E. J. Waggoner
(Concluded.)
“By one man sin entered into the world”? This is perfectly consistent with the statement that Satan’s sinned in heaven, and that he is the originator of sin; it must be so, since both statements are in Scripture. Satan introduced into the universe; but Adam introduced it into this world; for although Satan was permitted to come to earth after he sinned, Adam was the ruler of it, and nothing could be done here without his consent. Satan might have roamed up and down on this earth without having the power to blight a single flower, or to cause a moment’s pain or suffering to any human being, if man willed it to be so. Sin may crouch at the door, desiring to seize upon and ruin man; but it is powerless and harmless unless man consents; man may rule over it. BEST April 13, 1903, par. 1
Someone may ask, What difference does it make whether or not we believe that there is a personal devil? If we earnestly resist the devil that we find striving within us for the mastery, what difference does it make to us what its source is? It makes a great deal of difference whether we believe the Bible or not. The mere fact that the Bible tells us of a personal devil, and warns us against him, is sufficient evidence that it is a matter of vital importance for us to know the truth about him; for the Bible does not deal in trivialities. BEST April 13, 1903, par. 2
Here is one all-sufficient reason for being well-informed concerning the devil and his devices: It is a sure safeguard against being led astray by that great delusion, Spiritualism. Without this knowledge, one is sure to fall into that horrible snare. If Satan can only persuade people that he and his host cannot exist, and that the Bible accounts of him are myths, then he has them at his mercy, which is cruel. Then when they get messages purporting to come from their dead friends, relating incidents that no other human beings could know; and when they even see and converse with and handle things that have every resemblance of those dead friends, they will certainly fall into the trap, and believe that their friends have surely returned to visit them. And when those supposed friends declare that they have just come from heaven, and that the things which they once learned from the scriptures they now know to be error, the poor dupes will inevitably throw away what hold they have on God and His Word. This is not fancy, for it has been done many times, and it will be done yet more. BEST April 13, 1903, par. 3
Directly growing out of the fact that ignorance concerning Satan lays one open to the deception of Spiritualism, is the fact that this belief in his existence naturally tends to disbelief in Christ and the atonement. First of all, because Spiritualism itself is first and foremost of all a denial of Christ; and second, because that when a person believes that he has only himself to contend with, it is very natural for him to persuade himself that he can conquer by his own unaided power. Such an one will insensibly, no matter what his present belief in Christ, come to regard the power of the Lord working in him as proceeding only from himself; for that is a great temptation that continually besets all mankind. So from believing that he is his own tempter, he will come to believe that he is his own saviour. BEST April 13, 1903, par. 4
Michael, the archangel, contended with the devil for the body of Moses. The mighty prince was not disputing with his “human nature unrestrained,” but with a being as real as he himself. And this brings us to the close, with the blessed knowledge that the battle with the hosts of darkness is not ours, but the Lord’s. The great controversy is between Christ and Satan, for the souls of men, and for the possession of the earth. Thank God, Christ has conquered at every turn, in every conflict, and we have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. BEST April 13, 1903, par. 5