We will not provide a full explanation of the reward and punishment system of Satan here in this book; rather, we will direct the reader to our first book, God on Trial: How God Has Been Demonized. There, the mechanics and workings of this system have already been explained in great detail.
Punishment is the right arm of Lucifer’s moral law. Punishment is overtly violent. Satan cannot sustain order without arbitrary punishment, and arbitrary punishment cannot exist without violence.
The idea of punishment as a means of keeping order was a reaction against agape love—a rejection of unconditional love, mercy and forgive- ness; Satan believed these were too weak to keep order. He also saw punishment both as a deterrent and as a teaching tool—albeit a violent one.
Punishment can take several different forms, but by nature it is always violent. It may be expressed as threats, or through verbal or physical, corporal violence. Or it may be doled out through ostracism, the imposition of penalties, sanctions, demotions or shaming. There are all sorts of negative “corrective” methods Satan uses to bring about “positive” behavioural change in his subjects. As active members of his system, all we need do is look at ourselves to see how it has been used on us or by us.
Physical punishment is the most visible form of violence—the death penalty being the most drastic. Subtler forms, called passive aggression, may appear peaceful but are just as damaging and lethal as overt force. Violence may come in the form of rejection, silent treatment, backbiting, gossiping, character assassination, lying, stealing, emotional and psychological abuse, etc…. And all of these may be used with various gradations and/or combinations of the preceding methods as well.
Whatever they are, Satan’s punitive measures are cruel, unkind, aggressive and damaging to human beings. This is how he has destroyed “his sanctuaries,” “his” people. And when we ourselves use his destructive methods, we not only hurt others but ourselves too, because using cruelty makes us do evil acts.
Punishment is completely outside of God’s vocabulary, because God is merciful—He forgives ad infinitum. God’s teaching ways are always ways of righteousness. This means that they are always non-violent, because violence is an intrinsic part of “iniquity,” which arose in Lucifer.
Many parents punish their children because they believe the Bible promotes child punishment. This belief is based on the common saying “spare the rod and spoil the child.” This is not a literal biblical phrase, but is based on a saying taken from the Book of Proverbs:
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly (Proverbs 13:24).
Unfortunately, most parents have misunderstood what the biblical meaning of the rod means and as a result they use various forms of physical punishment to force their children towards good behaviour. The rod was an instrument used by the good shepherd to guide the sheep—not to hurt them in any way. The rod here is the same rod spoken of in Psalm 2:9 and Revelation 2:26-27. In each of these passages the “rod of iron” refers to the unbreakable nature of God’s eternal law of love as revealed by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He never used a literal rod to punish anyone.
What are we really doing every time we use violence against a child? We are teaching him/her that violence is the best way to solve a problem. Ultimately, we are teaching our children to be violent. What is the alternative, you may ask? God’s way is the better option. How does God teach? He teaches us by showing cause and effect. We need to sit with our children and reason with them, show them what would happen if they chose a certain course of action. Show them the consequences of their negative behaviour; pray with them and for them. If they persist in going in the wrong direction, we must allow them to reap the consequences of their actions. These are broad principles that can be used at all ages. We must respect our children and their freedom of choice.
This is how God deals with us—He warns us, and then allows us to choose which path to take. And He always allows us to reap what we have sown. If He didn’t, He would be violating our freedom. But if we turn back to God and His ways, He accepts us unconditionally and heals us.
There is absolutely no violence in agape love. Any violation of God’s law of love is violence. That’s why James could say that if we break one commandment, we break them all. If in any way we violate God’s law of love in the horizontal dimension, that is, towards a human being, we are guilty of violence, even if it doesn’t appear so. Any time we harm someone, we are being violent towards him or her. Stealing is violence. Adultery is violence. The same applies if we deal with our parents in evil and unfair ways. Killing, destroying life, in whatever form, bearing false witness, and coveting—all this is violence. Since all these things are hurting or destroying someone, they are therefore inherently violent.
When we stop using Satan’s reward and punishment methods and start using God’s unconditional love principle, then we cease inflict- ing physical, psychological and emotional violence onto others. Instead, their well-being becomes our concern and we care about their welfare even at the expense of our own. That is Jesus’ example.
There is no punishment in God’s system of unconditional love. As long as one remains under His law of love, there is no punishment from within it. If we remove ourselves from the protection of God’s agape love then, by default, we become subjects of Satan’s kingdom. Then from within the realm of the Knowledge of Good and Evil we are subjected to punishment. Satan makes us think that it is God who is punishing us, but that is not the case.
