Did we get this wrong from the start? (Definition of Satan)

This is just a theory rolling around in my head. Pick it apart if you can. I'm not concrete on this. But it is an appealing idea, because it is not simple. It is more realistic in the real world sense of the bible, and less mystical.
Here we go... Again, just an idea/theory.

Satan is not a real singular being. Satan is a definition. Satan is a state of mind. Satan is a state of being. Satan is rebellion. Satan is the easy answer. Satan is succumbing to desire. Satan is pride. Satan is selfishness. Satan is SIN.

In a nutshell, Satan is the part of your mind that does not want to follow the protocols of God. And is why the serpent of Eden and other examples are all used to reference the same thing.

This theory originally popped into my head with this one verse from Jesus: Matthew 16:23
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

So there you go. Jesus called Peter Satan because of his state of mind.
Or, maybe Satan was whispering weakness into Peter's mind and Jesus was speaking to that being.
But I think that is not the correct answer to this riddle. Jesus was in fact speaking to Peter, telling him to get his mind in alignment with God's plan. The devil was not speaking to Peter. Peter just did not want to accept that his Savior was going to die for God's plan, thus rebellion.

When Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days/40 nights fasting, he was tempted by the devil in many ways.
Look at this Kingdom - I can give it all to you.
Do you want some food, it is all here for the taking.
Was this Jesus battling the desires of flesh in his own mind?
Was this Jesus defeating his own weakness to align with God's plan?
And was Jesus using Satan as a vessel to describe the enemy we all have in our minds?

When the bible references the King of Tyre. The book of Ezekiel describes the King of Tyre
"You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones."

Is this a verse comparing the King of Tyre to a fallen angel?
Or is this verse saying the King of Tyre IS the fallen angel?
Or, is this verse saying the King of Tyre is possessed or strongly influenced by the fallen angel?

The simple answer here is that the King of Tyre is being compared to the Fallen Angel. The Fallen Angel = Satan = Serpent = The rebelling one. The sinful one.

I'm sure you can find many more examples like this where the bible is referencing the fallen angel, the serpent of Eden, Adam and Eve - to say don't be like this.

If you can debunk my theory, I am all ears.
But basically, this theory is that there is not one all powerful evil Darth Vader figure that haunts our thoughts and desires. There is just the management of our thoughts and desires, where one part of us wants to align with God and another wants to sin and rebel.

I'm sure I am not the first person to think of this. Probably a million have described this before, but I don't see anything anywhere speaking to this scenario.

And if it is true, boy does it paint things in a very different light.
Can you imagine how truly evil the future Anti-Christ is? If he did this all on his own without being possessed.
And what does this do with end of time book of Revelation prophecy, when Satan is cast to the bottomless pit for 1,000 years.
Would that mean rebellion and weakness to alignment and chaos have been banished for an age?
Like I said, this really paints the bible, personal acceptance of thought and temptation, and end of days prophecy is a completely different light.


Your thoughts appreciated!

a reply to: FingerMan

Is this a verse comparing the King of Tyre to a fallen angel? Or is this verse saying the King of Tyre IS the fallen angel? Or, is this verse saying the King of Tyre is possessed or strongly influenced by the fallen angel?

Go back and read your quoted Biblical text again .
Your perception of the subject is off track .

Is the king of Tyre prophecy in Ezekiel 28 referring to Satan?
Last 2 paragraphs

a reply to: FingerMan

Or, maybe Satan was whispering weakness into Peter's mind and Jesus was speaking to that being.

Ding ding ding

You are not far off at all actually on your entire idea here (in my Spiritual quest in finding God, and so many hours of Bible study and meditation it would make most people's heads spin (for the many years of study), but yeah, you're on to something.

