What does EGW write about...
Adventistische Schriften über: "Is all knowledge from God, or does Satan also have knowledge? How does one distinguish between them?"
Answer
True knowledge is divine, but Satan offers a seductive, speculative kind of knowledge that is based on disobedience and human pride. He mixes the precious with the depraved to deceive people and lure them to a wisdom independent of God. One distinguishes divine knowledge from satanic by the fact that true knowledge leads to sanctification and obedience, whereas Satan’s “knowledge” is earthly, sensual, and directed against God’s commandments.
True Knowledge versus Satanic Deception
True knowledge is divine. Satan instilled in the senses of our first parents the desire for a speculative knowledge, which he claimed would greatly improve their condition; but to obtain it they had to take a course that opposed God’s holy will; for God would not lead them to the greatest heights. It was not God’s intention that they acquire a knowledge whose foundation was in disobedience.
The Danger of Forbidden Knowledge
Satan wants to convey the notion that by eating from the forbidden tree they would obtain a new and nobler kind of knowledge than they had previously attained. [...] He lures them to be disobedient to God’s commandments, and then tells them that they are entering a wonderful field of knowledge. This is pure speculation and a wretched deception. ... They are intoxicated by their ideas of progress and enchanted by their own vain philosophy, yet they stumble in midnight darkness regarding true knowledge.
Satan’s Method: The Mixing of Good and Evil
How is it that people who are at war with God’s government come into possession of the wisdom they sometimes display? Satan himself was educated in the heavenly courts, and he possesses knowledge of both good and evil. He mixes the precious with the depraved, and that is what gives him the power to deceive.
Divine Wisdom as Protection against Cunning
Yet God and the holy angels as well as all who remain obedient to the whole expressed will of the Lord are wiser than he. Satan’s deceit will not diminish, but the wisdom given to people through a living connection with the source of all light and divine knowledge will be adequate against his arts and tricks.
- True Knowledge vs. Speculation
- Satan’s Deceptions in Acquiring Knowledge
- Obedience as Protection from Error
Original Sources (English)
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