2 Corinthians 4:4, commentary and pictures

The god of this world who blinds unbelieving minds is Satan, the prince of darkness who stands against the gospel lest its light should shine upon them. When the gospel is hidden it is hidden only to those who are lost, whose unrenewed hearts cannot discern its beauty and power. The glorious gospel that Satan seeks to eclipse is the revelation of God in Christ, who is the image of God and in whose face the knowledge of God's glory is seen. His dominion over earth and its kingdoms is not rightful but usurped, gained when Adam yielded to temptation and men chose his service, and he holds it by despotic power through worldly governments, false religion, and love of this world as Mammon. He blinds by casting his shadow across the soul, sowing error, corrupting God's law, fostering pride, worldliness and sensual indulgence, and working through unbelieving association and even professed believers, while the blindness is removed when Christ abides in the heart by faith.

God of This World

The god of this world is Satan, the ruler and prince of darkness who blinds the minds of those who do not believe lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. He throws his hellish shadow before souls so that minds contemplate him and his works and look no farther, and with thousands of devices earnestly seeks to eclipse the bright attractions of the eternal world so that men talk of his power, extol his greatness and praise him while God is forgotten. He blinds by spreading error, confusing people, darkening understanding and fastening souls in his snare, while the gospel reveals Jesus Christ. He darkens the intellect, perverts the senses, controls the mind for evil toward violence, crime and deeper corruption, and works stealthily through close association with unbelievers until Christians grow familiar with sin, blind to harm, and assimilated to the world in character, words and actions. Christ breaks this power, for His presence guards against Satan's advances and His light exposes and drives away the darkness.

This dominion came because the dominion over the earth originally given to Adam passed to Satan when Adam yielded to temptation and was overcome and brought into bondage to his conqueror. Sin thus brought not only man but the earth itself under the power of the wicked one, who turned humanity from obedience and usurped Adam's dominion. That usurped dominion will be recovered through the plan of redemption, for Christ by paying sin's penalty redeems humanity and restores all that was lost by the first Adam. Christ as the second Adam recovers what Adam forfeited, and what was lost through the first Adam will be restored.

That dominion is usurped rather than rightful, and he is god only as men choose him to be by serving him. He fills that place by working himself in to make entrusted talents of means and of reason and intellect a source of evil, fastening the heart upon earthly treasures, leading men to ignore God, frittering precious opportunities upon amusements and self-gratifications, and corrupting and destroying them physically, mentally and morally. Those so conquered deprive God of due service in this life and imperil eternal interests.

He is a fallen mighty angel who led rebellion, refused heaven's laws, was expelled with many angels, and sought as the next best thing to seizing God's throne to become god of this world. His frightful Bible names include Satan, Beelzebub, the serpent, the deceiver, a liar, the accuser of the brethren, the prince of the power of the air and the prince of darkness, and he walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Through pride and ambition he became the enemy of God and man, forfeited his position in heaven, yet succeeded in his presumptuous effort to gain supremacy over earthly kingdoms by seducing men to bow to idols. He works with concealed power under many disguises, and when no special effort is made to resist him indifference prevails and he leads captives at his will, but when attention is called to eternal things and souls ask what they must do to be saved he comes to match his power against Christ's and doubles efforts to counteract the Holy Spirit, while angels with Jesus press back darkness and no one is forced to accept Jesus or compelled to reject Him. Having rebelled in the heavenly courts he was expelled because none can live in heaven in opposition to God, and by deception he carried a large number of heavenly beings to earth to war against God, arraying all evil agencies to bruise infinite love, meeting Christ with specious temptations which Christ overcame as man's example, and in large measure succeeding by leading men to reject Christ in His holy character and choose Barabbas who in character represented Satan himself.

