Self-Deception by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1873

Self-Deception.

By James White

“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Rev. 3:17.

Those addressed in this text are self-deceived. They think their condition is very good, when it is very bad. We see the greatest contrast possible between their supposed, and real, state. They say they are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, because they verily believe this is the case, when in fact they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. If it be said they are hypocrites, professing what they are not, we reply that the phrase, “and knowest not,” vindicates them from the charge of designing hypocrisy. They may possess a good degree of honesty, yet be perfectly deceived. Then it is a well-sustained fact that it is possible for the human mind to be brought under a complete deception in regard to spiritual things, and at the same time the person possess a good degree of sincerity.

Deception has been Satan’s specific work ever since he told that artful lie to Eve, and deceived her, and brought ruin upon the race. It has been his object to make fallen men believe that their condition was better than it really was, and lead them to build themselves up on false hopes, and to feel secure while upon the brink of ruin. He has sometimes broken out in wrath, and the millions of the just who have fallen in death in different ages have been the special victims of his ire; but his grand scheme to sink men in perdition has been to lead them to rest upon false hopes, and to murmur against those whom God sent to reprove their wrongs and lead them to walk in the counsels of God. His power to deceive those prone to wander from God has been almost without limitation. We propose to give two examples from the Old Testament.

1. The conduct of the children of Israel while Moses was with God forty days receiving the law. They were acquainted with the fact that God had wrought miracles by the hands of Moses and Aaron to convince their heathen master that he should let his Israelitish slaves go free. They saw the dreadful plagues upon the Egyptians, and knew they were stripes from the God of Heaven to humble their oppressors, and to effect their freedom. They saw the waters of the Red Sea part, and the land appear through it, upon which their mighty host passed over dry shod. They witnessed the drowning of their pursuers, who, in their blindness and desperate thirst for slavery, even ventured to enter the channel of the sea that God had miraculously opened for the escape of his people. All this they witnessed. It would seem that by every cord that Heaven could employ they were bound in allegiance to the living God, the maker of the heavens and the earth. Yet we see them in the absence of their chosen leader but forty days, falling into base idolatry. Aaron yields to their wishes, the golden calf is made, the people worship it, and ascribe the victories of their deliverance to it! Oh! what an insult to God!

But there stands Aaron as calm as Heaven, drifting on the tide of popular opinion into the gulf of infidelity and idolatry. The people must have felt that they had a splendid minister—so mild, so yielding to their wishes—and doubtless it would have given them great satisfaction to have made him a popular donation party. All might have gone on very finely for a while, had it not been for what they must have regarded as the impetuous interference of their absent leader.

Moses appears with the tables of the law in his hands. He beholds the idolatry of the people, and, overwhelmed with a keen sense of their dreadful apostasy, he casts the tables of stone from his hands, and they brake. It is even said of Moses that his “anger waxed hot,” and with this impulse he cast the tables of stone from his hands; yet the record does not show that God reproved him for this. He was a mortal man. He had just come from the presence of God, imbued with the highest sense of that pure worship which he required. In the greatest contrast with every feeling of his being, he beheld the base idolatry of his people, and was overcome. In this, he did not sin, but rather the facts stand out upon the sacred record as a memorial of his keen and exalted sense of the purity of the worship of God. But no doubt the people in their blind idolatry were disgusted with the apparent rashness and impetuosity of Moses, and many an Israelite was ready to cry out, “What a bad spirit he manifests,” and turn to the conduct of Aaron to show a commendable contrast.

And is it not astonishing that the people of Israel should apostatize so soon? That in the short period of forty days so complete a revolution should take place with them? We might safely suppose that the manifestations of almighty power in connection with their deliverance were sufficient to stamp upon their memory and their faith the facts of the existence of the God of Heaven, and their duty to worship him, not to be effaced during their lifetime. Such a revolution of sentiment outside of religion, with any people of equal magnitude, could not take place in less than forty years. Then why this fearful revolution in only forty days? It was one which would affect their present prosperity and their eternal interest. Why this rash, sudden, desperate movement toward perdition?

Their experience, though rich in witnessing the manifestations of the power of God, was brief, hence they were ill-prepared to stand trial. And God was about to establish in their midst his law and a system of worship. Satan knew this, and summoned his legions to hover about God’s people in the absence of their leader, and turn their minds to idolatry. These facts are a striking illustration of moral weakness, the dangers of inexperience, and of the power of the devil.

2. The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and their sympathizers. It is said of them, Num. 16; 2, 3, “And they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?”

This rebellion appears to be the result of too low a standard of holiness with a portion of the people, and their being inflamed by the spirit of jealousy toward Moses and Aaron, who were laboring to bring them up to a higher standard. This is very evident from rebel testimony: “Ye take too much upon you,” say the rebels, “seeing the congregation is holy, every one of them.” They had a low standard. They were deceived, and deceiving one another, and were irritated at the efforts of Moses and Aaron, who wished to improve their condition. They felt confident that they were rich, and increased with goods, and had need of nothing, and knew not that they were, as the sequel proves, wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. The facts are of such peculiar interest to the subject that we quote largely. Verses 4–7: “And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: and he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to-morrow the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. This do: Take you censers, Korah, and all his company, and put fire therein, and put incense in them before the Lord to-morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.”

Verses 23–38: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram: and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. And Moses said, Hereby shall ye know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men: then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them, fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.”

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed. The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for the covering of the altar: for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.”

