The Washington herald., 1921-09-19
The Origin of the Devil.
the Editor. The Washington HersId:

To the Editor. The Washington Herald:
As "Will L. Recon" has taken
me to task for the article 7 wrote
| on the devil. will you permit me to
answer his letter through your col
umns?
did give the origin of the devil
in the article l wrote. God created
him Lucifer, and because he at
tempted to overturn the govern
ment OF God and make himself
equal with God. his name was
changed TO Satan, meaning rebel.
also the devil. meaning the evil
, one. He was cast out OF heaven TO
this earth after a time Of probation
for him and those Of the angels
whom he led in rebellion. He at
! tempted 10 substitute selfishness
| for the law of love. and the uni
verse would be intolerable to Gods
creatures were that substitution to
/ become Dermanent. Being Gre
atcd being he could never be equal
with the Being who created. him,
/ even though he was the most glori-
Gus OF created beings.
! In English we use the word
| heavens in three different ways.
When God reveals to man knowl-
edge of things spiritual. He clothes
such knowledge in the language
that man is accustomed to. Infinite
knowledge can never be expressed
in any human tongue. We say the
birds of the heavens. meaning
nothing more than the atmospheric
heavens. We say the stars OF the
heavens, meaning limitless space in
which the great solar systems circle
on their respective orbits. We also
say heaven" when we refer to the
place where God dweIls. which is
the center OF the universe and
where the redeemed from this
world will spend the millennium.
during which the punishment of the
wicked will be decided upon
The word hell is the English rem
dition of the Hebrew "sheol." mean
ing grave or place of darkness. The
same world is also used in speak
ing of the lake of fire which will
purge the earth Of sin when the
executive judgment comes to pass.
which will be after the millennium
which the righteous spend in
heaven. preparatory to the return
of the righteous to this earth, where
they will dwell in the happiness for
all eternity. THE earth Is given
unto the children of men,"
At the second coming Of Christ.
the righteous receive the gift Of
Immortality. When man was Gre
ated he became a living SOUL" but
not an immortal soul. God created
Adam the first created man in this
world. out of dust He put him
on trial by telling him that he Nigh,
eat of the fruit of all of the trees
of the garden, except the tree Of
the knowledge of good and evil
God told Adam, IN the day thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die" Satan, taking the form of a
beautiful serpent, seduced Eve, the
wife God gave to Adam, by stating.
aye shall not surely die" and it is
this ancient lie of Satan's that has
formed the basis of all the "im-
mortal soul" theories afioat in the
world. As Satan had rebelled in
heaven and as Adam and Eve re-
belled through disobedience of the
divine command, Satan and his fol-
lowers among the angels and the
people OF this world were confined
to this world, where the great bat
tie between sin and Righteousness
Will De fought out, for God will
permit sin to run its course until il
is evident to the universe how fear
full are the reults OF substituting
the selfishness of ambition for per-
sonal glory, or greed for the perfect
law OF love, as expressed by the
Ten Commandments.
The lake of fire which we speak
Of as hell is not now in existence
anywhere because the judgment is
not yet completed and the time for
the execution Of the judgment has
not comes 1t will exist on the sur
face Of this earth at the time of
the destruction of the wicked, the
unrepentant. The word forever"
does not mean eternal. II denotes
continuity and the ways in which 1t
Is used show considerable variation
in the length of time indicated. In
the story of Jonah. 1t covered a Pc
riod OF only three DAYS and three
nights.
IL the reader doubts that there
is anything wrong with the condi-
tions in this world. let him read
tho headlines of any newspaper.
Satin is not omnipresent, but
powerful spiritual being with a
N T. lad