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THE PATHFINDER

#263.24

WAR IN HEAVEN

and

THE LUCIFER REBELLION (?) 

"And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and *Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Revelation 12:7-9 (NKJV).

*Satan: From the Hebrew, śâtan; adversary, accuser, opponent, opposer.)

Many believe that Lucifer is the given name for the devil, and assume that it is used throughout in the Bible. They might think that since it was by the spirit of revelation John heard, saw, and wrote concerning this infamous character, that every base would be covered and Satan’s supposed original name would have been included. That is, if Lucifer had really been this adversary’s name, it would surely be used elsewhere; but Lucifer is found nowhere else in the scriptures.

 The popular concept that much of the world has of this infamous foe is that his name is Lucifer. For instance, countless believers and unbelievers alike assume that this entity was created the most beautiful angel in the universe was full of wisdom and with power second to none except for God Himself.

He is seen to have been heaven’s choir director who led all the angels in their high praises before God. It is being said that he was unequaled by anyone or anything throughout the universe. Some believe that he was one of the so called "three" archangels who ruled over all the hosts of heaven prior to his coup d'état. It was then that everything came crashing down and a third of the angels with him. We understand, of course, that there can only be ONE ARCHANGEL. I believe that was made clear in our previous studies, and the first verse of the book of Revelation plainly says that this war in heaven, as well as all else that is contained in the book of Revelation. This includes the dragon, the war, and everything else mentioned therein. It all was to be a future event rather than one before Adam was formed and placed in the garden.

LUCIFER

The above scenario is generally what is believed and taught; however, with observation and especially by anointed revelation, I believe we will find this is not quite the case. First, it is not realized by most just how many times Lucifer is found in the Bible. It is assumed that Lucifer is interchangeable with Satan and is used as often. Would you be surprised to find that it is used only once? One time alone! Not ten or twenty, not three or four, not even twice. Only once! One time in the entire Bible! And amazingly, contrary to Jesus and Paul saying to let every word be established by two or three witnesses, orthodoxy has built a worldwide doctrine upon this single verse. That’s shaky ground to stand on to say the least.

This lone occurrence is found in Isaiah 14:12. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" By the way, have you checked to see if this is true, that there is no other place where Lucifer is found in scripture? And were you surprised? I was years ago after being challenged to the same task by one of Stacy Wood's messages.

Again, only once is it used in the King James Version. Having checked nineteen other translations I only found three that cite Lucifer in this verse: the Darby Translation, the 21st Century King James Version, and the New King James Version, and this one has the note: "literally Day Star." The overwhelming majority of the newer translations render the word properly.

The etymology of the word is interesting and sheds some light. The Hebrew word for Lucifer is heylel (from the root halal) which means shining one (Young's Concordance), morning star (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance), and bright star or splendid star (Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon).

The fact is, Lucifer is a transliterated French word from the Latin lucifero and is not a proper noun. It is a title and not a name. It is a word that describes the subject in question. It has never been the name of the devil, and neither was it the name of the king who was being indicted in Isaiah 14. The word was found throughout Latin manuscripts and especially in Jerome’s Vulgate which became the common Bible for the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Therefore, by the end of the dark ages, the word had become the accepted name throughout the world. Milton’s Paradise Lost also had a lot to do with Lucifer being the name of Satan.

Although Lucifer is mentioned only once in the English translations, Isaiah 14 is not the only place Jerome used the word in his Vulgate. Three good examples in the Old Testament are: "When his candle shined upon my head..." Job 29:3; If I beheld the sun when it shined." Job 31:26, and "By his sneezings a light doth shine." Job 41:18.

Jerome also used lucifero in the New Testament: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star (Grk. phosphoros - to shine) arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19. No one will argue that this Lucifer/Lucifero, the Day Star, is Jesus Christ; so there is no just cause to say that the one in Isaiah is speaking of Satan.

Lucifer is a word that tells something about the one being addressed. It describes the man, which in this case was the king of Babylon, and the word describes Jesus in 2 Peter. On the other hand, Satan has been a murderer and liar from his beginning, the one whose nature is darkness and who had never stood in the truth at any time. (Stood" is in the imperfect tense. It has progressive or repeated aspect and past time, equivalent to the English, "I was doing," "I used to do," or "I did [habitually]." http://sphodra.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/greek-imperfect-indicative-active)..

This adversary had never been given the honor of being a light bringer, a light bearer, a shining one, except by man. God has not. Such a thought is foreign to scripture.

There are two verses, however, we should notice in reference to Satan having to do with light. The first is 2 Corinthians 11:14. It says that Satan is able to but according to the Greek word for transform, metaschematizo, it has to do with an external disguise. No one would think that a man who disguises himself by putting on a gorilla costume at a masquerade party is really a gorilla, and neither should we think that this dark thing becomes light by putting on a mask that looks like a glossy, plastic sun. Therefore, Satan’s transformation is a scheme that presents an external condition that looks similar to those who have been transformed by an internal nature. That is, "...be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." Romans 12:2.

transform

The other verse in question is in reference to Jesus’ statement after the seventy returned from their mission and reported to Him, saying that even the demons were subject to them through His name: “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven.” Luke 10:18.

