On page 34, in the book "Desire of Ages", she writes
"The fullness of the time had come. Humanity, becoming more degraded through ages of transgression, called for the coming of the Redeemer. Satan had been working to make the gulf deep and impassable between earth and heaven. By his falsehoods he had emboldened men in sin. It was his purpose to wear out the forbearance of God, and to extinguish His love for man, so that He would abandon the world to satanic jurisdiction.

"Satan was seeking to shut out from men a knowledge of God, to turn their attention from the temple of God, and to establish his own kingdom. His strife for supremacy had seemed to be almost wholly successful. It is true that in every generation God had His agencies. Even among the heathen there were men through whom Christ was working to uplift the people from their sin and degradation. But these men were despised and hated. Many of them suffered a violent death. The dark shadow that Satan had cast over the world grew deeper and deeper.

"Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the heathen had lost a knowledge of God, and had become more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin.

"The message of salvation is communicated to men through human agencies. But the Jews had sought to make a monopoly of the truth, which is eternal life. They had hoarded the living manna, and it had turned to corruption They robbed God of His glory, and defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. They had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, and they became agents of Satan for its destruction.

"The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan. They were doing the work that he desired them to do, taking a course to misrepresent the character of God, and cause the world to look upon Him as a tyrant. The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away."

(Desire of Ages page 34. 3 - 36.2)

Notice that Satan had emboldened men in sin, i.e, he encouraged, or he made men confident in their sin. Are our churches today following on the same path of the children of Israel by contemplating and worshiping our own conceptions, and causing ourselves to lose the Knowledge GOD has revealed to us? Could we by understanding incorrectly the Scriptures be rejecting The Holy Spirit in the same way that the early Church rejected the coming of The Lord to His own people?

Could it be that the Truth, or The Living Manna, Which was once delivered to us in the church, many have turned into corruption, because they have not trusted in the LORD with the whole heart to guide them into an understanding of The Truth? Could it be that the gospel that the churches are now proclaiming to the world are diluted with error and are causing us to rob GOD of HIS glory? Are we failing to surrender our hearts fully to GOD that men are becoming representatives of Satan to do his work in misrepresenting The NAME of GOD to the world?

Could it be that men and women have ceased to open their eyes of faith to see beyond the things that are seen, to the things that are not seen? Could it be that many have so opened their hearts to the work of Satan that they have saturated the world with the private interpretations of the Word, that the Truth of GOD might become lost to the minds of men?

In the writings of Ellen G. White, She wrote that Satan wanted to shut out from men, a knowledge of God and that the dark shadow of not knowing God, he had cast over the world, and it became deeper and deeper. She wrote also that he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. Could he be doing the same today with spiritual Israel, which is the church? How did he accomplish this in the pass? She wrote and said that by contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the children of Israel had lost the knowledge of God and had become more and more corrupt. Could this be happening in our churches today? The very priests, she said, who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified.

The spiritual things that GOD has revealed to us by HIS Word through His servant John, many today are failing to receive, because the enemy is blinding their minds and keeping their eyes of faith from opening to see The Light of Truth. With this blindness to The Things Sealed in the Word, many do not see a problem of applying their own conceptions and applying a word hear, or there in the reading of The Scripture to make The Word of GOD support their own reasoning. As the Jewish leaders like Nicodemus and others found it hard to understand the spiritual things of GOD, many also in that day despised The teachings of GOD by HIS Word, which today many are doing in order to follow and teach their own way. The very Points of Truth that are revealed to the minds of men, they by their own reasoning have sealed from their own minds the things that GOD has revealed to them.

There are many more points that can be brought out and revealed to us from the writings presented here, and many more of these points will be opened as we progress in this series of studies. After receiving the evidence in these presentations, we will again revisit this writing to see the points more clearly revealed. But for now, notice that the things that were appointed by GOD to help reveal the Truth, became the means of blinding not only the eyes, but the minds and hardening the hearts against the Truth of GOD. May this not be the case for you and me, as we study HIS Word in these last days.

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