“The work of Satan will be carried on through agents. Ministers who hate the law of God will employ any means to lead souls from their loyalty. Their hearts are fully determined to make war against those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. This class feel that it is a virtue to talk, to write, and to act out, the most bitter hatred against us. We need not look for fair dealing, or for justice, at their hands. Many of them are inspired by Satan with insane madness against those who are keeping the commandments of God. We will be maligned and misrepresented, all our motives and actions will be misjudged, and our characters will be attacked. The wrath of the dragon will be manifested in this manner. But we should not be in the least discouraged. Our strength is in Jesus, our advocate. If we, in humility and humble trust, hold fast to God, he will give us grace and heavenly wisdom to withstand all the wiles of Satan, and to come off victors.” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 6, 1886.

A Profile of Satan’s Helpers

“Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer and the searching of the Scriptures, will be overcome by his attacks. Therefore he invents every possible device to engross the mind. There has ever been a class professing godliness, who, instead of following on to know the truth, make it their religion to seek some fault of character or error of faith in those with whom they do not agree. Such are Satan’s right-hand helpers. Accusers of the brethren are not few, and they are always active when God is at work and His servants are rendering Him true homage. They will put a false coloring upon the words and acts of those who love and obey the truth. They will represent the most earnest, zealous, self-denying servants of Christ as deceived or deceivers. It is their work to misrepresent the motives of every true and noble deed, to circulate insinuations, and arouse suspicion in the minds of the inexperienced. In every conceivable manner they will seek to cause that which is pure and righteous to be regarded as foul and deceptive.” —The Great Controversy, p. 519.

“I beseech all who engage in the work of murmuring and complaining because something has been said or done that does not suit them, and that does not, as they think, give them due consideration, to remember that they are carrying on the very work begun in heaven by Satan. They are following in his track, sowing unbelief, discord, and disloyalty; for no one can entertain feelings of disaffection, and keep them to himself. He must tell others that he is not treated as he should be. Thus they are led to murmur and complain. This is the root of bitterness springing up, whereby many are defiled.

“Thus Satan works today through his evil angels. He confederates with men who claim to be in the faith; and those who are trying to carry forward the work of God with fidelity, having no man’s person in admiration, working without hypocrisy and partiality, will have just as severe trials brought against them as Satan can bring through those who claim to love God. Proportionate to the light and knowledge these opposers have is Satan’s success. The root of bitterness strikes deep, and is communicated to others. Thus many are defiled. Their statements are confused and untruthful, their principles are unscrupulous, and Satan finds in them the very helpers he needs.” —RH Sept. 14, 1897.

“My brethren, you are Christ’s soldiers, making aggressive warfare against Satan and his host; but it is grievous to the Spirit of God for you to be surmising evil of one another, and letting the imagination of your hearts be controlled by the power of the great accuser, whose business it is to accuse them before God day and night. Satan has his soldiers trained for the special work of breaking up the union which Christ made so great a sacrifice to establish between brethren. We are to be bound to one another in sacred bonds of holy union. But it is the work of the enemy to create a party spirit, and to have party feelings, and some feel that they are doing the work of God in strengthening prejudices and jealousies among brethren. God would have a sacred order to exist among his co-workers, that they may be bound together by Christ in the Lord God of Israel. We are to be faithful, frank, and true to the interests of each other. We are constantly to be listening for orders from our Captain, but not be guilty of listening to reports against our brethren, or imagining evil of our brethren. Our interests must be bound up with our brethren’s, and it is decidedly nothing but the work of the Devil to create suspicion and jealousies between each other. We are working for the same cause and under the same Master. It is one work, —the preparation of the people of God in these last days. The prosperity and reputation of our brethren are to be zealously guarded, as we would have our own honor and reputation preserved. Everything like evil-speaking, every word that savors of sarcasm, every influence that would demerit our brethren or any branch of the work of God, are all working away from the prayer of Christ. Satan is at work in this matter, that the prayer of Christ may not be answered, and he has helpers in the very men who claim to be doing the work of God. Everything that is said to create suspicion, or to cast a slur, or to demerit those engaged in appointed agencies, is working on Satan’s side of the question. It brings only weakness to our own souls, and is a great hindrance to the advancement of the work of God.” —The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, pp. 198-199.

“It is a terrible thing to be self-deceived; for many will, because of self-confidence and self-sufficiency, be eternally lost. Now, just now, is the time to wash our robes of character, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. We cannot afford to lose heaven. Awful will be the revelation to those who find that the books of heaven testify that they have permitted themselves to become Satan’s helpers in deceiving other souls, and causing them also to lose eternal life. Inexpressible sad is the picture of those whom others will charge with the loss of their souls. Eternal life was within their reach, but their deluded, proud hearts were not broken, and they refused to confess their sins.” —Manuscript Releases Volume Nineteen, p. 374.

“Satan’s chief work is at the headquarters of our faith. He spares no pains to corrupt men in responsible positions and to persuade them to be unfaithful to their several trusts. He insinuates his suspicions and jealousies into the minds of those whose business it is to do God’s work faithfully. While God is testing and proving these helpers, and fitting them for their posts, Satan is doing his utmost to deceive and allure them, that they may not only be destroyed themselves, but may influence others to do wrong and to injure the great work. He seeks by all the means in his power to shake the confidence of God’s people in the voice of warning and reproof through which God designs to purify the church and prosper His cause.” —Testimonies for the Church, Volume Four, pp. 210-211.

“The minister, as a laborer for God and a representative of Christ, is under sacred obligations to be an example to the flock of which he is an under-shepherd. He should care in a special manner for the sheep of his fold; he should watch for souls as they that must give an account. But all who love Jesus in sincerity and truth will be workers in his vineyard. It is one of the great sins of the church that there are so many who are doing nothing. They are cumberers of the ground, —withered branches, bearing no fruit. They do not exert a healthful influence in the church; for their spirit and example are contagious, and the lame are turned out of the way. Idlers in the church are Satan’s most efficient helpers.” —Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 01-06-85.

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