Tricks of the Devil

In this article titled Tricks of the Devil I outlined a variety of different ways the Devil is using to deceive us into sin. It will help you to smell a snare before you feel it.  

Here is a list of Satan’s most successful tricks: 

1. Baby and bath-water trick
2. Gospel can’t work for me trick
3. God is too kind to condemn good people trick
4. The freedom trick
5. The Shoved down my throat trick
6. The hypocrites trick
7. The later trick
8. I can’t understand those things trick
9. This is how I am trick
10. That is how they are trick
11. I see where you are going trick
12. I won’t like heaven; it won’t be fun trick
13. You can’t prove it trick
14. I’m rich and doing evangelism trick
15. I thank you, oh God, that I am balanced and level-headed and not like this Pharisee…trick
16. Authorities disagree trick
17. The informed and intelligent judge trick
18. It doesn’t affect me that way trick
19. God told me trick
20. I prayed and prayed trick a
21. I prayed and prayed trick b
22. I’m called to do what I like trick
23. God let it happen trick
24. The slippery slope trick a
25. The slippery slope trick b
26. First duty is to my family trick
27. I will go and minister to my friends trick
28. I don’t need anyone to teach me trick
29. You can find what you are looking for trick
30. I’ll witness by living a good life trick
31. You are judged by what you know trick
32. More people will accept the truth this way trick
33.  I can’t take it any longer trick
34. What counts is a personal relationship trick
35. The Bible, not Ellen White trick
36. God is blessing trick
37. Boy-Girl bag of tricks

1. Baby and bath-water trick

This trick of the Devil has historically been one of the most effective. Martin Luther was once confronted with a group of men that recommended ditching the Bible and having direct communication with the Spirit. They were fanatics from Zwickau. He rejected them and their silly ideas.

One of their ideas: infant baptism does not count for anything. In olden days water for bathing was hauled to the home from the well and was discarded when all had taken their bath. “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” was a proverb arising from that era. It illustrated the danger of discarding something precious in your hurry to be rid of something repulsive.

Luther threw the metaphorical baby truth out with the bathwater of false prophecy. The false logic sounds like this,

If a weirdo is teaching it, it must be false.

If we are willing to reject an idea simply because it comes from a source that spews out error, we are easy prey. All Satan needs to do to dupe us is to have a quack tell us the truth.

2. Gospel can’t work for me trick

How do you know the gospel doesn’t work for you?

The Bible didn’t tell you that.

This trick of the Devil often works this way:

A man tries the gospel, as he understands it. He does not have the victory he expects. He tries again, harder this time, but falls after a short while. His best efforts meet with the same misfortune, and he eventually concludes that, though it works for others, it just can’t work for him. The conclusion seems inescapable. What else could he believe? The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

The cause of his failure might be any number of things. Often one of the other tricks of the Devil discussed below has led the offender into a cycle of failure and despondency.

Reader, the fact that God has bothered to start a work in your heart is evidence enough that He is willing and able to finish it.

Have you grasped the beauty of the cross?

Do you understand the force of the will?

Are you certain you comprehend faith? 

3. God is too kind to condemn good people trick

This is one of the most shallow of the tricks of the Devil. It carries a terrible presupposition about how God separates the sheep from the goats. Is it an arbitrary decision on His part that excludes men from bliss?

Are unregenerate men condemned because Jesus was not kind enough to spare them? Heaven is shut against them by their unfitness for its holiness. A man must be born again.

 

4. The freedom trick

Imagine two horses in a large corral.

Prairie and forest, vale and rivulet wind through the fenced-in area. One horse romps and trots at pleasure through the open land. The other, ever near the barbed wire, circles the corral feeling ever the confining nature of his prison. Though the same boundaries keep in both horses, one has freedom, and the other bondage.

The irony is that the one looking for freedom is the one that feels the bondage.

The young man or young woman that is asking at every turn “what is wrong with that?” “Why can’t I go there?” and other similar questions is pacing the fence.

Someday, maybe, he will find the answers to his questions to be so inadequate that he will jump the fence. In the mean time his is an abject bondage. If he would ask the question “what is best?” and back away from the fence into the open pasture, he might share the freedom of the first horse.

There is room for joy and peace and activity in the corral established for our safety. The limitations are felt by the would-be-wanderer alone.

The gray areas near the edge of the fence are also causes of confusion and strife. Avoid them as tricks of the Devil. Ask not “what will Jesus put up with?” but “What would make Him most happy?”

5. The Shoved down my throat trick

This delusion has a counterpart, the they-will-accept-it-if-we-force-them-to-do-it-long-enough trick. But here we wish to consider the falsehood from the perspective of the one being forced to do right. This is a form of the first trick of the Devil.

The dirty bath water here is often the method used to instruct the young. When young people rise up in rebellion against the methods used to teach them they often unwittingly throw baby truth out with the suds. If we allow ourselves to be swayed from the right and from life by the manipulative methods of those that believe in the right, we are sitting as easy targets. Satan has plenty of truth-teachers prepared by long practice to disgust your soul. One must judge truth on its own basis if he would find it at last.

A few hundred years ago Roman “Christians” made an unprovoked attack on the Northmen of Scandanavia. Unprepared for the onslaught the surprised heathen suffered heavy losses. They heard the departing praises to the Christian God for the triumph. That was no mistake on the part of the Romans. They knew what would happen next. The Northmen soon gathered their forces and prepared for a counter attack. But where were Christians to attack? In Great Britain. And so the Celtic church became the victim of a terrible slaughter planned by the Romans and executed by ignorant Northmen that had played right into the trap. It was a misdirected revenge on innocent men and women. The Celtic Christians bore no spiritual relation to the barabaric soldiers of the Roman legions.

Would you take revenged on God and His counsels for the way “Christians” have treated you? Please don’t take it out on Him. He is not to blame for their mistakes. His counsels were written for your well-being. If you turn from them, your vengeance will injure no one as much as yourself.

6.       The hypocrites trick

By now you might recognize this as a variation on the theme of tricks of the Devil.

The Devil has long converted hypocrites to the truth for no other purpose than to turn off truth seekers. If you are looking for a church with few hypocrites, you will find one that Satan does not care to corrupt.

Truth always has and always will attract men without a heart religion. But are you sure you know who the hypocrites are? Be careful. See trick number 15.

7.       The later trick

We make our best decisions when we have the most accurate information making the deepest impression on us.

You might imagine a man outside of the ark screaming for admittance for himself and the four-year old daughter on his back. That mental picture shows the danger of putting off ‘til tomorrow spiritual decisions that should be made today.

Satan knows that when the mind is convicted to make an important decision for God that the best thing he can do is stall for time. The answer “almost you persuade me to be a Christian,” will be followed ever so surely by a weakening of the impressions of the moment. The many thoughts that combined together nearly lead a man to yield are forgotten one by one.

The trick of the Devil is to lead men to put off a decision until they forget the things that would have prompted them to make a good one. The way to dodge the snare is to do right at the very first opportunity.

8.       I can’t understand those things trick

The Bible teaches that the gospel has been written in such a way that the wayfaring man, though a fool need not misunderstand.

Satan has a growing lack of demon power on this earth. Human population has soared an astounding 600% in the last 130 years. During the same period of time the demonic forces have grown by 0%. Rather than try to man each human with a personal demon, he has adopted the delegation method.

He leads most men and women to feel that they can not understand the Bible for themselves. And he leads a few others, chosen if possible for their pliability, to feel that they understand it better than most. The former very naturally follow the latter and all the local imps have left to do is keep the leader under their influence. Don’t be fooled with this trick of the Devil.

The same God that teaches the eagles to find their prey will teach his children to find Him in His word.

Learning, degrees, positions, these things may add influence to a man, but they do not give him an edge on spiritual discernment.

9.       This is how I am trick

This one is intimately related to the kindred “I need to find myself” trick of the Devil.

“Let no one say, I cannot remedy my defects of character. If you come to this decision, you will certainly fail of obtaining everlasting life. The impossibility lies in your own will. If you will not, then you can not overcome. The real difficulty arises from the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit to the control of God.” COL p. 331.

The way we are has only a limited relation to what we must become. As the mind becomes like that thing on which it mediates, there is nothing so prone to slow down character development than studying to find one’s self.

“A fool hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself.” Pr. 18:2.

10.    That is how they are trick

This fallacy is the demonic equivalent to man’s famous straw-man argument. The soul under attack this trick of the Devil is led to believe that the reason men adopt high standards and self-denying lifestyles is that they are constituted that way. The presupposition is that conservative people become that way due to a natural bent, and liberals bend that way for similar reasons.

The power of the Word of God to change lives is ignored.

The fact that those that strive most earnestly to bring their lives into conformity to the scriptures all move in the same spiritual direction is dismissed as evidence that they are of the conservative frame of mind. The Word is undermined by this opinion. Serious arguments are dismissed, rather than considered, with the brief excuse that the one presenting them “is just that way.”

When men will not seriously study, they will be seriously wrong. Arguments and reasons, the basis or critical thinking in its positive sense, militate against the various deceptions of Satan. He is careful to avoid the dead-end of road of meeting them one by one with lies. The “that is how they are” trick of the Devil is one his ways of doing away with all of them at the same time.

 

11.    I see where you are going trick

Truth has components that are both simple and complex. The latter thoughts require connected reasoning on the part of those arriving at them. If you were to try to persuade a man that the seventh day is the Sabbath and should be kept, you might begin by defining sin as the transgression of the law.

As one that considers himself to be a budding intellectual your listener might quickly perceive that to accept the definition is, by and by, to accept the conclusion that the Sabbath must be kept. He does not want to get there and begins to resist points that he might readily have admitted under any other circumstance. Now imagine that on your side are 20 arguments to his 3 counter arguments. If all 23 arguments were on the table at once, the truth could be readily seen.

But by jumping ahead in the train of thought, the hapless listener has managed to keep at all times a maximum of four thoughts on the table—his three and one of yours. At each point he feel very justified in resisting your conclusion, for his arguments outweigh your argument. Avoid this trick of the devil. 

If you would know the truth or falsity of an idea you will do better to hear the arguments for and against it, follow the thoughts, and to postpone a conclusion until you have time to study the reasons.

Do not be so afraid of losing the argument as of losing the truth. 

It’s really just a trick of the Devil. 

12.    I won’t like heaven; it won’t be fun trick

Who gave men the ability to enjoy music, flowers, warmth, and mangos?

Who made the heart in such a way that it could be excited, the lungs with the power to laugh, and the eyes with the power to wink?

Was it an ambiguous force in nature that gave men an ability to enjoy high-speed travel?

The fact that sin has degenerated our powers and changed our tastes should encourage us. Our resurrected frames will be stronger; our passions more fiery, our intellect brighter. And our ability to enjoy will exceed anything experienced here. Do not suspect that the God who gave us such an abundance of active and passive pleasures would not equip us to enjoy them in heaven. It’s simply another one of the tricks of the Devil.

13.    You can’t prove it trick

One hundred and sixty years ago there were a few people that thought that smoking was unhealthy. They couldn’t prove it, but they saw evidence. No one demands proof when they are warned that a bomb may be in a building. Danger is avoided by caution. We are cautious not because we are sure of loss, but because we are unsure.

In our illustration, a man living in 1845 might have asked “is the pleasure of smoking worth the risk that it might be the cause of these gentlemen’s coughing and cancer?” A demand for proof might have lead to a fatal mistake. In spiritual things, Satan often leads souls to demand proof that their chosen vices are truly injurious.

Proof is hard to come by and easy to confute. Is a new vice harmless until research shows it otherwise? In the area of music this question has significant repercussions. Evidence has been compiled by several authorities that certain types of music lead to unwanted types of behavior. Others contest the findings. What if the former views are correct? Are we willing to pull the trigger on the music pistol on the whim that we have a 5/6 chance of getting away with our souls? Don’t fall for this trick of the Devil. 

If the man giving evidence in favor of a truth in unacquainted with the best arguments, does it make the truth less true? The only safety from mistake is to go with the evidence and to display caution proportionate to the gravity of the potential loss. You might walk a balance beam and risk falling two feet. But you would not walk it at 2,000 feet.

When our eternal life is at stake, do we show a reckless hardihood to demand proof before exercising caution? The Jews in the time of Jesus demanded proof in Matthew 12:38-39 because they didn’t really want to believe.

14.    I’m rich and doing evangelism trick

The question “What must I do to inherit eternal life” has often been answered by the human heart. In fact, all false religions are variations on the theme of “activity saves.” The message to Laodicea is written to workers for God. Thinking that they are “rich in good works,” even the poorest of Adventists are in danger of neglecting whole-hearted religion.

