144,000 | 1335 Days of Daniel | 3 Unclean Spirits Like Frogs | Apostasy with Satan | Armageddon | Cannot Sin Theory | Christs Prayer | Confederacy | Corrupt Harmony | Dreams | Establishing Gospel Order | Feast Days | Fire from Heaven | Firm Foundation | Firm Platform | Held Accountable | Held Guilty | Held Responsible | Hypnosis | Laodiceanism | Latter Rain | Line of Separation | New Age | Obedience | Pillars | Satan Uniting | Satan's Actual Words | Second Resurrection | Spiritualism | Study for Yourself | Successful Marriage | Timing of Loud Cry | True Church | Unite & Unity
APOSTASY WITH SATAN
"The revolters against divine government will not ascribe their disaffection to themselves. This will be seen to the close of time. This apostasy in Adelaide is not a new chapter in our experience as you well know. Apostasy has come in to our ranks as it came in to heaven, and all who unite with Satan in this kind of work will act on the same principles Satan has worked. Not open, not frank, but in secrecy. Satan must deceive in order to succeed. 'In vain the net is set in the sight of any bird.'" Manuscript Releases, vol 7, p 178 (Letter 156, 1897, April 8, 1897).
"The time is upon us when the miracle-working power of the arch deceiver will be more decidedly revealed. And his deceptions will increase in their delusive attraction, so that they will perplex, and if possible, deceive, the very elect. The prince of darkness with his evil angels is working upon the Christian world, inducing those who profess the name of Christ to stand under the banner of darkness, to make war with those who keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus. An apostate church will unite with the powers of earth and hell to place upon the forehead or in the hand, the mark of the beast, and prevail upon the children of God to worship the beast and his image. They will seek to compel them to renounce their allegiance to God's law, and yield homage to the papacy. Then will come the times which will try men's souls; for the confederacy of apostasy will demand that the loyal subjects of God shall renounce the law of Jehovah, and repudiate the truth of his word. Then will the gold be separated from the dross, and it will be made apparent who are the godly, who are loyal and true, and who are the disloyal, the dross and the tinsel. What clouds of chaff will then be borne away by the fan of God! Where now our eyes can discover only rich floors of wheat, will be chaff blown away with the fan of God. Every one who is not centered in Christ will fail to stand the test and ordeal of that day. While those who are clothed with Christ's righteousness will stand firm to truth and duty, those who have trusted in their own righteousness will be ranged under the black banner of the prince of darkness. Then it will be seen whether the choice is for Christ or Belial. Those who have been self-distrustful, who have been so circumstanced that they have not dared to face stigma and reproach, will at last openly declare themselves for Christ and his law; while many who have appeared to be flourishing trees, but who have borne no fruit, will go with the multitude to do evil, and will receive the mark of apostasy in the forehead or in the hand." Review and Herald, November 8, 1892.
"An apostate church will unite with the powers of earth and hell to place upon the forehead or in the hand, the mark of the beast, and prevail upon the children of God to worship the beast and his image. They will seek to compel them to renounce their allegiance to God's law, and yield homage to the papacy. Then will come the times which will try men's souls; for the confederacy of apostasy will demand that the loyal subjects of God shall renounce the law of Jehovah, and repudiate the truth of His word. Then will the gold be separated from the dross, and it will be made apparent who are the godly, who are the loyal and true, and who are the disloyal, the dross and the tinsel. What clouds of chaff will then be borne away by the fan of God! Where now our eyes can discover only rich floors of wheat, will be chaff blown away with the fan of God. Every one who is not centered in Christ will fail to stand the test and ordeal of that day. While those who are clothed with Christ's righteousness will stand firm to truth and duty, those who have trusted in their own righteousness will be ranged under the black banner of the prince of darkness. Then it will be seen whether the choice is for Christ or Belial." Maranatha, p 204.
"Every act, however small, has its place in the great drama of life. Consider that the desire for a single gratification of appetite introduced sin into our world, with its terrible consequences. Unhallowed marriages of the sons of God with the daughters of men resulted in apostasy which ended in the destruction of the world by a flood. The most trifling act of self_indulgence has resulted in great revolutions. This is the case now. There are very few who are circumspect. Like the children of Israel, they will not take heed to words of counsel, but follow their own inclination. They unite with a worldly element in attending gatherings where they will be brought into notice, and thus lead the way and others follow. What has been done once will be done again by themselves and many others. Every step these take makes a lasting impression, not only on their own consciences and habits, but upon those of others. This consideration gives awful dignity to human life." Testimonies, vol 5, p 93.
