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
After the long term of imprisonment shall have ended, we are told that
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison for a season. This is difficult to
explain; but we do not presume to question the administration of God's
government: "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Satan, like
many other confirmed, apostate criminals, immediately on being released,
plunges more deeply into crime than before. The long term of imprisonment
and punishment hardens and, if possible, more nearly consumes him with
wrath.
At once he launches another world-wide campaign of deception, gathering,
rallying, mustering, and drilling his forces: those who by an exercise of
free choice, notwithstanding the glorious millennium reign, actually fall
away and enlist under the black pirate flag once more. He encompasses the
whole face of the earth; like a deposed crown prince, he leads an
aggressive warfare to regain the honours and influence which he so long
enjoyed on the earth.
Now if the binding of Satan is only a figure of the leavening power of
righteousness overpowering the evil--what is the _thing_ which shall be
unchained and loosened? Such a contention is as unanswerable as it is
untenable. We will repeat once more, with each word underscored: _Good or
Evil cannot exist except in a Personality_. The same school of theologians
who deny the personality of Satan, many of them, see nothing in the Person
of Christ except a _Christ spirit_, inherent good, etc.; all of which is
unadulterated infidelity. Just another method of "blasting at the Rock of
Ages."
Satan shall be locked in a prison for one thousand years--then he shall be
loosed, and every moment of his freedom will be occupied in preparation
for the last Armageddon. He does not foresee future events, and it is
possible he does not understand this to be his final struggle; otherwise
he would be unable to inspire such a following. As we read this brief but
vivid picture of the Gog and Magog engagement, the marshalling and
shifting for position of Napoleon and Wellington, preparatory to their
decisive battle, in comparison to this gathering, will be like a cadet
sham engagement. It seems that the lines of fortification will reach out
over the entire earth, mobilizing around the Holy City. The saints, also,
are gathered into encampment; whether for preparation to meet the forces
of Satan, or for protection, the prophecy does not state; but all the
powers of light and darkness are brought face to face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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