Many that do not know Jesus in a very personal way dedicate hours and dollars into weekly outreach activities. Comparing themselves with the inactive majority they are certain that if anyone is truly Christian, they must be. Beware of that thought as a trick of the Devil. It is a truly justified man in Ez. 33:13 that, after his true conversion is condemned for self-righteousness.

15.    I thank you, oh God, that I am balanced and level-headed and not like this Pharisee…trick

This idea works with astounding consistency. The plot goes like this: Satan convinces men that the arguments in the church are the result of extremists advocating extreme positions. Then he pulls the parallel trick—the Saduccees are like the liberals today, and the Pharisees are like the conservatives. Whether or not this is true is not relevant to the next step.

He convinces men that by avoiding either extreme, they can land atop the narrow way. The way to find truth becomes a balancing act: trick of the Devil. Now the poor soul has no idea of the fact, but he has just put himself where he can be easily manipulated.

If the Devil wants to push him to the right, all he has to do is bring into the man’s association a great deal of very far right people. That makes the manipulee feel a bit left of center, and he moves accordingly. If the Devil would have him give up a few basic reforms, all he needs to do is bring in a host of men and women that militate for giving up all lifestyle issues.

The poor soul suddenly feels very conscious of his glaring right of center tendencies. He needs balance. After an adjustment in his position, he is ready for the last step in the trick: Self-congratulation. He is so glad that he is not like the Pharisee in the front pew of his church that he becomes just like the Pharisee in the parable of Jesus—“I thank thee, oh God, that I am not…”

16.    Authorities disagree trick

By the way, the title of this trick of the Devil is certainly a truth. Eminent men are at each other’s intellectual throats. Men that have spent thirty years with their noses in Hebrew manuscripts can not come to terms even on the most basic of Christian doctrines.

“Therefore said some of the [theologians] ‘This man is not of God, because he keeps not the Sabbath.’ Others said, ‘How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?’ And there was a division among them.” Jn. 9:16.

Now here is the question—Why can’t they? Satan suggests the answer, “the issues are too complex. The more you study, the more ignorant you realize you are. If educated men can not agree, lesser men would be heady in the extreme to dare an interpretation.” The logic is sound proof if the supposition is accepted. Are the issues honestly too complex? Is that the reason men do not agree? “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not from your desires that fight within you?” James 4:1. It is a lack of spiritual discernment that leaves these men destitute of truth.

But hold! Careful how you relegate the trick to the Babylon without. Are there divisive issues in your church that it seems men have been arguing for years? Have you thought that their lack of consensus is evidence that neither side is right? Or that study of the topic is vain? Or that the issues are too complex for you? If so, you are a victim of the trick.

Authority does not disagree. You can go straight to it for yourself.

17.    The informed and intelligent judge trick

This trick of the Devil is so easy to understand that it is often played by men on each other. It is a variation of the “authorities disagree” trick, but with an element of disciple making.

An example might go like this: Rob opens his presentation, “Ladies and gentlemen, great thinkers have studied the writings of Rophart for decades. Most have concluded that the fifth volume of the series is a fraud. Wesson and Peters, great doctors that they are, have ably shown that the fifth volume bears, contrary to the general consensus, distinct evidence of Ruphart’s personal labor. The point that most of Peters’ critics have missed is….”

While never stated, there is an implication. The speaker knows more. More than the doctors, for he is evaluating them; more than the critics, and for the same reason. He is informed and intelligent, and intelligent listeners will accept his assertions. Watch this move. The fact that a man has read widely is no evidence that he is right. Others that have read widely disagree.

18.    It doesn’t affect me that way trick

Giving a child everything he wants will spoil him. But how? In olden times many monarchs were poisoned by very small servings of a deadly substance delivered to them day after day for months. You might ask them after their third tainted meal if they felt a little queasy and hear a jolly “not at all.” Some poison in very small portions does not have immediate perceptible effects.

Satan has many slow poisons. Much of the counsel of God has been given to warn us against these things. The Bible presents them as deadly. The Devil makes a sly move here. He makes us aware of hypersensitive people.

They can feel the anger rising in them when they listen to that music. We can’t.

They had a headache the last time they ate a candy bar. You could eat ten without noticing anything.

They became suicidal when they broke up with their boyfriend. You get over it with a few minutes of tears and a resolve to move on.

They get drunk on one beer. You can drink three before you get a buzz. It just doesn’t affect you the same way. It is safe for you. It kills slowly, so no worries. Simply stated, it’s a trick of the Devil. 

19.    God told me trick

Be careful how you say that. How do you know God told you? There are three ways that God speaks to us (5T 512). Find what they are. Imagination, feeling, desire, impulse, circumstance, all of these are often confounded with the voice of God.

God chooses to lead us by his counsel. He never leads us contrary to that counsel. The trick of the Devil here often involves a two-step stumble. Both missteps come from impulse. The first impulse comes when we are seeking to know God’s will. The timing of the impulse seems to clothe it in Divinity. But inwardly we know better.

But then we are talking to someone about it and without thinking it through we say “and God told me….” We might even know it is an exaggeration, but we said it. Now self is committed and the powers of the mind begin preparing to answer challenges to the claim. We convince ourselves. Impulse wins the day. Our god made it that way.

20.    I prayed and prayed trick a

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way, which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” Ps 32:8-9.

Men have a fundamental misunderstanding of the way that God leads his children. He leads them by his counsel. And He enables them to understand it by granting them reason. These powers atrophy in the soul that will not study earnestly.

Men would rather have a sign. 

They would rather have a vision. They would rather just choose what they want if they thought they could get away with it in the judgment. So they do, but they give God veto power. They pray and pray and pray and ask him to close the doors if He does not appreciate their choice.

But God does not answer prayers for wisdom and guidance by giving more of the same when the first Wisdom and Guidance is neglected. He does not even respect those insulting prayers enough to give the veto. If you will not follow the counsel, do not pray for guidance. Just chose. You will make the same decision, and won’t be fooled into thinking it was God’s will.

21.    I prayed and prayed trick b

A few years ago I was talking to a young man that was giving up religion. Religion didn’t work for him. “I prayed and prayed that if God was real that he would make Stephanie like me. Nothing happened.”

The forces of evil would throw a party if they could convince everyone that prayer is white magic—that is, a method of controlling forces of the universe for the purpose of doing good. God never agreed to give weak-minded sinfully inclined human beings their every whim. He does not spoil us. If we do not get what we asked for, it is an impotent prayer rather than an impotent God that is to blame. See the chapter “Prayer” in Steps to Christ and James 4:1-4.

22.    I’m called to do what I like trick

Moses almost fell for this one. He enjoyed many things, but public speaking and Egyptian vacations were not among them. Our Savior had no relish for a life of rejection and personal sorrow. Paul was constrained by the love of Christ to put his life on the line. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed,” was his testimony. 2Co 4:8-9.

There are many that, while burdened to know God’s will for their life, have written off the uncomfortable options. Their thoughts find roots in a great truth, namely that God wants His children to be happy. But they siphon that truth through a very narrow-minded filter. God wanted Moses and Paul to have the greatest joy possible in the long term. He often calls men and women to work for him in ways that war against every fiber of their being that they might be fitted for eternity with him.

Personal evangelism involves personal rejection, but they that “be teachers shall shine as the brightness of the skies, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Be open. If you are called to a self-denying work for others you must evaluate that call based on your aptitudes, not your attitudes.

23.    God let it happen trick

A Time magazine a few years ago had on the title the words “God is good; God is all powerful; Evil exists; the Philosopher’s Dilemma.” God can not be blamed for men’s foolish attempt to separate cause and effect.

“The curse causeless will not come.” Pr 26:2. The life of man, due to the history of man, brings one caused curse after another. The weakness of the human body, the human mind, the human will, are the results of the choices of our forbears. Accidents, illness, war; these require no vengeance on the part of God. They are life on a planet ceaselessly cursing itself. While a Loving hand watches the pressures of the curse and refuses to let them overwhelm the searching soul, God can not be blamed for any of the pain here. Man let it happen and God did not exterminate him. That is all the blame that Heaven will bear. Thank God for that.

24.    The slippery slope trick a

When someone is just crossing over the doorstep from pleasure seeking to conscientiousness, he is welcomed by offers of peace and joy. That is what draws him to enter the door at the sacrifice of some cherished pleasures. But just on the worldly side of the gate a band of picketing men carry placards warning of the oppression experienced by everyone entering the narrow opening. “Giving up chicken is just the first step!” “Caffeine today; fun tomorrow!” “Those that enter here must ALWAYS be consistent!” “Admit that its wrong then freedom is gone!” “Want plight? Read White!”

The fears seem grounded. But this is only an earthly version of the “I won’t like heaven trick.” The offers of Peace and Joy are substantial, and those that give up “all things” to get them, “count them but trash” that they might win Christ. Part of the deception involves a severe exaggeration of the fun derived from the lessor life-style.

While we may enjoy poor food, revealing dress, and any number of other little vices, we do not get that much joy from them. It is partly because we get so little joy in life that we cling with such fervor to the bits that we do get. Give the bits up and you get a meal.

25.    The slippery slope trick b

At the same moment that Satan portrays the “dangers” of stepping onto the reform slide and entering into a life of ever steeper and faster commitments leading to who knows where, he places the feet of his listeners on a yet steeper slide. The compromise slope is nearly horizontal at its top, and you may walk up and down the slope without even realizing a change of altitude. This gives a sense of security.

If compromising on little issues in life doesn’t make any significant difference in your spirituality, why fuss over conscientiousness? But the path of religious life is lined with the wrecks of men that stepped just a few steps too far down and lost their balance. Just at that point where the soul begins to slide, signs on the incline ask those sliding down “why be a hypocrite? If you aren’t going to obey all the way, give it all up.” “You really knew better. Too late now.” “Shame on you! If your mother saw you here…”

The soul filled with shame looses nerve and strength to hold on and slow the fall. It is not safe to violate your conscience in little things. Take the high road with no regrets.

One other thought—Prayers of repentance and faith do wonders even for those on high-speed declines. God can pick you off the slide. If Satan didn’t know this, he wouldn’t bother placing the hopeless signs all over the path. He fears you might exercise trust.

26.    First duty is to my family trick

“But your first and most sacred duty is to your family.” 2T 85. Satan often uses truth as groundwork for error. He quoted Ps 91 and God’s promise to keep us from harm before inviting the Messiah to jump from a lofty height. The mistake often made here is in the method to be employed in helping our family.

Will we, by leaving our appointed task to return home and aid them, impress them with the urgency that we feel? “If Lot himself had manifested no hesitancy to obey the angels’ warning, but had earnestly fled toward the mountains, without one word of pleading or remonstrance, his wife also would have made her escape. The influence of his example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom. But his hesitancy and delay caused her to lightly regard the divine warning.” PP 161.

When our kin see us making decisions that could cost us our friends and dearest relations in the service of God, they will know that the truth means something to us. Speaking of punctuality and decision in the work of God, Ellen White wrote, “Never should the cause of God be left to suffer, in a single particular, because of our earthly friends or dearest relatives.” 3T 499.

27.    I will go and minister to my friends trick

This is the opposite side of the “I am called to do what I want” false coin. The dupe reasons that he can do God’s work anywhere in the world and he might as well do it among his buddies. This thought is not always errant. Jesus told the Gadarene to return and show his friends the great things that God had done for him.

But when it is a violation of Romans 13:14, “make no provision for the flesh,” it is foolhardy decision that has led to the spiritual apostasy of thousands. “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17. Children that will one day make good soldiers make poor fodder in the mean time. If they have recently left the vices of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, immorality, and idleness, do not send them back to minister to their own until they have grown strong in the faith. The author writes from sad experience on this point.

28.    I don’t need anyone to teach me trick

Founded on I Jn 2:27 this argument neglects to mention the immediate context of seducing teachers (v. 26). The very writing of this Epistle of John is evidence that true teaching was needed. The point of the verse is that the members were not at the mercy of their false teachers. They could go to inspiration for themselves. That they were inclined to credit unfounded assertions is evidenced in the fact that they were being seduced.

Far different counsel is written to those heady and high-minded men who would think it weakness to say “How can I [understand] except some man should guide me?” Acts 8:31. We need each other. God designed the church that way very much on purpose. Not even Paul, the recently renamed Saul, aspired to spiritual independence in his newly converted state. In vision he was told, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” Acts 9:6. Not an angel, but God’s servant Ananias became his tutor.

29.    You can find what you are looking for trick

The deception is the old “did God really say you shouldn’t eat it?” It paints God’s counsel as narrow and restrictive. “You can find what you are looking for.” “Just weed out the error and accept the truth.” “Just find the good friends that are there.” “Sally is there and she is doing fine.”

