MEET LUCIFER: A Re-examination of Our Concept of Satan -By Albert Afeso Akanbi

Albert Afeso Akanbi

Satan. The Devil. Lucifer. When you hear these words what comes to your mind? All over the world, throughout the ages-especially after Christianity took root to become a major world religion-, these words and the entity who they refer to have become as popular as they have continued to strike deep rooted fear in the minds of countless people. From the old to the young, educated to the unlettered, urban dweller to the rural person, Christian to Hindu, the Itakpo worshiper in Ososo, a tourist town in Edo State Nigeria to even those who profess no faith at all, everybody seem to dread the devil. Even this writer himself, at a time, entertained a morbid fear of the devil.

With a full knowledge of the intensity of our horror at the mere mention of the figure we have all come to identify as the devil, will it be right for me to postulate that this fear could be blamed for what I believe may have become a misconception of the concept of Satan? Will I not be termed a madman for daring to suggest that Satan may be anything but evil, knowing that evil in our world today is a clear and present danger? How can I dare repudiate claims of Satan’s ‘wickedness and his avowed goal of seeing to the corruption of the minds of men and ultimately causing humanity as much pain as possible?’ Can I reasonably deny the ‘clear evidence’ of the countless stories of ‘demon possessions’ in our world today? Isn’t Satan the Chief Evil Spirit? The cause of all our woes? From earthquakes to epidemics? Food shortages to moral decadence in societies? I am certain the lips of many a reader of this article will stretch in a mocking smile and they’d say in their minds, ‘Yes, he is the cause of every ills that besets man, this writer is clueless, Satan is evil’ and that should settle it. Should it really?

After a careful study of the figure we have all come to identify as Satan and a closer look at the various descriptions of ‘him’ in most religious texts and even in the Holy Bible, I am forced to ask the questions, who really is the devil? Because a closer look at ‘his personality’ as described in almost all religious texts does not necessarily justify the ‘Evil One’ label man has tagged ‘him’, can we justifiable blame all the ills in our world today on ‘him’? Why are all the stories in almost all the religious writings about the ‘evil creature’ called Satan revolved round some sort of a reptilian serpent or some flying, speaking and eye opening wise snake creature? Are we here dealing with some sort of a mix up somewhere? Or, is it possible like Eric Von Daniken and some people have claimed, that there is a deliberate attempt to paint a benevolent creature black in some clandestine move that they have described as a ‘Satan Conspiracy’? In an attempt to find some answers to these questions, let me first of all attempt a definition of the term Satan.

Simply put, The Holy Bible and numerous other religious books defines Satan as the enemy of God. Then one of the dictionary definitions of Satan is that ‘he’ is ‘the chief evil spirit; the great adversary of humanity; the devil’.  Even the Hebrew word translated Satan means ‘an adversary, one who resists’ and it was translated eighteen times in the Old Testament Bible as such. A Pentecostal pastor friend of mine defines Satan as ‘a being who represents anything that is not of God. Everything that is opposite of God’. Because of these definitions -which by the way are very recent definitions compared to most of the ancient descriptions of Lucifer and the role of The Serpent, a creature generally agreed to either have been used by Satan or even be Satan himself, in the major religious texts around the world- of Satan, ‘he’ is considered by many as the embodiment of evil, one whose sole purpose is to corrupt mankind and turn them away from God, thus leading them to their destruction. For the Pentecostal Christian as well, among many evil things, Satan is also the accuser of the brethren.

Are all these definitions entirely true? Did Satan start out from the beginning as this evil being he is today perceived as? Or, can we glimpse, even dimly, some traces of falsehood in these assertions if we look in-between the lines? Could there be more to this notion of Satan?  Can we reasonable believe that this is all there is to the story of the character we call ‘Satan’?  If we follow the Job’s story in the Bible, can’t we argue that Satan is to God what the police is to a responsible government? Despite the claims by many pastors, ministers, priests, prophets and exorcists, of thier removal of demons from people who claim that they were possessed of the devil, despite the ‘realness’ and the testimonies of many who have claimed close encounters and real experience with Satan, can I ask if there is something about this whole story of Satan that is been supressed and is not been told to us? Aren’t there a few questions we should take a pause and be asking with regards to this ‘most evil creature’? Perhaps a few answers can be glimpse from looking at the Christian holy book and a few other sources.

