SATANIC, NOT CHRISTIAN.
By Ethan Lanphear
‘‘Why do men put the devil in power and then have to ask or petition him to act like a Christian?’’ asks Rev. R. L. Lots, of Pomeroy, Wash., in the Harbinger (Christian). ‘‘Who are these men whom we petition to close the World’s Fair on Sunday?’’ ‘‘Has it come to pass in this progressive age that God has to petition the devil to help him out?’’ ‘‘Have we reached the time when the children of God are simply the petitioners at the throne of Satan?’’ These questions arouse in us many a query. It seems to me that instead of the devil’s being asked to act like a Christian, those who are working for Sunday laws, while professing Christianity, are manifesting the spirit of the devil; for they are assuming to be as God, and attempting to change times and laws. God instituted the seventh day as the Sabbath. Christ indorsed it and kept it, and claimed he was Lord of it, and that the ‘Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’ Neither Father nor Son ever indicated that there ever was a change, or that there ever was to be a change. But the gospel indicates that false teachers would arise and attempt to ‘change times and laws.’ And are not our professed Christians that have been fighting for Sunday closing, doing their best to change God’s law and Christ’s teachings? God never calls on the ‘devil to help him out.’ God never changes. Neither does Christ ever call on men to legislate men to be Christians, nor does he order his followers to use carnal weapons to compel men to become religious, or to observe his Sabbaths. He says, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments,’ while those who profess to be his followers are petitioning Congress to observe a day never sanctioned by him, in fact, the pagan Sunday. Constantine issued the first edict requiring the people to observe Sunday, in the year 321. But he only required this of the people of the city. The country people were excused. But here these zealous false prophets would compel all the world in attendance at the World’s Fair, and the entire nation, to keep the heathen Sunday. It is all—the legislation, the boycotting, the threatenings—outside of the realm of Christianity and God’s plan of salvation. Render unto Casar the things that are Casar’s, but unto God the things that are God’s. ‘‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’’ Don’t profess to accept the Bible as your faith and practice while you are following false teachers and the traditions of men. You are as foreign from God and Christ’s religion as many of the heathen nations represented in the great religious gathering recently held at Chicago. ‘‘Come out from among them’’ is the requirement of the gospel. Will you come? There is no other Sabbath represented by God and Christ but the ‘‘seventh day.’’ If you would reach the consciences of men, you must teach the ‘‘commandments’’ of God and the faith and teachings of Christ. There are many religions, but only one Christianity. You talk about a Christian sabbath, an American sabbath, etc., as if we were a world by ourselves, and were ruled by men-made gods. Our Christianity has been run away with by a renegade church, and, in fact, the church needs to be converted anew to Christ. Christ said to Peter after he had denied his Lord, ‘‘When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.’’ This is what our national teachers need before we shall have a pentecostal season.