This trick is used most often on young people making decisions that will affect their entire future. Satan and God and angels good and bad all know how easily the values gained during childhood may be thrown off in adolescence. When God has given counsel that such and such a course of action is unpleasing to Him, to say “you can [do that] if you are careful to look for the good and resist the evil.” But being careful is a character issue.

If one is not careful enough to search his heart for the sins that separate him from heaven; if he is not careful enough to study the Bible earnestly to know God’s counsel; what magic will render him careful enough to resist the influences of those that are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? In the first person, if you go and escape with your soul, who will follow your example and lose theirs?

And if God has outlined a different plan for his children, how do you know that you will be just as well off to make your own?

In your educational planning, has God asked you to aim at a mere absence of corruption?

How will you answer for the things that you might have known about his Word had you followed his Testimonies and entered a school of his choosing?

If you are looking to put searching for the kingdom first, God will show you where to do your looking as well as for what to be looking.

 

30.    I’ll witness by living a good life

The trick here is that living the good life involves active as well as passive witnessing. If you are not actively witnessing, you are not living a good life, and are not being a good witness.

31.    You are judged by what you know trick

A more accurate statement would be “you are judged by what you might have known had you lived up to your privileges.” Willful ignorance is not winked at. Those that neglect to study lest they should find light and be challenged by it are responsible for it nonetheless. “This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light.” Jn. 3:19.

32.    More people will accept the truth this way trick

This is how Satan pushes the church to the outer boundaries of the gray areas. Centuries were taken by Satan to change the Sabbath. It progressed from keeping Sabbath Holy, to Keeping Sabbath Holy and Sunday Fun. From there, it was Sabbath Solemn and Sunday Blessed. Finally Sabbath was scorned and Sunday was Holy. There are lessons we can learn from history. Two paragraphs from the Great Controversy, pp. 289-290, when meditated on, will be sufficient comment on this trick.

“The English Reformers, while renouncing the doctrines of Romanism, had retained many of its forms. Thus though the authority and the creed of Rome were rejected, not a few of her customs and ceremonies were incorporated into the worship of the Church of England. It was claimed that these things were not matters of conscience; that though they were not commanded in Scripture, and hence were nonessential, yet not being forbidden, they were not intrinsically evil. Their observance tended to narrow the gulf, which separated the reformed churches from Rome, and it was urged that they would promote the acceptance of the Protestant faith by Romanists.

“To the conservative and compromising, these arguments seemed conclusive. But there was another class that did not so judge. The fact that these customs “tended to bridge over the chasm between Rome and the Reformation” (Martyn, volume 5, page 22), was in their view a conclusive argument against retaining them. They looked upon them as badges of the slavery from which they had been delivered and to which they had no disposition to return. They reasoned that God has in His word established the regulations governing His worship, and that men are not at liberty to add to these or to detract from them. The very beginning of the great apostasy was in seeking to supplement the authority of God by that of the church. Rome began by enjoining what God had not forbidden, and she ended by forbidding what He had explicitly enjoined.”

33.    I can’t take it any longer trick

Though the overwhelmed soul rarely thinks it through, this is a denial of I Cor. 10:13, “But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.” Judge God to be faithful, tempted soul. You may feel as if you will die, but God will not fail. Do not give up.

34.    What counts is a personal relationship trick

Fuzzy facts facilitate fallacies and foster farces. A personal relationship with our Savior that involves the indwelling of his Spirit in a regenerated heart is of the utmost value. Those that have it will be saved, and those that are found in the judgment without it will be lost.

Then why is “relationship” here in a list of tricks? Because the fuzzy definition given to relationship often lends itself to demonic purposes. Those that Satan suspects of being honest Christians he leads to feel that their relationship is too weak. They don’t know enough scripture yet. They haven’t arrived. They still find themselves with sins to repent of each morning.

And those that Satan suspects of being hollow Christians (no Holy Spirit inside) he leads to feel confident that their relationship is healthy. They spend time with God everyday “and delight to do his will as a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the commandments of God.” Is. 58:2. And “relationship” is used as an excuse for ignoring the details of God’s counsel.

What would your mother think if she asked you to clean up your room and you said “no mother, I don’t want to. I just want to have a relationship with you.” The Bible defines our love relationship with Jesus in terms that are not as fuzzy. “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” Jn 15:10.

35.    The Bible, not Ellen White trick

Though the words are very different, in method and principle this deception differs little from the “what counts is a personal relationship” trick. Except in those that have had little opportunity to test the claims of Ellen White, these words often show a preference of the fuzzy to the concrete.

This paragraph will certainly not attempt to summarize Ellen White and Her Critics. Suffice here to say that if a man claims to believe and follow the Bible wholly, then he must accept as authoritative the writings of non-canonical prophets. If the Bible says “do what they say,” and the reader replies, “no, I will only do what you, my Bible, say,” he is manifestly inconsistent. He does not obey the Bible.

And do men dare to tie God’s hands and say, “I will not believe any light you send me unless it is in the Bible,” when the Bible foretold that God would speak to his last-day church through dreams and visions. If they are willing to resist the Spirit, we must not join them. The “Bible only, not Ellen White” trick is a farce when spoken by those that believe her to be heaven sent.

36.    God is blessing trick

When men make a decision the haunting question lingers on, “was it the right one? Is this God’s will?” When the decision has been made in harmony with God’s counsel and within the bounds of both his guidelines and the powers of reason that He has given, we should leave regrets behind. But when we have ignored the counsel, we must beware the prosperity deception.

Not all that glitters is gold. And not all that turns to gold is from God. Most of the wealth of this world has ever been in wicked hands and the Devil is not so stingy as to withhold capital from those that would be confirmed in wickedness by receiving it. If you build where God counsels you not to build and a man pays off your mortgage, please do not feel that heaven has bankrolled your godless project.

If you enroll is a school that treats God’s counsels with the same carelessness that you did when enrolling and some benefactor pays your tuition, don’t insult with God with your praise. If prosperity were a mark of heavenly approbation Jesus might have had reason to doubt his calling.

37.    Boy-Girl bag of tricks

As I do not propose to write a book in addition to this pamphlet, I must be ever so brief on this bag of tricks. Here is a short list of tricks that I have seen the devil use repeatedly and with astonishing success.

1. I can help him trick
2. But he has a good heart trick
3. He respects my beliefs trick
4. I need someone trick
5. God led us together trick
6. I’m not serious trick
7. [oblivious] trick

Just a word on this topic: While young people are forming their characters and shaping their values, often in their late teens and early twenties, it often happens that they change direction several times. Students heading “down” and students heading “up” may cross paths in the process and be about the “same” when they do, except in the direction they are moving.

It is at this very time that Satan works feverishly to engross the mind of the poor youth. He binds them together, for he knows that their continued movement will lead to difference and misery in the home. And these tricks draw much from a lack of faith in our Creator.

While heaven has been working for years to prepare a match for the type of young lady that Sally will become, Satan knows that she will not be ready for a year or two yet. Then he puts all his powers to the task of linking her with someone less than ideal and at the less than ideal time to prevent the ultimate blessing that heaven would bestow.

Young man, young lady, be patient, be slow, give you time to grow. Make your big decisions without reference to the one that courts your affections. Let your big decisions bring you to the one for you. You make yourself easy prey if you let the “one for you” bring you to your big decisions.

Click Here for the Word Version: Tricks_of_the_Devil

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast

A Bible Study for the Arkadelphia Study Group

Revelation describes those that live at the end of the world’s history as falling into two categories. These categories are characterized by a seal or a Mark. The following graph illustrates the contrast made between them in the book of Revelation:

Those with the Seal of God                            Those with the Mark of the Beast

Worship God as Creator (14:7)                       Worship the Beast (13:15)

Keep the Commandments (12:17; 14:12)

Resist Legal Pressure to Disobey (15:2)         Submit to the Pressure (13:16)

Those that do not keep God’s Law, the “lawless ones”, will include “many” that profess to worship Jesus.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23. NKJV

The Seal of God is placed in the forehead. The Mark of the Beast is placed in either the forehead or the hand.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, Re 14:9

And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Re 7:2-3

Anciently, God explained to his people, repeatedly, that their loving obedience to the Ten Commandments would set them apart like a mark in their foreheads. Additionally, the Ten Commandments were to be “as a sign” bound on their hands.

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words [the Ten Commandments, see Deut 5], which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: . . . And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. De 6:5-8. See De 11:18; Ex 13:9, 16.

In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit writes, or binds, the Law of God on the heart of the believer. This was represented as the sign placed on the ancient forehead. In the Revelation it is pictured as a seal being placed in the mind, in the forehead.

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Is 8:16

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: Heb 8:10.

The most solemn warning found in the entire Bible is found in conjunction with the Mark of the Beast.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Re 14:9-11

The Beast, the civil power of the Roman Papacy, is marked, or characterized, as attacking God’s law and trying to change its “times.” Dan 7:25.

The Law of God includes a Commandment that honors God as Creator, establishes His authority on earth, and identifies Him as the Sovereign of the Universe. It is the fourth, the command related to “times.”

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Ex 20:8-11

Jesus clearly indicated that this Commandment would extend beyond His Death. Matt 24:20.

The Apostles and even the Gentile believers clearly observed it. Acts 13; 17; 18

In a future study we will study how the Sabbath is identified by the Bible as the sign of the Seal of God.

Today we will simply notice that continuing to transgress the Law by keeping it in its humanly changed form defies God’s authority. Such disobedience places men in a camp that will, when put under pressure in the future, receive the Mark of the Roman beast’s authority.

Let us “Remember” the Command that begins with that word. It does so for a reason.

 

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast II

The Roman beast is against the people of God, even if many of God’s people are found among her members.

It stomped on “the remnant with its feet.” Dan 7:7, 19. It “made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.” Dan 7:21. It spoke “great words against the most High, and [wore] out the saints of the most High, . . . and they [were] given into his hand.” Dan 7:25.

In Daniel 7 the purpose of the judgment is intimately connected with the civil power of the Church of Rome. The judgment sits to take away that power, to destroy that power, and to establish in its place God’s Kingdom in the hands of the saints. This marks the end of the several-thousand-year saga for world dominion.

But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. Dan 7:26-28.

In Daniel 8 the Roman power “waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.” Dan 8:10. These “stars” and “hosts” are the same “saints” mentioned above. An angel asks how long the Roman power will be permitted to oppress the “hosts.” The answer is, until the “cleansing of the sanctuary,” Dan 8:13-14, or, in other words, until the judgment of Daniel 7.

Though prior to this, the beast’s “power shall be mighty . . . and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people,” Dan. 8:24, yet its judgment is certain. The vision that brings his oppression to an end “is true.” Dan 8:26.

Later, in the most detailed of Daniel’s revelations, a distinction is made between God’s people generally, and “they that understand among” them. The understanding ones are the objects of the wrath of the Roman power.

And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed. Dan 11:33-35.

As earlier in Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, this last vision of Daniel 11-12 presents God’s final intervention as bringing an end to the Roman oppression. The Time of Trouble with the seven last plagues falls on those not found in the book of life—that is, on those condemned in the judgment that blotted names from the book. Dan. 12:1.

Revelation 12-16 presents the same picture, but even in greater detail. The saints suffer under the oppression of the papal power for 1260 years (Rev 11:2-3, 12:6, 14; 13:5). Then they are relieved by an announcement of the arrival of the hour of Judgment.

There we see that soon the Roman beast will suffer the verdict imposed by the judgment. The world is warned against honoring the soon-to-be-destroyed power. Nevertheless, many honor that power to their own everlasting shame.

This is the connection between the first angels’ message and the latter two. The Judgment that favors the saints also pronounces against the beast. The first angel announces the Judgment. The second states both the charge and the guilty verdict for the beast. The third announces the sentence. Here the messages are abbreviated.

“The hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

 

“Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

 

“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God . . . and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: . . . and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”  Re 14:7-12 selected

All four lines of prophecy (Dan 7; 8; 10-12; Rev 12-16) present the same picture in ever increasing magnification. The judgment relieves the saints, pronounces against the beast, and proceeds at once to the execution of the sentence. This is followed by the establishment of God’s kingdom.

Who are these saints? Daniel 7:28 says that those that enter God’s kingdom will “serve and obey Him.” In Daniel 8 they are the “mighty and the holy people.” In Daniel 11 they are “those that understand among the people.” In Daniel 12 they are those found “in the book.” In Revelation 12 they are those “that keep the commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus.” In Revelation 14 they are those that endure persecution and who “keep the commandments of God.”

