devilish ." James 3:15 . This , however , the great deceiver conceals when concealment will best suit his purpose . He who could appear clothed with the brightness of the heavenly seraphs before Christ in the wilderness of temptation , comes to men in the most attractive manner as an angel of light . He appeals to the reason by the presentation of elevating themes ; he delights the fancy with enrapturing scenes ; and he enlists the affections by his eloquent portrayals of love and charity . He excites the imagination to lofty flights , leading men to take so great pride in their own wisdom that in their hearts they despise the Eternal One . That mighty being who could take the world ' s Redeemer to an exceedingly high mountain and bring before Him all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them , will present his temptations to men in a manner to pervert the senses of all who are not shielded by divine power .
Satan beguiles men now as he beguiled Eve in Eden by flattery , by kindling a desire to obtain forbidden knowledge , by exciting ambition for self-exaltation . It was cherishing these evils that caused his fall , and through them he aims to compass the ruin of men . " Ye shall be as gods ," he declares , " knowing good and evil ." Genesis 3:5 . Spiritualism teaches " that man is the creature of progression ; that it is his destiny from his birth to progress , even to eternity , toward the Godhead ." And again : " Each mind will judge itself and not another ." " The judgment will be right , because it is the judgment of self . . . . The throne is within you ." Said a spiritualistic teacher , as the " spiritual consciousness " awoke within him : " My fellow men , all were unfallen demigods ." And another declares : " Any just and perfect being is Christ ." Thus , in place of the righteousness and perfection of the infinite God , the true object of adoration ; in place of the perfect righteousness of His law , the true standard of human attainment , Satan has substituted the sinful , erring nature of man himself as the only object of adoration , the only rule of judgment , or standard of character . This is progress , not upward , but downward .
It is a law both of the intellectual and the spiritual nature that by beholding we become changed . The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell . It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love and reverence . Man will never rise higher than his standard of purity or goodness or truth . If self is his loftiest ideal , he will never attain to anything more exalted . Rather , he will constantly sink lower and lower . The grace of God alone has power to exalt man . Left to himself , his course must inevitably be downward .
To the self-indulgent , the pleasure-loving , the sensual , spiritualism presents itself under a less subtle disguise than to the more refined and intellectual ; in its grosser forms they find that which is in harmony with their inclinations . Satan studies every indication of the frailty of human nature , he marks the sins which each individual is inclined to commit , and then he
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