In the book of Genesis chapter three, we read from verse one;

‘Now, [the serpent] was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto [the serpent], we may eat of the fruits of the trees in the garden: But of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, [lest ye die]. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then [your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil].  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired [to make one wise], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. [And the eyes of them both were opened], and they knew that they were naked…… [And the LORD God said, behold, the man is become like one of us, he know good and evil]: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever….’

This is the story of The Fall of Man as narrated by the Holy Bible. Firstly, I will like to suggest that this story should not in any way be taken literally. There is no way it can make any sense if it is taken literally, or if it seen purely from a religious perspective or if it is taken as a simple story that is simply about the fall of man. Now, I quick point to note before we attempt an explanation is the sudden appearance and the role of the serpent – a well-known symbol for Egyptian gods, and particularly Enki himself, the genetic scientist who had created man according to some ancient text. Have you ever wondered why the modern symbol of medicine is a serpent entwined around a staff? – in this narrative. Worthy of note also is the portrayal of God himself as a walking, talking god who usually came down to have ‘fellowship’ with Adam and Eve on almost a daily basis. I also want us to note that the story of the serpent’s role in the ‘fall of man’-according to the Bible- and in ‘opening man’s eyes’ is not unique to the Bible alone as almost every other ancient religious text makes a reference to a serpent who sometimes appears like a flying reptilian viper who goes about teaching mankind hidden-most times forbidden- knowledge. How the Bible came to adopt the serpent’s story into its own narrative just like many other ancient cultures is an issue I’ll like to leave in the open domain for discussion. However, we all know snakes are scary and sometimes deadly creatures, does this fact, in anyway have a role to play in the association of The Serpent to Satan and vice versa in the Biblical story of the fall of man?

In the ancient Mayan religion there is the snake god Kukulkan who was a flying serpent. The Hindus talk about snakes-nagas– in their mythology and feature a snake around the lord Shiva’s neck. The Greeks talk about the serpent monster Chimera and the Egyptians revere the cobra snake in their religions. It is a worthy point to note that some of these religious cultures and their stories are far older than the Christian religion and some of the stories in the Bible. Now we find that even in the Bible, it was a snake, according to the narration, that Satan used to open the eyes of Eve- woman: the source of all other humans-. The question is, why are all these cultures so obsessed- or should I say fascinated?-with the serpent? Is there a profound reason, from which the story of the evil Satan sprang, for this obsession with the serpent? Are all these stories about the opening of man’s eyes –civilization- and the references to a serpent playing a major role in it, including that of the Bible, a distorted account of an actual, more technical even in our past that man lacked the vocabulary at the time to describe? A closer look at the Biblical story may throw more light on these questions.

In the eternal library of our myths and legends, I doubt if there is any story as disturbing as the Biblical story of the Fall of Man and The Serpent’s role in it. I doubt very much also if we can fully understand this story today than the day it was first told. Yet, I believe that there are clues we must seek out in the Biblical lines above, even if the story appears a distorted version of some real event, if we must catch a glimpse of the true role of Satan as represented by the serpent in this story. If we must decipher what meaning lay in-between the lines. A point to note also in this story is that it was the serpent that approached the woman. In the discussion that ensued between them, the serpent asked the woman a question that suggested it was privy to a certain meeting in which the order not to eat of the fruit was decided to be given the couple. After its first question to the woman, let us take a close look at the serpent’s subsequent statement.

‘…ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil…’

Remember that the Creator had told them that they would die on the day they ate of the fruit of the tree as if the fruit was poison. Yet the serpent told Eve they would not die rather that their eyes would be open and they would know good and evil -Isn’t this what we should expect of a tree that is named ‘The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil? After all, the tree was not named ‘The Tree of Death’-. After this statement, the woman looked at the tree, it was beautiful and desirable to the eyes. Could God be lying she may have wondered. To her, it made little sense to think that a tree with fruits as beautiful as the one she was looking at, a tree which was …desired to make one wise…as the one the Bible described, could be a poison that would kill her. If it was poison, she didn’t care anymore.  And so she took and ate of it. What happened afterwards? True to Satan’s words according to the Bible, her eyes were opened. Further evidence that Satan did not lie to the woman about her eyes opening upon eating the fruit was given by God himself in the following words ‘…. And the LORD God said, behold, the man is become like one of us, he know good and evil…’

