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The Great Controversy
Memory recalls the home of his innocence and purity, the peace
and content that were his until he indulged in murmuring against God,
and envy of Christ. His accusations, his rebellion, his deceptions to
gain the sympathy and support of the angels, his stubborn persistence
in making no effort for self-recovery when God would have granted
him forgiveness—all come vividly before him. He reviews his work
among men and its results—the enmity of man toward his fellow
man, the terrible destruction of life, the rise and fall of kingdoms,
the overturning of thrones, the long succession of tumults, conflicts,
and revolutions. He recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of
Christ and to sink man lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots
have been powerless to destroy those who have put their trust in Jesus.
As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit of his toil, he sees only
failure and ruin. He has led the multitudes to believe that the City of
God would be an easy prey; but he knows that this is false. Again and
again, in the progress of the great controversy, he has been defeated
and compelled to yield. He knows too well the power and majesty of
the Eternal.
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The aim of the great rebel has ever been to justify himself and
to prove the divine government responsible for the rebellion. To this
end he has bent all the power of his giant intellect. He has worked
deliberately and systematically, and with marvelous success, leading
vast multitudes to accept his version of the great controversy which
has been so long in progress. For thousands of years this chief of
conspiracy has palmed off falsehood for truth. But the time has now
come when the rebellion is to be finally defeated and the history
and character of Satan disclosed. In his last great effort to dethrone
Christ, destroy His people, and take possession of the City of God,
the archdeceiver has been fully unmasked. Those who have united
with him see the total failure of his cause. Christ’s followers and the
loyal angels behold the full extent of his machinations against the
government of God. He is the object of universal abhorrence.
Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for heaven.
He has trained his powers to war against God; the purity, peace, and
harmony of heaven would be to him supreme torture. His accusations
against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced. The reproach
which he has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon