THE
ENEMY OF MANKIND IS A FALLEN ANGEL
By
Simon
Galloway
We Catholics are
all too aware that it is very unfashionable to talk about the Devil these days.
Well contrary to the prevailing modernist views of the clergy, the Devil,
Satan, Lucifer and Beelzebub is not simply a pscyhological personification of
our own misfortunes or even a name for hostile forces in the world that we dont
understand. Neither is he a scapegoat for our repressed human desires, sinful
subconscious wishes or “shadow selves”. The Devil is the original Invisible,
Independent, Superintelligent Adversary of mankind…I am not going to address
the causes of this dire doctrinal emergency in the Church here because this is
covered in the “Crisis in the Church” section.
All that needs to be said now is that only in the 20th
Century with all its destructive rumours and reckless innovations, could 2000
years of Sacred Catholic Tradition on the Devil be contradicted! I invite all incredulous clergy and layfolk
to refute what is reproduced here especially “from the horse’s mouth” in the
statements of the previous and present Pope’s
- Paul VI and John Paul II on the reality of the fallen angel we call
the Devil
Part
1: The Devil according to Sacred Church Tradition
Fourth
Lateran Council (1215 AD)
Wherein,
in its decree condemning the Manichaean dualism of the Catharists and after
saying that God in the beginning had created together two creatures, the
spiritual and the corporeal, that is to say the angelic and the earthly, and
lastly man, who was made of both spirit and body, the council continues: "the
Devil and the other demons were created by God good in their nature but they by
themselves have made themselves evil." (cap. i, "Firmiter
credimus")
Catechism of
the Council of Trent (1566)
Moreover, He [God]
created out of nothing the spiritual world and Angels innumerable to serve and
minister to Him; and these He enriched and adorned with the admirable gifts of
His grace and power...That the Devil and the other rebel angels were gifted
from the beginning of their creation with grace, clearly follows from these
words of the Sacred Scriptures: He (the Devil) stood not in the truth. On this
subject St. Augustine says: In creating the angels He endowed them with good
will, that is, with pure love that they might adhere to Him, giving them
existence and adorning them with grace at one and the same time. Hence we are
to believe that the holy Angels were never without good will, that is, the love
of God.
The Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Number
330 - The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "As purely spiritual
creatures angels have intelligence and will: They are personal and immortal
creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of
their glory bears witness" Behind the disobedient choice of our first
parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into
death out of envy. Scripture and the Church's tradition see in this being a
fallen angel called Satan or the devil."
Number
2116 - All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons,
conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to 'unveil' the
future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens
and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a
desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human
beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the
honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone"
1992 Catholic Catechism
Number
329 - St. Augustine says: "‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of
their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek
the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit,’ from
what they do, ‘angel.’" With their whole beings the angels are servants
and messengers of God. Because they "always behold the face of my Father
who is in heaven" they are the "mighty ones who do his word,
hearkening to the voice of his word."
Number
336 - From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their
watchful care and intercession. "Beside each believer stands an angel as
protector and shepherd leading him to life." Already here on earth the
Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of the angels and men
united in God."
Number
392 - Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels. This "fall" consists
in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably
rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection in that rebellion in the
tempter’s words to our first parents: "You will be like God." The
devil "has sinned from the beginning..."; he is "a liar and the
father of lies."
At baptism, those to be baptized are called
upon to reject Satan, his works, and his empty promises.
Published under
orders from Pope Leo XIII entitled “Prayer against Satan and the Rebellious
angels”, The Church provides an official rite of exorcism, which
presupposes, of course, the existence of Satan.
In 1975 the Sacred Congregation for Divine
Worship issued a document called Christian Faith and Demonology. It explained
the Church's teaching on the subject. This document quotes Pope Paul VI's
teaching regarding the devil: It is
a departure from the picture provided by biblical and Church teaching to refuse
to acknowledge the devil's existence; to regard him as . . . a conceptual and
fanciful personification of the unknown causes of our misfortunes. . . .
Exegetes and theologians should not be deaf to this warning
.
Part 2: The Devil According to recent Popes
Pope Pius VIII
In his encyclical
"Traditi" 1829 , regarding the freemasons Pius VIII wrote "Their
god, is the devil”
Pope Pius IX
Pius IX referred to
the freemasonic lodge in his two encyclicals Syllabus of Errors 1864 and Etsi
Multa 1873 as the "synagogue of Satan” which “is formed which draws up its forces,
advances its standards, and joins battle against the Church of Christ"
and “which gathers its troops against
the Church of Christ, takes its strength”
In Acta
Sancta Sedis, v. 1, p. 293, 13 July
1865. he stated "If one takes into consideration the immense
development which [the]... secret
societies have attained; the length of time they are persevering in their vigor; their furious aggressiveness; the
tenacity with which their members cling
to the association and to the false principles
it professes; the persevering mutual cooperation of so many
different types of men in the promotion
of evil; one can hardly deny that the
SUPREME ARCHITECT of these associations (seeing that the cause must be proportional to the effect) can be
none other than he who in the sacred
writings is style the PRINCE OF THE WORLD; and that Satan himself even by his physical cooperation,
directs and inspires at least the
leaders of these bodies physically cooperating with them."
In a letter dated
May 29, 1873 concerning freemasonry he wrote "The Satanic spirit of the
Sect was particularly evidenced, in the past century, during the course of the
Revolutions of France which shook the entire world. Such upheavals proved that
the total dissolution of human society could be expected unless the forces of
this ultra criminal Sect were crushed."
Pope Leo XIII
Humanum Genus -
Encyclical on Freemasonry Promulgated on April 20, 1884 “The race of man,
after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts,
"through the envy of the devil," separated into two diverse and
opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the
other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the
kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ; and those who
desire from their heart to be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of
necessity serve God and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and with an
entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control
are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first
parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many
aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.”What,
therefore, sect of the Freemasons is…In this insane and wicked endeavor we may
almost see the implacable hatred and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself
is inflamed against Jesus Christ.-- So also the studious endeavor of the
Freemasons to destroy the chief foundations of justice and honesty, and to
co-operate with those who would wish, as if they were mere animals, to do what
they please, tends only to the ignominious and disgraceful ruin of the human
race. Amongst the many benefits to be expected from it will be the great
benefit of drawing the minds of men to liberty, fraternity, and equality of
right… through which we may be free from slavery to Satan or to our passions,
both of them most wicked masters. Let us take our helper and intercessor the
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so that she, who from the moment of her conception
overcame Satan may show her power over these evil sects, in which is revived
the contumacious spirit of the demon, together with his unsubdued perfidy and
deceit. Let us beseech Michael, the prince of the heavenly angels, who drove
out the infernal foe…
Pope Leo XIII
Encyclical of
Pope Leo XIII promulgated on 15 October 1890 “It is needless now to put the
Masonic sects upon their trial. They are already judged; their ends, their
means, their doctrines, and their action, are all known with indisputable certainty.
Possessed by the spirit of Satan, whose instrument they are, they burn like him
with a deadly and implacable hatred of Jesus Christ and of His work; and they
endeavor by every means to overthrow and fetter it.”
St. Pius X
Was quoted as
saying “All the strength of Satan's reign is due to the easygoing weakness
of Catholics.”
Paul VI
Pope Paul VI in
his allocution, "Liberaci dal male" (OR 16 Nov. 1972) wrote about the
devil: WHAT ARE the Church's greatest needs at the present time? Don't be surprised
at Our answer and don't write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one
of the Church's greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the
Devil. We come face to face with sin which is a perversion of human freedom and
the profound cause of death because it involves detachment from God, the source
of life. And then sin in its turn becomes the occasion and the effect of
interference in us and our work by a dark, hostile agent, the Devil. Evil is
not merely an absence of something but an active force, a living, spiritual
being that is perverted and that perverts others. It is a terrible reality,
mysterious and frightening.
