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→Jewish Views
== Jewish Views ==
== Jewish Views ==
In the Jewish tradition, Satan is an angel who faithfully serves God as a prosecuting attorney - one who accuses men of wickedness and impiety. At the direction of God, Satan may be permitted to test these accusations, such as in Job. In this view, Satan's goal is not to lead men away from their faithfulness to God, but merely to reveal the true depths of their devotion, although in [[I Chronicles]] 21:1 Satan provoked [[David]] to take a [[census]] of the people of Israel against the will of God and 70,000 men are slain because of it.
In the Jewish tradition, Satan is an angel who faithfully serves God as a prosecuting attorney - one who accuses men of wickedness and impiety. At the direction of God, Satan may be permitted to test these accusations, such as in Job. In this view, Satan's goal is not to lead men away from their faithfulness to God, but merely to reveal the true depths of their devotion, although in [[I Chronicles]] 21:1 Satan provoked [[David]] to take a [[census]] of the people of Israel against the will of God and 70,000 men are slain because of it.
==Jehovah's Witnesses==
[[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 occured 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[29] such as:
*Satan has challenged God's Right to rule his creations, not his power....
*Satan accuses God of bribeing Humans for their loyalty with protection and blessings....
*Satan has accused Humans of being loyal to God out of selfish reasons....
*Satan claims that he can rule mankind better then God....
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] teach also that [[God]] decided that time, rather then 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 sucessfully, 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 polution, 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 then working along side 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==
==Defenses==
The three classic defenses against Satan are:
The three classic defenses against Satan are: