A Land Divided: Difference between revisions
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Nestled within the rolling hills and winding dirt paths of a rural town was an expansive estate known to the locals as Stonegate Manor. Once a community landmark of modest charm, the manor had been purchased by a man named Samuel Callister—a figure whose reputation for cunning and calculated cruelty had already cast a shadow before him. | Nestled within the rolling hills and winding dirt paths of a rural town was an expansive estate known to the locals as Stonegate Manor. Once a community landmark of modest charm, the manor had been purchased by a man named Samuel Callister—a figure whose reputation for cunning and calculated cruelty had already cast a shadow before him. | ||
Samuel was no ordinary landowner; he was a firm believer in social Darwinism, convinced that only the strongest should survive and thrive, while the weak were destined to perish. His estate wasn’t merely a home but a laboratory where he tested his beliefs, pitting neighbors against each other through rumors, manipulation, and strategic land leasing. | Samuel was no ordinary landowner; he was a firm believer in social Darwinism, convinced that only the strongest should survive and thrive, while the weak were destined to perish. His estate wasn’t merely a home but a laboratory where he tested his beliefs, pitting neighbors against each other through rumors, manipulation, and strategic land leasing. To Samuel, Darwinism wasn’t just a biological theory—it was a philosophy of power. Unbeknownst to him, the seeds he sowed were part of something larger, echoing the destructive ideologies of history. | ||
==The Faithful Neighbor== | ==The Faithful Neighbor== | ||
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But Jacob, consumed by despair, attacked Elijah. The scuffle ended with Jacob fleeing into the night, leaving Elijah bruised and battered. | But Jacob, consumed by despair, attacked Elijah. The scuffle ended with Jacob fleeing into the night, leaving Elijah bruised and battered. | ||
==The | ==Darwin’s Shadow== | ||
The ideology that fueled Samuel Callister’s actions was not new; its roots stretched back to the social Darwinism that had justified atrocities in history. Elijah, familiar with such thinking, had once reflected on its dangers while reading about the Nazi and Communist regimes. He knew that Darwinism, when applied to society, had been twisted into an excuse for genocide and mass oppression. | |||
In one of his Bible studies, Elijah had discussed how **Romans 8:8** warns, ''So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.'' He believed that Darwinism, in its social and political forms, was an expression of ''flesh working''—human pride and self-reliance seeking power without God. To Elijah, Samuel’s manipulation was a small part of a larger pattern of history, where ideologies rooted in human ambition led to suffering. | |||
Elijah also believed that those who followed the path of Darwinism and rejected God were among the lost. As described in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in **Luke 16**, they would suffer torment in hell before being cast into the lake of fire for eternity. ''The rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments''—Elijah knew that, like the rich man, those who pursued the works of the flesh without repentance would face the same fate. To him, Darwinists were spiritually blind, chasing after worldly power only to be condemned by a righteous God. | |||
Elijah believed this applied to Charles Darwin himself. ''Charles Darwin was of his father, the devil,'' he would say, knowing that Darwin’s rejection of God had sealed his fate. Elijah believed that even now, Darwin was burning in hell, suffering like the rich man in torment, awaiting the final judgment when he would be cast into the lake of fire. | |||
More importantly, Elijah knew that salvation was only through the cross of Christ. As Paul declared in **1 Corinthians 2:2**, ''For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.'' Darwinists had not been saved by Christ’s crosswork, and thus they remained children of their father, the devil. He often warned others that without repentance and faith in the finished work of the cross, they would share the fate described in **Revelation 20:15**, ''And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.'' This eternal truth gave Elijah strength to remain steadfast in his faith, knowing that judgment would come upon those who sought destruction and rebellion against God. | |||
Months later, the world around them began to change in catastrophic ways. Famine, war, and natural disasters gripped the land. What Elijah had read about in '''Matthew 24''' unfolded before his eyes—wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, and the earth quaking beneath their feet. | Months later, the world around them began to change in catastrophic ways. Famine, war, and natural disasters gripped the land. What Elijah had read about in '''Matthew 24''' unfolded before his eyes—wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, and the earth quaking beneath their feet. | ||