The History of Satan?

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Can someone please tell me a good book written by a Catholic that's about Satan. Who Satan is, his roots from the Old Testament, and in defense of how some people try to say he doesn't exist and is really not in the old testament? Thanks, God bless and Praise the Lord!

-- Jason (Enchanted fire5@aol.com), April 29, 2004

Answers

I don't knwo of Cathlic books, but he is in the Old testement. ( And no, I don mean genessi Capter three, that is a serpent.)

Jut read the book of Job, their he is.

Startign at verse 6 of the very first Chapter.

6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. 7. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

If you read it, the whoel book has God and satan ineracting.

Likeise, he is mentioned in the Books of the Chronicles, and in Zacheriah.

Anyone who says he sint in the Old testement is simpley mistaken, an proibabely getting their information off of unreliable sources.

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), April 29, 2004.


A serpent is merely an animal. Animals do not temp humans to reject the will of God. Satan does. Under whatever guise he adopts at any given moment.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), April 29, 2004.

"A serpent is merely an animal. Animals do not temp humans to reject the will of God. Satan does. Under whatever guise he adopts at any given moment. "

A serpent may merely be an Animal, but so is a Human. Their is no evidence for your claim that Animals do nto tempt huamns to reject God's will. None.

You must relise that Satan tempting eve, no mate rhow familair a atory, is abcent form both Judaism and origional Chrisainity.

The Genesis acount is quoet clear that in this instance , an Animal did tempt eve, and their is no reason to deny Scriptrue based on Human Arrogance that a Human cannot be decieved by a "Mere animal".Least of all woudl it convence someone who said that Satan was invented by the Chrisain Chruch and dos nto appear in the Old testement.

likewise, jewish Websites even Mock Chriasn for saying Satan tempted eve, which is in defianced of the scriptrues.

I do not therefore accept that Satan was the Serpent, as their is no evidence ofr it, and in this discussion, it woudl prove detremental.

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), April 30, 2004.


Zarove, I disagree with the serpant=satan isn't Jewish, but I will let it slide (since I am not Jewish). On the otherhand, from a Christian perspective this is unacceptable. Rev. 12:9 as well as Rev. 20:2 clearly identify the 'ancient serpant' as Satan. 12:9 even describes the action of the serpant back in Gen. 3 'decieving the world'. Add to this the context of the passage as it paralles the prophesy of Gen 3, and there is no wiggle room left.

Dano

-- Dan Garon (boethius61@yahoo.com), April 30, 2004.


to get back to the original question,

i dont know any books specifically about satan. what i could recommend is the book "hostage to the devil" by malachi martin. this provides a strong insight into the evil will of satan through the workings of his demons. despite the dubious nature of some of malachi's works, this is actually one which is quite good. I think possession also goes a long way to show the existance of pure evil. there are things that these people do which simply could not be done by a deranged person.

its a good, albight scary, read.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), April 30, 2004.



Jason,

You might find this thread helpful: Can satan attack us?.

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), April 30, 2004.


Satan's origin's are best described in the book of Ezekiel. It shows how he was the anointed cherubim and became filled with pride when he looked upon his beauty. 5 times he defied the Lord's authority.

Have a read of Ezekiel 28:13-19 Also have a read of Isaiah chapter 14

Hope this helps.

Sceptic

-- sceptic (sceptic@email.com), May 06, 2004.


I was wondering the same thing one time and you can find some answers in some of the old Jewish writings if you look around enough. There's several names thrown around in there, sometimes it seems that Lucifer and Satan are different entities, and there's some evidence that what we think of as Satan is really something called Sammael, or something like that, there's also some name that starts with "A" and it could be the angel known as Satan in Job isn't the evil Satan we think of, but an angel of testing or something. It's all just names anyway, regardless of what you call it, it's still the same thing. You can find a lot of Apocropha (I don't know if that's spelled right) and Jewish texts on the Internet, but check around and make sure they're real first, there's always a ton of misinformation floating around on the Internet.

-- Conrad (rushrocks2@yahoo.com), January 06, 2005.

