[[Image:GustaveDoreParadiseLostSatanProfile.jpg|right|thumb|Gustave Doré's depiction of Satan from John Milton's Paradise Lost.]]
'''Satan''' or the '''[[Devil]]''' is the embodiment of evil, and plays a major role in [[Christian]] theology and literature, as well as in many other religions.(this guy is a main owe. good for him) He is the tempter and spiritual enemy of mankind(only Christians really). He is the adversary of [[God]](aka again Christians), although subordinate to him and able to act only by his sufferance, and is represented frequently as the leader or prince of all apostate angels and as ruler of [[hell]].
"Satan is the force that loves to find the guilt and weakness in people, to humiliate them with it, to convince them that, because they are not good, God cannot love them."<ref>[http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/258360/iritei-stuff-satan-prosecutor-mike-potemra The Rite Stuff: Satan as Prosecutor] - Mike Potemra</ref> [[Leftist]] Saul Alinsky dedicated to Lucifer his book ''Rules for Radicals'', which inspired some [[liberal]] activists.
* I will be like the most High
Those who take this passage to be a reference to Satan believe that it gives more history of what caused his downfall, that he was created by God(i though he made everything perfect) as one of His most powerful angels (possibly a [[Seraphim|Seraph]]), but that he fell from grace after he in his pride rebelled against his Creator. Some, however, believe that there is no grounding to interpret the passage as a history of Satan, citing that the passage uses highly figurative and poetic language that was meant as a prophecy against Babylon and nothing more.
[[Image:Paradise Lost 12.jpg|right|thumb|''The fall of Lucifer'' by Gustave Doré.]]
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] believe that Satan was at one time an [[Angel]] who lived among the many millions of Angels that existed before the [[world]] was created. They believe that at some point He developed the desire to be worshiped by [[Humans]] and other Angels and so set himself in Opposition to worship of [[Jehovah]], his [[God]] and Father. This they believe occurred in the Garden of Eden, and not prior to the Earths creation. [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] teach that Satan used a serpent as his mouth piece, the same way a vantriloquist uses a dummy, to bring the first [[Human]] couple under his control.
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] teach that God has allowed Satan to rule mankind for several resons such as:
*Satan has challenged God's Right to rule his creations, not his power....
*Satan claims that he can rule mankind better than God....
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] teach also that [[God]] decided that time, rather than a display of force, is needed to settle these issues. This, they believe, has giving Satan thousands of years to prove that Mankind is better off without God, that He (Satan) can rule Mankind successfully, and that the Humans that Do serve God do so only out of selfish reasons.
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] teach that Satan does not live in any kind of [[Hell]] or world of the dead, but on the [[Earth]] as it's current ruler, along with as many as a third of the Angels of [[Heaven]]. They teach that Satan had lived in Heaven up until 1914, when Jesus and his Angels cast him out of Heaven, bringing woe to the Earth. this is their reasoning on Why the world has experienced two World wars, increasing lawlessness, an increase in disease and pollution, and the overall conditions on earth today.
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] believe that Satan delegates authority to each Demon as he see's fit, and over what he see's fit, sometimes including whole Nations and kingdoms. They believe that Satan and his demons are in every way the enemy of God, rather than working alongside him. They teach that Satan will continue to rule the world until [[Armageddon]], when Jesus Christ and his heavenly Angels come to earth and bind him, eventually killing him, freeing the world of all opposition towards True worship.
==Defenses==
* the [[Holy Spirit]], meaning "The Advocate" (i.e., defense lawyer), or the ''Armor of God''.<ref>Ephesians 6:1-17</ref>
Note that Satan lacks self-restraint, which often leads him to failure. In addition, Satan delights in [[deceit]], even to the point of causing his downfall.(live fast, die young, bad girls keep it wild)
==Dante and Milton==
In western art and popular culture the devil is used to represent evil influences or motivations.
==Similarity to Prometheus==
Some writers have pointed out that a few popular depictions of Satan are similar to that of Prometheus. <ref>Werblowsky, Raphael Jehudah Zwi. Lucifer and Prometheus: A Study of Milton's Satan. Routledge, reprinted 1999 and 2001; originally published 1952.
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==See also==
* [[Devil]]