Taken together, these four lines of prophecy teach that the final scenes on earth will feature the beast warring against commandment keepers. The issues will be worship and the Law. God requires honor as Creator. The Beast offers a sacrifice of its own choosing, denying the creation story of Genesis 1 and supplanting the memorial of that creation with an ancient pagan holiday. The Bible story ends as it began, with a command of God being slighted by the Devil speaking through a medium, then a snake and now the Roman Church.

But this time there are some who refuse to join the woman that fell, despite her affectionate encouragement to take a bite.

 

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast III

In Daniel the Roman power is characterized as taking special aim at corrupting the covenant. The covenant is first mentioned in 9:4 where Daniel prays to God who keeps “the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments.” Dan 9:4.

Then, in the prophecy of the same chapter, the earthly work of Jesus is given. He is to “confirm the covenant with many” during the remainder of the 70 weeks. Dan 9:27.

When Jesus is crucified, in Daniel 11:22, he is styled “the prince of the covenant.” And it is only a few verses later that we find the Roman power first having a “heart” “against” the holy covenant” and then becoming indignant “against the holy covenant.” Then he has conspiracy “with them that forsake the holy covenant.” Finally we find him flattering those who “do wickedly against the covenant” and corrupting them by his flatteries. Dan 11:28, 30, 32.

In summary, the powers of Christ and of the Roman church-state clash over the issue of the covenant. The covenant under consideration is that “everlasting covenant” that was ratified by the blood of Jesus. Heb. 13:20. It is the covenant over which Christ stands as “mediator” Heb. 12:24.It is that covenant where the Law of God is written in the heart.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: Heb 8:10.

The Papacy is going to be destroyed for casting “truth” (Dan 8:12) down to the ground. Specifically, she will be destroyed for casting down the truth regarding the Holy Covenant. (See above). Namely, she will pay for thinking to change the Law of God. Dan 7:25.

And men are to come out of her communion, and out from among her daughters who have been corrupted and duped by her “intelligence against the covenant.” Her sins have been noted in the heavenly courts where the judgment has been sitting. Those sins have not been forgiven.

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Re 18:4-5.

The character of her warfare has been to direct wrath against commandment keepers and to unite with those that forsake the everlasting covenant, corrupting them. The mark of her authority is demonstrated by submission to a civil law (for it is enforced by civil penalties and is made by a nation in Re 13) that distinguishes commandment keepers and others.

Now the history of the Roman church furnishes ample evidence of what kind of commandment keepers she hates. She despises those who keep the commandments that she has changed. She labeled them judeaizers and pronounced anathema against them in ever stronger language through several centuries of the early dark ages.

 

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast IV

 

There are three Bible stories that illustrate the final conflict over the Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God. These are the stories of the Passover in Egypt, the priestly ambitions of king Uzziah, and Heaven’s execution of King Herod.

In the latter story, the men of Tyre and Sidon who had formerly been at variance with Herod,  decided to make amends. Through the man in charge of his bed-chamber they arranged to hear an oration from Herod, their representative of the Roman Empire. At its conclusion they honored him with words that exalted him as a god on earth.

And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. Ac 12:22-23

In like manner Revelation 13 describes the world wondering after the beast that is named with blasphemy. This world includes those Muslims, Chinese, Protestants, and Orthodox persons, numbering in at three billion people, that have historically felt towards Rome as Herod’s listeners had formerly felt toward Him and Roman rule.

Tyre and Sidon here typify those that receive the Mark of the Beast. Interestingly, the pope is also typified by the prince of Tyre in that chapter, Ez 28, where Satan appears as the king of the same city. In that chapter the prince of Tyrus suffers a fate similar to Herod, and for similar reason. Both represent that king that establishes his throne between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. (Dan. 11:45).

Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: . . . With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches . . .  and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.  Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. Eze 28:2-10.

While the prince of Tyre and Herod, the centuries-later Roman king over the same city, enjoyed the titles of deity in their respective ages, Judah’s own king Uzziah aspired only to the priesthood.

Prior to Uzziah kings and priests had kept their respective places. Saul, of course, had offered sacrifice—and was rejected from being king. But Uzziah went further. Perhaps as a reward to himself for defending the faith, Uzziah took the censor in his own hand, the censor that represented the mediation of Jesus, the mixing of His righteousness with our prayers. Uzziah made himself a figure of antichrist.

Notice in the story the object of the king’s rage. Notice the location of the plague that struck him. Uzziah became a figure of that apostate Christianity that rages against God’s faithful while trying to unite the position of priest and king that God has put asunder.

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 2 Chr. 26:16-19.

While the law was as a sign between the eyes for the faithful among God’s people (De 6), Uzziah’s leprosy was a sign of a contrary nature. It represented false pretensions to the priesthood, a heaven-cursed attempt to change the regulations that governed the sanctuary. Uzziah’s leprosy became typical of the Mark of the Beast.

When Israel was about to be gathered out of Egypt God warned them how to escape the plagues coming on that oppressive nation. The angel of destruction would spare those only that had the appointed sign of faithfulness.

The sign involved killing a lamb, bringing everyone in the household into the home and painting the outside of the door with blood by means of hyssop. Inside everyone was to be dressed to go and to eat the lamb with bitter herbs.

The angel passing by was not to enter homes covered with the symbol of Christ’s atonement. All others received the worst plague, the death of their first born. By this it was shown, even in the plague, that their sin had caused the death of God’s only Son. Those not availing themselves of the offered mercy, who counted the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing, were thought worthy of sore punishment.

The Seal of God is easy to see typified in that evening. But the Mark of the Beast seems to be, in the type, almost passive. It was enough to be Egyptian, in name, or even merely in service. It was enough to forgo the seal to be marked for destruction.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the princes of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. . . .And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. . . And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. Ex 12:12-13; 22-23; 29

These three stories highlight the relation of worship to the issue of the mark of the beast. Those that honor the beast and his image with words or acts that should be rendered only to the Deity worship the beast. And those that worship the beast receive the beast’s mark.

The third angel speaks twice of those who “worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand.” Rev 14:9, 11. The first plague rests “upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” When the beast is finally destroyed, it will be with “deceived” ones “that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.” Re 16:2; 19:20.

A fourth story illustrates this reality. In Daniel 3 the head of Babylon and the image that he had set up was to be worshipped. In this story the mark of the beast was kneeling. The seal of God was illustrated simply by refusing to kneel.

Daniel 6 paints the same picture. There the sign of the Seal of God was kneeling. The Mark of the Beast was illustrated by prayers to a god-king who by law exalted himself above all that is worshipped.

The mark that was legally pressed on the three friends, and later on Daniel, was an act of unlawful worship. This was a violation of the very command that contains the terms of the everlasting covenant – “shewing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”

We will notice only one more item regarding the Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God in this section: The seal is read by heaven alone; the mark is read by government also. In Ezekiel 9 those with the seal are spared the plagues that destroy the world. This same idea is implicit in the holding back of the four winds until the servants are “sealed” in Revelation 7.

The mark, by contrast, is enforced by human agencies in Re 13:16-17. These two facts give us another significant hint about how to identify the mark and the seal. No truth is more plainly taught in scripture than:

For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 1Sa 16:7 

 

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast V

We concluded the last section with an observation that God looks on the heart and that man looks on the outward appearance. If the three worthies, for example, had bowed to the image, Nebuchadnezzar would have been unconcerned with their insincerity. Conformity was all he was seeking.

God, on the other hand, utterly refuses heartless worship.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. Matt 15:8

Worship is the theme and issue in the book of Revelation. Men worship the beast or they worship their Creator. The word “worship” and its derivatives, is used more times in the book of Revelation than in any other book of the Bible, Psalms not excluded.

Satan Accepts Third-party Worship

Satan has never been so particular as to require true devotion. In Revelation he is contented to receive third-party worship. Men that honor the image thus honor the beast. And those that honor the beast worship “the dragon which gave power to the beast.” Re 13:4 The dragon is Satan. Re 12:9.

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? Re 13:4 

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Re 12:9 

Satan’s willingness to accept whatever kind of service he can get was showcased in the temptation of Jesus. The devil stooped to bribe Jesus to worship him.

And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Mt 4:9 

Satan does the same in the case of the Mark of the Beast. Hungry men are offered the things that money can buy if they will only bow. Re 13:16-17. By bribe, by hunger, by superstition-inducing miracles, the devil in Revelation draws inadvertent “worship” to himself.

God Requires Direct, Willful Worship without Competitors

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Mt 4:10 

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24.

Where Satan is willing to accept the ignorant worship of idols as directed to himself (De 32:17; Ps 106:36-37), God cannot. How does He relate to ignorant devotion? In kindness, He overlooks it as long as possible. He cannot accept it.

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth . . .  For in him we live, and move, and have our being . . . we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Acts 17:23-30

While Satan bribes men to worship himself, God will not even accept men’s bribes as worship. He is not “worshipped with men’s hands” Acts 17:25. Here is the reason that the Seal of God must be placed in the forehead while the beasts’ mark can be either in the hand or the head. God only accepts loving obedience. The beast accepts fearful conformity.

But we can not say that God always overlooks ignorant worship. When light is presented, Paul teaches, God “now commands all men everywhere to repent.” When the Jews sank down into idolatry their worship was not winked at. Their opportunities to know better prevented their ignorance from winning them grace. See Jer. 44:18-25.

Honoring Man’s Works and Man’s Commands is Idolatry

Honoring God’s Creative Power and Divine Right to Rule is Worship

This section opened with Matthew 15:8 where Jesus speaks of worshippers who use praise lyrics but whose heart was far from Him. The next verse shows that a heart that is close to Him is one that has been engraven with the Law of God. It shows that worship from a heart filled with man’s commands is pointless, hollow, vain.

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mt 15:9 

God seeks worship based on two of His attributes. He is Creator and Redeemer.

The . . . elders fall down before Him . . . and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Re 4:10-11 

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy . . . . for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred . . . Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” Re 5:9, 12, 14 

These attributes are written into the 2^nd and 4^th Commandment. Jehovah shows us mercy in the 2^nd and is Creator in the 4^th. It is the latter Command that is alluded to in the command to worship that introduces the Three Angel’s Messages.

Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Re 14:7 

In summary, the final conflict will be over worship. Satan will seek worship from misguided Christians who honor Satan inadvertently by vainly worshipping the image and the beast. Whether deceived or merely cowed by pressure, the evil one eagerly accepts the submission.

God, quite on the contrary, has a refined taste for worship. He knows what He is looking for in particular. He will only accept worship that honors Him by obedient submission to His will.

And He will avenge his saints by destroying the beast with those that have united in worshipping contrary to God’s Law. Their judgment hints at their crime.

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Re 14:11 

 

These are professed Christians. But they mock the idea of a six-day Creation and of a literal flood. They believe God made the world over ages of time and deny that His judgments are soon to fall. This class rise in the “last days.”

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 2Pe 3:3-7 

Yes, Satan accepts whatever kind of honor he can get. This kind of scoffing is honor enough for him. These scoffers are “ungodly.” The Greek is asebaes, “without due reverence, worshipless.” What have they been scoffing at? Very apparently, the First Angel’s Message. They refuse both to acknowledge that the “hour of His Judgment” is come and to “worship Him” as Creator.

God only accepts heart love and obedience. While men will look at the outward acts to determine who accepts the mark of the beast, God will look at the heart to perceive who has been sealed with the covenant Law by the Holy Spirit of Promise.

 

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast VI

When God looks at the heart, what is He looking for? In the day that He will judge the secrets of men, Judge Jesus will be looking for the works of the law to be written there. Our thoughts and actions will bear witness whether the Law has been written into the heart.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these . . . shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing [each of them] in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Ro 2:14-16

In the period of time when the world is coming to its end, the Ten Commandments receive greater attention. In the context of the close of human probation, Revelation 22:14 blesses those that “keep” the commandments of God.

In the context of the final controversy between good and evil the law of Ten Commandments is revealed in the Ark that housed it. This happens twice. Revelation 11:19; 15:5. This is further evidence that the Law will have been at issue in the closing scenes of the world.

In Revelation 14:7 the announcement that the hour of “His Judgement has come” begs the question, “What will be the standard of judgment in this trial?”  James 2:8-12 specifies that we are judge by the “royal law” of the Ten Commandments. During the judgment this standard receives due attention. And again we point out that it is the Sabbath command that is partially quoted immediately after the announcement of the judgment.

The Sabbath, as a seal that one is keeping the Commandments of God, fits snuggly into the puzzle of Revelation.