This might seem to give credit to the traditional thought; however, if we look at it in the context of what had just happened, we will see something else. The falling of Satan from his place of power had taken place at the time that the seventy were casting out the demons by the authority of Jesus. Satan fell from his place of dominion over the people who were sick and demon possessed. It was at that time Jesus had seen him falling from heaven rather than falling from the sky thousands of years in the past.

The Amplified Bible speaks of these very things in a footnote of Isaiah 14:12:

"Some students feel that the application of the name Lucifer to Satan is erroneous, even though it is commonly taught to that effect. Lucifer, the light bringer, is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word phosphoros, which is used as a title of Christ in II Peter 1:19 (...until the day star arise in your hearts.) and corresponds to the name `bright morning star' in Revelation 22:16, which Jesus called Himself. The application of the name Lucifer has only existed since the third century A.D., and is based on the supposition that Luke 10:18 (I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven) is an explanation of Isaiah 14:12, which authorities feel is not true."

Jesus said that the father of the Pharisees, the devil, had never stood in the truth at anytime. And don’t we understand that truth is light? And without truth there is no light to shine. The authorities of the Greek say this about this deceiver that is void of light: "...In the truth he has not stood." John 8:44, The Emphatic Diaglott, Westcott & Hort, and Marshall's Interlinear Grk/Eng N.T.). Since he has never stood in the light of the truth, and also since he "...has been sinning from the beginning," I John 3:8, (The Diaglott), there is no honest way we can say that Satan was ever a glorious, shining angel of light who bore the name, Lucifer. The simple fact is, Isaiah 14:12 cannot possibly be speaking of Satan.

FALLEN ANGELS

Fallen angels before the age of man is a common belief by almost everyone in Christendom. However, we have seen that the war in heaven between Michael and his angels and the dragon with his angels (Revelation 12:7-9) is not an event from the past but would take place in the future, sometime after John received the revelation/apocalypse. Thus, orthodox religion’s foundation of sand is being washed away by the sound waves of truth. But what about the angels who left their first estate? Do we think that the verse in Jude is a bit more stable? Brace yourselves for another washing word.

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 1:6.

Allow me, please, to present one more short lesson from the original language. In so doing, another a truth will be known. Both Greek words for kept and left are in the aorist active participle which is in the imperative sense. For instance, the imperative aorist expresses action in the simplest form. It is undefined and does not distinguish between complete or incomplete action.

The perfect tense in the Greek, which we do not have with these words, speaks of an action that has been completed. Both of these words are in the aorist active imperative. A good example of this is found in John 17:11: "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me." The only way this word, keep, could be used in the perfect tense, kept, would be if someone was speaking or writing about this event after the death of the apostles. They would then say, "The Holy Father kept through His name those whom He had given to Jesus." Do you see the difference between perfect past and the imperative sense, which is the case with? Jude1:6 and John 17:11.

Since these two verbs are not in the perfect (past tense), it is clear as to why the Concordant Literal translates the two words as keep and leave, rather than kept and left which leaves no suggestion that the action has ended. This, therefore, lets the reader know that those being held in darkness with unbreakable chains are the ones who were at that time, when Jude wrote his letter. He was pointing out that those religious teachers had not and were not, remaining in the avenue of their initial walk.

Such angels, or messengers (aggelos), were those in the days of the early church who were leaving and going on tangents from where they first began. They fell into and submitted to the same temptations of which Sodom and Gomorrah had lusted after. Verse 7 speaks of this; and please remember that angels, unlike men, are not tempted with fleshy lusts. And angels of heaven neither marry nor are given in marriage. Therefore, we believe Jude is referring to men who are the earthly messengers rather than spirit-being angels, and because of their perverted desires they were at that time of the early church held in religious darkness. They were held, even as we see with some today, in their strong delusions to believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). And this was until the day of judgment when they either found, or will find, themselves in the midst of the lake among the flames of refining theion/godfire.

Sodom and Gomorrah were used as examples concerning these messengers who had left their first estate at the time Jude penned those words of warning. The illustration of Sodom and Gomorrah giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh portrayed why the same vengeance of age-abiding judgment awaits those who were leaving the place they started. They were ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

They were false teachers at that time, not angelic beings before there was any flesh on earth to lust after. These angels were also compared to the people who were saved out of the land of Egypt, and afterwards they were destroyed for not believing (vrs. 5). These messengers who wandered from the faith were asleep. They were dreamers of grandeur who defiled the flesh, despising dominions, and spoke evil of dignities (vrs 8). (The Greek for dignitaries is doxa, meaning: glory, that which is apparent.)

