An Interview with Satan
Yes, that's right, Lucifer is featured in my book. How could I not include the most consequential Anti-Christ of them all in a book about the Last Days? The scriptures tell us how Satan rebelled against God in the beginning and that he continues that conflict with us today. One thing to remember as you read this interview, Satan is not called the great deceiver for nothing. He is a slippery fellow and skirted around the truth during our conversation, was vague and loose with many of the facts, and spoke in half-truths when not outright lying. So, for what it's worth here in my interview with Satan:
What can I say, I was frightened. Even though I had written about the Adversary in my book, I never expected to meet him. So why did I set up this appointment with Lucifer? How else can I tell the story of the final battle between Jehovah and His arch-enemy, Satan, without including the lord and master of all those trying to defeat God and conquer this world by enslaving all mankind?
As I awaited his arrival, I looked down at my notes with shaking hands and contemplated how to address several touchy subjects in my notes. I had been debating for weeks on how to approach this interview. Do I throw softball questions at him and let him speak or take a more confrontational approach? If I do that how will he react?
I almost jumped out of my chair when I heard a knock at my office door. My eyes whipped to the door, expecting to see an evil apparition with horns and a tail drift through my office door. After a stunned silence, the knock returned, not loud or impatient but light and almost musical. What the heck…Yeah exactly. Hell has arrived.
I slowly got up, and with trepidation, walked to the door, and paused at the door handle. Open it then, I ordered my immobile hand and arm. As I reached out the door handle turned of its own accord. My heart beat faster as an unseen hand pushed the door open. In the doorway stood a man of large stature, handsome, well dressed and with a bright smile on his face.
"Ye…Ye…Yes," I stammered, "may I help you?"
A corner of my visitor's mouth quirked up as his head cocked to one side. "I have an appointment with…," he looked down at a slip of paper, "JK Sellers," he said looking up with a warm smile. "Is that you?"
My knees turned to butter. Good thing too, because I wanted to run. Then a thought occurred to me. Of course, he knows who I am. His deception was perfect and disarming. I suppose he wants me relaxed, I thought. It didn't work.
"That's me," I said and automatically reached my hand out in numb auto reaction. My visitor looked down at my hand, not extending his own. His smile grew.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," I said withdrawing the hand. He doesn't have a body, dooffus, I said to myself. How can I shake his hand?! He appeared and acted so real. As if he did have a body. In the back of my mind I wondered. Can I touch him? I didn't want to find out.
"Please come in," I finally said.
I walked around the desk and sat heavily in my chair before my legs could give out. I somehow felt reassured once I sat in my chair. It's not every day you get to meet the Son of Perdition.
My visitor approached one of the leather chairs nearby and slowly sat, or he appeared too. He surveyed the office briefly and didn't blanch or even react to the many bibles and religious tomes on my bookshelves, he just nodded as if it was as he expected.
"So, what do I call you?" I asked. "Which name do you prefer? Satan, Lucifer, the Dragon, Father of all lies?" His eyes hardened at the last two, but his smile never left his face.
My friends call me Heylel, 'Son of the Morning'," he responded, his eyes piercing into my soul.
I shivered uncomfortably. Play along and see where this goes, I told myself.
"Alright… 'Heylel', would you like to say anything before we begin?" Satan nodded amiably.
"I am grateful that you have given me the opportunity to set the record straight," he began. "My Enemy and his sycophants have not been totally truthful or honest in the records about me and my followers here on earth. The Bible," he said as if using a swear word, "is full of lies and superstitions. Written by crude, barbaric and power-hungry men yearning to enslave the people with its lies. In the beginning, it was Jehovah and his sycophants who were the traitors, not me. They rebelled and overthrew me and exiled me to earth."
"Wait," I said sitting straighter in my chair, taken aback. "So, it was you who ruled Heaven and not the Father?!"
