Revelation 12:10, commentary and pictures

A loud voice in heaven announces that deliverance and strength and God's reign and Christ's authority have arrived because the one who charged God's people before Him day and night has been thrown down. That overthrow was won when Christ held fast in sinless obedience unto death and rose victorious, defeating Satan, breaking his claim to rule, and exposing him as false accuser and murderer before the whole universe. Satan is that accuser, the adversary who first tempts people to sin and then demands their condemnation, exaggerating their faults and insisting God cannot justly forgive them. Christ answers him as Advocate and High Priest, pleading His own merits and blood, rebuking Satan, clothing repentant believers in His righteousness and keeping them under angelic guard. Believers share that victory by trusting in the Lamb's blood and holding faithful testimony even to death, while all faultfinding and slander of fellow believers does Satan's own work and must be put away for love, mercy and unity.

Announcement and Heavenly Setting

A loud voice in heaven proclaims that deliverance and power and the reign of God and the authority of His Anointed have now arrived, because the one who charged God's people before Him day and night has been thrown down. That overthrow belongs to the great conflict that began in heaven and continues into the last days, and it means the adversary will not succeed in his aim to dethrone Christ. The casting down is joined to the conquering of believers by the blood of the Lamb and by steadfast witness even when faithfulness costs life, and to rejoicing by heaven and its inhabitants. The same context brings woe to the earth because the devil has come down in great power knowing his time is short, at a present hour when God has a great work to do that the adversary uses all his power to hinder.

The proclamation follows war in which Michael and His angels fight the devil and his angels and prevail, so that no place is found for them in heaven and the dragon who deceives the whole world is expelled to the earth. Those who claim to be children of God are therefore to be wide awake to the situation, to trust the ministry of holy angels in advancing God's cause on earth, and each to take a decided stand to fight on the Lord's side in the battle between righteousness and sin. The loud voice sounded because Christ accomplished the work He came to do and won the battle, planting His banner as conqueror on the eternal heights. His bowing His head and dying while holding fast faith in God without sin defeated the adversary, who knew his kingdom was lost and would have triumphed instead if even one sin had been found in Him, filling angels and all heaven with joy and triumph.

It is the song sung with great joy and triumph by the inhabitants of heaven on the night of Jesus' resurrection, when the brightness of the angels illuminated the night at the tomb. Sung then, it declares that by His resurrection Christ vanquished Satan and the powers of darkness and swallowed up death in victory. In that triumph salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power of His Christ have come because the accuser of the brethren is cast down.

The dragon of the prophecy stands for Satan and, secondarily, for pagan Rome, which Satan used as his agent against Christ and His people. Revelation 12 stands among the apocalyptic passages portraying powers arising from the union of church and state, a union destructive to both civil society and the church that crushes those who oppose it.

Cast Down Through Christ

The casting down was secured when Christ bowed His head and died holding fast His faith and submission to God, yielding to Satan in nothing to escape terrible torture, because no sin was found in Him; by that sinless death Satan was defeated instead of triumphing and knew his kingdom was lost, so the accuser of the brethren was cast down and salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power of His Christ came. The loud voice in heaven sounded because Christ had accomplished the work He came to do and won the battle, planting His banner as conqueror on the eternal heights, filling angels and all heaven with joy and triumph; if even one sin had been found in Him Satan would have triumphed instead. His death satisfied justice and the claims of the broken law, made atonement, and bridged the gulf sin created, drawing people to repentance whom God pardons after making penitent, and by dying He silenced the charge that self-denial was impossible for God and therefore unnecessary in the human family.

Though Satan persistently opposed, the great work of giving His life carried out the plan of redemption, because man was esteemed of sufficient value for Christ to sacrifice His life for him. That sacrifice showed the worth of God's people to God and began the defeat of Satan's usurped rule, casting him down from his role as accuser of God's people in heaven. Knowing the empire he had usurped would in the end be wrested from him, Satan determined to spare no pains to destroy as many as possible of the creatures God had created in His image, hating man because Christ had manifested such forgiving love and pity toward him, pursuing his course with more energy because of his own hopeless condition and practicing upon man every species of deception by which he might be lost.

