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Able to Discern Truth From Error, April 27
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:13, 14
.
The truth is efficient, and through obedience its power changes the mind
into the image of Jesus. It is the truth as it is in Jesus that quickens the
conscience and transforms the mind; for it is accompanied to the heart by
the Holy Spirit. There are many, who, lacking spiritual discernment, take the
bare letter of the Word, and find that unaccompanied by the Spirit of God, it
quickens not the soul, it sanctifies not the heart. One may be able to quote
from the Old and the New Testament, may be familiar with the commands
and promises of the Word of God; but unless the Holy Spirit sends the truth
home to the heart, enlightening the mind with divine light, no soul falls upon
the Rock and is broken; for it is the divine agency that connects the soul with
God.
Without the enlightenment of the Spirit of God, we shall not be able to
discern truth from error, and shall fall under the masterful temptations and
deceptions that Satan will bring upon the world. We are near the close of the
controversy between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness, and soon
the delusions of the enemy will try our faith, of what sort it is. Satan will
work miracles in the sight of the beast, and deceive “them that dwell on the
earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of
the beast” (
Revelation 13:14
).
But though the prince of darkness will work to cover the earth with
darkness, and with gross darkness the people, the Lord will manifest His
converting power. A work is to be accomplished in the earth similar to that
which took place at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the days of the
early disciples, when they preached Jesus and Him crucified. Many will be
converted in a day; for the message will go with power. It can then be said:
“Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost” (
1 Thessalonians 1:5
). It is the Holy Spirit that draws men to
Christ; for He takes of the things of God, and shows them unto the sinner.
Jesus said: “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew
it unto you” (
John 16:14
).—
The Review and Herald, November 29, 1892
.
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