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The Great Controversy
as the foundation of their faith. Christ is as verily denied as before;
but Satan has so blinded the eyes of the people that the deception is
not discerned.
There are few who have any just conception of the deceptive power
of spiritualism and the danger of coming under its influence. Many
tamper with it merely to gratify their curiosity. They have no real
faith in it and would be filled with horror at the thought of yielding
themselves to the spirits’ control. But they venture upon the forbid-
den ground, and the mighty destroyer exercises his power upon them
against their will. Let them once be induced to submit their minds to
his direction, and he holds them captive. It is impossible, in their own
strength, to break away from the bewitching, alluring spell. Nothing
but the power of God, granted in answer to the earnest prayer of faith,
can deliver these ensnared souls.
All who indulge sinful traits of character, or willfully cherish a
known sin, are inviting the temptations of Satan. They separate them-
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selves from God and from the watchcare of His angels; as the evil one
presents his deceptions, they are without defense and fall an easy prey.
Those who thus place themselves in his power little realize where their
course will end. Having achieved their overthrow, the tempter will
employ them as his agents to lure others to ruin.
Says the prophet Isaiah: “When they shall say unto you, Seek unto
them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that
mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the
dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
Isaiah 8:19, 20
.
If men had been willing to receive the truth so plainly stated in the
Scriptures concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead, they
would see in the claims and manifestations of spiritualism the working
of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders. But rather than
yield the liberty so agreeable to the carnal heart, and renounce the
sins which they love, multitudes close their eyes to the light and walk
straight on, regardless of warnings, while Satan weaves his snares
about them, and they become his prey. “Because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved,” therefore “God shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”
2 Thessalonians
2:10, 11
.