Several conditions of a weak conscience can be both described and illustrated. One condition is that after we have dealt with the conscience according to its feeling of offense, the conscience still feels condemned and accused. For example, if you have sinned against a brother, when you fellowship with God you become enlightened and conscious of it; hence, you confess before God and to the brother. When you have done this, if your conscience is strong and normal, you should have peace and let the matter go. However, if the matter still remains in you and you continue to feel uneasy and condemned, it is a sign of a weak conscience.

Another condition is related to certain sins which need not be dealt with, yet your conscience requires you to deal with them also. For example, if you are inwardly disgusted with a brother and you feel this is wrong, all you need to do is confess it before the Lord and let it go. This is just a personal matter in the heart before the Lord; it was not manifested in words and attitudes so as to involve the opposite party. However, if, after you have confessed this matter before God, it still bothers you so that you feel you still have to go to confess to the brother and seek his forgiveness, then this is already too much. If after you have confessed to your brother, your inner being is still not at ease and feels the need to confess to him once again, because you feel that in some matter you have said too much and in another too little; yet you are afraid that by your going to him again he may be disgusted; therefore, you feel so perplexed within that you have lost all peace; this is an even weaker condition of the conscience.

Another condition is that of the conscience having the feeling of offense and the person not finding the sure way to deal with it or always feeling that the dealing is not thorough enough. For example, a brother may have stolen a thousand dollars ten years ago. Now that he is saved he tries to deal with this situation, but when he does so he finds it difficult to decide what amount to pay back. According to the principle of the Old Testament (Lev. 6:5) he should add one-fifth to the original amount, yet he feels this is insufficient. Since no principle is given in the New Testament, he reasons that he should return the amount with interest. The question arises, however, concerning the amount of interest. Should he pay bank interest or loan institution interest? Yearly, monthly, or weekly interest? No matter how long he figures, his heart is still not at ease. This indicates another weak condition of the conscience.

A sensitive conscience is proper and normal, but a weak conscience, being over-sensitive, is abnormal. First, this causes one to undergo much needless suffering and torture. Second, this causes one to have continual unrest, which results in ground being given for Satan to accuse and attack. Therefore, a weak conscience is not a good sign. Yet a weak conscience is a necessary product of our initial dealing with the conscience. A sensitive conscience, which comes from a thorough dealing with the conscience, usually becomes a weak conscience. In dealing with the conscience, if we have not dealt with it until it becomes sensitive, the dealing is not thorough enough and we have not yet learned the lesson. However, when the conscience has been dealt with so that it becomes sensitive, then certainly it will become over-sensitive and weak. Therefore, when we follow the Lord and deal severely with our conscience, we must try by all means to avoid this weak condition. When our conscience becomes sensitive, we must exercise our will to hold it in place lest it go too far and thus become weak and restless. In this way we will not suffer loss.

We have already said that a weak conscience gives Satan ground to accuse and attack. What is the accusation of Satan? The accusation of Satan and the accusation or condemnation of the conscience are different. The accusation or condemnation of the conscience is always based upon definite fact, either sin, the world, or other matters. It arises from the fact that we have wronged either God or man. But the accusation of Satan is not so. It has no fact as its basis, but is just a stirring without cause to deceive us, causing our conscience to have the feeling of failure and loss of peace. Sometimes Satan uses the facts of the past to accuse us. He reminds us again of certain things which have already been dealt with in the past, thus causing us to lose our peace. Therefore, all the accusations of Satan are false. He accuses us by taking advantage of a weak conscience in order that we may fall into needless sufferings, that our spiritual condition may lose its balance, that we may not peacefully pursue the growth of life, and thus suffer great loss.

When a person is under the accusation of Satan, not recognizing the scheme of Satan but accepting again and again the needless accusation, thinking it to be the voice of conscience, his conscience will be made weaker, and the accusation of Satan will become more severe. Consequently, this accusation of Satan becomes his attack. Once man falls under this attack in the conscience, his spirit, soul, and body will be greatly afflicted. In more severe cases he may lose his reason, become insane and even die.

We have previously considered the brother who did not use his handkerchief when he perspired while preaching. This is because he dealt too severely with his conscience, thus causing a weak conscience and opening the way for Satan’s accusation and attack. He was attacked to such an extent that he should not sleep on his bed, but on the floor; otherwise, he would have no peace within. Thus, his body suffered great damage, and he died prematurely.

Another elderly sister, when dealing with the world, also suffered the attack of Satan. Even when she ate the coarsest of food, Satan told her that she was too concerned for her flesh. Neither would she sleep on her bed, but on the floor; otherwise, she had no peace. Shortly thereafter she died. These are a few serious illustrations exposing the dreadfulness of Satan’s attack.

The blood of the Lord is our only weapon to overcome Satan’s accusation and attack. Revelation 12:10-11 tells us that Satan accuses us day and night before God, but that we can overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. First John 1:7, 9 tells us that if we confess our sins, God will forgive our sins, and the blood of the Lord will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we have dealt accordingly with all the feeling of offense in our conscience before the Lord, we must hide under the blood through faith. Only then can we avoid all the accusations and attacks of Satan.
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