Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-29

Every Christian is called upon to
master the temptations that tries his
soul and tests his religion. Every Pc
Rod of life has it's own peculiar temp
tations, that the Christian is called
upon to overcome. They may have
their source in ones personal temper
ment or the circumstances of life, or
both may contribute to the danger
that the spiritual life faces by some
sudden temptation. If the inner life
has suffered any form of spiritual
paralysis or decay, then one may fall
and find that through their failure to
overcome the temptation of the mo-
ment they have become inefficient and
are unfit for the Masters service. 1t
is this peril which requires every
Christian to be alert to keep from
their life any malignant germs that
would weaken and destroy by their
entrance their spiritual strength and
service.
Our Lords temptations, which fol.
lowed closely upon His baptism, were
of a representative nature that teach
us how we should face and master the
temptations of our own life. The tes-
timony to the divine sonship of Jesus
called for Him to meet satan alone.
The Master selected the battlefield and
challenged satan to battle. When a
boy He had felt that He must" be
about His fathers business, so He felt
that He must" needs go through
Samaria: He must" be lifted up; He
must" be delivered into the hands
Of sinful men and be killed; so He
felt that He must" master satan.
The leading of Gods spirit is always
with the consent of those who are led,
though often times, as in the Lords
experience, with an irresistible energy.
From the moment that He was filled
with the power of the holy spirit 1t
was inevitable that Christ had to meet
satan and master him. During the 40
days in the wilderness of a mountain
near Jericho. Jesus met the prince
of this world and overcame him.
Throughout His whole ministry our
Lord met the tempter and overcame
him with the aid of the holy spirit.
We can overcome the evil one every
time he seeks to entice us to wrong
doing.
Freedom, Force, Fanacticism.
He appealed to Jesus along the
lines of appetite, ambition and the alb
breviation of His ministry. Alone in
the wilderness Jesus faced the prob
lem of establishing the kingdom. One
path was with the slogan Of the
present hour. freedom, that belonged
to Him as the Son of God. The loaf
shaped fossils that the biologists call
Separia must have made the 40 days
fasting difficult by intensifying the
hunger pangs. 1t would have been
easy for the Master to satisfy
his hunger by turning these siliceous
accretions into bread. He is doing
that today, developing the seed of
the grain through the deterioration of
:,,fN he oh c1n 1&cs
that build up the grain, which the
miller turns into flour. Modern
Americans in their cry for freedom
desire to set aside all forms of
restraint, seeking to remove the
abridgements of tradition and Gus
tom, as well as the social restrictions
of the State and the Scriptures. Our
Lord faced that temptation when He
was hungry, but He refused to yield
to the pangs of hunger He found
His liberty in limitation, His re-
lease in restraint"
Dreams of empire have filled the
world with blood through the exer-
else of force. Mems love of power
and their ambition to dominate others
has filled the world with bitter trials,
tears and trouble. Jesus came to eS-
tablish spiritual kingdom that
would not be destroyed by the am
billions of men through the exercise
Of the power of force. The second
temptation called for Him to exer-
else force by it's subtle suggestion
that He could gain the immediate
control of the nations by worship
ing Satan. This has been the temp
tation to ride by force of arms into
power that has swayed the am
bilious rulers of the world Bishop
Mcconnell claims that leaders of
the Christian church have been yield
ing to the same temptation for 1900
years" Jesus realized the peril of
using force to advance his kingdom,
so He declined to take the short
cut" method of the world. Many
Christian has to face that same temp
tation today when the easy way to
success, power, and authority Is pre-
scented. 1t usually Is faced at the
commencement of a career. The sac
rifice of principles for power may
bring a temporary success, but follow
ing the longer way of seeking the
highest value is the only road to
permanent peace, power and pos
sessions.
Satan in his third appeal to the
Master was as inSidiouS as in the
two others by proposing q spectacular
jump from some height to win the
WIZ AZ NY dlloWCAA IlE llo uCSlIS S IOT ii
Sign" This, it was suggested, would
force God to protect Him and would
persuade the world that He was the
Messiah. 1t suggested that He trust
God in accordance with the Scripture,
which was misquoted, in taking this
method of appealing to the worlds
fanacticism by an act of presumption.
Faith can be easily developed into
fanaticism. 1t is a modern danger
of religion and can be controlled and
checked by recalling Chrst's quota
ton from Deuteronomy, Thou shalt
not make trial of the Lord thy God"
Christians Overcoming Temptation.
Christ by conquering the tempter
has pointed out for us the way to
overcome the temptations Of our life
y ears ago the writer's father penned
in his autograph album the proverb,
MY son, when sinners entice thee,
consent thou not; that has helped
him in many a crucial moment. The
Lord had learned from His Fathers
writings sayings of the Scripture tina:
He used in an appropriate way to
resist the insidious suggestions of
Satan Thisswas the exclusive method