the Ark of the covenant (see Exodus 25: 18 -20). Also remember that after Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible revealed cherubims were given the responsibility to keep man away from the tree of life (Gen 3:24).

Lucifer Rebelled Against the Government of God

The Bible reveals God created Lucifer with stunning beauty and wisdom – giving him great authority and power; in speaking of this, God says, “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God …” (Ezekiel 28:14). Lucifer covered the throne of God – meaning he was at the very seat of God’s government and had top flight position in that government - and along with another cherub (possibly Michael – the archangel) – who also covered the throne of God. In thinking about this, a person could consider that Lucifer was of great might and power that far excelled that of all the other ordinary angels, and may be regarded or viewed as the highest created being God had decided to create by fiat or instantaneous creation; and though we do not want to limit God, I suppose one could entertain the thought that Lucifer could be as close to being the very pinnacle means of God creative power to bring such a being into existence by such instantaneous creation; and notice that the Bible goes on to say: “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness …” (Ezekiel 28:17). Lucifer thought so much about himself; how powerful, beautiful and wise he was that it all went to his head; he became absorbed with himself that his great wisdom was corrupted by the thoughts that he could rival God or better govern the universe than God – which ultimately led or caused him to turn against God’s government in rebellion.

Most people may not be aware that this Lucifer was given a throne to sit on and to carry out the administration of God’s government over the earth – long before man had been created.

When God created the earth, the angels rejoiced because it was to the abode or home of possibly a third of the angels. Revelation 12:3,4 speaks of Satan as great red dragon whose tail drew “the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to earth …” Angels are spoken of as stars in the Bible; Satan had been given the rulership over the earth to administer God’s rule over the earth and the indication is that he ruled with at least a third of God’s angels under his command; this could have been millions of years before man was created. But somewhere during that time, Lucifer became discontented – as he wanted more power and control over the universe and over the rest of God’s holy angels in heaven, and so he began to work on the minds of the third of the angels under his control; he probably began to first work on the minds of those angels closest to him – sowing the seed of discord and discontent – by possibly complaining about the unfairness of God’s government – finding fault with God or that way of God’s governing was not right or fair; and is this not what dictators often do in this word of man? Do they not often try to overthrow governments by finding fault with it? This is exactly what Lucifer did.

God's government or way of life is based on love, cooperation, getting along with others – in which all peacefully and happily work together with joy and purpose, but Lucifer thought the very opposite of the way of God’s government; he reasoned that life was better or more stimulating if he could get rid of God’s way of life or the way of God’s government – by replacing it with selfishness, greed and vanity – which is the way of hostile competition, strife and taking away from others; and this way of Satan is quite evident in the world in which we live; it is this same spirit of Satan that has inspired mankind to be engaged in hostile competition and hostile Take-Overs and with men wanting to live the way of selfishness and greed – putting the self above the needs of others and taking all we can get for ourselves without any regard to the needs of others.

It could have taken Lucifer a very long time – possibly thousands of years to convince the other angels to follow him in his rebellion against God; how he must have plotted, lied – deceiving the rest of the angels under his command to turn in rebellion against God and to take his (Lucifer’s) side; And having succeeded in this endeavor, Lucifer had come to the point where he was now in command of a great and fierce army of rebel angels who were now willing to follow him in his attempt to try and overthrow his maker. This army would have been fierce and destructive because their character had changed from God’s way of peace and love to one of hatred and hostility – in which their sole purpose was now bent on dethroning God – as their minds had been corrupted by Lucifer. In speaking of this attempt, Isaiah 14:13 says: “For thou (Lucifer) hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars (the other angels in heaven) of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.”

Here, it is made plain that Lucifer had a throne on earth in which he had to leave the earth with his rebel angels to ascend upward to heaven to try and dethrone God. But this hostile attempt to take over God’s throne was to end in failure – as Lucifer and his army was cast back down to the earth to which they are to this very day.

Lucifer Warfare Caused the Destruction of the Earth

Before continuing, I felt it should be important to point out that this war of Lucifer had actually caused the destruction of the earth that God had initially created at the beginning – as revealed in Genesis 1:1.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” In the Hebrew, the word heaven is plural – indicating God may have created the universe or the heavens and the earth at the very same time; and it was at this time that the angels – including Lucifer rejoiced to see the earth created. Now, God does not create things in bad or broken state because God is a God of beauty and purpose, and so, God would have created the earth in a state of beauty – making it a place of joy for the angels to live on. When God created the Garden of Eden, he made it a beautiful place for the man and the woman to live. But God also placed the man in the garden to “dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15).The word “DRESS” means to work, till, or labor, and the word “KEEP” means to preserve or to save – thus, indicating the human pair had work to do in preserving and tending to the garden; and so, the point here is that when the angels were placed on the earth, they too would have had some part in preserving or even working together to further bring out the glory of God’s creative work on the earth - by putting some degree of finishing touches to it and simply working on the earth – preserving and ever beautifying it to show forth the creative majesty of God. No doubt, these angels had a great purpose on earth as they administered the rule or government of God over the earth.