Beelzebub is more of the devil (Satan) we think. In a nutshell, any evil spirit is satan. The desires of the flesh come from us though, you are right. That was the cause and effect of the fall in the garden. Born with sin. Now have to die in this flesh.
Satan (the enemy; aka all of em; bc there all working for the "big boss" beelzebub. They actually have no loyalty to each other. All just clawing at everything as they go down. They know it's coming since day one. Intro Yeshua (Jesus) and they're scared and getting more and more into hyper panic mode as we get closer and closer. They're looking at signs too.

Just a brief summary.
Also "Death" itself is an entity of its own, as is Hades. (read the book of Adam and Eve 1&2. You'd enjoy that extra insight).
Keep meditating in the direction you are. Test EVERYTHING, my friend.


To sort of answer you a little further:
You're whole life is a test. Yes, there's a force pulling you one way, but your spirit wants to go another. You long to be with your creator, but the "devil" (again whatever evil spirit is around you/working you over. They're everywhere attacking whoever) has been lying to you from the moment you became conscious in this flesh; and is trying to drag as many as he can with him into the pit. None of them want you to have your "reward" ie eternal life.
Basically, you already know "the devil." I challenge you to see if you can find God; since you are searching for an answer.
Seek and you will find
Knock and the door will be opened to you (not for you. You have to walk thru the "Door", actually, the "Gate")

It only takes that one grain of mustard seed.

And final note: you'll find what you're looking for in the Spirit, not in the flesh.
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

I realized I've preached here. I gave the sincerest answer I could since you asked. I'll be ripped to shreds probably, but it'll be worth it if you continue to seek the answers you're looking for.

Hope this helps

a reply to: FingerMan

Are angels omnipresent?

Because this Satan character gets around more than Santa, 24/7/365 days a year.

And judging by all the sinfulness in the world, it seems his PR campaign is much more effective than the one known as the 'Almighty'.

If souls were really that important, why is that?

Why would every individual soul lost not be a greater catastrophe for the one that supposedly personifies love?

Souls have been relegated to perishable commodities in the cosmic battle of who is the most impressive and deserving of worship.

Imagine treating your own children like that in a divorce.

How heavenly was heaven if it could make a being feel discontent being around all he ever needed? A being supposedly more intelligent than ourselves.


How perfect was paradise if 100% of the people living there would risk it all to bite a fruit?


How genuine was the attempt at heaven as a concept and paradise as a concept if an all-knowing deity created it knowing it would be inferior for some?

How important are souls really to this deity if he knowingly created them with failure(annihilation) as their end result?

If demons are naughty angels, do they look alike and how would you know which is which if they are experts at deception?

If there are a legion of demons who had lived in heaven before being deported to the cosmic version of Mexico, and they are smarter than humans, what kind of sales pitch could have them possibly revolt against a supreme being that were among them 'physically' so they didn't have to rely on faith to know he exists that created EVERYTHING with the snap of a finger?

They literally lived with him in his domain and thought it sucked, what chance do ordinary humans have that have to rely on blind faith who are forcibly told worship me or burn in hell?

There's that PR problem, again.

a reply to: 19Bones79

If demons are naughty angels, do they look alike and how would you know which is which if they are experts at deception

Not omnipresent as much as billions of them. More demon than angels I believe. And we can't actually fight off something that witnessed the creation, knows most the secrets of it, and has the power to manipulate things (even environment).
That's why the Holy Spirit came into play and how God can guide us and do His work thru us and then finally transform us into our original design (we are beings of light. This is not our true form)

These are my faith answers. No proof. 100% faith (other than my own Spiritual experiences, but you can't prove you have them).

a reply to: AOx6179

These are my faith answers. No proof. 100% faith (other than my own Spiritual experiences, but you can't prove you have them).

Faith by its very definition cannot be proved, and I take yours very seriously based on this level of awareness, I cannot say anything against that.

If most Christians would understand that, they wouldn't be so caught up trying to present what constitutes as proof in their mind's eye.

This is how I know you bring integrity to the conversation, and I respect you for that in the deepest of ways even if we disagree.

