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Sunday, August 07, 2016

Excerpts from Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp, 8

It [Satanic agency] minutely and vividly presents his character as presumptuous, proud, powerful, wicked, malignant, subtle, deceitful, fierce, and cruel. He is compared to a "fowler," a "sower of tares," a "wolf," a "roaring lion," and a "serpent." He is called by over thirty different names descriptive of the different phases of his diabolical character. Among them are the following: "Murderer," "Dragon," "Father of Lies," "Old Serpent," "Wicked One," "Liar," and "Prince of the Devils." "The Accuser of the Brethren" is another of the names by which he is known in Scripture. In this character he has wrought much mischief.

He accuses God's children:

1. To Themselves. He does this in different ways:

(a.) By bringing wicked thoughts to their mind and then accusing them of thinking them. At such times we must remember that while we can not hinder such thoughts from coming, yet we can refuse
to harbor them and thus remain guiltless.

(b.) By telling them when they are "in heaviness through manifold temptations" that because of this they have no religion at all.

(c.) By sorely tempting them and then making them believe that the temptation itself instead of the yielding to it is sin.

(d.) By telling young converts, when they feel the movings of inbred sin still remaining in them, that because of this they never were truly converted.

(e.) By suggesting to more mature Christians that they have lost the blessing of perfect love simply because their emotions have in a measure subsided.

2. To Each Other.

(a.) By putting a bad construction to acts that are susceptible of a good one.

(b.) By charging wrong motives when the real motive is not known.

(c.) By telling one that he is not appreciated by others, or that he is slighted by them.

(d.) By telling one that others have no religion at all because they do not in all things see eye to eye with him.

3. To the Unconverted.

(a.) By telling them that Christians are deceived and that Christ is a hard Master.

(b.) That soul winners seek not them but their money.

(c.) That church members are all hypocrites.

In these and other ways he seeks to perplex and sow discord. His might so marvelous and strategic maneuvers so successful turned earth that was designed for Eden into an habitation of cruelty and
sepulcher of the dead.


From Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp. Original publication date, 1892. Public domain. My source is here. The previous post in the series is here.

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