"Of course," he said with a flourish of his well-manicured hand. "Jehovah persuaded two thirds of the angels to follow him and took the throne of heaven from me."
I was stunned into silence. His 'recollection' was like a story from one of the ancient Greek or Roman myths.
"Yes, it's true!" he said more forcefully. "Why would Jehovah and his prophets tell the truth of what really happened before the creation of the world. It is he and Michael who took the rule of Heaven away from me in the rebellion and banished me and my followers here to this small, out of the way, crude world. They were jealous of my power. They are the ones who corrupted the majority of the angels against me. Now I must fight from this pathetic planet to gain my rightful place."
"So, it wasn't you who rebelled against God but the other way around?" I said doubt dripping from my tongue.
"Exactly! Once I was exiled to earth," he said sweeping his arm wide, indicating the world about him, "I had to find a way to regain my throne."
"And how exactly do you plan to get it back. Aren't you stuck here?" I asked.
"For the short term yes," then his eyes turned to slits. Leaning forward he continued, "You do know why God put you people here in the first place?"
I shook my head. I had no clue what he meant. Nothing would surprise me coming from the Father of Lies.
He laughed. "Your eyes are not open. You don't see anything do you? Every god craves power and worshipers. Jehovah created this world to gain power. His power comes from those who worship him. The more worshipers, the more power. That's why he put those two dullards, Adam and Eve here. To start breading and having kids. More kids, more worshipers, and more power."
"Really?" I said, surprised at his statement. "That's hard to believe."
"It's true. He kept it a secret to keep the gullible and ignorant of how they're being used."
"Uh huh," I said doubtfully. "Is that why you had Adam and Eve disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit?" I said, playing along.
"Yes, the simpletons didn't realize that if they hadn't eaten the most delicious fruit on earth at the time, that they could never have had kids. It took a while, but I convinced them."
"So why did you want them to procreate?"
He looked at me like I was a dunce. "To turn the descendants of Adam and Eve against the false god, Jehovah, and toward me, the rightful god of the universe! Once in exile I had to work with Adam's progeny to regain my legitimate and proper place. I choose a group of intelligent and ambitious men and women to represent me among mankind," he said leaning back in the chair. "I named them my Mustirmahani (He pronounced it moost-ear-mah-han'-nee), 'The Keepers of the Great Secret'. Cain and then Lamech were the first of a long line of those I choose from among the worthiest of my followers to lead the battle against Jehovah and his ilk."
"But you have failed for what?...at least six thousand years now."
'I've come close several times," he said smile fading, waving a dismissive hand. "Four thousand years ago we almost succeeded. Me and my followers discovered that a cataclysm was approaching earth that would cause a deluge of water which would wash over the continents and wipe out all of humanity and animal kind. I instructed my followers to build a fleet of ships to save as many as we could. However, My Enemy launched a surprise attack against my people and destroyed all those ships except for one. That one he absconded and put his own people aboard."
"So, Moses' account of the Flood is wrong?" I asked incredulously.
"Oh Yes, that deceiver Moses, made up his fairytales in Genesis to enslave his people. I almost succeeded in my plans to reverse the course and turn men back to worship their true god but each time I was frustrated by that devious charlatan on the throne."
"Really?" My mind reeled at how Satan so easily twisted the truth. I could now see how he so easily deluded so many of God's Children.
"Yes! Jehovah's flunkies led the armies that took the ships, burned them and took the last one for his own people. Once the earth began to repopulate after the flood, I again began to gain prominence with the help of a new group of Mustirmahani. Jehovah became so jealous of my success of turning his own people against him that he again conspired to take from me my successes. They initiated a bloody civil war so terrible that the people scattered to every corner of the world to escape the turmoil."
"You mean like in the Tower of Babel?"