He claims authority over the world's kingdoms and offered their power and glory to Jesus in exchange for worship. He rules with despotic power in palace and temple, working with intense earnestness to overthrow every plan counteracting disregard of God's law, with temptation made a science and men under his control sinning by rule. He works through earthly governments and persecuting powers as his instruments, whose outward forms may change from pagan opposition to opposition disguised as allegiance to God while he remains the moving force. He works with great power through children of disobedience who are church members, so that a professed Christian as his instrument becomes a terrible power for evil, and he works through religious leaders, repeats false claims even from Christian pulpits, turns people from law to lawlessness under names of law and religion, and leads them to put human laws above God's law and join rebellion against God. He directs Papists and Protestants to govern others as he pleases, producing living for self, moral pollution as before the flood and in Sodom and Gomorrah, a poisonous moral atmosphere in corrupt cities, and increasing depravity bequeathed from generation to generation while God's Spirit is withdrawn.

In application the god served is this world itself, Mammon, wealth and earthly treasure. Going out from God's presence, casting away the promise of restored Eden to seek possessions and enjoyment in the earth under sin's curse, as with Cain at the head of a great class, may bring distinction in mere earthly and material progress while leaving men regardless of God and opposed to His purposes. Trusting merchandise, farms and business above the gospel feast, and grasping for the highest wages, foster selfishness and covetousness, take hold of skilled workers and spread to others, draw away from self-sacrifice and the holy character of God's service and work, and lead to spiritual corruption and apostasy as with Huram's influence in Solomon's kingdom. Those whose god is this world are sinners with no love for God or truth, on a road opposite to Christians who follow the meek and lowly Jesus, and the distinction must be kept before children with no mingling, encouragement by example, advice, silence or consent to associate with those who reject God and truth. Accepting Satan as god shows itself in greed, sensuality, revenge and taking on his spirit under iniquity's captive power.

As god of this world, distinct from the God of heaven, he leads and inspires men who serve him to attempt hazardous, foolhardy projects only to see what men can do. This is seen when large companies gather to watch men fly through the air in strange exhibitions where many lives are sacrificed. God has not laid such work upon anyone, souls are not saved through it, and it is not led by God.

Gospel Hidden to Lost

If the good news remains veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing, because the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, cannot shine to them. The light reveals Christ as God's image, and spiritual realities are discerned only spiritually, so unbelief leaves the mind without sight of the treasure of the Word. This belongs to the merciful ministry that renounces hidden dishonesty and craftiness and deceitful handling of truth, commends the truth to every conscience, preaches not self but Christ Jesus the Lord as servant for His sake, while God who commanded light out of darkness shines in hearts to give the knowledge of His glory in Christ as treasure in earthen vessels, so that the power is of God through trouble, perplexity, persecution and death until the life of Jesus is made manifest in mortal flesh. The servants of Christ are therefore to proclaim the truth openly and faithfully and make it plain rather than hide or distort it. Carnal hearts, prejudice, ungodly desire and worldly ambitious thought paralyze the senses and take away spiritual sight, so that when the gospel is clearly presented and still rejected, the fault is not in the truth nor in its faithful minister.

The blindness is spiritual: the unrenewed heart cannot grasp the beauty, power and mystery of the gospel, for without vital connection with God no one can discern divine reality. It rests especially on weak, finite, worldly-wise and learned men who sit in judgment upon God and His works and ways, measure divine things by perverted conceptions, weigh His Word in human balances, dwell on infinite benevolence while disbelieving infinite justice, put human assertions and opinions before God's Word, and are swayed to and fro by one another's opinions, so that their wisdom is foolishness with God. Only those willing to be counted fools in the eyes of the worldly-wise receive divine wisdom, for God will not dwell with those who reject His truth, and to disregard truth is to disregard its Author; those destitute of divine enlightenment either deny Him altogether and ignore His existence or limit His power by their own finite views, and every house that has not Jesus as abiding guest is left desolate when He withdraws His presence. Balaam illustrates this, for though he claimed open eyes and vision of the Almighty, covetousness and ambition blinded him so he could not discern God's angel visible even to his beast, and the same blinding rests on many who rush on in forbidden paths transgressing the divine law, cannot discern that God and His angels are against them, and grow angry at those who would prevent their ruin. Those whose attention is fixed on self and earthly treasure do not see God's glory and majesty nor recognize the value of divine things; they forget God while enjoying His gifts, walk in darkness under the prince of darkness as children of darkness led by his spirit, become confused about what is right and true and holy, and cannot enjoy heavenly things, while the children of light set affections on things above, leave the things of this world behind, love God, keep His commandments, and remain separate from worldly friendship and pleasure. Knowing God as revealed in Christ, who is His image, is essential to life and godliness and brings grace and peace, but unbelief keeps that glorious light from shining on the mind.

