I’ll keep it short and sweet — Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.

Last year in my English class, we got into a debate over whether Lucifer and Satan were the same person. There was pretty much a universal acknowledgment that they were, with the exception of one girl in my class, who claimed to believe otherwise. Because she had the reputation for being a fairly devout Christian and "knowing her facts" when it came to the Bible, we actually started a debate over whether she was right or the rest of us were. I forgot what exactly her belief was, but I think it was something along the lines of Lucifer being an angel that was cast out from heaven, and Satan just being a separate evil entity that was "ruler of hell," so to speak; basically, she thought the two were separate beings (I know, I don't know where she got that from either). She brought up some evidence for her side that was fairly convincing (well, for her, anyway, though not for me :P), but in the end, I think most people still believed the two to be one in the same.

Now, this should have nothing to do with anything, except that I was just doing some Biblical research, and came across a few things that caught my eye and reminded me of this topic. Wanting to reassure myself that I was indeed correct and she was the one that was wrong, I browsed the internet a bit and did a little research to try to prove my point. And, I believe that I have. What follows are a few verses which I believe back up my case pretty solidly, and should have even this girl in my class convinced that Lucifer and Satan are one in the same. Have a look-see:

"How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
'I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.'”
-Isaiah 14:12-14

Here, we see the name "Lucifer" appear. There's not much reference to him being the devil - or "Satan," as it were - but pay attention to the first three lines: "How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground..." Okay, got that down? Let's move onto the next verse.

“Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.”
-Revelation 9:1

This whole verse is pretty key. We start with "And I saw a star fallen form heaven to the earth," which is of course referring to Lucifer; Lucifer is the star that is falling from Heaven to earth, which directly ties back to the previous verses in Isaiah 14, specifically the first three that I laid out for you. The second half of the verse, "To him was given the key to the bottomless pit," is important to keep in mind for the next verse, which I'll list out now.

“And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”
-Revelation 9:11

And therein lies the final piece to my argument. The first part says, "And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit," which we know from the previous verse in Revelation which I highlighted for you is Lucifer. It then goes on to say, "[the angel of the bottomless pit,] whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon." "Abaddon" is the Hebrew name for Satan, meaning "Destruction," and "Apollyon" is the Greek name for Satan, meaning "Destroyer." From this, we are led to believe, therefore, the the king of the bottomless pit is Satan. So, let's put all of this together now, shall we?

Lucifer fell from Heaven. A "star" - Lucifer - fell from Heaven and was given the "key to the bottomless pit." And the "angel of the bottomless pit" is also known by the names "Abaddon" and "Apollyon," which are the Hebrew and Greek names for Satan, respectively. Therefore, based on that path of logic, Lucifer = Satan.

I'm sure no one else cares about this, but for me, this was extremely satisfying, as I now have Biblical proof that Lucifer is, or became, Satan, and that I was indeed right. So lady, you can suck it. Oh, and I mean that in a loving, Christian way, of course. ♥

~o~*~o~

Michael Scott: "What about you?"
I.T. Guy: "Well if you're going to reduce my identity to my religion, then I'm Sikh. But I also like hiphop and NPR. And I'm restoring a 1967 Corvette in my spare time."
Michael Scott: "Okay. So, one Sikh, and..."
-From The Office