It is a departure
from the picture provided by biblical Church teaching to refuse to knowledge
the Devil's existence; to regard him as a self-sustaining principle who, unlike
other creatures, does not owe his origin to God; or to explain the Devil as a
pseudo-reality, a conceptual, fanciful personification of the unknown causes of
our misfortunes. When the problem of evil is seen
in all its complexity and in its absurdity from the point of view of our
limited minds, it becomes an obsession. It poses the greatest single obstacle
to our religious understanding of the universe It is no accident that St.
Augustine was bothered by this for years: "I sought the source of evil,
and I found no explanation."[9]
Thus we can see
how important an awareness of evil is if we are to have a correct Christian
concept of the world, life and salvation. We see this first in the unfolding of
the Gospel story at the beginning of Christ's public life. Who can forget the
highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many
episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord's path and figures in
His teaching?[10] And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to
the Devil as His adversary, describes him as "the prince of this
world"?[11]
The lurking
shadow of this wicked presence is pointed up in many, many passages of the New
Testament. St. Paul calls him the "god of this world,"[12] and warns
us of the struggle we Christians must carry on in the dark, not only against
one Devil, but against a frightening multiplicity of them. "I put on the
armor of God," the Apostle tells us, "that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and
blood, but against the Principalities and the Powers, against the world-rulers
of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high."[13]
Many passages in the
Gospel show us that we are dealing not just with one Devil, but with many.[14]
But the principal one is Satan, which means the adversary, the enemy; and along
with him are many others, all of them creatures of God, but fallen because they
rebelled and were damned[15] -- a whole mysterious world, convulsed by a most
unfortunate drama about which we know very little.
There are many
things we do know, however, about this diabolical world, things that touch on
our lives and on the whole history of mankind. The Devil is at the origin of
mankind's first misfortune- he was the wily, fatal tempter involved in the
first sin, the original sin.[16] That fall of Adam gave the Devil a certain
dominion over man, from which only Christ's Redemption can free us. It is a
history that is still going on: let us recall the exorcisms at Baptism, and the
frequent references in Sacred Scripture and in the liturgy to the aggressive
and oppressive "power of darkness."[17] The Devil is the number one
enemy, the preeminent tempter
Pope Paul VI is also
quoted as saying in 1978 “I have the feeling that the smoke of Satan has
penetrated the Temple of God."
John Paul II
(i) Pope John
Paul II, in his general audience of August 13, 1986, expounded at length on the
fall of the angels and, in speaking on the origin of Satan, said: "Satan
wishes to destroy life lived in accordance with the truth, life in the fullness
of good, the supernatural life of grace and love. As the result of the sin of
our first parents, this fallen angel has acquired dominion over man to a
certain extent. This is the doctrine that has been constantly professed and
proclaimed by the Church, and which the Council of Trent confirmed in its
treatise on original sin (cf. DS, 1511). In Sacred Scripture we find various
indications of this influence on man and on the dispositions of his spirit (and
of his body). In the Bible, Satan is called the `prince of this world' (cf. Jn.
12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and even the `god of this world' (2 Cor. 4:4). According
to Sacred Scripture, and especially the New Testament, the dominion and the
influence of Satan and of the other evil spirits embraces all the world.
The action of Satan consists primarily in tempting men to evil, by
influencing their imaginations and higher faculties, to turn them away from the
law of God. It is possible that in certain cases the evil spirit goes so far
as to exercise his influence not only on material things, but even on man's
body, so that one can speak of ‘diabolical possession’ (cf. Mk. 5:2-9). It
is not always easy to discern the preternatural factor operative in these
cases, and the Church does not lightly support the tendency to attribute many
things to the direct action of the devil; but in principle it cannot be
denied that Satan can go to this extreme manifestation of his superiority in
his will to harm and to lead to evil. To conclude, we must add that the
impressive words of the Apostle John—‘The whole world lies under the power of
the evil one’ (1 Jn. 5:19)— allude also to the presence of Satan in the history
of humanity, a presence which becomes all the more acute when man and society
depart from God. This ‘fall,’ which has the character of the rejection of
God, with the consequent state of ‘damnation,’ consists in the free choice of
those created spirits who have radically and irrevocably rejected God and his
kingdom, usurping his sovereign rights and attempting to subvert the economy of
salvation and the very order of the entire universe. We find a reflection
of this attitude in the words addressed by the tempter to our first parents:
‘You will become like God’ or ‘like gods’ (cf. Gn. 3:5).Thus, the evil spirit
tries to transplant into man the attitude of rivalry, insubordination and
opposition to God, which has, as it were, become the motivation of all his
existence. When, by an act of his own free will, he rejected the truth that
he knew about God, Satan became the cosmic `liar and the father of lies' (Jn.
8:44). For this reason, he lives in radical and irreversible denial of God, and
seeks to impose on creation—on the other beings created in the image of God,
and in particular on people—his own tragic `lie about the good' that is God. In
the Book of Genesis we find a precise description of this lie and falsification
of the truth about God, which Satan (under the form of a serpent) tries to
transmit to the first representatives of the human race: God is jealous of his
own prerogatives and therefore wants to impose limitations on man (cf. Gn.
3:5). Satan invites the man to free himself from the imposition of this yoke by
making himself `like God.” On this condition of existential falsehood,
Satan—according to St. John —also becomes a ‘murderer,’ that is, one who
destroys the supernatural life which God has made to dwell from the beginning
in him and in the creatures made ‘in the likeness of God’: the other pure
spirits and men; the influence of the evil spirit can conceal itself in a
more profound and effective way: it is in his interests to make himself
`unknown.' Satan has the skill in the world to induce people to deny his
existence in the name of rationalism and of every other system of thought which
seeks all possible means to avoid recognizing his activity. This does not,
however, signify the elimination of man's free will and responsibility, and
even less the frustration of the saving action of Christ.The Christian,
appealing to the Father and the Spirit of Jesus and invoking the kingdom, cries
with the power of faith: Let us not succumb to temptation, free us from evil,
from the evil one, O Lord; let us not fall into the infidelity to which we are
seduced by the one who has been unfaithful from the beginning" (Pope John
Paul II, L'Osservatore Romano, August 20, 1986).
(ii) The
encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem was issued on May 18, 1986, and it
contains a lengthy section that treats of the devil:
"For in
spite of all the witness of creation and of the salvific economy inherent in
it, the spirit of darkness (Eph. 6:12; Lk. 22:53) is capable of showing God as
an enemy of his own creature, and in the first place as an enemy of man, as a
source of danger and threat to man. In this way Satan manages to sow in man's
soul the seed of opposition to the one who 'from the beginning' would be
considered as man's enemy - and not as Father. Man is challenged to become the
adversary of God! "The analysis of sin in its original dimension indicates
that, through the influence of the 'father of lies,' throughout the history of
humanity there will be a constant pressure on man to reject God, even to the
point of hating him: `Love of self to the point of contempt for God,' as St.
Augustine puts it (cf. De civitate Dei, XIV, 28). Man will be inclined to see
in God primarily a limitation of himself, and not the source of his own freedom
and the fullness of good. We see this confirmed in the modern age, when
atheistic ideologies seek to root out religion on the grounds that religion
causes the radical `alienation' of man, as if man were dispossessed of his own
humanity when, accepting the idea of God, he attributes to God what belongs to
man, and exclusively to man! Hence a process of thought and
historico-sociological practice in which the rejection of God has reached the
point of declaring his 'death.' An absurdity, both in concept and expression!
