LET GOD BE TRUE

CHAPTER IV

SATAN THE DEVIL

SO ALIKE has been the pattern of the nations which for six thousand years have successively dominated the affairs of the world that historians have advanced the theory of "history repeating itself". The manner in which world powers had their beginnings, rose to prominence as world powers, and then declined to a state of obscurity is noted as common to all. Wars were featured by each. Oppression and intimidation were their stock in trade. Religion was an influential part of each.

² Observing this similarity, and the close parallel to our modern world, thinking men have voiced the questions, "Is it possible that a common invisible power has dominated all nations? Has the same guiding force been responsible for their similar acts of violence? Why should history seem to repeat itself? Will it always be thus?"

³ There is no point in guessing at the matter when the Bible, God's written Word, makes the evidence so plain. In this history of man, dating from his very creation, God proves that the idea of some super-force of wickedness influ-

encing both men and nations is not just idle imagination. It is a fact.

⁴ Consider the occasion of Christ at the beginning of his ministry here on earth. We are told, at Matthew chapter 4, that immediately following his baptism in Jordan Christ was led by the spirit into the wilderness "to be tempted of the devil". Part of that tempting took the form of three proposals by Satan to Christ, the third of which was as follows:

⁵ "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."  — Matthew 4:8,9.

⁶ From this it is unreasonable to think anything else than that all world governments were the Devil's property. How else could he have offered them to Christ? He was the invisible ruler of them; and for that reason Christ was compelled to say, "My kingdom is not of this world." "The prince [or ruler] of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 18: 36; 14: 30) The Devil's attributes of greed, cruelty, and selfishness have been characterized by every government on earth. Satan is "the god of this world". — 2 Corinthians 4: 4.

WHENCE CAME THE DEVIL?

⁷ But from where did Satan come? and why has a righteous God permitted him to remain to influence men to wickedness? Will it always be that way? Is there no way for honest men to keep from under that influence?

⁸ The Devil was not always the Devil. There was a time when he enjoyed a high position in God's family. He was a spirit son of God whose name was Lucifer. Contrary to the opinion of some, he was not an ugly creature with horns and tail, but was beautiful. The Bible describes him at Ezekiel 28:12,13: "Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering."

⁹ In keeping with his being a son of God, he was given a position of great trust and responsibility: that of overlord of humankind. The designated term for this office was, as stated in the Bible, at Ezekiel 28:14, "the anointed cherub that covereth."

¹⁰ God had placed the perfect human pair in the garden of Eden, and it was the spirit Lucifer's duty to help them keep God's requirements and to educate them in their proper relation-ship to their Creator. That is why it could be said of him, "thou hast been in Eden."

¹¹ For a time all went well in the universe and there was perfect peace throughout the whole world. But it did not last. Greed and avariciousness entered in. Lucifer had great visions. He saw a race of human creatures on a perfect earth, all with one accord giving their every devotion to and acknowledging Jehovah as the Great King and Giver of everything good. He wanted that devotion and worship for himself, and so his heart became malicious. He rebelled against the Theocratic arrangement. The scripture at Isaiah 14:12-14 reads: "How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."

¹² The heart is the seat of motivating thoughts. It is the thing that drives the creature to action. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," said the Master. Note that Lucifer said "in his heart" that he would exalt himself. It was not necessary for him to make a declaration with his lips. His course of action was sufficient. — Proverbs 23: 7.

¹³ That action was first manifested by his cunningly and stealthily introducing sin into the world. God had told the perfect human pair that to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would result in their death. Lucifer induced Eve to disobey. Through his mouthpiece, the serpent, he said to her, "Ye shall not surely die." That was the first lie, and branded Lucifer as the 'father of lies'. — John 8:44.

¹⁴ Although God pronounced sentence of death upon Lucifer, the wording of that sentence indicated that there would be a long period of deferment before its execution. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15) The Devil must have time to bring forth some seed. From this point on in the Bible he is no longer referred to as Lucifer, but rather as Satan, Serpent, Devil, and Dragon. — Revelation 12:9.

goal of 'ascending into heaven and exalting his throne above the stars of God and being like the Most High'. It appears that he now approached Jehovah with taunts and jeers: 'Jehovah, you are not able to put on earth men whom I cannot by some means turn away from you.'

¹⁶ Those words do not actually appear in the Bible, but the evidence that they were in effect said is clear and unmistakable. Turning to the first chapter of Job, we read: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? . . . Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, . . . But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." — Job 1: 6-11.

¹⁷ The wording of the text discloses an issue of long standing between God and Satan. God's question, 'From where do you come, Satan?' and Satan's reply, 'From walking up and down in the earth,' indicated a license or permission on Jehovah's part to Satan to have free hand to produce his seed or children from among men. In addition to disproving Satan's claim of ability to establish his throne above the stars of heaven, the issue included the matter of man's integrity toward his Creator.

¹⁸ Job was an actual character of history. He was a great-grandnephew of Abraham and lived about 1,700 years before Christ, or some 2,300 years after Satan's rebellion at Eden. All those 2,300 years men were being given opportunity to prove their integrity to the Most High. The issue was not new in Job's day.