"The agencies of Satan are at work to keep the minds of men engrossed with the things of this life, in order that he may work counter to the mission and work of Christ. Of Satan, Christ declares he 'abode not in the truth.' Once Satan was in co-partnership with God, Jesus Christ, and the holy angels. He was highly exalted in heaven, and was radiant in light and glory that came to him from the Father and the Son; but he became disloyal, and lost his high and holy position as covering cherub. He became the antagonist of God, an apostate, and was excluded from heaven. He established his empire, and planted the standard of rebellion against the law of Jehovah. He invited all the powers of evil to rally about his standard, in order to form a desperate companionship of evil to league against the God of heaven. He worked perseveringly and determinedly to perpetuate his rebellion, and to cause men to turn from Bible truth, and to stand under his banner. As soon as the Lord through Jesus Christ created our world, and placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, Satan announced his purpose to conform to his own nature the father and mother of all humanity, and to unite them with his own ranks of rebellion. He was determined to efface the image of God from the human posterity, and to trace his own image upon the soul in place of the divine image. He adopted methods of deception by which to accomplish his purpose. He is called the father of lies, an accuser of God and of those who maintain their allegiance to God, a murderer from the beginning. He put forth every power at his command to win man to co-operate with him in apostasy, and succeeded in bringing rebellion into our world." Review and Herald, April 14, 1896.
"When the Lord Jesus visited our earth, he brought with him renovating energy. He put enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent. But there is no enmity between fallen angels and fallen men. Both, through apostasy, are evil; and wherever there is evil, with no disposition to repent, it will always league with Satan against God. Fallen men and fallen angels unite in a desperate struggle to destroy God's great standard of righteousness. There was a bond of sympathy among the angels that Satan succeeded in drawing into rebellion, and he made them his allies in the effort to dethrone God and to abolish his law. Satan's work in our world to day is to destroy the moral image of God in man, by making void the divine law; and our enemies are inspired by his spirit. By casting aside God's great standard of character, he can deprave human nature, and win men and women to his standard; for, "Where no law is, there is no transgression." With what triumph, then, he watches the professedly Christian world, as they earnestly do the very work he is doing." Review and Herald, January 26, 1897.
"In rejection of light the hearts of men are hardened, and they finally unite with the agencies of apostasy in a work of compelling the conscience of those who do not agree with them, in persecuting and putting to death those who love God and keep his commandments. But the Lord says to his chosen people: 'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved....And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell....Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.'" Signs of Times, June 18, 1894.
"There is not, and can not be, a natural enmity between fallen angels and fallen men. Both are evil. Through apostasy, both cherish evil sentiments. Wicked angels and wicked men are leagued in a desperate confederacy against the good. Satan knew that if he could induce men, as he had induced angels, to unite with him in his rebellion, he would have a strong force with which to carry on his rebellion." Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Physicians and Ministers, Instruction to Seventh-Day Adventists, p 5-6.
"The rulers of the land will take their position above the great Creator of the world. The claims of a false Sabbath will be brought to the front, and the rulers and the people will act upon the principle of a short-sighted policy. The false Sabbath, the first day of the week, will be accepted, and the rulers will unite with the man of sin to restore his lost ascendancy. Laws enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, will bring about a national apostasy from the principles of republicanism upon which the government has been founded. The religion of the Papacy will be accepted by the rulers, and the law of God will be made void." Manuscript Releases, vol 7, p 192 (Manuscript 39, 1906, p. 1).
"Here [Luke 22:64,65] we see how professedly righteous men can act out the spirit of Satan to carry their wicked purposes through envy and jealousy and religious bigotry. That enmity was spoken of in the first gospel sermon spoken in Eden. 'And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel' (Genesis 3:15). This enmity was revealed as soon as man transgressed God's holy law. His nature was changed. It became evil. He was in harmony with the prince of darkness, and there was a confederacy formed. There is no warfare between Satan and the sinner, between fallen angels and fallen men. Both possess the same attributes, both are evil through apostasy and sin. Then let all who read these words understand for a surety that, wheresoever transgression against God's holy law exists, there will always be a league against good. Fallen angels and fallen men will unite in desperate companionship. Satan inspires the disloyal elements to work in harmony with his spirit." Manuscript Releases, vol 9, p 108.
"Satan contrives through evil angels to form an alliance with professedly pious men, and thus to leaven the church of God. Fallen men and fallen angels are, through apostasy, in the same confederacy, leagued to work against good. They unite in a desperate companionship. Satan knows that if he can induce men, as he induced the angels, to join in rebellion under the guise of servants of God, he will have in them his most successful allies in his enterprise against heaven. Under the name of godliness, he can inspire them with his own accusing spirit, and charge them with evil. They are his trained detectives. Their work is to create feuds, to make charges which create discord and bitterness among brethren, to set tongues in active service for Satan, to sow seeds of dissension by watching for evil and speaking of that which will create discord." Manuscript Releases, vol 18, p 366.