The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-09-02

declared this his purpose, knowing be-
| forehand that man would fall and
disobey the Divine law. That Lucifer,
Son of the Morning, the chief of the
Angelic host, would rebel and become
| Satan the adversary, and the host of
angels that fell with him, we are told.
We ask, would these things cause
Jehovah God to change his benevolent
designs concerning man? We ans
wer, no indeed. Notice what he says
in lisa. ,14:24, "The Lord of Hosts hath
sworn saying, Surely as / have
thought, so shall it come to pass, end
as l have purposed, so shall it stand"
"Yea / have spoken it, | will also
bring it to pass, l have purposed it,
| will also do it." Qsa ACID Do
what? Restore to man that which
was lost.
Permission of Evil
The question may be asked: Why
! has God permitted sin and evil to pre-
dominate on this earth, seeing that he
hates evil and has the power to re-
move it? We answer: Divine Wis
dom foresaw that sin and evil would
enter his domain, through the DISC
bedience and rebellion of his intelli-
gent creation-angels and men. In
order that these may know the bane--
full effects of sin, God has permitted
evil now for 5000 years, and He
chose His planet earch as the theatre
or stage of the Universe, where evil
has been manifested as an object les
son, for all eternity, to all his intelli-
gent creations.
Man is learning to know evil by
participation and the angels by OBJ
servation. This seems to be the
thought of st. Paul in Cor. 4:9, for
eve are made spectacle (Great the
atre or stage) unto the world, and
to angels and to men," But we re-
joice to know that Jehovah God fore
seeing all this for "Known unto God
are all His work from the beginning of
the world (Acts 15:18( and that the
remedy for sin and evil was provided
long before these became manifested
as we read in l Pet 1:19, 20, "That
Christ, who verify was foreordained
before the foundation OF the world"
Foreordained for what? To be-
come the ransom price for the sin of
the world, in order that the penalty for
sin, which is death, may be removed.
wish to emphasize here the Bible
is absolutely clear on this point that
every human being born into this
world will receive benefit from this
ransom price. 1t includes all whether
good or bad. We refer you to Heb.
30, where we are told that Jesus
Christ by the grace of God, tasted
Death for every man." And the con-
text shows clearly it was in order that
mans lost dominion might be restored.
That this fact will be made known
/ to all mankind, we read in l Tim. 2: 5,
that Christ Jesus, who gave himself
ransom for all to be testified Tor
5 testimony in due time" John the
| Baptist, the greatest of all the holy
: prophets, pointing to Jesus, said:
: ''Behold the Lamb of God, which TAX
} eth away the sin of the world."-John
} 1:29.
"The sin of the world" What does
! that men? The clergy and creeds OF
e christendom say. This means only
the Church will benefit. The rest Of
= the world can go to hell. 1t is their
= own fault they say. But what does
the Bible say? st. John touches this
| very point in 1 John 90, "He is the
Precipitation for our (the Church's)
|, sins, but not for ours only, but also for
the sins of the whole world" Just
} think of that! 1t means the sins OF all
} those who are not good enough to go
to heaven, and not bad enough to go to
} hell to roast and toast forever, and
. forever. l am sure, dear friends, we
know of no human being bad enough
, for a punishment like that, besides it
|, is an impossibiIity; because, in order
to suffer pain or anguish or suffering
of any kind, mental or physical, man
must be alive. And to suffer forever,
man must have everlasting life, and
, this we are told plainly is a Gift OF
. God to mankind, only on condition OF
obedience.
Let us look agin at John 1929, BE
hold the Lamb of God which taketh
| away the sin of the world" When
the sin of the world is taken away, it
follows that the penalty for sin, which
/ is death must cease to operate on the
generation then living on the earth;
, and, instead of dying, as now, ever
| luSLltlR lie, uSIC vi co. vi "iA'
: fered to mankind as gift of God,
: through Jesus Christ, on condition OF
obedience.
These are the words of st. Paul in
| Rom. 6:23, "For the wages Tor penal
ty) of sin is death, but the gift of God
) is eternal life, through Jesus Christ
our Lord"
Life, Death and Soul.
: Since there has been in the past
some misunderstanding with regard
to the meaning of the words, life,
death and soul, let us look briefly at
what the Word of God says about
j., these things, because it is vitality con-
nected with our subject.
| think we all agree on this point
that the only. possible way to under
stand correctly the meaning of an in
dividual's statement is by what he
says. To assume any other meaning
than what is said, is sheer nonsense.
This is -eminently true Of the soul
question, which in the light of the
, Holy Scripture alone is as plain as A,
B, G. But when person accepts alb
. surd and ridiculous human interpreta-