A BAD SPIRIT | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 1, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 46.

A BAD SPIRIT.

ONE of the standing complaints against men who labor to reform the abuses which prevail in church or State is, "They have a bad spirit."

If they only had a good spirit it would make a difference, but they have "such a bad spirit!"

Now one great difficulty in this cause is, the Lord has to use such instruments as he can find. Some people who have such "a good spirit," and who complain of the bad spirit which others have, never think of correcting anything themselves; they will allow men to lie, misrepresent, delude, and deceive people, and say nothing about it, being either too blind to see, or too timid to speak; and hence, as these people have "a good spirit," say nothing, and allow things to go to ruin and perdition, other people, who are not quite so smooth-spoken, are called to stand out and tell the truth and shame the devil; and then they have to be reproved and abused because they "have a bad spirit."

Why do not the people who have such "a good spirit" take hold of matters which they see and admit are wrong and faulty? Why do they not reprove sin and rebuke iniquity, and bear witness for the truth, and do it in "a good spirit"? The fact that they refuse to do these things with "a good spirit" leaves them to be attended to by other people whom they say have "a bad spirit." The truth is, you cannot make a plowshare out of putty, and a good hammer must have a steel face.

But what is a bad spirit? Did John have a bad spirit when he looked on the most pious people in the land, as they came marching down from Jerusalem to be baptized, and called them a race of snakes, and asked them how they could escape the damnation of hell? Did Christ have a bad spirit when, speaking of the religious leaders of his own time, he pronounced his woe upon them as scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites? Did Elijah have a bad spirit when he derided the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel? Did Paul have a bad spirit when he withstood Peter to the face for his dissimulation, and said to Elymas, the sorcerer, "O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord"?

This matter of a good or a bad spirit is important. People are liable to be mistaken about their spirit; the apostles themselves were mistaken, and our Saviour said to them, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." There is a spirit of truth which goes with truth, tells the truth, and sanctions truth, even if it is rough truth, and which abhors all error; and there is the spirit of error which cares little for truth, but sometimes goes with very smooth words. The apostles said, "Let no man deceive you with vain words." It is possible that Christians may be deceived with "vain words," and the apostle Paul speaks of some who "with good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple."—Armory.