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From Eternity Past
23:23
. Hence all the wily arts of Satan are exerted to seduce them into
sin. If those who profess to be the depositaries of God’s law become
transgressors of its precepts, they will be unable to stand before their
enemies.
The Israelites who could not be overcome by arms or the enchant-
ments of Midian fell a prey to her harlots. Such is the power that
woman, enlisted in the service of Satan, has exerted to destroy souls.
“She hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been
slain by her.”
Proverbs 7:26
. It was thus that Joseph was tempted. Thus
Samson betrayed his strength into the hands of the Philistines. Here
David stumbled. And Solomon, the wisest of kings, became a slave of
passion and sacrificed his integrity to the same bewitching power.
Satan has studied with fiendish intensity for thousands of years, and
through successive generations he has wrought to overthrow princes
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in Israel by the same temptations that were so successful at Baalpeor.
As we approach the close of time, on the borders of the heavenly
Canaan, Satan will redouble his efforts to prevent the people of God
from entering the goodly land. He will prepare his temptations for
those in holy office; if he can lead them to pollute their souls, he can
through them destroy many. By worldly friendships, the charms of
beauty, pleasure seeking, mirth, feasting, or the winecup, he tempts to
violation of the seventh commandment.
Those who will dishonor God’s image and defile His temple in
their own persons will not scruple at any dishonor to God that will
gratify the desire of their depraved hearts. It is impossible for the
slave of passion to realize the sacred obligation of the law of God,
to appreciate the atonement, or to place a right value upon the soul.
Goodness, purity, truth, reverence for God, and love for sacred things—
all are consumed in the fires of lust. The soul becomes a blackened
and desolate waste. Beings formed in the image of God are dragged
down to a level with the brutes.
Dangers of Ungodly Associates
By leading the followers of Christ to associate with the ungodly
and unite in their amusements, Satan is most successful in alluring
them into sin. God requires of His people now as great a distinction
from the world in customs, habits, and principles as He required of