Is the Devil a Myth?Wimberly, C. F. (Charles Franklin)
Religion
Is the Devil a Myth?
Wimberly, C. F. (Charles Franklin)
Devil; Good and evil
This cognomen carried further has a second meaning: _spoiler_, one whose
touch soils and besmirches, rearranges; bright spots are smeared with
black soot; flowers with sweet odour, after his blight passes over them,
send out a stench; hearts of purity are defiled and debauched; faces of
beauty become marred and ugly. Whenever and wherever it serves his
purpose, cosmos becomes chaos. He is a spoiler.
_Satan._ In this familiar title we see him in the character rôle which
dominates all his actions. As Satan he is the _hater_. Of all the evil
passions of the soul, hate is the most terrible. As manifested in human
relationships, the hater is a murderer. Somehow hate seems to be a
resultant of wrath, malice, envy, jealousy, and revenge. Hatred in the
bosom of the weak or cowardly affects only its possessor; but hatred
burning in the soul of one who is strong and courageous, nothing belonging
to the object of his hatred is secure: life, personal property, or
reputation.
We want carefully to note the full significance of hatred; then place
beside it the one who hates--yes, as no other being in all the universe
can hate. He is the father of haters; the tragedies of all kinds, filling
the world with terror, because of murders, bomb explosions, incendiaries,
poisonings, are but the scattered rays reflected and deflected from this
full orb of hate as he revolves in his sphere of darkness.
Satan hates God, hates the Holy Ghost, but the full force of his hate, of
necessity, is directed towards the _Son_ of God, his rival for place and
power. The supreme work of the Son was the Atonement; now, the interest
and anxiety of heaven has been transferred to this planet. The supreme
triumph of the Second Person of the Trinity was accomplished on the Cross
where He paid the price of human redemption. His energies are now directed
to the breaking down of all that was accomplished on the Cross. Every
movement, every motive, every virtue, coming directly or indirectly from
the merits of the Atonement, become at once the object of satanic hatred.
Therefore every inch of territory conquered by the gospel propaganda was
and is a victory over his hateful protest.
_Serpent._ At the very suggestion of this title our nature recoils. The
"nachash," and "zachal," mean "_fearful_"--"_creeper_," therefore a
fearful creeper. The snake is the most repulsive and dangerous of all
reptiles. There is a strange antipathy about a snake; his nature is so
still, so sneaking, so oily; the appearance of one produces an involuntary
shudder. Who has not felt the disgust at seeing men and
women--"charmers"--take a number of the sleek, slimy monsters from a cage,
and wind them around arms, neck, and body? The horror felt towards the
snake is not an accident; it was in the guise of a serpent the downfall of
the race was accomplished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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