The first part of the Israelites’ campaign in conquering the Promised Land was over. The victorious armies had overcome Sihon, king of the Amorites, and had taken Heshbon with all her villages; Jaazer was swiftly occupied and all her cities were taken; they had defeated Og, king of Bashan, a giant among a race of giants, and taken all his cities and villages.
Armies made up of numerous and skillful warriors of many battles, disciplined and well-supplied forces, strongly walled cities thought to be unassailable, people of astonishing stature, strength and cruelty—all these terrible obstacles had been easily overcome by the people led by the Lord of hosts. The Son of God surrounded by the pillar of cloud showed them the way and they, full of faith and hope, did what God had commanded them.
Now the Israelites were in a condition of ease and security. They had encamped in the fields of Moab beside the Jordan and across Jericho, with the purpose of planning the second part of the conquest of the land which God had promised them. This plain of several miles in width extended some distance along the river. The valley had a tropical climate; it was full of acacia groves and provided an abundance of fruits—the ideal environment to have a short break before continuing the conquest.
Under these circumstances the king of Moab solicited the help of Balaam, who claimed to be a prophet of God, to curse the invading people. Balaam tried to do it in different ways, but every attempt was useless. Israel was under the protective power of the Most High, and no enchantment nor spell, no people nor nation—although helped by all the powers of Satan—could prevail against it.
After repeated failures, Balaam understood that the prosperity of these people depended on their obedience to God’s commands, and that the only way to provoke their ruin was to induce them to sin. Therefore he devised a scheme and presented it to the king of Moab. The two together carried out a deadly plot that would succeed in separating the people from their God. The purpose was to induce Israel into idolatry by enticing them to participate in the licentious worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, thus causing a rift between them and their Omnipotent Protector. Then they would be easy prey for the ferocious and warlike nations that dwelled in the surrounding areas.
The scheme began with a stealthy introduction of Midianitish women into the Hebrew camp; then very subtly, innocent friendship was shown, and later a festival was appointed which Balaam, “prophet of God,” induced the Israelites to attend. Many accepted the invitation and came to the festival, venturing upon forbidden ground without perceiving the snare that was being prepared. There, the alluring music, the intoxicating beverages that appeared little by little, and the beauty of the heathen vestals had the expected effect. “Mirth and feasting, indulgence in wine beclouded their senses and broke down the barriers of self-control. Passion had full sway; and having defiled their consciences by lewdness, they were persuaded to bow down to idols. They offered sacrifice upon heathen altars and participated in the most degrading rites. It was not long before the poison had spread, like a deadly infection, through the camp of Israel.” 1 The confederation of evil exulted over this temporal triumph.
Likewise, as we today approach the end of time, standing at the very borders of heavenly Canaan, Satan, as of old, lays his snare for every soul. He uses the same agencies as he did 3,500 years ago: worldly friends, the charm of beauty, the seeking of pleasure, excessive mirth, feasting, wine, riches, and desire for power. Satan first induces to licentiousness and then to idolatry. Sensuality enfeebles the mind and degrades the soul, which then “becomes a blackened and desolate waste, the habitation of evil spirits, and the ‘cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’ Beings formed in the image of God are dragged down to a level with the brutes.” 2
This is the great danger which looms in today’s world—the great plot of the powers of evil is being carried out. All the powers of darkness are united in a single purpose: TO SEPARATE MAN FROM GOD. The planet spins in an atmosphere of deception and seduction, and the master of liars and murderers himself is steering the vessel of death and destruction.
The havoc of this inconceivable scheme is seen everywhere. The end-of-century individual must battle untiringly to survive under a host of circumstances that consume and exhaust all his energies. Drugs, alcoholism, prostitution, homosexuality, lesbianism—once merely vices of minuscule minorities—have now spread and generalized to the point of becoming desirable attitudes and respectable habits, worthy of approval and praise. But in reality these immoral deeds sink the individual into a swamp of despair, misery, pain and death.
Marriage, that marvelous cell of the great web of humanity, is now undermined, minimized and ridiculed by the new social concepts. Divorce and remarriage have become an industry on a large scale; free love, marriage of same-sex beings, radical feminism, and the like, all present a depressing and slack picture of what should be the anvil on which the fitting of characters for the kingdom of heaven should be forged.
Society as a whole seems to multiply its harmful effects by inciting people to pursue quick ways to wealth, ease, fame and power. Limitless desires, longings for glory and notoriety mislay principles, lower standards, and debase and degrade man, the gem of creation.
This decrepit, battered and putrid society has not been brought to this situation all at once by the work of one man alone with evils presented openly; on the contrary, it has been eroded by an efficiently elaborate, subtly interwoven, skillfully disguised, patiently introduced work.
Man, with his glorious design, has been degraded to the condition of a dumb victim in the great end-of-century festival—a binge sponsored by the prince of this world who has fooled millions of beings, and is making extraordinary efforts to especially fool those who are still resisting his spell.
Parties, dazzling lights, music, frenzies, vivid colors, fantasies, false science and education, strange art, corrupt politics and a manipulated economy are all combined with fiendish method. Fashions, diet, amusements, cinema, television, news, toys, marketing, pagan customs, false religions, eastern philosophies, sports—everything seems to serve the purposes of the most astute and perverse of beings to enslave all of humanity, to immerse man in the scariest moral decay, to bring him to complete and absolute ruin, to snatch away his last vestige of hope and faith in God. This is the malicious plan of Satan and the reason why he prodigiously exerts himself with his siren song, to attract us to the world, out of our city of refuge, out from under the divine protection, out of the tender care of a loving God.