As we read the above record of God’s punishment of jealousy and rebellion against his chosen instruments, and see how he signally approved of them before all the people, and as publicly manifested his anger upon their opponents, we might suppose that this would forever put an end to rebellion, and that the people would humbly honor the men whom God had honored as their leaders. “But,” the record reads, verse 41, “on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the congregation of the Lord.”

Jealousy and rebellion first originated with Satan, and caused his fall from a position among the highest order of intelligences in Heaven. Legions of sympathizing angels fell with him. But this heavy blow did not cure the rebellion. Next, Satan caused the fall of man; and he and his angels have ever since been carrying on a warfare against God, Christ, holy angels, and the loyal and faithful of earth, by inspiring fallen mortals with jealousy and rebellion against the government of Heaven. This rebellion can be cured only by exterminating the first great rebel, and all his sympathizers, whether they be angels or men. Such is the nature of rebellion, as we trace its history with the professed people of God down to the present time, that it seems incurable. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” 1 Sam. 15:23. Satan inspires men with the spirit of rebellion, and they are more or less insane, and sometimes act like mad men. This insanity and madness is seen in the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and in Israel’s swift departure from the living God, while Moses was absent from them but forty days.

We trace this spirit of rebellion all the way down the sad history of the church, to the perilous times of the last days, when Satan’s malice is turned in tenfold fury against those who keep the commandment of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Here we may expect the unconsecrated, self-deceived, to fall under the power of Satan and manifest an insane madness and rebellion against the work of God, which can hardly find a parallel in the past. But God, in the use of the pure testimony and the rod of affliction will purge his people from all this, and they will yet stand forth united and true.

Eze. 20:35, 38. “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there I will plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge out from among you the rebels.”

Let us go forward to the Judgment, and witness in imagination the disappointment and dismay of the masses of self-deceived, when, too late for remedy, they learn from Christ their real condition.

Matt. 7:22, 23: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

In the previous verse, our Lord utters a most cutting rebuke on the self-deceived.

Verse 21: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.”

Many are satisfied with a superficial work, and say, Lord, Lord, in full confidence of their acceptance, while neglecting to do the will of God. This terrible deception is often made complete and sure by the power of the devil, insomuch that the unfortunate victim stands unmoved by Scripture testimony, or touching appeals, or even evident judgments from the hand of God. Such generally start wrong, and in blindness pursue their whole Christian course under a deception as to their condition. But, in this very connection, our Lord has given an illustration of how men should commence and pursue the Christian journey, also the fatal results of a wrong course.

Verses 24–27: “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

We see from Rev. 3:17; Matt. 7:21–27, that it is possible for men to be laboring under a state of perfect deception as to their standing before God, and yet possess a good degree of honesty. It is also evident that in our day, under the deceptive power of the devil, and the example of the apostate churches, there is a strong tendency of the human mind to self-deception. Then how important that the minister of Jesus Christ should preach the pointed truth, and hold forth to the people those warnings against self-deception in the same forcible style in which he finds them in the Bible. As a faithful watchman, he should see the dangers to which the flock are exposed, and fearlessly utter those warnings drawn from the sacred Scriptures which these fearful times demand for the safety of God’s people. He who fails to do this—who shuns to give unpleasant testimony because it may offend—who fears, and trembles, and avoids the cross in this respect, may expect an unfaithful watchman’s reward.

Ministers and people should cherish an undying love for the pure testimony of God’s word. In this, there is safety for both ministers and people from the dreadful power of self-deception. Let the dangers to which the people of God are exposed in these last days be faithfully kept before them.

Self-deception, unless removed from the mind, generally results in rebellion. And we are forced to the conclusion, in tracing the Bible history of rebellion, that determined and deliberate rebellion is incurable. Individuals may, through a mistaken view of things, and a perverted sympathy, become imbued with the spirit of rebellion which time and events may wear away, and they again apparently stand in the light; but such transitions of the mind generally impair the judgment, and becloud the discernment in relation to the things of God. Such persons are in greater danger of again drinking in the spirit of rebellion, and need to set a double watch. It is, therefore, seldom safe to trust these unfortunate persons with responsible posts of duty; for it is almost certain that Satan will lead them to turn the influence you may give them against the cause of God.

But deliberate and determined rebellion has no remedy. That first great rebellion is to cease only by the extermination of Satan and those angels who rebelled and fell with him. The spirit of rebellion that fell upon the children of Israel soon after their miraculous deliverance from Egypt held fast to them. God led them round and round in the wilderness forty years, and manifested to them blessings and judgments to remove this unclean spirit from them, but they would not be corrected. The

next morning after the earth opened and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and those who dared to stand with them, Num. 16:23–38, those who appeared loyal the night before broke out in bitterest and most insane rebellion against Moses, saying, “Ye have killed the congregation of the Lord.”

That rebellion that the Jewish priests inspired in the hearts of the people against Jesus Christ—the most lovely personage that ever visited this globe—that clamored for his blood in the judgment-hall, has followed and clung to the Jews until this day. And as we look over our short history as a people, we may safely say that one-third of those who have from first to last embraced the Sabbath and come among us have fallen under a spirit of rebellion against the work of God in the third message in bringing out and purifying a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Many could not stand the purifying work, and rebelled against it, and the means employed in carrying it forward. When they first rebelled, they had no idea that they would give up the Sabbath; but a few weeks, or a few months, or a few years, have found them Sabbath-breakers. And we have yet to learn that one single case of determined rebellion among us has been fully cured. May God save his people from self-deception and rebellion.

J. W.