         The question to ask is this: Did Satan lie to the woman? I know the Jehovah’s Witnesses hold the view that Satan lied when he said Adam and Eve would not die when they ate the fruit. Their point of view is that the couple did indeed started to die as God had said, on the very minute they ate of the fruit much like when you unplug a fan from the source of it power and it begins to slow to a stop. They also hold the opinion that Satan raised a very serious question about God’s right to rule over humankind when he insinuated to the woman that God was hiding something from them. But this is religious talk to me and it makes no sense, because simple logic should prompt us to ask, how was Adam and Eve before they ate the fruit? How where they after they ate it? If the Jehovah’s Witnesses are prepared to take the whole Eden Story literally, why are they not prepared to take the death part literally too- i.e. that the couple will die instantly on the day they ate the fruit as God had said?-. Remember the Bible told us that the serpent was one of the animals created by God in the garden, why are the Jehovah’s Witnesses not willing to take the serpent literally as a creature acting on his own free will other than that, he was used by Satan? Bearing this in mind, can we therefore conclude that God may have secretly wanted man to eat of the fruit? If not, why did he place the tree in a conspicuous location-i.e. in the middle of the garden- where it would have continually been like a tantalising object to the couple? If it was God’s secret intention for them to eat the fruit, can we justifiably continue to demonise Satan for deciding to hasten the process of Eve eating the fruit? Did Eve do wrong to have eaten of the fruit?  If her eyes did open after she ate of it, can’t we therefore suggest that God may be hiding something from them? Or may have even lied to them? If this is so, can we therefore count it as a sin on the part of Eve to have eaten of the tree if she thought she had been lied to by God? Finally, who really lied according to this episode? What did God say about the tree? What did Satan say? Below, I have repeated both statements for you to decide for yourself.

           ‘And the serpent said unto the woman, [ye shall not surely die:] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then [your eyes shall be opened], and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’.-Satan

‘And the LORD God said, ‘behold, the man is become like one of us, [he know good and evil]…’ -The LORD God

As a matter of fact, a confirmation of the trueity in what Satan told Eve could be seen in the next verse; ‘and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ this is the LORD God speaking. Now, we may ask the questions, if the Bible’s God is really all-powerful, what was he fretting about Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Life? According to the Bible, Adam and Even were free to eat from the Tree of Life up until the moment their eyes were opened. It was only then that God said ‘He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever’. Why the sudden change of mind?  Why was it necessary for God to expel the couple and safeguard the Tree of Life with a flaming sword? Why did he need to test the couple in the first place? Wouldn’t a real supreme being already know the outcome of the test? Why should The Serpent-a figure that featured in almost all the other stories in so many other cultures- in this story be taken literally? I think in the face of these questions, it will make more sense if this whole episode is seen it in the light of some alien race-or higher civilization- at work rather than a supreme all-knowing God who was asking questions of the where about of a couple and fretting about a thier eating a fruit.

We are told that God pronounced a curse that the serpent would crawl on its belle from then onwards, but this would only make sense if the serpent was walking on foot or was on all four before then. This is one of the reasons why the whole episode should not be taken literally but as a misrepresentation of a more technical story. An allegory for a more historical yet an inaccurate account that has been passed down to us? If we follow the Biblical story literally, can’t we therefore concluded that God may have wanted to keep man in a state of perpetual innocence and ignorance of right and wrong? Who were the ‘us’ that ‘Elohim’ was referring to when he said ‘let us make man in our own image’?  Are we here faced with an alien race scenario the sort described by the Anunakis? Was mankind designed as a workforce which could easily be controlled by this higher alien civilization? Was man’s sterility an essential control mechanism for this alien race? Was the eye opening or the eating of the fruit of the tree an awareness of man’s sexuality and thus a potential for independent reproduction? A thing which the creators didn’t like hence their excommunication of the couple so as to prevent them from eating from the tree of life which will offer the couple possibility of longevity, a thing that may lead to an uncontrollable population explosion? Could the first tree from which they ate be sex? Could the second tree from which they are prevented from eating a cell enhancement and repairing tree with longevity fruits? Wouldn’t this fruit be normal for an alien species capable of inter-stellar flight? Questions, questions, questions. Let us continue on our narrative.

