Satan is the destroyer, but Christ is the restorer. From the first it was Satan’s purpose to cause men to transgress the law of God. He misrepresented the character of the Father, trampled upon His law, and cast contempt upon His precepts. He inspired men with his own spirit, and made them partakers of his own attributes, and caused them to transgress the law of God. When he had accomplished his work of ruin, he pointed to the degraded, sin-polluted souls whom he had made subject to a thousand vices, and declared that they were too degraded, too wretched, to be redeemed by Heaven. He sought to present mankind in the most discouraging aspect, so that reformation might seem hopeless. Though he could not prevail with his temptations in assailing Christ, or cause Him to fail or be discouraged, yet he often succeeds too well with those who should be laborers together with God. But his plans to cause the work to cease are not wholly successful. Through the grace of God those whom the enemy has oppressed for generations, rise up to the dignity of God-given manhood and womanhood and present themselves as sons and daughters of the Most High. This result is generally brought about through well-directed, persevering missionary labor. (SW 26.2) MC VC