But the ideology of the 'death of God' is more a threat to man, as the Second
Vatican Council indicates when it analyzes the question of the 'independence of
earthly affairs' and writes: 'For without the Creator the creature would
disappear. . . . When God is forgotten the creature itself grows
unintelligible' (GS, 36). The ideology of the `death of God' easily
demonstrates in its effects that on the `theoretical and practical' levels it
is the ideology of the 'death of man' " (L'Osservatore Romano, June 9,
1986).
Part 3: The Devil according to Church Fathers
St Irenaeus 2nd Century
By means of the
events which shall occur in the time of Antichrist it is shown that he, being
an apostate and a robber, is anxious to be adored as God; and that although a
mere slave he wishes to be proclaimed as a king. For he being endued with all the power of the devil, shall
come, not as a righteous king, not as a legitimate king obedient to God but as
an impious, unjust, and lawless one; as an iniquitous and murderous apostate; as
a robber, concentrating in himself a satanic apostasy, and setting aside
idols to persuade men that he himself is God."
“Just as if any
one, being an apostate, and seizing in a hostile manner another man's
territory, should harass the inhabitants of it, in order that he might claim
for himself the glory of a king among those ignorant of his apostasy and
robbery; so likewise also the devil, being one among those angels who are
placed over the spirit of the air, as the Apostle Paul has declared in his Epistle
to the Ephesians,214 becoming envious of man, was rendered an apostate from the
divine law: for envy is a thing foreign to God. And as his apostasy was exposed
by man, and man became the [means of] searching out his thoughts (et examinatio
sententiae ejus, homo factus est), he has set himself to this with greater and
greater determination, in opposition to man, envying his life, and wishing to
involve him in his own apostate power. The Word of God, however, the Maker of
all things, conquering him by means of human nature, and showing him to be an
apostate, has, on the contrary, put him under the power of man. For He says,
"Behold, I confer upon you the power of treading upon serpents and
scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy,"215 in order that, as he
obtained dominion over man by apostasy, so again his apostasy might be deprived
of power by means of man turning back again to God” Against Heresies Book 5, Ch
24, v 4
St Tertullian 2nd and 3rd
Century
Tertullian called Lucifer archangel, not because he belonged to
the lower choir, but because he was the archon, or prince of all the angels, a
view commonly held by all the Doctors and Fathers of the Church “The business (of the fallen angels, who
are the demons), is to corrupt mankind. Thus, from the very first, spiritual
wickedness augured man’s destruction. Therefore do they inflict diseases and
other grievous misfortunes upon our bodies; and upon the soul they do violence
to achieve sudden and extraordinary excesses. Their marvellous subtlety and
elusiveness give them access to both parts of man’s substance...Therefore are
they everywhere in a moment. The whole world is but one place to them. What and
where anything happens they can know and tell with equal facility." Apology 22, 4.
Origen 254 AD
"In regard to the Devil and his angels
and opposing powers, the ecclesiastical teaching maintains that these beings do
indeed exist; but what they are or how they exist is not explained with
sufficient clarity. This opinion, however, is held by most: that the Devil was
an angel; and having apostatized, he persuaded as many angels as possible to
fall away with himself; and these, even to the present time, are called his
angels." Doctrines 1, Preface 6
“And in reply to
the view that Isaiah 14: 12 refered to the Babylonian King Nebucchenadezzar
"for the man Nabuchodonosor neither fell from heaven, nor was he Lucifer,
nor did he arise upon the earth in the morning" (De princ. 4.1.23). It refers to Satan, who once existed as
light before he went astray and fell to this place, as Jesus teaches, Lk 10:
18” Doctrines 1,5,5
St
Cyprian 3rd Century
“Why bow to false
gods? Why bow down your body before
helpless images and molded clay? Why
grovel in prostration like the serpent whom you worship? Why rush into the downfall of the devil,
your companion? Worthily does God exert
the lash of His stripes and scourges”
"The Devil bore impatiently the fact that man was made in the image
of God; and that is why he was the first to perish and the first to bring
others to perdition. Adam, contrary to the heavenly command, was impatient in
regard to the deadly food, and fell into death; nor did he preserve, under the
guardianship of patience, the grace he received from God." The advantage
of Patience 19
St Cyril of Jerusalem 4th
Century
“Antichrist will
exceed in malice, perversity, lust, wickedness, impiety, and ruthlessness and
barbarity all men that have ever disgraced human nature. Hence St. Paul emphatically calls him `the
man of sin the son of perdition, the wicked one, whose birth and coming is
through the operation of Satan”
St Jerome 4th
Century
Commenting on Psalm 23, St Jerome said Satan had under his
domination the nine choirs of angels, including both those who fell and those who remained faithful (a
teaching approved by St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine, and followed by
St.Thomas Aquinas and the scholastics)
Antichrist will
be born near Babylon. He will win the
support of many with gifts and money.
He will sell himself to the devil and thereafter will have no guardian
angel or conscience…Nor do me think him to be the devil or a demon as some
others do but one of mankind in whom Satan shall dwell totally…for he is the
man of sin, the son of perdition, such that he will seat himself in the Temple
as if he were God. Satan shall exercise his influence over all the powers of
the antichrist both over his body and of his soul – namely his will, his
intellect and his memory
St John Chrysostom 407
"Antichrist
will be possessed by Satan and be the illegitimate son of a Jewish woman from
the East. This world will be faithless and degenerate after the birth of
Anti-Christ”
St Augustine 430
“…This evil, of
which, to wit, the devil is the cause, "extends gradually through all the
approaches to the senses, it adapts itself to shapes, blends with colors,
mingles with sounds, seasons every flavor” Qq. lxxxiii, qu. 12
"The devil
was vanquished by Christ's justice: because, while discovering in Him nothing
deserving of death, nevertheless he slew Him. And it is certainly just that the
debtors whom he held captive should be set at liberty since they believed in
Him whom the devil slew, though He was no debtor." De Trin. xiii, cap. xiv
St
Augustine agrees with those who believe that the angels who transgressed were
not celestial or supercelestial angels but rather inhabitants of the pure air
that borders on the celestial region, and that they and their leader--now the
devil but then an archangel--were cast down into the lower dense air (caligo,
cf. Jud 6; Eph 6,12); but even if they originally had celestial bodies, they
may well have been transformed to an airy nature, so that they could suffer
from the higher element of fire and remain in the dense air, which serves as a
dungeon, until Judgment Day. De Gen. ad
litt. 3,10
Part 4: The devil according to the Saints
St Gregory 6th Century
“Surely the Devil
is the head of all the wicked; and of this head all the wicked are members…The chief angel who sinned, being set over all
the angelic hosts, who surpassed them in brightness and was by comparison the
most illustrious among them …That the Angels upon
their creation and elevation to the supernatural order of Grace were subjected
to a test of their love and fidelity to God is theologically certain for the
bad Angels, and commonly believed for the good ones” Hom.34 in Evang
“The sin of the
devil is irreparable, because he sinned at no other's suggestion” Moral. iv, 10
St John Damascene 787
“The gospel, then, must first be preached in all
nations “and then that wicked one shall be revealed: whose coming is according
to the working of Satan, in all power and signs and lying wonders, in all
seduction of inquity to them that perish: who the Lord shall kill with the
words of His mouth and the coming of His brightness” Thus the devil does not
himself become man after the incarnation of the Lord –God forbid! - But a
man is born of fornication and receives into himself the whole operation of
Satan, for God permits the devil to inhabit him for He (God) foresees the
future perversity of his will….And so with our souls again united to our
bodies, which will have become incorrupt and put off incorruption, we shall
rise again and stand before the terrible judgement seat of Chirst. And the devil
and his demons, and his man which is to say the Antichrist and the impious
sinners will be given over to everlasting fire, which will not be a material
fire such as we are accustomed to but a fire such as God might know.”