One can imagine that the earth must have been so beautiful that it must have had thick luxuriant foliage which provided food for possibly millions of creatures that were to eventually die out before man was created – for this could possibly be millions of years before Adam and Eve were created. But this earth and its beauty must have been spectacular – with all living in peace and harmony – with not one creature preying upon another or seeking to devour another – because as long as Lucifer obeyed God, the earth would have continued to be a place of serenity, peace and great happiness to all - until Lucifer’s rebellion brought worldwide cataclysmic destruction and death to all animal life on earth. Ezekiel 28:15, states Lucifer was perfect in his way until iniquity was found in him; the earth would have been in peace and harmony – as long as Lucifer obeyed God. But things became disjointed when Lucifer decided to wage warfare against God, and Genesis 1:2 expresses the shocking result of that warfare and how it impacted the earth; it says: “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the deep …” Did you notice anything strange in this verse? Did you notice that the beautiful earth God had created in Genesis 1:1 was now without form? It says, “without form and void.” Without form and void comes from a Hebrew word which refers to a state of utter destruction, state of waste and desolation.

God is a God of order and did not create the earth in state of waste or desolation; He created the earth to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18). It was Lucifer’s war against God that caused the destruction of the earth and also impacting the universe; and this could be the very reason why the Moon has so many craters; the Moon is bleak and pocket by many craters. Those who study the moon, have even been known to says these craters were formed by impacts. Do you suppose these impacts were a result of Satan’s war against God? Certainly, God did not create his universe to be so bleak and in a state of desolation and waste – even as we see on Mars.

With Lucifer being cast down – failing to unseat God from the throne, God then decided He would place man upon the earth, but before doing that, God had to reshape the earth – making it habitable for man; He had to undo the damage done to earth by Lucifer and his rebel army of angels; and so God had to renew face of the earth; Psalm 104:30 confirms this – saying: “… and thou renewest the face of the earth.” Renew means to rebuild, renew or repair. For God to rebuild the earth meant that something of epic proportion had to have happened to the earth to have caused God to rebuild the earth. I would also like to mention that when God created the human pair of Adam and Eve, He told them to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth …” (Gen. 1:28). The word “replenish” means to fill up again or to restore something – meaning that man was to grow in number – reproducing his kind (humankind) into the millions - so as to replace the sinning angels who turned in rebellion against God; man was to fill up the earth again – replacing the angels who populated the earth but are still living on it as rebellious invisible spirits.

Some may say but if God is all knowing why did He not stop Satan from rebelling – so as to stop all this evil and destruction? Of course, God could have chosen to know what Satan was doing and planning all along, but if God had suddenly intervened to stop Satan from thinking and planning to overthrow God, then Satan and the angels would have complained that God was a tyrant who would not allow them to demonstrate the freedom of thought; and so, God allowed Satan and his rebel angels to choose their selfish path to see for themselves, and also to testify to those other holy angels that remained faithful to God, that Satan’s way would produce nothing but unhappiness and sorrow. Furthermore, God gave them the freedom to decide for themselves, and they could have made the choice to not rebel. It is the same with Adam and Eve; God could have stopped the human pair from sinning, but since God gave them freedom of choice, He allowed or permitted the selfish ways of man to be tried and tested – so as to prevent God’s creatures from arguing or complaining that they had been denied to go their way or to exercise their own free will in doing what they wanted to do. God allowed man to go his own way so man could come to learn the harsh lessons of living the wrong way; and this is why when Jesus comes to reign on earth, He is now going to rule with a rod of iron over the nations (Revelation 2:27). Christ is going to rule with strength because God’s time has now come, and humanity is no longer going to be allowed to go their own sinful ways any longer.

How Satan Deceives Humanity

In the defeat of Satan and his rebel angels to take over the throne of God, Jesus said: “I Beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Satan failed and was cast back to earth with all those who took part in this attempted coup. II Peter 2: 4 also speak of this saying: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell (Hell here comes from the Greek word Tartaroo – which refers to being in a state of restraint or deprived of the freedom these angels had when they obeyed God), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement.” These angels or demons are here on earth - restrained by the power of God until the time of their judgement.

With Satan and his rebel angels cast back to earth, the Bible reveals that Satan is the “god of this world” (II Cor. 4:4); he is the god of this world because in rebelling against the government of God, Satan is still allowed to continue in his original position in which God had placed him as ruler over the earth; this position, now perverted by his rebellion, will remain until Jesus Christ comes to remove him; and this is why Jesus told Pilate – “My kingdom is not of this world …” (John 18:36). God’s kingdom is not of this world because this world is Satan’s world and not God’s world; if this world was God’s world or that which is ruled by God, then God would not be ruling in such an evil filled world - as such is contrary to his nature; and in addition, if this was God’s world, then Satan could never have been referred to as “the god of this world.” God and Satan do not share the rulership of this world together; God will be supreme world ruler when Satan is removed; it is only then that this world will become God’s world. You can read Revelation 11:15 and see that when Christ comes, He is then announced as the new world ruler – taking over the kingdoms of the world – meaning God will not begin to rule over all kingdoms on earth until Satan has been removed.