Satan laughed. "The only tower there was a ziggurat built to honor ME," he said pointing to his chest. "Me and my Mustirmahani had united all men after the devastation of the floodwaters. Nimrod, their leader gathered all the scattered tribes together and formed the great nation of Shinar. I understood and had learned over the millennia that man needs overseers to keep them in order. That the collective was more important than the individual. I, I created the first great civilization with cities and government, all united in the worship of one god, Me!" Satan declared, chin raised in exaltation.
"However, Jehovah, that traitor, once again fought against me. He caused a division amongst the people and scattered them to the winds. His plan was to so fracture what Nimrod had built and scatter the people that I would have great difficulty in uniting the people ever again."
"Me and my Mustirmahani have made many attempts to unite the world's population—the Persian Empire, Ming Dynasty, Rome, Greece, Babylon, Assyria, the Mongols, the Umayyad Caliphate; none were able to unite all of mankind as we had at Shinar. I alone understand the need for man to have intelligent and wise men to oversee their rule. Man is a base animal and needs supervision or he would destroy himself in chaos, destruction and death. Me and my Mustirmahani have attempted to bring order to the world and to watch over mankind. Indeed, in ancient times they were once called 'the Watchers': wise men to guide man and save him from himself. Our methods may seem cruel to you, but we do it for the love of all. It is the collective, the whole of mankind, we wish to save not just a few bootlickers and knee scrapers as Jehovah does. He only wants to save His own people and leave the rest to languish for eternity in perdition."
"Weren't you defeated when Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies by accomplished the atonement and breaking the chains of sin and death?" I asked.
Satan barked a laugh. "Your mythical Jesus was a fraud and died in misery on a Roman cross. It was his deluded followers who made up the stories of his coming back to life and teaching 'love' and 'peace'. It's all hogwash. He was a Jewish rebel who fought against Roman rule and died a painful and ignominious death."
I bristled at his irreverence but what else could I expect from Satan, the Prince of Darkness?
"So, what's your plan now?" I asked with derision.
"Isn't it obvious?" Satan said smiling, flipping his palm up in my direction. "You wrote about it in your book."
"Yes, but the Bible's prophecies have all come to pass," I countered, anger rising in my voice. Calm down, I thought, he's trying to get under your skin. "God has foreseen what happens in the last days. You will be defeated and cast into hell in the end when all is said and done."
"You're a fool, Sellers," Lucifer said leaning forward, his plastic smile finally leaving his face. His anger and hatred were ugly to behold.
"Look around you," Lucifer said, his voice rising. "I have caused Christians and Jews to lose faith in their so called 'religions'. Secularism has replaced your myths and false teachings. Modern society now scorns the banal Judeo-Christian platitudes of the Bible. No one swallows those old myths anymore, written down by desert nomads living in goatskin tents. The gullible dupes who still hang on to the fairy tales are being ostracized from modern, civilized men and soon will be exterminated once I regain my power."
"No, you're wrong Satan, you're losing this war," I said, pushing back. "Church attendance may be shrinking but the faithful who stay have stronger testimonies and faith than ever before. Where persecution occurs, faith grows, believe it or not. When those who witness the awful martyrdoms you have incited over the centuries, their faith grows even stronger. Your campaign of oppression and ridicule hasn't worked. All persecution does is separate the wheat from the chaff. Those who truly love God remember who sacrificed all so that they could return to live with Him. Just look at the 21 Coptic Christians who were martyred in Libya. The Church became stronger and more joined the church even though 21 of their fathers, husbands and brothers were beheaded publicly, in order to shame and frighten the rest. Your methods of the past have failed to suppress the faithful."
"Ah, but this time the world is a lot smaller place," Satan said with a tigerish grin. "Soon I will once again unit the world under wise leadership like I had in Shinar. No longer does it take months to travel to distant countries. Now any destination in the world is simply a few hours away. Nor does it take weeks, months, or even years to send a message around the world," Satan said, leaning back and crossing his legs, waving his hand at the laptop on my desk. "With today's technology, it is instantaneous. I can disseminate my truth to all the world in an instant."
