Lucifer, the angel of light, one of the three archangels of Heaven, was a glorious specimen of God’s creative power, who because of his jealousy and pride, rebelled against God, inducing a full third of the heavenly hosts to join him. Not satisfied with that accomplishment, he went on to pursue God’s most prized possession, those he made in his very own imagine, tempting human beings to rebel against God by eating his fruit of entrapment, leaving God no choice but to condemn his beloved humans and all their descendants in perpetuity to a life of suffering ending in death.

Being no slouch, Lucifer has remained active in his malevolent career of temptation and deception. He has inspired false religions to sow doubt and confusion, planted fossils to fool prideful intellectuals into believing evolution, filled men with lustful thoughts, which have nothing to do with the hormones God placed in their body. And behold, the devil has led you here, to this dark corner of the internet where you will be told a foolish proposition, that there is no evidence for a deity, despite the fact that you are alive, reading this blog with your intelligently designed eyes, which irrefutably demonstrate the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omniphilic Abrahamic God who redeemed you through a violent human sacrifice.

So, the story goes, minus the fact that it is the serpent created by God as the most cunning of God’s creation, not the devil, who actually tempts Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-5) in a story written prior to the theological development of an archenemy to explain the problem of evil. Let us not dwell on such details; that’s exactly where one finds the devil.

Satan Experienced all the Glories of Heaven

If this nemesis of the Almighty exists, perhaps, it behoves us to at least wonder what madness compelled him and his fellow protesters to launch a resistance movement against the most powerful being in the universe. After all, Lucifer has all the advantages that ought to make it impossible, if apologists are to be believed, from ever being able to not love God.

Unlike us, Satan has seen God. He has beheld God’s glory and cannot deny his existence. More importantly, Satan has enjoyed the comforts of Heaven. He has walked on streets of gold, hopped on the fluffiest of clouds, been serenaded by the most melodious tunes that the celestial harpists have to offer. Most magnificent of all, he was afforded the opportunity to be enraptured in the unceasing worship of the triune God hour after hour, day after day, year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium, singing:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing! (Rev 5:12).

I shiver with excitement just thinking about it; if it wasn’t for that unfortunate exclusion of the suicidal, I would catch the next flight to Liberia and try to get infected with the Ebola virus, but I digress.

Satan’s Free Will Was not Diminished by Seeing God

Given all that he had, it is astonishing that he should rebel against God.

When I have asked Christians to explain to me why God can’t reveal himself more plainly, I am told that it is necessary that God not interfere with human free will. If God were to allow himself to be seen, we could not exercise faith, which is the most important of all moral virtues. I have even heard that we would be so overpowered by his love; after all, God is love, the very embodiment of love, his essence is love, and in the presence of all that love, we would simply not be able to resist.

Yet, by all accounts, it appears that the devil has seen God, has been enveloped in the presence of love itself and somehow managed to resist. Curious indeed. In fact, legions of angels saw God, were exposed to his irresistible love and somehow, resisted.

Satan and His Partners in Crime Knew the Consequences

What is even more perplexing is that these angels very likely understood the choice and consequences. They understood that obsequious service to God would be rewarded and that rebellion would be punished harshly.

I am told that Hell was never created for human beings. No, God does not really want to send his precious humans to Hell. We, I must humbly tell you, are special. He became one of us, not an elephant or a dolphin, and not even a silly winged angel, but man. God loves mankind!

He created Hell for Satan and the fallen angels, who are conveniently afforded no opportunity to repent, offering apologists an open-ended explanation for the persistence of evil—cosmic warfare.

These angels, having access to all this data about God’s preferential treatment of humans and the severity of the punishment awaiting them, chose Hell. They, with full knowledge of God’s existence, his attributes, his character, and most notably, his unsurpassed power, chose Hell instead of basking in the presence of God.

Perhaps, we should ask why. They would know better than anyone, certainly better than a mere pile of dust experiencing Jesus in his heart. Yet, they chose a doomed rebellion over obedience.

Yes, yes, I know. Two-thirds of the angels remained loyal to God. However, given all the reasons to be pusillanimous before an unmatched and unforgiving deity and the futility of such a cause, one would expect that only one, at most two, would be so foolhardy to enlist in such a cause. What sort of tyrant would engender that level of disdain—the kind of disdain in which one literally abandons all self-interest? It must be pretty rough serving the Lord for eternity.

These Ought to be Serious Questions to Those Who Seriously Believe in Fallen Angels

In case it needs to be said, and it will need to be said, I am not aligning myself with the devil. I do not worship Satan. I don’t keep imaginary friends or imaginary enemies. Nevertheless, you, my Christian friend, do believe in the existence of this being, and perhaps, you should ask yourself why would such a large and knowledgeable group of creatures launch such a protest?

Within your own worldview, it is conceivable that despite their inevitable defeat, their demonic conscience compels them to march holding placards that read “non serviam.” That would make more sense than malevolence for malevolence’s sake, wouldn’t it?

And when they are not doing that, they are trying to tempt you into enjoying your sexuality, deceiving you into thinking that you should base your beliefs on empirical evidence, and tricking you into spending that 10% for some tangibly beneficial charitable good, such as finding a cure for a disease designed by the God you worship. Are you sure you’ve figured out who the enemy is?