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(FORMER THE FO&L-KllfEfc)
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BOOMER NORTH CAROLINA, DECEMBER, 1917.
VOLUMES
NUMBER 5
o J Wi IN HEAVEN.
Befoje the invention and, deve
lopment of; the flying-machine,;
people ,whoi read in i the i Bible
abont ' ' war in heaven ' thought it
meant away up millions of miles
Mgh at a' place : where - they
imagine God stays. Nobody ever
dreamed about it being the atmos
jpheric heaven that surrounds the
earth! We had no reason for. be
tievin' that men would ever fight
in the air.
But within the past three years
a new meaning has been given to
that expression about '"war in
heaven." We see now that it
could easily mean the fighting
with airplanes that is now going
on in Europe, And in fact, that
ig. about tho only thing it -could
mean.' lleoauso Ood's own pri
vate Heaven, if there is such a
place, mcst evidently be a place of
absolute '.peace and harmony. We
-aretold that nothing evil is ever
allowed to enter there. And if we
have to believe that war could get
into God Heaven and -cause trou
hie . there, we will .no, longer be
able to see how it differs . very
much from other places where war
is, nd .Heaven will have Jost ts
" greatest charm -the very thing
that makes it Heaven, i
We all know that the atmos
sphere surrounding the earth is
called "heaven," and we see that
the first thing men did after learn
ing how to fly waa to begin fight
ing in the air. In a recent macra-
srine article Theodore Roosevelt
"bells how the first air battles were
fought very low, but as the air
fighting developed it got higher
-and , higher, until now battles
fought six miles high are very
common. - ; '
You see the combatants soon
discovered ; that there was an ad
vantage in: being : ABOVE the
enemy; in order to fight DOWN at
it, just is I tb e mati who1 wishes to
whip; another) in a fist-fight begins
by knocking: him t down and get
thig:on top of him. . r r t
."Sstajr on -top-' isMthe big idea
in air-nghtingi But it is a game
all sjde n- play at ; and while
one is! mounting the clouds to get
above the other, .the: other: is do
ing a r little mounting oti his own
hook.- f o r the, purpose of gettih g
on top himself.
So j the natural ; tendency of air
fighting; is Upward higher and
higher. , If possible : they Would
carry, it right; on into God's own
Heaven, , but ; He will not allow
that, f lie will send on them an
other v confusion like Babel and
put a stop to it all.
Yes, sir, the ; 12th chapter of
Bevelation and all the other places
that talk' about war in heaven,
nittsf 'be talking about the very
same " air-battle thaV ? you read
about ; your 7 newspaper, zthis
niornng. .,;.r : : iq '
JSIENAL , TORMENT.
. t m brpuglit . up in th"e; Bap
tist faith arid became a member of
the Baptist church ' at an early
age, I was probably ' 4 scared '
into the church by the booger-
boo of Eternal Torment before I
was old e?iough to reason things
out for myself.
Having been raised on such doc
trine as that, and knowing that
lots of good, honest, well-meaning
people believed it, it was several
years beforo I could muster up
courage enough to doubt it. So
the years passed, and I continued
to believe in Eternal Torment for
the wicked, but I was not satisfied
with the belief. The more I
thought about it the more unrea
sonable Jt seemed. Finallv the
day came whedI said in my roul :
It God is good, then Eternal Tor
meiit ia a lie ; " and if Eternal Torr
ment is' true, then God is a cruel
monster. ' ;: ; ' ;-' L ' - ":-
Having once begun to doubt, it
was then easier to gpion doubting
ier to goson uouDxing,
AV .T-imm; vrr;r aTTrTwnt uo-uneriy -nioiiea -our,
h.H.vn nnncr f n A tr. !
Infidel. -
All this time I was trying to be
unmercifully honest with myself.
I wanted to be absolutely sure
that the Bible was a big .pack of
lies belore I finally threw it over
board. AH my denominational
prejudice- was' gone. There I
stood, empty-handed and ppen-
minded, bravely facing the pro
blem, and honestly seeking for
the truth. - . .. -:
And then
just in the nick of
time -this thought came "to me":
Maybe the Bible IS true, and they
have' merely taught me a wrong
interpretation of it. Maybe,-"after
all,' it does NOT, teach Eternal':
Torment,- .iv m-v
' And that thought saved me.
I went back to the old Book and
began "to study it in a new liht.
Aiid'eholdj it1 was' an: entirely
hew Book.. ' I found 4hat - it did
NQTj teach-Eternal Torment, :and
then : my. respect for God came
backlin a hurry, and ) with - it. a
good deal' of humble reverence.
Tli e true interpretation of what
Gbji proposes to do with the "wick
ed is a very beautiful blending of
Justice andMercy. ; It is the least
that a just God: CQTJLD do, and
the most that a merciful God
WOULD do. It is just plain
DEATH.
