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Busy and Happy Days at Capernaum
153
The leaders and teachers of Israel were neglecting the only means
by which they could have resisted evil spirits. It was by the Word of
God that Christ overcame the wicked one. By their interpretation,
the Jewish leaders made God’s Word say things that God had never
given. They argued over technicalities, and in doing so they denied
essential truths. In this way, they robbed God’s Word of its power,
and evil spirits accomplished their will.
History is repeating. With the open Bible in front of them, many
religious leaders of our time are destroying faith in it as the Word
of God. They dissect the Word and set their own opinions above
its plainest statements. This is why unbelief is growing rapidly and
iniquity is everywhere.
Those who turn from the plain teaching of Scripture and the con-
victing power of God’s Holy Spirit are inviting the control of demons.
Criticism and speculation concerning the Bible have opened the way
for spiritism to gain a foothold even in the professed churches of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Side by side with the preaching of the gospel,
lying spirits are at work. Many people tamper with these manifesta-
tions just from curiosity, but when they see evidence of more than
human power, they are lured on until the mysterious power of a will
stronger than their own controls them. The defenses of the soul are
broken down. Secret sins or master passions may hold them captive
as helpless as the demon-possessed man of Capernaum. Yet their
condition is not hopeless.
They can overcome by the power of the Word. If we desire to
know and to do God’s will, His promises are ours: “You shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” “If anyone wants to
do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is
from God.”
John 8:32
;
7:17
. Through faith in these promises, every
man and woman may be delivered from the snares of error and the
control of sin.
There Is Hope for Every Lost Person
None have fallen so low, none are so evil, that they cannot find
deliverance in Christ. The demon-possessed man could speak only
the words of Satan, yet Jesus heard his heart’s unspoken appeal. No
cry from someone in need will be ignored, even if it doesn’t use just