St Gaudentius 1004 AD
“[Satan’s]
authority was allowed to continue for the correction of mankind, so that we, flying from the malignant cruelty of this so evil steward,
might run together toward the compassionate God, through whose power and
mercy we can be delivered from every assault seeing that the steward also is
subject to the power of God. The devil wasted the substance of his Lord when
he sought the ruin of mankind and this most wicked one, reckoning the death of
man as his profit , is consumed with anxiety because the Lord is about to take
away his power over others. And since he is unable to will what is good and is
ashamed to ask mercy through repentance, he thinks within himself how he
may still have power over the debtors
of his Lord (that is,
over those involved in
the debt of
sin) not alone by open
persecution, but also, under the pretext of benevolence, by deceiving them with
smooth words, so that seduced by his false kindness they may more readily
receive him into their houses since together with him they must be judged
forever” PL 20, col. 971, Sermo 18
St Hildegard 1179
The mark (of
Antichrist) will be a hellish symbol of Baptism, because thereby a person will
be stamped as an adherent of Antichrist and also of the Devil in that he
thereby gives himself over to the influence of Satan…The Son of Corruption and
Ruin will appear and reign for. only a short time, towards the end of the days
of the world's. duration; the period which corresponds to the moment when the
sun. has disappeared beyond the horizon; that is to say he shall come. at the
last days of the world. He will not be
Satan himself, but. a human being equalling and resembling him in atrocious.
hideousness. His mother, a depraved
woman possessed by the. devil, will live as a prostitute in the desert. She will declare. that she is ignorant as to
the identity of his father, and will. maintain that her son was presented to
her by God in a. supernatural manner, as was the Child of the Blessed Virgin…Soon
he will revolt against the saints; and he will acquire such great power that in
the madness of his pride he would raise himself above the clouds; and as in the
beginning Satan said: "I will be like unto the most high", and fell;
so in those days, he will fall when he will say in the person of his son,
"I am the Savior of the World!"
St. Anselm 12th Century
In his dialogue
"De Casu Diaboli" (cap. iv);
the saint felt that the angelic intellect, at any rate, must see the
force of the "ontological argument" "If", he asks,
"God cannot be thought of except as sole, and as of such an essence that
nothing can be thought of like to Him [then] how could the Devil have wished
for what could not be thought of?--He surely was not so dull of
understanding as to be ignorant of the inconceivability of any other entity
like to God" The Devil, that is to say, was not so obtuse as not to know
that it was impossible to conceive of anything like (i.e. equal) to God. And
what he could not think he could not will. St. Anselm’s answer is that there
need be no question of absolute equality; yet to will anything against the
Divine will is to seek to have that independence which belongs to God alone,
and in this respect to be equal to God….
Satan had no rights over his captives and that the great price wherewith we
were bought was paid to God alone (cf. ATONEMENT ).
St
Louis De Montfort 18th Century
The
heretics, all of whom are children of the devil and clearly bear the sign of
God's reprobation, have a horror of the Hail Mary
Part 4: The Devil According to the Church’s Greatest
Theologians and Doctors
St Thomas
Aquinas 13th Century
“All Catholics hold for certain that angels
sinned and became demons; but it is difficult to see how they sinned, except
that it somehow involved seeking equality with God, and that the first sin was
pride” In Sent. 2,5,1,1-3
“The creation of
the Angels is designated by the name of the heavens and some include light.”
St. Thomas. Summa Theologica, I, Q 61, a 1 ff
“The urge to rebellion existed more in the highest angel than
in the lower, pride being the impelling motive. Lucifer’s sin did not arise
from any natural propensity to evil, for he had been created wholly good by
God; and being pure spirit, he was not
subject to the passions or sensuality found
in a material body. He led
the others who fell with him, and constituted so severe a scandal to the good
angels, by the fact that his sin was the free choice of his will aspiring to
greater excellence. Being without sin, he thought he could actually be like
God. Eve would think the same… Furthermore, just as Adam and Eve were raised to
the supernatural life of grace upon their creation, so also were the angels.
They believed by Faith before they could enjoy the Beatific Vision in glory, that
God was their Creator.” Summa
Theologica, I, Q 62, a 3
“To
desire to be as God according to likeness can happen in two ways. In one way,
as to that likeness whereby everything is made to be likened unto God. And so,
if anyone desire in this way to be Godlike, he commits no sin; provided that he
desires such likeness in proper order, that is to say, that he may obtain it of
God. But he would sin were he to desire to be like unto God even in the right
way, as of his own, and not of God’s power. In another way one may desire to be
like unto God in some respect which is not natural to one; as if one were to
desire to create heaven and earth, which is proper to God; in which desire
there would he sin. It was in this way that the devil desired to be as God” Summa
theologica, I, Q 63, a 3
Although
St. Thomas regards the desire of equality with God as something impossible, he
teaches nevertheless (loc. cit.) that Satan sinned by desiring to be
"as God", according to the passage in the prophet (Isaiah 14),
and he understands this to mean likeness, not equality. St Thomas teaches not
every desire of likeness with God would be sinful, since all may rightly desire
that manner of likeness which is appointed them by the will of their Creator.
There is sin only where the desire is inordinate, as in seeking something
contrary to the Divine will, or in seeking the appointed likeness in a wrong
way. St. Thomas considers, this first sin of Satan was the sin of
pride…Satan’s headship differs widely from Christ’s headship over the Church,
inasmuch as Satan is only head by outward government and not also, as Christ
is, by inward, life-giving influence” Summa Theologica III:8:7 .
“As
in Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead so in Antichrist the fullness of
all wickedness. Not indeed in the sense
that his humanity is to be assumed by the devil into unity of person ..., but
that the devil by suggestion infuses his wickedness more copiously into him
than into all others. In this way all
the wicked that have gone before are signs of Antichrist.” Summa theologica
III:8:8
Antichrist
will enjoy the use of free will on which the devil will operate as it was said
of Judas: `Satan entered into him,' that is, by instigating him…He will pevert some
in his day by exterior persuasion. The devil will not destroy the antichrists
free will but by suggestion will infuse his own wickedness into him more fully
than in any other human being. “as in Christ dwelt the fullness of the Godhead
so in antichrist is the fullness of all wickedness”. Not indeed as if his
humanity were assumed by the devil into unity of person, as the humanity of
Chirist is by the Son of God; but that the devil by suggestion infuses his
wickedness more copiously into him than all others…For Michael the Archangel
shall kill him on Mount Olivet from whence Christ ascended
Blessed John
Duns Scotus 13th Century
“The Devil’s sin was
not pride properly so called, but should rather be described as a species of
spiritual lust “The cognition,
volition, and activity of the angels is more akin to ours. The angels can of
themselves know things; they do not need an infused species though in fact they
receive such from God. The devil is not necessarily compelled, as a result of
his sin always to will what is evil; with his splendid natural endowments he
can do what in itself is good; he can even love God above all things, though in
fact he does not do so. Sin is only in so far an infinite offense of God as it
leads away from Him; in itself its malice is no greater than is the goodness of
the opposite virtue.” lo. cit., Q. ii.
Francisco de
Suarez 16th Century
“Although nothing
definite can be known as to the precise nature of the probation of the angels
and the manner in which many of them fell, many theologians have conjectured,
with some show of probability, that the mystery of the Divine Incarnation was
revealed to them, that they saw that a nature lower than their own was to be
hypostatically united to the Person of God the Son, and that all the hierarchy
of heaven must bow in adoration before the majesty of the Incarnate Word; and
this, it is supposed, was the occasion of the pride of Lucifer “ De Angelis,
lib. VII, xiii.
