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Written by Lilith Ashtart
© Copyright 2001-02
Ø Christianism and Judaism
This will
be a long chapter, because Christianism it is a philosophy which incorporates
directly the name of Lucifer in its dogmas.
The Christians corrupted the image of the Roman Lucifer, making him the
leader of fallen angels. The name Lucifer is not found in any books of Christian
bible. This relation latter appeared, with the invasion of European peoples and
the race miscegenation. More than a wrong translation, it is an invention to say
that he is found in the original bible. The mention to a being that can even
transform himself in an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), or a lion
that roars and devours (1 Peter 5:8) is only presented in the New Testament. As
it will be shown, in the Torah (Hebraic bible which is nothing if not the first
five books of any Christian bible), there is not any concept of Lucifer as the
personified bad, but as an accuser.
There is no way of remembering what the two respectable occultists comment about this corruption. According to Blavatsky: "Indeed, the whole sidereal world, planets and their regents--the ancient gods of poetical paganism--the sun, the moon, the elements, and the entire host of incalculable worlds--those at least which happened to be known to the Church Fathers--shared in the same fate. They have all been slandered, all bedevilled by the insatiable desire of proving one little system of theology--built on and constructed out of old pagan materials--the only right and holy one, and all those which preceded or followed it utterly wrong. Sun and stars, the very air itself, we are asked to believe, became pure and "redeemed" from original sin and the Satanic element of heathenism, only after the year I, A.D." [Lucifer, Vol. I, No 1, September, 1887] .
Really
there is no denying that the church, to fight against ancient pagan religions,
making them become their enemies, distorted the ancient gods in demons who
attempt against human happiness. What simpler way to solidify an idea than to
creation of fear? What easier way to end up with the pagan festivities than to
make them become sins? All of which were against the church ideas were
considered heretics. People begun to fear the act of thinking, questioning ideas
and, as incredible as it may seems, hundred of years latter, still because of
fear, but now the fear of inferno or because of pure accommodation, they close
their eyes to reality, throwing away their own fulfillment in this world. Some
Christian demons were created being nothing more than the reflection of our
animal side, which many try to occult, fight against it, without noticing and
accepting that it is part of all of us. The rage, luxury, ambition which are
among so many feelings are part of this side are so important to men such as
love and understanding. We are masters of our own Will, and because of it, here
and now, we are whom we should be, making use of it to reach our aims. How? Through the development of our
interior potential, that is only slept.
The devil was a Christian invention constructed with basis in ancient pagan myths, specially the Babylonian and Caanits ones, already previously distorted by Jewish. The Greek word diabolos, used as noun and adjective, is from the Greek diaballein which means "calumniator" and it is used as a translation of the Hebraic term hassatan (the accuser or adversary) in the Old Testament. In the New Testament the same Greek word is used as a synonym of the term which is more difficult to find, satan or satanas. We can not forget that the Old Testament was written in Hebraic and the New Testament in Greek, and because of it the use of these two worlds is equivalent. I will cite only some of these gods used to construct the Christian devil, among so many other existing ones:
· Abaddon, or the Destroyer was the governor of Sheol, a place destined to be the residence of the dead. It is different from the Christian inferno, as this is not a place where punishments were applied to the dead because the faults they committed in life, let alone a place of torture and suffering.
· Ashtart, Phoenician deity, equivalent to the Babylonian Ishtar, goddess of war and love, and harvests. Associated too with the Morning Star. She became a Christian demon, being Astaroth cited too by the Jewish with the sense of legion in its writings.
·
Belzebu (Mateus 12:24) (Matthew 12:24) or the Lord of the Flies is a
corruption of Baal-Zebul, originally a Phoenician deity which means “Baal
Prince”. The Baals, which means Masters or Lords were adored by the Caanitians
and because of it were transformed in demons.
Afterward, with the influence of new cultures, the demons were growing in number and the representation of their images too. The classic image of the devil as a being who have horns and goof feet is noticeably a reference to Pan god, whose cult was greatly spread and because of it, it should be polished off to accept a new imposed dogma. The same happened with other Pagan gods, but no other name was so defamed as Lucifer and Shaitan.
The
Christians claim that Lucifer is cited in Isaiah 14:12-14:
"12
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to
the ground, you who laid the nations low!
13
You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to
heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the
mount of assembly in the far north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'"
Lucifer
is a Latin Word, so it never could appear in a Hebraic writing dated of a period
in which Latin did not existed as a language yet. In original Hebraic of this
passage we can find "heleyl, ben shahar", which means "bright,
son of the morning", and it referred to the god of Babylon Nabucodonosor,
even though some authors claim that it also could be referring to the king
Tiglath-pilneser. This term, translated into vulgar Latin was translated as
Morning Star. The fact is that the context of this entire passage shows clearly
that he is not any demon, or a fallen angel of God’s grace, but a human king
which can be see in Isaiah 14:4-5 e 14: 16-20:
"4
you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor
has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! 5 The LORD has broken the staff
of the wicked, the scepter of rulers"."16 Those who see you
will stare at you, and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth
tremble, who shook kingdoms, 17 who made the world like a desert and
overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?' 18 All
the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 19 but
you are cast out, away from your sepulchre, like a loathed untimely birth,
clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of
the Pit, like a dead body trodden under foot. 20 You will not be
joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain
your people. "May the descendants of evildoers nevermore be named!"
