FROM THE PIT OF HELL

You do not know my real name. It’s sad but that is why you don’t know me although you think you do. Your Holy books call me Satan, or the Devil, but those were the names given to me to make you despise me. I won’t seek to change things by telling you my real name. However, for reference I’d prefer you call me, Lucifer. The name might give you a little hint of who I really am. Your church fathers would tell you that Lucifer means ‘the bright morning star’. For now, let me be known by that name.
You may not know this, but I am not your enemy. I know it would surprise you. However, if you take a moment to think, you’ll realize that you have never really heard my side of the story.  Everything you know were written by my enemies and a fair judgment cannot be reached with a one-sided testimony. I honestly don’t believe that 6000 years of defamation can be erased by a mere 3000 words, but I’ll try to say the most important things.
You were told that God made the first creatures and put them in a paradise garden, right? I was in heaven at that time, an angel of light as they put it. Like most of my angel counterparts, I was more than fascinated with God’s creation of earth and the things in it, especially man who looked very much like him. There was something I didn’t however agree with. My fellow angels said I was putting forward the questions because I felt I was the best endowed of all the angels. And Michael in particular threatened to have me reported to God. I questioned the rationale because God should already know everything, He being omniscient. About a third of the angels agreed with me and they too began asking my questions. It was simple. Why should God keep the knowledge of good and evil away from Man? And why should He test him by putting the fruit in the garden, yet instructing him not to eat of it? Finally, He did not fully tell them the truth about the fruit. All He said was that man would ‘positively die on the day that he eats thereof…’
I’m sure you can already see that he didn’t fully tell the truth. Both you and I know that Man did not die immediately after he ate the fruit although he died many years later. But I want you to ask yourself how your world would be right now if man had remained ignorant of good and evil. Also, how would it be if all ignorant men don’t die? You only need to look around you to see how hard it is for the old ones among you to adjust to development and changes. You’ll also notice that their irredeemably conservative nature offer the greatest friction to growth and development. I’m not saying that all old people are like this, but you’ll agree with me that it is in the nature of man to tend always to cling to old-fashioned ideas and ways. Now think of how difficult it would be if all the men who’ve ever been born were alive. The rationale for men living forever in ignorance was not at all appealing to me.
I didn’t know what it was that God had purposed in his heart, but I know the position he put man was already a difficult one. There was no need to put a fruit like that before him if he were not to touch it. There was no way mankind would multiply across all the earth and one of them will not one day get curious enough to taste the fruit. I wondered why God should choose to play such a game of ‘look, but don’t touch’ with mankind. But when I aired my views, I was branded a rebel. I was libeled as proud and questioning God’s authority. You all know the rest…
For me and the angels that ‘rebelled’, hell was prepared. The lake of fire too was created to be a final judgment for my angels, the ones you call Demons and me. The event which you all call, ‘the fall of Satan’ was as a result of my making a case for you. Well, maybe I was wrong and maybe I shouldn’t have cared very much about man as I did. I still ask why God didn’t cast my angels and me straight into hell or the lake of fire? Why did he cast us down to earth? One of my Angels had said that it was a way of mocking my passionate interest in mankind. Well, I happen to believe differently. If you read the Holy books, they have one thing in common; God is all knowing.
He knew right from the beginning of time that all these would happen. He knew before he created me that I would ‘rebel’. He knew that all these would happen. What can happen if God does not allow it? You may think you make your decisions out of free will. I used to think so too. But stop for a moment and ask yourself, how comes God knows the end from the beginning? How could all our numerous, apparently uninfluenced choices lead to one ineluctable destiny, known to God? And he says, that His will cannot be over-written. Everything must then be working according to his divine plan. Anyway, since it is the Devil that is saying this, then these must be words intended to mislead and deceive man into believing that God is not the good God that He says He is.
