Lucifer, A Friend Or Foe? – An Article By Afeso Albert Akanbi

August 10, 2016 – Lucifer, A Friend Or Foe? – An Article By Afeso Albert Akanbi

The word Lucifer conjures up a certain type of meaning in our minds, and for ages it has continued to strike deep rooted fear in the minds of countless people.

It is very possible that Satan could either be a mere myth or anything but the evil one we think of him.
Our fear of him is real and may be one of the causes of what I believe is today a misconception. Maybe there is more to the story of Satan’s ‘wickedness and avowed goal of seeing to the corruption of the minds of men, and ultimately causing humanity so much pain’. Maybe Eric Von Daniken is right in his belief that the story of Satan has been deliberately distorted over time, that he was sympathetic to humans at the very beginning and that those who selected our current religious text thousands of years ago made an evil figure from Satan, to punish him for his role in the civilization of man.

But, can anyone reasonably deny the ‘clear evidences’ of evil and the countless stories of ‘demon possessions’ in our world today? Isn’t Lucifer to blame for all our woes, from earthquakes to epidemics, food shortages to moral decadence in societies? I believe stories of demonic possession sits among the most frightening tales associated with Satan. Maybe there are some real explanations to these stories that we are yet to find?

I tried to do some careful study of some major religious texts around the world, especially the Holy Bible, and here is what I found. Please note that the following is just the musing of a creative writer and should be taken solely for the purpose of debate.

Reading the Old Testament, one doesn’t necessarily get this impression that Lucifer is evil in the sense that we know him today, but as one who opposes, who appears before God’s presence, in his heavenly council, with His other sons and who influenced the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
This necessitated the questions; who really is Lucifer? Why was he portrayed as some reptilian, speaking or eye opening wise snake creature in all religious texts? If, as is obvious, he didn’t start out from the beginning as evil, at what point did this ‘evil being’ story start? Or is Eric Von Daniken right when he spoke of a ‘Satan Conspiracy’?

Just to put it in perspective, the Holy Bible and numerous other religious books defines Satan as the enemy of God. Even one dictionary defines Lucifer as ‘the chief evil spirit’. A Pentecostal pastor friend of mine defines Satan as ‘a being who represents everything that is not of God.
However, there are those who believe these definitions may not be entirely true? That Satan may actually be a maligned friend rather than a foe.

In the book of Genesis chapter three, we read from verse one;
‘Now, the serpent … said unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said… 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… 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… a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband … And the eyes of them both were opened, … 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…’

The above text cannot make any sense if it is taken literally, or seen purely from a religious perspective. The serpent – ever wondered why the modern symbol of medicine is a serpent entwined around a staff? – also features in almost all ancient religions text. Why are all these cultures so obsessed with the serpent? Is there a profound reason, from which the story of the evil Satan sprang, for this?
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.

Even in the Bible, we see a talking serpent, and God was often coming down to the garden, walking and having ‘fellowship’ with the couple.
In so many Meso-America and ancient near Eastern cultures – some of them far older than the Biblical accounts- and traditions, we see this serpent in action bearing wisdom and opening man’s eyes like in the Eden story.

In fact, the earliest depiction of Lucifer by the church was borrowed from the Mayans in her early history. That the serpent suddenly appeared in the bible to tempt Eve and give her forbidden wisdom is not something unique to the bible. Maybe the story of Eden is not about the Fall of Man as Christians want us to believe afterall. Maybe it was about bringing man liberating knowledge from his ignorance and infantilism. About civilization and enlightenment. If not, why would such diverse cultures spread across great geographical locations over many years’ differences have similar mythologies?
In the Greek legend for example, 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 –the serpent- who opened the eyes of man, was punished severely too by the Biblical God.

Even the word ‘Lucifer’ is Latin for bringing light. We are told by religious men that Lucifer was an angel in heaven before war broke out due to his pride. Question is, how did war –an unholy enterprise- break in a perfect heaven where a perfect God dwells?
If it was Prometheus that stole light and gave to man, will it be wrong to conclude that the serpent of Eden story is just the Biblical version of the same story of civilization?
Almost all religious around the world have stories of bringing light, opening the eyes of the ignorant innocent humans, giving them wisdom and they all feature a serpent as their main character. Maybe all these stories are the same distorted account of an ancient race that came to earth long ago to help raise man some step up the rung of the ladder of civilization?

In the eternal library of our myths and legends, I doubt if there is any story as disturbing as the Biblical story of Eden and I doubt very much also if we can fully understand this story today than the day it was first told, but we should try nevertheless.

In the Bible the serpent said;
‘…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…’
But the Creator told the couple that they would die on the day they ate of the fruit as if it 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, and not ‘The Tree of Death’?

Eve looked at the tree and saw 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 that which was …desired to make one wise…as described, could be poisonous. If it was, she didn’t care anymore. And so she took and ate of it. What happened afterwards? Her eyes were opened. Further evidence that Satan did not lie to the woman 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…’
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…’ Now, we may ask the questions, if the Bible’s God was really all-powerful and all knowing, what was he fretting about Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Life, and didn’t He know they would? Then; ‘…he must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever…’ This was the real reason for expelling the couple. Why?

If we take this episode literally or spiritually, we miss the point. 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, like the Sumerians described of the Anunnaki in their religious texts. 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 -‘the Eve race’ if you like- and genetically engineered -injected, had sex with if you want – her into a hybrid, like a cross breed of the genes of the ape and that of one of the members of the ‘Elohim’ –the creators or 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 or garden if you like- where needs are met before they are felt just like we see in a foetus tied to the mother’s umbilical cord in the womb who is fed even before the feeling of hunger pang.

At Genesis chapter 6 we see a very brief description of the story of some angels who came to earth to inter-marry with the daughters of men. First we may ask what sexes are so called angels, males?
Then we see a full description of this brief story we see in Genesis in the Book of Enoch. Even the book of Daniel made some reference to this same group. In the book of Enoch, the leader of these group call ‘The Watchers’ or the fallen angels in the Bible -or maybe they are soldier or missionaries ETs from some more advanced race from elsewhere in space- led them in a descent to earth to instruct humans and to civilized men. They had rebelled against the ‘heavenly host’ and came to earth. According to the story, through their leader Semiazaz, they opened the eyes of men. The war that broke in the heavens is not about pride but about difference in ideology whether or not the human race were matured enough for civilization and it was fought among alien beings not angels.

Who was Semiazaz? Was 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, because we know they were described as having the visages of vipers- serpents- and coming down to help men to civilize?

What if the leader of these creators decided these new pets they made should be kept 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 to accept that these alien creators who were not perfect themselves made some mistakes? Rather than think of an all-knowing, perfect eternal God fretting about a couple eating a fruit, coming down later on and displaying ignorance of where the couple hid themselves? If Lucifer opened our eyes, should he then be considered a friend or foe?

This is just me allowing my thoughts roam wild and free. Satan may well be a person, an angel, an ET whatever.

Evil exist in our world, yes. But throughout history, if we look very closely, we will find that man, either directly or indirectly, is at the heart of or connected the ills that have beset man. So, in my humble opinion, it is man who deserves to wear the garb of the evil one more than Lucifer himself.

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 them who are evil. When a man, for whatever 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 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.

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.

In the face of our eroded morality, the earlier we change our misconception 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.….