"Christ and Satan cannot harmonize. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Timothy 3:12.
Q: Why is it that Satan meets no greater resistance?
A: Because the soldiers of Christ have so little real connection with Christ.
Sin is not to them repulsive as it was to their Master.
Multitudes do not know that their enemy is a mighty general warring against Christ.
The tempter has no power to control the will or force the soul to sin. He can cause distress, but not defilement.
This vigilant foe is intruding his presence in every household, in 
every street, in the churches, in national councils, in courts of justice.
Perplexing, deceiving, seducing,
---everywhere ruining the souls and bodies of men, women, and children.
---He breaks up families, sowing hatred, strife, sedition, and murder.
Conformity to worldly customs converts the church to the world, never the world to Christ.
Familiarity with sin will cause it to appear less repulsive.
---if we place ourselves under temptation we shall fall sooner or later.
Talent and culture are gifts of God;
but when these lead away from Him,
they become a snare.
Many a man of cultured intellect and pleasant manners is a polished instrument in the hands of Satan.
Satan assailed Christ with fierce and subtle temptations; but he was repulsed in every conflict. Those victories make it possible for us to conquer."
E.G.W.
