Humble Hero

Satan Works Under Disguise

This is how it will be in the final conflict between righteousness and sin. While new life and power are descending on the disciples of Christ, a new life is energizing the agencies of Satan. With skill gained through centuries of conflict, the prince of evil works in disguise, clothed as an angel of light. Huge numbers are “giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1. HH 112.7

The leaders and teachers of Israel were neglecting the only means by which they could have resisted evil spirits. It was by the Word of God that Christ overcame the wicked one. By their interpretation, the Jewish leaders made God’s Word say things that God had never given. They argued over technicalities, and in doing so they denied essential truths. In this way, they robbed God’s Word of its power, and evil spirits accomplished their will. HH 113.1

History is repeating. With the open Bible in front of them, many religious leaders of our time are destroying faith in it as the Word of God. They dissect the Word and set their own opinions above its plainest statements. This is why unbelief is growing rapidly and iniquity is everywhere. HH 113.2

Those who turn from the plain teaching of Scripture and the convicting power of God’s Holy Spirit are inviting the control of demons. Criticism and speculation concerning the Bible have opened the way for spiritism to gain a foothold even in the professed churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. Side by side with the preaching of the gospel, lying spirits are at work. Many people tamper with these manifestations just from curiosity, but when they see evidence of more than human power, they are lured on until the mysterious power of a will stronger than their own controls them. The defenses of the soul are broken down. Secret sins or master passions may hold them captive as helpless as the demon-possessed man of Capernaum. Yet their condition is not hopeless. HH 113.3

They can overcome by the power of the Word. If we desire to know and to do God’s will, His promises are ours: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” “If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God.” John 8:32; 7:17. Through faith in these promises, every man and woman may be delivered from the snares of error and the control of sin. HH 113.4