But if we imagine for one minute that at some point in the history of our planet, an alien race came to earth and they found the planet teeming with life. Among the life forms they discovered, they found that the apes were the most advanced. The most like them. Let us assume they took one of the native apes -‘Eve’- and genetically engineered -injected her, had sex with? Whatever – her into a hybrid, like a cross breed of the genes of the ape and that of one of the members of the ‘Elohim’ -those who said ‘let us make man in our image’. After this, they placed their new creation in a garden -a labouratory or a womb of some sort- where her -or their- needs are met before they are felt- imagine a foetus tied to the mother’s umbilical cord in the womb who is been fed even before it felt any hunger pang-. Let us assume that the leader of these creators decided these new pets they had made should be kept in a cage, womb, lab and be watched for some time until they are matured enough to be given the power of choice, to be given of the Tree of Life to eat, but one of the rival leaders of this same alien -please note that the use of the word alien in this article does not necessarily mean UFO- race decides otherwise and presents the new creation with an option of eating from the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’.  Wouldn’t this make more sense, because even these alien race are not perfect themselves? Rather than think of an all-knowing, perfect eternal God fretting about a couple eating a fruit, coming down and displaying ignorance of where the couple hid themselves?

We are told that Eve was cursed that in pains she would give birth. Wouldn’t this make sense if the ‘curse’ was unique to Eve? If the most other species on earth did not give birth through the same process as Eve? But if we understand that after the eye opening episode, the hybrid creatures were expelled from the garden -labouratory or womb- in a painful ejection process that exposed them to the harsh realities of life outside their usual comfort zone, then it would all the more make sense and all the puzzles may begin to fall in place.

The Jehovah’s Witness would like us to believe God was talking to his son, the co-creator Jesus when he said ‘us’ and the Roman Catholic Church will like us to believe God was talking to the other two personalities in the trinity, The Son and Holy Spirit yet, ‘us’, for those who understand simple English, can mean anything from two to one million. So who were the actors in the garden and what went on there at the ‘garden’ at that time? If we think of a perfect God-My own GOD would not ask questions because HE knows all- fretting at his creations’ fall for a temptation, this will not make sense. If we think of this as maybe a rebel, benevolent alien leader coming to open the eyes of our forefathers and teaching them civilization, and the episode, been clearly misunderstood, was reduced to a couple eating a fruit in a garden, then it will all add up. But, how did this benevolent figure become everything evil? Perhaps looking at this same story as is told in different versions in other traditions may help illuminate our path in this quest to know how Satan came to be regarded as evil by many.

The first story we should beam our searchlight on is the story of the characters the Book of Enoch calls The Watchers. The Book of Enoch was part of the canon in the Holy Bible before the church took it out in the early part of her history. So, it is supposed to be part of the Christian Bible. But for reasons best known to the early Christian scribes it was removed from the bible. I am curious why this book is not left in the bible because, despite the fact that this book predate Jesus Christ, even the book of Jude in the Bible quoted from it. Also, the book has vivid stories, i.e. names, place and so on. The question is, if the book is so rich in details and the book of Jude quoted from it, why is it not in the bible today? Then to add that this book is an ancient Jewish religious work ascribed to Enoch the great-grand father of Noah. The older sections of the book according to modern scholars dates back to as far back as 300 BC, therefore, I don’t see any reason why it should not be taken seriously.

Although it is no longer part of the Christian canon, as if to buttress the authenticity of this book, it is still considered by most Christian denominations as having some historical or theological significance like any other Biblical book. As a matter of fact, it is considered by both the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo churches, two ancient religious organisations, as canonical. So, we cannot wish away the content of the book. The first part of this book describes in full details the fall of a group it refers to as The Watchers. The ‘angels’ who fathered the Nephilims, the same characters that the Book of Genesis talked about almost in passing at Genesis chapter six verse one

         ‘When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they choose….the Nephilim were on earth in those days…

