Illustration by Gustave Dore

Satan's Supermacy Claimed by Divine

Pastor Russell, Washington Post, November 23, 1903
Pastor C. T. Russell, of Allegheny,
Pa., gave two “chart talks” at the Columbia
Theater yesterday to interested
audiences. In the afternoon Pastor
Russell spoke on “How to Study the
Bible Dispensationally,” and in the
evening his subject was “The Restitution
of All Things Spoken by the Mouth
of All the Holy Prophets Since the
World Began,” Acts iii:21.
“To be understood,” said Pastor Russell
yesterday afternoon, “the Bible
must be studied dispensationally. A
large part of it is historical and illustrates
great lessons. The period of
1656 years from Adam to the flood St.
Peter calls ‘the world that was, which
being overflowed by water, perished.’
The second period, from the flood to
the second coming of Our Lord to establish
the reign of righteousness is
the one for which we pray ‘Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done on earth
as it is in Heaven.’ St. Peter mentions
this second epoch or dispensation,
also calling it ‘the world that now is,’
which is reserved unto fire—a fire which
we will show by the Scriptures is symbolic
fire, representing a great cataclysm
of trouble, which will, figuratively,
set on fire the entire course of human
affairs in the close of this age,
eventuating in appalling anarchy, which
would consume every human hope if not
overcome by the establishment of the
millennial kingdom.
Present World Evil.
“St. Paul also speaks of this period,
styling it ‘the present evil world,’ as
indicative of the fact that evil and unrighteousness
prevail or reign now and
in contrast with the new dispensation
to follow our Lord’s second coming,
which he styles ‘the world to come,’
wherein dwelleth righteousness.’ He
gives us a clue as to why the present
dispensation is an evil one by referring
to Satan as its ruler and prince and as
the god (ruler) of this world. Our Lord
Jesus repeatedly expressed the same
thought, styling Satan the ‘prince of
this world,’ ‘the ruler of this world,’ declaring
also ‘My kingdom is not of this
world.’
“The third period is indicated as ‘a
world without end.’ St. Peter styles it
a ‘world to come.’ St. Paul describes it
as ‘the dispensation of the fullness of
things in which God will show forth his
favor toward his people.’”
“God Does Not Reign.”
“History shows us most conclusively
that the present dispensation has been
an evil one from its beginning until now.
It has been marked by trouble upon
trouble, crime upon crime, calamity
upon calamity—individual and national,
a warfare along lines of selfishness and
sin. Some tell us that God has been
reigning and that all these evils, physical
and moral, are the result of his government—
storms, earthquakes, epidemics
of diseases, moral leprosy,
streams of alcoholic fire devouring the
weaker ones of his subjects.
“Such a thought even is blasphemous.
The facts, as we know them, unite with
the Scriptures in teaching that God is
not