The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 521

their fruits.” Matthew 7:16. Their course resembles that of Satan, the
envenomed slanderer, “the accuser of our brethren.” Revelation 12:10.
The great deceiver has many agents ready to present any and every
kind of error to ensnare souls—heresies prepared to suit the varied tastes
and capacities of those whom he would ruin. It is his plan to bring into
the church insincere, unregenerate elements that will encourage doubt
and unbelief, and hinder all who desire to see the work of God advance
and to advance with it. Many who have no real faith in God or in His
word assent to some principles of truth and pass as Christians, and thus
they are enabled to introduce their errors as Scriptural doctrines.
The position that it is of no consequence what men believe is one of
Satan’s most successful deceptions. He knows that the truth, received in
the love of it, sanctifies the soul of the receiver; therefore he is constantly
seeking to substitute false theories, fables, another gospel. From the
beginning the servants of God have contended against false teachers, not
merely as vicious men, but as inculcators of falsehoods that were fatal to
the soul. Elijah, Jeremiah, Paul, firmly and fearlessly opposed those who
were turning men from the word of God. That liberality which regards
a correct religious faith as unimportant found no favor with these holy
defenders of the truth.
The vague and fanciful interpretations of Scripture, and the many
conflicting theories concerning religious faith, that are found in the
Christian world are the work of our great adversary to confuse minds so
that they shall not discern the truth. And the discord and division which
exist among the churches of Christendom are in a great measure due
to the prevailing custom of wresting the Scriptures to support a favorite
theory. Instead of carefully studying God’s word with humility of heart
to obtain a knowledge of His will, many seek only to discover something
odd or original.

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