Part 5: The devil according to Other Catholic
Theologians
Peter Lombard 12th
Century
“Soon after the
creation of the angels, some of them turned towards the Creator, and some
turned away (Sent. 2,5,1, repeating Hugh of St. Victor, Sum. sent. 2,3, PL
176,82). Both greater and lesser angels
fell, including the worthiest of all, Lucifer, who drew the others with
him: draco de coelo cadens secum traxit
tertiam partem stellarum (cf. Rev 12,4.9), and they were forced to live in the
aer caliginosus and not on earth with us, lest they infest us too greatly
(2,6,1-3; Hugh 2,4). But it is likely
that some of the demons descend to hell daily, to lead the souls there to be
tormented; and it is not far from the truth that there are always some demons
in hell, perhaps taking turns with those above (alternatis forte vicibus), to
detain and torment the souls; and some believe that Lucifer has been bound in
hell, from the time that he was defeated by Christ in the desert or at His
Passion. Others, however, believe that
he was buried in hell from the time of his original fall, because of the
magnitude of his sin; but whether or not he is presently detained in hell, it
is credible that he does not now have as great a power to tempt us as he will
have in the time of the antichrist (2,6,5-6).”
Finally, Lombardus cites via Hugo the view of Origen that demons who are
conquered by saints have their power of tempting removed or reduced (2,6,7).
Resist the
beginnings; remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained
strength." First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination,
followed by pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not
resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays
in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of
the enemy grows against him…The enemy, knowing the great good and the healing
power of Holy Communion, tries as much s he can by every manner and means to
hinder and keep away the faithful and the devout. Indeed, there are some who
suffer the worst assaults of Satan when disposing themselves to prepare for
Holy Communion. As it is written in Job, this wicked spirit comes among the
sons of God to trouble them by his wonted malice, to make them unduly fearful
and perplexed, that thus he may lessen their devotion or attack their faith to
such an extent that they perhaps either forego Communion altogether or receive
with little fervor…Be not disturbed, dispute not in your mind, answer not the
doubts sent by the devil, but believe the words of God, believe His saints and
prophets and the evil enemy will flee from you. It is often very profitable for
the servant of God to suffer such things. For Satan does not tempt unbelievers
and sinners whom he already holds securely, but in many ways he does tempt and
trouble the faithful servant.
Father Matthias Joseph Scheeben
(1835-1888)
Holy Scripture
itself portrays him [Lucifer] emerging from the ecstasy produced in him by the dizzy
height and glory to which God had raised him. (Cf. lsaiah 14:12-15, Rev.
12:7-9) Because he was so very like to God, because he was called to closest
fellowship with God, he wished to be entirely like God. His exceedingly lofty
position inflated his heart, so that he laid claim to goods which otherwise he
would not have thought of; no longer content with sheer grace received from the
hand of God, simply on his own account he craved to be more than befits a
creature of God.
The angels before
their fall had received a revelation of the future incarnation of the Son of
God. This theory has its firmest foundation in the supposition ... that the
Incarnate Word, who according to the Apostle is the Head of all principalities
and powers and the first-born among all creatures, was from the very beginning
predestined in God’s plan for the universe to be the Head and King of the
angels and as such was to have been the source of supernatural grace and glory
for them, too. …
Then the
consequence would necessarily follow that the angels had to adore as their God
the Son of man thus presented to them in human form. Moreover, in the bearer of
a human nature, in a man, they were obliged to acknowledge and revere the
source of grace and glory intended for them just as those among them who
remained loyal had later, according to the Apostle (Heb.1:6) to adore the
First-born upon His entrance into the world. Of course, this was a great
humiliation for the angels. Elevated as they were by nature high above man,
they had nevertheless to behold him so markedly preferred to them that human
nature was raised above their own in dignity. They had to acknowledge that in
spite of their sublime natural perfections they had no claim to the divine
sonship, and that they could be members of God’s household only as strangers
who had been received with gracious condescension. Besides, they had to rest
content that the only-begotten of God, who willed to communicate His divine
dignity to them as the firstborn of all creatures, did not take up His abode
among them, but erected the throne of His grace in human nature which was so
far beneath theirs, and would speed forth the rays of His divine glory to them
from that lower stratum. More, they had to thank God for having united Himself
so intimately to mankind, for having located the sun of grace there and for
having singled it out as the central point of the universe. Can the sin of the
angels be more naturally explained, and the malice of their insurrection more
profoundly represented, than in this hypothesis? If an angel, especially the
most brilliant of them all, Lucifer, became absorbed in the contemplation of
his glorious nature, and conceived the idea that God had preferred human nature
to this lofty nature, and even made him dependent on a man for his own highest
and noblest prerogative, must he not have held himself scorned by God, must not
his natural exaltation have turned to grievously wounded pride, must he not
have been wroth that God had passed his nature by, must he not have burned with
envy of the favored human race, and above all must he not have been consumed
with ungovernable hatred against the Son of Man, to whom he had to pay homage,
whom he was bid to adore? We need not assert, as some theologians do, that
Lucifer in his pride went so far as to claim the hypostatic union for himself.
Such a supposition is contrary to all likelihood; he would have had to give up
his own personality, whereas pride is wholly immersed in one’s own ego. If, as
Scripture indicates, Lucifer craved in his insane rashness to be like the Most
High and to set up an empire of his own against Him, the simplest explanation
is to be found in his resentment at the thought that any created nature, and
especially human nature, should be exalted above him and that he should be made
subject to it. Wrath at the exaltation of human nature, and at the fancied
slight to his own, seems to have been the original form of his pride, which
also included envy of men who had been preferred to himself and of their head,
the Son of man, and rebellion against God who had contrived this arrangement so
hateful to him.
The doctrine
proposed by several of the Fathers, who place the angel’s sin in envy of man,
can be accounted for only on this hypothesis. For at his creation man had received
and could have received no privilege capable of arousing the angels' envy,
whether in the order of nature or in the order of grace; nothing could have
provoked such fierce resentment except the fact that a member of the human race
had been singled out for elevation to the dignity of hypostatic union with the
Son of God, and hence to headship and kingship over the angels. The view of
these Fathers, although not worked out in detail, can well be regarded as
lending positive support to the theory advanced.
If the revelation
of the Incarnation of the Word furnished the impetus to rebellion against God
for Lucifer and his angels, who preferred to subject themselves to one of their
own kind in a war against God rather than submit to a man, even though He were
really God, then sin takes on a new, more terrible and appalling character of
malice than we have heretofore found. Since this pride and this hatred toward
God were occasioned by opposition to the most sublime mystery of divine love,
we have here a doubly unfathomable hell of venemous malice. The will of the
rebel does not merely aim at wrenching itself free from God’s dominion; it
strives formally and primarily to slay, to destroy the Son of God in His
mortal, human nature in the conviction that only thus can redress be gained for
the affront at which it recoils. The most monstrous and the blackest of all
crimes, and at the same time the most inconceivable of all, deicide, resulted
inevitably from the angel’s rebellion, and accounts for the frightful malignity
manifested in its purpose. This appalling mystery of sin considered in its
origin becomes in turn a beacon which serves to throw light on the entire
subsequent course of sin. It permits us to peer into the depths of hate with
which the devil pursues man. He persecutes man not only because man is destined
to succeed to the glory which he himself has lost, but much more because man is
a member of the body of God's Son. He persecutes mankind on account of its
head, and in turn persecute the latter because He has joined Himself to men as
their head. He does not rest or halt until he has likewise destroyed the human
race, until he has set up his reign, the reign of death on earth, until he has
treacherously enticed man to pay homage to him instead of to the Lord’s
Annointed, to adore him, to bring him offerings, offerings of death, of
ignominy, and deepest degradation.
