VICTORY OVER SATAN AS TEMPTER Victory over the Devil as a Tempter, and all his temptations personally, direct and indirect, must be learnt by the believer in experimental reality; remembering that all temptations are not recognizable as temptations, nor are they always visible, for half their power lies in their being hidden. A believer thinks that he will be as conscious of the approach of temptation, as of a person coming into the room, hence the children of God are only fighting a small proportion of the devils workings; that is, only what they are conscious of as supernatural workings of evil. Because their knowledge of the devils character and methods of working is limited and circumscribed, many true children of God only recognize temptation when the nature of the thing presented is visibly evil, and according to their limited knowledge of evil, so they do not recognize the Tempter and his temptations when they come under the guise of natural or physical, or lawful and apparent good. When the prince of darkness and his emissaries come as angels of light, they clothe themselves in light, which, in their case, stands for evil. It is a light which is really darkness. They come in the guise of good. Darkness is opposed to light, ignorance is opposed to knowledge, falsehood is opposed to truth. Darkness is a term applied to evil morality and moral darkness. The believer may need to discern evil spirits in the realm of the supposed good. That which comes to them as light may be darkness. The apparently good may be really evil; the apparent help which they cling to may be really a hindrance. For instance, a difficulty in work may arise out of accepting a degree of weakness, which is really the result of demon possession; so while desiring strength the believer may fulfill conditions which make him weak. The devil then tempts him because he is weak, and he succumbs. There needs to be a choice between good and evil perpetually by every man, and the priests of old were specially called to discern and teach the people the difference between the holy and the common, the unclean and the clean (Ezek. 40: 23). Yet is the Church of Christ to-day able thus to discern what is good, and what is evil? Does she not continually fall into the snare of calling good evil, and evil good? Because the thoughts of Gods people are governed by ignorance, and limited knowledge, they call the works of God, of the devil; and the works of the devil, of God, and they are not taught the need of learning to discern the difference between the unclean and the clean, nor how to decide for themselves what is of God, or what is of the devil, although they are unknowingly compelled to make a choice every moment of the day. Neither do all believers know that they have a choice between good and good, i.e., between the lesser and the greater good; and the devil often entangles them here.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 00:17:56 +0000
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