PROVED A LIAR

¹⁹ The pages of the Bible are full of accounts of those who failed their Creator under attack by Satan. On the other hand, there were those who, like Job, were able to take all that the Devil offered and by their course of action under such conditions prove him the 'father of lies' and entirely incapable of 'being like the Most High'.

²⁰ We have a national example in the case of the Jews. When they, as a nation, made conscientious effort to serve Jehovah and keep his commandments He was with them, fought their battles for them, and gave them economic prosperity. When they succumbed to the Devil's offers and fell for the popular heathen practices of the nations round about them, Jehovah withdrew his protection and as a nation and as individuals they suffered at the hands of Satan.

²¹ At no time, however, has the Devil succeeded in turning all creatures away from the Crea-

tor. At every period of history from Eden on there have lived faithful men and women whose integrity to God was above reproach and whom the Devil did not succeed in turning away from the true worship.

²² It was so with Christ. Although he died an ignominious death at the hand of Satan's agents, Satan was unable to prove by him that keeping integrity toward God was not possible for human creatures under any condition that the Devil might bring.

²³ It was Christ whom the Scriptures showed was the promised seed to bruise the Serpent's head'; and at Revelation 12: 7-9 appears the record of his taking steps toward that act immediately upon coming into his kingship. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." The evidence is manifold that this event took place during A.D. 1914-1918.

²⁴ Although history has appeared to repeat itself at intervals, it is generally agreed that present unsettled conditions of the world far

exceed anything previous in scope and magnitude. The answer is that Satan no longer has access to heaven but has been cast down to this earth, and all his wicked angels or demons with him. He is still the unseen spirit overlord of disobedient humankind, not yet having been removed from that position.

²⁵ Says the scripture: "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." (Revelation 12:12) We are in that short period of woe right now. Satan, knowing that his time is limited to prove his claims, now turns on all his fury. In every field of endeavor he influences leaders and common man alike to acts of greed, selfishness, and violence, and all the world is in confusion. Many honest people are doing just what Satan intended: turning away from God, who they think is bringing the sorrows, but who, in fact, is only permitting Satan to prove, if he can, his boastful claims of supremacy and man's lack of integrity.

²⁶ The time limit for that proof is about up, and the Devil and his demons know it. The scripture at James 2:19 says, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." They tremble because their end is near.

²⁷ So subtle has been this nearly 6,000 years of attack that right today many people doubt the existence of either Satan or his wicked angels. To them sin, wickedness, and evil are merely abstract conditions inherent in humans. But the reason for that very doubt is explained at 2 Corinthians 11:14, where we read, "For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." His devices for fooling the people appear very innocent. World Security Organizations, a United States of Nations, united church movements, and the like, are all his schemes to blind the people to the real issue.

RESTRAINED AND DESTROYED

²⁸ But it will not always be that way. Revelation 20:1-3 tells us of a time when the arch-deceiver will be completely restrained in his activity. He will be bound for a thousand years, to no more deceive the nations and peoples until it is God's time to loose him for a season. In the meantime deceit, lying, and hypocrisy continue.

²⁹ Where do you stand in this matter of integrity? By your course of action are you lending support to Satan's contention? Many meek persons are seeking Jehovah's approval and by their conduct proving the Devil a liar. One way of gaining God's approval is stated at 2 Timothy 2:15: "Study to shew thyself approved un-

to God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." It is by a study of God's Word, which tells us of the subtle machinations of Satan, that one is able to withstand him. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," is the admonition at James 4: 7.

³⁰ This does not mean that one can now come to the point where he is immune from assault by the Devil. Until Satan is completely restrained that will never be. It does mean, however, that one can gain protection to such an extent that he will not be misled into supporting Satan's side of the controversy. Our principal fight now is against those unseen forces. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." — Ephesians 6:12.

³¹ The ultimate end of Satan is complete annihilation. This is assured by Christ's own words to those who have been deceived by the wicked one, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41) That which is destroyed by everlasting fire is not preserved anywhere, but is consumed for everlasting.

³² The "lake of fire and brimstone" into which Satan the Devil is eventually cast means everlasting death. "This is the second death." (Reve-

lation 20:10,14,15) That Christ Jesus will see to it that Satan the Devil does not live forever, it is written, at Hebrews 2:14: "He also himself likewise took part of [flesh and blood]; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Jehovah God also says to Satan, the unfaithful "anointed cherub that covereth": "I will destroy thee, 0 covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. . . . thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." (Ezekiel 28:16-19) Then the 'god of this present evil world' will no longer be able to control nations and invisibly dominate them. Satan will be dead!

³³ So, be armed with knowledge. Inform yourself. "Be circumspect, and be on the alert. Your enemy, the Devil, is going about like a roaring lion to see whom he can devour. Withstand him, firm in your faith; knowing that the same sufferings [as come upon you] are imposed on your brethren in all the world." — 1 Peter 5:8,9, Weymouth.