THE residents of a mountainous district have recently been troubled by a large and daring wolf, who has carried away many of their fowls and animals, and proved himself generally destructive. His unusual size and strength makes it possible for him to kill a fair-sized sheep or porker and carry it away for his dinner. He has been in the locality so long that he is quite generally known, and has been given the name of “Old Charlie.”
The most skilled hunters have done their best to kill him, but he has cunningly eluded them. On one occasion he took to a creek, so that the hounds were unable to follow his trail, and once more he escaped his pursuers.
This bold and destructive creature reminds one of Satan, who is going up and down in the world as the enemy of God and man. Does the reader know that he is exposed to this foe who desires for him only that which is evil?
While he has great power, he is also shrewd and deceptive. Old Charlie, the wolf, is no match for him in subtlety. The Scripture speaks of him as being transformed into an angel of light, so that he may appear in a very polished way, and even of religious form, but he is ever the deceiver, a “liar and the father of it.”
His one great object is to keep people from coming to Christ and be saved. He knows full well that salvation is offered to all, and that whosoever will, may accept it, but he seeks to pervert the simplicity of the gospel, or to hinder any from receiving it. And sad to say, he may and does use human instruments in his deception.
No doubt, it has been laid upon your heart that you should believe the gospel and be saved now, before your opportunity has forever passed, and following upon this impulse comes the thought that there is plenty of time; that you might just as well enjoy the world a few years longer. This second voice is that of Satan, who is afraid lest he should lose you as his own,
Or perhaps when you have heard the heavenly message, that you have only to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, Satan comes along, and whispers that faith in Christ may be false, but the Scripture says,
It is for the reader to choose whom he will serve, Satan or Christ. Satan is the deceiver, the destroyer. Christ will bestow upon you only that which is good—all that He won by His redemption work, including a place in His home above, where there is fulness of joy forever.
ML 07/02/1933