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We Learn to Beware of Vain Deceit and Flattery, March
7
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ.
Colossians 2:8
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Flattery is an art by which Satan lieth in wait to deceive and to puff up
the human agent with high thoughts of himself.... Flattery has been the
food upon which many of our youth have been nourished; and those who
have praised and flattered have supposed that they were doing right; but
they have been doing wrong. Praise, flattery, and indulgence have done
more toward leading precious souls into false paths, than any other art
that Satan has devised. Flattery is a part of the world’s policy, but it is
no part of Christ’s policy. Through flattery poor human beings, full of
frailty and infirmities, come to think that they are efficient and worthy,
and become puffed up in their fleshly mind. They become intoxicated
with the idea that they possess ability beyond what they do have, and their
religious experience becomes unbalanced. Unless in the providence of
God they shall be turned from these deceptions, and become converted,
and learn the a-b-c of religion in the school of Christ, they will lose their
souls. Many a youth has been flattered that he has ability as a natural gift;
when the ability he thinks he has, can be attained only through diligent
training and culture, learning the meekness and lowliness of Christ.... God
permits him to be attacked by the enemy, in order that he may understand
his own weakness. He is permitted to make some decided blunder, and is
plunged into painful humiliation. But when he is writhing under a sense
of his own weakness, he is not to be judged harshly.... This is the time
when he needs a friend who ... will deal patiently and faithfully with the
erring.... He is not to be lifted up by the aid of flattery.... Rather he is to be
pointed to the first rounds of the ladder, and his stumbling feet are to be
placed on the lowest round of the ladder of progress.... Through the aid of
wise counselors, his defeat will be turned into victory
[74]
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The Youth’s Instructor, May 24, 1894
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