religion of "divinations." The best authorities of Spiritualism believe
that the supernatural, occult demonstrations, as produced in their
séances, are from demon agencies. The whole system of mythology grew out
of what is to-day the work of mediums. The Old Testament is filled with
statements concerning "familiar spirits"; they heard voices, received
messages, saw physical disturbances--just as may be witnessed at any
spiritual séance. The most reliable of mediums do not deny that evil
spirits (damned demons) come to them at times. One fact is noteworthy:
when men and women become spiritists, they discard all the essentials of
the Christian faith. They are modern types of demon possession. It is no
unusual thing during a séance to hear a regular clash of voices:
blasphemy, oaths, vulgar, obscene language, terrible threats, etc.
What connection do we find between Devil worship and modern Spiritualism?
First, the moral condition among the spiritists is exactly as it was among
the ancient priests and priestesses in the temples of Devil worship; they
literally worshipped the Devil in their corrupt, degrading practices. Now,
among the votaries of Spiritualism, every iniquity, crime, and indecency
known among men and women are daily carried on. Such is the testimony of
one of their travelling lecturers. One of their noted mediums when under
control delivered this message: "Curse the marriage institution; cursed be
the relation of husband and wife; cursed be all who sustain the legal
marriage." From what source could we expect such a vile deliverance?
Second, their mediums actually pray to Satan. One of their advocates at
the opening of a debate with a Christian minister at San Jose, Cal.,
prayed in the following language: "O Devil, Prince of Demons in the
Christian's Hell; oh, thou Monarch of the bottomless pit; thou King of
Scorpions, I beseech thee to hear my prayer. Thou seest the terrible
straits in which I am placed, matched in debate with a big gun of
Christianity. Remember, O Prince of Brimstone, that when thou stretchest
forth thine arm the Christian God cannot stand before thee for a moment.
Bless thy servant in his labours for thee; fill his mouth with wisdom;
enable him to defend thee from the false charges of thy sulphurous
Majesty, so that this audience may know and realize that thou art a prayer
hearing and a prayer answering devil" (abbreviated). Similar prayers are
frequently published in the _Banner of Light_, the organ of this cult;
prayers formulated in the same language as prayers offered to the God of
heaven.
It cannot be doubted that Pagan religion and modern Spiritualism are Devil
worship, shifting under various forms and ceremonies in different ages and
places. Rev. B. Clough, missionary in Ceylon, says: "I now state, and I
wish it to be heard in every corner of the Christian world, that the devil
is regularly, systematically, and ceremoniously worshipped by a large
majority of the inhabitants of the Island of Ceylon." We repeat: his
consuming passion is to be worshipped.
XXXII
VICTORY THROUGH THE VICTOR
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is
he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God?"--_1 John v. 4-5._
"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because
greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."--_1 John
iv. 4._
One of the grave dangers of to-day is that Satan is no longer regarded as
a Personality. Even among those whose faith is founded on the word of God,
the idea of an orthodox devil smacks of superstition and an exploded hoax
from the Dark Ages. "Let us hear the love side of the gospel; away with
this devil and hell business--it's too dreadful," they declare. His real
existence and personality are ridiculed in many pulpits and lecture
platforms. When these ideas become common among the people who think, a
wide open field remains for him to work unmolested.
We can also go to the other extreme: that is, to think him a greater being
than the Son of God. Those who have followed us through these chapter
studies will, we fear, come to some such conclusion. Who can be equal for
such a mighty Prince? Now this biography was undertaken that we might have
a full, life-sized photo of our Enemy. In this we cannot exaggerate the
true status of the case; any less conception of Satan than we have
portrayed will put us at a serious disadvantage in the life struggle. He
is a real foe, and we must meet him in the open, under cover, and
invisibly. Let it be written in black-faced caps, and heavily underscored:
Satan is all we can find out about him--plus, with emphasis on the plus.
We want to keep in mind clearly the Enemy, the battle-ground, and the
battle; we can never match swords with him; to ignore him--big, cunning,
supernatural, eternally at it--will be the most dangerous folly.
But--there is victory, complete, overwhelming victory for every one who
fights; but bear in mind it must be a fighter. There is one Name which
never fails to reverberate from the Throne of God to the cavernous pits of
darkness; this Name shakes loose the grip, untangles the web of all the
allied powers of the Prince of Night. Satan is mighty, Jesus is almighty;
he met his Waterloo. Jesus was never defeated. His first defeat was when
he was an archangel; he was overthrown and cast out of heaven. Jesus said:
"I was present when Satan fell like lightning from heaven." He was also
defeated in the wilderness; again in the Garden, and at Calvary. In fact,
on every battle-field where he met the Lord Christ the defeat was
stunning, humiliating. Now we are in mortal combat with him, and we must
not forget--he has been many times defeated. A writer says: "We have the
advantage of fighting a defeated foe." Standing alone, we are doomed to
utter defeat, capture, ruin; but if our fight is coupled with the Name of
Jesus, our triumph is as certain as our defeat will be without Him.
