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The Great Controversy
be no punishment for the sinner; that all mankind, it matters not how
corrupt, are to be exalted to heaven, to become as the angels of God.
But still more emphatically are those making a covenant with death
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and an agreement with hell, who renounce the truths which Heaven
has provided as a defense for the righteous in the day of trouble, and
accept the refuge of lies offered by Satan in its stead—the delusive
pretensions of spiritualism.
Marvelous beyond expression is the blindness of the people of this
generation. Thousands reject the word of God as unworthy of belief
and with eager confidence receive the deceptions of Satan. Skeptics
and scoffers denounce the bigotry of those who contend for the faith
of prophets and apostles, and they divert themselves by holding up to
ridicule the solemn declarations of the Scriptures concerning Christ
and the plan of salvation, and the retribution to be visited upon the
rejecters of the truth. They affect great pity for minds so narrow,
weak, and superstitious as to acknowledge the claims of God and obey
the requirements of His law. They manifest as much assurance as
if, indeed, they had made a covenant with death and an agreement
with hell—as if they had erected an impassable, impenetrable barrier
between themselves and the vengeance of God. Nothing can arouse
their fears. So fully have they yielded to the tempter, so closely are
they united with him, and so thoroughly imbued with his spirit, that
they have no power and no inclination to break away from his snare.
Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the
world. The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance given
to Eve in Eden: “Ye shall not surely die.” “In the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil.”
Genesis 3:4, 5
. Little by little he has prepared the way for
his masterpiece of deception in the development of spiritualism. He
has not yet reached the full accomplishment of his designs; but it will
be reached in the last remnant of time. Says the prophet: “I saw three
unclean spirits like frogs; ... they are the spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
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world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
Revelation 16:13, 14
. Except those who are kept by the power of God,
through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks
of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to
be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God.