It is a spiritual battle. Whose side are you on? Everyone will end up on one side or the other.

This passage reveals the true underlying issues of the current conflict. It is taken from the book "The Desire of Ages".

Chapter 33—Who Are My Brethren?

This chapter is based on Matthew 12:22-50; Mark 3:20-35.

The sons of Joseph were far from being in sympathy with Jesus

in His work. The reports that reached them in regard to His life

and labors filled them with astonishment and dismay. They heard

that He devoted entire nights to prayer, that through the day He was

thronged by great companies of people, and did not give Himself

time so much as to eat. His friends felt that He was wearing Himself

out by His incessant labor; they were unable to account for His

attitude toward the Pharisees, and there were some who feared that

His reason was becoming unsettled.

His brothers heard of this, and also of the charge brought by the

Pharisees that He cast out devils through the power of Satan. They

felt keenly the reproach that came upon them through their relation

to Jesus. They knew what a tumult His words and works created,

and were not only alarmed at His bold statements, but indignant at

His denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees. They decided that

He must be persuaded or constrained to cease this manner of labor,

and they induced Mary to unite with them, thinking that through His

love for her they might prevail upon Him to be more prudent.

It was just before this that Jesus had a second time performed

the miracle of healing a man possessed, blind and dumb, and the

Pharisees had reiterated the charge, “He casteth out devils through

the prince of the devils.” Matthew 9:34. Christ told them plainly

that in attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, they were [322]

cutting themselves off from the fountain of blessing. Those who had

spoken against Jesus Himself, not discerning His divine character,

might receive forgiveness; for through the Holy Spirit they might be

brought to see their error and repent. Whatever the sin, if the soul

repents and believes, the guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ;

but he who rejects the work of the Holy Spirit is placing himself

where repentance and faith cannot come to him. It is by the Spirit

that God works upon the heart; when men willfully reject the Spirit,

and declare It to be from Satan, they cut off the channel by which

God can communicate with them. When the Spirit is finally rejected,

there is no more that God can do for the soul.

The Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke this warning did not themselves

believe the charge they brought against Him. There was not

one of those dignitaries but had felt drawn toward the Saviour. They

had heard the Spirit’s voice in their own hearts declaring Him to

be the Anointed of Israel, and urging them to confess themselves

His disciples. In the light of His presence they had realized their

unholiness, and had longed for a righteousness which they could not

create. But after their rejection of Him it would be too humiliating

to receive Him as the Messiah. Having set their feet in the path of

unbelief, they were too proud to confess their error. And in order to

avoid acknowledging the truth, they tried with desperate violence

to dispute the Saviour’s teaching. The evidence of His power and

mercy exasperated them. They could not prevent the Saviour from

working miracles, they could not silence His teaching; but they did

everything in their power to misrepresent Him and to falsify His

words. Still the convicting Spirit of God followed them, and they

had to build up many barriers in order to withstand its power. The

mightiest agency that can be brought to bear upon the human heart

was striving with them, but they would not yield.

It is not God that blinds the eyes of men or hardens their hearts.

He sends them light to correct their errors, and to lead them in safe

paths; it is by the rejection of this light that the eyes are blinded

and the heart hardened. Often the process is gradual, and almost

imperceptible. Light comes to the soul through God’s word, through

His servants, or by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one

ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual

perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly

discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul.

Thus it had been with these Jewish leaders. They were convinced

that a divine power attended Christ, but in order to resist the truth,

they attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. In doing this

they deliberately chose deception; they yielded themselves to Satan,

and henceforth they were controlled by his power.

Closely connected with Christ’s warning in regard to the sin

against the Holy Spirit is a warning against idle and evil words.

The words are an indication of that which is in the heart. “Out of

the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” But the words are

more than an indication of character; they have power to react on

the character. Men are influenced by their own words. Often under

a momentary impulse, prompted by Satan, they give utterance to

jealousy or evil surmising, expressing that which they do not really

believe; but the expression reacts on the thoughts. They are deceived

by their words, and come to believe that true which was spoken at

Satan’s instigation. Having once expressed an opinion or decision,

they are often too proud to retract it, and try to prove themselves in

the right, until they come to believe that they are. It is dangerous

to utter a word of doubt, dangerous to question and criticize divine

light. The habit of careless and irreverent criticism reacts upon

the character, in fostering irreverence and unbelief. Many a man

indulging this habit has gone on unconscious of danger, until he

was ready to criticize and reject the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus

said, “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account

thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be

justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Then He added a warning to those who had been impressed by

His words, who had heard Him gladly, but who had not surrendered

themselves for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is not only by

resistance but by neglect that the soul is destroyed. “When the

unclean spirit is gone out of a man,” said Jesus, “he walketh through

dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will

return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come,

he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh

with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they

enter in and dwell there.”

>>3276846

Incorrect, these are exactly the principles that underly the whole conflict with which all true patriots are faced. It is a battle of good against evil, of true FREEDOM against REAL SLAVERY. It is a SPIRITUAL battle more than anything else. Therefore all true patriots need the spiritual truth, the spiritual weapons to fight the battle successfully. These passages help give them those most essential tools, and in the process help them see and expose the evil more effectively! Best regards to all.