Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-06-28
8elisioas Readiug.
Conducted BY Rev. ]. K. Hall.
SATANIC HINpRANcEs.
They Arc Many and They sorsIy Try
the Christian.


Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
In Thessalonians, II, 18, the Apostle
Paul writes Of some Of his good inten-
tions which he could not carry out, be-
cause Satan hindered u.s." Then Sa-
tan must be a person. Some like to
persuade themselves that there is no
such being as a personal devil. But
every principle of Interpretation de-
mands that we recognize him as per-
sonal agent-the enemy Of God and
man. Matthew iv, liz and John wifi,
A, would be meaningless on any other
Interpretation.
Yet he is but creature Of finite
power. From Job II, and Luke Kill,
16, we see that he has exercised sn in
explicable influence over men and their
physical health, and from Hebrews II.
IA, he seems to have in some sense the
power of death. But his goings are
under Gods control, for he could not
enter into the herd Of swine without
Gods permission. (See Mark v, 12). Z,
His influence over good men Is nys-
terious and why he should be permit
ted to impede the work Of the Gospel
we cannot say, but he does. So Paul
thought. First he hinders the progress
Of the. Gospel by endeavorfng to keep
the sinner from going to Christ. See
the case Of the young man in Luke X.
AZ. "And as he was yet a-coming the
devil threw him down and tare him."
It is hard to persuade the sinner to
60 to Christ. The devil makes 1t as
difficult as possible. He persuades the
man to unbelief concerning the sinful
ness Of sin, Gods abomination Of It.
and the sinners bondage to it So
too the ability and willingness Of the
Lord Jesus to save are doubted and the
sinner is often assured by this same
influence to believe he isn't very bad
anyway.
Second. Satan hinders the work Of
the church by melting unfriendly med
ding. See this in the rebuilding Of
the temple by zerubbabei in Ezra iv.
IA, and in Nehemiah iv, 7-S, in the
reference to Sanballat and Tobiah. In
the building Of the walls Of Jerusa-
lem. These men Sanballat and To-
biah have many successors, and unfor-
tunately they still hinder the work and
occasion great delays.
Third. Satan hinders by stirring up
prosecutors against the church. This
has been the experience Of the church
in all ages. The persecution Of the
church by Haman in Esther. and OF
Saul OF Tarsus and Of the Theasalo-
mans and Of many OF the Roman en-
perors, notably Nero will be recall;
at once.
But Satan did not intend these to
scatter the knowledge Of the gospel as
God has DONE He makes the wrath OF
man to praise Him and the remainder
of wrath He restrains. The blood OF
the martyrs becomes the seed OF the
church.
Fourth. Satan seriously hinders by
injecting doubts into the minds ana
hearts of some Of Gods people from
time to time. and no one but these know
the trouble and sorrow such expert
ences bring. This horror Of great dark
ness is appalling at times. John Bap-
tist and Elijah had experiences ike
this.
Fifth. He greatly hinders the work
by leading some good men to sin. The
sad story of Eden is we'll known by
all. In I Chron., XXI, 1, Davids expe-
rieflce will be recalled. While Judas
was not a good man yet he too was
led by Satan to sell his Lord (Luke
xii, 81 and Ananias and Sapphira
(Acts v, LID were Influenced by Satan
to lie to the Holy Ghost.
He has no respect Of persons. He
tempted our Lord. and he tempts his
servants, as he did Joshua at the altar
and Job in his integrity.
The only safeguard against him Is
in Christ, who is Satan's Lord ana
ours-Ephesians vi. 11-20; Psalms, Kill
1-8. ALEXANDER SfHoSf'
Charleston, 8. c.