On May 8, 1980, the World Health Organization officially declared the eradication of smallpox, an acute infectious disease that was one of the world’s most-dreaded plagues.  This declaration was made about two and one-half years after the last documented naturally occurring case of the smallpox disease was diagnosed in a hospital worker in Merca, Somalia.  No cases of the disease have returned on the world scene, but the overdose of antibiotics has led to disease-causing organisms that are resistant to some medicines.  This has allowed a return of diseases that once were treatable and controllable, including malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, pertussis, flu, pneumococcal disease, and gonorrhea.

        “Words from Above” in the Bible tell us that one day the enemy of the human soul, namely the devil, will be bound by an angel with a huge chain and cast into a bottomless pit for one thousand years.  He will be shut up there and a seal placed on him, so that he will not deceive the nations any more during those thousand years.  During that time the saints of God, the ones beheaded for their witness for Jesus, who had not worshipped the beast, and who had not received the mark of the beast on their hands or foreheads, will rule with Christ.

Revelation 20 tells us that just when people think the devil has been eradicated forever, the devil will then be released for a little while.  He will then go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth.  He will gather together an army whose number will be as the sand of the sea, and will surround the saints of God and their beloved city.  God will then send down fire from heaven to devour this great army, and the devil himself will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, along with the beast and the false prophet, where they will be tormented night and day forever.  This will be the final eradication of the devil, and he will deceive the people of the world no more.

This is extremely good news, but we must keep in mind that these events are in the future, and in the present the devil is still on the loose and is deceiving people every single day.  The apostle Peter warns us to be on the lookout for his attacks and deceptions. The apostle James tells us that we need to submit ourselves to God if we have any hope of resisting the attacks of the devil.  Only through the power of God can the devil be put in his place here on the earth, so we must by all means access that power.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For information, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.