10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Satan

DEBRA KELLY NOVEMBER 4, 2014There are many ideas about what or who the Devil is,
even among believers. The number of differing sources and translations have led
to plenty of inconsistencies, rumors, and assumptions surrounding the Prince of
Darkness. What is Satan s position in Hell? Who was Lucifer? There s a whole lot th
at s made its way into the popular belief system that just isn t supported by the Bi
ble or Christian canon.10 The Church Of Satan Doesn t Worship Satanchurch of satan
Popular images of the Church of Satan frequently depict ethically questionable p
eople who perform dark rites, sacrifice animals, drink the blood of small childr
en, or something else to that effect. According to the Church of Satan itself, t
hough, worshiping Satan isn t what they re about at all. Their mission statement str
esses that they don t believe in a literal Satan.Instead, Satan is used as a metap
hor to represent their belief in the power of fantasy, which they say they share
with many other religions. Satanists use Satan as an opposition to the fiction
and the fantasy of the presence of an otherworldly, divine figure like Christ. Rat
her than worshiping someone they consider just another fictional character, Sata
nists do the opposite by putting their faith in the worldly and tangible. The us
e of Satan is simply a symbol for their devotion to earthly things and their bel
ief that they should revere other people at the same level usually reserved for
the deities of other religions. The church goes on to say on its website that th
ese are complicated concepts, and some people don t understand. Satanism is not int
ended for dummies. Satanism demands study not worship. The capacity to think is ex
pected of Satanists.
9 The Number Of The Beast Isn t 666666Frequently featured in heavy metal posters a
nd bad tattoos, the number 666 has long been identified as the number of the bea
st. It s cited from the Book of Revelation, in which John associates the number wi
th the Antichrist, but the details of the story aren t entirely clear. Archaeologi
sts have stacks and stacks of nearly indecipherable manuscripts from historic du
mp sites in Egypt that date to the third or fourth century. Researchers have bee
n able to translate more of the writing by utilizing recent improvements in phot
ographic imaging techniques.On one piece of parchment, the number assigned to th
e proverbial beast is 616 not 666. According to Oxford s Centre for the Study of Anc
ient Documents, deciphering the number of the beast all comes down to numerology
. In the time this parchment was made, writing could be a dangerous act, especia
lly for those who expressed their opposition to the controlling power by drawing
comparisons to the Devil. For this reason, numerology was used to give people t
he option to assign numbers and leave out names. In order to decode the numbers,
we need to know a little about both the writing system and how people thought.
The number of the beast is derived from the name of the person who, at the time,
was thought to be the earthly incarnation of the Devil, Nero. The number itself
depends entirely on the translation of the name. When the name is translated fr
om its Greek form Nero Kesar to its vowelless Hebrew form NRWN QSR the numerical value
is 666. One theory states that the earlier text has a Latin base. This makes the
numerical value 616 when translated back into Hebrew again. 8 Lucifer Isn t Anoth
er Name For Satanmorning starAnyone who s been to Sunday School knows the story: S
atan was originally an angel named Lucifer who turned on God and was cast down f
rom Heaven. The thing is, that story is nowhere in the Bible. The one time Lucif
er is mentioned is from a relatively new translation, and it s also a misinterpret
ation. The only occurrence of the name Lucifer in the Bible is in Isaiah 14:12,
in this verse: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Ho
w are thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! Seems pretty s
traightforward, but it turns out that it s another case of misinterpretation and m
istranslation. If you go back to the original Hebrew text, you find a story not
about a fallen angel, but about a Babylonian king who figuratively fell from his
throne when he began persecuting the Israelites. By the time the book was trans
lated by Christian writers, the king became an angel. The name Lucifer comes in
when the king s name, Helal, gets translated. Helal means day star or son of the dawn
. The Romans found a word close in meaning. Lucifer is the Roman name for the pla
net we call Venus, which is often the first visible celestial body to appear nea
r dawn. The name didn t have anything to do with the appearance of a Satan-like fi

gure until much later, when its imagery was cemented with a fourth-century trans
lation of the text by Jerome.7 The Satanic Pentagram Is Pretty NewpentagramSimil
arly to the perversion of the swastika s symbolism from good fortune to the Third
Reich, the pentagram has undergone a surprisingly recent transformation. Today,
the upside-down pentagram is often decorated with the goat s head of the Devil, bu
t its original meaning and connotations were polar opposites of Satanism. Early
references to the design attribute the five points of the star to the five wound