"And what is that truth?" I challenged.
"That there is no God," he said dismissively. "That Jews and Christians are duped by shyster, millionaire preachers living off the gullible. Eventually they will all come to know their true God, me, and all will worship me."
"And if I and many others choose not to worship you?"
Satan sat back with an evil grin. "You know how that ends, Sellers. Afterall you, wrote about that too."
"Yes, I have your plans in the book. But there is another book that tells how you will lose in the end."
"All damnable lies!" Satan shouted, hands gripping the arms of his chair, losing all semblance of control. "Just myths! No one can see into the future! You are an insignificant fool, Sellers. No one will read your book, and no one will even read your joke of a 'Newsletter'," he sneered. "My plan is succeeding. There is no way to stop it now. I have total control over this world."
At that Satan rose, pushing his chair back and stood. His visage became dark and angry. As he rose to his feet, he grew in stature. His now shadowy form filled the darkening room. The walls dissolved as the figure grew to stand over me like an evil colossus looking down at an insect. I gaped into Lucifer's dwelling place, an infinite, inky-black darkness of nothingness. In the shadows appeared multitudes of Satan's followers, misshapen, brutish forms, vile and disgusting, clawed hands reaching out to me, teeth gnashing in silent screams.
Satan leaned his head back and roared with laughter. His eye fixed on mine. Deep within those dark eyes I saw only callous cruelty, a remorselessness born of the hatred he had nurtured over many millennia. Enormous clawed and deformed hands reached out to grasp my soul and take it back to the bottomless pit he had crawled out of. I felt the filthiness spread over my soul, as if a wave of dark sewage engulfed me in its filth. I fell to my knees, clasped my hands together and closed my eyes, Satan hovering far above me.
"So, you have come to your senses and have chosen to worship your true God," Satan exalted, a smug expression appearing on his face.
I could not speak. Darkness took form and embraced me in a hold so tight I could not breath.
I desperately prayed to God like no other time in my life. I concentrated through the haze of blackness to visualize the only one who could save me, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. A light, far away, appeared in the darkness. Within that light I could see the figure of the Savior suffering in the Garden. As the light grew closer the scene changed. I now saw his arrest and trial and how His own people unknowingly mocked their Messiah. I saw his torture and crucifixion and how he forgave his cruel Roman executioners. I saw his friends take down his body from the cross and hurriedly placed him in a tomb. The next scene showed the empty tomb, a neatly folded burial cloth lying on the cold stone bench. Jesus Christ, the first fruits of the resurrection, had risen! No more are we damned to Satan's clutches. We are free if we only follow and believe in the Savior. Death no longer held its sting. For all will be resurrected as he was. It was Jesus who defeated Satan two thousand years ago, breaking the chains of sin and death. There was nothing Lucifer could do about it. Well, except…. maybe…
I prayed more fervently now. Satan mustn't win! I thought of the many times God had blessed my life, the many occasions I had felt the confirming whisperings of the Holy Ghost. That God did live, that He blessed the lives of those who loved Him.
The love of God washed the darkness away. The room slowly brightened as the darkness fled. Lucifer cried out in frustration and his minions moaned in pain as they scampered away from the light of God's love and grace. Satan backed away, shrinking back down in size and dominance.
"I will win in the end, Sellers!" He said backing to the door. "You'll see! You and the rest of my Enemy's fawners will either bow to me in the end or die like all the others who have fought against me throughout time." He backed through the door and an echoing laugh filled the room.
Satan had gone. I could almost taste and smell the residue of his vileness. The room was totally silent. Still on my knees I again prayed to God. This time to thank Him for delivering me from the enemy of all mankind. After much prayer I felt a comforting reassurance come over me. It washed the room of the filthiness my visitor had left, leaving behind a bright and clean spirit.
I got up off my knees and heavily sat in my chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
I don't think I'll ever do that again! I thought sardonically.
JK Sellers