The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-01-31

have no knowledge aud for which
there is no Scripture proof
But let God be true and let us see
how and wherein Satan lied when nc
contradIcted our Maker. and let us
see also how our race was not sent
to heaven or to hell of torment. but
was murdered. killed. rut to death
"The wages of sin Is death
"The Gift Of God ls Eternal Life"
(Romans vi, 23).
God, while permitting Satan and sin
and deprnvity and death to take their
course has not been Idle. He has had.
and still has, great plan for human
salvatlon--a plan for recovering man
from sin and from death and from all
of his fallen conditions, plan OF res
titution TO human uplft. plan by
which the Seed of the woman shall
yet. figuratlvely. crush the Serpent's
head. or undo Satun's great original
misdeed-recover man from his MUIR
dered condition and from his fallen
estate to all that he had at first. plus
the knowledge and experiences of the
present life and plus the experience.
incidental TO his upllft. during the reign
of Messiah. for which we pray. "Thy
Kingdom come"
The Scriptures clearly show us that
all of this recovery Is to be accom-
plished through the merit of Jesus
sacrifice-"the just for the unjust"
That the work has not yet begun is
evident. We are stlll living under the
law of sin and death. The Messianic
Kingdom must come in power and
great glory and be established. the
Scriptures tell us. In great time Of
trouble. Then the earth will be made
to blossom as the rose. and the wilder
ness and the solitary places will be
made glad. aid all mankind will re-
ceive Divine blessing and opportunity
to return to Divine favor and eternal
life as human beings And the vii.
fully disobedient and negligent Of
those opportunities will die the Second
Death, from which there will be no
recovery. no resurrection. no hope.
"The Saints Shall Judge the World"
u SorintnlanS vi, -.
These great blessings of restitution.
fer which Israel and the whole world
are waiting, cannot be brought about
until first the special salvation of
special class, the salvation of the very
elect-not to human nature, but to a
heavenly nature. as the Bride of Christ
shall be accomplished. The select
ing of these has progressed for nearly
nineteen centuries and, apparently. is
about complete. The Divine blessing
and work then to be inaugurated will
be restitution to earthly nature and
perfection--"to the jew first
Satan Serves the Saints.
During all these centuries. while
Satan has been the Prince or ruler
amongst the children of this world,
and While he has blinded them with
his sophistries and falsehoods. he has
also done another work for the sanity
few now being called to the heavenly
places. For these he has. so to speak.
turned Il polishing grlndstone to pre-
pare them for the riches of the heaven.
~ glory as new creatures. as heirs of
God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ
their Lord Quite unwittingly. we
may be sure, he has served the Crea-
tors purposes and helped to prepare.
through trials. this class for the glo-
rious things which God has in reser.
vation for those that love him.
In Divine dealings. Gods wisdom.
foreseeing the end, Is able to use the
wrath of men and of the fallen angels
and Of Satan to praise him and to work
out blessings to his elect Church, and
the remainder. which does not thus
work, he can and does restrain. Hence
the Divine promise that "all things
shall work together for good to those
that love God, to the called ones ac-
ccrding TO his purpose"
Satan as an Angel of Light.
st. Paul declares of Satan, I'VE are
not ignorant of his devices" and he
tells us that Satan and his servants
transform themselves into servants of
righteousness. etc. We see this prin-
ciple in operation as we read Church
history. Satan. all through this Age.
has sought TO pervert Christian hopes
and diStort Christian doctrines by pre-
senting counterfeits of Bible truths.
Thus. for instance, the Scriptures tell
us that eventually the Church, n lit
tie flock" will be associated with Mes
siah in his Kingdom of glory to reign
thousand years. 1t was Satan's
method to counterfeit this hope. to sug-
gest to men the establishment of an
earthly Kingdom with an earthly little
flock. an earthly glory, an earthly
reign. This was set forth as the full.
fillment of the second Psalm.
And when later on some Of Satan's
dupes began to get free from some of
his snares. he became their leader in
an opposite direction. called them re.
formers and led them to claim that oil
the civilized kingdoms of the earth
are the kingdoms of Christ. This Is
the status of affairs today. The world
in general believes that Christ's King.
dom has come, even though they are
still praying, ''Thy Kingdom come.
thy will be done on earth as 1t is In
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