Papini wrote a magnificent book: IL DIAVOLO:

Giovanni Papini (1881-1956)

Journalist, polemical critic, poet, and novelist, whose avant-garde polemics made him one of the most controversial Italian literary figures in the early and mid-20th century. Papini advocated breaking with tradition and defering to the new generation, but after World War II he lost his influence as an opinion leader. His ideological development was full of paradoxes: he was first an anti-nationalist, then a staunch nationalist; first an agnostic, but then turned to Roman Catholicism. He wrote both a life of Christ and a history of the Devil. Papini published over eighty books on philosophy, theory and literary criticism, as well as novels and short stories.

"I did not accept reality. No words can express my disgust at the physical, human, rational world, which suppressed me and did not leave room and air enough for my restless wings." (from Un uomo finito, 1912) Giovanni Papini was born in Florence of lower middle class parents. From an early age he devoted himself to literature. He read widely from his grandfather's library and at the age of 15 started to write an encyclopedia. Although Papini adopted militaristic views, he was exempted from military service on grounds of health. In an essay of 1906 (Il Leonardo, August), he urged the establishing in Rome of a new world power, and the abandonment of the 'politics of meditation'.

At the age of 22 Papini's writing aspirations led him into contact with other young writers and artists. He founded and managed with Giuseppe Prezzolini the influential but short-lived Florentine magazine Leonardo (1903-07) and La Voce. It attempted to modernize Italian culture, introduced significant French, British, and American ideas, and attacked such traditionalist writers as D'Annunzio. In Leonardo Papini boldly argued that one must write badly, meaning that the artistic form is secondary to the idea. Among his other targets was the positivist philosophy which was gaining ground in Italy.

In 1913 Papini launched the journal Lacerba, which attracted many young writers. He also collaborated in writing La Cultura Italiana (1906) and Vecchio e Nuovo Nazionalismo (1914). In the 1910s he joined the Futurist artistic movement, which admired the dynamic energy of modern machines, and founded the periodical Lacerba (1913) to further its aims. "... a new beauty... a roaring motorcar, which runs like a machine-gun, is more beautiful than the Winged Victory of Samothrace... We wish to glorify war... " (Marinetti in an article in Le Figaro). However, later Papini turned against the movement.

In his youth Papini was a severe critic of Christianity, but was converted to Roman Catholicism in 1920. He gained international fame with his religious novel STORIA DI CRISTO (1921). Its English translation, The Life of Christ, was a huge bestseller in 1923, with such works as H.G. Wells's The Outline of History and Sinclair Lewis's novel Babbitt. Among his other popular works is the autobiographical novel UN UOMO FINOTO (1912). It draws a portrait of a restless intellectual and his deep dissatisfaction with contemporary philosophical debate and intellectual mediocrity. Also in many of his short stories Papini himself is the main character. In one story the author meets himself as the young man he was and whom he only vaguely remembers; in another he continues to live after his suicide in order to pay a minor debt.

"I am not a real man. I am not a man like others, a man of flesh and blood, a man born of woman. I did not come into this world like your fellow men. No one rocked me in my cradle, or watched over my growing years. I have not known the restlessness of adolescence, or the comfort of family ties. I am - and I will say this out loud though perhaps you may not want to believe me - I am but a figure in a dream. In me, Shakespeare's image has become literally and tragically exact: I am such stuff as dreams are made on! I exist because someone is dreaming of me, someone who is now asleep and dreaming and sees me act and live and move, and in this very moment is dreaming that I am saying these words." (from 'The Sick Gentleman's Last Visit') In the 1930s Papini supported Mussolini. His loyalty was recognized officially in 1939 when he was honored with the title "Accademico d'Italia." A few years earlier Papini had published STORIA DELLA LETTERATURA ITALIANA (1937) which was dedicated 'To the Duce, friend of poetry and poets'. The ambitious literary history dealt with the 13th and 14th centuries and never proceeded further. Papini's interest not only in contemporary affairs was already seen in L'UOMO CARDUCCI (1918), a sympathetic portrait of the poet-critic Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907).

While the Jews in Italy's popular literature of the 1930s lost any potentially positive traits, Papini developed a vision of the world Jewish conspiracy. In 1935 he was appointed as a professor at the University of Bologna. From 1938 he published the magazine La Rinascita. After WW II Papini founded with Silvano Gianelli and Adolfo Oxilia the avant-garde Catholic review L'Ultima. Papini's reputation as an iconoclast faded during his last years. His later works included IL DIAVOLO (1953), which showed his strong Catholic commitment. Papini died rather suddenly in 1956.