Your reply brings about one question:

Why would the majority of beings that have experienced heaven think it sucks to the point where anything but here would be a better option for them?

That means heaven and the presence of God has a negative track record when it comes to the feelings it inspires which bothers me if it is the be all and end all.

By all 'accounts' being around the Almighty is such an overwhelming feeling of fulfillment and peace and love and yet here we have a track record that shows a nett negative rating.

I have read all the posts here. Some great information. This is an easy topic to have thread creep on though.

AOx6179 - Thanks for the in depth reply.
I know there are a ton of rabbinic texts that go more in depth with demonology than the Christian Bible. Ba'al, Beezlebub, and other entities are evil demonic spirits.
The story of when Jesus banished "We are Legion" into a herd of pigs, which drown themselves right after, is an example of something real. These were real entities. But that does not mean they have anything to do with the Fallen Angel, or the Serpent in Eden. These demonic spirits, what are their origin? What is their purpose? Why have they been judged? What did they do wrong?
There is no answer in the Christian Bible. Probably because this is not important. This is the WRONG focus.

Of course, I could be 100% wrong, and these are fallen angels that fell with THE Fallen Angel, just like we've been spoon fed. I just don't think so right now.

19Bones79 - You could go in the direction of accusing God of an imperfect creation. I think that is folly tbh. You can imagine our intellect is unfathomably small in comparison, so how could we judge the creator? Imagine a parent tells a 3 year old they cannot jump off the roof, and the 3 year old cries and says I hate you, you are a meanie! Little did that 3 year old know, the parent had the obvious best intentions. Now multiply that times a few billion - intellect wise.

As far as the devil being omnipresent, I agree. That doesn't make any sense. Unless the devil was an omnipresent being to begin with, and continues to have these powers.
Possible. I say this because look at the beasts of Revelation. They are described as having eyes all over their bodies. This is a way of saying they can see everywhere, anywhere, and at any time. They are omnipresent in that sense.

Interesting where my mind goes when prompted.

originally posted by: 19Bones79
a reply to: AOx6179

These are my faith answers. No proof. 100% faith (other than my own Spiritual experiences, but you can't prove you have them).

Faith by its very definition cannot be proved, and I take yours very seriously based on this level of awareness, I cannot say anything against that.

If most Christians would understand that, they wouldn't be so caught up trying to present what constitutes as proof in their mind's eye.

This is how I know you bring integrity to the conversation, and I respect you for that in the deepest of ways even if we disagree.

Your reply brings about one question:

Why would the majority of beings that have experienced heaven think it sucks to the point where anything but here would be a better option for them?

That means heaven and the presence of God has a negative track record when it comes to the feelings it inspires which bothers me if it is the be all and end all.

By all 'accounts' being around the Almighty is such an overwhelming feeling of fulfillment and peace and love and yet here we have a track record that shows a nett negative rating.

You have actually asked the very best question one could have asked here.
Thank you for your kind words.

So, yeah, this is the biggest mystery.
I'll do my best here but I'm actually put that big of a challenge before me.
I come prepared thankfully.
Here's how I see this.

God angels devil demons Jesus all of em were once in "heaven" (we can get into heaven convo on next if you want since thats the other we have wrong too). I've looked at all the "lost books" of the Bible; basically the egyptian bible which contains all the books before king james whittled it down. Enoch is a great book if you're interested. Will blow you're socks off, and you'll see where I get a lot of these answers.
So God. The creator of all. Including the devil. It appears the devil might have been around even before Jesus and was maybe in line for some throneship type situation. Anyways he was what a second in command would be. Beelzebub became proud. Thought he could overthrow God. God booted him down here for some reason (that's my recent meditation: why send him here). On the sixth day after God had created adam and eve he apparently wasn't quite fully finished creating so he told Adam and Eve he was going to finish his work and come see em when he got back. Before he got back satan entered the garden (which he wasn't allowed in at this moment) thru making a deal with the creature guarding the entrance to the garden.
We know the story of the deception.

