That Old Serpent, the Devil, the Great Imitator

From Star Trek: The Next Generation is the character Wesley Crusher, a civilian resident and son of the ship's doctor Beverly. Wesley is a boy genius with all the answers. In one episode, the crew is under the influence of a substance called polywater that causes them to behave as if they are inebriated. Wesley, while under the influence of this agent uses his technical skills to impersonate the voice of Captain Jean Luc Picard and take control of the ship barricading himself in Engineering as acting captain. The polywater revealed his inner desire to be the Captain of the Enterprise. Wesley understood he was not the captain, but his actions put him in a position to force Captain Picard to use him. Wesley felt that he was ready to serve as an officer on the ship.

Wesley was no officer and did not complete the training to qualify him for the duties of an officer. By the end of the episode before a sizeable stellar core fragment that looked like a meteor collided with the ship, Wesley learned his lesson. He provided the solution to that imminent threat to save the day and discovered that one person controlling everything without experience to coordinate with others is bad.

Lucifer, like Wesley, wanted to captain the starship heaven without the necessary experience needed. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, yes. Lucifer wanted to usurp God while in heaven, however. For his efforts, Lucifer inspired a rebellion and led those that followed him down to the Earth to deceive the nations. He did not get an episode to learn that without the experience of God he could not be like God. He didn't even try to learn. In this article Satan's imitation of God to feed his need to be worshipped receives some attention.

Satan has fallen to the point that his very existence is akin to catfish that feeds at the bottom of the lake to sustain itself. Satan feeds off the worst of humanity--the worst behaviors and appetites relishing in the evil actions of wicked and the righteous who fall prey to their baser desires.

Every opportunity that Satan has to convince a righteous person to submit to a base desire and not repent, it is a spiritual slap in the face to God because it accomplishes two things:

1. A soul is distanced from God
2. The Atonement of Christ is rejected

Granted, following this behavioral pattern is not indicative of imitating deity, but it is the behavior that led to Satan's expulsion from the presence of God. Satan gets his glory by the destruction of souls sticking it to God for winning any souls away. If he cannot get direct worship, he will inspire people to worship anything other than God such as college degrees, cars, jobs, honors, and such. Persistently, Satan is trying to win souls by any means possible.

Wesley could have been the agent of destruction for all the crewmembers of the Enterprise if he had not relinquished command of the ship to Captain Picard. He wanted to be like the Captain, unlike Lucifer the agent of destruction because he actively tries to replace God as the captain of the lives of every person wanting control whether destruction comes or not.

A soul is precious to God because he created all people in His image, even Satan! God informed us that some of us would not return to Him because of the choices we would make in life. It was part of His plan to help us become like Him. Heavenly Father's plan did not sit well with Lucifer. If a soul is so precious, why risk letting them fail to return to heaven in glory, he reasoned.

Lucifer thought his knowledge of what God wanted was better than the plan God revealed. God is the best Captain for the lives of people because worship of Him is for edification and communication of human souls. Satan wants adulation at the cost of the soul.

Wesley wanted to be like Captain Picard. Lucifer wanted to be God. He did not want to be like God, but to replace God! To emphasize a little of his history, Lucifer rebelled against God the Father and Jesus Christ because of the Plan of Salvation following the creation of the Earth. All of us lived with God in heaven as angels before we were born on Earth. We all heard and accepted God's plan except a third of us. The Arc Angel Michael led us to a war of the Word of God against Lucifer and his supporters, the dragon and his angels described in the Book of Revelations.

Lucifer's contention was he did not approve of any of us failing to return to our celestial home with God. He had a point. He proposed a plan to save us all. It was misguided. The only catch to the plan was something that could not occur. He wanted God's glory.

Oblivious to Lucifer, he fits perfectly into the plan by becoming the poster child for opposition. God wants to give us all knowledge and power through Christ. Satan did not get that the only way to get Gods glory is to experience life and decide to follow God's plan of salvation. All Satan saw was the glory and power of God, but did not notice the love and charity God gives to share in that heavenly glory if we accept Jesus Christ by following His commandments.

Evil is as eternal as God is eternal and exists with or without a devil to tempt people. With choice comes the ability to choose to be evil. Lucifer, one of the children of Heavenly Father, which makes him also our brother, decided to follow pride and selfishness—making him kingpin of such behavior and an enemy to all that is good.

Satan planned to become God and revoke choice from the children of God. Since that is not possible, he deceived himself from the very beginning thinking that he could ever save anyone as a god. God is the Savior because He provides the choice to follow Him and obtain power the right way, through the covenant with Christ's grace and obedience to His word.

God and all of humanity represent all that is good. At one point, every human born chose to follow God in heaven, which is the only reason a person can be born. Lucifer became the enemy to his Father and all humanity when he rebelled losing the ability to experience mortal life through birth, which is why Satan and his fallen followers seek to possess the bodies of the living.

Whether we remain virtuous or follow our fallen brothers and sisters steered by Satan is truly and only our individual choices. The fact that thousands of religions exist today is an indication that God supports our ability to choose what and how we worship. He puts Himself as one of the options to choose from with the promise of eternal life if we chose Him.

Life is not the fictional starship Enterprise, and we are not fictional characters; so, our choices have real eternal consequences. Do not be deceived as was Lucifer and chose wisely.