434
The Great Controversy
He tempts men to the indulgence of appetite or to some other form of
self-gratification, and thus benumbs their sensibilities so that they fail
to hear the very things which they most need to learn.
Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer
and the searching of the Scriptures, will be overcome by his attacks.
Therefore he invents every possible device to engross the mind. There
has ever been a class professing godliness, who, instead of following
on to know the truth, make it their religion to seek some fault of
character or error of faith in those with whom they do not agree. Such
are Satan’s right-hand helpers. Accusers of the brethren are not few,
and they are always active when God is at work and His servants
are rendering Him true homage. They will put a false coloring upon
the words and acts of those who love and obey the truth. They will
represent the most earnest, zealous, self-denying servants of Christ
as deceived or deceivers. It is their work to misrepresent the motives
of every true and noble deed, to circulate insinuations, and arouse
suspicion in the minds of the inexperienced. In every conceivable
manner they will seek to cause that which is pure and righteous to be
regarded as foul and deceptive.
But none need be deceived concerning them. It may be readily
seen whose children they are, whose example they follow, and whose
work they do. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
Matthew 7:16
.
[520]
Their course resembles that of Satan, the envenomed slanderer, “the
accuser of our brethren.”
Revelation 12:10
.
The great deceiver has many agents ready to present any and every
kind of error to ensnare souls—heresies prepared to suit the varied
tastes and capacities of those whom he would ruin. It is his plan
to bring into the church insincere, unregenerate elements that will
encourage doubt and unbelief, and hinder all who desire to see the
work of God advance and to advance with it. Many who have no real
faith in God or in His word assent to some principles of truth and pass
as Christians, and thus they are enabled to introduce their errors as
Scriptural doctrines.
The position that it is of no consequence what men believe is one of
Satan’s most successful deceptions. He knows that the truth, received
in the love of it, sanctifies the soul of the receiver; therefore he is
constantly seeking to substitute false theories, fables, another gospel.
From the beginning the servants of God have contended against false