More fiercely
still does he persecute the human race in the person of those who, after
Christ’s Incarnation, join His colors, and who seek to destroy the empire of
hell in themselves and in others. And since it was a Woman, a mere human being,
who as Mother of the God-Man was to become Queen of the Angels, hell’s hate had
to turn especially against this Woman, as well as against her entire progeny.
Do not the awful atrocities of heathendom, particularly the human sacrifices
and the cult of foul vice in its most unnatural forms, as also the systematic attack against
Christianity with all the weapons of falsehood and calumny, thus find their
fullest explanation? The passions of men would never, at least on such an
enormous scale, lead them to rage so ferociously against themselves, and to
attack the most exalted ornament of their race [motherhood]; they can be
brought to such a pass only by the craftiness and deceit of him who envies
them. But in giving heed to his promptings they can, and actually do, arrive at
such extremities that once the Incarnation of the Son of God is laid before
them, and the command to adore Him as their God, their King, and the Source of
their happiness is issued to them, they too break into fury, rise against their
heavenly King with superhuman malice, vaunt themselves above Him, and seek to
destroy Him together with His Kingdom. Thus in their day the Jews joined in
with the devil’s schemes for the murder of God and allowed themselves to be
used as the devil’s tools. Thus for a century and more hell’s agents have been
shrieking forth the “écrasez l’infame!” Since the incarnate Christ is beyond
their clutches, they hound His Mystical Body with diabolical frenzy.
The scandal which
the mystery of the God-Man is to the fallen angels, and the men who follow them
results in their refusal to accept God’s truth with the love and reverence due
to His word, and in their rejection of faith in the proper sense of voluntary
belief. But unbelief that repudiates belief for the sole reason that its object
arouses resentment does not diminish culpability; it increases culpability, it
lays bare the full range of the malice involved in persecuting the good that is
proposed for belief. Unbelief can partially excuse only where some uncertainty
creeps in. Since the revelation of this mystery does not force itself upon men
with the same clarity as it does upon the Angels, especially when men are
deluded by the powers of Hell, man's guilt and malice never come up to the
guilt and malice of the Angels. Yet men can share in the malice of the devils
to a high degree; in point of fact, modern unbelief is largely a demonic
unbelief. At any rate, the conclusion cannot be escaped that the ”Mystery of
Iniquity” has in course of time taken shape as formal hatred and conflict
against the Mystery of the Incarnation. Since the malice which it occasioned is
essentially more heinous than any other, and we cannot readily suppose that the
Prince of Darkness in establishing his kingdom would neglect to lay its
foundations on the bedrock of evil, what is more natural than the assumption
that from the very outset he would have wished to set up his kingdom in direct
opposition to the kingdom of the Son of God made Man?
Later authors who speak of devils are Strabo on Ps
74 (PL 113,962), Anselm of Laon (Ps-Haymo) on Ps 77,49 ad v. per angelos
malos (PL 116,464), Abelard, Sic et non
c. 113 (PL 178,1511), Peter Lombard on Ps 77,49 (PL 191,738), and Bonaventure
(Ps-William of St.-Thierry), Vitis mystica c. 46 (PL 184,732).
Part 6: The Devil in Sacred Scripture
The
Old Testament
Genesis 3
Now the serpent
was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had
made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not
eat of every tree of paradise? 2 And the woman answered him, saying: Of the
fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: 3 But of the fruit of the
tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should
not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die 4 And the serpent
said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. 5 For God doth know that in
what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall
be as Gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And the woman saw that the tree was good
to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat…. 13. And the
Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The
serpent deceived me, and I did eat. 14 And the Lord God said to the serpent:
Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts
of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the
days of thy life. 15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy
seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her
heel.
Job
1
6
Now on a certain day, when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan
also was present among them. 7 And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou?
And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through
it. 8 And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant, Job, that
there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God,
and avoiding evil? 9 And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain? 10
Hast thou not made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round
about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the
earth? 11 But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and
see if he bless thee not to thy face. 12 Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold,
all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person.
And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
Job
2
1
And it came to pass, when on a certain day the sons of God came, and stood
before the Lord, and Satan came amongst them, and stood in his sight, 2 That
the Lord said to Satan: Whence comest thou? And he answered, and said: I have
gone round about the earth, and walked through it. 3 And the Lord said to
Satan: Hast thou considered my servant, Job, that there is none like him in the
earth, a man simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil, and still
keeping his innocence? But thou hast moved me against him, that I should
afflict him without cause. 4 And Satan answered, and said: Skin for skin; and
all that a man hath, he will give for his life: 5 But put forth thy hand, and
touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt see that he will bless thee
to thy face. 6 And the Lord said to Satan: Behold, he is in thy hand, but yet
save his life. 7 So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck
Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of
his head
Job 4:18
In his angels he found wickedness
Job 41: 25
24 There is no power on earth that can be compared
to him that what made to fear no one. 25 He beholdeth every high thing, he is
king over all the children of pride
Wisdom 2: 23, 24
23 For God created man incorruptible, and to the
image of his own likeness he made him. 24 But by the envy of the devil, death
came into the world
Isaiah 14:12
12 How art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou
fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations? 13 And thou saidst in thy
heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. 14
I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the most High. 15
But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit.
Ezekiel 28:12-15
You were the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom,
and perfect in beauty. You were in the pleasures of the paradise of God; every
precious stone was thy covering; the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the
chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and
the emerald; gold the work of your beauty: and your pipes were prepared in the
day that you were created. You a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I
set you in the holy mountain of God, you have walked in the midst of the stones
of fire. You were perfect in your wave from the day of creation, until iniquity
was found in you.
Zechariah 3 And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right hand to be his adversary. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
The
New testament
Matthew. 4:1
Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert,
to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty
nights, afterwards he was hungry. 3 And the tempter coming said to him: If thou
be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 Who answered and
said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that
proceedeth from the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil took him up into the holy
city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, 6 And said to him: If thou
be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: That he hath given his
angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest
perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him: It is written
again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again the devil took him up
into a very high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and
the glory of them, 9 And said to him: All these will I give thee, if falling
down thou wilt adore me. 10 Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is
written: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. 11
Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.
Matthew. 9:34
33. And after the devil was cast out, the
dumb man spoke, and the multitudes wondered, saying, Never was the like seen in
Israel. 34 But the Pharisees said, By the prince of devils he casteth out
devils.
Matthew 10
1 And having called his twelve disciples
together, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to
heal all manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities…. 8 Heal the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely have you received,
freely give…. 16 Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye
therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. …25 It is enough for the
disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have
called the good man of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his
household?
Matthew 12:2626 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself: how then shall his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. Matthew 25:41Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels Mark 3:23
23. And after he had called them together, he
said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom be
divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house be divided
against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan be risen up against himself, he is divided, and cannot
stand, but hath an end.
Luke 4:
1-13
And Jesus
being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan and was led the by the
spirit into the desert, 2 For the space of forty days, and was tempted by the
devil. And he ate nothing in those days. And when they were ended, he was
hungry. 3 And the devil said to him: If thou be the Son of God, say to this
stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him: is written that Man
liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5 And the devil led him
into a high mountain and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment
of time. 6 And he said to him: To thee will I give all this power and the glory
of them. For to me they are delivered: and to whom I will, I give them. 7 If
thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answering
said to him. It is written: Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve. 9 And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle
of the temple and said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from
hence. 10 For it is written that He hath given his angels charge over thee that
they keep thee. 11 And that in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest
perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering, said to
him: It is said: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And all the
temptation being ended, the devil departed from him for a time.