So, this, to me, shows that satan was able to do something without God knowing. God had put his trust in his right hand man and the devil hated us (he coveted us so bad. Jealous of infants because God loved us so much. Fyi God loves us. That's the biggest cover up in history; watch) so he had a plan and mucked up Gods creation. Rather than destroying and recreating and because he did love us (consider all of us adam and eve) he let it ride for now so that we could all have a shot at life. He loves enough to give a choice. Free will is a gift to everyone. Including the devil. God does not want knee scraping servants. But he does want loyalty. Don't you? Seems important now that we're here in thought, huh..

All God wants from us: LOVE EACH OTHER
Simple as that. Quadrillions to the infinite powers worth of lies to cover these simple Truths.

Evil spirits are going to the fire. Our battle is a Spiritual one. The flesh is of no help.

a reply to: FingerMan

I believe youd find the book of Enoch extremely interesting.

And yeah, I'm basically just sharing where I'm at at the present in my journey. I hope to continue to learn and grow. I simply want to know God better. I want more and more. Hunger and thirst for his righteousness. And I agree that these things aren't actually of importance wether we know them or not. I believe tho that coming from being taught by my elders....and then having to unlearn and relearn everything, that we are at a time that people are going to ask the deeper questions about God. As long as they seek and they're thinking about it----qll will be well with it.

First off, "satan" means "adversary," as in the verse where Jesus calls Peter by that epithet. If check your verses out in interlinear form, many truths emerge...as well as untruths.

Second, about the King of Tyre - he is referenced as having been in Eden, but if you look at surrounding verses, you'll find that Eden is listed among the nations that Tyre traded with. The passage also states that he is "just a man."

Having read several Bible versions, I lean toward "Satan" being a theo-illogical construct, established by turning a perfectly good word into a proper name. He is not the Prince of Hell, or even of Heck. "Hell" does not stand up to honest scrutiny, either.

a reply to: AOx6179

This reply raises a lot of questions, but I'll try to keep it concise.

So God. The creator of all. Including the devil. It appears the devil might have been around even before Jesus and was maybe in line for some throneship type situation.

A throne? For whom to pledge allegiance to?

Isn't that blasphemous to suggest another would have a throne in heaven?

Anyways he was what a second in command would be. Beelzebub became proud. Thought he could overthrow God.

How? He had none of his deity's powers.

If he is more intelligent than I am, how did he plan to fart against the wind?

On the sixth day after God had created adam and eve he apparently wasn't quite fully finished creating so he told Adam and Eve he was going to finish his work and come see em when he got back.

Then either he isn't all-knowing and all-present or he is but he pretended not to be.

His 2nd-in-command would know this because even the greenest of his flock knows this.

Kind of spoils the continuity of the storyline for me.

thru making a deal with the creature guarding the entrance to the garden.

Freakin' lowly gate guards.

Whatchagonnadoo?

Good help is still hard to find these days.

God had put his trust in his right hand man and the devil hated us (he coveted us so bad. Jealous of infants because God loved us so much.

He experienced God's love by being in his presence which according to believers is the ultimate experience there can ever be. How would he perceive there to be levels of love and that the love God showed him to be inferior.

That suggests to me being in God's presence (radiation) wasn't that spectacular for him which enabled him to experience feelings of jealousy.

Why would you be jealous of humans when you are his favorite in heaven, the ultimate place to be?


Let me put a scenario forward:

You're in your house with wife, children and unborn baby.

Everything is perfect.


An unarmed gang of would be rapists and murderers approach your property with the intention doing the unthinkable.

You on the other hand, are armed to the teeth, know exactly where they are via cctv and that they plan to invade your home.


A) Do you sit back and catch an episode of Dress My Nest, c'est la vie?


B) Do you go on a murderous rampage risking your life without 2nd thought for everything that you love?

