The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1912-05-10

llRASl2k kQ22tlll) Ages, we would
have asked, Were
any Of the 1900 who perished saintsf
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 Catholic
Purgatory Of terror, or worse, to q
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-
fess Jesus in word and deed? we
members? This Is the same argument
used respecting the 10000 heather
who die every day in the year, ''going
down into Christless grdces," the Lon
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 which
Messiah's Kingdom will usher in.
Thus, only the ioilfully ioicked 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, IS, 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. 49,.
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, 1-5, we find
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, or, 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 materializing-of TAX
ing human bodies-for the sake of help
ing and instructing mankind-they 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 so
corrupt that apparently only Noah and
his family were left uncontaminated.
|
prisoned these spirits CANCELS, who
kept not their first estate'O, and are
therefore called fallen angels, devils,
demons. They were not imprisoned in
some far-off world called hell, nor are
they engaged there In stocking fires.
The record is that Gcd cast them
down, that they might not longer asso-
ciate with the holy angels. but must be
reserved in tdrtdrus-our earth's atmos-
phere.-Jude 6; III Peter II, 4,5.
When imprisoned or cut off 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:: II
! Jesus really died, as the Scriptures de-
! clare; IL "He poured out His soul unto
death" and made His soul an Offering for
sim" 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" QHebrews XII, ~.
But when they perceived His resur-
rection on the third day to glory, hon
or and Immortality c'far above angels.
principalities and powers'D, His SER
mon to them was complete, namely,
that "the wages of sin is DEATH" but
"the gift Of God Is eternal life"
(Romans vi. 23. And as they realized
thus the Power of God and the Love
Of God for His human creatures. the
Apostles words imply that this con-