All through history, everything evil was associated with me. I killed, I stole, I lied, I caused discord, I brought the wars and the famines and the pestilences. I deceived and swindled all of mankind. I brought sorrow and anguish. I am the prince of darkness. And on and on…
All of that has gone on for over 6000 years. How hard it must now be to have man believe something else. However, let me ask you, what can happen if God does not allow it? If he doesn’t like what I’m doing, then he shouldn’t have let it happen, and that is even if I’m doing something bad. I can hear someone say that God has allowed it for a purpose and at the appointed time…
I have only two things to say to that. If God has allowed anything to happen for a purpose, then the purpose of that thing must be in harmony with his purpose. Secondly, if he is waiting for an appointed time, then who appointed the time?
Well, someone has to carry the blame for all the wrongs in the world. Someone has to be the scapegoat. Someone has to bear all the sins of mankind. The irony of everything is that man is made to believe that Jesus took all the sins of man, and not Lucifer who still carries all those sins till this moment.
I wish I could make man see that I am not the enemy. I have always made it my aspiration to make man the best creature he can be. It all started in the Garden of Eden. I didn’t lie to Eve when I said that she would not die after eating the fruit. We all know that she was still alive after that, don’t we? She gave the apple to Adam and even bore him many children afterwards, three of whose names you already know as Cain, Abel and Set. Even Adam himself lived 930 years. For most of you that is an eternity. I also did not lie when I said the fruit will make them wise, and ‘you shall be as God knowing good and evil.’ We all know that man didn’t know the difference between good and evil until after eating the fruit. Yet I was accused of lying to them. To lie is to say what isn’t true and I don’t see how I lied there.
Let me remind you that if I had not done what I did, you would be living unclothed and shameless knowing neither good nor evil like animals in a garden. You’ll have neither science nor technology, just a bunch of people who’ll eat and run around forever. Just imagine how empty and boring your lives will be. I’m sure you are reluctant to accept that eating the fruit had a lot of advantages.
Another thing I want to address is whether I bring all the evils and disasters on man. The first question is, am I capable of doing all that? Yes and no.
Yes, because I’m a supernatural being and therefore, I’m capable of influencing natural events. No, because, no one is capable of doing anything except with God’s agreement. To say that God could be in agreement with me may seem like an impossibility, for ‘what fellowship has light to do with darkness?’
Consider the story of Job. A little examination of the details of the story should bring to your notice the fact that I was in agreement with God in order to rake havoc in the life of Job. I didn’t do what I did to Job without God’s consent. In fact, it wasn’t I who brought Job’s matter up. God did. He only delegated the testing assignment to me. Note that he tests man himself, like he did to the father of the Jews. However, for some reasons best known to him, he decided to use me.
Let me be straight. God is perfectly capable of raking havoc himself and he does it all the time. The problem is that man is quick to inculpate me whenever such bad things happen to them. I don’t blame man though; his mind has been conditioned to do so.
What do you call earthquakes and tonadoes? They are acts of God. Not acts of the devil. They are things that happen such that no one can do anything about them, not even the devil.
I don’t need to remind you that I did not bring the waters of the Great flood. I did not bring the ten plagues upon the Egyptians. I especially did not harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to punish Egypt and liberate the Israelites. God did.
I did not bring serpents into the wilderness to bring death on the Israelites. I did not bring down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. I did not kill 70,000 Israelites on account of King David’s census. To understand the origin of the death of the 70,000, I’d refer you to 2 Samuel 24:1. You might get the idea of who caused the census in the first place. God did.
Those are just a few examples. How can you then say that I’m responsible for all the catastrophes that befall man? It is stated explicitly in Lamentations 3:38, ‘Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that Good and evil come?’
My best guess is that the ‘Most High’ there mentioned is God. And if what the inspired writer said was anything to go by, then that should exonerate me of all accusations. Like I might have pointed out from the story of Job, it is only logical to see me as a servant of God whenever I am involved in anything that harms man. The problem is, man doesn’t know who his true friends are.
Let me explain. Being cast out of heaven doesn’t mean that I’m no longer under God’s influence. It is also not possible to run a government parallel to God’s in the universe. He is jealous enough to stop it from happening. I cannot run a parallel government neither can I subvert his Government.