So long as we muster in as munitions of war our intellect,
self-sufficiency, egotism, etc., the cohorts will laugh at our delusion.
There is but One who can out-general his maneuvres, silence his
thunderings, checkmate his diabolical acumen, know his oily, snaky
approaches, penetrate his angelic beneficence, understand his insidious
schemes: that One knew him from the beginning, and--outranked him in
heaven and conquered him on earth.
This question arises: If Satan has been conquered, and Jesus is yet
contending with him for world-wide supremacy--why the almost universal
triumph of evil? Why is true righteousness at such a discount? Why are the
fighters failing and falling all around us? If these questions cannot be
answered with a degree of sound reasoning, the whole problem of life,
Bible, God, Atonement, Gospel are in a hopeless tangle. A Chinese puzzle
does not compare with a riddle of everything worth while, visible and
invisible.
Satan undoubtedly controls the machinery of this world. Then wherein is
the "victory that overcometh the world"? Let us keep in mind the power,
resources, opportunities, organization, and management of Satan; also the
blindness and bondage of sin, and--the Free Agency of Man. So long as man
remains carnally-minded and free, the Enemy has undisputed right of way;
while the heart is carnal, impure, unsanctified, the controlling motive
power of man's life "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be." He has in his own bosom a traitor, an alien to the government of God.
"To be carnally minded is death," says Paul. The "old leaven must be
purged out"; we must "put off the old man (carnal mind) and his deeds, and
put on the new man, etc." This putting off is absolutely necessary.
Jesus cannot only defeat Satan, but He can destroy the "works of the
devil"--one of which is the alien principle of our nature. "For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of
the Devil." The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus--the God-Man--is an
everlasting Atonement and a propitiation for sin. Sin is the Rubicon of
our battle; once we solve, in all its fullness, the problem of sin, we rob
Satan of his fulcrum power. He came to Jesus and found nothing: no
availability, no sin, no yielding, no fellowship. He was tempted, but
_without sin_.
Our victory must be twofold: first, through the merits of the Everlasting
Blood Covenant we may be saved from sin unto salvation--reconciliation,
forgiveness. Then by the fuller benefits of the Atonement we may "enter
into the holiest by the Blood." Only the pure in heart can stand the
approaches of Satan by way of our natural appetites. The triumphs of
modern surgery are only possible by means of sterilized instruments.
Please observe--with all the meaning that can be couched in language: the
sinful, unregenerated heart is not only in danger of being overcome, but
is already in blind bondage to Satan. The power of sin, both actual and
original, must be broken by the pardoning grace of God through faith in
the Atoning Blood; and the heart cleansed and empowered by the Baptism of
the Holy Ghost.
The second inevitable concomitant of victory is copartnership with Jesus,
the Captain of our salvation--"looking unto Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith." Diabolus and his minions cannot stand before this Name. His
final overthrow was when Jesus cried out on the Cross: "It is finished."
Now at the sight of Jesus, the Cross, or the Blood, the phalanx of
darkness slinks away. Let us lay hold of eternal life by an unfaltering
faith in the Blood that cleanseth, and "The Name high over all: in earth,
in heaven, in hell." "And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb,
and the word of their testimony." Amen and Amen.
XXXIII
THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT
"For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time."--_Revelation xii. 12._
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the
dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him
a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him
up, and set a seal upon him."--_Revelation xx. 1-3._
The fact of a possible victory through the Name of our great Conqueror
does not alone satisfy all the items of the indictment. If such were the
only background to the picture, great as it is, the human drama is not
only a fierce tragedy, but a miserable farce. Thank God, personal victory
is not all; there is a rift in the dark satanic cloud which has hung over
the world for so many millenniums. Satan is in great wrath, and his power
and influence grow steadily stronger; more and more his iron grip fastens
about the throat of the world. The Apostasy of which Christ and His
Apostles wrote is becoming a reality.
Satan will score one more gigantic victory; then is our "blessed hope of
His glorious appearing," when He shall come and catch away His Bride--the
Church, both dead and alive; that part of His following who are united to
Him and are earnestly yearning for His coming. This event is called by
devout scholars "The Rapture." Just where, how, when, or how long, we have
only a vague prophetic conjecture. "Where, Lord?" they ask. "And He said
unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together."
When the Rapture shall have taken place, Satan will have undisputed
dominion; then shall the "Man of Sin" appear, setting himself up as
God--to be worshipped. His reign will be the Great Tribulation; all the
influences of righteousness will, for the time, be removed--the earth will
reek in corruption and bloodshed. It is implied that, so terrible will be
this time, divine intervention must necessarily shorten the Tribulation,
else no flesh will be left on the earth. The Great Tribulation will be the
climax of the Devil's rule on earth. It seems that he will incarnate
himself in a Man, giving him supernatural knowledge and power.
