Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1913-12-05

3S$3Ss Inere ls maii-
cious, wicked and
powerful being in
- the universe
I. whose name is In
the text Wheth-
er 1t is a pleasant thought or not. the
devil is the god Of this age. and 10
given great power. and. apparently,
anticipating his doom, he is intensely
active. Being wicked, he would make
wickedness universal, and he uses all
possible methods of corrupting men.
created in the image and likeness Of
the God he hates. and unfortunately
succeeds with q vast number of them.
The Method of Deception.
The devil now uses the method OF
deception rather than force, which In
some ages of the world was used very
generally. This deception may be of
several kinds. The devil may assume
an attitude of special sanctity. or good
ness; he may direct the thought of
man to the acceptance Of error; or he
may delude man to the reception OF
something that is branded as truly
religious. Taking up the first form
Of deception. the devil appears some
times as an angel of light He ap-
peared in glittering and fascinating
form to Eve in the Garden Of Eden.
and worked the ruin OF the race NOR
ally. Many believe that the Anti
christ. who will presume to take Gods
place, and thus claim supreme sane
tity. will be the devil himself AS we
observe the present havoc in religious
thinking. and study its evolution, we
find that many Of those who were
champions of doctrinal error have
posed as most serious seekers after
truth, and have the reputation, oft
times well established, of being men
Of sweet temper. most encouraging
manners and captivating courtesy.
This is not strange, for men Of an
opposite type, as champions. would
at once defeat the DEVILS purposes.
The method Of delUsion by leading
men away from the truth has one OF
its strongest features in the persua-
sion that men should do their own
thinking on religious subjects. The
specious plea is made that the Chris
tian religion is one of nationality and
that therefore men must think out its
great problems for themselves. They
are urged to let nothing guide them
in thinking. not the Bible, ncr Chris
tian teachers. but that they should
start almost anywhere and work the
problems out. The result is inevita-
BILE. for mans thoughts are not Gods
thoughts and Gods thoughts only are
correct In this sphere. man is ever
learning but never able to come to a
knowledge Of the truth. Indeed, he
ordinarily gets further and further
from 1t. Fortunate is the man who
sees that he must have some safe
starting point for religious thought
and that he must hold himself loyalty
to the lines of its development
We have the delusion of universal
salvation based on false conception
of the character of God. emphasis be-
| ing placed on the love of God, which
is unscripturally defined, the justice
and holiness of God being practically
eliminated from thought. All those
yielding to this delusion are not in
the denomination known as Universal
lists, whose courage in processing what
they believe is in itself worthy OF
| commendation.
There is the delusion of religious
Journalism. Men and women are per
suaded to attach themselves to re-
| ligious societies without any demand
being made on them to put into their
lives the principles of Christian relig-
| ion, nor for the necessity of "a new
birth and genuine repentance and
| simple faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
who is the only Mediator between God
and man. Those yielding to this de-
fusion have form of godliness but
deny the power thereof.
| There is the delusion of false op-
timism, which, while not strictly re-
| ligious, eventuates as religious delu-
sions do. The principle that God is on
his throne and all is right with the
world, has almost universal approval.
being echoed from thousands of pull.
pits. There is utter blindness to the
evils of society, or those facts that
are usually designated as evils are
excused or explained away with more
or less success.
We are in period of sdelusions
along Biblical lines as in no previous
age. A man or woman gets some root
Of religious thought, and pursuing II
Independently, discovering that In or.
der to its wider acceptance II must
have Biblical Endorsement, flies to the
Bible and selects from its contents
that which ostensibly supports the
theory proposed. Within the last
twenty-five years there have been sew
eral such delusions. and hundreds of
thousands of men and women have, be-
come their victims. These delusions
9re propagated at the expense of mill
lions OF dollars. The carrying of a
limp back Bible is no evidence that
the one carrying it is a believer in
its teachings as whole, but may be
believer in some religious fad, and is
quite deft in pointing to certain par
ticularverse in support of the theory
advocated.
One of the sad facts about these re-
ligious delusions is that the deluded
when their eyes are opened to the de-
usion are ashamed to make confes-
sion and abandon 1t. One of the great
reasons why these delusions succeed
is lack of a well rounded knowledge
of the Word of God.
Love alone makes the heart rise to
know the secret of all being. Fail
Ing il this knowledge, man may know
many things, but nothing truly; for