My dear friends,

“Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:1).

I am glad at this time, to share with you a story that teaches us a lesson of paramount importance for our spiritual welfare. It can help to keep us away from Satan’s snares so difficult to detect when we are unaware and not watching for his constant assaults.

Let me take you back 2,000 years ago to the city of Capernaum, where Jesus healed a demoniac while teaching at the synagogue. “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:23, 24). “The mind of this wretched sufferer had been darkened by Satan, but in the Saviour’s presence a ray of light had pierced the gloom. He was roused to long for freedom from Satan’s control; but the demon resisted the power of Christ. When the man tried to appeal to Jesus for help, the evil spirit put words into his mouth, and he cried out in an agony of fear. The demoniac partially comprehended that he was in the presence of One who could set him free; but when he tried to come within reach of that mighty hand, another’s will held him, another’s words found utterance through him. The conflict between the power of Satan and his own desire for freedom was terrible.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 255.

Do you think that this man was born a demoniac? We read that “the secret cause of the affliction that had made this man a fearful spectacle to his friends and a burden to himself was in his own life. He had been fascinated by the pleasures of sin, and had thought to make life a grand carnival. He did not dream of becoming a terror to the world and the reproach of his family. He thought his time could be spent in innocent folly. But once in the downward path, his feet rapidly descended. Intemperance and frivolity perverted the noble attributes of his nature, and Satan took absolute control of him.

“Remorse came too late. When he would have sacrificed wealth and pleasure to regain his lost manhood, he had become helpless in the grasp of the evil one. He had placed himself on the enemy’s ground, and Satan had taken possession of all his faculties. The tempter had allured him with many charming presentations; but when once the wretched man was in his power, the fiend became relentless in his cruelty, and terrible in his angry visitations. So it will be with all who yield to evil; the fascinating pleasure of their early career ends in the darkness of despair or the madness of a ruined soul.” Ibid., p. 256.

When I was a small child, I remember my father related to me a story about a snake that lives in the jungles of Central America. This snake is well known by the peculiar way it catches its prey. It climbs on top of bushes, coils itself, and leaves its mouth wide open, resembling a beautiful flower. This posture draws the attention of little birds, and they jump right into the mouth of the snake. Then the clever predator closes its deadly jaws and the poor little birds become its meal.

So it is with us. Satan has many inventions he uses to attract young people into his lethal net. However, unlike those poor little birds, we are the only creatures in this world endowed with rational powers capable of understanding our role in this life. We have free will to choose the course of our lives. Praise the Lord for that.

“There are multitudes today as truly under the power of evil spirits as was the demoniac of Capernaum. All who willfully depart from God’s commandments are placing themselves under the control of Satan. Many a man tampers with evil, thinking that he can break away at pleasure; but he is lured on and on, until he finds himself controlled by a will stronger than his own. He cannot escape its mysterious power. Secret sin or master passion may hold him a captive as helpless as was the demoniac of Capernaum.”—The Ministry of Healing, pp. 92, 93.

The beautiful outcome of this story is continued in Mark 1:25, 26, “And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.”

The condition of this man was not completely hopeless. “God does not control our minds without our consent; but every man is free to choose what power he will have to rule over him. None have fallen so low, none are so vile, but that they may find deliverance in Christ. The demoniac, in place of prayer, could utter only the words of Satan; yet the heart’s unspoken appeal was heard. No cry from a soul in need, though it fail of utterance in words, will be unheeded. Those who consent to enter into covenant with God are not left to the power of Satan or to the infirmity of their own nature.”—Ibid., p. 93.

Do we have to choose to be on Satan’s ground? Jesus said plainly, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matthew 12:30). If we do not choose to be on the Lord’s side, we are automatically on Satan’s. There is no such thing as neutral terrain; Jesus spoke of only two ways. Unfortunately, to be on Satan’s ground, we don’t have to choose.

“Well,” you may say, “I am not crazy—much less a demoniac.”

But Jesus answers, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 3:23; 6:16.)

My dear young fellows, do you realize the condition in which we are born? All of us are born sinners and captives of Satan; but Jesus Christ came to this world to seek that which was lost. He came to set us free from the slavery of sin, to gain us to His side. Remember that the voice which proclaims liberty, the mighty voice that set at liberty the demoniac of Capernaum and penetrated even death—that voice is willing to set you and me free from the dungeon of sin. But this takes place only when we cry to God from the bottom of our hearts.

May the Lord help us all to make that decision. Amen.