I am sure a number of readers may want to as the question, ‘so what connection does this book have with the forgoing narration?’ I think the connection is related with this group the book of Enoch refers to as The Watchers. Even the book of Daniel in the Holy Bible made some reference to this same group. In the book of Enoch, the leader of these group call The Watchers or the fallen angles-or are they soldier or missionaries who came from some more advanced race form elsewhere in space?- led a sect of ‘angels’ in a descent to earth to instruct humans and to civilized men. They rebelled against the ‘heavenly host’ and came to earth. They, according to the story, through their leader Semiazaz opened the eyes of men. They thought men civilization. The point to note here is opening the eyes of men. Civilization. Just like the serpent opened the eyes of Eve, it is told Semiazaz opened the eyes of our forefathers. Who was Semiazaz? I have a feeling this account and the fall story in Genesis are either related or are one and the same account. According to the usual Sunday school stories, we are told elsewhere in the Holy Bible that in the beginning, Lucifer who was God’s favourite angel became proud and thus was expelled from heaven. A war had broken out in heaven which led to his ejection from heaven, a thing which was sudden, abrupt and total. Is this Sunday school story a different account of what the Book of Enoch described? Is Semiazaz the forerunner of Satan? Or is he in fact Satan misunderstood or misrepresented by the church? Is the Garden of Eden story a reduction and distortion of the story of The Watchers with their descriptions as having the visages of vipers- serpents- and coming down to help men to civilize-opening eyes?

The question to ask is, if God is perfect, and heaven is perfect, how and why did war broke out in heaven? Isn’t it easy for us to believe that, among some imperfect alien race, one of thier leaders suddenly decided to rebel, his rebellion causing commotion in their home, he was thus exiled, than for us to believe that in a perfect heaven, war-an unholy enterprise- broke out because a perfect angel suddenly became proud? From where did the pride come in the first place? If Satan as we know ‘him’ today is the chief inspiration for every evil in the hearts of men, who inspired his own initial pride in God’s holy and perfect creation? But if Semiazaz was the forerunner of Satan, if the two are one and the same person and if the real intention of Satan was to open the eyes of men, to civilise man, then the story will make more sense. But how did the character we know today as Satan become a symbol of everything evil if he opened the eyes of man? Maybe a look at other myths around the world will help us see how it all began.

All over the world, like I mentioned earlier, there are stories and legends of the flying, speaking and eye opening serpent. It seems to me that, our ancestors have some distant memories of an actual account which they took with them as they migrated across the globe, an account that have been reduced and distorted over the years. We may have had some visitors led by a rebel leader from space who came to earth to teach man civilization. This figure may have opened the eyes of man. Maybe this leader was misunderstood or a conspiracy was hatched against him, fuelled by the church to maligned and name him evil. This story may have invaded the Christian holy book like many other stories, and the church, as is usual with them in their zeal, propagated it. Imagine Satan depicted in the bible as a serpent who was delivering a forbidden knowledge to the infantile couple. What do we make of it?

In the Greek legend, a god name Prometheus steals fire -light, knowledge, illumination or eyes opening- to give to mankind. Zeus becomes so mad that he chains Prometheus up and inflicts on him severe punishment. Like Prometheus, Lucifer who opened the eyes of man, was punished severely too. It is a worthy point to note that the word Lucifer is Latin, ‘lux’ – for light- and ‘ferra’ – for, to bring-. How a Latin word found its way into the Hebrew Scriptures is subject to speculation. Nevertheless, Lucifer or Lux-ferra in Latin means ‘morning star’-according to the bible- or a ‘bringer of light’. If it was Prometheus that stole light and gave to man, will it be wrong to conclude that this is just the Greek version of the same story of civilisation? Like we shall see in some other cultures, it is worthy of note that all these stories have something in common. They are all about brining light, fire, opening the eyes of the ignorant innocent humans, giving wisdom to man and they all have The Serpent as their main character. Isn’t it normal to ask if all these stories are one and the same story of a distorted account of an ancient race that came to earth long ago in the face of this reality?

