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It is a marvel that Satan
has succeeded so well in making men believe that the words
of God, "The soul that sinneth it shall die,"
mean that the soul that sinneth it
shall not die, but live eternally in misery. Life is life, whether it is in
pain or happiness. Death is without pain, without joy, without hatred.
Satan and his angels have made a
special effort to spread the deception and lie first
repeated to Eve in
It Leads Men to Hate God.
This has prepared the way for Satan to work
through his representatives, and hold up God before the people
as a revengeful tyrant, -- one who plunges all those into hell who do not
please Him, and causes them ever to feel His wrath; and while they suffer
unutterable anguish, and writhe in the eternal flames, He is
represented as looking down upon them with satisfaction. Satan knew that if
this error should be received, God would be hated by many, instead of being
loved and admired; and that many would be led to
believe that the threatenings of God's word would not be literally
fulfilled, for it would be against His character of benevolence and love to
plunge into eternal torments the beings whom He had
created.
It Leads to Universalism.
Another extreme which Satan has led the people to adopt is to
entirely overlook the justice of God, and the threatenings in His word, and to represent Him as being all
mercy, so that not
one will perish, but that all, both saint and sinner, will at last be saved in His kingdom.
It Leads to Infidelity.
In consequence of the popular errors of the
immortality of the soul, and
endless misery, Satan takes advantage of another class, and leads them to
regard the Bible
as an uninspired book. They think it teaches many good things; but they cannot
rely upon it and love it, because they have been taught that it
declares the
doctrine of eternal misery.
It Leads to Atheism.
Another class Satan leads on still further, even to deny the
existence of God. They can see no consistency in the character of the God of
the Bible,
if He will torment with horrible tortures a portion of the human
family to all eternity. Therefore they deny the Bible and its Author,
and regard death as an eternal sleep.
It Leads to Insanity.
There is still another class who are fearful and timid. These Satan
tempts to commit sin, and after they have sinned, he holds up before them that the wages
of sin is -- not death, but -- life in horrible torments, to be endured through
the
endless ages of eternity. By thus magnifying before their feeble minds the
horrors of an endless hell, he takes possession of their minds, and they lose
their reason. Then Satan and his angels exult, and the
infidel and atheist join in casting reproach upon Christianity. They claim that these
evils are the
natural results of believing in the Bible and its Author,
whereas they are the results of the
reception of popular heresy. {BEcho, December 20, 1897 par. 7}
God's Object in Giving the
Bible.
God knew that Satan would try every
art to destroy man; therefore He caused His word to be written out, and made
His purposes in regard to the human race so plain that the
weakest need not err. After having given His word to man, He has carefully
preserved it from destruction by Satan or his angels, or by any of his agents
or representatives. While other books might be destroyed, this was to be
immortal. And down near the close of time, when the
delusions of Satan should increase, it was to be so multiplied that all
who desired might have a copy, and, if they would, might arm themselves against
the
deceptions and lying wonders of Satan.
God has especially guarded the Bible,
yet when copies of it were few, learned men have in some instances changed the words,
thinking that they
were making it more plain, when in reality they were mystifying that which
was plain, by causing it to lean to their established views which were governed
by tradition. But the word of God, as a
whole, is a perfect chain, one portion linking into and explaining another.
True seekers for truth need not err; for not only is the word
of God plain and simple in declaring the way to life, but the Holy
Spirit is given as a guide in understanding the way to life therein
revealed.
Mrs. E. G. White.