The resurrection marked the triumph of heaven, when with great joy and triumph the inhabitants of heaven sang at the tomb as the brightness of the angels illuminated the night, proclaiming that salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power of Christ had come because Christ had vanquished Satan and the powers of darkness and swallowed up death in victory and the accuser who accused them before God day and night was cast down. By conquering death He paid the full ransom for humanity and made it possible for people to overcome Satan in His name, and His victory revealed that Satan would eventually die and his kingdom would end.

Christ's sinless faithfulness unto death exposed Satan as a murderer and stripped away his disguise before the unfallen angels and the heavenly universe, so his accusations against Christ's followers could no longer be brought before the heavenly court, and he lost the sympathy of the heavenly beings, was uprooted from their affection, and was restricted in his work. His crooked course had been allowed to continue until he should reveal himself in his real character as accuser, deceiver, liar, and murderer, because to unmask him at once before a universe that could see only his outward appearance would have created a state of things that must be avoided, and his accusing power had won sympathy and drawn many angels into disloyalty; in the death of the Son of God the deceiver was unmasked and by that unmasking the force of his accusations was broken. The charges he brought against Christ implicated God Himself, and the cross made his hidden principles and the spirit of rebellion plain to heaven, proving his power as accuser of the brethren to be powerful but false.

At the crucifixion Satan fell from heaven a second time and was uprooted from the sympathies of the heavenly angels, for the challenge and cruelty at the cross tore away his disguise and the evil character he had tried to fasten upon Christ was fastened upon himself. After the crucifixion he saw that he had overreached himself, for his charges against Christ were charges against God Himself, and all heaven saw the cruel work done to Christ while God showed to the heavenly universe the spirit manifested by those unwilling to yield obedience to His law and presented the once-hidden principles of Satan's power as they were.

Christ came to earth to vindicate the claims of His Father's law, and His death shows its immutability and testifies that it is as unchanging as God's character, refuting Satan's fallacy that God's law was abolished by Christ's death. By that deception Satan thrusts upon man the claim that the law is gone and thus leads many professed Christians to transgress the Father's commandments while they assume devotion to His Son, and he continues trying to lead people astray in this way even after his defeat. His perfect life, trial, and death exposed the falsity of his accusations against those trying to obey God's law, so that in the judgment everyone will see that Satan is a rebel.

His sacrifice forever settled Satan's accusation against God's government about the conflicting attributes of justice and mercy, for by clothing divinity with humanity, enduring the test Adam failed, exalting and honoring the law by infinite sacrifice, and showing its unchangeable character, He restored honor to God's government before unfallen worlds and the heavenly universe and proved God's administration without flaw. His obedience is counted as righteousness to His people, giving them probation to return to loyalty by keeping God's law, and the cross is looked upon by unfallen worlds, the heavenly universe, satanic agencies, and the fallen race until every mouth is stopped and every voice in heaven and out of heaven testifies to the justice, mercy, and exalted attributes of God. The verse's conflict is displayed in Satan's opposition to God's law and in his lawless, accusing character, contrasted with God's work of man's recovery and uplifting through the grace of Christ, so that every soul that develops a righteous character and withstands the power of the wicked one is a testimony that Satan's accusations are false and through eternal ages the exaltation of the redeemed will testify to God's love and mercy. God could have destroyed Satan and all his sympathizers as easily as picking up a pebble and casting it to the earth, but in the councils of heaven it was decided to give time for Satan to develop and work out the principles that were the foundation of his government, which he declared superior to God's principles, in order to place things upon an eternal basis of security without force or compulsion, so that the heavenly universe must see Satan's corrupting rule contrasted with God's moral order and the principles of righteousness expressed in God's law demonstrated as unchangeable, eternal, and perfect.

