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The Scriptures Safeguard Against Deception, December 21
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 8:20
.
The people of God are directed to the Scriptures as their safeguard against the
influence of false teachers and the delusive power of spirits of darkness. Satan
employs every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a knowledge of
the Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his deceptions.... So closely will the
counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between
them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every
miracle must be tested.
Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed
and derided. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them,
they must understand the will of God as revealed in His Word; they can honor Him
only as they have a right conception of His character, government, and purposes,
and act in accordance with them. None but those who have fortified the mind with
the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict....
The apostle Paul declared, looking down to the last days: “The time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine” (
2 Timothy 4:3
). That time has
fully come. The multitudes do not want Bible truth, because it interferes with the
desires of the sinful, world-loving heart; and Satan supplies the deceptions which
they love.
But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible
only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of
learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical
councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the
voice of the majority—not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for
or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept,
we should demand a plain “Thus saith the Lord” in its support.
Satan is constantly endeavoring to attract attention to man in the place of God.
He leads the people to look to bishops, to pastors, to professors of theology, as
their guides, instead of searching the Scriptures to learn their duty for themselves.
Then, by controlling the minds of these leaders, he can influence the multitudes
according to his will.
When Christ came to speak the words of life, the common people heard Him
gladly; and many, even of the priests and rulers, believed on Him.—
The Great
Controversy, 593-595
.
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