When Jesus speaks of His coming, He mentions a class that will be bitterly surprised to find themselves lost. As all lost persons in Revelation receive the Mark of the Beast, and as all saved persons receive the Seal of God, this class must be the class that has not the Seal of God. The disappointed ones at the Advent are not the class of 14:12 that keep the commandments.

But what commandments would it be that professed followers of God could break and still dare to say “Lord, Lord” to Jesus at His coming?

And of the commandments, the Sabbath seems most like the sign/seal of circumcision. It is the commandment that does not appeal to unaided moral senses any more than the command to avoid the Tree of Knowledge. Some authors have rejected it particularly on this ground—that they could not see the morality in it.

In that respect the sacredness of the Sabbath, like the forbiddeness of the Knowledge Tree in Eden, is a fit test to separate men into two camps. On one side are the Cains who offer to God a generous offering of what makes sense to them. On the other are the Abels who do as they are told by God, human reasoning not withstanding.

The Sabbath has been set apart as a special sign of the work of sanctification, of living our lives as if “the Lord God [were] in our hearts.” Isaiah 8.  Sanctification is the New Covenant process of writing the Law in the Heart.

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. Ex 31:16-17.

 

Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. Eze. 20:12

 

And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. Eze. 20:20

Why else has the Fourth Commandment been chosen as a sign of sanctification? In Hebrews 4:4-10 the Sabbath is made a symbol of the creative work that God does in the heart. It emphasizes the Divine gift in writing the law there. We are to cease doing our “own works” and to rest in blissful dependence on God’s inworking power.

A Sign of the Spirit’s Work

“You also trusted [in Jesus], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,” writes Paul. But he adds that there is more. “In Whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”  Eph 1:13.

Jesus received the Seal of God. John 6:67. Jesus was, for the record, filled with the promised Holy Spirit.  Jesus, “being full of the Holy Ghost” preached regarding himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” Lu 4:1, 18.

Just as Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and thus sealed by God the Father, the last generation will be.  Joel 2; Ezekiel 9; Revelation 7.

Ephesians speaks of the seal being “the earnest” of our inheritance until we receive glorified bodies. Eph 1:14. In other words, we can be sure that we will be resurrected finally when we have received the down-payment of the Spirit.

“Now he which stablishes us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2 Co. 1:21-22.

The Bible places the seal of the Spirit “in our hearts.” The same idea is expressed in Revelation where the seal, or the Spirit, is placed in the forehead.

The seal of the Holy Spirit is given to those who meet the qualifications for salvation. In the time of Noah, for example, it would not be put on anyone who would not get in the ark. If the seal were given to someone who had not met the conditions of salvation, it would be a false promise.

Now nothing is clearer in our dear country than that many unsanctified persons have exhibited what are called the gifts of the Spirit. The Sabbath, as an outward sign, serves to show the body of believers that are Commandment Keepers, that are New Covenant Christians, and that are being sanctified by the writing of the Law on the heart.

As a sign of the Spirit’s seal, it helps clear confusion regarding what the Spirit is and is not doing in the world. Today the Commandment Keepers are preparing for Christ’s return. They are not building an ark.

But they are engaged in an activity as distinctive and as significant to the final scenes of this earth’s history. They are being sanctified by the special work of the Holy Spirit. 1 Co 6:11; 2 Thes 2:13; 1 Pe 1:2; Ro 15:16; 1 Thes 5:23. This is the sealing process.

The Sabbath is a sign of the special work of the Spirit on the heart. Or, stated another way, we could say, “The Sabbath is the seal of the work of the Spirit.” In a shorter term, we would say that the Sabbath is the sign or seal of the spiritual work of sanctification.

By keeping the Sabbath we confess that God has the right to determine the purpose of His creation. We were created for his pleasure. This idea carries within it the idea of worship. The man that feels he can determine which day is honorable is only demonstrating an extension of another principle. He is his own master, determines his own purpose, makes his own way. He worships himself. Living to please is an act of worship.

“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10.

The Sabbath is ideally made to discern between him that serves God and him that serves Him not. Our relation to the change proposed by man’s will, when the pressure is on, reveals who we are serving.

An Outline of What We Have Learned So Far

The Lamb                                             The Beast

Prince of the Covenant                      Heart against the covenant

Confirms the covenant                      Works, plans, cooperates against the covenant

Stands for the saints                           Opposes the saints

Helps them                                           Pursues them

Gathers a remnant                              Scatters the whole

Executes vengeance                           Executes saints

The Everlasting Covenant

Saints are forgiven

The Law is written in their heart       à            This is the sealing

They receive the kingdom                                 The Sabbath is the Sign

The Beast’s Arrangement

Claims to give forgiveness

Claims to change the Law

Forces compliance              à            This is the marking

Holds last earthly kingdom                               Bowing to Man’s Law is the Mark

 

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast VII

Humanity’s Foreheads at Stake

 

The beast introduced in Revelation 13 is often called “a composite beast” for the similarities it bears to the four beasts of Daniel 7. We are told that this seven-headed beast has the name of blasphemy on its heads.

As the mark of the beast is called the “mark of his name” (Re 14:11) this blasphemous name is of particular interest to our study.

The Babylonian head demanded worship through the image of Daniel 3.

The Persian head demanded worship through a law in Daniel 6.

The Roman head, while Pagan, executed saints and accepted honor as a god. Herod illustrates this in Acts 12:19-24.

The Roman head, while Papal, does all these things in Daniel and Revelation and finally impersonates Christ in 2 Thes. 2.

Thus various heads of the beast have the name of blasphemy. They claim the prerogatives that belong to God alone. The mark of the beast is called “the mark of his name” of blasphemy. It is honoring the papacy with the very authority it claims for itself, the ability to change God’s law.

The battle for humanity’s foreheads rages between the beast and the Lamb. The Lamb, gentle Savior, guides His followers. Re 14:4. The beast coerces. Re 13:15. The Lamb fills with the power of the Holy Spirit. The beast works miracle to advertise the legitimacy of his power.

Miracles are the reason that many honor the beast and receive the mark.

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Re 19:20.

Far from being an obscure fact, the relation of miracles to the final deception is spoken of widely. Miracles in the end of time aid the great deceiver. Matt 7; 24; Mr 13; Lu 21; 2 Th 2; Re 13; 16; 19.

Miracles fill the beast’s arsenal. Men see them and are deceived. Every class of men are presented as receiving the mark. This is preparatory to their entrance into the lake of fire mentioned above in Re 19:20.

Love fills the Lamb’s followers. Men observe their character, their constancy under persecution, the cogency of their scriptural reasoning, the spiritual power of their presentations. Men know that they are right.

They face beheading (Re 20:4) for refusing the combined authority of the powers of earth. Though decapitated, they are counted victorious (Re 15:2) over their enemies. Like saints before them (Re 6:11 ) they overcome by their testimony and by Christ’s blood while sacrificing their lives (Re 12:11).

The Battle for the Forehead

We have observed repeatedly that the Law of God is to be written in men’s minds. Satan also has a character that he works to have planted there. It is characterized in scripture as having a “whore’s forehead.”

Where men have such a forehead they are nearly impervious to the Spirit’s work of sanctification. They can not be led to the first step of feeling a need for the Spirit’s convictions. They refuse to be ashamed of their sins.

Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore‘s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. Jer 3:3 

So there is a forehead of a whore and a forehead of a Lamb. Regarding the latter we are to “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who . . . became obedient unto death.” Thus the last-day faithful ones are represented as having foreheads like the Father and the Son. Re 14; 22.

What both camps have is a hardened forehead. This idea is illustrated in the experience of Ezekiel who was called to give fearful warnings to a stubborn (literally “stiff-foreheaded”) nation. To preserve his faithfulness God strengthened Ezekiel’s forehead to be able to stand against their opposition.

But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are stiff-foreheaded [Hebrew] and hardhearted. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Eze 3:7-9

These stiff foreheads are similar in their rigidity. They differ widely otherwise. One is the result of God’s transformation of the human heart, the other of conformity to the world.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Ro 12:2 

The “mother” of harlots has promoted conformity. The compliance of the masses has deluded individuals into refusing to be ashamed, duped them into accepting the essence of having a “whore’s forehead.” See Re. 17

And so men will range under the two banners—one with a Lamb’s forehead, transformed, and braving death for the faithfulness. The other with the whore’s, refusing even to be ashamed. These classes naturally receive the Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast respectively.

 

The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast VIII

The Seal of God is placed, strategically, in the mind. There it is sure to have an impact on the message given by the sealed one.

And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth:  Ex 13:9

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Matt 12:34

We noted earlier Christ in His character of Prince of the Covenant (Dan 11:22). The New Testament identifies Him in a similar fashion.

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Jas 4:12 

 

The passage indicates a relation between giving Law and being authorized to judge. In a fascinating turn of events, the very class that have suffered for their loyalty to the “one lawgiver” eventually sit with the Law-giver on his throne as co-judges.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them . . . which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Re 20:4

 

The Activity of those who Escape the Mark

 

So those who escape the Mark of the Beast and who refuse to worship the Roman power will at last sit as judges. They will co-reign with their Savior. This is future. But what will they be doing now? The answer to this question is the subject of Revelation 14:8-12.

First the passage warns the world regarding special future judgments on those that submit to the beast’s authority. Then it points out the class who heed those warnings. Those warnings are the most solemn given in the entire history of the human race.

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Re 14:8-11

How does this message get to the world? “All nations” are in danger, for all have been confused by the teachings of the Roman power. (This is what it means to be made drunk with her wine.) Each man and woman in those nations ought to have a chance to escape such terrible judgments.

So who will give the message? In Revelation 14 it is given by an “angel.” But this angel is a metaphor for certain of God’s people, the ones who understand. They are “here” giving the warning and enduring opposition.

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Re 14:12

 

The saints are those who have lingered to consider the seriousness of the threatened judgments. They struggle with their inability to rouse the world to see their danger. Their position makes them very unpopular. Their simple choice to be loyal to all of “the commandments of God” places them in opposition to the gods of this world: convenience and conventional wisdom.

This is our eighth lesson. We are not close to exhausting the Biblical themes of the Mark of the Beast and of the Seal of God. But we have seen enough to know with Biblical certainty what we are talking about.

The Mark and the Seal Plainly[1]

The Sealing is the special work of the Holy Spirit in writing the Law of God into the heart of God’s people. The Sealing is the work of sanctification. The sign of submission to this work is Sabbath keeping. That sign distinguishes those that reject human authority in religious matters and thus honor God alone.

The character of the beast is to be unashamed of its violations of God’s law. This mindset is, metaphorically, the whore’s forehead. Those that refuse the sealing process are hardened each time they refuse. Their unwillingness to take up their cross and follow their Savior against the current of the world marks them as unworthy of eternal life.

By refusing the claims of the Fourth Commandment they honor men above their Creator, the beast above the Lamb, their comfort above the truth. Their refusal to take up the warning that the world needs so desperately marks them for the judgments of Revelation 14:8-11. They have no “rest” during the plagues who have refused the Sabbath rest. Though sincerely deceived into thinking they are doing right, they are not excused. Their sincerity is rather the fruit of trusting in men than of loving the truth.

When laws enforcing the keeping of another day than Sabbath, undoubtedly Sunday as all history declares, the character of these hardened persons will naturally submit to the coercion of the beast. Heaven is not guided that way. They are unfit to be there. They won’t be there.

Just prior to the sealing of God’s people in Ezekiel 9 (and just prior to the plagues on those that are unsealed) the prophecy describes the abominations that have invaded Christendom.

Though, in the metaphor, these abominations are conducted inside God’s temple, yet they savor of paganism. These idolatrous practices are revealed to Ezekiel in ascending order of magnitude.

The worst item, last in the list, and just prior to the command to seal the faithful servants and to slaughter the rest, is sun-worship.

Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Eze 8:15-16

To be particular, here is worship of the Sun practiced inside Christ’s temple by men who have turned their back on God’s Law.

The illustration is particularly interesting because the worshippers might appear, to an observer, to be worshipping the lamb on the altar.

Ezekiel 8-9, written entirely in figurative speech, indicates that just prior to the end of the world men will turn their back on the Law of God and on Christ in His temple to rather honor the sun. All the while they will be in God’s church.

Sun-worship is the most ancient kind of false-religion. Job says that had he secretly admired the sun that he would be deserving of punishment by the Judge of the Earth. Job 31:26-28. Through Moses God warned his special people regarding worshipping this gift of God to “all nations under heaven.” De 4:19. Josiah’s great reformation involved the cleansing of God’s house from horses and chariots dedicated “to the sun.” 2Ki 23:5, 11.