The present world that you see is as a result of the collective roles played by the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and me. This is the core of your religion. If you disagree, try removing me from the picture and you’ll see what is left. There’d be nothing called sin. All that Jesus came to do would be mere charade. And the whole message of atonement would only be an elaborate play. Why did I say that? The Bible calls Jesus ‘the lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world.’ It was all in God’s divine purpose. I have to play my role on the other side for all these to come true.
Our roles were to come in this order; first the Father would create; then Lucifer will rebel and beget sin; then Christ will make atonement; finally, the Holy Spirit will dwell in the midst of men.
As a personal ambition, I used to work hard to avert the lake-of-fire damnation. The reason I try to get all men to my side is to see if I could have the lake of fire averted, not to swell the population of hell. God has the habit of always making his purposes unclear till the end. However, He has said He does not take pleasure in damning mankind. If all of mankind were on my side, then He might have a rethink of His plans with the lake of fire. I believe I failed in acquiring all of mankind as a very few had died without giving in to my indulgence.
However that was partly because of the role I played in having Jesus crucified. For if I had not, and he had not been crucified then there would be no way for man to go to heaven. If at all Christians are to be grateful for their salvation, then it is I who deserve their gratitude. But that is not a matter they would contemplate.
I made the crucifixion happen because I felt I had dominated man long enough for them to give no allegiance to any other. Also, I wanted to return God’s favour. Just like he did during the time of Job when he deliberately removed the hedge from around Job. I decided to have Jesus crucified so as to give man a choice. And I felt I was winning until now.
Almost all men are on my side still, but I’ve realized it wasn’t by my power. It is all according to divine purpose. I couldn’t possibly change God’s mind as regards the matter of hell and the lake of fire. I’ve come to understand more. I want all men to see that there is no one whether in the realm of the spirits or in the physical world that is not a part of God’s divine programme. We all do not know what his purpose is and we’ll never know till the end. You may think the Bible or the other holy books had made it known. Maybe they have, but you will never know until it comes to pass. It pleases God to watch the dramas, how men continue to hope in saving their souls. It is great entertainment for the heavenly folks.
Another thing I’ll like to address is this: not everything written about me in the holy books is true. Some are even blatantly ridiculous if only you’ll take a moment to think. As an example, let me highlight the temptations of Jesus. The Bible recorded that after Jesus’ forty days fasting, I tried to corrupt his pure mind with three temptations. If I knew that Jesus was the Son of God and in fact the second member of the Trinity, who was equal to God, then what was I hoping to achieve? Was I hoping to tempt God and make him sin? That would be the stupidest thing anyone would attempt. And mind you, the Bible also advises that people be ‘as wise as the serpent’. Don’t tell me that the Bible is advising its followers to be as wise as someone who tried to corrupt the Almighty God to sin, the highest folly.
The Bible’s case being though one-sided is still not very impressive if carefully analyzed. However, it’s the devil saying this, so…
Let me leave you with these last words: Let him who is holy be holy still; let him who is unjust be unjust still… Let your life be so-so. Being too mindful of the supernatural can change nothing, which has been ordained. Do good to all men, unless you find you have to do otherwise. Be your brother’s keeper, but not to the detriment of the wider world. Forgive men their wrongs unless they have made it a habit to hurt you. Finally, Love your neighbour as you love yourself, but eliminate any neighbour who is a threat to others.
Live as you can, yet aspire for greater things. In everything you do, don’t fret, for all that succeeds, they succeed according to the divine will. All that fails does so according to divine will. Be of good cheer, for all of us are nothing but instruments in the hands of God.
Thank you for your audience.
                                                                                                                                                                           O. C.

[img]http://www.buddy-icons.info/img/smile/1674.gif[/img] ^{[size=14pt]. . . and here's the sentence.[/size]}


Just one will do 

Satani has come to steal, kill or destroy but GOD has come to give life and give abundantly

Lucy baby, haven't you left it a bit too late? Yaweh already has a very healthy headstart on you. Maybe you should have stated your case a few centuries back.

