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Selected Messages Book 2
are paying homage to idols as senseless and as powerless to bless and
save the soul as are the gods of the Hindus.
These societies offer some advantages which from a human point
of view appear like great blessings, but not so when judged by the
Lord’s measurement. Behind their apparent advantages are concealed
satanic agencies. The larger the income drawn into the treasury, the
more and deeper is the evil. The ungodly gain which has enriched these
societies will, when traced out in all its bearings, be seen to be a curse.
The words which Eliphaz spoke to Job are true in respect to these
associations: “I saw him ‘taking root,’ but I ‘cursed his habitation’”
(
Job 5:3
). They are Satan’s traps, his net to entangle souls.
A Question of Loyalty to God
Very many things are sanctioned and upheld by the world when
they are an offense to the Holy One of Israel. It was seemingly a small
thing for Eve to depart from God’s specified restrictions and do the
thing He told her not to do, and for Adam to follow her example; but
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that very thing was planned by the archdeceiver to destroy the souls of
men by leading them to follow their own imaginations rather than the
revealed will of God. So in these associations principles are held that
bring men under the deceptive power of Satan, leading away from safe
paths into rebellion against God and disregard of His holy standard
of righteousness. “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation”
(
Mark 14:38
), is the oft-repeated injunction of our Saviour. Watch,
watch with diligence and care, lest Satan succeed in ensnaring the
souls of those for whom Christ has paid the ransom money of His own
blood.
God calls upon you who would be His children to act as under the
divine eye, to adopt the holy standard of righteousness. His justice and
His truth are the principles that should be established in every soul.
He who preserves his integrity toward God, will be upright toward
man. No man who truly loves God, will, for the sake of a bribe of gold
and silver, of honor, or any other earthly advantage, expose his soul
to temptation. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul?” (
Mark 8:36, 37
).