For further reading: Discorso su Giovanni Papini by G. Prezzolini (1915); Conversazioni critiche, vol. 4 by B. Croce (1932); La critica letteraria contemporanea, vol. 2 by L. Russo (1943); Storia della letteratura, vol. 5 by F. Flora (1947); Giovanni Papini, 1881- 1956 by Gennaro Lovreglio (1973-75); Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature, ed. by Jean-Albert Bédé and William B. Edgerton (1980); Giovanni Papini. L’anima intera by Carmine di Biase (1999) - FUTURISM: An artistic movement, which began in Italy about 1909 and was founded by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876- 1944). Futurism rejected tradition and admired the energy, urbanism, militarism, and the speed of modern machines. Russian Futurism added to its Italian model social and political ideas. In rebel against tradition, poets discarded grammar and syntax and used strings of words stripped from their original meaning. The influence of the movement ended by the time of Mayakovsky's death in 1930. - Note: Papini is mentioned in Henry Miller's book Tropic of Cancer and Carolyn Burke's biography of the radical English poet-painter Mina Loy, with whom Papini had also an illicit affair. - Suomeksi Papinilta on romaanien lisäksi ilmestynyt käännöksiä Italian kirjallisuuden kultaisessa kirjassa, toim. Tyyni Tuulio, 1945 - See other Futurist writers: French poet Guillaume Apollinaire and Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky Selected works:

IL CREPUSCOLO DEI FILOSOFI, 1906 - The Twilight of the Philosophers LE MEMORIE D'IDDIO, 1911 L'ALTRA METÁ, 1912 UN UOMO FINITO, 1912 - The Failure - Sanovat miehen sammuneen CERVELLI, 1913 BUFFONATE, 1914 CENTO PAGINE DI POESIA, 1915 OPERA PRIMA, 1917 L'ESPERIENZA FUTURISTA, 1919 STORIA DI CRISTO, 1921 - Life of Christ - Kristuksen historia Four and Twenty Minds: Essays, 1922 PANE E VINO, 1926 - Bread and Wine SANT'-AGOSTINO, 1929 - St. Augustine Labourers in the Vineyard, 1930 DANTE VIVO, 1932 GOG, 1934 - suom. STORIA DELLA LETTERATURE ITALIANA, 1937 I TESTIMONI DELLA PASSIONE, 1938 ITALIA MIA, 1939 MOSTRA PERSONALE, 1941 IMITAZIONE DEL PADRE, 1942 SAGGI SUL RINASCIMENTO, 1942 CIELO E TERRA, 1943 SANTI E POETI, 1947 LETTERE AGLI UOMINI DEL PAPA CELESTINO VI, 1947 PASSATO REMOTO, 1948 VITA DI MICHELANGIOLO, 1949 IL DIAVOLO TENTATO, 1950 IL LIBRO NERO, 1951 - Black Book IL DIAVOLO, 1953 - THE DEVIL LA SPIA DEL MONDO, 1955 LA LOGGIA DEI BUSTI, 1955 L'AURORA DELLE LETTERATA ITALIANA, 1956 LA FELICITÁ DELL'INFELICE, 1956 IL MURO DEI GELSOMINI, 1957 LA SECONDA NASCITA, 1958 POESIA E FANTASIA, 1958 PROSE MORALI, 1959 DIARIO, 1962 SCRITTI POSTUMI, 1966 LETTERE A GIOVANNI PAPINI (1915-1948), 1988 (ed. by Giuseppe Ungaretti)

-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), January 06, 2005.


THE DEVIL DOES HE EXIST AND WHAT DOES HE DO? By Fr. Delaporte EVIDENCE OF SATAN IN THE MODERN WORLD By Fr. Leon Cristiani ANGELS AND DEVILS - The most thorough book about the Angels yet written in modern times! by Joan Carroll Cruz THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT AND A TREATISE ON PEACE OF SOUL By Dom Lorenzo Scupoli HELL plus HOW TO AVOID HELL By Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J. & Thomas A. Nelson

-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), January 07, 2005.


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