He was Cherubim. He was the most powerful. He used to be at Gods throne, reflecting Gods light. He was known as the Light Bearer. Now he is known for his absence of light. Every lie comes from him. Every liar is his child. Every human has one father. Either it is YHWY or Satan. No one is on their own.

It was Arcangel Michael doesn't mess with him. He doesn't directly rebuke him. He tells him this: God rebukes you.
He is like the four creatures that currently surround Gods throne. 4 faces, and a multitude of eyes. He still roams the Earth. He will be paying a visit inside some human soon, as in a possessed human. He will be the powerful being that gives the Antichrist the ability to bring down fire from the heavens. He will be highly charismatic, and most of Humanity will love him and support his reign.

this reminds me somewhat of the controversy of homoiousian vs homoousian , that led to more than a few fisticuffs and blackeyes throughout the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine).

and that leads into the whole topic of Heresy. For the inquisitive, I recommend following & reading some of the links in the page Heresy in Christianity (scroll down to where they start listing specific variants).

Some of these alternate views or interpretations are interesting... some are splitting hairs so thin in an effort to make a distinction... a lot of what we can come up with has previously be explored, sometimes several times across centuries. Nihil novum sub sole.

History is written by the winners, just as is Dogma and "the one true and perfect interpretation" (without which all heretics (holders of beliefs that lost the fight) shall burn in eternal flames of Hell -- mwa ha ha ha). I wish someone would come up with an authoritative estimate on the number of human lives destroyed in the name of Love and the one true and perfect interpretation.

(I'm not a Muslim, so if I get this next bit a little off, please, someone with better understanding, correct me.)

One interpretation that Islam seems to make much clearer, is that God is ineffable : God is beyond human comprehension, and transcendant of space/time. This is part of why drawing religious imagery is forbidden - God cannot be conceived or understood in human terms, so any simple image you create will be WRONG by definition.

By contrast, Christianity is absolutely littered with the image of God the Father as a white-haired old man sitting on a literal throne in the clouds. Yes, I know, "man was created in God's image"... but where exactly was that "human-shaped" God-body sitting before God created creation? I think the "ineffable" interpretation leads to fewer conundra.

So, (for the sake of argument) if God is ineffable (not simply an omnipotent "superhuman", but something far more abstract), I suggest that maybe all of the other "beings" (Satan, angels, demons, jinns) under God, but "over" humans are also ineffable to human comprehension. If they can (for instance) walk through walls, or appear/disappear at will, or be in multiple locations at the same time (ie; both God and/or Satan might be having personal conversations with literally millions of people at what we call "the same time")... it hurts a human head to try and comprehend that, but ineffability of these superhuman entities solves these problems. They exist OUTSIDE of space/time and the physical constraints of our day-to-day universe.

So once we allow ineffable "beings", then we really need to start questioning what we mean by "being". If you want to call Satan a state of mind, or a tendency, or just a little red guy with hooves and a pitchfork... whatever you call it, you are forcing an effable picture/interpretation onto whatever Satan (or God, or angels...) really is: you are dressing that which cannot be fully grasped (ineffable) in (effable) clothes that a human mind can grasp. As puny mere humans, we HAVE TO do this to some extent, but we should keep in mind that our mental images are merely for our own convenience, and should not be taken as a literal description of these ineffable concepts.

a reply to: trombleforth

In reply to your post, I am not speaking to this omniscient type of being. I am rather dumbing everything down to our level.
So that may be in err. Or, we may be overthinking everything.

And if we are, by using my examples in the OP, Satan/TheDevil is just a metaphor for the one we do battle with inside our own minds on a daily basis. Our wants and desires. Our desire to sin, or go our own way.

Adam and Eve were deceived by a serpent. Who knows how. And that serpent was cursed by god to no longer have legs, and to crawl on its' belly. Judged and done with. No need to insinuate this serpent was possessed and controlled by The Fallen One. If that is the case, it is not the serpents fault and God would not have judged the Serpent and offspring.
The bible does not insinuate in any way I am aware that the serpent was The Cherubim that Covers.