This passage shows clearly the fall of this king (his death) and the despise with which he would be received by the dead in Sheol. As afore-mentioned we can not find in any book of the old testament the Idea of demons being creatures who ruled in hell or were gifted with the mission of punishing the infidels after the death. They are seen in the Hebraic mysticism as being descendents of Lilith, Adam’s fist woman, and as being capable of causing sicknesses and possessing bodies, but never as beings capable of tempting man to commit evil. We can find the idea of angels rebelling against God and being throw in the Jewish apocrypha "The Book of Enoch", used later by the clerics in their demon conception. Another evidence that shows that the name of Lucifer was not originally associated with the demon is the existence of a Christian bishop of Cagliari in the IV or V century that was called Lucifer. Only after the XIII century the heretics were called Luciferians.
Satan’s
own creation as being the accuser, and because of it, enemy of men came from the
Jewish need of a being who could explain the bad things which happened with
their people, seeing that they believed in a God full of love. Therefore, Satan
is the one who tempt the men, and in most of the time the men fidelity to God,
however with his acceptance and ask. The first two chapters of the Book of Job
display clearly this function designed to Satan. In it, Satan tells God his Idea
about men, saying that they were believers in Lord until calamities happened
with them, when they therefore would start blaspheming against God. God, having
a different opinion, put everything that Job had in the hand of Satan, so as he
could proof his faith. It is clear that Satan is an agent of God, and not a
rival or enemy, since the Old Testament. Because of this mission designed by
God, Job suffered terrible torment e many innocents were murdered, only because
God wanted to prove his point of view, showing that his egocentric nature,
curiously a Christian so condemned feeling.
Having
these fact been shown, we came back to the old query about the idea of Lucifer
being a fallen angel: if in the Old Testament God destroyed humanity because of
his disappointment with them, why did not he destroyed the angel responsible for
the rebellion that changed his plans for the destiny of men, seeing that he
would do everything to put them away
from God? After all, both of them had free will…And God should apply the same
punishment to both.
· Lucifer Biblical Characteristics
According Christians, the devil
biblical representations are three: the serpent (Revelation 12:9), a Dragon (Revelation
12:3) and the Angel of Light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Curiously, the first two are
equivalents, they are the representation of wisdom and eternal life, present and
adored initially in all parts of the world, as it will be better commented in
the session “Luciferian Influences”. Before his fall Lucifer were
from the angelical order of cherubs (Ezekiel 28:14) and he was the most exulted
all the angelical creatures (Ezekiel 28:12). However, leaving the greatness and
beauty took hold of his heart, he longed to become equal to God, what was his
greatest sin. His previous privileges before the fall can be found in Ezekiel
28:11-15 and “information” about his supposed fall are found in Ezekiel
28:16-18 and Isaiah 14:12-20 (already mentioned before).
For
those who do not know Angeology, it is good to remark that the angels are
divided in three great classes, or orders, which are subdivided again in three
parts each. The cherubs are part of the First Order and of the second choir of
that. The first order is that which would be more close to God, and using this
affirmation the Christians justify the eternal condemnation to which Lucifer was
submitted. According to them, as Lucifer have lived previously in the presence
of God, He knew him sufficiently to never be able to rebel against his own
creator, different from men, that because of it had their opportunity again to
come back to communicate with God after the
original sin, through their total submission to God’s will and though God’s
sacrifice. Strange this free will is, in which there is only two ways: the
submission and consequently salvation and the independence of free will and
consequently damnation. Is it really free will? Which man in absolute sanity
would choose the worst for him, even if he really believed in it? It seems that
the Christian “God” was not able anymore to control his own creation, when
it discovered through the serpent’s teaching that he could reach him, or even
transcend him. There is no difficulty to illustrate this idea if we consult
cabala. In cabala we can find the demiurgo in Sephirah Chesed, the forth sphere
in the Life Tree, Therefore, after Chesed, there is still another Sephiroth to
be reach: Binah, Chockmah and Kether, what means that is largely possible to
transcend him. The serpent itself, considered a loser, is positioned above the
Demiurge, in Chockmah. After all the information above outlined, it is a myth
that holds the occult in itself the key of its own contradiction and
destruction, consequence of a sordid invention with no basis. It is clearer that
ever in our days that the true function and propose of Christian belief, not
being necessary to comment it anymore: who have eyes can without any help.
An interesting information that is found in the Bible and that again refers to Lucifer symbolism in the occultism is in the Ephesians 2:2. In this verse Lucifer is considered the Prince of Air Power. Who knows the associations of the four princes in Satanism will not find any difficulty to remember that Lucifer is linked to the West, associated with the air element.
Other topic which is of our interest, but that will be discussed separately during the text is the demonology and the different roles and representations that Lucifer have.
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Lilith Ashtart - For my Fallen Angel HP
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