through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;
Homer Kent theorizes that this condition has arisen not because of a gradual process whereby their minds have become calloused as a result of constant violation, but rather their "conscience has been made insensitive to right and wrong because of some radical act of perverting the truth." He suggests that this sudden violent action, rendering their conscience senseless, occurs when a religious teacher deliberately turns away from the instruction of God’s word and permits Satan’s demonic hosts to take control of their mind and thought (151).