Satan and His Kingdom 185 Holy Spirit, into the wilderness to be “tempted of the devil,” and after other temptations, the devil showed Him “all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth. And the devil said unto Him, To Thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If Thou therefore wilt worship before me, it shall all be Thine” (Luke 4: 5, 6, 7, margin ). What a daring condition to put to the Son of God. The fallen archangel is craving for worship still. The extent of His claim to “all the kingdoms of the inhab ited earth” the Son of God did not deny, and later the Lord plainly speaks of Satan’s kingdom. “If Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand” ? (Luke 11:18.) And He adds, “The strong man fully armed guard- eth his own court,” until “a Stronger than he” comes upon him, and sets his captive free. How fitting therefore the peti tion, “Deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6 :13 )! John also emphasizes the universality of Satan’s rule, for he writes, “The whole world lieth in the evil one” (1 John 4:19)—it is sunk in the darkness which is his sphere, and is under the rule of the " world-rulers of this darkness” (Eph. 6:12). The Scripture makes no distinction between high and low, or be tween cultured and ignorant, when it states that the “whole world”—heathen and Christendom—lies “in” the realm of the evil one. In heathen lands, the deceiver is daring in his tyranny, holding men and women in gross and open sin. In civilized countries, the god of this age needs must veil his working. In these last days, however, he is beginning to more openly manifest himself as the prince of the world. He is familiariz ing people with his name. Books to be popular must be about him, and in fashion’s realm serpents have been the favorite ornaments of dress, while palmistry, clairvoyance, planchette, and other means of intercourse with the spirits of evil, abound on every hand.
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