The heavenly rebellion ended with the disaffected angels overcome and cast down to earth, and Lucifer, who wanted Christ's place, became exalted because of his beauty and jealous of Jesus, would not repent, took no pleasure in the creation of the world and of man in which the loyal angels took deep rejoicing interest, and lost his place in heaven. After being cast out he began to work to gain Adam and Eve as his property by misrepresenting the character of God through false accusation, and the conflict divides the world into those who rebelled and those striving to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and their testimony. The battle between Christ and Satan was waged to the resurrection and to the ascension, and then the conflict was transferred to Christ's followers, with Satan warring against Christ's representatives as accuser.

Satan as Continual Accuser

The accuser of the brethren is Satan, the great adversary and enemy of souls, the dragon, liar, destroyer, deceiver, tormentor and murderer, who brings charges against God's people before God and His angels day and night continually. His accusations are directed against those seeking God's mercy and favor, and the conflict is repeated whenever someone is rescued from evil and received into God's family. Accusation is his weapon, which is why followers of Christ are not to use railing accusation, retaliation or ridicule against opposers but to leave judgment to God.

His accusing work began in heaven, continued on earth after humanity's fall, still continues, and will intensify as the end of the world approaches. He carries on a perpetual conflict against the church of God until the close of time, working through wicked men under the control of evil angels to confuse the church according to the tempter's plans and devices. To doubt, question and accuse fellow believers, to dishearten the church and present truth in an objectionable light, is to do his work from an unbelieving heart, bringing shame, confusion of face and despair when each is judged according to deeds done in the body.

He first tempts people into sin and then accuses them for it, pointing to their sins and defects of character including sins he tempted them to commit. He has accurate knowledge of the sins he tempted them to commit and presents them before God in exaggerated light, representing them as just as deserving as himself of exclusion from God's favor. He claims them as his subjects, his captives and his prey, opposes every soul rescued from his power and every effort to save those purchased by Christ's blood, and demands they be given into his hands to destroy. He declares God cannot in justice forgive their sins and yet destroy him and his angels, challenges Christ's right to redeem them, and uses their sins, weakness and failures to make them despair, lose faith and turn from God.

His accusations are directed especially against those who work righteousness, respect God's law, make Christ their strength, and give the final message of mercy, and he resists and seeks to hinder those appointed to that work. He represents God's chosen people as deluded, urges men to accept his principles to counterwork God's work while humanity suffers from transgression, and God answers through His people by showing the results of obedience to right principles. His accusations fall especially on backsliding people and leaders who acted wrongly despite great light.

He rages without bounds to destroy God's people and cut them off from their inheritance in the antitypical land of promise just before them, where no strange god shall ever come and no evil spirit shall enter. As he hated Israel with cruel and malignant hatred when Canaan became their habitation and the law of God became the law of the land, and worked through evil spirits to introduce strange gods until transgression scattered them from the land of promise, so now he opposes God leading His people out from the abominations of the world to keep His law in the land of the enemy. He strives to repeat that history because he knows he has but a short time.

He is ever on the alert to open channels for the unrestrained flow of evil, watching to bring about conditions favorable to rebellion that men may be ruined and condemned. He watches for every error however small to use as a basis for accusation, prompts people to watch for defects and draw attention to errors while ignoring good deeds, and thereby seeks to discredit God's saving work, make believers odious, and hinder salvation. He works through unsanctified and unbalanced people within the believing community to bring reproach, introduce deception, and oppose God's cause even among worshipers, and through professed Christians to entice others to sin. Fallen men and fallen angels are in the same confederacy through apostasy, leagued in desperate companionship against good, and as he induced angels to join rebellion he induces men under the guise of servants of God to become his most successful allies, inspiring them with his accusing spirit to act as trained detectives creating feuds, discord, bitterness and dissension by watching for evil and setting tongues in active service for Satan.

He also accuses believers inwardly, taking advantage of conscientiousness and naturally good judgment to produce despondency, distress and agony of mind with cruel oppressing power. He tempts them to distrust God, to write little things against themselves, tells them they do not love Jesus when they do, and disputes their assurance that they are God's sons and daughters. Deliverance comes by looking to Jesus, knowing His mercy and that He died for them as positive evidence He will not cast aside those who trust Him, and by trusting God's Word and pardoning love rather than making feelings the measure of God's love.