The truth itself is plain and leaves no excuse, for its doctrines are plainly revealed on every page of the Word, including the third angel's message; yet prejudice and lust can blind hearts so they cannot see its beauty even when it is presented plainly and wisely. When people remain veiled, neither the truth nor the minister who faithfully presents it is at fault, and opinions and prejudices must be laid at the door of investigation. The enemy has power to blind the self-sufficient who do not believe so they cannot understand even the plainest and simplest utterances, and therefore children must be taught the truth and armed with what is written in Scripture, and ministers with lips touched with a coal from heaven must speak words of life that burn their way into heart and soul of those wise in worldly wisdom but ignorant of wisdom from above.

The same blinding reaches professed believers, ministers, teachers and the church when love of the world, self in all its perverted attributes, self-indulgence, idols, and refusal of truths that involve a cross and separation from the world harden the heart, make minds hard and unappreciative, blind the eyes, and shut the door so Jesus cannot enter and abide. Such persons may claim they cannot see, misread clear statements of Scripture to defend their views and conduct, reject the sacred claims of God's law, lose desire to investigate Scripture for themselves, and profess to believe the truth yet remain unconverted; when they knew God they worshiped Him not as God, and they will die greater sinners than before they professed belief. This is the present condition of the church as the ten virgins, especially the foolish virgins who have lamps but no oil in their vessels with their lamps. It can affect even those in leading positions of influence, as seen at Battle Creek after the 1901 General Conference through association with the long-standing physician-in-chief, who claimed never to have departed from truth and to have walked righteously since old enough to understand God's will, yet was unfamiliar with the Bible foundation of truth and in life-practice disregarded a plain Thus saith the Lord, proving a bewildered mind and uncertain experience whose influence harmed minds that should never have borne its trace. It can also lead professed followers to neglect responsibility and lose first love into a selfish, ease-loving spirit that darkens understanding, though house-to-house Scripture teaching can bring light to the darkened, angels can impress hearts, and the Holy Spirit can strengthen workers as they share the light received; and those who oppose truth ignorantly, as Paul once did, may still be converted.

Blinded unbelievers are held in moral darkness as Satan's prey under his controlling power because they choose his service instead of serving Christ their Prince Immanuel, deceived so completely that they do not feel or recognize their lost condition. They do not know where they are going, and the darkness of mind can keep a person from receiving what would be a great blessing and advantage. When Christ abides in the heart by faith that blindness is no longer present: beholding Him brings confidence, faith, hope and love and transforms harshness, coldness and selfishness into Christlike character. Those converted are to work for souls still blinded, showing by lives of truth and righteousness that Christ can lead people away from Satan, for Christ owns every person by creation and redemption, having paid the price with His life to bear sin's penalty, and pardon is for those who turn from transgression to obedience and become one with Him as sons and daughters through willing obedience.

Christ God's Image

Christ is the image of God, and the light of the glorious gospel is the revelation of God and His glory in Christ, which the god of this world seeks to keep from shining on unbelieving minds by blinding them. That blinding is set against God's shining of the knowledge of His glory into hearts, where faith in Christ works through love and purifies the soul.

To see Christ's divine character is to see God's character, for Christ embodies the glory of the Godhead and the light of the knowledge of God's glory is seen in His face because God stooped to take human nature to reveal Himself to men in His Son. Satan's deception obscures that revelation, and failure to see the divine character in Christ comes from standing in the shadow of his misrepresentation of divinity. This blindness keeps minds from recognizing God's glory and mercy revealed in the face of Christ.

The gospel of Christ represents the Father's law and His mercy, and Christ is one with the Father whose image He bears, so that to reject that law and turn from its Giver is to refuse the Father Himself. That blinding reaches even professed believers, including ministers and teachers, when love of the world and unwillingness to bear the cross lead them to reject truth and avoid investigating Scripture. Those who oppose truth in ignorance may still be converted, but those who refuse to seek truth remain blinded to their ruin.