However, something spectacular and sensational will soon occur. When the
leader of a gang of thugs or desperadoes is arrested, his followers are
filled with fear and consternation; then think of the excitement. An Angel
officer will break in on the scene--yes, that is exactly what the Book
tells us: the High Sheriff of Heaven will suddenly step down from
headquarters, and will lay hold--arrest the Old
Dragon--Satan--Devil--Serpent (observe all his names are mentioned).
Whatever his titles and distinctions of the past have been, they will not
save him in that hour. The Apocalyptic Vision is unmistakable.
Some can see in this wonderful language only an allegory: the good
influences are to gradually bind the influences of evil, and to expect
such an event as the literal arrest of the Devil is a wild, irrational,
unscientific, unreasonable dream. Our Lord said, speaking of the time of
the end, that the same social conditions as prevailed in the days of Noah
were to be repeated: wicked ones waxing worse and worse; scarcely any
living in the fear of God. To expect to see a gradual regeneration of
society, politics, commerce, and the Church--until evil will be overruled,
chained as it were--seems to be a gigantic travesty on language and the
teaching of the Bible.
We prefer to stand by the Book rather than human interpretation--fixed up
to justify the methods and results of modern religious propaganda. An
angel appears--evidently an archangel: one belonging to the rank of which
the fallen Prince formerly belonged. This Sheriff of the skies is equipped
for his undertaking; Officers carry handcuffs with which to bind
prisoners--the angel has a great chain in his hand; he lays hold--arrests
the old skulking, hateful, murderous Devil. This angel-officer has also a
key, and it is the key which locks the door of the bottomless pit. This
door has been wide open; Satan and his emissaries could go and come at
pleasure. Just as an officer arrests a desperado and leads him off to
prison--so will the archangel arrest the Devil and lock him up in the pit
of darkness and despair. What will be done with his millions of cohorts?
We can judge only by inference. We want to stay close to the inspired
record; of one thing, however, we are confident: the footstool of God
will be absolutely cleared of Devil and demons; "that they shall deceive
the nations no more."
The prophetic picture of the divine court proceedings is very specific: we
have the exact length of the prison sentence--_one thousand years_. When
we remember the crimes, unnumbered crimes, the sentence seems to be an
example of court leniency. But this is only a "binding over," as it were,
to the real trial and judgment yet to come. This will be temporary
imprisonment; but oh, it will be such a glad, happy day. The vision of
Isaiah, thirty-fifth chapter, will be literally fulfilled. The sceptre so
long in the hand of a traitor--usurper--will pass into the hand of the
Prince of Peace. Yes, we will strengthen our weak hands and confirm our
feeble knees--Satan at last locked up. We shall witness with joy
unspeakable and full of glory--"the Restoration of All Things." "And the
earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the
waters cover the sea." Thank God forever.
XXXIV
THE FINAL CONSUMMATION
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day and night forever and ever."--_Revelation xx. 10._
After the long term of imprisonment shall have ended, we are told that
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison for a season. This is difficult to
explain; but we do not presume to question the administration of God's
government: "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Satan, like
many other confirmed, apostate criminals, immediately on being released,
plunges more deeply into crime than before. The long term of imprisonment
and punishment hardens and, if possible, more nearly consumes him with
wrath.
At once he launches another world-wide campaign of deception, gathering,
rallying, mustering, and drilling his forces: those who by an exercise of
free choice, notwithstanding the glorious millennium reign, actually fall
away and enlist under the black pirate flag once more. He encompasses the
whole face of the earth; like a deposed crown prince, he leads an
aggressive warfare to regain the honours and influence which he so long
enjoyed on the earth.
Now if the binding of Satan is only a figure of the leavening power of
righteousness overpowering the evil--what is the _thing_ which shall be
unchained and loosened? Such a contention is as unanswerable as it is
untenable. We will repeat once more, with each word underscored: _Good or
Evil cannot exist except in a Personality_. The same school of theologians
who deny the personality of Satan, many of them, see nothing in the Person
of Christ except a _Christ spirit_, inherent good, etc.; all of which is
unadulterated infidelity. Just another method of "blasting at the Rock of
Ages."
Satan shall be locked in a prison for one thousand years--then he shall be
loosed, and every moment of his freedom will be occupied in preparation
for the last Armageddon. He does not foresee future events, and it is
possible he does not understand this to be his final struggle; otherwise
he would be unable to inspire such a following. As we read this brief but
vivid picture of the Gog and Magog engagement, the marshalling and
shifting for position of Napoleon and Wellington, preparatory to their
decisive battle, in comparison to this gathering, will be like a cadet
sham engagement. It seems that the lines of fortification will reach out
over the entire earth, mobilizing around the Holy City. The saints, also,
are gathered into encampment; whether for preparation to meet the forces
of Satan, or for protection, the prophecy does not state; but all the
powers of light and darkness are brought face to face.