And the temple had purposefully been built to prevent the very type of abomination figured in Ezekiel 8. As worshippers entered the court in the morning, their backs were to the sun.  They faced forward to where they could not see, the Most Holy Place, and imagined what they knew to be there—the Law of God in a special box built to honor it.

But when a soul persists in ignoring God’s requirements He may give them up to honor the hosts of heaven despite themselves. As the fall into idolatry marked old Israel for captivity in Babylon (Ac 7:42-43), so the fall of Christianity into the worship of religious men was a fall that put them into a spiritual state called Babylon in the book of Revelation.

Those that Sigh and Cry

In the pictures of Ezekiel 8-9, who is spared? The Seal of God is placed on those that “sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done” in the professedly Christian churches.

And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Eze 9:4 

 

In particular, they mourn over the honor given to the sun and over the dishonor shown to the covenant. In figure, these faithful souls are in the same place as the 25 sun-worshippers. They are between the porch and the altar. But they are facing the opposite direction.

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD . . . Joel 2:17

Scripture Index to Study

Re 14:8-11

The Faculty of Imagination

A study by Eugene Prewitt

Introduction

The faculty of “imagination” is one that is often enslaved, enfeebled, corrupted, or otherwise poorly developed.

In the two volumes of Mind, Character and Personality we find an entire chapter (pp. 587-595) devoted to the topic and titled, aptly, “Imagination.”

This study, drawn from that chapter and other references, is organized, briefly, into three parts. The first examines principles related to the imagination and its healthy or unhealthy development. The second suggests keys for diagnosing problems with the imagination. The third suggests approaches, gleaned from a careful reading of the first section, that a counselor might take in helping someone with what Ellen White calls “a diseased imagination.”

Many of Ellen White’s statements could justifiably be included in all three sections. To save space they have been located under one of the three heads only.

Section One – Principles

Healthy Uses

 

1. Grasping Illustrations and Metaphors:      “Through the imagination He [Christ] reached the heart. His      illustrations were taken from the things of daily life, and although they      were simple, they had in them a wonderful depth of meaning. The birds of      the air, the lilies of the field, the seed, the shepherd and the      sheep–with these objects Christ illustrated immortal truth; and ever      afterward, when His hearers chanced to see these things of nature, they      recalled His words. Christ’s illustrations constantly repeated His      lessons.”  – 2MCP p. 587

 

2. Submitting to the Discipline of the      Will: “Few realize that it is a duty to exercise control over the      thoughts and imaginations. It is difficult to keep the undisciplined mind      fixed upon profitable subjects. But if the thoughts are not properly      employed, religion cannot flourish in the soul. The mind must be      preoccupied with sacred and eternal things, or it will cherish trifling      and superficial thoughts.” 2MCP p. 587

 

3. Thinking of heavenly things and noble      pictures, preparing one to guide conversations into healthy channels.      “Had you trained your mind to dwell upon elevated subjects,      meditating upon heavenly themes, you could have done much good. You could      have had an influence upon the minds of others to turn their selfish      thoughts and world-loving dispositions into the channel of      spirituality.” 2MCP p. 593

 

4. Cooperating with research in an effort      to grasp the wonders of redeeming love:  “How blessed will be the lot of      those who enter into that glorious abode where there will be no more sin,      no more suffering! What a prospect is this for the imagination! what a      theme for contemplation! The Bible is full of the richest treasures of      truth, of glowing descriptions of that heavenly land. We should search the      Scriptures, that we may better understand the plan of salvation, and learn      of the righteousness of Christ, until we shall exclaim, in viewing the      matchless charms of our Redeemer, “Thy gentleness hath made me      great.” There we shall see his infinite compassion. The imagination      may reach out in contemplation of the wonders of redeeming love, and yet      in its highest exercises we shall not be able to grasp the height, and      depth, and length, and breadth of the love of God; for it passeth      knowledge.”

 

5. Determine to think only pure thoughts      and God will help: “Here is a wide field in which the mind can      safely range. If Satan seeks to divert the mind to low and sensual things,      bring it back again and place it on eternal things; and when the Lord sees      the determined effort made to retain only pure thoughts, He will attract      the mind, like the magnet, purify the thoughts, and enable them to cleanse      themselves from every secret sin. “Casting down imaginations, and      every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and      bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2      Corinthians 10:5).” 2MCP 595

 

6. The will, the reason, the judgment, may      bring diseased imagination under control:  “Dear Sister F, you have a diseased      imagination; and you dishonor God by allowing your feelings to have      complete control of your reason and judgment. You have a determined will,      which causes the mind to react upon the body, unbalancing the circulation      and producing congestion in certain organs; and you are sacrificing health      to your feelings.  {5T 310.2}    You are making a mistake, which, if      not corrected, will not end with wrecking your own happiness merely. You      are doing positive injury, not only to yourself, but to the other members      of your family, and especially your mother. She is very nervous and highly      sensitive. If one of her children is suffering, she becomes confused and      almost distracted. Her mind is becoming unbalanced by the frequent fits of      hysteria which she is compelled to witness, and great unhappiness is      brought upon all around you. And yet you are capable of controlling your      imagination and overcoming these nervous attacks. You have will power, and      you should bring it to your aid. You have not done this, but have let your      highly wrought imagination control reason. In this you have grieved the      Spirit of God. Had you no power over your feelings, this would not be sin;      but it will not answer thus to yield to the enemy. Your will needs to be      sanctified and subdued instead of being arrayed in opposition to that of      God.”  {5T 310.3}

 

7. Risk something by giving principle a      chance; deny your feelings, for the benefit of others. Value their life as      more than their own. These are thoughts of suggested therapy for a      diseased imagination:   “Invalids,      I advise you to venture something. Arouse your will power, and at least make      a trial of this matter. Withdraw your thoughts and affections from      yourselves. Walk out by faith. Are you inclined to center your thoughts      upon yourselves, fearing to exercise, and fearing that if you expose      yourself to the air you will lose your life; resist these thoughts and      feelings. Do not yield to your diseased imagination. If you fail in the      trial, you can but die. And what if you do die? One life might better be      lost than many sacrificed.” – 2T 534

 

8. Study the Bible: “If the Bible      were studied as it should be, men would become strong in intellect. The      subjects treated upon in the Word of God, the dignified simplicity of its      utterance, the noble themes which it presents to the mind, develop      faculties in man which cannot otherwise be developed. In the Bible a      boundless field is opened for the imagination. The student will come from      a contemplation of its grand themes, from association with its lofty      imagery, more pure and elevated in thought and feeling than if he had      spent the time reading any work of mere human origin, to say nothing of      those of a trifling character. Youthful minds fail to reach their noblest      development when they neglect the highest source of wisdom–the Word of      God. The reason why we have so few men of good mind, of stability and solid      worth, is that God is not feared, God is not loved, the principles of      religion are not carried out in the life as they should be.” {CG      507.1}

Unhealthy Uses

 

9. Aggravating illness, suppressing the      immune system: “Disease is sometimes produced and is often      greatly aggravated by the imagination. Many are lifelong invalids who      might be well if they only thought so. Many imagine that every slight      exposure will cause illness, and the evil effect is produced because it is      expected.” 2MCP p. 587.

 

10. Unfitting persons for useful life:      “From what the Lord has shown me, the women of this class have had      their imaginations perverted by novel reading, daydreaming, and      castle-building–living in an imaginary world.” 2MCP p. 588

 

11. Sensitive Paranoia: “You must      overcome this disease of the imagination. You are extremely sensitive, and      if a word is spoken favoring an opposite course from that which you have      been pursuing, you are hurt. You feel that you are blamed and that you      must defend yourself.” 2MCP pp. 588-589

“He [a father] has treated small offenses with too great severity. This has had an influence to wean, in a degree, the affection of the son from the father. During his sickness Brother S has had a diseased imagination. His nervous system has been all deranged, and he has thought that his children did not feel for him and love him as they should; but this was the result of disease.” – 2T p. 98

 

12. Controlling the Reason: “You      are capable of controlling your imagination and overcoming these nervous      attacks. You have willpower, and you should bring it to your aid. You have      not done this, but have let your highly wrought imagination control      reason. In this you have grieved the Spirit of God. Had you no power over      your feelings, this would not be sin; but it will not answer thus to yield      to the enemy.” 2MCP p. 589

 

13. Vivified by Stimulants: “Tea,      coffee, and flesh meats produce an immediate effect. Under the influence      of these poisons the nervous system is excited, and in some cases, for the      time being, the intellect seems to be invigorated and the imagination to      be more vivid.” 2MCP p. 589

 

14. To Excite Men in Religious Exercises:      “Popular revivals are too often carried by appeals to the      imagination, by exciting the emotions, by gratifying the love for what is      new and startling. Converts thus gained have little desire to listen to      Bible truth, little interest in the testimony of prophets and apostles.”      2MCP p. 590

 

15. Interacting with the Theater’s Drama:      “Low songs, lewd gestures, expressions, and attitudes deprave the      imagination and debase the morals. Every youth who habitually attends such      exhibitions will be corrupted in principle.” “There is no      influence in our land more powerful to poison the imagination, to destroy      religious impressions, and to blunt the relish for the tranquil pleasures      and sober realities of life than theatrical amusements.” 2MCP p. 590

 

16. Contemplating morally low or      unrealistically ideal scenes: “You have indulged in novel and      story reading until you live in an imaginary world. The influence of such      reading is injurious to both the mind and the body; it weakens the      intellect and brings a fearful tax upon the physical strength. At times      your mind is scarcely sane because the imagination has been overexcited      and diseased by reading fictitious stories.” “The lust of the      eye and corrupt passions are aroused by beholding and by reading. The      heart is corrupted through the imagination. The mind takes pleasure in      contemplating scenes which awaken the lower and baser passions. These vile      images, seen through defiled imagination, corrupt the morals and prepare      the deluded, infatuated beings to give loose rein to lustful passions.”

 

17. Masturbation and Fantasizing:      “Impure thoughts seize and control the imagination and fascinate the      mind, and next follows an almost uncontrollable desire for the performance      of impure actions.” 2MCP 591. (See Sec. 1, #3 for the next sentence)

 

18. Imagining Self as a Hero in Grandiose      Scenarios: “If the thoughts, the dreamings of the mind, are of      great purposes in which self figures, there will be revealed in words and      actions self-exaltation, a lifting up of self.” 2MCP 592

 

19. Allowing the imagination to run      “riot” wherever it chooses: “Your imagination was not      given you to be allowed to run riot and have its own way without any      effort at restraint or discipline. If the thoughts are wrong, the feelings      will be wrong; and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral      character.” 2MCP p. 593

 

20. Greedy paranoia: “He has      suffered imaginary pecuniary want while surrounded with plenty. Satan has      taken possession of his mind and, exciting his organ of acquisitiveness,      has made him insane upon this subject.” 2MCP p. 594

 

21. Health paranoia: “I have been      shown mothers who are governed by a diseased imagination, the influence of      which is felt upon husband and children. The windows must be kept closed      because the mother feels the air. If she is at all chilly, and a change is      made in her clothing, she thinks her children must be treated in the same      manner, and thus the entire family are robbed of physical stamina. All are      affected by one mind, physically and mentally injured through the diseased      imagination of one woman, who considers herself a criterion for the whole      family.” 2MCP p. 594

 

22. Day-dreaming and romantic      castle-building and thinking about one’s own delicacy:    Many have a self-complacent feeling,      flattering themselves that if they had an opportunity, or were      circumstanced more favorably, they could and would do some great work.      These do not view things from a correct standpoint. Their imagination is      diseased, and they have permitted their minds to soar above the common      duties of life. Day-dreaming and romantic castle-building have unfitted      them for usefulness. They have lived in an imaginary world, and have been      imaginary martyrs, and are imaginary Christians. There is nothing real and      substantial in their character. This class sometimes imagine that they      have an exquisite delicacy of character, and sympathetic nature, which      must be recognized and responded to by others. They put on an appearance of      languor and indolent ease, and frequently think that they are not      appreciated. Their sick fancy is not helping themselves or others.      Appropriate labor, and healthy exercise of all their powers, would      withdraw their thoughts from themselves.       {HR, March 1, 1872 par. 14}

 

23. Imaging Star-Wars-type conflict between      good and evil, rather than conflict of principles for the heart:  Those who are exalting education above      everything else, may become much more intelligent in regard to the work      that is going forward in this high contest of the two opposing forces      between the principalities and powers. They need not imagine a battle      going on in some distant field with celestial pomp, in all the      terribleness of superhuman strength, but bring the imagination down to the      reality of the war and conflict in the domain of the human heart, and give      this battle the character of a moral conflict, a struggle between      principles supported by opposite parties which appear as combatants. They      must consider they are either to become champions of falsehood or of      truths. But this view of things is not poetical enough for the fancy of      very many who are fighting with Satan the game of life for their      souls.  {RH, July 19, 1887 par. 9}

