February
4, 2003
TAKE
HOLD OF MY STRENGTH! Part I
"Let
him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with
Me; And he shall make peace with Me" (Isaiah 27:5, NKJV).
"In
the days of Christ the leaders and teachers of Israel were
powerless to resist the work of Satan, They were neglecting
the only means by which they could have withstood evil spirits.
It was by the word of God that Christ overcame the wicked
one. The leaders of Israel professed to be the expositors
of God's word, but they had studied it only to sustain their
traditions, and enforce their man-made observances. By their
interpretation they made it express sentiments that God had
never given. Their mystical construction made indistinct that
which He had made plain. They disputed over insignificant
technicalities, and practically denied the most essential
truths. Thus infidelity was sown broadcast. God's word was
robbed of its power, and evil spirits worked their will.
"History
is repeating. With the open Bible before them, and professing
to reverence its teachings, many of the religious leaders
of our time are destroying faith in it as the word of God.
They busy themselves with dissecting the word, and set their
own opinions above its plainest statements. In their hands
God's word loses its regenerating power. This is why infidelity
runs riot, and iniquity is rife.
"When
Satan has undermined faith in the Bible, he directs men to
other sources for light and power. Thus he insinuates himself.
Those who turn from the plain teaching of Scripture and the
convicting power of God's Holy Spirit are inviting the control
of demons. Criticism and speculation concerning the Scriptures
have opened the way for spiritism and theosophy--those modernized
forms of ancient heathenism--to gain a foothold even in the
professed churches of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Side
by side with the preaching of the gospel, agencies are at
work which are but the medium of lying spirits. Many a man
tampers with these merely from curiosity, but seeing evidence
of the working of a more than human power, he is lured on
and on, until he is controlled by a will stronger than his
own. He cannot escape from its mysterious power.
"The
defenses of the soul are broken down. He has no barrier against
sin. When once the restraints of God's word and His Spirit
are rejected, no man knows to what depths of degradation he
may sink. Secret sin or master passion may hold him captive
as helpless as was the demoniac of Capernaum. Yet his condition
is not hopeless.
"The
means by which we can overcome the wicked one is that by which
Christ overcame,--the power of the word."-- The
Desire of Ages, pp. 257, 258. (To be continued)
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