The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 426

The European Union in Prophecy
but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men so credulous concerning the
words of Satan and so unbelieving in regard to the words of God. Had man after his
fall been allowed free access to the tree of life, he would have lived forever, and thus
sin would have been immortalized. But cherubim and a flaming sword kept "the way
of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24), and not one of the family of Adam has been permitted
to pass that barrier and partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an
immortal sinner.
But after the Fall, Satan bade his angels make a special effort to inculcate the
belief in man's natural immortality; and having induced the people to receive this
error, they were to lead them on to conclude that the sinner would live in eternal
misery. Now the prince of darkness, working through his agents, represents God as a
revengeful tyrant, declaring that He plunges into hell all those who do not please Him,
and causes them ever to feel His wrath; and that while they suffer unutterable
anguish and writhe in the eternal flames, their Creator looks down upon them with
satisfaction.
Thus the archfiend clothes with his own attributes the Creator and Benefactor
of mankind. Cruelty is satanic. God is love; and all that He created was pure, holy,
and lovely, until sin was brought in by the first great rebel. Satan himself is the enemy
who tempts man to sin, and then destroys him if he can; and when he has made sure
of his victim, then he exults in the ruin he has wrought. If permitted, he would sweep
the entire race into his net. Were it not for the interposition of divine power, not one
son or daughter of Adam would escape.
Satan is seeking to overcome men today, as he overcame our first parents, by
shaking their confidence in their Creator and leading them to doubt the wisdom of
His government and the justice of His laws. Satan and his emissaries represent God
as even worse than themselves, in order to justify their own malignity and rebellion.
The great deceiver endeavours to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our
heavenly Father, that he may cause himself to appear as one greatly wronged by his
expulsion from heaven because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He
presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy under his mild sway, in
contrast with the bondage imposed by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds
in luring souls away from their allegiance to God.
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