The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Satan: the Hebrew meaning of the word is "adversary." In Numbers 22:22 the angel of the Lord stands against Balaam "for an adversary" (satan). In other Old Testament books (Job, 1 Chronicles, Psalms, Zechariah) the term likewise designates an office; and the angel investing that office is not apostate or fallen. He becomes such starting in early New Testament times and writings, when he emerges as Satan (capital S), the prince of evil and enemy of God, and is characterized by such titles as "prince of this world" (John 16:11) and "prince of the power of air" (Ephesians 2:2). When Peter was rebuked by Jesus, he was called Satan (Luke 4:8). Reading back into Genesis, medieval writers like Peter Lombard (c. 1100-1160) saw Satan in the guise of the serpent tempting Eve, although other writers, like the 9th-century Bishop Agobard, held that Satan tempted Eve through the serpent. As Langton says in Satan, A Portrait: "In the later Jewish literature, Satan and the serpent are either identified, or one is made the vehicle of the other." Originally, Satan (as ha-satan) was a great angel, chief of the seraphim, head of the order of virtues. While seraphim were usually pictured as 6-winged, Satan was shown as 12-winged. Gregory the Great in his Moralia, after listing the 9 hierarchic orders, pays this tribute to Satan: "he wore all of them [all the angels] as a garment, transending all in glory and knowledge." Talmud claims that Satan was created on the 6th day of Creation (Bereshith Rabba, 17). Through a misreading of Isaiah 14:12, he has been identified with Lucifer. To Aquinas, Satan, as "the first angel who sinned" is not a seraph but a cherub, the argument being that "cherubim is [sic] derived from knowledge, which is compatible with mortal sin; but seraphim is [sic] derived from the heat of charity, which is incomp_tible with mortal sin" (Summa 1, 7th art., reply obj. 1). In time, according to Jerome, Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Ambrosiaster, and others, Satan will be reinstated in his "pristine splendor and original rank." This is also cabalistic doctrine. In secular lore, Satan figures in many works, notably in Milton's Paradise Lost, where he is chief of rebels and the "Arch Angel ruin'd" (I, 593) and in Paradise Regained, where he is the "Thief of Paradise" (IV, 604). Also in Vondel's Lucifer; in Dryden's The State of Innocence; and in Goeth's Faust (where he is represented by Mephistopheles). Other names for Satan include Mastema, Beliar or Beliel, Duma, Gadreel, Azazel, Sammel, angel of Edom. In rabbinic lorehe has a nickname "the ugly one" (Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews V, 123). In Midrash Tehillim Satan appears to David (when the latter was out hunting) in the form of a gazelle. Compare with the figure of Mutabilitie (as concieved by Spenser in "Two Cantos of Mutabilitie" in The Fairie Queene), the Greek Titaness who challenges Jove's sovereignty and who, like Satan, aspired to and attempted "the empire of the Heavens hight."

Lucifer: ("light giver") - erroneously equated with the fallen angel (Satan) due to a misreading of Isaiah 14:12: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning." an apostrophe which applied to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (see Blog of Satan). It should be pointed out that the authors of the books of the Old Testament knew nothing of fallen or evil angels, and do not mention them, although, at times, as in Job 4:18, the Lord "put no trust" in his angels and "charged them with folly." which would indicate that angels were not all that they should be. The name Lucifer was applied to Satan by St. Jerome and other Church Fathers. Milton in Paradise Lost applied the name to the demon of sinful pride. Lucifer is the title and principal character of the epic poem by the Dutch Shakespeare, Vondel (who uses Lucifer in lies of Satan), and a principal character in the mystery play by Imre Madach, The Tragedy of Man. Blake pictured Lucifer in his illustration to Dante. George Meredith's sonnet "Lucifer in Starlight" addresses the "fiend" as Prince Lucifer. Actually, Lucifer connotes star, and applies (or originally meant to apply) to the morning or evening star (Venus). To Spenser in "An Hymne of Heavenly Love," Lucifer is "the brightest angel, even the Child of Light."

Well saw a kick ass metal band last night Silent Civilan, then got a call that my best friend's father died, had to comfort him and it sucks. Never seen my friend so hurt. Then today a 2nd interview, hoping that I get a job since I got screwed out of my last one. Saw the new Harry Potter it was pretty good, like the fact it's becoming more adult like. Anyways, that's happening in my world, catch ya'll later, take care.