“CHRISTIAN SCIENCE:” ARE ITS DOCTRINES TRUTH OR ERROR?
By George I. Butler
Are There Evil Angels? What Does the Word Say?
The question of the personal existence of evil angels—Satan and his host—is a question of great importance, and one that has been much agitated in human history. Multitudes wholly disbelieve it in these latter times. Among these are Mrs. Eddy and her Christian Scientists. Indeed, she takes the broad ground that Spiritualists have taken, that there is no evil in existence. All is good. All the arguments used to prove that wicked angels do not exist, equally prove that evil of any kind does not exist. If God is too good to tolerate the satanic host, the same supposed goodness should not tolerate evil of any kind in wicked men. Mrs. Eddy’s way of disposing of evil—that is, to deny its very existence—must be indeed a wonderful “discovery” or invention of hers, that must have required a wonderful sight of “cheek,” to say the least. When we look out on this broad world of ours, and see the oppression, the slavery, the drunkenness, debauchery, the murders, thefts, licentiousness, corruption of youth, the hydra-headed forms of sin of every hue, it must take great courage to stand up and say that evil does not exist in this world. Are these and countless other things all right, and consistent with the holiness and purity of God? Yet God permits them to exist almost everywhere in this world. So far as this question is concerned, whether these terrible things originated with man or with a higher order of intelligences than man, it matters little. This fact that they exist at all, demonstrates that God for some wise reason allows them to continue for a period, at least. But it does not follow that they will always exist. The time will come when He declares He will burn them out of His universe. The origin of evil can never be settled outside of the Bible. The question has been debated ever since sin entered our world. Philosophy in all its varied forms has never been able to settle it. That evil is here, and is everywhere manifest and in lively existence all over our globe, is evident; and pagans, heathen, Mohammedans, Christians, unbelievers, and infidels,—all have recognized its existence. It seems to have been left largely to Mrs. Eddy to look us in the eye, move her wand, and tell us, without a tremor or a blush, Evil is not. It has no existence. All the world for ages has been fooled by a mere illusion. Everything is all right, and we have only to disbelieve in the existence of evil, and presto! evil has departed to the shades of nothingness. It matters not if blood is shed like water. Murders, rapes, burnings at the stake, robbery, cannibalism, and all the full brood are as rampant as ever. They are all illusions. Somebody must badly err. Is it Mrs. Eddy or all the world that is mistaken? It is vain to undertake to settle this great question by appeals to philosophy, science, or history. There is only one document, one Book, that gives us the facts. That volume tells us that sin existed first in the universe among a higher order of intelligences than men—among the very angels that surrounded the throne of God. From them it was communicated to man,—the first members of the human family,—and thence to all their descendants, as the whole history of man declares. We shall find this plainly stated in God’s blessed Book: “There was war in heaven. Michael [Christ] 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.” Rev. 12:7-9. This brief statement is found in a symbolic prophecy of the true Church of Jesus Christ, represented under the symbol of a “woman clothed with the sun,” who “brought forth a man child [Christ], who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” Verses 1, 5. The two great leaders of the opposing principles of good and evil connected with the Church—Christ and that “old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,”—are introduced; Christ, the true Shepherd of His people from the beginning, and Satan, who began his war upon God’s people, so far as this earth is concerned, in the garden of Eden. In such connection, it is very proper briefly to glance back to the very origin of the great struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, which occurred even before our world was created, when the host of evil angels, with Satan at their head, were cast out of heaven. This “great controversy” has existed ever since, and will continue till the whole universe of God has been made fully acquainted with the nature of evil—until the awful character of sin and rebellion against God’s righteous government has become fully understood. Then Satan and his whole wicked brood of followers will be forever destroyed, and God will reign evermore over a pure and holy universe, where sin and all the forms of evil will have ceased, through an endless eternity. Dear reader, there is an abundance of evidence in God’s word that this great crisis, when all evil and rebellion will be forever put down, is very near at hand. In no way could the inspired