622 The Spiritual Man
vehemently opposes such truth beware lest unknowingly he actually
be enslaved.
The roads to truth are many and various. Some are awakened to
their true state upon discovering that they have lost their liberty in all
respects through their protracted and serious satanic bondage; others
whose experiences may be ninety per cent of God and only ten per
cent impurity come to know the truth when they begin to doubt their
experience; still others are brought to a knowledge of their condition
through the truth given them by other believers. In any event, the
Christian should not refuse the first ray of light which shines upon
him.
Doubting is the prelude to truth. By this is not meant to doubt the
Holy Spirit or God or His Word but to doubt one’s own past
experience. Such doubt is both necessary and scriptural because God
commands us to “test the spirits” (1 John 4.1). Believers often
embrace a wrong idea: they are afraid to examine the spirits lest they
sin against the Holy Spirit. But it is He Himself Who desires us to
make the test. Now if it turns out to be the Holy Spirit He can stand
the test; if however it is the evil spirit its true nature will accordingly
be exposed. Is it God Who has in fact caused you to fall into today’s
position? Does the Holy Spirit ever work contrary to His law? Are
you really infallible in all matters?
Having received some light as to the truth, the believer next can
readily admit that he is susceptible to deception. And this affords the
truth a working opportunity. The worst fallacy one can ever commit
is to reckon oneself infallible. To maintain that others may be wrong
but never he is to be duped to the very end. Only after he is self-
abased will he be able to see that he is genuinely deceived. By
comparing the principle of divine working against the conditions of
satanic working, he concludes that his past experiences were
obtained through passivity. He had fulfilled the requirements for the
working of the evil spirits, hence was given those many strange