From Heaven With Love

Satan Works Under Disguise

So 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 subtlety gained through centuries of conflict, the prince of evil works under disguise, clothed as an angel of light. Multitudes are “giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” 1 Timothy 4:1. HLv 165.2

The leaders and teachers of Israel were neglecting the only means by which they could have withstood 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 express sentiments that God had never given. They disputed over technicalities, and practically denied essential truths. Thus God's Word was robbed of its power, and evil spirits worked their will. HLv 165.3

History is repeating. With the open Bible before 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 infidelity runs riot, and iniquity is rife. HLv 165.4

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 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, agencies are at work which are lying spirits. Many a man tampers with these merely from curiosity, but seeing evidence of more than human power, he is lured on until he is controlled by the mysterious power of a will stronger than his own. The defenses of the soul are broken down. Secret sin or master passion may hold him a captive as helpless as the demoniac of Capernaum. Yet his condition is not hopeless. HLv 166.1

He can overcome by the power of the Word. If we desire to know and to do God's will, His promises are ours: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” “If any man's will is to do His will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God.” John 8:32; 7:17, RSV. Through faith in these promises every man may be delivered from the snares of error and the control of sin. HLv 166.2