Who is Satan?

"Satan" in Smith's Bible Dictionary (a NON-LDS source):

Of the nature and original state of Satan, little is revealed in Scripture. He is spoken of as a "spirit" in Ephesians 2:2; as the prince or ruler of the "demons" in Matthew 12:24-26; and as having "angels" subject to him in Matthew 25:41; Revelation 12:7, 9; The whole description of his power implies spiritual nature and spiritual influence. We conclude therefore that he was of angelic nature, a rational and spiritual creature, superhuman in power, wisdom and energy; and not only so, but an archangel, one of the "princes" of heaven. We cannot, of course, conceive that anything essentially and originally evil was created by God. We can only conjecture, therefore, that Satan is a fallen angel, who once had a time of probation, but whose condemnation is now irrevocably fixed. As to the time cause and manner of his fall Scripture tells us scarcely anything; but it describes to us distinctly the moral nature of the evil one.

The Council In Heaven, Casting Out of Lucifer (Satan) and His Rebellious Followers

Children of God

Christ is the FIRSTBORN OF THE FATHER IN THE SPIRIT WORLD AND IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN IN THE FLESH.

LDS doctrine does not subscribe to traditional creedal trinitarianism. That is, the LDS do not believe the extra-biblical doctrines which surround many Christians' ideas about God, such as expressed by the Nicene Creed. Specifically, the LDS do not accept the proposition that Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are "of one substance (homoousios) with the Father," as the Nicene Creed declares.

Rather, LDS doctrine teaches that God the Father is physically and personally distinct from Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son. The Father is understood to be the literal father of His spirit children. Our intelligences...which were not created and have always been were clothed with a spiritual body and the scriptures testify that the we are the Spirit Children of God the Father.

LDS believe that Jesus Christ's role is central to our Heavenly Father's plan. Christ is unique in several respects from all other spirit children of God:

* Jesus was and is perfect
* Jesus is God (See John 1:1-2, Hebrews 1:6, 1 Nephi 11:16–26, D&C 76:13).
* Jesus is the Creator (See John 1:3, Hebrews 1:1–6, Mosiah 3:3, Helaman 14:12, Moses 2:1).
* Jesus obeyed the Father in all things (See 3 Nephi 11:11).
* Jesus was chosen and foreordained to be the Redeemer (See Isaiah 43:11, Mosiah 13:28–34, 3 Nephi 9:15, Moses 4:2).
* Jesus is the Mediator between God and humanity (See John 14:6, 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 8:5, 2 Nephi 2:28, D&C 76:69).
* Jesus was "the Only Begotten"—only He, of all God's children, had a physical inheritance in His body from God the Father. All other mortals have two mortal parents, and Satan and his followers never receive physical bodies at all. (See John 1:14, John 3:16, John 14:3, Jacob 4:11, Alma 12:33–34).

God the Father also had many other spirit children, created in His image and that of His Only Begotten. These children include all humans born on the earth. Some of God's children rebelled against Him, and contested the choice of Jesus as Savior. (See D&C 76:25–27). The leader of these children was Lucifer, or Satan. Those spirit children of God who followed Satan in his rebellion against Christ are sometimes referred to as "demons," or "devils." (See Moses 4:1–4, Abraham 3:24–28). They were caste out of heaven and follow Satan.

Thus, it is technically true to say that Jesus and Satan are "brothers," in the sense that both have the same spiritual parent, God the Father.

However, critics do not provide the context for the idea that Christ and Lucifer were brothers. Cain and Abel were also brothers, and yet no Bible reader believes that they are spiritual equals or equally admirable. In a similar way, Latter-day Saints do not believe that Jesus and Satan are equals. Nothing is as equally evil as Jesus is good nor is Jesus power the opposite of Satan's (See Moses 4:3). The Book of Mormon also states that the opposite of Christ and God is nothingness (See 2 Nephi 2 10-15), not Satan.

The scriptures clearly teach the superiority of Jesus over the devil and that Michael (or Adam) and Lucifer (Satan) and their followers fought against each other (See Revelation 12:7-8) to uphold the plan of the Father and the Son. Critics also ignore the Biblical references that imply that Satan is one of the "sons of God." (See Job:16, Job 2:1)

Finally, while it is true that all mortals share a spiritual parent with Jesus (and Satan, and every other spiritual child of God), we now have a different, more important relationship with Jesus. All of God's children, save Jesus, have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). In sinning, they abandon and betray their divine heritage and inheritance. Only through Jesus can any mortal return home to God the Father. This return becomes possible when a sinner is born again, and adopted by Christ, who becomes the spiritual father to those whom He redeems. (See Romans 8:14–39.)

Free Agency To Choose

Jesus, Satan, and all humanity share God the Father as their spiritual sire. However, moral agency led Jesus to obey God the Father perfectly and share fully in the Father's divine nature and power. The same agency led Satan to renounce God, fight Jesus, and doom himself to eternal damnation. The remainder of God's children—all of us—have the choice to follow the route chosen by Satan, or the path to which Christ invites us and shows the way.

Divine parenthood gives all children of God potential; Christ maximized that potential, and Satan squandered it.

To choose the gospel of Jesus Christ and the grace that attends it will lead us home again. If we choose to follow Satan's example, and refuse to accept the gift of God's Only Begotten Son, our spiritual parentage cannot help us, just as it cannot help dignify or ennoble Satan.

