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“Your Adversary, the Devil”The Watchtower—1954 | June 1
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after another in the sea.”—Mark 5:6-13, NW.
How can this account be explained without admitting that demons exist? Were Mark, Matthew and Luke, all of whom recorded this, all deceived? Was it all a mere coincidence and did Jesus perpetrate a fraud? Or can we imagine the insanity of one person entering into two thousand swine and causing them to rush into the sea and drown? No, to deny the plain testimony of the Scriptures in regard to the existence of the Devil and the demons is not only to impugn the authenticity of the Scriptures but to raise more problems than the denial would seem to solve.
Where did Satan come from? Surely God did not create him as Satan, for all His work is perfect. (Deut. 32:3, 4) Satan was at one time a perfect angel and served as a guardian of the first human pair in Eden. Concerning him we read: “Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; . . . Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; . . . Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee. . . . Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.”—Ezek. 28:13-18, AS.
And what caused him to corrupt his wisdom? His ambition to be like the Most High, Jehovah God, which was betrayed thousands of years later in these words of his: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” (Isa. 14:13, 14, AS) By taking the foregoing scriptures with the well-known account of what took place in Eden, we have the picture of an angel appointed as guardian over the first human pair, who let his appointment go to his head and became ambitious to be like Jehovah God and began by estranging the first human pair from their Maker. He made himself into a deceiving, opposing, devouring Devil.—Gen. 3:1-19.
Thus, it is no myth that “Your adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone.”—1 Pet. 5:8, NW.
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Sobering NewsThe Watchtower—1954 | June 1
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Sobering News
● A pioneer couple went to Marilia, a prosperous city in the interior of São Paulo state, Brazil. There was no congregation at the time, but many became interested through a series of open-air lectures that the pioneer delivered. At one of these talks a drunk listened in and then offered to pay the speaker to come to his home and give the same talk to his family that consisted of 22 members and relatives. The majority of them were Presbyterians, and the drunk never could sober up enough to join their church. But now he busied himself with studying the truth, cutting out all drink, and straightening out his moral affairs. This impressed all his acquaintances and relatives, because if Jehovah’s witnesses could sober him up and get him interested in the Bible, they had something. So they gladly listened to parlor lectures (given free, of course), and one after another began coming along in the truth. The ex-drunk by now was such a zealous publisher that in a few months’ time he entered the pioneer service and later was appointed congregation servant with the formation of the new Marilia congregation. By also working outlying territories this new pioneer helped to organize several congregations in neighboring cities. Now the Marilia congregation is up to 112 publishers and with a very fine, centrally located Kingdom Hall. If harlots and publicans can get into the New World society before self-righteous Pharisee clergy, so can the drunks if they love the truth enough and put forth the necessary effort to win their battle with the intemperate thirst for liquor.
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