The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 399

The European Union in Prophecy
To the very close of the controversy in heaven the great usurper continued to
justify himself. When it was announced that with all his sympathizers he must be
expelled from the abodes of bliss, then the rebel leader boldly avowed his contempt
for the Creator's law. He reiterated his claim that angels needed no control, but should
be left to follow their own will, which would ever guide them right. He denounced the
divine statutes as a restriction of their liberty and declared that it was his purpose to
secure the abolition of law; that, freed from this restraint, the hosts of heaven might
enter upon a more exalted, more glorious state of existence.
With one accord, Satan and his host threw the blame of their rebellion wholly
upon Christ, declaring that if they had not been reproved, they would never have
rebelled. Thus stubborn and defiant in their disloyalty, seeking vainly to overthrow
the government of God, yet blasphemously claiming to be themselves the innocent
victims of oppressive power, the archrebel and all his sympathizers were at last
banished from heaven.
The same spirit that prompted rebellion in heaven still
inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the same policy which he
pursued with the angels. His spirit now reigns in the children of disobedience. Like
him they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God and promise men liberty
through transgression of its precepts. Reproof of sin still arouses the spirit of hatred
and resistance. When God's messages of warning are brought home to the conscience,
Satan leads men to justify themselves and to seek the sympathy of others in their
course of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they excite indignation against the
reprover, as if he were the sole cause of difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to
our own time such is the spirit which has been displayed toward those who dare to
condemn sin.
By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as he had practiced in
heaven, causing Him to be regarded as severe and tyrannical, Satan induced man to
sin. And having succeeded thus far, he declared that God's unjust restrictions had led
to man's fall, as they had led to his own rebellion. But the Eternal One Himself
proclaims His character: "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Exodus 34:6, 7. In
the banishment of Satan from heaven, God declared His justice and maintained the
honour of His throne. But when man had sinned through yielding to the deceptions of
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