If you ask Christians who Lucifer is, most of 'em will probably tell you some story about Lucifer being an angel who was cast out of Heaven because he was proud and wanted to take over Heaven, or something along that line.

Interestingly, the Bible says no such thing, and the story of Lucifer is one of those stories which is mostly just some type of oral tradition which was invented/caused by the process of Biblical translations and embellishment and myth merging.

If you do a Bible search, you'll find that the word "Lucifer" is only found in the following passage, and interestingly enough, isn't found in most of the Bible translations, but just a few, such as the KJV and the NKJV.

Isaiah 14:12 (KJV)
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!"

Isaiah 14:12 (NKJV)
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!"

Other versions of the Bible don't use the word "Lucifer".

Isaiah 14:12 (NIV)
"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!"

Isaiah 14:12 (NASB)
"How you have fallen from heaven, star of the morning, son of the dawn!"

Isaiah 14:12 (NLT)
"How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning!"

Isaiah 14:12 (RSV)
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!"

Isaiah 14:12 (YLT)
"How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn!"

The original Hebrew uses the word "helel" or "Hylel" which is a word for the morning star Venus. It was translated to "Phosphoros" in the Greek Septuagint, and then translated to "Lucifer" in the Latin Vulgate.

Looking at the rest of this verse:

Isaiah 14:13-15 (KJV)
"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

All of the above verses are describing the planet Venus which is also known as the Morning Star. Since Venus is an inner planet, it's always relatively close to the sun, and can never be seen high in the sky during the day since the sun blocks out the light of Venus. Similarly, at night, Venus is still close to the sun, and follows the sun into darkness, and can't be seen very long after sunset. There are a few times during eclipses where Venus can actually be seen during the day, when the moon blocks out the sunlight, but aside from those times, it's only seen close to sunrise and sunset.

The idea that Venus was "cast out of the high heavens" is related to its inability to visually rise high in the sky. Personifying Venus as a god or fallen angel, stories were made up to explain why it couldn't rise up into the high heavens where the sun and moon and the outer planets roam in the sky.

Looking at the beginning of Isaiah 14, you can see that this passage is a taunt against the king of Babylon. The stories and myths about Venus being cast out of heaven are compared to the downfall of some king or rulers of Babylon.

Isaiah 14:3-4 (KJV)

"On the day the LORD gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!"

The taunt basically says "You will be cut down to the ground just like the planet Venus which is only visible near the horizon and goes into the grave every night, and can never rise high in the sky. Try as it might, Venus can never rise high into the sky.

The name Lucifer was applied to Satan by St. Jerome and then to the demon of sinful pride by Milton in Paradise Lost. This was a fanciful development of an original reference confused in translation.

The planet Venus has been called by many different names throughout history, including the Babylonian Innana and Ishtar, the Greek Aphrodite, the Canaanite Astarte and Ashtoreth, and the Israelite Asherah. Asherah and Ashtoreth were considered by many of the Israelites as the wife of Yhwh, and were called the "Queen of Heaven". You can see many references to Asherah and Ashtoreth in the Old Testament. In many cases, they were said to be false gods, and so the priests told people to cut down the Asherah poles which were used in the worship of Venus/Asherah.

Jerusalem is named after the god "Shalem", which was a god tied to the evening appearance of Venus at dusk, and which is also tied into the idea of "go in peace," spawned by the observances of Venus following the sun into some mythical underworld, where demons and spirits who want to stop the sun from rising supposedly exist according to the ancient mythologies. Venus, in all her forms/names, ends up victorious, and rises once again in the morning after disappearing for different periods of time throughout the year.

The writer of Revelation claims that Jesus actually referred to himself as the "Morning Star", which presents a problem with the idea of Satan being some fallen angel named Lucifer or Morning Star, when Jesus also referred to himself as the Morning Star.

Rev 22:16 (NIV)
"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

Jesus calls himself the Morning Star, just like Venus was the goddess of love to the Romans, and Jesus is supposed to express the idea of unconditional love, just like Venus and many of her other ancient personifications expressed ideas of love and beauty.

Both Jesus and Lucifer are tied to the Morning Star. Seems to be a real problem here unless you choose to just ignore it.

From:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/lucifer.shtml

"So why is Lucifer a far bigger problem to Mormons? Mormons claim that an ancient record (the Book of Mormon) was written beginning in about 600 BC, and the author in 600 BC supposedly copied Isaiah in Isaiah's original words. When Joseph Smith pretended to translate the supposed 'ancient record', he included the Lucifer verse in the Book of Mormon. Obviously he wasn't copying what Isaiah actually wrote. He was copying the King James Version of the Bible. Another book of LDS scripture, the Doctrine & Covenants, furthers this problem in 76:26 when it affirms the false Christian doctrine that "Lucifer" means Satan. This incorrect doctrine also spread into a third set of Mormon scriptures, the Pearl of Great Price, which describes a war in heaven based, in part, on Joseph Smith's incorrect interpretation of the word "Lucifer" which only appears in Isaiah."

The bottom line is that Lucifer isn't a fallen angel, but merely a Latin name used to refer to the planet Venus, which can't be seen high in the sky and so was considered a "fallen angel" by some of the ancient myth-makers and storytellers.

If the church you go to teaches that Lucifer is really some fallen angel who was cast out of the high heavens in some act caused by his pride or defiance of some god, then you should print this out and give it to your pastor or preacher and teach 'em something they don't know.