When Jesus spake to Peter, that seems to me to be an obvious use of the Word Satan/Devil referencing Peter's unwillingness to follow God's plan, because it did not suit Peter's plan.

And that really is what opened my mind to this term Satan/Devil being incorrectly assumed to be the Darth Vader of all evil. Evil found its' way into our realm simply by Adam and Eve disobeying and rebelling against God's rule to not eat of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge. It damned Adam and Eve. And this is how Sin and Rebellion entered into Humans.

Why is there a need for Satan/Fallen Angel/Beezlebub etc in the bible? Maybe not to create a buggyman, but to be used as a metaphor of Sin/Rebellion of God's Plan.
I'm wondering if this is a known metaphor in Judaism, or in older forms of religion. And maybe when hijacked by pagan religions/Catholicism, the metaphor became a Darth Vader figure.

Again. I don't know. Your assertion could be accurate, as I have given a similar example in my second post that God may be so unfathomable for us that true to your statement, Angels would seem like God level beings in comparison to us.

I'm not trying to make a statement. But based on how Jesus used this term to Peter, is this a key? Is this a key to what that term actually means? Was Jesus covertly exposing us to the truth of the term Satan as a metaphor for the battle for control in our own minds of our own priorities?
And if that is true. (Which I am not saying it is) That means some really HUGE things for prophecy nuts. (I'm a prophecy nut)

a reply to: FingerMan
In Job ch1, Satam's function is to tell God what people are doing wrong. In other words, he represents the fact that God knows about our sin.

This function is abolished for everyone who is covered by "forgiveness of sin". That is how Satan is defeated in Revelation ch2 v11. That is why he gets so angry in that chapter and comes up with the persecution of the church as a way of getting his revenge. If he is no longer allowed to accuse them in front of God, he will accuse them in front of the Roman authorities instead.

Most of the other functions of Satan come from inherited tradition, not the Bible.

a reply to: FingerMan

I have a slightly different take in the same tendency spectrum.

Satan is a transitive thing to describe the necessary opposer to prevent stagnation. And it switches like the poles.

In the learned Academic version of Satanism there is popular concept "born not made". Granted it was coined by a carnie, but it speaks to a specific oppositional personality type that naturally opposes Itself to the status quo. Religion. State. Authority. Trends.

The tendency to push back with direct behavior that is inflammatory in an eye for an eye spirit.

The whole story of Lucifer throwing down the flaming sword over hypocrisy and double standard and committing self immolation. Then turning into the adversary. Looking for ways to oppose through taboo smashing and prideful fights. Upending the status quo.

Bur thats just one way for it to come about.

I absolutely hate the western definition of Left Hand Path with Madam Blatsktywhatever and her theosophical wanna be Greek bulls#. I'll take Vamachara. The Eastern one. Deriving religious attainment from actions and practice which are shocking and oppositional to the status quo.

It's pushing the limits of what's acceptable in service of personally held beliefs. Standing and acting apart from the herd.

It can apply anywhere.

The woke became the herd. When the status quo becomes inclusion Hitler becomes the vehicle of Satan. But so does fundamentalist Christianity.

While the Christian certainly might not want to see it that way, when the majority is inverted and the profane becomes the sanctimonious, the kid that goes out of his way to mock and offend the pronoun thing and not apologize is the new Satan.

a reply to: FingerMan

I'm wondering if this is a known metaphor in Judaism, or in older forms of religion. And maybe when hijacked by pagan religions/Catholicism, the metaphor became a Darth Vader figure.

if you're interested in following pre-christian antecedants, then I strongly encourage you to read up on Zoroastrianism .

I see folks bandy the term Manichaeism about a lot these days, but my take on this is that the Duality expressed in Manichaeism is largely derived from the theology of Zoroastrianism.

