SATAN is called a “liar,” “deceiver,” and “murderer.” As a liar, he contradicts the plainest testimony of God, as, “Thou shalt not surely die,” when God had said, “The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Satan meets God’s “Thou shalt,” with his “Thou shalt not.” As “a deceiver,” he deceives in a thousand ways, in order to accomplish his hellish purpose as “a murderer.” “He blinds the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4)). He wishes their damnation, and, therefore, he acts out the part of a liar, deceiver, and murderer?
How many who would shun the society of a human liar, are found under the baneful influence of this great Satanic liar!
How many who would feel indignant and enraged at a human deceiver, are by this Satanic deceiver, deceived themselves!
How many who feel thankful that the hand of justice takes hold of the man that murders his fellow, and hangs him until he is dead, are, nevertheless, spirit, soul, and body, under the control of this wholesale “murderer from the beginning”!
Remember that light has come into the world, but, alas! men love darkness rather than light. Do you, my friend?
In the day when Christ was here, men had to choose between Satan’s man and God’s Son, ― between Barabbas and Christ. And sadly strange to say, they chose Satan’s man, Barabbas. Are you doing the same? Pilate’s appeal rings in our ears today, “Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?” Alas, how many are replying, “Barabbas!” Are you, beloved reader?
You have to be Christ’s friend or enemy. You are ranged with those who serve Satan or Christ. You are either of the world, or amongst the children of God. You are either converted or unconverted. All your sins are upon your soul, and yourself exposed to the terrific judgment of God, or you are washed from your sins in the blood of the Lamb, and thus made meet for heaven. Fellow-traveler to eternity, which is it? Are you under the control, and have you committed the keeping of your priceless soul, to the arch-liar, deceiver, and murderer; or have you as a sinner turned to God, trusted Christ and His atoning blood, and thus committed the keeping of your spirit, soul, and body to Him, who is “the way, and the truth, and the life?”
A man who lived not far from the writer recently died. He had served Satan faithfully, and often had scoffed at the gospel, the power of God to save; but, poor man, the solemn moment of death came, and for him what an awful moment!
He said that he saw a light above him. “What is that light? what is that light?” he kept asking. At the close, he said with a half-shriek to his son standing by, “George, I am on the wrong road, and it is too late!”
Oh, my unsaved reader, how I would like to take you by the hand, and with all the energy of my being beseech you to turn from Satan to God, from your sins to Christ, from death to lire.
If death to you seems a long way off, there is another event, the accomplishment of which we do not know the day nor the hour. Christ may descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, on any day or hour. Think of this deeply and soberly, and ask yourself the question, “Am I ready to meet Him? Am I saved?” Surely, if not, wisdom would lead you at once to Him, the Saviour of sinners, to be saved. He is willing, able, and waiting to receive and to save you. His word is, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)).
One word more: Now, He says, “Come unto me;” but, appalling thought, then, to every Christ-rejecting one, He will say, “Depart from me.” It must be “COME” or “DEPART.” E. A.