God could have destroyed Satan and all his sympathizers as easily as picking up a pebble and casting it to the earth, but did not at once destroy his power. In the councils of heaven it was decided to give time for Satan to develop and work out the principles that were the foundation of his government, which he declared superior to God's principles. This was to place things upon an eternal basis of security, for instant destruction would have given a precedent for violence and compulsion, whereas God's government is moral, without force or compulsion, and will not set one being as God over another to cause suffering, all compelling power belonging to Satan's government. The heavenly universe, the unfallen worlds and the fallen world must see Satan's order contrasted with God's order, the corrupting principles of his rule revealed, and righteousness expressed in God's law demonstrated as unchangeable, eternal and perfect, with Satan allowed to manifest fully as accuser, deceiver, liar and murderer. Because his power of accusation, mourning and complaining won sympathy and drew many angels into disloyalty, to unmask him at once before a universe seeing only outward appearance must be avoided, so his crooked course continued until the death of the Son of God unmasked him, uprooted him from the affection of the loyal universe, and broke the force of his accusations.

Christ Defends the Accused

Christ is the hope, defense, justification, redemption, High Priest, Advocate and Restorer of His people, pleading the case of every tempted soul and of every soul inclined to err while Satan afflicts, tempts, annoys and destroys. His accusations are aimed at those seeking God's mercy and favor, and the conflict is repeated whenever anyone is rescued from evil and received into God's family. Against Satan as accuser in every sense — who first leads into sin and wrong, then exults over those sins, makes the most of every failure, rehearses them before the angels of God, and taunts the angels with the weaknesses and failures of believers — Jesus stands as Advocate pleading with the Father to spare them because they are the purchase of His blood. Those who are criticized need not be discouraged, for they belong to Christ by creation and redemption, and He assures them that they are remembered and cherished. Those on Christ's side heal and do not tear in pieces, and must not learn Satan's art of torturing and accusing, becoming skillful instruments in his cruel hands to weaken, distress, afflict, annoy, manufacture trials for one another, or make wounds and leave scars upon souls, in the home in dealing with wife and children, or in the church.

Jesus defeats the accuser through the plan of salvation: by His perfect obedience and death on the cross He claims mercy and reconciliation for repentant believers who trust Him. He answers the accusation by rebuking Satan and claiming the sinner as one He has rescued from destruction, Himself putting the accuser to silence and defending His people. Satan points to their failures and sins, into which he himself led them by his deceptive power, declares that those who profess to be God's servants are defiled by sin, claims them as his prey, and demands that they be given into his hands to be destroyed, using their sinfulness to argue that Christ's restraining power should not prevent him from harming them. Christ alone makes an effective plea for them, with arguments grounded in His own merits rather than theirs, and as High Priest He has made atonement for every sinner. His accusations arise from hostility to Christ, not concern for wrongdoing, as He opposes every soul rescued from his power, using sins to discourage them and claim them as captives and challenging Christ's right to redeem them.

He answers Satan's charges by presenting His people's penitence and faith and claiming forgiveness for them; He does not excuse their sins, but clothes His faithful people in His righteousness. He removes the filthy garments of sin, causes iniquity to pass away, takes off the filthy garments, and clothes His people with change of raiment and a fair mitre, removing guilt, clothing the repentant person with His imputed righteousness, and protecting and restoring those who trust Him. Those clothed in Christ's righteousness are protected from Satan's power, so that Satan's accusations do not prevent God from accepting those who trust Christ as personal Saviour, nor erase Christ's protection or His choice of those who repent and trust Him. Those whom Christ defends are those who have improved probation to confess sins with contrition of soul and put them away, who vex their souls over surrounding corruption and iniquity, who sigh and cry because of abominations done in the land without mixing in them or corrupting their ways, who have washed their robes of character white in the blood of the Lamb, and against whose names Jesus has written pardon.

