Chapter 89—Example of the Ephesians
When the Ephesians were converted, they changed their habits and
practices. Under the conviction of the Spirit of God, they acted with
promptness, and laid bare all the mysteries of their witchcraft. They
came and confessed, and showed their deeds, and their souls were
filled with holy indignation because they had given such devotion to
magic, and had so highly prized the books in which the rules of Satan’s
devising had laid down the methods whereby they might practice
witchcraft. They were determined to turn from the service of the evil
one, and they brought their costly volumes and publicly burned them.
Thus they made manifest their sincerity in turning to God....
The books the Ephesians committed to the flames on their conver-
sion to the gospel, they formerly delighted in, and permitted them to
rule their consciences and guide their minds. They might have sold
them, but by so doing the evil would be perpetuated. They afterward
abhorred the satanic mysteries, the magical arts, and regarded with
aversion the knowledge they had obtained from them. I would ask the
young who have been connected with the truth, Have you burned your
magical books?
The Magic Books of Today
We do not charge you with the evil that had bound the Ephesians,
or claim that you have practiced magic, and dealt in the arts of sorcery
in the same way as they had. We do not say that you have followed the
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mysteries of necromancy, or held communion with evil spirits. But are
you not in communion with the author of all evil, with the deviser of all
these mysteries and hellish arts? Do you not listen to the suggestions
of him who is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air?
Have you not submitted to his falsehoods, and yielded yourselves as
his agents to work that which was in harmony with your life before
conversion? Have you not given yourselves up to be Satan’s agents
and, in a broader sense, are you not holding intercourse with fallen
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