Luke 10: 20
18 And he said to them: I saw Satan like
lightning falling from heaven.
Luke11:14-20
14 And he was casting out a devil: and the same was dumb. And when he had cast
out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes, were in admiration at it. 15
But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of
devils. 16 And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. 17 But he
seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall
be brought to desolation; and house upon house shall fall. 18 And if Satan also
be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that
through Beelzebub I cast out devils. 19 Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub,
by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges.
20 But if I by the finger of God cast out devils, doubtless the kingdom of God
is come upon you.
Luke 13:16
16 And
ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen
years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
John 3: 10, 8
In this the children of God are manifest and
the children of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the
devil"
John 8:
44
44 You
are of your father the devil: and the desires of your father you will do. He
was a murderer from the beginning: and he stood not in the truth, because truth
is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a
liar, and the father thereof.
John 12: 31
Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the
prince of this world be cast out.
John 14: 30
30 I will not now speak many things with
you. For the prince of this world cometh: and in me he hath not any thing.
Acts 5: 3
But Peter said: Ananias, why hath Satan
tempted thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost and by fraud keep
part of the price of the land?
Romans 16: 20
And the God of peace crush Satan under your
feet speedily. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
1 Cor. 7: 5
5 Defraud not one another, except, perhaps,
by consent, for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer: and return
together again, lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency
2 Cor. 11: 14
14 And no wonder: for Satan himself
transformeth himself into an angel of light.
2 Cor. 12: 7.
And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was
given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me.
2 Corinthians 2: 11
11 That we be not overreached by Satan. For
we are not ignorant of his devices.
1 Corinthians 5: 5
To deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2: 1, 2
1 And you, when you were dead in your
offences and sins, 2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit
that now worketh on the children of unbelief:
Ephesians 6: 11, 16
11 Put you on the armour of God, that you
may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is
not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the
rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the
high places. 13 Therefore, take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able
to resist in the evil day and to stand in all things perfect. 14 Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth and having on the
breastplate of justice: 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace. 16 In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may
be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.
1 Peter 5: 8
Be sober and watch: because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
2 Peter 2: 4
For if God spared not the angels that
sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell,
unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment:
1 John 3: 8-10
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from
the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy
the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God committeth not sin: for
his seed abideth in him. And he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever
is not just is not of God, or he that loveth not his brother.
Jude 1: 6
And the angels who kept not their principality but forsook their own
habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgment
of the great day.
Jude 1: 9
When Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about
the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing
speech, but said: The Lord command thee.
Revelations 12: 7, 9, 10, 13-17
7 And there was a great battle in heaven:
Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his
angels. 8 And they prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in
heaven. 9 And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called
the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world. And he was cast unto the
earth: and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud
voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of
our God and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is
cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night…13 And when the
dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought
forth the man child. 14 And there were given to the woman two wings of a great
eagle, that she might fly into the desert, unto her place, where she is
nourished for a time and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth, after the woman, water, as it were a
river: that he might cause her to be carried away by the river. 16 And the
earth helped the woman: and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the
river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was angry
against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the
commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelations 20: 1-3
1 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the
dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a
thousand years. 3 And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and
set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the nations till the thousand
years be finished. And after that, he must be loosed a little time….
Revelations 20: 7-9
7 And when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be
loosed out of his prison and shall go forth and seduce the nations which are
over the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog: and shall gather them
together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 8 And they came upon the breadth of the
earth and encompassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city. 9 And
there came down fire from God out of heaven and devoured them: and the devil,
who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone
Mother Marriane De Jesus Torres 1635
The demon will try to persecute the ministries of our Lord in every
possible way and he will labour with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate
them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These
corrupted priests who will thus scandalize the church will incite the hatred of
bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic church to
fall upon all the priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous
sufferings to the good pastors of the church to the great majority of good
priests and to the supreme pastor and vicar of Christ on earth who will shed
secret and bitter tears in the presence of his God and Lord beseeching light,
sanctity and perfection for all the clergy of the world of which he is king and
father
Venerable Mary of Agreda 17th
Century
The Blessed Virgin Mary told her in a vision
“Lucifer had previously tarried with inordinate pleasure in the consciousness
of his God-given excellences, in the course of which he conceived hatred for
God for not having given him more; and at the revelation of the Incarnation, he
coveted the stature and gifts reserved to divinity. In other words, he wanted to be like God, not only because he
thought he could be like God, but
because he thought he should be like God. He and his cohorts fell from heaven
rather than comply with the divine decree.” In her exegesis of the aforecited
Chapter 12, Agreda describes how, with utmost boasting he spoke in the presence
of the Woman symbolized in the heavenly sign: This Son, which that Woman is to
bring forth, is of lower nature than mine: I shall devour Him and destroy Him.
I shall lead my followers against Him, I shall spread my doctrines against His
decrees and against His laws which He shall set up. I shall wage perpetual war and contradiction against Him. Unjust
is God in raising human nature above the angelic. I am the most exalted and beautiful angel, and the triumph
belongs to me. It is I who am to place
my throne above the stars and who shall be like unto the Highest; I will subject myself to no one of an
inferior nature, and I will not consent that anyone take precedence of me or be
greater than I.” As their divinely appointed leader, Lucifer subverted by such arguments angels of all
ranks, whose test of fidelity lay precisely in a choice between
obedience to his
directives and Gods. One could
not be obeyed without disobeying the other, for even in heaven it is impossible
to serve two masters. The faithful St.
Michael let fly
with the ultimatum
Quis ut Deus?(Who is like God?)
and rallied his troops. Invoking the only authority higher than
Lucifer’s, namely God’s, the faithful angels gave proof of their perfect
obedience by resisting their legitimate commander. For the obedient and holy
angels, filled with an ardent desire of hastening the glory of the Most High
and the honor of the Incarnate Word, asked permission, and as it were, the
consent of God to resist and contradict the dragon, and the permission was
granted. The war was on. Lucifer’s powers had been bestowed by the Almighty,
and we may be sure he exercised them to the full. Even after he was cast from heaven and deprived of grace, he
continued his defiance. Pursuing the Woman and her Son, he was constrained by
the logistics of the Incarnation to shift his revolutionary activities to human
affairs on earth where, still at the head of his legions, he uses his
preternatural talents and resources to win men to his cause. If he could not
rule them as Christ the God-man, he would rule them as Antichrist the
angel-man.
Sr Jeanne Le Royer 1798
Many precursors, false
prophets, and members of infernal secret societies, worshippers of Satan, shall
impugn the most sacred dogmas and doctrines of our holy religion, shall
persecute the faithful, shall commit abominable actions; but the real and
extreme abomination and desolation shall more fully be accomplished during the
reign of Antichrist, which shall last about three years and a half. Woe, woe,
woe to the last century which is descending! What tribulations precede its
commencements....When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false
religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church.
This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the
time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on earth, the
greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the
just will correspondingly diminish..... My Father, God has manifested to me the
malice of Satan, and the perverse and diabolical intentions of his emissaries
against the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. At the command of their master these
wicked men have traversed the earth like furies, with the intention of
preparing the way and the place for Anti-Christ whose reign is approaching.
Through the corrupted breath of this proud spirit they have poisoned the minds
of men. Like persons infected with pestilence, they have reciprocally
communicated the evil to each other, and the contagion has become general. What
convulsions! what scandals!The thick vapours which I have seen rising from the
earth, and obscuring the light of the sun, are the false maxims of irreligion
and of license, which in part originated in France, and in part came to us from
abroad. These have succeeded in confounding all sound principles, and in
spreading everywhere such darkness as to obscure the light both of faith and of
reason.The storm began in France and France shall be the first theatre of its
ravages after having been its forge… When the persecution against the Church
has spread like a wild raging fire even to place where it was thouhgt there was
no danger then the Lord who knows how to draw glory out of everything will
suddenly command the mighty fore stream and Satan to halt. Then will universal
peace be proclaimed."
