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GLEANINGS IN BKE CULTURE 



OOTOBEB, 1921 



t; 



'HIS Home 

 paper is to 

 be a sequel 

 to the one in the 

 July number. In 

 olden times we 

 read of people 

 being possessed 

 of devil s. Ill 

 fact, there is 

 more or less 

 said about de- 

 moniacal posses- 

 sion thru all the 

 four gospels. 

 Skeptics and in- 

 fidels have made 

 sport of it; and 

 I confess that, 

 when I first be- 

 gan to ' ' search 

 the Scriptures," 

 after the dear 

 Lord had lift- 

 ed me from the "sinking sand," one of 

 my troubles was in regard to this same mat- 

 ter. However, I very wisely went to my 

 good pastor, and told him I was specially 

 troubled about the devils going into the 

 swine. He looked at me smilingly and 

 said: 



"My dear friend, do you think you are 

 the first one to be troubled in regard to this 

 incident?" 



"Why, Mr. Eeed," said I, "have other 

 folks felt about it as I do?'" 



He went to his library and took down a 

 large volume entitled "Demoniacal Posses- 

 sion," and remarked that, if tliat big book 

 was not sufficient, there were a number of 

 other volumes on that subject. Then he 

 advised me to let the matter drop until I 

 had gone a little further in my religious 

 life, and I am very glad he did so. 



Well, dear friends, it has been impressing 

 itself upon my mind for some years back 

 that being possessed of a demon or demons 

 is not entirely a thing of the past. It would 

 seem that right now almost every daily 

 paper has an account of one or more poor 

 deluded men who have been shooting their 

 wives or somebody else, and then turning 

 the revolver on themselves. Every time I 

 read such an account I say to myself, "This 

 poor soul was either possessed of a devil or 

 something very much like the devils spoken 

 of in Holy Writ." It would seem that the 

 poor culprit in his passion shoots his wifb, 

 or possibly his sweetheart, without really 

 knowing or considering what he is doing; 

 and just as soon as he realizes the extent 

 of his awful crime he turns the weapon on 

 himself and ends his own life. You may 

 say the man is crazy. Well, if the matter 

 be in(iuired into you will find the man or 

 woman (or both) became crazy by slow 

 steps. The devil first got hold of them in 

 some way that seemed harndess and almost 

 innocent; but step by step they were led 



SD 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



3 



And they brought unto him all sick people tliat 

 were taken with divers diseases . . . and 

 those which were possessed with devils 

 and he healed them. — Matt. 4:24. 



Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary 

 the devil', as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking 

 whom lie may devour. — I. Pkter 5:8. 



Satan himself is f sometimes] transformed into' 

 an angel of light. — II. CoR. 11:14. 



And they come to .Tesus, and see him that was 

 l)ossessed with the devil, and had the legion, sit- 

 ting, and clothed, and in his right mind. — Mark 

 .".:].'■). 



on until chains 

 of iron seemed 

 to entwine 

 them. 



In the Cleve- 

 land Plain Deal- 

 er for Aug. 19 

 we are told of a 

 married man — 

 in fact, a con- 

 ductor on the 

 Cleveland & 

 Pittsburg rail- 

 road — who grad- 

 ually became in- 

 fatuated with a 

 married woman, 

 both parties 

 having children 

 of their own. 

 The infatuation 

 went so far that 

 the m a n left 

 his wife and 

 the woman her liusband and lived together, 

 I believe, as man and wife, for 18 mouths. 

 At the end of this time the mother began 

 to come to her senses. She wanted to get 

 back to her husband and children — that is, 

 if the wronged husband would again re- 

 ceive her. I am not at all surprised that 

 the icoindii was the first one to come to a 

 "right mind." The railroad conductor ob- 

 jected. They had what might be called, for 

 a better word, "a lovers' quarrel." In fact, 

 after Satan got them both well under his 

 thumb, they had frequent quarrels, and 

 finally this conductor drew a pistol and shot 

 her dead. Below is what he said about it: 



I am sorry she is dead. She was my whole life. 

 I don't care what they do with me now. I shot 

 her because she threw me down. I went thru hell 

 for this woman. I left my wife and my home. 1 

 have done everything for her. and have been irue 

 lo her every second. But she gave me a dirty de-al. 



She jilted me without a reason last Saturday 

 night. She told me she was done. I went to her 

 on Monday and asked her for an explanation. She 

 refused to give it to me. 



I told her no other man ever would possess her 

 after what I had gone thru for her. I made up 

 my mind that no other man would get her. 



What particularly impressed nte was the 

 expression, "I went thru hell for this wom- 

 an," and he probably had it about right; 

 and nobody can tell what "hell" he is now 

 going thru while I write these words. I am 

 going to try to get this, when in print, be- 

 fore him; and I am going to try, also, to 

 point him ' ' to the Lamb of God that taketh 

 away the sin of the workl," even tho he is 

 a murderer; and even tho he has trampled 

 under foot perhaps a string of God's holy 

 command.s, there is yet hope for him. I will 

 point him to the passage which says. "Tho 

 your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 

 white as snow; tho they be red like crim- 

 son, they shall be as wool." 



John B. Gougli, we are told, was once 

 passing an inebriate lying in the gutter in 

 a drunken stupor. He turned to a friend of 