God, who commanded light out of darkness, shines in hearts to give the knowledge of His glory as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, while faith works by love and purifies the soul. Where that light is shut out, heart and will stand opposed to God, making men hard to deal with who say and do hateful things that provoke response. Believers must therefore not grow impatient at such blindness but be as persevering as the enemy of righteousness, keeping self out of sight, bearing witness as children of God, representing Jesus Christ in love as a bright and shining light, knowing their entrusted talents and influence make them responsible for helping souls be converted.

Satan has obscured the glory of the gospel to men's eyes by delusive fictions that make the power of Christianity weak to reach the soul, leading men to deny the divinity of Christ, the only source of eternal life, and to belittle the work Christ came to do in man's behalf, holding minds in overmastering deception. He is a liar from the beginning who transforms himself into an angel of light and deceives the whole world, knowing that all who believe in Christ will be lost from his kingdom and will gain the eternal life he lost through apostasy because they were beloved of God. He therefore constantly plans to ruin souls by working on pride of heart, presenting the thought that much will be gained by exercising independent judgment, cutting away from dependence on God, and not asking His guidance, strength, support and protection, and when men seek to walk in independence he binds them fast to his chariot and leads them as slaves captive to his will. Those made free by Christ are the only freemen, for Christ alone can make men free, and there is as much need today to beware Satan's devices as in the days of Christ.

Ways Satan Blinds

Satan throws his hellish shadow before souls so that minds contemplate him and his works and look no farther, earnestly seeking with thousands of devices to eclipse the bright attractions of the eternal world so men talk of his power, extol his greatness, and praise him while God is forgotten. He works with utmost hellish skill at the great heart of God's work to put himself between the people and God and shut away the light God wants His children to have, blinding unbelievers on purpose to keep them in ignorance of God's purposes, of his own devices, and of what shall come upon the earth. His aim is to eclipse light from God and turn people from the life of God toward cheap and perishable things, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine to them.

He blinds day by day in the field of the world through workers who reject the word of truth and scatter seeds of error alongside those who receive seed from Christ and reveal Him, in a striving between good and evil that will continue until the great harvest. By this sowing he spreads confusion, darkens understanding, and fastens souls in his snare. He leads people to accept false interpretations and unsound theories instead of searching Scripture for truth, while traditions obscure the Bible and those who worship the world show themselves idolaters.

He disguises temptation with a semblance of good, mingling amusements with little improvement and drawing people step by step toward destruction until following inclination seems pleasant. He allows prayer and religious forms and professions to continue, so deceived professors keep praying and performing religious duties while their hearts are corrupt and turned from God's Word and heavenly things. Their religious appearance then makes them more useful to his cause, even in deceiving others.

He works stealthily through close association with unbelievers, hiding the danger from view. Christians who choose such company become familiar with sin until it seems less repulsive, assimilate to the world in character, words, and actions, and grow increasingly blind to the harm.

He blinds through love of the world, self in its perverted attributes, self-indulgence, earthly treasure, and ambition. Worldly and ambitious thoughts take spiritual sight and blind minds to the treasures of God's Word and to the precious blessing of doing good, so eternal interests are no longer valued and eternal things seem valueless. Understanding is darkened like that of creatures unable to see beyond the earth, the heart is hardened, spiritual faculties are paralyzed, and affections fixed on earthly things judge truth and heavenly things by worldly standards, mistaking gain for godliness, sin for grace, the world for God, and one's own will for God's will. Attachment to money, houses, lands, merchandise, and material returns absorbs mind and affections, leads to valuing earthly enjoyments above supporting God's work and laying up treasure in heaven, to hiding God-given gifts instead of using them, and to progressively subordinating eternal interests until sacred and common cannot be distinguished.