David E. A:

FROM THE PIT OF HELL

You do not know my real name. It’s sad but that is why you don’t know me although you think you do. Your Holy books call me Satan, or the Devil, but those were the names given to me to make you despise me. I won’t seek to change things by telling you my real name. However, for reference I’d prefer you call me, Lucifer. The name might give you a little hint of who I really am. Your church fathers would tell you that Lucifer means ‘the bright morning star’. For now, let me be known by that name.
You may not know this, but I am not your enemy. I know it would surprise you. However, if you take a moment to think, you’ll realize that you have never really heard my side of the story.  Everything you know were written by my enemies and a fair judgment cannot be reached with a one-sided testimony. I honestly don’t believe that 6000 years of defamation can be erased by a mere 3000 words, but I’ll try to say the most important things.
You were told that God made the first creatures and put them in a paradise garden, right? I was in heaven at that time, an angel of light as they put it. Like most of my angel counterparts, I was more than fascinated with God’s creation of earth and the things in it, especially man who looked very much like him. There was something I didn’t however agree with. My fellow angels said I was putting forward the questions because I felt I was the best endowed of all the angels. And Michael in particular threatened to have me reported to God. I questioned the rationale because God should already know everything, He being omniscient. About a third of the angels agreed with me and they too began asking my questions. It was simple. Why should God keep the knowledge of good and evil away from Man? And why should He test him by putting the fruit in the garden, yet instructing him not to eat of it? Finally, He did not fully tell them the truth about the fruit. All He said was that man would ‘positively die on the day that he eats thereof…’
I’m sure you can already see that he didn’t fully tell the truth. Both you and I know that Man did not die immediately after he ate the fruit although he died many years later. But I want you to ask yourself how your world would be right now if man had remained ignorant of good and evil. Also, how would it be if all ignorant men don’t die? You only need to look around you to see how hard it is for the old ones among you to adjust to development and changes. You’ll also notice that their irredeemably conservative nature offer the greatest friction to growth and development. I’m not saying that all old people are like this, but you’ll agree with me that it is in the nature of man to tend always to cling to old-fashioned ideas and ways. Now think of how difficult it would be if all the men who’ve ever been born were alive. The rationale for men living forever in ignorance was not at all appealing to me.
I didn’t know what it was that God had purposed in his heart, but I know the position he put man was already a difficult one. There was no need to put a fruit like that before him if he were not to touch it. There was no way mankind would multiply across all the earth and one of them will not one day get curious enough to taste the fruit. I wondered why God should choose to play such a game of ‘look, but don’t touch’ with mankind. But when I aired my views, I was branded a rebel. I was libeled as proud and questioning God’s authority. You all know the rest…
For me and the angels that ‘rebelled’, hell was prepared. The lake of fire too was created to be a final judgment for my angels, the ones you call Demons and me. The event which you all call, ‘the fall of Satan’ was as a result of my making a case for you. Well, maybe I was wrong and maybe I shouldn’t have cared very much about man as I did. I still ask why God didn’t cast my angels and me straight into hell or the lake of fire? Why did he cast us down to earth? One of my Angels had said that it was a way of mocking my passionate interest in mankind. Well, I happen to believe differently. If you read the Holy books, they have one thing in common; God is all knowing.
He knew right from the beginning of time that all these would happen. He knew before he created me that I would ‘rebel’. He knew that all these would happen. What can happen if God does not allow it? You may think you make your decisions out of free will. I used to think so too. But stop for a moment and ask yourself, how comes God knows the end from the beginning? How could all our numerous, apparently uninfluenced choices lead to one ineluctable destiny, known to God? And he says, that His will cannot be over-written. Everything must then be working according to his divine plan. Anyway, since it is the Devil that is saying this, then these must be words intended to mislead and deceive man into believing that God is not the good God that He says He is.