Those who remain faithful to God and cling to Jesus by living faith are under the protection of heavenly angels and heavenly guardianship; those who separate themselves from Christ through sin are in great peril. Those who have not ceased to sin and have not repented and sought pardon are not included in this defended company. Freedom from the accuser's ruling power over souls who speak personal grievances, justify self, and charge others with guilt instead of confessing their own sins comes by humbling the heart before the Lord, confessing sin before God and before Christ who died for sinners and before man, and refusing longer submission to him. Continuing under the accuser leaves the soul under satanic agencies instead of under the guardianship of heavenly angels, with words and deeds written in the book to be opened for judgment in the last great day according to deeds done in the body.

Joshua standing before the Lord while Satan resists him illustrates this defense, with Joshua representing the people of God under accusation pointing to sins Satan himself tempted them to commit and which have not yet been blotted out. Jacob's long night of wrestling illustrates Satan using guilt to discourage, weaken hold on God, and claim right to destroy, accusing Jacob because of his sin, moving Esau to march against him, and endeavoring to force a sense of guilt upon him to discourage him and break his hold upon God. Holy angels guard those whose sins have been pardoned and whose cases have been decided in the sanctuary above. Angels are sent to investigate the conduct of God's servants, sometimes speaking with people without their knowledge, and report to heaven exactly what they find.

Overcoming and Last-Day Fulfillment

Believers overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony, remaining faithful even at the cost of their lives, and this victory divides the world into those who rebelled and those who are striving to overcome. The casting down is joined to rejoicing by the heavens and those who dwell in them, while the devil's descent to earth brings woe because his time is short. The arrival announced is salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power and authority of Christ, because the accuser who accused God's people before Him continually day and night has been cast down.

The prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 belong to the last message of warning that all are to hear and are being fulfilled now. They lead to the final call in chapter 18 and to the triumph of Christ in chapter 19 and after.

The prophecy applies to the present time, when God has a great work to do on earth that Satan uses all his power to hinder. Cast out of heaven, he has come down to this world with great power, so believers live in an enemy's country. With worldly entanglements, error, superstition, delusions, false theories, and every conceivable artifice and device he strives to win Christ's followers from Him and take souls captive, at one time working by smooth words and fair speeches to deceive if possible the very elect, and at another going about openly as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Therefore he who overcomes must be a watchful and happy Christian, keeping close to the side of Christ in the path of self-denial and sacrifice, avoiding glaring dangers and perilous inconsistent moves and staying constantly on guard lest he fall an easy prey to unnumbered deceptions. In the closing scenes, when intensity is taking possession of every earthly element, vigilance that knows no relaxation is required, and those who walk humbly before God distrustful of their own wisdom will have angels as helpers and protectors and will know the power of God's keeping care in times of special peril, while those who do not watch will pay with the loss of their souls for presumption and wilful ignorance of his devices; believers must rely on Christ's grace and Spirit to recognize and resist his attacks.

Revelation 12 shows the last great conflict between the obedient and the disobedient, with only two parties on earth. Those who stand under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ bear the sign of obedience spoken of in Exodus 31:12-18, and those who stand under the black banner stand in rebellion, dissension and strife. All strife, dissension, hatred and enmity among believers comes directly from the devil and makes those who practice it like Satan himself, so that anyone who draws apart from fellow believers to accuse, hate and express wicked enmity is unconverted and on Satan's side, and this accusing spirit must cease through thorough conversion in which the soul becomes a partaker of the divine nature and escapes the corruption in the world through lust. The two classes represented by Cain and Abel will exist till the close of this earth's history: the obedient well-doer does not war against the transgressor of God's holy law, but those who do not respect God's law follow Satan and oppress and persecute their fellow men.

In the time of trouble Satan will urge his accusations against the little company who keep the commandments of God and resist his supremacy while he numbers the world as his subjects. He has accurate knowledge of the sins he tempted them to commit and presents them before God in exaggerated light, representing them as just as deserving as himself of exclusion from God's favor, declaring that God cannot in justice forgive their sins and yet destroy him and his angels, claiming them as his prey and demanding they be given into his hands to destroy, and stirring up the wicked to destroy them. He seeks to make them believe their cases are hopeless and to turn them from loyalty to God. Jacob's experience illustrates this: Satan accused Jacob because of his sin, claimed the right to destroy him, moved Esau to march against him, and during Jacob's long night of wrestling endeavored to force a sense of guilt upon him to discourage him and break his hold upon God, while holy angels guard those whose sins have been pardoned and whose cases have been decided in the sanctuary above.