writer better give us a true conception of the nature of this awful struggle between the forces of good and evil than to refer us back to the casting out of heaven itself of Satan and his followers. There the rebellion began. There it received its first discomfiture. The great controversy has been in progress in our world especially, ever since. Christ has been gaining victories, from one great epoch or crisis to another, over the powers of evil, especially when He was manifested here on earth in human form, living a life of purity and holiness, going about doing good to suffering humanity, teaching the great principles of the kingdom of heaven, and dying at last as the One just offering for sin, and gloriously coming forth from the grave as a conqueror over death and hades. Here was an object lesson which all the hosts of evil have never been able to obscure, in which God’s care and great love for His creatures was wonderfully manifest. Yea, in this great crisis, Satan’s malignity, his hatred of all that is good, his pretensions of goodness, his duplicity, deception, and abominable hypocrisy were uncovered, laid open, and fully made manifest before all of God’s universe. When, through his influence, temptations, and sophistries, he compassed the death of the lovely, pure, and noble Son of God, he revealed his character in its true light, and has never been able to deceive man as fully as before. In this remarkable, wonderful age, we have reached another grand crisis in the affairs of men. Christ came the first time in the Augustan age, noted for its intelligence, its high degree of civilization far surpassing any previous age since paganism had corrupted mankind. God had a wise purpose in having the first advent of His Son in such an intelligent epoch. It made it far more difficult for Satan and his sympathizers to obscure the great facts of gospel light and truth. That age, after a comparatively brief period, was succeeded by the Dark Ages, a long period of apostasy among those who professed to be followers of Christ, when God’s word and its grand truths were almost completely obscured. That age was succeeded by the great Protestant Reformation, when the truths of inspiration were once more made prominent. This fact gave a mighty impetus to improvement of every sort. The forces of Christian civilization have accomplished wonders, till we have reached the “time of the end,” when “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:4. Dear reader, stop for a moment and consider the significance of this scripture. The fact that we are living in an age of great knowledge and high civilization does not prove that this world will continue to advance for ages. O, no! It only proves in the light of inspiration that THE TIME OF THE END is reached. That, in other words, is but a brief period before the end itself shall be here, and the GREAT DAY, the day for which all others were made, the GRAND CONSUMMATION of all ages, when sin and rebellion shall be put down for evermore, will be ushered in. How reasonable and consistent is the fact that in the age when Christ shall come in His glory, and the reign of sin and rebellion be closed up forever, a warning should go forth to the ends of the earth that such an event is near at hand. How consistent that God’s providence should have so arranged that this warning message should be proclaimed when the great mass of the people could read, write, and comprehend it, rather than in a barbarous age of darkness and ignorance, when few could comprehend it. Christ came the first time during the most famous age of ancient times. So it is now when His second coming is near. But the Bible also warns us that when the last days have come, Satan and his host will be very busy; and various counterfeit systems of religion will prevail; yea, that Satan will manifest His power to that degree that “if it were possible,” he would “deceive the very elect.” Matt. 24:24. Thank God, it will not be possible for Satan to accomplish this, because God’s “elect” will be a class who closely study the “sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn.” 2 Peter 1:10. For this reason they will not be in darkness as others are. But all who reject this great source of light will be exposed to Satan’s illusions, cunning, and deceptions. All but the elect will be deceived. This the Saviour’s language proves beyond a doubt. The enemy of God’s government is pouring in upon this last generation error of every form, to counterfeit the work of God. Lo here and Lo there is the cry—anything to obscure the plain teachings of God’s word. Faith in it is being broken down everywhere. Even in modern pulpits, infidelity is being largely taught, especially calculated to lull people to sleep concerning the personal coming of Christ. Mrs. Eddy’s new religious cult teaches that her “great discovery” is the second coming of Christ. It is high time to remember the prophet’s words. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” All who do not are from the region of darkness. GEO. I. BUTLER.