Brain Teaser

The challenge:
     [DC:  What follows is a riddle George Sinkie emailed me in Feb. 2000.  The information about the riddle, right or wrong, is presented as was given to him.  When you think you've figured it out, click here for our answer.  Enjoy!]

RIDDLE
A lady in California wrote this puzzle in 1890 in response to a gentleman in Philadelphia, who said that he would pay $1,000 to
anyone who could write a puzzle that he could not solve. He failed to do so, and paid the lady $1,000 (a great sum at that time).
The answer is one (1) word, five (5) letters long, and appears only four (4) times in the King James Version of the Bible.

God made Adam out of dust,
But thought it best to make me first;

So I was made before the man
According to God’s holy plan.

My whole body God made complete,
Without arms or hands or feet.

My ways and acts did God control,
But in my body He placed no soul.

A living being I became,
And Adam gave me a name.

Then from his presence I withdrew,
For this man Adam I never knew.

All my Maker’s laws I do obey,
And from these laws I never stray.

Thousands of me go in fear,
But seldom on earth appear.

Later, for a purpose God did see,
He placed a living soul in me.

But that soul of mine God had to claim,
And from me took it back again.

And when this soul from me had fled,
I was the same as when first made;

Without arms, legs, feet, or soul,
I travel on from pole to pole.

My labors are from day to night.
And to men I once furnished light.

Thousands of people both young and old,
Did by my death bright lights behold.

No right or wrong can I conceive;
The Bible and its teachings I can’t believe.

The fear of death doesn’t trouble me;
Pure happiness I will never see.

And up in Heaven I can never go.
Nor in the grave or Hell below.

So get your Bible and read with care;
You’ll find my name recorded there.
     
     When you think you've figured it out, click here for our answer.