420
Counsels for the Church
under his control, clothe sin with garments of righteousness, and lead
many astray.
I say to all: Be on your guard; for as an angel of light Satan is
walking in every assembly of Christian workers, and in every church,
trying to win the members to his side. I am bidden to give to the people
of God the warning: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.”
Galatians
6:7
Satan’s Plan to Make a God of Nature
In dwelling upon the laws of matter and the laws of nature, many
lose sight of, if they do not deny, the continual and direct agency of
God. They convey the idea that nature acts independently of God,
having in and of itself its own limits and its own powers wherewith
to work. In their minds there is a marked distinction between the
natural and the supernatural. The natural is ascribed to ordinary causes,
unconnected with the power of God. Vital power is attributed to matter,
and nature is made a deity. It is supposed that matter is placed in certain
relations and left to act from fixed laws with which God Himself cannot
interfere; that nature is endowed with certain properties and placed
subject to laws, and is then left to itself to obey these laws and perform
the work originally commanded.
This is false science; there is nothing in the word of God to sustain
it. God does not annul His laws, but He is continually working through
them, using them as His instruments. They are not self-working. God
is perpetually at work in nature. She is His servant, directed as He
pleases. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and
active agency of a being who moves in all His works according to His
will. It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year
the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun.
The hand of infinite power is perpetually at work guiding this planet.
[325]
It is God’s power momentarily exercised that keeps it in position in its
rotation.
The mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood;
it presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. It is not as the
result of a mechanism, which, once set in motion, continues its work,
that the pulse beats and breath follows breath. In God we live and
581
Testimonies for the Church 8:292-294