He blinds by corrupting the commandments of God, teaching as in heaven that God's law is imperfect and making it appear rigorous and burdensome by lying inventions, so the great moral standard is clouded by his hellish shadow and the whole world is deceived. By this he keeps souls in the slavery of sin from which Christ died to redeem them, turns them from Jesus Christ to stand under his own banner as Christ's rival, and leads them from law to lawlessness and into transgression as he did Adam and Eve. He has blinded many minds on the Sabbath so they do not recognize its sanctity and faithfully observe it, confusing them until they set aside God's holy day made as a blessing for people and to keep the Creator in remembrance, altering it to suit business arrangements and human arrangements for Sunday.

After failing to prevail against Jesus in the manifold temptations in the wilderness, Satan looked forward to the period of Christ's ministry and laid plans with his angels to blind the understanding of the Jews, God's chosen people, that they should not discern in Christ the world's Redeemer and the Messiah they had long anxiously expected. He sought to obscure the prophecies that point to Christ though he knew they revealed God's purpose to ransom humanity from the powers of darkness, and to fill hearts with unbelief, envy, jealousy, and hatred so they would not receive the Son of God, would make His earthly life bitter, would discourage Jesus in His mission, and would be secured as Satan's agents to prevent faith in Christ. That blinding stirred the chief of the people and the rulers to take the life of Jesus and to charge those moved by Him with being deceived, led next to envy because of His mighty works and desire for His life, to Satan entering one of Jesus' own followers and leading him on to betray Jesus into their hands, and to their crucifying the Lord of life and glory. After Jesus arose the same blindness continued as they added sin to sin by hiring the Roman guard with money to testify to a falsehood, though the resurrection was made doubly sure by the resurrection of a multitude of witnesses who arose with Him and appeared unto many declaring that Jesus had risen, and by Jesus appearing to His disciples and to above five hundred at once. It kept many magistrates, elders, and rulers who believed on Jesus from acknowledging Him because they feared the reproach of the people more than they feared God.

He blinds through pride, independent judgment, and self-reliant study, through worldly wisdom, perverted conceptions, human balances, and false sanctification that dresses sin as holiness and righteousness while wrong ideas remain hidden rather than changed. Refusal to study with childlike docility, prayerful dependence on God, and sincere desire to learn His will leaves minds unimpressed even by the plainest utterances on every page, for evil angels blind minds and harden hearts and self-reliance and an unteachable spirit leave the mind open to this blindness. So knowledge of Scripture alone does not remove blindness, for people may boast of that knowledge and still be spiritually poor, blind, and in need of inward purity, unable to discern righteousness and true holiness. That blindness keeps them from studying Revelation and gives excuses to avoid its last-day truths which Christ made known through John, keeps educators who ignore God's word walking in darkness instead of with eyes fixed on Jesus the Light of the world and setting a stumbling example that blinds others, and keeps people from desiring truth for the time as in Christ's, Paul's, and Luther's days and now.

He blinds through intemperance and sensuality that destroy the moral powers God gave as precious endowment, destroy brain power, undermine self-control and government over one's own heart, and leave the temple of God in ruins. Those who use tobacco or intoxicating liquor fill the tissues of the body with poison and weaken nerve power, and by that course of their own choosing allow Satan to rob them of the ability to distinguish between right and wrong until reason passes under the enemy's control. His blinding removes the sense of sin and sears the conscience, so passion gains ascendancy over reason and impulse over principle and warnings are not felt to be needed, skillfully baited like a hook and first discovered only in after results in loss of purity and ruin extending to others. Corrupted, ruined captives chained to his car are so bewildered, beguiled, and deceived that they are pleased with slavery as they move toward eternal ruin, to death with no hope of life, to night with no morning, with senses, nerves, passions, and organs worked to vilest lust until the image of God cannot be seen, and parents thus blinded fail to see Satan's advantage in the home and his work in their children's characters.

He makes masterly efforts to hold minds under his jurisdiction so Christ may not be seen, doing this through men and women who profess Christ's name yet murmur and complain and sow the church with doubts and unbelief, and whose perverted religious life does not meet the Bible standard. Their influence works like leaven in other hearts and leads souls away from God into false and forbidden paths, making them his most successful agents. The blinded include ministers of congregations, people, authorities, kings, and rulers who do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God and do not see the truth as it is in Jesus and the validity of God's law, while self-wise attenders stir up human nature and evil angels confederate with blinded minds even in religious meetings by sophistries, quarreling, and heed to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons.