Kukulkan, also known as the plumed serpent or feathered serpent is the name of a Maya snake deity. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is also present in so many other Meso-America cultures. This serpent god is closely related to the god Q’uq’umatz of the Kiche Maya and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs. Kukulkan is a wisdom bearing being who came to earth to civilize man. He is often portrayed as half human, half serpent or as a human being coming out of the mouth of a serpent. It is worthy of note that this was exactly how the church began to portray Satan in her early history and as the years went by, as a dragon figure or a serpent. Any wonder how the story of a serpent delivering the forbidden knowledge to man came about? That the serpent suddenly appeared in the bible to tempt Eve and give her forbidden wisdom is not something unique to the bible as we have seen. The story of Eden may not be about the Fall of Man as Christians want us to believe, there is every reason to believe it is really about civilization. It was about bringing man liberating knowledge from his ignorance and infantilism. It is the story of how man was given the ability to think on his own, a tale of scientific advancement and enlightenment. If not, why would such diverse cultures spread across great geographical locations over many years’ differences have similar mythologies? Of an eye opening serpent and an ignorant yet innocent couple?

Even if we are to take the Genesis account literally, which option is better and more preferable? To live in perpetual innocence, naked, free of worry and wants and roaming in a garden as the Creator of man wanted or to be civilized and possess the capability to go to the stars in a massive engineering feat where man has been able to build space ships and put a man on the moon? Shouldn’t the Creator of man have told us that, look, there are two options? One, you will be naked, simple, have everything you need to eat in the garden and live as long as you like with no sickness afflicting your body and maybe no possibility of death. And the other option is this, you will be wise, invent great things, achieve fame and glory but will be frail, grow old and eventually die. Take your pick. This would have been more like it and could this be what Lucifer sought to do?  To do what the Creator was reluctant or unwilling to do at the time he did it? Give us options? Liberate us? If this is really what Satan did, how is this evil? Might it be the religious men who made an evil figure from Lux Ferra, the one who gave man civilization? Gave man light? Can we therefore conclude that Semiazaz, Lucifer, Prometheus, Kukulkan, Chimera and so on, figures that we find in virtually every other cultures, are one and the same person as seen from the eyes of different traditions? Is the story of Eden a distortion of a highly technological event; the creation or human hybrid engineering process? Like me, this and many more are the questions I invite readers of this article to further research and ruminate on.

However, despite my holding this view, I know evil exist in our world. Despite this also, I know that throughout history, of all the evil that has befallen man and his planet, if we look very closely, we will find that man, either directly or indirectly, is at the heart of or connected to it. So, in my humble opinion, it is man who deserves to wear the garb of the evil one. When men deliberately invent stories to malign and fill in religious gaps, when men build weapons that kill people and deliberately create conflict in   poorer and weaker countries so they can sell the weapons, it is men who are evil. When a man, for the grievances he may old against a country, turn himself into a mobile bomb and an airplane into a flying missiles in order to blow up innocent hundreds, it is man who is evil. When a pastor worth billions of dollars owns three or more private jets and universities, bought and built from the sweat and blood of members, –the same members who may not be able to afford the tuition of these same universities for their wards or may have to pay through their nose-and flies a private jet in a country where people live within less than a dollar a day, it is man who is evil. When the government of Nigeria and her politicians continue to play politics with people’s lives and future, thereby turning our youths into potential criminals, it is man who is evil.  Who is really evil when in a poverty-stricken country like Nigeria, just the foundation of the new building project of the House of David, the Victoria Island parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is costing a whopping 2 billion naira. A foundation! In the plan of this same church, sitting next to a 5,000 seat auditorium, are highbrow restaurants, cafeterias, indoor swimming pools, cinema halls, gymnasiums, retail shops, games arcades, lawn tennis courts, relaxation spots and to crown it all, an helipad. For Christ sakes, what does a church need a supermarket for? Is it a business concern? In the face of this unbridled quest for wealth even if it means ripping people off in God’s name, who now is the real evil one?  When some wicked guardian punishes their wards and continues to starve them or when an older man takes sexual advantage of an under-aged house help, or a man marries a girl old enough to be his grand-daughter, who deserves to be crowned the devil? Off course some may argue that these people are under the influence of Satan, but we have seen that Satan may not be evil after all. And besides, man has free will to choose whether or not to follow a course of action. Therefore, in the face of our eroded morality, might I suggest that Lucifer may have no hand in most of the evil actions we, of our own free will, most often take? Actions which in turn make our world a much more evil and dark place, thereby darkening the light -lux – that he brought. The earlier we begin to change our misconception of this character, the earlier we begin to shed the inner devils that we all have deep inside of all of us and begin to treat all men as we would have them treat us like Jesus Christ admonished, the better for us all.….