I could be mis-stating some of these following high-lights (in that it's been quite a while since I read up on Zoroastrianism), but Zoroastrianism:
+ ancient Persian religion, linguistically (Avestan) as old as the Vedas of India (ie; possibly predating 1200BC), but age is uncertain.
+ (first?) religion to explicitly describe the battle between Good vs Evil, Light vs Dark.
+ Fire-"worshippers" (light = good), (I'd guess it more likely that they are worshipping the God of Light through Fire (like Catholics and candles), and the term "fire-worshipper" is a derogatory exonym.)
+ original source of Angels (minions/legions of God), supposedly absorbed by Hebrews during the Babylonian captivity.
+ the Magi that came to visit new-born Jesus: Magi are priests of Zoroastrianism.
+ Zoroastrianism was once the religion of almost all of Persia/Iran, but was largely supplanted by (Shia) Islam. Pockets of Zoroastrian fire-worship remain in Iran, and the Parsis of India (Parsi = Farsi = Persian).

a reply to: trombleforth

+ the theme song to "2001: a Space Odyssey" is "Also sprach Zarathustra" : a specific nod to the image of Zoroaster coming down the mountain with enlightenment or some such.

a reply to: trombleforth

and because this is a Conspiracy Theory website, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Zoroastrians have pretty elaborate taboos and customs surrounding the disposal of hair and nail-clippings. The pat answer, is that this is to prevent evil persons from using your body-scraps to inflict sympathetic magic against you... but any DEEP HISTORY conspiracy theorist will immediately see this as a distorted custom inherited by the survivors of an ANCIENT GENETIC WAR (designer viruses).

I jest about the Ancient Genetic War, but they really do/did have strict customs for nail clipping disposal.

As you already indicated, it's not exactly a new idea...

The Apostle Peter, A Loyal Follower of Jesus | True Faith

...

... Jesus continued to reveal vital truths about the Messiah, including the certainty of his own impending suffering and death at Jerusalem. Peter was disturbed to hear such things. He took Jesus aside and rebuked him, saying: “Be kind to yourself, Lord; you will not have this destiny at all.”​—Matt. 16:21, 22.

Peter surely meant well, so Jesus’ reply must have come as a surprise. He turned his back on Peter, looked at the rest of the disciples​—who had likely been thinking something similar—​and said: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.” (Matt. 16:23; Mark 8:32, 33) Jesus’ words contain practical counsel for us all. It is only too easy to allow human thinking to take priority over godly thinking. If we do so, even when we mean to help, we may inadvertently become proponents of Satan’s purpose rather than God’s. How, though, did Peter respond?

Peter must have realized that Jesus was not calling him Satan the Devil in any literal sense. After all, Jesus did not speak to Peter as he had to Satan. To Satan, Jesus had said: “Go away”; to Peter, he said: “Get behind me.” (Matt. 4:10) Jesus did not cast off this apostle in whom he saw a great deal of good, but he simply corrected Peter’s wrong thinking in this matter. It is not hard to see that Peter needed to stop getting in front of his Master as a stumbling block and needed to get back behind him as a supportive follower.

...

... The dirge recorded at Ezekiel 28:12-19, though directed to the human “king of Tyre,” evidently draws upon or parallels the course taken by the spirit son of God who first sinned. The pride of the “king of Tyre,” his making himself ‘a god,’ his being called a “cherub,” and the reference to “Eden, the garden of God,” certainly correspond to Biblical information concerning Satan the Devil, who became puffed up with pride, is linked to the serpent in Eden, and is called “the god of this system of things.”—1 Tim. 3:6; Gen. 3:1-5, 14, 15; Rev. 12:9; 2 Cor. 4:4.

...

Source: Perfection (Aid to Bible Understanding)

That is however not a reason to think Satan is not a person/individual. Since that would not be consistent with the rest of Scripture (see video).