But what a lesson to us! When we witness, we sometimes must say to ourselves, I am witnessing to people so hard, so resistant, so determined. My words alone, however gracious, however earnest, however touching, can accomplish nothing. How much I depend upon an accompanying movement of the Holy Spirit! I dare not witness without also praying. I dare not preach without also praying. I dare not put a leaflet through a letterbox or knock a door, or teach a Sunday school class, without earnest prayer. Because it is only by the amazing mercy and lovingkindness of God and his power to work in the heart that a single soul can be saved. That is the only way we could be saved; it’s the only way anyone else could be saved. You are getting a picture here of end time hardness. So at the very end this is what things will be like. How long will all this last? Even five months, literally, sounds an awful long time.
The word ‘sorceries’ is of interest. It comes from a Greek from which we get the word ‘pharmacy’. In Galatians 5:20, the KJV translates it ‘witchcraft’. What do witchcraft and sorcery have to do with pharmacy? The word refers to the use of drugs as a spell-giving potion for magical purposes. It also means ‘poisoning’, ‘sorcery’ and ‘magical arts’. Do we see drugs used in this way in western society? Can we not say that the widespread use of drugs in society is the equivalent of this in an atheistic age? Drugs are used now to achieve an altered state of consciousness. They are used in the pursuit of enhanced sensual and sensory experience, to amplify that experience. They are the means by which many try to escape from the responsibilities of life and enter a world in which fantasies and delusions can be indulged without the restraints which normal consciousness imposes.