Today’s world, enslaved by its cravings, degenerated by its practices, bewitched in its perceptions, cleverly orchestrated and led by its lord and prince, insinuates and manifests itself in trying to lure us into its net. It utilizes all the power of suggestion that it can to present itself to us as sublime, clean and worthy, although it is actually unclean, low and depraved. It invites us to partake, to drink of its enchanted fountains, to plunge ourselves into its poisonous waters, and is doing it as it has always done it with millions of careless souls—skillfully, with keenness, subterfuges and remarkable patience. Whoever yields to its influence will be seduced and drawn into its dense spider web and imprisoned therein, to be molded to the dimensions and shape that today’s society imposes. He will lose his identity and will gladly unite with the masses that indulge in pleasures and enjoyments, thus forever straying from the true God, to acknowledge and praise the god of this world.
Brethren and sisters, this “siren song,” this subtly decorated attraction towards anything evil or corrupt, is in danger of taking root and sprouting even within our city of refuge. Spirituality, respect, high standards and reverence are affected; the keen sensibility that discerns sin is blunted due to a continual exposure to “apparently innocent” worldly influences.
“Satan will insinuate himself by little wedges, which widen as they make a place for themselves.” 3
This gradual work weakens our resistance; the enchantments lull us. Little by little, patiently, a little bit of leaven here and there, a whit of liberality, another of vanity—all these errors are justified with the argument of “love for souls.” Some close their eyes, shut their mouths and become tolerant. The enemy continues to sow a little bit today, a little bit more tomorrow, and the tide of evil gradually grows.
“The work of the enemy is not abrupt; it is not, at the outset, sudden and startling; it is a secret undermining of the strongholds of principle. It begins in apparently small things.” 4
The devil’s plan is not for us to suddenly abandon our platform and principles, no; he manages the mind with the power of suggestion and association. He introduces words, ideas, practices that are hard to be censured because they look inoffensive, small, without any transcendence—they can even have commendable traits and qualities.
Why do we hold our peace? Why not loudly denounce this deadly enticement, this macabre conspiracy to which we may be surrendering, this terrible danger into which many who would carelessly dally with it are going to fall?
“We are just as responsible for evils that we might have checked in others by exercise of parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been our own.” 5
In the days of the Advent pioneers, this was already a fact: “The distance is widening between Christ and His people, and lessening between them and the world.” 6
“Our only safety is to stand as God’s peculiar people. We must not yield one inch to the customs and fashions of this degenerate age, but stand in moral independence, making no compromise with its corrupt and idolatrous practices.” 7
Could we have such a powerful reason to hold our peace when something as valuable as our eternal life—our salvation—is at stake?
Actually, there are two substantial fears that scare the most steadfast. Because of these fears, these vital subjects are not spoken of in clarity. First, the fear of hurting the feelings of those who are living below the Bible standards. But is it not more important to consider the feelings of God? The second and more serious fear is that of being considered a fanatic—judgmental, legalistic, without any love for souls. These fears paralyze and congest our nerves, placing us as accomplices of evil, excusing our lack of courage to denounce that which needs to be denounced, which would in reality be tokens of true Christian love.
“And as false shepherds are crying, Peace, and are preaching smooth things, the servants of God must cry aloud, and spare not, and leave the result with God.” 8
“Sins exist in the church that God hates, but they are scarcely touched for fear of making enemies. . . . When the church depart from God they [the members] despise the plain testimony, and complain of severity and harshness. It is a sad evidence of the lukewarm state of the church.” 9
These “warnings . . . worldly conformity has silenced.” 10
The Lord in His word clearly warns us about the danger of worldly enchantments. His will is a marked separation between His children and the children of darkness, between His people and the things of this world.
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15.
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4.
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17.
The Lord would have His people keep away from these unwholesome influences that later will lead us to abominable practices, even from those that, to the naked eye, seem apparently good and innocent.
“For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15.
Let us examine our hearts and pray that this sentence will not be pronounced against us as individuals: “You are shut out from heaven by your own unfitness for its companionship.” 11
The moral contamination of today’s world is in clear contrast to what God expects from His people. The decadent and polluting practices which prevail require a behavior patronized by, and a conduct in tune with, the guidelines of the world at large. But even the smallest deviation from them is considered to be irrational, fanatical and stupid. That is why the Lord, foreseeing these terrible pressures which we would have to face, encourages us to persist in doing good.
“When we reach the standard that the Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, strait-laced extremists.” 12
Unfortunately, we can be sure that the fatal attraction of the world, the masterpiece of the devil, will have a harvest. Many of us, some consciously, others unconsciously, will go after modern Baals. The “siren song” will benumb the perceptions, unhinge the senses, alter the desires and finally cause them to enlist in the ranks of those bewitched by her hypnotizing tune. In the early days of the message, Sister White wrote: “I would say that we are living in a most solemn time. In the last vision given me, I was shown the startling fact that but a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved. Many will get above the simplicity of the work. They will conform to the world, cherish idols, and become spiritually dead.” 13
My dear brethren and sisters, only those of us that will stand firm and faithful will be counted among the saved. To those who will resist the devil with all his illusions, who will separate from the spells of the world and will be sanctified by the truth, who will place their hope and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and persevere—to those His marvelous promises will be precious realities.
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelation 2:10.
Fidelity to God implies a tenacious resistance, with the help of our mighty Lord, to the intoxicating siren song, a flat “no” to its influence, and a constant and growing attachment to the loving will of our gracious Father.
“Come out of her, my people”, come out of the charm, out of the spell, come out of the world of fables and tinsel that our enemy deceitfully offers us, that we be not partakers of her sins, and that we receive not of her plagues.
“And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.” Revelation 2:26.
“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God.” Revelation 3:12.
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” Revelation 3:21.
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Revelation 21:7.