As the storm approaches, those who professed faith in the third message without sanctification abandon it, unite with the world, and take the easy popular side. Men of talent who once rejoiced in the truth become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren, and when Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith these apostates act as Satan's most efficient agents to misrepresent and accuse them, stirring up the rulers against them by false reports and insinuations.

Satan's final exposure as liar, accuser and murderer makes the triumph of those loyal to God's laws more marked, glorious, full and complete, fulfilling the proclamation of God's victory and kingdom. His defeat is revealed as salvation and God's kingdom and Christ's authority are revealed, his conflict displayed in opposition to God's law and in his lawless, accusing character, with the healing of the woman revealing the contrast between his work and God's kingdom before the universe.

The salvation and strength and kingdom of God and power of Christ proclaimed in heaven is the hope of eternal life with Christ in His kingdom, worth more to every soul than all that can be obtained by justifying self and denouncing others. The accuser exercises a ruling power over souls who speak personal grievances, justify self, and charge others with guilt instead of confessing their own sins, and freedom from his rule comes by humbling the heart before the Lord, confessing sin before God and before Christ who died for sinners and before man, and refusing longer submission to him. When that hope is chosen it brings pardon of transgressions, freedom in Christ, unity with brethren, and rejoicing in heaven, while continuing under the accuser leaves the soul under satanic agencies instead of under the guardianship of heavenly angels, with words and deeds written in the book to be opened for judgment in the last great day according to deeds done in the body.

Human Accusing Serves Satan

To speak against fellow believers — to criticize, condemn, find fault, question motives, censure, slander, misrepresent and tear them down — is to do the accusing work of Satan himself, to serve him, to show his spirit and attributes, and to take his side, even when done ignorantly or unknowingly. The accuser of the brethren accuses them before God day and night and carries on his determined efforts through human accusers, and those who pour out public tirades and accusations against brethren work under Satan as leader, not prompted by the Holy Spirit, and this accusing spirit will continue till the close of time. When entrance is gained to heart and mind and imagination, jealousies are created and suspicion and envy are harbored, so that one supposed secure in a brother’s love finds himself mistrusted and his motives misjudged, forgetting human frailty and the obligation to think and speak no evil lest God be dishonored and Christ wounded in His saints. Every defect that can be thought of or imagined is then commented upon unmercifully until the brother’s character is represented as dark and questionable, and those who lend themselves to this do Satan’s work as truly as Judas did in betraying Christ.

To harbor jealousy, suspicion, envy, evil-surmising, bitterness, hatred and selfish self-love toward brethren, to misjudge motives, magnify real or imagined faults, betray trust, misrepresent words and actions, and speak harshly, cruelly or scornfully, wounds Christ in the person of His people, leavens the church, and imbues the accuser with Satan’s spirit. Such enmity and attacks on reputation help Satan break the unity Christ established, and believers must refuse to assist him by speaking well of one another, guarding one another’s reputations as their own, and seeking one another’s good rather than tearing others down to exalt themselves. To become an accuser manifests satanic attributes, and fellow soldiers must not turn weapons against those God recognizes and sends nor be severe unreasonable judges making the most of every defect.

Gathering reports of mistakes to condemn and destroy, rehearsing failures before others, spreading strange reports without truth, tale-bearing from house to house, bearing false witness, seeking spot and stain, falsifying, making good appear evil and evil good, and using hearsay and scandal as a sweet morsel to hurt revives the stoning system and is Satan’s special work and favorite business. Those who educate and train themselves in it and love it do zealously for their master what he did and exult in adeptness at it, even claiming to be doing God service and to be sanctified, and master and servant unite and bear the same fruit with reward according to deeds. Publicly exposing a mistake of a soldier of Christ when seen and corrected weakens, turns God’s glory to dishonor, and gives advantage to bitter foes, when mistakes should call out words that strengthen and help recovery of lost ground. One who unwisely exposes brethren’s mistakes is charged with sin of far greater magnitude than the misstep itself, because criticism and condemnation of brethren is counted as criticism and condemnation of Christ.

