Question: Is it safe to trust feelings?

Ones “feelings” are not a safe guide for spiritual progress.

The Bible says that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it” (Jeremiah 17:9)?

“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26 MEV).

“Satan … exerted all his power to make the hearts of the people hard and their feelings bitter against Jesus. He hoped that so few would receive Him as the Son of God that He would consider His sufferings and sacrifice too great to make for so small a company.” Early Writings, 159.

“Satan leads people to think that because they have felt a rapture of feeling they are converted. But their experience does not change. Their actions are the same as before. Their lives show no good fruit. They pray often and long, and are constantly referring to the feelings they had at such and such a time. But they do not live the new life. They are deceived. Their experience goes no deeper than feeling. They build upon the sand, and when adverse winds come their house is swept away.” Messages to Young People, 71.

“You should keep off from Satan’s enchanted ground, and not allow your minds to be swayed from allegiance to God. … If the thoughts are wrong, the feelings will be wrong; and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character. When you decide that as Christians you are not required to restrain your thoughts and feelings, you are brought under the influence of evil angels and invite their presence and their control.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 310.

“When persons begin to draw nigh to God, Satan is always ready to press in his darkness. As they look back over their past life, he causes every defect to be so exaggerated in their minds that they become discouraged, and begin to doubt the power and willingness of Jesus to save. Their faith wavers, and they say, ‘I do not believe that Jesus will forgive my sins.’ Let not such expect to receive anything from the Lord. If they would only exercise true repentance toward God, at the same time possessing a firm faith in Christ, He would cover their sins and pardon their transgressions. But, instead of this, they too often allow themselves to be controlled by impulse and feeling.” Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 135.