LET NO MAN SPOIL YOU by H. A. St. John

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 12, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 40.

LET NO MAN SPOIL YOU.

By H. A. St. John

BY H. A. ST. JOHN.

EVE, the first woman on earth, was spoiled by the first enemy of God and humanity, and she, in turn, spoiled her husband, Adam, the first man on earth. Then they two, unable to give their posterity any better nature than they themselves possessed, spoiled all the millions of human beings who are their legitimate offspring. This terrible work, in its very beginning, resulted in spoiling the possessions and prospects of all humanity, both for time and eternity.

But the Lord, in His infinite love and mercy, came to the rescue. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” At infinite cost our loving heavenly Father has provided a means of rescue, restoration, and complete restitution for all who will accept, believe, and obey the good news of the Gospel.

First, this glorious Gospel restores the spoiled moral image of God in the man, bringing back to him eventually a divine nature and God-like character. Second, it will restore his spoiled body, for when he shall at last behold Jesus as He is, the vile body of the man will be instantly transformed, changed and fashioned like unto the glorious body of the glorified Redeemer. And third and last, the great Creator and Restorer will recreate, out of this spoiled heavens and earth, a new heaven and a new earth, in which there will remain no marks of the spoiler.

But the great original spoiler of all that is good and beautiful still lives and reigns as god of this world, as prince of the power of the air, and in his ruinous career is still working with “all power, and signs, and lying wonders,” determined, if he can not prevent the overthrow and complete destruction of his kingdom, that he will at least do his utmost to utterly spoil every soul that seeks regeneration, and full and final restitution. He is meeting with much success, because so successful in using multitudes of unbelieving men as his efficient agents, and a host of invisible agencies known as evil spirits.

Hence it becomes a matter of great importance that every soul in whom Christ has begun the good and glorious work of restoration, should heed with all diligence the admonition of the great apostle, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him; rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Col. 2:6-9. Of the many agencies at work to spoil us, let us consider a few of the most prominent.

1. Philosophy. Vain and false philosophy abounds, and is very fascinating to the thinking man, and multitudes are continually being spoiled for this life and the life to come by its seductive influence. Beware of these dangerous rocks that so thickly beset the voyagers on the ocean of time as we approach the eternal shore. The Word of God points them out, and shows the way of escape that we be not shipwrecked.

2. Vain deceit. The great deceiver has multitudes of human mediums of deception. Signs and wonders will they perform, yea, miracles, so that if it were possible they would deceive and spoil the very elect of God. In the same blessed Word of our God is to be

found our only shield from all this host of spoiling deceptions.

3. Worldly elements. All seeking after mere worldly treasures, honors, or pleasures, must be eliminated from our hearts and lives, and the kingdom of God and His righteousness become first, last, and all the time, the all-absorbing passion of our souls.

It is a blessed truth that we are able to keep ourselves in the love of God, and if this we do, there is nothing that can spoil us. With the grace of God so freely and abundantly given us, we may keep the commandments of God, and thus abide in His love; then Jesus can finish moulding us after the divine image, and then crown His work with a glorious immortality. And in that great day of the restitution of all things spoken of by the holy prophets since the world began, Christ will divide the spoils with the spoiler. The great arch-spoiler himself, together with all things and beings he has hopelessly spoiled, will be hopelessly destroyed. The spoiled heavens and earth will be made new, paradise restored, a new race of beings, the children of the second Adam, evolved from the spoiled race, or children of the first Adam, will be the glorified and immortal inhabitants of the restored earth, a country where no spoiler will ever enter. And we’ll be there, we’ll be there in a little while.