All through history, everything evil was associated with me. I killed, I stole, I lied, I caused discord, I brought the wars and the famines and the pestilences. I deceived and swindled all of mankind. I brought sorrow and anguish. I am the prince of darkness. And on and on…
All of that has gone on for over 6000 years. How hard it must now be to have man believe something else. However, let me ask you, what can happen if God does not allow it? If he doesn’t like what I’m doing, then he shouldn’t have let it happen, and that is even if I’m doing something bad. I can hear someone say that God has allowed it for a purpose and at the appointed time…
I have only two things to say to that. If God has allowed anything to happen for a purpose, then the purpose of that thing must be in harmony with his purpose. Secondly, if he is waiting for an appointed time, then who appointed the time?
Well, someone has to carry the blame for all the wrongs in the world. Someone has to be the scapegoat. Someone has to bear all the sins of mankind. The irony of everything is that man is made to believe that Jesus took all the sins of man, and not Lucifer who still carries all those sins till this moment.
I wish I could make man see that I am not the enemy. I have always made it my aspiration to make man the best creature he can be. It all started in the Garden of Eden. I didn’t lie to Eve when I said that she would not die after eating the fruit. We all know that she was still alive after that, don’t we? She gave the apple to Adam and even bore him many children afterwards, three of whose names you already know as Cain, Abel and Set. Even Adam himself lived 930 years. For most of you that is an eternity. I also did not lie when I said the fruit will make them wise, and ‘you shall be as God knowing good and evil.’ We all know that man didn’t know the difference between good and evil until after eating the fruit. Yet I was accused of lying to them. To lie is to say what isn’t true and I don’t see how I lied there.
Let me remind you that if I had not done what I did, you would be living unclothed and shameless knowing neither good nor evil like animals in a garden. You’ll have neither science nor technology, just a bunch of people who’ll eat and run around forever. Just imagine how empty and boring your lives will be. I’m sure you are reluctant to accept that eating the fruit had a lot of advantages.
Another thing I want to address is whether I bring all the evils and disasters on man. The first question is, am I capable of doing all that? Yes and no.
Yes, because I’m a supernatural being and therefore, I’m capable of influencing natural events. No, because, no one is capable of doing anything except with God’s agreement. To say that God could be in agreement with me may seem like an impossibility, for ‘what fellowship has light to do with darkness?’
Consider the story of Job. A little examination of the details of the story should bring to your notice the fact that I was in agreement with God in order to rake havoc in the life of Job. I didn’t do what I did to Job without God’s consent. In fact, it wasn’t I who brought Job’s matter up. God did. He only delegated the testing assignment to me. Note that he tests man himself, like he did to the father of the Jews. However, for some reasons best known to him, he decided to use me.
Let me be straight. God is perfectly capable of raking havoc himself and he does it all the time. The problem is that man is quick to inculpate me whenever such bad things happen to them. I don’t blame man though; his mind has been conditioned to do so.
What do you call earthquakes and tonadoes? They are acts of God. Not acts of the devil. They are things that happen such that no one can do anything about them, not even the devil.
I don’t need to remind you that I did not bring the waters of the Great flood. I did not bring the ten plagues upon the Egyptians. I especially did not harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to punish Egypt and liberate the Israelites. God did.
I did not bring serpents into the wilderness to bring death on the Israelites. I did not bring down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. I did not kill 70,000 Israelites on account of King David’s census. To understand the origin of the death of the 70,000, I’d refer you to 2 Samuel 24:1. You might get the idea of who caused the census in the first place. God did.
Those are just a few examples. How can you then say that I’m responsible for all the catastrophes that befall man? It is stated explicitly in Lamentations 3:38, ‘Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that Good and evil come?’
My best guess is that the ‘Most High’ there mentioned is God. And if what the inspired writer said was anything to go by, then that should exonerate me of all accusations. Like I might have pointed out from the story of Job, it is only logical to see me as a servant of God whenever I am involved in anything that harms man. The problem is, man doesn’t know who his true friends are.