From the Life of Christ: I saw spreading out before me
a boundless, resplendent space, above which floated a globe of light shining
like a sun. I felt that It was the Unity of the Trinity. In my own mind, I
named It the ONE VOICE, and I watched It producing Its effects. Below the globe
of light arose concentric circles of radiant choirs of spirits, wondrously
bright and strong and beautiful.
This second world of light floated like a sun under
that higher Sun. These choirs came
forth from the higher Sun, as if born of love. Suddenly I saw some of them
pause, rapt in the contemplation of their own beauty. They took complacency in
self, they sought the highest beauty in self, they thought but of self, they
existed but in self. At first all were
lost in contemplation out of self, but soon some of them rested in self. At
that instance, I saw this part of the glittering choirs hurled down, their beauty
sunk into darkness, while the others, thronging quickly together, filled up the
vacant places. And now the good angles occupied a smaller space. I did not see
them leaving their places to pursue and combat the fallen choirs. The bad
angles rested in self and fell away, while those that did not follow their
example thronged into their vacant places. All this was instantaneous.
Then rising from bellow, I saw a dark disk, the future
abode of the fallen spirits. I saw that they took possession of it against
their will. It was much smaller than the sphere from which they had fallen, and
they appeared to me to be closely crowded together. I saw the Fall of the angles in my childhood and ever after, day
and night, I dreaded their influence. I thought they must do great harm to the
earth, for they are always around it. It is well they have no bodies, else they
would obscure the light of the sun. We should see them floating around us like
shadows.
Immediately after the Fall, I saw the spirits in the
shinning circles humbling themselves before God. They did homage to Him and
implored pardon for the fallen angles.
At that moment I saw movement in the luminous sphere in which God dwelt.
Until then it had been motionless and as I felt, awaiting that prayer. After that action on the angelic choirs, I
felt assured that they would remain steadfast, that they would never fall away.
It was made known to me that God in His judgment, in His eternal sentence
against the rebel angels, degreed the reign of strife until their vacant
thrones are filled. But to fill those thrones seemed to me almost impossible,
for it would take so long. The strife will, however, be upon the earth. There
will be no strife above, for God has so ordained. After I had received this assurance, I could no longer sympathize
with Lucifer, for I saw that he had cast himself down by his own free, wicked
will. Neither could I feel such anger against Adam. On the contrary, I felt
great sympathy for him because I thought: It has been thus ordained.
From her prophecies: When the time of the
reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed
to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the
world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of
Satan will spread on earth, the greater will be the number of the children of
corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish…I was
likewise told if I remember right that he (Satan) will be unchained for a time
fifty or sixty years before the year of Christ 2000
Realising that the spirit of Satan is primarily one of
rebellion, she placed her will entirely in the hands of her spiritual director
and never once took it back, even when it cost her a great deal…When in the
name of God Fr Pinho demanded the identity of her invisible assailant, everyone
in the quivering room heard the fearful reply. "I am Satan. Do not doubt
that it is I." The devil cursed the priest and threatened to tear him to
pieces…I had the impression of seeing Satan himself trying to destroy my Faith
and convince me that my immolation for souls was all an illusion.
Satan redoubled his war on Gemma as he knew the end was
near. He strove to persuade her that she was entirely abandoned by God. He used
hellish apparitions and even reigned physical blows on her fragile body. An eyewitness who was nursing Gemma said: “That abominable beast will be the end of
our dear Gemma- deafening blows, forms of ferocious animals, etc.- I came away
from her with tears because the demon is wearing her out.”
Hrushiv, Ukraine 1914, 1986 to 1988
In 1914, twenty-two peasants from Hrushiv,
Ukraine saw the Blessed Virgin. In this apparition she told them that the
Ukraine would endure eighty years of hardship, Russia would become a godless
nation and would bring mankind to the brink of destruction.“Our Lady said:
"Teach the children to pray. Teach children to live in truth and live
yourselves in truth. Chernobyl is a reminder and a sign for the whole world.
Constantly say the rosary. The rosary is the weapon against Satan. He fears
the rosary. Say the rosary everyday, constantly at any gathering of people
From the Blessed Virgin Mary “Hatred and
greed fills the hearts of men. All this is the work of Satan. The world
sleeps in a dense darkness. This generation deserves to be annihalated ut I
desire to show myself as merciful. Great and terrible things are being
prepared. That which is about to happen will be terrible, like nothing ever
since the beginning of the world. All those who have suffered in those last
times are my martyrs and they prepare the newly converted of my church. That
which will shortly happen, will greatly surpass everything that has ever
happened until now. The Mother of God and the angels will intervene. Hell
will believe that victory is theirs, but I will seize it from them.”
All peoples are groaning under the yoke of Satan. How
badly this has penetrated, no one knows….The Lady, who has to bring peace, came
and gave her prayer in the country where Satan reigned…Satan’s hand is passing
over the whole world, holding a die. Do you know, Church, Community, what this
means? Satan is still the prince of this world. He holds on to everything he
can. That is why the Lady of All Nations had to come now, in this time…The
world is covered by a false spirit, by Satan. Once the dogma, the final dogma
in Marian history, has been proclaimed, the Lady of All Nations will grant
peace, true peace, to the world. The nations, however, must pray my prayer,
together with the Church. They shall know that the Lady of All Nations has come
as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate. So be it….I am coming to warn the
nations. Satan is not yet expelled. Nations, be warned of false prophets…Satan
is not yet expelled. The Lady of All Nations may now come in order to expel
Satan. She comes to announce the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will then come
over this earth. You, however, shall pray my prayer which I gave to the world.
Every day and every moment you shall think of the prayer which the Lady of All
Nations gave to this world in this time. How strongly Satan is ruling, God
alone knows. He now sends His Mother, the Lady of All Nations, to you, to all
nations. She will defeat Satan, as has been foretold. She will place her feet
upon Satan’s head.”
My little one, peace be with you, feel Me, drive out
your anguish. Do not let the enemy mistreat you. I will support you and lift
your spirit when Satan tries to destroy your peace. My Mother has warned you so
much against the underhanded attacks of the enemies of the soul….For the moment
one would say that it is Satan's hour…If you fulfil My instructions, you will
witness the Triumph of My Divine Mercy and the Immaculate and Virginal Heart of
My Mother; you will also witness the defeat of that proud and defiant being:
Satan, the eternal enemy…Therefore, it is necessary that in suffering you never
doubt that Divine Mercy will comfort you. Souls of little faith, instead of
turning to Me in times of affliction, turn to human means, and even satanic
means such as witches and soothsayers, forgetting to come to Me, and cannot see
themselves helped in their needs…Satan will always act cunningly because he
knows what can torment you. Do not let him get away with it. In any situation
that you see or feel uncomfortable, quickly get away, evade, escape…Therefore,
place your hearts in the hands of My Father, beware of Satan who always wants
to destroy all eternal joy and peace…Satan thinks that nobody wants to follow
My path because man desires only the freedom of his mortal life, material
pleasures. The universe is at war, you cannot see it, but you are subject to
its effect, because the Evil One wants you as his victims…Satan is furious and
I simply let him try to steal that which is Mine, because I know he will not be
able to take away something that I conceived with such love, with such
pain…People have lost so many beautiful things that We had in mind for them...
Satan was able to do so much with his machinations and his ability to take
advantage of their weaknesses, weaknesses that are usually a result of people
being unable to see the beam in their own eye... How easy it is to criticize
our friends when they are not with us.