The Early Ante-Nicene Church Father Lactantius Wrote:

Lactantius (c. 250 -c. 325), a Latin Christian Father of the third century, taught the following:

“Before creating the world, God produced a spirit like himself, replete with virtues of the Father. Later He made another, in whom the mark of divine was erased, because this one was besmirched by the poison of jealousy and turned therefore from good to evil. He was jealous of his older brother who, remaining united with the Father, insured his affection unto himself.” (Giovanni Papini, The Devil (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1984), 81–82)

He also taught:

"Since God was possessed of the greatest foresight for planning, and of the greatest skill for carrying out in action, before He commenced this business of the world,--inasmuch as there was in Him, and always is, the fountain of full and most complete goodness,--in order that goodness might spring as a stream from Him, and might flow forth afar, He produced a Spirit like to Himself, who might be endowed with the perfections of God the Father... Then He made another being, in whom the disposition of the divine origin did not remain. Therefore he was infected with his own envy as with poison, and passed from good to evil; and at his own will, which had been given to him by God unfettered, he acquired for himself a contrary name. From which it appears that the source of all evils is envy. For he envied his predecessor, who through his steadfastness is acceptable and dear to God the Father. This being, who from good became evil by his own act, is called by the Greeks diabolus: we call him accuser, because he reports to God the faults to which he himself entices us. God, therefore, when He began the fabric of the world, set over the whole work that first and greatest Son, and used Him at the same time as a counselor and artificer, in planning, arranging, and accomplishing, since He is complete both in knowledge, and judgment, and power..." (Lactantius, Divine Institutes 2.9. in Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds. The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. (1885; reprint, Peabody: Hendrickson, 2004), 7:52–53.)

Many things he here taught are not considered "orthodox" by today's standards. However, Lactantius was definitely orthodox during his lifetime. Amazingly, many things here correspond to LDS doctrine precisely in those areas that are "unorthodox." For example,

1. "He produced a Spirit like to Himself," namely Christ. Christ, in this sense, is not the "co-equal," "eternally begotten," "same substance" "persona" of the later creeds.
2. "Then he made another being, in whom the disposition of the divine origin did not remain." God made another spirit who rebelled and who fell from his exalted status. He is the diabolus.
3. Christ is the "first and greatest Son." Not the "only" son.
4. Lastly, since the diabolus and Christ are both spirit sons of God, they are spirit brothers.

Early Judeo-Christian Sect--Ebionites

The forth century Bishop of Constantia of Cyprus, Epiphanius, reported the beliefs of an early Judeo-Christian sect, whom he thought to be Heretical, saying, "[The Ebionites] set two divine appointees side by side, one being Christ, but one the devil. And they say that Christ has been allotted the world to come, but that this world has been entrusted to the devil... [Christ] was created as one of the archangels, and that he is ruler of both angels and of all creatures of the Almighty...." (Epiphanius, Panarion, 2.30.16; vol. 1, 132.)

Unfortunately, virtually all we know about the Ebionites comes from their critics. Secondly, the title “Ebionite” was given to multiple Judeo-Christian sects that, unlike the Gentile church, continued to embrace their Jewish roots. Certainly, both of these factors, to a significant degree, are responsible for the conflicting reports we find regarding their practices and doctrines (i.e., whether they believed in a virgin birth).

The NIV Bible calls Lucifer, Jesus

The NIV calls Lucifer, "Yeshua / Jesus" in Isaiah 14:12

הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר
הֵילֵל (hay root ה )
ילֵל weeping, crying, howling, extreme sadness ( yod root י )
בֶּן son
שָׁחַר black, darkness of the morning
In the Hebrew text, the word for star, כּוֹכָב is not there! Just look above.

Everybody should know the word "Lucifer" is another name for Satan. The word "Lucifer" is found one time in the King James Bible.

KJV - Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer , son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

KJV - Revelation 22:16: I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

The following passages in the NIV show the words "morning star" as Jesus and satan. Remember, in the Hebrew text, the word for star, כּוֹכָב is not there!

In the NIV, the word "Lucifer" is gone and this evil creature is identified as the "morning star".

NIV -Isaiah 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

NIV: Revelation 22:16 - " I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you [1] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star
(By One in Messiah Congregation)

Other Christians Who Believe Lucifer and Christ Were Spirit Brothers

In regards to Lucifer being specifically the “brother of Jesus,” we can look to the Evangelical Christian theologian, H.L. Martensen. He believed that Lucifer was "Christ's younger brother, and became God's adversary because he was not content to be second, but wanted to be first; because he was unwilling to bear the light of another, and wanted to be the light itself." (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1952), 416.)

A fundamentalist Christian scholar, Arno C. Gaebelein, agrees. He wrote: “The sons of God, revealed as morning stars, include Gabriel and Michael…. Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, should also be included, though he became the enemy of God by his fall.” Gaebelein again reiterated his belief; “We have stated before that, before his fall, the devil was originally an archangel, one of the Morningstars, as we learned from the Book of Job, which sang together God’s praises in the hour of creation.” (Arno Clemens Gaebelein, Gabriel and Michael (New York: Our Hope Publications, 1945), 7, 92.)