To claim the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon is to make Satan’s claim and join his work of accusing the brethren before God night and day. Denouncing the commandment-keeping church that has the faith of Jesus as fallen, corrupt, a harlot, den of thieves or cage of unclean birds, seeking to tear it down, and turning weapons against those God sends, stands with the accuser rather than with Christ to prepare a people for the day of the Lord. Such messages filled with darkness rather than light are not from God but repeat Satan’s work, and those who have accused in this way even for a time must humble hearts before God in true contrition and repent. Accusations that a repentant sinner is unstable or unlikely to persevere do Satan’s work by discouraging that person and driving him farther from hope and God.

Criticism and distrust of the erring, impatience with inexperienced youth, contention among teachers, and faultfinding against ministers and burden-bearers discourage souls, hinder God’s work, and unite with the enemy instead of shielding and restoring. When professed Christians contend and discourage one another they forget Satan is accuser, and while they contend he lays snares for inexperienced feet of children and youth. Those with religious experience should shield the young with love, patience, sympathy, mercy and forbearance, remembering they themselves were once enchanted with pleasures of sin, need God’s mercy every hour, and that youth are the purchase of Christ’s blood, having no right to cast them off. His influence is seen in work accusing and condemning fellow believers, especially ministers and chosen workers, thinking and speaking evil of them.

Public tirades and accusations against brother or sister, especially spoken in absence with no opportunity to answer, are the working out of the enemy’s determined efforts to accuse. Requiring such accusations to be presented in writing or before others so they can be answered point by point disappoints the enemy in his efforts to accuse. Those who turn from truth and become its enemies also become accusers of brethren, connected with danger of apostasy and departing from faith. Persisting as accuser brings harm that cannot be measured, plants seeds of bitterness bearing fruit after its kind, influences others to wrong views of persons and work, disqualifies for doing the Lord’s work acceptably, and leaves wrong untrue impressions taking much time to counteract.

Unless repented, accusations are recorded in the books and bring shame in the day of God. Faultfinding places a person on the wrong side with the evil power, exerts influence leavening the church, and conversion is the only safety, for a converted person ceases envy, suspicion, faultfinding and accusing. Gossip, falsehood, misrepresentation and accusing are rubbish and base material laid on the foundation, growing as passed on and doing great damage, to be consumed, and those who do it cannot escape affliction, sorrow and loss but must be refined by fiery affliction until errors are seen, repented and converted, saved if at all as by fire. Caricaturing, mimicking and ridiculing burden-bearing ministers, justifying going to law against brethren, and silently justifying such opposing of God’s servants by failing to reprove it misrepresents God’s character while claiming loyalty, shows loyalty to the enemy of righteousness, perverts the Lord’s way, offends God, and if not repented excludes from the society of the redeemed in heavenly courts.

Instead of accusing, Christ’s example teaches not to use railing accusation, retaliation or ridicule against opposers or those who differ, for accusation is the evil one’s weapon, and judgment and condemnation are to be left to God. Followers must reject the accusing spirit, hate its attributes, exercise genuine faith working through love purifying from selfishness, resist the adversary through faith, love and unity, and refuse influence that tells and listens to sayings and wrongdoings of professed Christians leading into temptation. When God’s Spirit is in the heart there is no desire to criticize and condemn, push the erring away and report failures, but Christ’s works are opposite: to seek the perishing, go to a brother in fault in meekness and love, draw him close, plead tenderly and bring him back. Believers must follow Christ’s expressed word as Bible students and messengers of truth by pen and voice, confess sin, seek harmony, guard reputations, speak well and think no evil.