He blinds minds to God's goodness and the sacred character of His holy, perfect, and reasonable law, to which are owed the affections of the heart and the obedience of the life that bring happiness into home life and to every individual. He leads people to fear God and see Him as severe, unforgiving, and eager to punish their failures, which Jesus came to remove by revealing God's infinite love. He hides God's justice, the serious evil of sin, and the claims of His law behind pleasing interpretations and a Christian form that professes to accept Christ and the Bible while making vital truths ineffective and denying Christ, so the deception is not discerned. Worldly attractions and wisdom thus obscure the truth so worldly-wise observers see Jesus in His first advent as sorrowful, self-denying, sacrificed, and humiliated but do not desire Him or recognize that their sins laid grief and suffering upon Him, failing to see His beauty and power and the things that bring peace.

Balaam illustrates the blinding: though claiming open eyes, he brought blindness upon himself by yielding to Satan's power and letting covetousness, ambition, and idolatrous Moabite sentiments gain control of his mind. His wisdom became foolishness and his spiritual vision was beclouded, so while hoping costly sacrifices would secure God's blessing for his sinful projects he could no longer discern right, could not see God's angel visible to his beast, grew angry at restraint, and rushed on in forbidden transgression.

He blinds eyes so people cannot see beneath the surface and discern his real purpose, which from the beginning has been to separate man from God. In every age he carries out the same purpose by the same method of deception and the same logic he used to deceive the holy pair in Eden. He claims to be religious and has a synagogue with worshipers, holds the greater portion of the so-called Christian world under his power and sways all classes, and works constantly among men at times assuming a cloak of piety, purity, and holiness, often transforming himself into an angel of light.

Faithful Ministry in Light

Those entrusted with ministry in mercy renounce hidden dishonesty and craftiness and refuse to handle the word deceitfully, commending the truth to every conscience. They preach not themselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and take their place as servants for Jesus' sake. God shines the knowledge of His glory in their hearts as treasure in earthen vessels, so that the power is of God through trouble, perplexity, persecution and death, and the life of Jesus is made manifest in mortal flesh. When the gospel is hidden it is hidden only to those who are lost, because the god of this world has blinded unbelieving minds lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them, and those so blinded quibble and stumble over points of truth so that they would stumble over even the plainest statements.

The church is called to arise to her privileges, with each member representing the life of Christ and revealing her holy character by earnest persevering service that carries the triumphs of the cross to the gates of the city. This is done by diligently sowing good seed in cooperation with Christ for the harvest, for eternal life, and for preparation for His second coming. When ministers come to the people under the full influence of the meekness and lowliness of Christ and grow up into His stature, power attends their labors so that impressions of Christ are stamped upon minds and characters. Impressions made by such association work deeper and deeper into the mind until they make an abiding place there and change the soul after the likeness of Christ into words that are spirit and life.

Believers show that their spiritual sight has not been put out by carrying forward the work for truth and righteousness. Those who do not believe have darkened, benighted minds, while the gospel of Christ is light intended to shine into them, and Christ made a great sacrifice to bring that light to them. Looking at that sacrifice teaches workers to use their entrusted talents fully, to study the Bible for practical life, to do with their best the work nearest them for the Master, to seize present opportunities instead of idly dreaming of other work, and to endure perils, hardships and self-denial in missionary labor without complaint. The god of this world puts out spiritual eyesight by blinding minds, and those who believe reveal that their eyesight remains by advancing God's cause through plain, substantial buildings rather than grand, expensive buildings for display, by carrying forward printing and sending out literature in noble, straightforward lines, and by building with self-sacrifice in which the unselfish love of Christ is expressed in work done in behalf of truth and righteousness.