One of Satan’s greatest deceptions is to use violence in the name of good—the idea that violence is a necessity in producing good results. The concept of “just war,” for instance, falls into this category. Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, explains very well Satan’s mentality of the necessity of control and violence in government.
REWARD
The Good arm of Lucifer’s law of Good and Evil is the re- ward system. Just like punishment, his kingdom could not survive without the reward element of his law.
Lucifer opposed the Creator’s unconditional love principle of government because he believed that goodness should be conditional and based on the goodness of the recipient. Thus he created a conditional merit system, a balance between virtue and vice. The Good of Good and Evil is a conditional Good that changes according to circumstances. A person whose character is driven by the moral law of Good and Evil is un- stable—he or she varies according to the conditions of others.
The Good of Satan’s Tree is a counterfeit of agape love—it is a tare. It is a false love because it is conditional—subject to change in any given situation—and arbitrary—subject to one’s discretion or whims. The love based on this Tree is passing, impermanent, changeable and may turn at any moment from love to hate. This Good promotes selfishness since it is based on rewards. This is the reason for the egocentric, self-oriented human heart, which seeks the best results for itself, looking to maximize its selfish benefits even at the expense of others. This reward system is also to blame for Lucifer’s pride as we shall see.
Satan has clothed himself with a robe of light in order to better deceive. He offers arbitrary rewards, incentives, prizes, and even grants wishes in order to keep people orderly. His system dangles a carrot stick before our eyes in order to motivate us to be good. For this reason, our goodness falls completely short of true goodness. We do Good because we desire a reward, not because we are inherently good. We are conditioned to behave well so that we may earn a candy bar.
How often do we do Good things with ulterior, selfish motives? How often do we stop ourselves from doing something good because there is no gain in it? How often do we befriend others because they fulfill our needs, or have something that we want such as fame, money or status? Even weighty decisions, like marriage, are often done from a selfish perspective. What about the façades we put on, when inside us lurks some selfish agenda, of which, often, we are even unaware?
Satan’s reward system also promotes pride. It does so by maximizing the exposure of Good works, so as to influence us to do Good things. This system honours the doer of Good works, not only with arbitrary rewards but also with arbitrary recognition and arbitrary acceptance. The virtuous are applauded by the entire world, which marvels at their magnanimity. And those watching become envious and covet the same attention. Some are motivated to achieve as much as their idols, and do not cease to labor until they too become the center of attention and recognition.
The selfish human psyche desires recognition and applause and goes to great lengths to satisfy its need to rise and distinguish itself above others. This condition exists because of the law of Good and Evil. It is this system of arbitrary rewards that promotes an environment of competition, pride and self-exaltation. So now it is easy to see how Lucifer’s pride came into being at the beginning; his own system filled him with pride.
This is also why volunteering and donating to charities and worthy causes has become such a popular thing. Many universities will not even consider an applicant that has not put in hours of charitable service. There is nothing wrong with charitable service—the motive, however, is what renders it either Good or agape. Are we charitable for selfish reasons, or out of a real love and concern for the downtrodden? The ultimate form of selfishness is that of seeking the maximum rewards possible—even if these rewards are simply recognition and applause.
When we operate by Satan’s Good, we might not do any overt harm to anyone, but if push came to shove, when confronted with danger, we would seek our own protection above others. We would also most likely use any violent means necessary to achieve it. Self becomes the most important thing, and others’ plights are not our concern.
When we buy into the moral law of Good and Evil we always judge our success in comparison to others. We become extremely conscious of our position in the ladder of success, and will do anything to rise to the top, even if at the cost of others. Self becomes our entire focus, and in our own view, we are always good, and anyone who threatens us is evil. We may mask and hide our true selfish ambitions by doing “Good” works but we nevertheless remain self- oriented. The more rewards we acquire, the greater our own value rises in our esteem. This system of reward creates all the hierarchical ladders in the world. Pride, self-exaltation, self-seeking, competition, coveting and envy—all arise out of this hierarchy system embedded in the law of Good and Evil.
It is easy to understand how chaos, destruction and death result from Evil, but how do they result from Good? They do, when Good is motivated by selfishness. By teaming up with Evil, this Good is not good at all. The Good present in Good and Evil is antithetical to the very essence of God’s agape love.
God is selfless—His love is pure, unmixed with selfish motives. He will not hesitate to even give up His life—His eternal life—for us. We on the other hand, would easily kill someone in order to get what we want. We would easily step over someone’s head in order to secure a coveted position. Without a second thought, we can selfishly cause horrible destruction in the name of something good. Thus the Good of Good and Evil is as incompatible and irreconcilable to God as its counterpart, Evil, is.