A very devout man, writing of a personal experience, says: “There seemed to be some designing spirit near me for days that constantly whispered in my ear, and sometimes it seemed almost audible, “Go kill thyself; you have disgraced your Redeemer and you are not fit to live.” Scores of such testimonies are on record.
Think of the logical traps used by the Designer to incite the deed: if poverty, “My family will be cared for better than I can.” If a suffering body, “This will cure me of my pain.” If fear of exposure, “That will end it—charity will forgive me then.” If hopeless over some sin, “Better die than face the disgrace. It will solve all the problems,” says the Tempter. It is often remarked concerning some one: “How cowardly;” but it is not cowardice; it is inability to answer the Devil’s logic to commit suicide.
Again, gruesome as it is, and here is more strange evidence in favour of the satanic explanation: It is fearfully contagious. Professor Bailey, of Yale, said that the report of a suicide by any special method will be followed by others in the same manner. Morbid, despondent people hear of it and follow the example. That which should be revolting in the extreme possesses a strange charm. Ingersol toured the country at one time advocating suicide as the best way out of life’s difficulties. Many took his advice and a fearful epidemic followed. One young man in a rural community of Illinois committed suicide; three others, all associates, followed in a few weeks. No special motive could be given for either. We are forced to place the blame where it belongs, and sympathize with the victims.
XXXI
DEVIL WORSHIP
“Then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not.”—Deuteronomy xxxii. 15-17.
“But I say the things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and the table of devils.”—1 Corinthians x. 20-21.
Satan’s consuming passion is thirst for power. He is the “prince of darkness,” but also the “god of this world,” and this long period of satanic rule is called night. God’s glorious Sabbath of rest was superseded by the black intervention of toil and suffering. Satan’s scheming fight has been for the rulership of this world. He succeeded in winning the entire antediluvian world, which to save the coming generations necessitated the Flood. He began adroitly with the only remaining family; swept the postdiluvian peoples into midnight heathenism. To-day, nearly one billion descendants of Noah worship not God—but demonian—demons, just what the Greeks and Romans worshipped in Apostolic times. No less than two hundred and fifty million are devil worshippers by name.