Section 12—The Challenge of the Hour
(Te 227)
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The advocates of temperance fail to do their whole duty unless they exert their influence by precept and example—by voice and pen and vote—in favor of prohibition and total abstinence.—Gospel Workers, 387, 388.
(Te 227)
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A Repetition of the Same Sins—The same sins that brought judgments upon the world in the days of Noah, exist in our day. Men and women now carry their eating and drinking so far that it ends in gluttony and drunkenness. This prevailing sin, the indulgence of perverted appetite, inflamed the passions of men in the days of Noah, and led to widespread corruption. Violence and sin reached to heaven. This moral pollution was finally swept from the earth by means of the Flood....
(Te 227.1)
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Eating, drinking, and dressing are carried to such excess that they become crimes. They are among the marked sins of the last days, and constitute a sign of Christ’s soon coming. Time, money, and strength, which belong to the Lord, but which He has entrusted to us, are wasted in superfluities of dress and luxuries for the perverted appetite, which lessen vitality, and bring suffering and decay.—Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 11, 12.
(Te 227.2)
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A Succession of Falls—From Adam’s day to ours there has been a succession of falls, each greater than the last, in every species of crime. God did not create a race of beings so devoid of health, beauty, and moral power as now exists in the world. Disease of every kind has been fearfully increasing upon the race. This has not been by God’s especial providence, but directly contrary to His will. It has come by man’s disregard of the very means which God has ordained to shield him from the terrible evils existing. Obedience to God’s law in every respect would save men from intemperance, licentiousness, and disease of every type. No one can violate natural law without suffering the penalty.—The Review and Herald, March 4, 1875.
(Te 227.3)
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VC