Workers must meet blinded minds with perseverance, patience, gentleness and love, keeping self out of sight as bright lights and bearing witness as God's children. Satan blinds the understanding of unbelievers so they are in darkness, cannot see the doctrines presented to them, and cannot distinguish truth from error. Those who have had opportunity to know the truth and are familiar with it must draw such souls tenderly and patiently to the light instead of making sharp, retaliating answers. To tell a person bluntly that Satan has blinded his understanding is unwise, reflects no ray of light, adds not one jot or tittle to intelligence, cannot convert, only creates hardness of heart, and may prove a savor of death unto death. Those who do wrong under provocation are in darkness, under temptation and blinded by bewitching power, and do not know their own danger, just as a diseased patient suffers without knowing his danger, and their condition calls for deep sympathy and tender, considerate treatment rather than hasty words spoken under provocation, even when the words seem deserved, lest the cords of influence that would bind soul to soul for their salvation be cut.

Satan as god of this world blinds minds and darkens the intellect, perverts the senses, controls the mind for evil, fosters discord, and turns people toward evil unto violence, crime and deeper corruption. Christ works to break Satan's power, His presence guards people against Satan's advances, and His light exposes the enemy's darkness and drives him away. Satan works to keep people from seeing the light of the gospel, while truth shines through darkness and error, directs people to God alone, and ultimately overthrows oppressive supremacy. His diligent work to suppress Scripture and gospel teaching is seen in replacing them with beads, candles, human traditions, images, and a spiritually blind order. His deceptive theories aim to eclipse gospel light, while angels from heaven cooperate with God's messengers on earth to make truth known, and house-to-house Scripture teaching can enlighten darkened understanding as the Spirit strengthens workers.

Warnings for Holy Living

Believers and unbelievers live under opposite ruling principles of light and darkness that have no fellowship with each other. Those who believe set their affections on things above and leave worldly things behind, keeping God's commandments and separating from friendship with the world, while unbelievers are children of darkness led by the prince of darkness and cannot enjoy heavenly things because their minds are blinded against the gospel. Those who follow Christ do not walk in darkness, but those who follow their own ideas contrary to God's Word remain among the blinded unbelievers whose minds are shut against Christ's light. To reject warnings and reproof, resist the light, and follow human wisdom is to be ensnared in darkness and error, and then to work against the light and strengthen God's enemies.

Worldly building, dressing, customs and practice belong to worship of the god of this world, and professed Christians who long with dissatisfaction for worldly power and display imitate worldlings by seeking to build and dress as they do. That unworthy ambition was as hard to cure as in the days of Samuel, with God's Word, the counsels and reproofs of His servants, and even warnings sent directly from His throne seeming powerless to subdue it, because it springs from a heart estranged from God for which almost any pretext justifies disregard of His authority to gratify pride and self-love at whatever cost to His cause. Conformity to worldly customs holds people captive to the god of this world, for by giving themselves to worldly desires and serving them they come under his power. Bowing to that god alienates the heart from God, and love of self and selfish interests, including in contemplating marriage and in disposing of property to favor worldly children, eats away true godliness and turns judgment and affection from heavenly things and God's purposes.

Blindness keeps people from discerning their own spiritual condition and from seeing facts clearly, and mere knowledge of Scripture without inward purity and self-humbling leaves them poor and blind to righteousness and sanctification through the truth. It keeps a person from seeing personal wrongs while watching and judging others, producing self-deception, and it veils highly censurable imprudence from the doer himself until the Lord tears the veil away so all is seen clearly. That veil lay over Brother George's imprudent conduct and over the Monterey, Michigan church, hiding wrong from the blinded mind until God removed it for plain sight. The same blinding distorts perception of others, leaving false impressions that they do not care, casting reflections upon them and those with them, and producing a wrong influence toward them and their household. It puts a perverted light on everything done even where no wrong was intended, breeding trouble and perplexity of mind, disappointed expectations, hurt over a wanted invitation withheld, the thought that others crowd on responsibilities or withhold confidence, and suspicion that matters are kept back, while the loss of peace and rest is the blinded person's own fault.

