Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

278 Warlock; Warlock: The Armageddon; and Warlock 3: The End of Innocence
although his sin is elsewhere thought to be superbia,
envy, ambition, insolence. According to the
Talmud, Satan’s sin lay not in his rivalry with God
but in his envy of man. The rabbis say that when
Adam was created all the angels had to bow to the
new king of the earth, but Satan refused. Thus
God flung Satan and his host out of heaven, down
to the earth. The enmity between Satan and
Jehovah dates from that moment.
A similar account is contained in the Koran,
which says that when Allah created man, he called
all the angels to worship this crowning work of His
hands. However, Eblis refused to worship Adam
and was banished from heaven for failing to obey
the command of Allah. Some medieval philosophers
asserted that the conflict lasted three
seconds, and that Lucifer and certain devils fell to
hell while others stayed in the earth’s air to tempt
mankind.
Also a few church fathers thought that not all
the followers of Satan were thrown with their
rebel chief into hell, but a number of them were
left on earth in order to tempt man. It has been
suggested that these angels maintained a neutral
position in the rivalry between the Lord and
Lucifer. When the Lord defeated the Devil, and
cast him and his legionaries into the abyss, He did
not hurl also the neutral angels into hell. He
rather decided to give them another opportunity
to choose between Him and His rival, and cast
them down to the earth.
Also, according to the church father Origen,
there were some “doubtful angels” who were
uncertain whether to take the side of God or that
of Lucifer. It was from these hesitant and irresolute
creatures that humans are thought to have originated.
Other commentators have speculated that
this battle took place on a planet in the solar
system that exploded and gave rise to the asteroid
belt between Mars and Jupiter.
In literature, the most significant story about
the war in Heaven is John Milton’s multivolume
Paradise Lost, in which an arrogant Satan leads
rebelling angels against faithful ones defending the
Mount of God in heaven. After being thrown out
of heaven, Satan eventually corrupts the first
humans to revenge himself against God. However
he does not accomplish anything, and as he
returns to hell, God turns him and his fellow
devils into serpents.
See also Demons; Fallen Angels; Milton, John; Satan
For Further Reading:
Giovetti, Paola. Angels. The Role of Celestial
Guardians and Beings of Light. York Beach, ME:
Samuel Weiser, 1993.
Godwin, Malcolm. Angels: An Endangered Species.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
MacGregor, Geddes. Angels. Ministers of Grace. New
York: Paragon House, 1988.
Rudwin, Maximilian. The Devil in Legend and
Literature. Chicago: Open Court, 1931.
Warlock; Warlock: The Armageddon; and Warlock 3:
The End of Innocence
The first Warlock movie (1991) uses a conflictacross-time
theme that will be familiar to Austin
Powers fans. A man (the warlock), condemned in
seventeenth-century Boston for selling his soul to
the Devil, is transported into contemporary Los
Angeles to accomplish Satan’s plan for destroying
the world. A witch-hunter follows him into the
future, and enlists the aid of a young woman to
foil the evil plot. In the first sequel (1993), the
warlock again tries to bring about Armageddon,
this time in Northern California. He faces new
antagonists: two teenaged descendants of the
ancient Druids. In the most recent installment
(1999)—easily the most lackluster of the series—
the warlock tries to create his bride of darkness.
Watchers (Grigori)
According to Jewish legend, the Grigori
(“Watchers”) are a superior order of angels,
whose proper place is either the second or fifth
heaven. They are said to look like human beings
(except much larger), never sleep, and are forever
silent. Although there are both good and bad
Grigori, most extant lore revolves around the evil
Watchers who fell from grace after copulating
with human women.
The story of the Grigori is detailed in several
scriptural books that did not make it into the
Judeo-Christian canon. Chief among these are the
Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. A fragment
of this tale was incorporated into a brief passage in