The Divinity of Satan

Just yesterday I was at work and this ancient lady came in and bought some fuel system cleaner. Being a kind old lady she started conversation asking about the weather (which is supposed to set record lows) and then asked me what I thought of the world in which we live. I said everyone is going crazy. She nodded in agreement and asked, "do you know what the Bible names as the God of this world?" Seeing her instantly as a fanatic, I use that term without insult for I am one too, I suspected her to be a Jehovah's Witness, because of her poignant emphasis on the name of God. To show myself clearly and immediately I attempted to conjure the other pronunciation of the four letters that are allowed to remain of the first time God gave his name to Moses. Yahweh was this name for the life of me all I could remember was the Jewish pronunciation of Joshua sounding like yeshua, which instead is the name of Christ. Fumbling around in my mind, amazed at my slow mind from which words once were constantly on its surface. Finally the name came tumbling out and along with it I gave her the name I knew she would point out soon enough anyway. "Yahweh, or Jehovah as some say it," I said. Her next question was an interesting one that led to the point of this story. "Do you know who the Bible says is the ruler of this world?" she asked. I knew and communicated thus. Following was a conversation about the end of the world and how Satan, the god of this world will be cast into the lake of fire or something to that extent. And at the point which some of you may have caught, and some may not, is the very point at which I immediately balked at and laid open my objection before her: "I wouldn't say that Satan is a god, and angel surely, but certainly not a god," or some such statement of deeply held truth. "Ah, but second Corinthians three, three and four say so," she rebutted. For the first time in a while, I was stumped by a claim of doctrine that I knew not to be true from my own scriptures that I once knew so well and read so meticulously and often. This upset me. But the conversation continued on in good nature and she freely exposed what I believe to be the main fault in the design of the doctrine of the Jehovah's Witness'. In line with an assertion about God coming to get his kingdom in the end of days, without skipping a beat or perhaps even taking a breath, in offering she stated, "you're always more than welcome to talk to any Jehovah's Witness. You can never join us, but you're always welcome to talk to us." At this I chuckled in my heart. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the one hundred forty four thousand referred to in Revelation is a literal limit on the number of people that will be allowed into heaven. That number has long since been filled. For me this is Satan's joke on this religion of his, believe your whole life so you can go to hell because heaven is already full.
The one verse the kind elderly Witness gave is this:

"2Cor. 4:3 Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish;
2Cor. 4:4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them."

This obviously concerned me because she was right and not just misquoting or widely misinterpreting. So I researched a little by going to the original Greek and finding the word "theos" used as "god of this world" as well as "who is the image of God." I found myself in consternation and even wonderment. What in the heck did this mean!? Why did Paul use that word knowing Satan to be no more than an angel? Why also did God allow this word to be used in His inspired word?" Following this initial search, I dug deeper until my doubts were satisfied and my questions answered. I went to Nave's topical study tool in my bible software and looked and found that this was the only occurrence of Satan being referred to as a god. This left me nowhere. I sat and pondered until my head hurt. It just was not making sense. I could not reason it out then and instead sought to reaffirm the reasons for my belief of its contradiction. I took down off my shelf two books that are used far less than they ought to. I ran my finger down the table of contents of my two volume systematic theology by Lewis Sperry Chafer and found the appropriate section under Angelology. I sat and read and looked up the scriptures he referred to and slowly but surely my peace from sure faith returned. The most important passage of the thirty that I read was Ezekiel 28:1-19:

Ezek. 28:1 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying,
Ezek. 28:2 Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you did set your heart as the heart of God;-
Ezek. 28:3 behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from you;
Ezek. 28:4 by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten you riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures;
Ezek. 28:5 by your great wisdom and by your traffic have you increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches;-
Ezek. 28:6 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have set your heart as the heart of God,
Ezek. 28:7 therefore, behold, I will bring strangers on you, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your brightness.
Ezek. 28:8 They shall bring you down to the pit; and you shall die the death of those who are slain, in the heart of the seas.
Ezek. 28:9 Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am God? but you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
Ezek. 28:10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.
Ezek. 28:11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
Ezek. 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Ezek. 28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onx, jasper, sapphirea, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. In the day that you were created they were prepared.
Ezek. 28:14 You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Ezek. 28:15 You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.
Ezek. 28:16 By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Ezek. 28:17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.
Ezek. 28:18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.
Ezek. 28:19 All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you are become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being.

Reading this and Chafer's commentary it all began to make sense. It was like meeting your enemies mother and hearing of his childhood. While a prophecy against the king of the city of Tyre, it surely goes beyond when it begins to talk about being in Eden, blamelessness, and perfection. Satan's original sin was that of claiming to be God or a god. Because of this God cast him down to the earth. This leads to my final conclusion and the peace of my secure belief. Satan is vengeful toward God and desires three things: to have the power and place of God, to oppose all that God does, and to destroy all that follow God. Satan is set on revenge because God has already told him his end. In the book of Isaiah, the author talks about how Satan's beauty corrupted his wisdom and filled him with pride. Satan was most beautiful and instead of looking to Beauty Himself, he turned his eyes down to himself. This then corrupted the wisdom of the knowledge of the source of his beauty and he though himself more powerful than his Creator. Is this not the fall of every man? We do not follow God because we think we can do it ourselves. We become gods unto ourselves believing we make our own decisions about everything and that no one rules over us. In this is the understanding not only of the verse that caused me great consternation, but also of the belief of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the Devil as a god, brother to Jesus (I hesitate even to write such blasphemy).
Paul recognized that Satan has set himself up as god of this world and calls him thusly for that is what his audience understands. Gods and idols of gods surrounded the church in Corinth but in the very next verse, Paul affirms the truth by saying, "for we don't preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord." Satan preaches himself as lord through idols and narcissism, but the one who made him has come and has shown the Devil for what he is: the most glorious angel ever created who chose himself over his creator and is seeking revenge for the punishment he is now enduring and for the full measure he will receive at the end of days. So now just the same as then, Satan still has himself set up as a god with the whole of the Jehovah's Witnesses worshipping him without their knowing it by believing his lies. It makes me sad.

Footnote: The other verse which provided great support was in Mark 12.

Mark 12:28 One of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together. Knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the greatest of all?"
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, "The greatest is, 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one:
Mark 12:30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
Mark 12:31 The second is like this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Most people when they quote this leave out the first part of the first commandment: "Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Above I showed that the Devil was no more than an angel ascribing to be God. Here it is shown that there is only one God. This denies the second ground for the claim.