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Chapter 2 PARADISE WAS NOT ENOUGH Even though I’m using the term spirit of Cain, we can see another example of this spirit at work before Cain was even born. Before the earth was ever created, the spirit of jealousy and covetousness and rivalry exemplified itself in Satan being thrown out of heaven. Although the spirit of Cain never possessed Lucifer, this trait can be seen in Lucifer, helping us to learn much from the story of his fall from heaven. We can watch the same cycle operate and evolve in the mind of Lucifer, keeping perspective that we are not looking at a mutiny but rather the process of coveting that caused Satan to be cast out of heaven. Let’s go back to the very beginning, even before the “in the beginning” in Genesis 1:1. Let’s go back to before the earth was created, to the time when Lucifer was beautiful, serving at the foot of God’s throne, before he was evil, before he was ever called Satan. Lucifer was quite possibly the most beautiful in all of God’s creation. Ezekiel tells of this time: Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you.’” —EZEKIEL 28:12–18 There was a time when Lucifer worshiped only God, a time he orchestrated and led all of heaven in worship toward God in absolute purity and innocence. He was in a most-trusted position of leading all the hosts of heaven to praise God, being allowed close to the throne of the King. Can you imagine how amazing and beautiful things were during that time? Lucifer’s heart was slowly perverted by his own beauty and confidence in himself, however. His only job was to channel and direct all of the incoming worship and glory of heaven straight to the throne and person of God. But as each day passed, he developed a lust for what was rightfully God’s. Even though this is the only instance that sin has ever taken place inside heaven, we can see that it sprung from this evil competition in the heart of Lucifer. Lucifer’s position and job description was that of a servant, not a king. He constantly watched the glory of God each day in heaven, and each day he somehow grew more familiar with God and more forgetful of his rank and role, the position God had given him close to His throne. Lucifer’s heart began to yearn for the glory and worship that he directed from the hosts of heaven toward the throne, and he began to like the way it felt. He wanted it for himself. The great self-deception had commenced to poison Lucifer’s heart. He became more enamored with himself, his beauty, his gifting, and his abilities. At the same time, a gradual resentment evolved into a deep hatred of God, thus causing him to ultimately be thrown out of heaven. A jealous rivalry, envy, and competition emerged in the heart of Lucifer, which changed the gearing mechanism from a spirit-of-Cain type of heart condition to an outworking of a rebellious public mutiny, the Luciferian spirit in which angels other than himself were drawn into the sentiment. This jealous rivalry grew inside him and became his main focal point, until, in his case, it became external and he led a mutiny, which then became what we now know to be the spirit of Lucifer, possessing the hallmark statement, “I will arise.” Lucifer was not possessed, but the spirits that we are now faced with as humans originated in the heart of Lucifer in this devastating fall. If jealousy, envy, and competition are not dealt with, they will inevitably look to express themselves in and through our hearts. It may be in an individual rising up, as Cain did with Abel, or it may evolve into a public and open stance or assault against the authority of the Lord. Satan did not rise up on his own to strike God like Cain did to Abel; rather, he gathered an army like Absalom did against his father, David. Only the first part of Lucifer’s story applies to the spirit of Cain, and the psychological process that evolved in his unchecked heart led to this massive change on the course of history in both heaven and earth. The irony is that God had entrusted Lucifer with one of the most notable positions in heaven. But Lucifer was not content in his honored place, especially since millions of angels that occupied and served in heaven were mostly below Lucifer in rank. He still found a reason to become envious of God and discontent with who and where he was, rather than thankful for the honor given to him. Lucifer’s sin began with the seed of pride—pride in who he was and what he was able to do. He lost his adoration and desire to please God and became self-confident. In this frame of mind, he was beginning to explore his thought life and questioned God’s deserved worship, while at the same time starting to enjoy the taste of worship for himself. This evolved from a mere fleeting thought into more of a meditation of his heart. And from there it became something that his mind was obsessed with. Lucifer actually began to believe his own madness of thinking that he could possibly have what God had, that he, the created, was equal or superior to the Creator. It was at this time that scheming was now well underway, and what he thought was a master plan to overthrow God was embedded into his being. Up until this point in time, Lucifer had not verbalized what was working in his heart, as we understand it to be. All of this was thoughts he was having, all of them internal. But it had progressed from a crazy thought that quickly went through his mind into a strong alternate reality delusion. Once Lucifer started to communicate his madness to the angels that looked up to him, it became something else and transitioned into what we know as the Luciferian spirit, in which this sentiment was spread like bitterness and defiled many. Ultimately, a mutinous war broke out in heaven, resulting in Satan being cast out. The deception was so great that it then spread beyond Lucifer’s heart and went throughout the ranks of the angels in heaven. Misery needs company; it needs support. The division that followed was that the angels chose sides. A great war in heaven inevitably followed—the angels that fought alongside Lucifer would soon be cast out. Jesus told His disciples after they excitedly came back from casting out demons, that He saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven (Luke 10:18), thus referring to this war in heaven. Satan’s war looked like a child’s tantrum from God’s perspective on the throne. I can just see God the Father raise His hand and point His finger, releasing His resounding thundering voice that shook heaven and defeated Satan and his rebellion in a single moment. I wonder if the flashes of lightning around the throne flew out and struck the once-pure but now perverted worship leader, banishing him to the earth. And all because of competition for what God has and is. We all intimately know sin in this world because it was born in the heart of a created angel that became intoxicated and obsessed with what God had, going to extreme lengths to strike out at the King of heaven in a foolishly driven attempt to be king himself. Lucifer had hated the person of God because He was seated in the position that he ultimately wanted. The hatred toward God was most likely less about hatred for who God was, but rather hatred toward God because of what He had and where He sat. Jealousy, envy, and competition are far less about the person and always more about what they have. In fact, in most cases, the haters lose perception of the individual and are drunk in their quest to either rob or dethrone the envied person. It is a deception that is actually grounded in lies of false reality. And it gives the delusion that something can be taken and not earned, disrespecting the individual’s reward for their earned success, favor, or position. The fall of Lucifer from heaven led to another fall that has affected humanity ever since the time of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve made a decision when they were both tempted: would they want to be like God, knowing good and evil, or would they be satisfied with the likeness of God they...
