Who has the Pitchfork — Satan or Christ?

timliwanag (57)in #deepthinking • 7 years ago (edited)

Anyone who has spent much time watching horror movies, celebrating Halloween, and listening to church preachers knows that Satan [aka the Devil] has a pitchfork in his hand.

That Satan with a pitchfork is a myth!

If you're a Bible-believer, you would know that devils are strange gods or "new gods" [new things] that the Israelites worshipped when they forsake their God, The Creator.

Deut 32:15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
Deut 32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
Deut 32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

In the Old Testament, "devils" and "idols" are the same, inventions [works] of men:

Ps 106:37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
Ps 106:38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Ps 106:39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

So this picture of a red, two-horned Satan, with wings, tail, and a pitchfork in his hand is simply man-made.

That fallen angel, Lucifer, is a myth!

Some church-goers even believe that Satan and the character Lucifer are the same. But Isaiah's "Lucifer" was merely a symbol of the king of Babylon:

Isa 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this THE MAN that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

In the Jewish Encyclopedia, you can read about the Lucifer myth:

"The Lucifer myth was transferred to Satan in the pre-Christian century, as may be learned from Vita Adæ et Evæ (12) and Slavonic Enoch (xxix. 4, xxxi. 4), where Satan-Sataniel (Samael?) is described as having been one of the archangels. Because he contrived "to make his throne higher than the clouds over the earth and resemble 'My power' on high," Satan-Sataniel was hurled down, with his hosts of angels, and since then he has been flying in the air continually above the abyss (comp. Test. Patr., Benjamin, 3; Ephes. ii. 2, vi. 12). Accordingly Tertullian ("Contra Marrionem," v. 11, 17), Origen ("Ezekiel Opera," iii. 356), and others, identify Lucifer with Satan, who also is represented as being "cast down from heaven" (Rev. xii. 7, 10; comp. Luke x. 18)."

But let me tell you something that might shock you:

Jesus Christ has the pitchfork!

It was John the Baptizer who has prophesied about Christ having a winnowing fan or a threshing fork in his hand.

Contemporary English Version
Matt 3:11 I baptize you with water so you will give up your sins. But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Matt 3:12 His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks. He will store the wheat in a barn and burn the husks in a fire that never goes out.

That imagery of Christ being ready to separate the wheat from the chaff with a pitchfork is describing God's coming judgment in first-century Israel against those antichrists, the unbelieving Israelites or Jews like the Pharisees and Sadducees.

So do tell your friends that Satan is just a metaphor for an enemy. You don't have to be afraid of a super ancient evil creature, a so-called "fallen angel" who became the personal Devil of Adam, Eve, and the Israelites.