They Also Will Persecute You, November 11

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12.CTr 322.1

Herod and the wicked authorities killed the Just One, but Christ never killed anyone, and we may attribute the spirit of persecution—because people want liberty of conscience—to its origin, Satan. He is a deceiver, a liar, a murderer, and accuser of the brethren and sisters. He loves to see human misery. He exults in distress, and as we view the cruel persecutions of those who would obey God according to the dictates of their own consciences, we may know that this is the mystery of iniquity. The Lord said to Satan, that old serpent, “It [the Seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Christ in a special manner bruised the head of the serpent, but the prophecy is far-reaching. It is a declaration of an unwearied conflict between Christ and His followers, and Satan and his angels and human agencies on this earth, to the close of time.CTr 322.2

This conflict was opened upon the Son of God. He was afflicted; He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The Majesty of heaven had to leave the scene of His labor again and again because of Satan's bruising His heel, and finally Satan's malignity reached its utmost power when Satan inspired and controlled the minds of wicked men to crucify Him. He has followed the children of God, causing them disaster and death.... Isaiah, Daniel, and John have in prophecy announced these very struggles and conquests that God's people would pass through, and the triumph of Satan in his supposed victories.CTr 322.3

The enmity of Satan will continue fierce and determined against the followers of Jesus.... Evil, wherever it exists, in rejecting light and truth and departing from the living God, will always league against the righteous and obedient. Fallen angels and fallen human beings join in a desperate companionship. This is the very union that the persecutors of the faithful entered into.CTr 322.4

Satan made his calculations that if he could induce men and women, as he deceived and induced the angels in his warfare, he should have them as his allies in every enterprise against heaven....CTr 322.5

The truth does not present ideas mingled with traditions and fables. The religion of Jesus Christ presents the truth, pure and undefiled. It will bear investigation, and honest seekers after the truth will have it. True religion does not excite the mind and feelings, but appeals to the intellect and to the heart. It is constantly developing and rising higher and higher heavenward.—Manuscript 62, 1886.CTr 322.6