600 The Spiritual Man
failing to watch and pray even though trusting his pure motive to
keep him from deception, he shall be deceived. How can he expect
God to protect him when he is providing the pre-requisites for the
working of evil spirits?
Countless saints consider themselves beyond deception because
they have had frequent spiritual experiences. This very element of
self-confidence betrays the deception they are in already. Unless they
are humble enough to acknowledge the possibility of being deceived,
they shall be deceived perpetually. Deception is neither a matter of
life nor of intention but one of knowledge. It is difficult for the Holy
Spirit to point out the truth to that person who has absorbed too many
idealistic teachings in the early stages of his Christian experience.
Equally hard is it for others to supply him with necessary light if he
already has developed a prejudiced interpretation of the Scriptures.
The danger of such false security is to give opportunity for the evil
spirits to work or to continue to work.
We saw earlier how ignorance is the cause of passivity and
passivity, the cause of entrenchment. The latter condition would
never occur if a Christian had the right knowledge. Actually passivity
is a mistaken obedience or consecration. It may additionally be said
to be an excessive obedience or consecration. Had he recognized how
the evil spirits require man’s inertia for their working he would not
have allowed himself to descend into passivity. Had he realized that
God does not reduce man to a marionette in order to work, then he
would not wait passively to be moved. Ignorance accounts for
today’s tragic plight among the saints.
A Christian requires knowledge in order to distinguish God’s
working from that of Satan’s. He should know the principle of divine
operation as well as the condition for satanic operation. He who
possesses such knowledge guards himself from the powers of
darkness. Since Satan assails the believer with lies, he must be met
with the truth. Because he intends to keep the believer in darkness,