522 The Spiritual Man
obtained new light when they search the Scriptures and that they
understand matters which their predecessors did not. These
individuals should be very cautious, for it is frequently in the time of
meditation that wicked powers flash their ideas into a person or
stealthily mix some of their thought with his. Not aware of the
possibility of accepting the teaching of evil spirits in their minds,
Christians assume that anything which has suddenly burst upon them
while in meditation is their own new discovery of faith. They write
and preach these ideas as the fruits of their research. Upon hearing or
reading these teachings, people marvel at the cleverness of these
Christians. But do they perceive that many of these doctrines in
reality emanate from the bottomless pit? Diverse heresies, numerous
so-called “spiritual teachings,” sundry interpretations of the Word
which tear the church of Christ into pieces originate with these
lightning thoughts during Scripture study. We should not be
impressed with how excellent such sudden enlightenment may be;
rather should we ask whence this light came. Was it revealed by the
Holy Spirit in our intuition? Did it arise out of our own thinking? Or
were these ideas fomented by evil spirits?
Should one’s mind be passive, it will be easy for the enemy to
inject nonsensical notions into him, for instance telling him: “You
are God’s special vessel” or “Your work will shake the whole world”
or “You are much more spiritual than the rest” or “You should take
another course” or “God will soon open a wide door for your
preaching” or “You should step out to live by faith” or “Your
spiritual usefulness is unlimited.” Heady thoughts like these disarm
all the vigilance of the saint. He thrives day and night on these
ideas—dreaming how great and marvelous he is. Not employing the
rationalism of his mind, he fails to realize how harmful and how
laughable these notions can be in his spiritual walk. He indulges in
them by continuously imagining how glorious his future is going to
be.