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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
She bore the fruit to her husband, and that which had an overpowering
influence upon him was her experience. The serpent had said that she
should not die, and she felt no ill effects from the fruit, nothing which
could be interpreted to mean death, but, just as the serpent had said, a
pleasurable sensation which she imagined was as the angels felt. Her
experience stood arrayed against the positive command of Jehovah,
and Adam permitted himself to be seduced by the experience of his
wife. Thus it is with the religious world generally. God’s express
commands are transgressed, and because “sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is
fully set in them to do evil.”
In the face of the most positive commands of God, men and women
will follow their own inclinations and then dare to pray over the matter,
to prevail upon God to consent to allow them to go contrary to His
expressed will. The Lord is not pleased with such prayers. Satan
comes to the side of such persons, as he did to Eve in Eden, and
impresses them, and they have an exercise of mind, and this they relate
as a most wonderful experience which the Lord has given them. A
true experience will be in perfect harmony with natural and divine law.
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False experience will array itself against science and the principles of
Jehovah. The religious world is covered with a pall of moral darkness.
Superstition and bigotry control the minds of men and women, and
blind their judgment so that they do not discern their duty to their
fellow men and their duty to yield unquestioned obedience to the will
of God.
Balaam inquired of God if he might curse Israel, because in so
doing he had the promise of great reward. And God said, “Thou shalt
not go;” but he was urged by the messengers, and greater inducements
were presented. Balaam had been shown the will of the Lord in this
matter, but he was so eager for the reward that he ventured to ask God
the second time. The Lord permitted Balaam to go. Then he had a
wonderful experience, but who would wish to be guided by such an
experience? There are those who would understand their duty clearly
if it were in harmony with their natural inclinations. Circumstances
and reason may clearly indicate their duty; but when against their
natural inclination, these evidences are frequently set aside. Then
these persons will presume to go to God to learn their duty. But God
will not be trifled with. He will permit such persons to follow the