In Heaven, his name was Lucifer
(light bearer), he was God's most beautiful angel. But even in this
position, Lucifer was not content. He took inordinate pride in his own
angelic nature - he was overly pleased with his supernatural gifts, his immortality,
his closeness to God. And eventually, his pride became so great that he
was angered at having a master of any kind, even God.
He wanted to control his own destiny
and so he rebelled against God and all of Heaven. He threw up his banner,
recruited his army of equally discontented angels and waged war against
God for supremacy.
To lead his own troops, God
appointed the archangel Michael as his field commander:
"And there was
war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the
dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place
found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceived the whole world; he
was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him ...
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the
inhabitors of the earth and of the seal for the devil is come down unto
you, having great wrath ..." ( - - - Revelation 12:
7-9, 12)
Thus having fallen from Heaven,
Lucifer was no more -- he had a new name, Satan (the Hebrew word for
"adversary") and his new domain was Hell.
The angels who had fallen with him
(based on a determination by the Fourth Lateran Council in A.D. 1215)
became his Demons.
Accursed by God and doomed to
eternal torment themselves, Satan and his legions found a new vocation in
the temptation and corruption of man. With nothing better to occupy their
time, they resolved to take out their "great wrath" on those
mortals too foolish or sinful to resist their lures and temptations.
Unfortunately, as the world's sad
history will attest, there was never a shortage of recruits.
The
Watchers
In addition to the recount above,
there is another story based on 1 Enoch (a Hebrew book that did not find
its way into the Old Testament), wherein there was once an order of angels
known as The Watchers. It was their job to watch over the affairs
of men - the key words being "watch over". No meddling, no
touching, no direct contact - just watching.
Bad move as per this recount:
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of
the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the Sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all
which they chose. . ." (-- Genesis 6:1-2)
The Watchers not only came to earth
and mated with human females, they also instructed them in the forbidden
and arcane arts of botany, astrology, and astronomy. Further, they showed
them how to make magic and weapons, and how to use cosmetics. God
was not a happy camper at this point!
His displeasure increased
considerably when the offspring of these matings were born into the world.
They turned out not to be angles, but monsters who became great giants
that killed and ate any unlucky humans that they caught. And should
there be no humans about, they killed and ate each other.
Once again, God enlisted Michael to
round up the fallen angles while God wiped out the giants. Michael imprisoned
these fallen angels in the valleys of the Earth where they stay until the
time came for them to be hurled into the everlasting fire. Thus according
to the information stitched together from Genesis and Enoch, it was these
underground angels that would comprise Lucifer's rebel army.
There are many other accounts of the
way in which Lucifer and the other "fallen angels" met their
fate, how many there were, their ages, how long they would live. But
despite the best reckonings of philosophers and others, these
answers remain elusive.