People do not tend to think of Satan as a world ruler sitting on throne, but he is in fact the ruler of this world and will remain world ruler until the second coming of Christ to remover and bound him for a thousand years.

The invisible Satan is the great mind and power behind the evils in the world; and he uses that mind to deceive humanity. For example, Satan has deceived humanity into thinking that it is man (Adam and Eve) who was the first sinner – when, in fact, it is Satan who is the first sinner. Jesus reminded us that it is Satan who is a murderer from the beginning and is the Father of lies (John 8:44).

Satan not only deceives people – by influencing them to believe God’s right way of life is wrong but that their wrong way is right; Proverbs 14:12 says, “… there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death …” People will act in ways which they think is right, but often times man’s right way is in conflict with God’s righteousness, and people do not even realize they are believing in and doing the wrong things; they think their self- righteous ways are right when in fact, it is wrong. Perhaps Proverbs 16:2 sums it up best when it says: “All the ways of man are clean in his own eyes …” Satan uses a self-righteous attitude to deceive humanity; to blind humanity to the wrongness of their own ways.

Satan is a great and powerful spirit being and is described as being dragon like in appearance (Revelation 12:3). We do not see Satan with our naked eyes because he is invisible to us – prompting some to believe Satan is myth or that he is not real. But the Bible reveals Satan does sit on the throne of the earth deceiving humanity – inciting the human mind to do evil or those things that are the very opposite of the holy and righteous ways of God. For example, the Bible refers to Satan as “… the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Have you ever stopped to think and wonder why Satan is described as such - the prince of the power of the air? Let me explain: Have you ever tuned in to a radio station and hear music playing on that radio? Well, that means you have tuned into a radio frequency that causes you to hear the sound of that music; and with that music playing, your mind may get caught up in the song and soon you not only find yourself dancing to the beat of the music but will sing along - saying the words of the song that has so stirred you up. Similarly, Satan, being the prince of the power of the air (the airwaves), also broadcast in similar fashion, but his broadcast comes to your mind invisibly through the means of negative, moods and attitudes that can also incite or bring about a sudden strong urge or desire on the human mind to act or do that which is wrong. You know that a radio transmit sound through electromagnetic waves, well, Satan actually fills the air waves of this earth with his negative and destructive attitude, and if you allow his negative attitude of hate, resentment, bitterness, envy, jealousy, lust, greed to come into your mind and fester, then like the music on the radio that will stir you to dance and sing, even so will Satan’s broadcast get to your mind - because it means you would have tuned into his broadcast or frequency. This means Satan continually fills the airwaves of the earth with negative broadcasts - causing all the evils we see in the world – inciting wars and destruction. But people are unsuspecting – not realizing that this fit of rage, anger, lust, or hate that so easily come upon people is being generated in the human mind by Satan – whose ultimate goal is to deceive the individual to act upon those negative mood or attitude that he broadcasts all over this earth. How many times have you not heard someone convicted of a crime or some other acts of evil say they never meant to do what they did other than to give in to the rage or anger that incited their minds to resort to such action; who do you suppose is behind the rage and anger that can be so easily stirred up in the human heart? It is Satan, the prince of the power of the air - broadcasting his negative attitude in the minds of people; he has filled the entire earth with his broadcast. Satan is like a non- stop broadcaster broadcasting his sinful attitude in unseen negative mood and impulses - which will show its result after the person has given in or acted upon to those wrong impulses.

Satan is very cunning, and humanity is unaware of this Satan and how he works, and it is no wonder, the Bible say he “… deceiveth the whole world …” (Revelation 12:9). This whole world of humanity is deceived because they simply do not grasp the magnitude of the power of the one who is deceiving them; they do not realize how he works on their mind; it is no wonder the Bible speaks of evil as “… the mystery of iniquity…” (II Thess. 2:7); it is mystery because people do not know what Satan is doing to them; they are not aware of his cunning or his devices (II Cor. 2:11).

The only way of overcoming Satan is for the Christian to stay close to God – relying upon the power of God to be able to withstand Satan and his evil angels. James 4:7 gives this admonition: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” God is the only sure source of strength in resisting and overcoming Satan – as we cannot overcome Satan on our strength or power, but by placing reliance on God – who is far greater than Satan. Thankfully, when Christ comes, Satan is going to be taken off the throne of this earth and be bound for one thousand years. Think of it: humanity is going to be free of Satan for all this time; Satan will not be around to deceive humanity, and people will then come to understand more fully just how Satan had been deceiving them; they will come to see how different the world is going to be when there is no Satan around to broadcast his harmful mood and impulses into their minds. May God speed up that day.