For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Ecclesiastes 9:5.
When Saul inquired for Samuel, the Lord did not cause Samuel to appear to Saul. He saw nothing. Satan was not allowed to disturb the rest of Samuel in the grave, and bring him up in reality to the witch of Endor. God does not give Satan power to resurrect the dead. But Satan’s angels assume the form of dead friends, and speak and act like them, that through professed dead friends he can the better carry on his work of deception. Satan knew Samuel well, and he knew how to represent him before the witch of Endor, and to utter correctly the fate of Saul and his sons.
Satan will come in a very plausible manner to such as he can deceive, and will insinuate himself into their favor, and lead them almost imperceptibly from God. He wins them under his control, cautiously at first, until their perceptibilities become blunted. Then he will make bolder suggestions, until he can lead them to commit almost any degree of crime. When he has led them fully into his snare, he is then willing that they should see where they are, and he exults in their confusion, as in the case of Saul. He had suffered Satan to lead him a willing captive, and now Satan spreads before Saul a correct description of his fate. By giving Saul a correct statement of his end, through the woman of Endor, Satan opens a way for Israel to be instructed by his satanic cunning, that they may, in their rebellion against God, learn of him, and by thus doing, sever the last link which would hold them to God.
Saul knew that in this last act, of consulting the witch of Endor, he cut the last shred which held him to God. He knew that if he had not before wilfully separated himself from God, this act sealed that separation, and made it final. He had made an agreement with death, and a covenant with hell. The cup of his iniquity was full.26The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 2:1022, 1023.
Conflict and Courage p. 172
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Prayer Requests
—-Urgent prayer request for a very dear friend of mine. she hurt her back badly cant sit stand or walk. M
—-My niece Lindsey had biopsies three days ago for possible uterine cancer and is recovering at home. It went well, but she is in a lot of pain. They made 4 incisions and biopsied 3 places. She has a post op in 2 weeks and at that time we should know if anything else is going on. They said she is the youngest patient they have had in there. She’s only in her late 20s and just had a baby 8 or 9 months ago. Please pray for no cancer! Mary
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Dear Friends,
A few years ago, I was listening to someone was describe his experience of wading in the water of the Gulf of Mexico. It was the first time he had ever been to a body of water large enough to have waves. He said that he didn’t like the way the waves churned up sand from the bottom because it made the water so dirty. As he waded along the shoreline, his legs got covered with a layer of sand. He didn’t like that feeling, so he went out a little farther to wash it off, but the more he tried to rinse the sand off, the more he was covered. It was only after he got completely out of the water and walked over to a fresh water supply that he was able to get that sand off from his legs.
How true that is in our spiritual lives. As we partake of what this world has to offer, we become covered with sin. “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isa 64:6 We don’t like our condition and long to be cleansed, but we cannot cleanse ourselves. We may attempt to wash away our iniquities and guilt, but if we don’t let go of our worldly thoughts and habits, we will become more and more covered with the dirt of this world. We can try to clean up the outside, but the inside is still the same.
How much we need the Water of Life Who can make us clean and pure inside and out. He pleads, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa 1:16-18
The disciple John assures us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 Think of it! There is a way of escape from the sin-grains that cling to us! Our Dear Saviour is “the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6 On the way to Gethsemane He prayed, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth….Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” John 17:15-20
May we come to our Loving Saviour for the cleansing that He so freely offers and allow Him to keep us “unspotted from the world” is my prayer. James 1:27
Rose
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