The man in the parable broke with Satan, refused to do his work, but the trouble with him was that after the heart was swept and garnished he failed to invite the heavenly Guest. It is not enough to make the heart empty; we must have the vacuum filled with the love of God. The soul must be furnished with the graces of the Spirit of God. People may leave off many bad habits and yet not be truly sanctified, because they do not have a connection with God; they do not unite with Christ....
Satan, the great rebel, is ever seeking to entice us to sin against God. He will introduce false imaginings, arming the understanding against the revealed will of God, the lower passions against purity and self-denial, the will against God's will, setting up a wisdom from beneath to conflict with the wisdom from above.... Shall God's will be put in the background and our will be held as supreme? Can this be the controlling power in God's great contest for the recovery of His own? ...
I have been warned that henceforth we shall have a constant contest. Science, so-called, and religion will be placed in opposition to each other, because finite beings do not comprehend the power and greatness of God. These words of Holy Writ were presented to me: “Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” This will surely be seen among the people of God. There will be those who are unable to perceive the most wonderful and important truths for this time, truths that are essential for their own safety and salvation, while matters that are in comparison as the merest atoms, matters in which there is scarcely a grain of truth, are dwelt upon and magnified by the power of Satan so that they appear of the utmost importance.... As the lovers of the world make religion subservient to the world, God requires His worshipers to subordinate the world to religion.—Manuscript 16, 1890. CTr 238
Especially does responsibility rest upon the mother. She, by whose lifeblood the child is nourished and its physical frame built up, imparts to it also mental and spiritual influences that tend to the shaping of mind and character. It was Jochebed, the Hebrew mother, who, strong in faith, was “not afraid of the king's commandment” (Hebrews 11:23), of whom was born Moses, the deliverer of Israel. It was Hannah, the woman of prayer and self-sacrifice and heavenly inspiration, who gave birth to Samuel, the heaven-instructed child, the incorruptible judge, the founder of Israel's sacred schools. It was Elizabeth the kinswoman and kindred spirit of Mary of Nazareth, who was the mother of the Saviour's herald. MH 372
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. Matthew 12:45, KJV