Temptation of Christ
241
with fiendish triumph that he had been so successful in darkening the
pathway of so many, and had led them to transgress the law of God.
He clothed sin with pleasing attractions to secure the ruin of many.
But his most successful scheme in deceiving man has been to con-
ceal his real purposes, and his true character, by representing himself
as man’s friend and a benefactor of the race. He flatters men with the
pleasing fable that there is no rebellious foe, no deadly enemy that they
need to guard against, and that the existence of a personal devil is all a
fiction. While he thus hides his existence, he is gathering thousands
under his control. He is deceiving them, as he tried to deceive Christ,
that he is an angel from Heaven doing a good work for humanity. And
the masses are so blinded by sin that they cannot discern the devices
of Satan, and they honor him as they would a heavenly angel, while
he is working their eternal ruin.
[271]