The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1912-05-02

Guy VI luS 4OVV WIZ PSElCuSO 6UtUtOt
And assured that very few Of them
would have claimed to be saints, we
would have concluded that all the re-
mainder plunged down to a Catholic
Purgatory Of terror, or worse, to a
Protestant hell Of eternal torture.
Even the tales Of their great gal
lantry and heroism would not have
altered the decision which would have
hung on the question. Did they con-
TESS Jesus in word and deed? we
would have asked. Were they church
members? This is the same argument
used respecting the 10000 heather
who die every day in the year, "going
down into Christless grares," the Lion
don Missionary Society" truly says,
but means and is understood to mean
into Christless eternal torture!
Now, how different! Now we see
that faithful, elect Church is being
selected during this Age; that in the
next Age they with Jesus may assist,
bless, uplift all the non-elect to an
earthly salvation to human perfection,
in the new Paradise-Earth-w
Messiah's Kingdom will usher in.
Thus. only the ,oiltully sotcked will
ever be annihilated.
But our old errors die hard; because
we have twisted the Bible to fit them.
For instance, let us consider st. Pet
er's words:-"Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the Just for the I'M
just. that He might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened in the spirit. by which two
experiences-death and resurrection
He preached unto the spirits in prison"
q Peter iii, 1s, 19).
This text has been made the basis
for some very peculiar presentations.
The difficulty in every case seems to
be the failure to remember that the
Bible always and everywhere teaches
that the dead are really dead, that
they will know nothing until the resur-
rection. Therefore, 1t would be i'm
possible to preach to the dead humans.
Spirits Once Disobsdisnt.
st. Peter tells us the time Of the dis
obedience Of these spirits-''in the days
OF Noah, while the ark was preparing"
Turning to Genesis Vi, Is, We ind
there the cause Of the disobedience Of
these angels who for a time had been
permitted to see what they could do
for the uplift Of humanity, OF, rather,
permitted to demonstrate that the
downward tendency Of sin is incur
able except in the manner which God
has already arranged for through Mes
siah and His reign Of 1000 years.
The particular sin Of those angels
was that when they were granted
the privilege Of materializi1t Of TAX
ing human bodies+for the sakf sf help
ing and instructing mankind EAey mis-
used this power and took to themselves
wives.
The offspring Of this improper union
were "giants," both physically and
mentally superior to the fallen human
family-"men Of renown." The race
thus in several centuries became 80
corrupt that apparently only Noah and
his family were left uncontaminated.
It was then and there that God i'm
prisoned these spirits CANCELS, who
kept not their first estate'D, and are
therefore called fallen angels, devils,
demons. They were not imprisoned in
some far-of world called hell, nor are
they engaged there in stoking fires.
The record is that God cast them
down, that they might not longer asso-
ciate with the holy angels, but must be
reserved in tartarus- earth's atmos.
phere.-Jude 6; II Peter ii, Al
When imprisoned or cut of from the
privilege Of naturalization, many of
the fallen spirits continued their active
opposition to God, like Satan, and are
spoken of as his angels.
How Jesus Preached In Death.
Here arises another question: If
Jesus really died, as the Scriptures de-
clare; II HE poured out HIS soul unto
death" and made His soul an Offering for
sin," and His soul was not raised from
the dead until the third day after His
crucifixion. how could He in the mean
time preach to spirits in prison, or to
anybody else? We reply that He could
preach in the same way that the Apos-
tie refers to, saying, abel, being dead,
yet speaketh" (Hebrews II, y.
But when they perceived His resur-
rection on the third day to glory, hon
or and Immortality ('tfar above angels,
municipalities and poverty. His ser
A.