 

24. Thinking of one’s own depravity and      weakness, or even more generally, thinking of ‘self’: There are      persons with a diseased imagination to whom religion is a tyrant, ruling      them as with a rod of iron. Such are constantly mourning over their      depravity and groaning over supposed evil. Love does not exist in their      hearts; a frown is ever upon their countenances. They are chilled by the      innocent laugh from the youth or from anyone. They consider all recreation      or amusement a sin and think that the mind must be constantly wrought up      to just such a stern, severe pitch. This is one extreme. {AH 493.1}

Amusements excite the brain more than useful employment. Physical exercise and labor have a more happy influence upon the mind and strengthen the muscles, improve the circulation, and give the invalid the satisfaction of knowing his own power of endurance; whereas, if he is restricted from healthful exercise and physical labor, his attention is called to himself and he is in constant danger of thinking himself worse off than he really is, and of having established with him a diseased imagination, which causes him to have continual fear that he is overdoing, overexercising, and overtaxing his power of endurance. At the same time, if he should engage in well-directed labor, using his strength and not abusing it, he would find that this physical exercise would prove a more powerful and effective agent in his recovery of health than even the water treatment he is receiving.  {5MR 395.1}

 

25. Superficial reading of stories leading      to magnification of little difficulties:     I am personally acquainted with some      who have lost the healthy tone of the mind through wrong habits of      reading. They go through life with a diseased imagination, magnifying      every little grievance. Things which a sound, sensible mind would not      notice, become to them unendurable trials, insurmountable obstacles. To      them, life is in constant shadow.       Those who have indulged the habit of racing through exciting      stories, are crippling, their mental strength, and disqualifying      themselves for vigorous thought and research. There are men and women now      in the decline of life who have never recovered from the effects of      intemperate reading. The habit, formed in early years, has grown with      their growth and strengthened with their strength; and their efforts to      overcome it, though determined, have been only partially successful. Many      have never recovered their original vigor of mind. {CE 186-187}

 

26. The Constant Working of the Mind      Diseases the Imagination: Let students with their mental studies call      into exercise the physical and moral powers. Let them work the living      machinery proportionately. The constant working of the brain is a mistake.      I wish I could express in words just that which would express the matter.      The constant working of the brain causes a diseased imagination. It leads      to dissipation. The education of five years in this one line is not of      much value as an all-round education of one year.  {SpM 95.3}

 

27. To think ill of other’s planning      ability may disease the imagination:     This same character of spirit is      found here in Europe. For years Elder      Andrews held the work back from advancing, because he feared to entrust it      to others lest they would not carry out his precise plans. He would never      allow anything to come into existence that did not originate with him.      Elder Loughborough also held everything in his grasp while he was in California and England,      and as a result the work is years behind in England. Elder Wilcox and      Sister Thayer have the same spirit of having everything go in the exact      way in which they shall dictate, and no one is being trained in such a way      as to know how to get hold of the work for himself. What folly it is to      trust a great mission in the hands of one man, so that he shall mold and      fashion it in accordance with his mind, and after his own diseased      imagination.  {PC 384.1}

 

28. Exaggerating problems, or reacting      hastily, when suffering under sickness (especially indigestion):     Now, Bro. Fargo, if you did go from      that conference and make such statements to Elder Butler, have you had no      evidence to change you mind? and how could you represent this as you did      to Elder. B. who was broken in mind and diseased in body, who was in a      condition to exaggerate every statement made? How can God look upon this      work of my good ministering brethren? If you have acted a part because of      blindness of mind in helping Eld. Butler to remain under a deception,      making statements to him which his diseased imagination would construe      into the worst possible light, God will not look on this work with any      favor, for if this, your work, is of God, then He has not been leading me.      {1888 294.2}                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Could your eyes have been opened as you      with others sat in counsel, you would have discerned the unseen Watcher      marking your words and noting the hasty, overbearing spirit which      controlled your decisions, especially when something took place to arouse      your combativeness. A sufferer from indigestion, you have brought the      results of this into council meetings and board meetings. You have      presided when, owing to your diseased imagination, you were not fit to      preside. You were not always in this frame of mind, but at times were      conciliating and conceding. Angels of God were present to help you when      you did wish and strive to do the will of God.–Letter 41, 1898. (To A. R.      Henry, May 6, 1898.)  {5MR      443.2}

 

29. Chronically diseased imagination of      wife may discourage and weaken spouse: All through your life, Sister      Lay, you have had, to a greater or less degree, a diseased imagination.      God designed your affliction for your good, that it should remove from you      many things detrimental to you and which had proved a leaden weight to      your husband. You have not realized your condition or the effect both your      physical and mental infirmities have had upon your husband. They have made      him a weak man, in every sense of the word, when he might have been      strong. He has suffered in mind intensely when it all might have been      saved had you viewed calmly, rationally, and as a Christian wife should. [Note: context shows God worked to change      Mrs. Lay’s condition and that such a change was hopeful.]

 

30. Mistreatment may lead individuals into      a state of diseased imagination, of prejudicial paranoia:  He feared to yield and give up the      oversight of matters lest he should lose his influence. The chief cause      which led to this error on the part of Dr. Lay, was the course pursued      toward him when he first engaged in his efforts for the Institute. He knew      there was jealousy and prejudice existing toward him. This made him      jealous and suspecting in return. His continual fear was of prejudicial      influences working to injure his standing in the Institute. This was, much      of it, the fruit of a diseased imagination. He was constantly wrestling      with enemies which existed only in his imagination.  {PH097 42.2}  

 

31.  Cherishing      the “disagreeable” excites “a nervous irritability”      which lies at the foundation of “diseased imagination”:  God does not bind upon any one burdens      so heavy that at every step he must complain of the load he is obliged to      bear. It is the friction, and not the constant motion that wears the      machinery. It is the continual worry, and not the work they do, that is      killing these persons. They covet some blessing, either real or imaginary,      which is just beyond their reach; but if they were to gain this cherished      object, it would only excite a desire for something else. The present is      clouded because they under-value the good that they enjoy. They look away      from the honors they possess that they have not earned, and the love that      they have not merited, and want to stand a little higher. They cherish the      disagreeable, and by their thoughts and conversation, excite a nervous      irritability which lies at the foundation of a diseased imagination and      real suffering. God does not propose to work a miracle for this class. He      is not pleased or glorified when his sons and daughters, members of the      royal family, take this course; for they neither enjoy rest and peace in      his love themselves nor permit others to do so. Let none of us think that      our work is greater and more taxing than any others are doing. This same      work has been done in the past, and can be done again. {ST, June 12, 1884      par. 6}

 

32. Superstition in health matters is fruit      of diseased imagination and of the trump of experience over science and      reason:          Feelings are a      poor criterion at any time, but especially when under the control of a      diseased imagination and strong will. Invalids of this class are almost      sure to continue to be invalids. They generally have some fault to find      with the course of all who try to help them. They are seldom willing to be      guided by the judgment of those who understand the human system and who      have long experience in treating disease. Physicians cannot, by their      counsel, or treatment, help the sick unless the invalids give them their      confidence. If they take their cases into their own hands, and do not      recover health, they should not charge the failure upon the physicians.      Genuine experience is in harmony with the unchangeable principles of      nature. Superstition, caused by diseased imagination, is frequently in      conflict with science and principle. And yet the unanswerable argument is      urged, “I must be correct, for this is my experience.” {HR, June      1, 1872 par. 12-13, see also paragraph 11}

 

33. Incapability of well appreciating the      atonement or of well appreciating the exalted nature of God’s work, or of      losing a meek and calm frame of mind in doctrinal discussion, is fruit of      diseased imagination: If their moral and intellectual faculties are      beclouded, they can not appreciate the value of the atonement or the      exalted character of the work of God, nor delight in the study of His      word. How can a nervous dyspeptic be ready always to give an answer to      every man that asketh him a reason of the hope that is in him, with      meekness and fear? How soon would such a one become confused and agitated,      and by his diseased imagination be led to view matters in altogether a      wrong light, and by a lack of that meekness and calmness which      characterized the life of Christ, be caused to dishonor his profession      while contending with unreasonable men? Viewing matters from a high      religious standpoint, we must be thorough reformers in order to be      Christ-like.  {TSDF 188.1}

 

34. Dissatisfaction in marriage, a result      of a diseased imagination:          You know not the deceptions of the human heart. You know not the      devices of Satan. Some who have drawn largely upon your sympathy have a      sickly, diseased imagination, are lovesick, sentimental, ever eager to      create a sensation and make a great ado. Some are dissatisfied with their      married life. There is not enough romance in it. Novel reading has      perverted all the good sense they ever had. They live in an imaginary      world. Their imagination creates a husband for themselves such as exists      only in romances found in novels. They talk of unrequited love. They are      never contented or happy, because their imagination pictures to them a      life that is unreal. When they face the reality, come down to the      simplicity of real life, and take up life’s burdens in their families, as      is woman’s lot, then they will find contentment and happiness.  {2T 302.1}

 

35. Foreboding danger and problems;      thoughts leading to distrust of God and spouse:     But the enemy took the field and his      suggestions were followed. You entered upon a work which God could not and      did not approve. A way was contrived by the enemy to strike at you both      and block your way. Adelia was a timid soul, feeling pain deeply, easily      discouraged. That imagination which, if devoted to and exercised upon the      truth, would have become a power for God, was now to be used as a      hindrance, easily excited in a wrong direction to forebode evil, to see      things in a distorted light, to feel that there is danger when there is      none, to distrust God, to distrust her husband.{DG 139.4}

Section Two: HELPS IN DIAGNOSIS

 

1. I want to recognize paranoia as a sign of a diseased imagination. While severe cases are named “schizophrenia” by modern science, Ellen White identifies the disease in its earlier and more curable stages.
   1. Autoimmune disorders:          From all that EGW has written it appears that many of the illnesses referred to today as autoimmunity may be symptoms of a diseased imagination. See Sec. 1, #9.
   2. Hypersensitivity to hurtful words, opposition, correction. See Sec. 1, #11.
   3. Combinations of illness with feelings of being unloved by family. See Sec. 1, #11.
   4. Feelings of “imaginary pecuniary want” while surrounded with “plenty.”
   5. Health paranoia and superstitious belief in health myths because of “experience.” See Sec. 1, #21, #32.
   6. Feelings of not being “appreciated” and of requiring special and peculiar sensitivity on the part of those speaking to them. See Sec. 1, #22.
   7. Prejudicial paranoia, the idea that others are against you or are out to undermine your influence or work. See Sec. 1, #30.
   8. Talk of unrequited love (unreturned love, of a spouse that does not love in return) is an evidence of a diseased imagination. See Sec. 1, #34.
2. Persons that grew up watching TV or reading fiction or true love stories are likely diseased in the imagination. This means, of course, nearly our entire nation. May God help us. See Sec. 1, #16.
3. Does the counselee think or day-dream about him/herself being the one that saves the day or solves the problem in some grandiose imaginary scene? Such activity is a symptom of one type of imagination disease.
4. Does the counselee have inexplicable languor and a love of indolent ease? See Sec. 1, #22.
5. 5.                  Does the counselee constantly mourn over his own depravity and groan over “supposed evil”? Does he bristle at the sound of an innocent laugh and think all amusement to be a “sin”? These are symptoms of a diseased imagination. See Sec. 1, #24. [Key word is “constantly.” The Day of Atonement demands a healthy dose of mourning over one’s own “spiritual declension.”]
6. In my mind, as a counselor, I would want to understand why it is that many seem incapable of appreciating the value of the atonement or of remaining in a calm frame of mind in controversial doctrinal discussion. The reason? Diseased imagination. This makes me realize that my own imagination is not entirely healthful. See Sec. 1, #33.
7. Dissatisfaction in marriage may be a symptom of diseased imagination. See Sec. 1, #34.

 

Section Three: COUNSELING APPLICATIONS

 

1. Start with the imagination in cases of moral weakness. Suggest healthy meditation on the Word and on noble themes. Read the following statement to the believing counselee. Encourage discipline in bringing the imagination “back” when it wanders.

