546
Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
truth by discouraging its advocates. The great adversary has employed
his hellish deceptions in various ways, and every effort made has
brought to his side one or more of the professed followers of Christ.
[594]
Those whose hearts are carnal, who are more in harmony with the
archdeceiver than with Christ, have after a time developed their true
character and gone to their own company.
Satan holds under his control not a few who pass as friends of the
truth, and through them he works against its advancement. He employs
them to sow tares among the people of God. Thus when danger was
not suspected, great evils have existed among us. But while Satan
was working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, stanch advocates of truth have stemmed the tide of opposition
and held the word uncorrupted amid a deluge of heresies. Although the
church has at times been weakened through manifold discouragements
and the rebellious element they have had to meet, still the truth has
shone brighter with every conflict. The energies of God’s people have
not been exhausted. The power of His grace has quickened, revived,
and ennobled the steadfast and the true.
Again and again was ancient Israel afflicted with rebellious mur-
murers. These were not always persons of feeble influence. In many
cases, men of renown, rulers in Israel, turned against the providential
leading of God and fiercely set to work to tear down that which they
had once zealously built up. We have seen something of this repeated
many times in our experience. It is unsafe for any church to lean upon
some favorite minister, to trust in an arm of flesh. God’s arm alone is
able to uphold all who lean upon it.
Until Christ shall appear in the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory, men will become perverse in spirit and turn from the truth
to fables. The church will yet see troublous times. She will prophesy
in sackcloth. But although she must meet heresies and persecutions,
although she must battle with the infidel and the apostate, yet by the
help of God she is bruising the head of Satan. The Lord will have
a people as true as steel, and with faith as firm as the granite rock.
They are to be His witnesses in the world, His instrumentalities to do
[595]
a special, a glorious work in the day of His preparation.
The gospel message does not win a single soul to Christ, or make its
way to a single heart, without wounding the head of Satan. Whenever
a captive is wrenched from his grasp, delivered from his oppression,