The battle never reaches a real encounter; the impudence and rebellion of
the deposed prince and ex-convict arouses the wrath of God as never
before. The cup of His indignation is full to the overflowing, and He
brings the fearful conflict to a spectacular ending. The destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah was a microscopic event compared with the rain of fire
that shall fall in consuming vengeance upon the Devil and his followers,
both men and demons. The saints shall be delivered in that awful hour, and
this is the last shifting of the scene; the bell will ring, as it were,
and the curtain will fall, closing out the long tragic history of the old
world.
We are not dogmatic as to the chronological order of these mighty events,
but as closely as we can gather them from the Word, the next move of these
wonders in heaven and in earth will be the ushering in of the Last
Judgment. The _Deis Ira_ breaks in upon the universe; the Great White
Throne will swing into view. During the vision of millennial vision, its
reign--John saw "thrones"; Christ and His Church ruling jointly the
kingdoms of earth; He then is the Chief Shepherd, the King of kings and
Lord of lords--holding the sceptre of universal empire. But now when the
_Deis Ira_ dawns, there will be just One Throne, and God Himself will sit
upon it.
If the reader wishes a detailed description of this Last Day, it can be
found in the sixth chapter of Revelation, where the whole programme is
thrown into a composite picture: "The Opening of the Seven Seals." Each
seal is a separate prophecy or act of events from Alpha to Omega of
things. Language breaks all bounds of rhetoric, poetry, and definition:
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a
great earthquake, and the sun became as black as the sackcloth of hair,
and the moon became as blood, and the stars of the heaven fell unto the
earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of
a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."
Note the effect this marvellous demonstration will have upon the followers
of the traitor-prince: "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and
the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks
of the mountains; and said to the rocks and the mountains, fall on us, and
hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath has come; and who shall
be able to stand."
All the souls that have lived on the earth, good and bad, saints and
sinners, Devil and demons, will stand before the Throne and be judged. The
words, thoughts, and deeds of men and devils shall be made known. The
final doom of the Devil and his angels will be shown up in detail before
an assembled universe: the Godhead, angels, archangels, cherubim and
seraphim, and all that have lived upon this planet. Hence, the last and
final scene of the Epilogue: "And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone ... and shall be tormented day and
night forever and ever." Amen and Amen.
XXXV
SATANIC SYMBOL IN NATURE
"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made."--_Romans
i. 20._
The evolution of Christian scholarship, during the recent decades, has
wrought wonders in bringing about absolute harmony of science and
religion. Under the microscope, and through the telescope, men whose
hearts are trained as well as their brains, the great book of Nature is
found to be a commentator and expositor of the Book of Revelation. They
have not only studied and theorized about the science of religion; but by
laws of induction and deduction have discovered a "Religion of Science,"
and when properly understood and applied is not out of harmony with the
most orthodox faith.
Just as chemistry, geology, zoölogy, botany, astronomy, etc., whether seen
in the protozoa or the highest type of man; the animalculi (creatures
which propagate their specie by millions in a day) or the elephant; the
electrons or Polarius (our North Star which is one hundred times brighter,
larger, and hotter than the sun)--all demonstrate laws, systems, design,
purpose, and beneficence from the hand of a wise Father-Creator: so also
are there other things in the physical world discovered by the student of
nature which suggest an opposite being.
We remember that even the ground was cursed when sin entered with its
defiling touch; where flowers and fruits did once abound has come forth a
crop of vile weeds, thorns, and poisonous vines. These occupy and will
conquer in any soil on the earth--the Poe or Mississippi valleys, without
the diligent, unceasing, systematic toil of man. There must be a
continuous fight against these omnipresent enemies--in garden, in
vineyard, on farm. Clean out every weed, allow none to produce seed of its
kind; then leave the land for one year untouched, and it will be a ragged
wilderness. Fruits, grains, and vegetables left to fight with these
enemies of the soil, and, without a single exception anywhere, they are
soon choked out and will die. Unaided by the skill of the gardener, the
end is inevitable.
But, observe again, fighting the soil demons and conquering them is only
half the battle. There is not a tree, plant, shrub, vegetable, fruit, nor
flower, in any latitude or zone, but that must contend with pests,
parasites, and insects of all kinds. The herbivorous enemies are not
limited to insects and creeping things, but actual diseases. Several of
the choicest fruits have cancer; various blights have destroyed whole
crops of cereals. Trees and vegetables have diseases that must be
diagnosed and doctored as carefully as the family physician treats
pneumonia or typhoid fevers.