We Do The Work Of Satan Sowing Seeds Of Doubt And Unbelief, September 15

“Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him.” John 6:70, 71^L.

Judas was one who exerted a large influence over the disciples. He was of commanding appearance and had excellent qualifications. But these endowments had not been sanctified to God. Judas had opened the chambers of his mind, the door of his heart, to the temptations of Satan. His energies were devoted to self-serving, self-exaltation, and the love of money....

That poor, independent soul, separate from the spirit and life of Christ, had a hard time. He was ever under condemnation, because the lessons of Christ were always cutting him. Yet he did not become transformed and converted into a living branch through connection with the True Vine. Oh, if Judas had only humbled his heart before God under this divine instruction that pointed so plainly to himself in the principles set forth. Then he would no longer have remained a tempter to his brother disciples, sowing the seed of unbelief in their hearts.

Satan sowed in the heart and mind of Judas the seed that he communicated to his brethren. The questioning doubts that were passed from the devil into the mind of Judas, he passed on to the minds of his brethren. He presented so much accusation of his brethren that he was counterworking the lessons of Christ. This is why Jesus called Judas a devil....

There is no such thing as occupying a neutral position. Each will have given to Him his or her work according to his or her ability. And all will, through faith in Christ, have a sense of their privilege in being connected with Him.... The disciple whose religion is a profession only is distinguished from the true....

The hearing of the Word of God is not enough. Unless taught of God, the truth will not be accepted to the saving of the soul. It must be brought into the life practice. The human agent will reveal whether he or she is taught of God. And if not, it is not because God is not willing to teach, but because the person is not willing to receive His teaching and eat of the Bread of Life.

“Every one that doeth evil hateth the light [that God sends], neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” John 3:20^L. He or she hates reproof.... The self-righteous will not search for light. They love darkness rather than light, because they do not want to see themselves as God sees them. “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”(John 3:21^L)—Manuscript 67, 1897 (see also The Review and Herald, November 2, 1897).