Self-exaltation, self-will, striving for headship, exalting self to command and dictate, cherishing little respect and confidence toward brethren, dwelling on mistakes and defects, separating from the church body to build influence on others’ errors like Korah, Dathan and Abiram, betraying sacred trusts, and like Judas rejecting light until developing Satan’s attributes lead to accusing brethren, treason and irretrievable placement with rebellion. In heaven Satan used misrepresentation and artful accusation against those not uniting with him, and by self-justification deceived angels and gained sympathy of one-third; since his fall he keeps up the same accusing, and those justifying self, covering and making light of sins, alienated from faithful reproof and criticizing others follow his steps till falling from truth and standing on his side while thinking ways hid from the Lord. He led rebellion against Moses and Aaron through deceptive reasoning and murmuring and still stands ready to take the disaffected and start rebellion the same way, working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, so none can occupy middle ground but must be decided believers holding truth in righteousness. The Pharisee’s self-righteous condemnation and worldly spirit show the same accusing spirit preventing communion with God, and giving free rein to criticizing educates others in it and disqualifies for superintending and counseling.

Hearing censure by unbelievers against believers and acting on it makes one partaker with them as accusers, charged in heaven’s books, for unreasonable faultfinders who accuse and rage against workers even when not at fault but doing duty to best ability are Satan’s agents through willing subjects. Accepting accusations instead of going to the accused in brotherly kindness to learn truth lets love die, leaves the oneness Christ prayed for, makes a servant of sin and helps the devil against brethren. Spreading insinuations even against the dead and remaining silent instead of defending an honest reputation, and ridiculing and misrepresenting God’s servants while silence justifies the wrong, gives entrance to the deceiver through bewitching influence failing to distinguish truth from error. God gives no man authority to stir up evil spirits waiting to accuse God’s people, and those preaching Christ must not act from human impulse nor give accusers occasion or excuse for depreciating truth.

Satan in person links with professed believers, linking arms so they cannot hear aright, to carry on in earth what is done in heaven’s courts — the same accusing work against God’s ministers, demeriting them, picking up everything for a handle, boasting power over them, and lying as he lied to gain angels. False accusation, lying reports and condemning workers without inquiry or hearing reveal the dragon spirit, the accusing spirit, the lying spirit working in the accuser. Those finding fault with ministers, uniting with the enemy, going house to house with falsehoods and secret plottings while claiming leading of the Holy Spirit are inspired as Lucifer was in heavenly courts and repeat on small scale the first great rebel. To take the first step in accusing is to serve Satan in his own work contrary to the Word the Spirit never leads to, dangerous ground doing despite to God’s Spirit and placing beyond recovery, while Satan joins human evil to his own work using people as instruments of betrayal, theft, accusation and injury.

Evil speaking, backbiting, nonsense and folly are not bread from heaven but eating and drinking the very spirit of the devil, and to be an accuser is the devil’s business. Those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious have no appetite for such food and reject it at once. Indulging criticism in bitter overbearing abusive tirades manifests his spirit as Judas did in complaint against the woman pouring ointment on Christ, and by every expression character is more conformed to Satan, revealing evil from the heart’s treasure and deciding destiny, so judgment of the world will never be committed in unison with Christ to those unconverted from accusing, who know not themselves and unless possessing meekness of a little child will never enter the kingdom. Conversing upon Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection closes lips against accusing, for the cross reveals redeeming work and God’s estimate of man warns everyone off despising one with whom Christ associated in humanity’s liabilities to uplift the weak, sinful, poor and degraded.

Using church members’ faults to attack faith and church does not excuse the impenitent nor prove religion or church corrupt, but shows the master’s spirit and reveals love of sin, especially when condemning a church for separating from persistent wrongdoers then sympathizing with the expelled. Accusations by fault-finders against those obeying God do little harm when believers remain true to Christ’s words and faithful in love and respect for one another, though joining such accusations serves the enemy’s work. Satan works through human accusers to hinder God’s appointed work and God rebukes him, and those guarding truth must take Christ’s side, for if the church relied on its own righteousness he would have grounds to accuse it unworthy of favor. Using sins and falls of professors who disgraced themselves and church as excuse for neglecting admitted truth and light is reasoning on Satan’s side, for he fell from holy purity to become accuser of believers in Christ. When sinful thoughts are resisted and not expressed in words or actions Satan is defeated and cannot use conduct to tailor temptations, so believers must not accuse fellow believers.