s Christ suffered as he was crucified. It s often still used in this way in Mormon
art and architecture. It was only with the founding of the Church of Satan that
the pentagram was used to represent a goat s horns, ears, and beard. Church histo
rians have traced the goat s head pentagram back to an image in an 1897 book calle
d La Clef de la Magia Noire written by Stanislas de Guaita, a French occultist a
nd proponent of the distinction between occultism and Devil worship. Not long be
fore that, another French occultist named Eliphas Levi wrote about the evil conn
otations between the pentagram and a goat-headed figure. By 1924, the goat s head
had crept into the pentagram and the image was labeled the pentagram expressive o
f subversion in a text called Science Occulte et Magie Pratique. The Church of Sa
tan s adoption of the image further tied its meaning to the Devil. 6 The Goat-Head
ed Satan Is Also Pretty NewgoatIf one were to search the Bible for descriptions
of Satan with a goat s head, one might turn up a few mentions of the forbidden wor
ship of goat idols and demons in Leviticus 17:7 and maybe some calf idols in Exo
dus. So, where does the goat-headed man come from?The symbol of Satan as a halfgoat creature is known as Baphomet, and the link between the goat-headed demon a
nd Satan only happened when people started throwing stones at the Freemasons. Th
e story says that when the Pope turned his attention to the Knights Templar and
issued arrest warrants for those he knew to be members of the organization, he c
ited the worship of a demon called Baphomet as one of the foremost pieces of evi
dence against them. The name hadn t been assigned to the image yet, though, and tr
ial records show that of the 231 knights who were interrogated by the pope s agent
s, only 12 admitted (under torture) that they had a passing familiarity with the
image of the unnamed, demonic goat. But as for the depiction of the goat, that s
been traced back to the writings of Eliphas Levi, about 600 years after the Temp
lars had their run-in with the Pope. Levi gave the goat-headed creature the name
Baphomet, harkening back to a ram-headed Egyptian god named Banedbjedet. The im
age of the goat within the pentagram then came from the adoption of the image of
the Goat of Mendes, which was associated with another ram-headed Egyptian god,
Amon. Today, the link between the Satanic goat and the Devil is complete with th
e trademark of the image by the Church of Satan.5 Christians Didn t Get Satan From
PanpanThere seems to be an obvious connection to be drawn between Pan, the goat
-legged satyr, and the habit early Christians had of adopting others deities and
then assigning them less-than-favorable roles. This leads us to another misconce
ptions about Satan: The Devil was not originally associated with Pan, but Christ
was. Pan, the son of the god Hermes, was one of a handful of figures in the pas
toral pantheon in Greece. They were worshiped by farmers and shepherds, many of
whom would pray to Pan to watch over their flocks, and he was often called on pr
otect sheep from vicious wolf attacks. Sounding familiar? Christianity s patron sa
int of shepherds, Saint Bartholomy, even shares an island shrine with him. Accor
ding to one rarely repeated part of the story about the birth of Christ, when th
e Christians Good Shepherd was born, a voice was heard by a shipmaster named Tham
us, instructing him to recite, Magnus Pan mortuus est, ( The great Pan is dead! ) when
spreading the word of the birth of Jesus Christ.Why did the image of Pan switch
sides? The church might have approved of Pan s image as a shepherd, but they cert
ainly didn t approve of his other role as a fertility god. While the parallels bet
ween Pan and Christ survived as far along as Milton s Paradise Lost, the church so
on decided that the lusty satyr was more in line with the sexual morals of the D
evil than of Christ.4 The Upside-Down Cross Is A Respectful SymbolCross, coins a
nd Jesus figure.One of the most prevailant assumptions especially in movies like T
he Omen and in the death metal world is that the upside-down cross is one of Satan s
symbols. This assumption is based in the idea that it s a reversal of Christ s ulti
mate sacrifice, but that s only half true.The upside-down cross is traditionally v

iewed as not only a Christian symbol, but as one of humility. As the story goes an
d it s a story that can be traced back to some of the earliest Christian writings
of men like St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and Eusebius of Caesar
ea St. Peter was crucified in Rome by the order of Emperor Nero, who was making a
stand against the then-burgeoning religion of Christianity. Not wanting to disho
nor the supreme sacrifice that Christ had already made, Peter requested that he
be crucified upside-down. The upside-down cross then became a symbol of humility
, worn by those who, in the same spirit of Peter, wish to pay respect to the sac
rifice made by Christ. That s why it s on the back of the Pope s chair: The man acting
as Pope steps into the shoes first worn by St. Peter, and the symbol of the cro
ss has also been passed down. It s been suggested that the presence of the cross o
n the back of the Pope s chair suggests that he s actually in league with Satan hims
elf, but it seems like a pretty unlikely (and rather obvious) way of showing it.
