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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
to the Galatians may well be asked: “Who hath bewitched you, that
ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” There is always a
bewitching power in heresies and in licentiousness. The mind is so
deluded that it cannot reason intelligently, and an illusion is continually
leading it from purity. The spiritual eyesight becomes blurred, and
persons of hitherto untainted morals become confused under the delu-
sive sophistry of those agents of Satan who profess to be messengers
of light. It is this delusion which gives these agents power. Should
they come out boldly and make their advances openly they would be
repulsed without a moment’s hesitation; but they work first to gain
sympathy and secure confidence in themselves as holy, self-sacrificing
men of God. As His special messengers they then begin their artful
work of drawing away souls from the path of rectitude by attempting
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to make void the law of God.
When ministers thus take advantage of the confidence the people
place in them and lead souls to ruin, they make themselves as much
more guilty than the common sinner as their profession is higher.
In the day of God, when the great Ledger of Heaven is opened, it
will be found to contain the names of many ministers who have made
pretensions to purity of heart and life and professed to be entrusted with
the gospel of Christ, but who have taken advantage of their position to
allure souls to transgress the law of God.
When men and women fall under the corrupting power of Satan, it
is almost impossible to recover them out of the horrible snare so that
they will ever again have pure thoughts and clear conceptions of God’s
requirements. Sin, to their deluded minds, has been sanctified by the
minister, and it is never again regarded in the loathsome light that
God looks upon it. After the moral standard has been lowered in the
minds of men, their judgment becomes perverted, and they look upon
sin as righteousness, and righteousness as sin. By associating with
these, whose inclinations and habits are not elevated and pure, others
become like them. Their tastes and principles are almost unconsciously
adopted.
If the society of a man of impure mind and licentious habits is
chosen in preference to that of the virtuous and pure, it is a sure
indication that the tastes and inclinations harmonize, that a low level
of morals is reached. This level is called by these deceived, infatuated