Jude told those of the common salvation that even Michael the Archangel, the Chief Messenger, Jesus Christ, did not bring a railing accusation against the devil when there was a dispute over the nation of Israel which was called the Body of Moses.

How brazen those were who did not remain in the strait way and narrow path of the man they claimed to preach. They spoke evil of His manifested glory in others. They degraded that which was so apparent. They belittled it, and made fun of it, we are sure. For we see the same today. It is not unusual for people to call it the devil or the flesh of human emotions when the glory of God fills a person or a congregation, and it is so apparent to anyone who has an eye to see or an ear to hear that the prophecies, healings, and the high praises of worship are all the very essence of the Spirit of God.

Some speak evil of these things. Even John Darby who was one of the proponents of the famed Rapture teaching, came to the conclusion that the charismatic manifestations in 1830 of Margaret McDonald, her brothers James and George, and others were demonic. Since it is said that he taught on the Rapture as early as 1827, it appears that his source of the doctrine did not come from her, especially since he felt her vision was demonic. (Darby’s thoughts may have been from Morgan Edwards who wrote about it around 1772 in his essay, Two Academical Exercises on Subjects; Millennium & Last-Novelties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Macdonald_(Prophecy)

He spoke evil of this doxa/glory, and from what he believed, many still hold to and speak evil of her experience as well as everyone else who have visions, prophesies, speaks in an unknown tongue, or heals the sick. They maintain that ALL the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit ended with the apostles. Did the Spirit and Power of Jesus in His body die when the apostles died? If so, would that make His body a zombie? Frankly, neither His Spirit, His power, nor His manifestations end; the increase of His government shall never end, and for it to increase there must be manifestations of what Jesus began. Enough said on that issue.

Again, the angels of which Jude referred spoke evil of God’s manifested glory in others. They degraded that which was so apparent. They belittled it, and made fun of it. That was the lot for those of that day, and that is the lot for those today whether they sit at home or stand behind their vaulted podiums and speak evil of Christ’s glory that is clearly apparent in the members of His body. Thinking themselves as someone special and beyond reproof, they speak evil of the One seen and heard in His body as well as those things which they know nothing about. They surely know an abundance about natural things in the manner of brute (Grk. alogos, irrational) beasts; therewith, they corrupt their own souls.

Being blinded by their own pseudo glory they have strayed and fallen headlong into the vat of greed, personal recognition, worldly gain, and rewards—a sinkhole into which many have fallen, and with no anointing remaining, they perish like Core of old as they are swallowed up and are consumed spirit, soul, and body by the world. They pollute the assemblies, the holy feasts of Christ’s when they attend and remain in its midst and feed alongside the ones called to these high places. They are like warts on one’s nose, very noticeable and not complimentary to the appearance at all. It is difficult to see the spirit of love when such things are so evident when those who are among the saints are void of reverence and have no fear of retribution.

Sadly, they at times billow like Cumulo Nimbus clouds with great congregations that seemingly popup almost overnight. From their pulpits they thunder exalted words of promises and wonderful things to come; yet their words are without life, no power, there is no water in those clouds. The stability of Christ is not there. They are carried about by winds of religious dogma. Some are seen as huge, fruit-laden trees, and they are doing a lot of things, works without measure; but there is no life in that humanoid fruit, so it withers away. They might as well be trees that bear no fruit at all which are worthy for nothing except to be cut down or plucked up by roots; for the fact is, they are as good as being twice dead.

Not only that, the angels of the first century A.D., and those today come at times as raging waves of power. Before TV cameras, thousands of bodies fall in rapid succession as if a literal ocean wave is sweeping over them, but only to find shame awaiting the exalted ones at the end of their day. The man of God for the hour, the one so many believed would change the world and set the stage for Christ’s return is exposed—caught in adultery, homosexuality, embezzlement, et al. His foam of shame goes streaming through the airwaves, highways, byways, and subways. Again, there is no stability in them. They roam the heavens as wandering stars. Reserved in their souls is the blackness of gross darkness, and they will be chained in that lifeless void unto the end of the age. They will be bound by their own darkened delusions until the Lord comes in myriads of the saints of Himself to execute remedial judgment upon them, and all others, yet in everyone’s own order. This flaming judgment will convict, convince, and correct all who are ungodly. All their ungodly deeds will be consumed in that fiery lake, and the hardness of the ungodly sinners that have spoken ignorantly or intentionally against Him will find their part in the lake of fire that burns with brimstone (godfire). Jude 1:3 through Jude 1:15.

Some find fault when such things that doesn't fit their political and religious delusions. There were times when I become a byword while accusing me of being a heretic ; but first find fault and speak evil against dignitaries. I have only paraphrased his warnings and indictments of the fallen angels. Selah! Pause! Think!

Elwin R. Roach