Let me explain. Being cast out of heaven doesn’t mean that I’m no longer under God’s influence. It is also not possible to run a government parallel to God’s in the universe. He is jealous enough to stop it from happening. I cannot run a parallel government neither can I subvert his Government.
The present world that you see is as a result of the collective roles played by the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and me. This is the core of your religion. If you disagree, try removing me from the picture and you’ll see what is left. There’d be nothing called sin. All that Jesus came to do would be mere charade. And the whole message of atonement would only be an elaborate play. Why did I say that? The Bible calls Jesus ‘the lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world.’ It was all in God’s divine purpose. I have to play my role on the other side for all these to come true.
Our roles were to come in this order; first the Father would create; then Lucifer will rebel and beget sin; then Christ will make atonement; finally, the Holy Spirit will dwell in the midst of men.
As a personal ambition, I used to work hard to avert the lake-of-fire damnation. The reason I try to get all men to my side is to see if I could have the lake of fire averted, not to swell the population of hell. God has the habit of always making his purposes unclear till the end. However, He has said He does not take pleasure in damning mankind. If all of mankind were on my side, then He might have a rethink of His plans with the lake of fire. I believe I failed in acquiring all of mankind as a very few had died without giving in to my indulgence.
However that was partly because of the role I played in having Jesus crucified. For if I had not, and he had not been crucified then there would be no way for man to go to heaven. If at all Christians are to be grateful for their salvation, then it is I who deserve their gratitude. But that is not a matter they would contemplate.
I made the crucifixion happen because I felt I had dominated man long enough for them to give no allegiance to any other. Also, I wanted to return God’s favour. Just like he did during the time of Job when he deliberately removed the hedge from around Job. I decided to have Jesus crucified so as to give man a choice. And I felt I was winning until now.
Almost all men are on my side still, but I’ve realized it wasn’t by my power. It is all according to divine purpose. I couldn’t possibly change God’s mind as regards the matter of hell and the lake of fire. I’ve come to understand more. I want all men to see that there is no one whether in the realm of the spirits or in the physical world that is not a part of God’s divine programme. We all do not know what his purpose is and we’ll never know till the end. You may think the Bible or the other holy books had made it known. Maybe they have, but you will never know until it comes to pass. It pleases God to watch the dramas, how men continue to hope in saving their souls. It is great entertainment for the heavenly folks.
Another thing I’ll like to address is this: not everything written about me in the holy books is true. Some are even blatantly ridiculous if only you’ll take a moment to think. As an example, let me highlight the temptations of Jesus. The Bible recorded that after Jesus’ forty days fasting, I tried to corrupt his pure mind with three temptations. If I knew that Jesus was the Son of God and in fact the second member of the Trinity, who was equal to God, then what was I hoping to achieve? Was I hoping to tempt God and make him sin? That would be the stupidest thing anyone would attempt. And mind you, the Bible also advises that people be ‘as wise as the serpent’. Don’t tell me that the Bible is advising its followers to be as wise as someone who tried to corrupt the Almighty God to sin, the highest folly.
The Bible’s case being though one-sided is still not very impressive if carefully analyzed. However, it’s the devil saying this, so…
Let me leave you with these last words: Let him who is holy be holy still; let him who is unjust be unjust still… Let your life be so-so. Being too mindful of the supernatural can change nothing, which has been ordained. Do good to all men, unless you find you have to do otherwise. Be your brother’s keeper, but not to the detriment of the wider world. Forgive men their wrongs unless they have made it a habit to hurt you. Finally, Love your neighbour as you love yourself, but eliminate any neighbour who is a threat to others.
Live as you can, yet aspire for greater things. In everything you do, don’t fret, for all that succeeds, they succeed according to the divine will. All that fails does so according to divine will. Be of good cheer, for all of us are nothing but instruments in the hands of God.
Thank you for your audience.
                                                                                                                                                                           O. C.