Regarding the Bible, I'm not a big fan of the NIV or NTLH versions, but for understanding the following passage, I think a blend of them with the ACF and KJA would be helpful:
Mortal man, raise a lament over the king of Tyre and say to him:
(Ezekiel 28:12-17)
Thus says the Sovereign Lord:
You were an example of perfection. How wise and kind you were!
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, with your wings spread; after all, it was precisely for this function that I appointed you.
You were also on the Holy Mountain of God and walked among the shining stones.
At that time you were perfect and blameless in your feelings and actions,
from the day you were created until wickedness was found in you.
Through your many dealings throughout the land you have filled your heart with arrogance and brutality, and you have sinned;
For this reason I cast you out, defiled and humiliated, far from the Holy Mountain of God.
I myself humbled you and expelled you, guardian cherub, from the midst of the glory of the fiery stones!
Your heart has become proud and haughty because of your stunning beauty.,
And you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor and your fame.
That is why I cast you to the ground;
I have set you before kings, that they may gaze at you.
Have you ever tried reading the book of Ezekiel?
Right there, in the first chapter, he throws such an absolutely complex description in the reader's face that even I—modesty aside, far from being functionally illiterate—read it about ten times, in three different versions of the Bible… and I confess that I still don't quite understand what these beings are or how they work, beings that will only be identified as cherubim in the tenth chapter: the appearance of a man with four faces—man, lion, ox, and eagle!—and four wings, straight legs, soles of their feet like a calf's, bodies burning like embers in a fire, wheels (with terrifyingly high rims) remotely controlled and intertwined, one for each face… go read it because I stopped!
I stopped and was relieved that the Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself all the Old Testament sacrificial rituals that appear in this book—only the proposal, in Ezekiel 4:9, Spending three hundred and ninety days eating bread made from beans (and other grains) smoked in human feces has already made me certain that I am too weak to be a prophet!
Incompetence aside, my wish is to highlight that all this complexity described (in the first and tenth chapters) deals with the appearance and powers of "normal" cherubim: I am led to believe that this "anointed guardian cherub" was endowed with even more attributes than they were... and, paradox of paradoxes, having so many advantages ended up being extremely disadvantageous!
We must be very careful not to misunderstand the message of the passage above: it is true that the limited and finite human being who reigned over Shot He was not in Eden, he was not anointed as a guardian cherub, nor did he walk on God's Holy Mountain, but because of his similar behavior, the message he receives is full of direct allusions to Satan!
That's precisely why I prefer not to even consider the reference to... business, ...but linking the misfortune to the emergence, through such great successes, of arrogance and brutality in the hearts... of both!
Abandoning the King of Tyre From here on, there is a New Testament passage that highlights the central reason for the emergence of the Devil:
The bishop should not be someone who has recently converted;
(1 Timothy 3:6)
If he goes, he will be filled with pride and will be condemned like the Devil was.
Power corrupts.
Not only are there little men who are dazzled by the power of influence in any sector imaginable, but even "the epitome of perfection" has succumbed, seduced by himself:
How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
(Isaiah 14:12-15)
How you have fallen from heaven, you who weakened the nations!
And you said in your heart:
I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will exalt my throne,
And I will sit on the mount of the congregation, on the sides of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
And yet you will be brought down to hell.,
to the deepest abyss.
Is vanity the source of all other sins?
As I read the passage above, I can't help but think of Paul revealing to us how he did not fall into a similar temptation:
I will boast about such a person, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.
(2 Corinthians 12:5-9)
For if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, because I will be telling the truth;
But I leave this aside, so that no one may think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me.
And to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh.,
namely, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, so that I would not exalt myself.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And he said to me:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
Therefore, I will gladly boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Satan, unlike the example recorded by the last apostle, not only became vain, but, without forgetting that angels are neither foolish nor weak, ended up convincing a third of the angelic population (as we saw in...). previous publication) to follow him in his rebellion: before preaching the socialist stupidity of "equal rights"“ For Eve, the Devil preached this deception to himself... and she believed it!
And it fell.
THE SECOND IMPACT
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan;,
(Revelation 12:9-10)
that deceives the whole world;
He was hurled to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying:
Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ;
because the accuser of our brothers has already been thrown down,
who accused them before our God day and night.
Fools are those who, without searching the Word, go around repeating in prose and verse that Satan and his demons have no access to any physical place, particularly to ecclesiastical establishments: if the enemy can go even before God, walls, doors, or windows will not stop him!
And on a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD,
(Job 1:6-7)
Satan also came among them.
Then the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
And Satan answered the LORD, and said:
To roam the earth, and wander through it.
Remember that, according to the prophet Ezekiel, cherubim can move “like a flash of lightning” (speed of light, Given that its speed is 299,792,458 meters per second, we could say that it would be able to circle the entire earth seven times in the blink of an eye… however, the Bible doesn't tell us if the speed of reasoning of spirits would be equivalent to that.
However, Satan did not fall alone: he brought with him his thousands, if not millions, of angels and the rigid hierarchical structure under which all spirits were created: therefore, the only place to which this legion does not have free and direct access... is to what is thought!
I'll talk about this again in a future post.
I thank from the bottom of my heart whoever, understanding that the loan taken out (which I referred to in the last post) will soon be repaid with interest and adjustments, sent sincere help to this servant of the Lord who writes to you: I pray to the Lord that, in due time and in a multiplied measure, He will repay the kindness shown in the most appropriate way: whether through deliverance or various possible blessings.
I continue to need and accept donations.
For today, I want to conclude by reminding you that, not long after the first fall, there was a second impact: the enemy's existence is entirely built upon envy, lies, distortions, fraud (including electoral fraud…), coups, rebellions, assassinations…
Just as he himself wanted to take the place of the Lord God, it cost him nothing to try to influence weak humanity to make the same mistake: if with all his natural and supernatural qualities he ended up failing, he certainly knew that the attempt by human beings would be frustrated and would only serve to inflict suffering upon them.
The point is that while Satan invented, sowed, cultivated, and harvested sin within himself, God knew that humankind was influenced by the Devil in the commission of their first sin and, therefore, used a different model of punishment.
Since our focus in this series is on spirits, I present below another punishment imposed on Satan not long after the fall:
Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
(Genesis 3:14-15)
Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field;
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and their seed;
This will hit your head.,
and you will strike his heel.
Now go back to the opening passage and read the last two lines, because our next step It will be based on them.