Arizona republican., 1919-09-08

Taking as his subject "The Purpose of Evil in the World" and his text from Romans $40, 21, Rev. John K Reed of the Grace Lutheran church yesterday delivered the following ser- mon:
 At the end of the creation narrative it is said: And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" But the world did not remain in that condition. Sin, sickness and death were not part of creation, but came later. Physical calamities. or the disasters that occur in nature, are not a necessary part of creation, for they are not to continue forever. The radical evolutionist teaches that all things are as they should be, that the whole universe is under unchang- ing law. According to this teaching there can be no good or evil in the things that happen around us-all are alike in moral condition, having their natural place.
 But if we accept the Bible as the word of Gid. we can not believe that the world as it now exists, is in per- feet state as it came from the hands of the Creator. Are sorrow, suffering, sickness, death and all the disasters in the physical world, as we see them, natural? or are these things out of place in a perfect world or universe? Something is wrong.
 What Changed the World? St. Paul says: For the creation was made subject to vanity, not of it's own will, but by reason of him who sub
 jected it." Vanity means emptiness. falicity. without substance. The earth
 was cursed because of mans sin Cursed is the ground for thy sake, :" Gen. 3. F. Sin has changed many things from what they were in the beginning. In Shakespeare's day 1t was believed that there is a correspon
 dence between the moral and the phy- sical world. Where sin is there can be nothing perfect. Satan must have been on the earth before the creation of man; and there was time when the former was pure and holy being. He
 was one of the highest, or it may be, the very highest of all created beings.
 The earth may have been his sphere of action until he fell by reason of sin.
 Thou vast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou vast created. till iniquity vast found in three" Ez 2S:15. All free beings must be tested, given 1 the right to choose good or evil. Satan and all the other angels passed through this test, some remaining true while others kept not their first estate
 Jude 6. The serpant was permitted to tempt our first parents. and they fell,
 Then the blight of sin was allowed to 1 fall upon nature; the earth was cursed
 and Adam and Eve were driven from
 the gardan of Eden.
 Why God Permits Evil
 1 It is not said that God Himself | l. H. H. of evil, leaves marks of ruin wherever
 he goes. As the god of this world and "the prince of the power of the air" he must still have some power
 over nature. Job was tested by Satan
 with Gods permission. Physical dis
 asters, bands of robbers and disease
 were the agents used by the adversary. Man with his free will and with the 1 help of the devil is allowed to try every form of evil. But man has not been left without warning. From the l time of the first pair in the garden of Eden, God has taught the human race 1 that "the wages of sin is death. Every kind of government has been l tried and all have ended in disaster. l From the tower of Bable to the pres ent time. the pathway of history is l strewn with wrecks of monuments, i temples, pyramids, cities, states and | empires. The Creator has made us
 free moral agents. We can follow Him 1 or Satan, choose life or death, cloud
 bursts, cyclones, avalanches, earth
 quakes and volcanic eruptions do not
 seem like a part of Gods work. The evolutionist says that they naturally 1 belong to the order of things, and so
 must take place. But St. Paul, in- 1 spired by the Holy Spirit did not teach this. He tells us that creation was
 made subject to vanity, or emptiness Disorder in nature is part of the dis aster caused by sin
 Mans Best Testing Place
 l This earth was created as the dwelling place of the human race. God told Adam to subdue the earth, to have dominion over the entire animal world and all plant life was to be food for | him. So this earth at the beginning must have been the best possible place for mans development After sin and all it's evil consequences came into the