p. 7 | IT PLEASES THE DEVIL

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 29, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 17.

IT PLEASES THE DEVIL.

Of a noted Italian brigand it is said that occasionally he caused reports to be circulated that he was dead. When the people began to rest secure and relax their vigilance, the bold marauder made a raid upon the careless people, and gathered much booty. Of course he was pleased at the result of his deception. Even so Satan must be pleased when he can induce people to believe that he is not, or that some of his chief agencies of deception are mere jugglery, legerdemain, etc. It is sad to the believer in the Word, and sadder still when professedly Christian teachers are declaring such things. For instance, the Christian Advocate, one of the ablest edited religious journals in America, has an article in its issue of April 9, on “Spiritism and Its Dupes.” It declares:—

Nothing has ever yet been done by professional spiritual mediums that could not be explained upon natural principles, or detected as jugglery or classified under other things of the same nature that can be paralleled by the use of natural laws.

The trance of honest spiritual mediums, whether spontaneous or the result of mental conditions artificially induced, is a phenomenon that can be explained as well as anything can be that has to do with the brain and nervous system.

The idea is set forth that Old Testament witchcraft falls under the same head, and the inference is that New Testament demoniac possession is of the same sort.

That there is any amount of humbuggery no one will deny. But that there is also superhuman or extra human intelligence and force manifest in many cases is also true. But entirely apart from these spirit manifestations, which have deceived millions, the Word of God has spoken. Jesus Christ, in speaking of the last days, thus warns us: “There shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” Matt. 24:24. The apostle Paul declares that just before Christ’s coming Satan will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish.” 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. And our Lord in the Apocalypse speaks of the “spirits of demons” working miracles or signs, which “go forth unto the kings of the whole world to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.” Rev. 16:14.

Other quotations might be given, but these are sufficient to show that the Bible teaches:—

There are evil spirits in the world, which deceive and influence men.
That these spirits are not mere delusions, but intelligent beings, operating under the general instruction of their chief, Satan.
That these spirits are not spirits of dead men, but separate and distinct from the human.

Now we may endeavor to explain their working, the phenomena connected with them, by psychology, telepathy, or what we will, the fact still exists that God has warned us against them, not as mere delusions, but as evil, malign agents of Satan. “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” How the devil must laugh as he sees God’s church not only disregarding the warnings, but disbelieving them, utterly rejecting them. He who continues to do it long enough will find himself in the snare of the devil, so bound by his delusions that it is impossible to escape. “Take heed that no man deceive you.”