The penalty of Death has been
pronounced against the utterly
wicked; ever since Adam's trans
gression, and that is , the only
penalty -eVer mentioned. It
is
spDken of under various figures
of ,speechtbut it always meansthe
same, and it is a slander against
God .to try to , make it mean any-
ttimgeise.' ; ' , i v
. The doctrine of ' Eternal Tor
merit "forPtho" wicked, yas taught in
the .manrtnade creeds, is a' brutal
blasphemous and God-dishonoring
doctrine jand I verily believe it is
the cause of more infidelity . than
all other causes combined. Men
and women with common sense
are not going to love a cruel and
heartless; monster such as God
would have to be if Eternal Torment-were
true. They might
FEAK such a God, but they would
never LOVE him. That is the
kind of a being we understand
the devil to be, and it (jod is just
like the devil, why not Just as
well love the devil and be done
With , 1 believe the aevu is
every bit mean enough to torment
people eternally and laugh at
their misery if he was permitted
to do it. But our merciful and
Ail-Powerful God will not allow
any suchibusiness. He is, going to
destroy the devil at the same time
he destroys the rest of the wick
ed. And thus every' vestige oi
i , zxziAAiitiZi
antl oniy goouness, peace, joy ana
THE TERRIBLE ATOM.
7 Here is something else for you
to think about, and I don 't want
you to go off and say it's just one
of my big lies,' either.
The men of science are working
on a strange: new theory of mat
ters .You know what ' ' matter 'Vis
don't, you? Matter is just any
thing any object that you can
j see or feel, and even after it gets
so little that you can't see it with
your natural eye- it is still mat
tier. These very small invisible
particles of matter are called
; It was thought for a long time
that the atom was 'th'" ultimate,
unit 'of Matter and that it cPuId
not be divided any more; But trow
the wise men come along and tell
us 'that jthe atom is imade up of. a
great number, of still:- smaller,
things called . ' ' electrons. " . And
.the strangest thing about it is that
these electrons are not lying close
together in the atom,- making a
solid 7 mass, i but they stand - wide
apart and revolve around a 'Cen
tral point at a most: terrific rate
of speed. It is just a .micsoscopic
copy of the solar system. , , , v ,
Just how the meri of science find
but such things is more' than I can
tell you. But they all affirm that
these things are proven facts, and
I am not in a position to dispute
their word. Men have done so
'rhany-wonderf ulthings. lately Jkat
donit dare. jto.saywhaAfe
be donejo;i'i: -t r-v.tC'-:j.
WelL-s-1- starledto.teUym..
these little F-electrpus which are -
revolving in he atom at,. such anf
awful speed are bound ip-generate, j
a great deal of. force. . -And now;.,
science? is working to (Jiscoyr ;a
way to - break up the atom and ",
liberate" the'powerthat is impri-
spned . in, it. One high- authority 4
say s that a commoFcopper penny
has in it an amount of energy
equal to ' 8,600,000 horsepower!
Just imagine J Eight million and
six , hundred thousand horsepower
in one copper penny ! And the I
Mme writer goes on to say : that
whenever the secret of using this -a
power is discovered it will be pos-
sible to transform the whole earth
into a Garden of Eden.
But wait a minute! Judging by
the way man ,uses tjie f orces that
he does possess, would" he make
the earth a Paradise or a HellV
Bless your soul, man already as
in his possession forces that would : '
soon make the earth - a great deal 1
better nlace to live in if he would
use it fight: But look ! Instead ;
of any progress toward a paradise
condition, the earth is right this
inhiute-h - next' thing3 to hellt :1
And man has to admit that this is
what all his smartness comes to. ' ;
i ; And so f if 'the scientists should
discover a way to use this terrible '
hidden power that they say is in
loiter ? n trr -rrrr l-i -m , '"' y
creation wrecked before you could -;
say ' ' scat. ' ' It never would do
for man in his' present sinful5 arid
depraved condition to' come" into
' " ' n m T . . - . .
Iri - about - five "minutes there
wouldn 't ! be -enough' of anything ?
xcxt wju canu lu iioiu' an -mquest
This is no joke. ! The men of
I s9ifn claJm to have j proof that
such a f)ower exists: They are dig
gmg atter -it m all seriousness,'
ahu" h ey are-tnighty apt ; tof get?
hold-of it" some" of ! theserdaysi j ;
tBut dont get -excited? --T his
great discovery will riof be made' '
until after the' -New Age' se ts in
and the'devil is chained Theriv 11
and only theh, will it be jpossible
for imeri to handle such a tpoW&P13
without' wrecking the world with
it; : ,.i ir .t ii--:r:;.
You Dollar Folks.
To all those who responded to
my first1 proposition and sent a
dollar for the weekly one ear, I
want to say that I will now put
you on or TWO years, because I
have reduced the price of all
ADVANCE subs to?50 cents.