Refusing warnings, encouragement and reproof closes the mind to spiritual light and leaves people ignorant of their deficiencies and in need of grace and spiritual discernment to recognize them. The devil blinds minds so that warnings from God are set aside as mere human opinion of no more weight than personal ideas and judgment, are refused a careful reading that would reveal danger, while prejudice is cherished and division created. Those so blinded go on blindfolded into the very acts warned against until greatly humbled and converted so God can heal them, and when sight returns they see in altogether a different light, recognize God's power speaking, hear the Spirit's loud calls, dare not resist conviction, and surrender to stand upon all the light given. Blindness also leaves people unaware of peril and of the power leading them away from truth, unable to discern slippery ground, heavenly-appearing deceptive temptations, specious sophistry accepted even after great mercy, and underhand unrighteousness. Safety lies in heeding caution, distrusting human wisdom, and depending on God, lest warnings and a offered way of escape be confusedly lost.

That blindness keeps some from recognizing the true purpose of gospel institutions, as when the College meant to draw youth to God and prepare preachers of the gospel is misunderstood, and from valuing spiritual riches and using entrusted gifts instead of hiding them for material returns. Satan works with all deceptive power through his agencies to prevent proclamation of the truth, diverting minds, entangling them in snares, and filling them with worldly concerns, pleasures and trivialities to erase the Spirit's impressions under the Word. Those who ignore Christ's call risk losing opportunity for salvation. Sin itself blinds the mind to the value of Christian character and defiles the heart, making conscience insensitive to unsuitable truth, so that repeated concealment of truth and violation of conscience darken the soul until even clear correction makes little impression.

Those who enter temptation and long remain insensible to sin are blinded and deceived into betraying Jesus, grieving the Holy Spirit, reproaching God's cause, enshrouding the soul in midnight darkness, and losing the church's confidence in them as Christians. Return comes by a humble course and doing duty in fear of the Lord, with tears not of self-sympathy but of contrition and agony of penitential grief urging the case to the throne of grace, and God will hear confession, answer petition, heal backsliding, restore confidence, and make strong to do and suffer His will. Satan as god of this world is not dead but alive and active, moving upon every subject mind and blinding eyes so they do not see where they are going nor what is wrong with them, and he will work even among God's people if allowed. Because the church is still militant and not yet triumphant, every person must fight not flesh and blood but principalities, powers and spiritual wickedness in high places, standing in every piece of God's whole armor with Jesus Christ as Leader as He led Israel in the wilderness, watching over personal souls and connected souls lest the enemy gain advantage, with the Holy Spirit working on the mind to perfect holiness in fear of the Lord in order to sit with Christ on His throne.

Truth for Present Time

The god of this world blinds eyes whenever the truth for the time is not desired, as it was in the days of Christ and of Paul and of Luther, and as it is now. The world lies in spiritual darkness under Satan's rule, while God's truth is light that believers are to value and let shine so that others may be brought out of darkness toward the coming day when righteousness will prevail. Bible truth is hidden from no one except those who are lost, because they will not accept the plain statement of the Word of God. That blindness is the work of Satan and evil angels counseling to do away with God's sign, saying they will take Sunday and make the world believe it is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

When all are compelled to keep Sunday, that is the mark of the beast and his image. All the lying signs and wonders and the mass of corruptions are the imprint of the satanic and prove a blindness that is inconceivable. God's command to keep the Sabbath of the Lord still stands, so it makes a decided difference what day is kept. The remedy is to preach Christ and the third angel's message from the Bible, which transforms character. All are to come into God's presence to honor His Sabbath, made for blessing and remembrance, rather than altering it for business.

The god of this world darkens the minds of unbelievers whose happiness is in the things of the world, its pleasures and its vanities, so they cannot see the truth. This includes great men, ministers, doctors, and the learned, who look upon conscientious observers of the Lord's Sabbath as wild and erratic. They fail to see because of the cross, because popularity and worldly inducements are too great for them to yield up.

Satan can gain control of the mind and blind the understanding, leading people to be deceived about their spiritual condition. Evil angels blind minds and harden hearts when Scripture is studied with scientific self-reliance rather than humble, teachable prayer. All mental powers should seek God's deep things, but knowledge from the great I AM comes only with sincere desire to learn His will.