to me”? Do an act of worship to a principle? No, it simply does not make sense to rob the Devil, Satan, of his personality.—Matt. 4:9, 10, NW.

Besides, Paul tells us that Satan has the power of death and that Christ Jesus will destroy him; Peter tells us that “Your adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone.” Jude tells us that Satan had a disagreement with Michael regarding the body of Moses; and John tells us that Satan has misled all the nations, that he and his angels warred against Michael and his angels, that Satan and his angels were cast out of heaven, that they will be sealed in an abyss for a thousand years and that they will be loosed for a short period of time and finally destroyed in the lake of fire, the second death.—1 Pet. 5:8; Heb. 2:14; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7-9; 20:2, 3, 7-10, NW.

PERSONALITY OF THE DEMONS

Not only is the Scriptural testimony so clear and convincing as to the existence of Satan the Devil, but it is likewise unequivocal regarding the existence of demons, or lesser devils. From Genesis 6:1-4 we learn that certain angels, “sons of God,” joined Satan in his rebellion by coming to earth and cohabiting with the daughters of men, whose offspring were hybrids, human but of angelic fatherhood, and giants. Peter refers to these as “the angels that sinned,” and they, together with their giant offspring, were, no doubt, largely to blame for the fact that the earth was filled with wickedness and violence.—2 Pet. 2:4; Gen. 6:5, 11, NW.

Thus we read at Daniel 10:12-21 that an angel whom Jehovah had sent with a message to Daniel was held up for three weeks by an evil angel, until Michael, one of the chief princes, came and rescued him, permitting this messenger to proceed to Daniel with his message. That angel brought to Daniel a prophetic message. Certainly all this was not just so much imagination! The Israelites who offered their sacrifices to false gods were said to have been sacrificing to the demons and the apostle Paul makes the same point regarding sacrifices offered to idols. Jesus recognized the existence of Beelzebub, the ruler of devils, thus indicating that there were other demons.—Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37; 1 Cor. 10:20, 21; Matt. 12:27.

As regards Jesus’ contact with these demons, while many books have been written endeavoring to explain demon obsession as being merely psychiatric cases, insanity, epilepsy or fits, yet a careful Biblical examination allows for no such construction.

If demon-possession was merely lunacy or insanity (Matt. 4:24, NW), then one insane person after another could not have testified to Jesus’ Messiahship, as was done by these demon-possessed individuals; neither can we conclude that Jesus himself did not know any better or that he deliberately perpetrated a fraud and fostered a delusion for the sake of effect. The demons within those persons were themselves personalities, even as we read: “He expelled many demons, but he would not let the demons speak, because they knew him to be Christ.”—Mark 1:34, NW.

Consider the account of the demon-possessed man who lived among the rocks and whom no chains could restrain, who, in reply to Jesus’ question, said: “My name is Legion, because there are many of us.” The record then goes on to say: “Now a great herd of swine was there on the mountain feeding. So they entreated him, saying: ‘Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.’ And he permitted them. With that the unclean spirits came out and entered into the swine, and the herd rushed over the precipice into the sea, about two thousand of them, and they drowned one 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.

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.