The Bible object book

by C. H. Woolston

When I was a little boy there were two little brothers who lived on the same street with me. One of them, the older one, had a very bad temper, and when he grew angry he would fling himself upon the ground and kick and scream. All the neighbors noticed this and when they spoke to his mother about it she replied, "Willie is not himself when in temper."

She was speaking the truth, he was possessed by the temper devil. One day this brother was playing with his little brother and in a moment of anger struck him in the face with his clinched fist. When the doctor came he said the little brother would never see again. He would be blind for life. Both brothers lived to be men. The elder brother never had a happy hour afterward. He would often say, "I don't see how I could have done it." This was why he did it; as with Mary Magdalene, the devil had entered his heart. The temper devil had entered the soul and taken full possession. As you say these words put the card into the heart and say "Temper is the fifth devil."

"Unbelief" is the sixth devil. Mary Magdalene had sinned and lost her standing in the synagogue. Her sins were punishable by the laws of Moses with death; she was a doomed sinner, she had left God and was alone. If she had kept the devil of unbelief out of her heart when she was first tempted, she never would have fallen into his black hands. It never pays to leave God. Believe his word. He has spoken, trust him. This will keep the devil out. Many years ago in a New England town there was a minister who preached a carefully prepared sermon on "Casting all your care on him, for he careth for you," and on his way home from church fell into a well and was severely hurt. It was laughing-stock for a common community, and it did seem just a little strange that after he had so carefully prepared his sermon and assured the people that if they put their trust in God he would take care of them, and then an hour afterward he should fall into a well and injure himself. The devil of unbelief whispered in his heart, "God did not keep his word, you are a fool to trust him," but the young preacher resisted the whispering devil and said, "Wait a little while, God will make it plain to me," and God did. He was sent to a hospital in Boston, a town he had never seen but always wanted to visit. While he was there some friends urged him to write the story of "How God cared for a man by casting him into a well."

He was a better writer than a speaker; an essayist, rather than an orator. He wrote his story and told the world how he believed God and did not doubt his promises. He told the story of Joseph who had been cast into a well and came forth to be a prince in Egypt. He thus attracted the attention of the entire city of Boston. He leaped into fame at once. He became one of the most famous writers of America, and for years was the leader of religious thought in all New England.

God took good care of him so he should fall into the well, for that was the first round in the ladder of his great success. Many a man has doubted God and stayed down the well of misfortune and upbraided God, denounced him, and so lived the rest of his days in darkness, and dying went into eternal night. Put this card into the heart and say "Unbelief is the sixth devil."

"Unholy Pleasure" is the seventh and last devil of this black-winged group. Have these words written on a piece of gold paper.

This devil of "Unholy Pleasure" is in full dress and a gentleman of the world. A "regular fellow," so the people of the world declare, but he is a deceiver and destroyer. Seek pure pleasure. Play, but play straight, or the lamps of sin over the pleasure garden of the world will blind your eyes, so you cannot see the evil of sinful pleasures.

This devil will be at the end of the road to make captive your soul forever. Place this card in the heart and say: "Unholy Pleasure is the seventh devil, and now there is a full house of devils. The heart will soon come to the end of the way as it is now full of devils and full of sin." As you say this produce a red heart the same size as the white heart you have been using, and put it in front of the white heart. You can now see sin covers her heart entirely, she is down but not out, because where the "out" begins Jesus stands and waits. He always gives special attention to hard cases, and Jesus found Mary Magdalene just there, and saved her soul by casting out the seven devils and making her clean again. He had forgiven all her transgressions and remembers them against her no more forever.

As you say this, still holding the red heart in front of the white heart, take out all the devils at once if you can, and as you do so take away the red heart also, drop them all on the table together and say, "Please note that when the devils all go out sin goes also [having reference to the red heart], and the heart is now white and clean, and it will so stay, for the devils have gone out to stay out."

This is the story of how seven devils entered the heart of Mary Magdalene, and the glad story of how they were cast out. God will do the same for you, for he is no respecter of persons.