For some, the upside-down cross has been moved into the territory of fashion, wi
th jewelry-makers selling not only crosses facing in both directions, but also s
ideways.3 His Demons Aren t That Baddemon according to The Goetia: The Lesser Key o
f King Solomon, an anonymously written grimoire. The story says that King Solomo
n was once the most wise of all kings and could speak with man, beast, demon, an
d angel alike. Solomon s temple was built only with the assistance of demons, part
icularly one named Asmodeus. While Solomon s demons had a handful of the tradition
al characteristics we associate with them tendencies to trick, lie, and manipulate t
hey re not the mindless, mind-controlled troublemakers we usually think of now. Th
ey definitely weren t little, red, fork-tailed monsters. As far back as the 16th c
entury, writers were compiling lists of demons and how to summon and control the
m. Precisely when The Goetia: The Lesser Key of King Solomon was first organized
is unknown, although parts of it echo through earlier works. The book is said t
o contain all the information you need to summon 72 demons, the same demons that
Solomon used to build his temple. While we might usually think of demons being
summoned into the world to quite literally unleash hell, they re not that one-dime
nsional. The 10th demon, Buer, teaches his summoners the healing properties of p
lants and herbs, gives good familiars, and can heal distempers. Eligos, the 15th d
emon spirit, appears as a knight and can see the future and reveal secrets. Nabe
rius can give the gift of rhetoric and restore lost position and honors. See? Th
ey re not so bad.2 Satan Is Not Destined To Rule In HellhellmosaicCall him the Pri
nce of Hell or the Prince of Darkness, and the job is clear. When it comes to th
e place where Satan s going to spend eternity, it s clearly Hell . . . right? Accord
ing to Paul in Hebrews 2:14, Christ will destroy Satan. That doesn t mean killing hi
m though the word used is katargeo, which means defeating or putting someone away. H
ell isn t the domain of Satan. It s his prison, where the Bible says he ll be tortured
just like all the others who have turned away from God. Revelation 20:10 also s
upports this interpretation. According to this verse, Satan s destiny has already
been decided, and it s being cast into Hell s lake of fire. This blurs into another
misconception about Satan s role in Hell; according to popular belief, it s Satan th
at barters for souls and banishes them to Hell for eternal punishment. In this s
ame part of Revelation (and in Matthew 25:46), it s also said that because of the
bestowing of free will on mankind, it s not Satan that s stealing souls and turning
them evil; evil is a choice made by each person. It s also said that God will puni
sh all those who turn to evil in the same way including Satan himself.1 Satan Does
n t Live In Hell . . . He Lives In TurkeybrassbullOne of the most universally acce
pted facts about Satan that he rules over all the demons in Hell is also one of the
most incorrect. According to the Bible, Satan doesn t rule in Hell and doesn t live
there, either. He lives on Earth, walking among us and tempting us to commit sin
s and turn to his side. The Book of Revelation goes a step farther and names the
ancient Turkish city of Pergamum as the Throne of Satan. Specifically, it s thought
that it was a literal throne, with the temple once known as the Great Altar of
Zeus repurposed as the Devil s throne. The prophet John says: To the angel of the c
hurch in Pergamum write: I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan s thr
one is. And you hold fast to my name, and did not deny my faith even in the days
in which Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan
dwells. In the context of the time, a throne is much more than just a chair it s a ho

me. John s words to the people of Pergamum are an expression of gratitude for thei
r faith while one of their own suffered one of the many horrible deaths inflicte
d upon the martyrs. Pergamum was home to the Asklepion, one of the most successf
ul hospitals of the day, built in honor of the healing god Asklepios. Those who
were ill would take a sleeping potion and spend the night surrounded by snakes s
aid to bring them dreams from Asklepios. Once the dreams were interpreted by the
ir doctors, they could be cured. Once Christianity came to the city, the priests
that were doing the interpreting pleaded with the city officials to run the Chr
istians out of town they were interfering with their spirits and the presence of t
heir gods. One of the most vocal, a man named Antipas, was instructed to forsake
his Christian ways and swear allegiance to Rome. He refused and was burned aliv
e in the brass bull on the top of the Altar of Zeus. But that s absolutely not the
end of the story. In the mid-19th century, a German engineer named Carl Humann
visited the ruined city. He petitioned the respective governments to excavate th
e city and remove and take what artifacts he could back to Germany. The Pergamon
Museum opened in 1930. Its center attraction was the reassembled Great Altar of
Zeus. Several years later, Albert Speer would look to the altar for inspiration
to create an eerie parallel. Adolf Hitler wanted him to design parade grounds,
and Speer took the altar and recreated it on a massive scale. He replaced the br
onze bull in which Antipas had been martyred with Hitler s podium, where he would
stand to announce the Nuremberg Laws.