It is the special work of Satan in these last days to take possession of the minds of youth, to corrupt the thoughts, and inflame the passions; for he knows that by so doing he can lead to impure actions, and thus all the noble faculties of the mind will become debased, and he can control them to suit his own purposes. All are free moral agents, and as such they must train their thoughts to run in the right channel. The first work of those who would reform is to purify the imagination. Our meditations should be such as will elevate the mind. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” [Philippians 4:8.] Here is a wide field in which the mind can safely range. If Satan seeks to turn it to low and sensual things, bring it back. When corrupt imaginings seek to gain possession of your mind, flee to the throne of grace, and pray for strength from heaven. By the grace of Christ it is possible for us to reject impure thoughts. Jesus will attract the mind, purify the thoughts, and cleanse the heart from every secret sin. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God; . . . casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” [2 Corinthians 10:4, 5.]  {CTBH 136.1}

 

1. Spend time outdoors in contemplation of nature while asking “What is God teaching through these things?”

The burden of sin, with its unrest and unsatisfied desires, lies at the very foundation of a large share of the maladies the sinner suffers. Christ is the Mighty Healer of the sin-sick soul. These poor, afflicted ones need to have a clearer knowledge of Him whom to know aright is life eternal. They need to be patiently and kindly yet earnestly taught how to throw open the windows of the soul and let the sunlight of God’s love come in to illuminate the darkened chambers of the mind. The most exalted spiritual truths may be brought home to the heart by the things of nature. The birds of the air, the flowers of the field in their glowing beauty, the springing grain, the fruitful branches of the vine, the trees putting forth their tender buds, the glorious sunset, the crimson clouds predicting a fair morrow, the recurring seasons–all these may teach us precious lessons of trust and faith. The imagination has here a fruitful field in which to range. The intelligent mind may contemplate with the greatest satisfaction those lessons of divine truth which the world’s Redeemer has associated with the things of nature.  {CH 202.1}

 

1. If the counselee will be thinking of heavenly things and noble pictures, he  will be prepared to resist temptations to masturbate:

 

“If the mind were educated to contemplate elevating subjects, the imagination trained to reflect upon pure and holy things, it would be fortified against this terrible, debasing, soul-and-body-destroying indulgence.” 2MCP 591

 

1. 4.                  As a counselor, I want to use encouraging words and references to eternal realities to reach the hearts of persons with diseased imagination.

 

When Christ ate with publicans and sinners, the priest and rulers made all the capital possible out of his action. But Christ did this that He might speak to erring men the words of encouragement that the priests and rulers were not willing to speak. He would satisfy the inmost longings of the soul, and help the sore-troubled ones, who needed guidance and encouragement. His words were always spoken with wisdom. They always exalted the truth. He presented principles that searched the recesses of the hearts of those who listened. He said that which reached the diseased imagination, and drew the mind out after eternal realities. . . .  {15MR 168.4}

 

1. 5.                  I want to find an opportunity to share with the counselee the true force of the will in bringing diseased imagination under control. See item number 6 in section one (from 5T 310) for the inspired source.

 

1. 6.                  Continuing with the idea number five, I want to advise weak persons to withdraw their thoughts and affections from themselves and to risk something to benefit others, even at the possibility of great loss. I want to encourage them to think of the lives of others as more valuable, because more numerous, than their own. See 2T 534.

 

1. 7.                  As part of regular treatment of needy people I want to help get them into habits of thoughtful and meditative Bible study. Whatever their problems may be, this is therapy of the highest order.

 

1. 8.                  I want the counselee to recognize his moral responsibility to use his reason to control his imagination. He should recognize that he may grieve the Holy Spirit by a neglect to restrain himself in this way. See Sec. 1, #12.

 

1. 9.                  For persons with an over-active imagination, I want to counsel abstinence from “tea, coffee, and flesh meats” and from other stimulants that tend to vivify the imagination. See Sec. 1, #13.

 

1. 10.              I want to be aware, as a pastor and Biblical counselor that I do not want to aggravate problems with the imagination by exciting and emotional and sensational appeals. See Sec. 1, #14.

 

1. 11.              For all persons, and for persons suffering from sexual addictions in particular, I want to counsel them to avoid the TV, the theater, Youtube, country music, other sensually suggestive songs, reading, etc. These “deprave” the imagination. See Sec. 1, #15, #16.

 

1. 12.              I might let a counselee read this study. For him to realize that his imagination must not be allowed to run “riot” may be entirely eye-opening to him. It was to me when I learned it. See Sec. 1, #19.

 

1. 13.              I want to counsel woman to give up castle-building and thinking about their own delicacy. Such use of their mind makes real life difficult. It brings on a type of paranoia regarding their not being appreciated. See Sec. 1 #22.

 

1. 14.              I may not explain this to the counselee, but I want to give him directions and ideas that will get his mind off of himself. Whether I put him to work or give him an assignment or do something else, I want “useful employment” to be on my side in helping to cure him. See Sec. 1, #24.

 

1. 15.              I will want to encourage reading of deeper materials and challenging essays. The counselee’s tendency to “magnify” little grievances is often a result of superficial reading (or of TV viewing in our day). Passive experiences (as one has when reading exciting stories or watching drama) unfit the mind “for vigorous thought and research.” See Sec. 1, #25.

 

1. 16.              I will counsel students and parents of students that constant study diseases the imagination (and, as Solomon says, “is a weariness to the flesh.”). Persons involved in too much mental work and too little physical exertion need a change. See Sec. 1, #26

 

1. 17.              For persons in administrative roles I would counsel a healthy dose of optimism regarding the ability of others to handle responsibility. It appears that many good and effective men hindered the work of God through a type of lack-of-confidence-in-others paranoia. See Sec. 1, #27.

 

1. 18.              For persons in administrative roles that struggle with combativeness and control issues I would interrogate them regarding their eating and digestive history. See Sec. 1, #28.

 

1. 19.              For persons who are physically ill I will recognize (internally) that physical healing is an essential and integral part of helping them in my counseling session. Physical illness leads persons to exaggerate problems, to react hastily.

 

1. 20.              For marital problems I would investigate whether one spouse’s diseased imagination might be discouraging and weakening the other. I might not discuss this, but I would bear it in mind. See Sec. 1, #29.

 

1. 21.              I might explain to a prejudicial paranoid person how he has reacted to unjust prejudice against himself (if this is the case). To repent of his tit-for-tat imagination would be a helpful step in recovering health. See Sec. 1, #30.

 

1. 22.              In my mind, as a counselor, I would want to understand the three-step cause-and-effect of first cherishing “disagreeable thoughts”, then becoming nervous and irritable, and finally of becoming diseased in the imagination. Find a way to prevent step one would help alleviate step three. See Sec. 1, #31.

 

1. 23.              I would want to counsel dissatisfied spouses to “ face the reality, come down to the simplicity of real life, and take up life’s burdens in their families, as is woman’s lot” as recommended in Sec. 1, #34.

 

1. Prescription – Physical work and exercise and the use of the will; Prognosis – Cure possible:

Once I was called to see a young woman with whom I was well acquainted. She was sick and was running down fast. Her mother wished me to pray for her. The mother stood there weeping and saying, “Poor child; she cannot live long.” I felt her pulse. I prayed with her, and then addressed her, “My sister, if you get up and dress and go to your usual work in the office, all this invalidism will pass away.” “Do you think this would pass away?” she said. “Certainly,” I said. “You have nearly smothered the life forces by invalidism.” I turned to the mother and told her that her daughter would have died of a diseased imagination if they had not been convinced of their error. She had been educating herself to invalidism. Now this is a very poor school. But I said to her, “Change this order; arise and dress.” She was obedient, and is alive today.–Lt 231, 1905. . . . The light given me is that if the sister you mention would brace up and cultivate her taste for wholesome food, all these sinking spells would pass away. She has cultivated her imagination; the enemy has taken advantage of her weakness of body, and her mind is not braced to bear up against the hardships of everyday life. It is good, sanctified mind cure she needs, an increase of faith, and active service for Christ. She needs also the exercise of her muscles in outside practical labor. Physical exercise will be to her one of the greatest blessings of her life. She need not be an invalid, but a wholesome-minded, healthy woman, prepared to act her part nobly and well. All the treatment that may be given to this sister will be of little advantage unless she acts her part. She needs to strengthen muscle and nerve by physical labor. She need not be an invalid, but can do good, earnest labor. Like many others, she has a diseased imagination. But she can overcome and be a healthy woman. I have had this message to give to many, and with the best results.– Lt 231, 1905. (MM 108,109.)  {2MCP 683}

 

1. I would want to help persons understand the purpose of the imagination, how God intended it to work, and how Satan has worked to direct it into other paths, as illustrated in the story of “Adelia” in Sec. 1, #35.

 

—

Other ideas for the vespers talk – Meditate (1Ti 4:15) is “imagine” in Ac 4:25

1Ti 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

13  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

14  Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

15  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

Ac 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine <3191> vain things?

Imagination competes with a knowledge of God

To know God is life eternal – John 17:3

By knowing God we receive all things that pertain to life and godliness – 2Pe 1:2-4

Unrestrained imagination exalts itself against my life and godliness – 2Co 10:4-5

Purpose of the Imagination: To help us grasp illustrations and metaphors. 2MCP 587. As a tool for the mind it is to be directed. It was not intended to give directions or to charge forward on its own. (587)

The imagination, as a tool, prepares us to intervene in unproductive or ill-themed conversations. By thinking on noble themes and heavenly subjects with our imagination, our mind will be lifted to where it can exert an influence. (593).

The imagination brings a time of no more sin and no more suffering near. When used in conjunction with Bible research, the imagination brings God’s love to life in our mind. It was created to help us internalize truths. {ST, May 30, 1892 par. 5}

God watches our use of the imagination, or its use of us, and intervenes in our spiritual battles when he see us making determined efforts to retain only “pure thoughts.” (595)

Imagination and will often unite to make the body sick. From congestion of blood in certain “organs” to improper circulation, from indigestion to degenerative nerves, from languor to death, the power of the imagination to sicken the body exceeds what man would suppose. (5T 310)

A diseased imagination may be treated by taking small risks for the benefit of others. Thoughts that center on self may receive a benign name “introvert”, but if that means more than “quiet”, if it really means thoughts are often on self, it is a disease of the imagination.

The imagination was created to be an aid to intellectual growth. How ironic that Satan uses the undisciplined imagination to enfeeble the mind. Trifling stories supplant the place of lofty imagery. The reasoning powers lay dormant while the imagination is occupied with a love story. Bible study, and Bible stories,

— Outline of talk 2

1. For two classes: Gave this morning; will give this evening
   1. Will tell what God has done and is doing
   2. Will tell what Satan has done and is doing
2. The Imagination
   1. God has given us a faculty of imagination
      1.                                                               i.      To repeat his lessons                                                   2MCP 587
         1. To grasp distant truths
         2. To enable the power of truth by bringing it to our attention                          Ju 1:5-6; 2Pe 1:12; 1Co 15:1
            1. Preparing us to have influence            2MCP 589
            2.                                                             ii.      To serve the will in molding the thoughts                  2MCP 587
            3.                                                           iii.      To solve problems before experiencing them
               1. Genius inventors put things together, take apart, test them
               2. Genius musicians have listened to their compositions
   2. Satan has taken worked to capture the imagination                                                               2Co 10:4-5
      1.                                                               i.      To repeat his lessons
         1. To grasp old lies
         2. To enable the corrupting power of falsehood
         3.                                                             ii.      By bringing disease on the imagination
            1. So that it runs ahead of the will
            2. So that the mind is attracted to low and sensual things         2MCP 595
            3. So that feelings take control; congestion of blood, etc.         5T 310
   3. God is suggesting therapy
      1.                                                               i.      Think on heaven
      2.                                                             ii.      Risk something, denying self, for the benefit of others                     2T 534
      3.                                                           iii.      Study the scripture – neglect is why so few men of worth                CG 507
   4. Satan is suggesting diabolical therapy
      1.                                                               i.      Sensual images for the men
      2.                                                             ii.      Love stories for the ladies
      3.                                                           iii.      Violence and love of mastery for men
      4.                                                           iv.      Worry about the future, about health, for the ladies
      5.                                                             v.      Television and Movies
      6.                                                           vi.      Cherishing the disagreeable                                                    ST 6-12-84
      7.                                                         vii.      Masturbation
      8.                                                       viii.      Constant brain-work without regular periods of exercise
   5. Symptoms of a Diseased Imagination
      1.                                                               i.      Incapability of appreciating the atonement
      2.                                                             ii.      Difficulty to retain calm frame of mind in doctrinal discussions
      3.                                                           iii.      Dissatisfaction with marriage
      4.                                                           iv.      Some autoimmune disorders
      5.                                                             v.      Hypersensitivity to hurtful words, correction
      6.                                                           vi.      Lack of confidence in others (Andrews, Loughborough, Wilcox) PC 384

WORD VERSION: The_Faculty_of_Imagination