Ministers Have Dropped the Banner—The Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the earth who are living in this time of peril and corruption. Ministers of the gospel have departed from the Lord, and those who profess the name of Christ are guilty of not holding aloft the banner of truth. Ministers are afraid to be open prohibitionists, and they hold their peace concerning the curse of drink, fearing lest their salaries should be diminished or their congregations offended. They fear lest, if they should speak forth Bible truth with power and clearness, showing the line of distinction between the sacred and the common, they would lose their popularity; for there are large numbers who are enrolled as church members who are receiving a revenue, either directly or indirectly, from the drink traffic. (Te 231.1) MC VC

These people are not ignorant of the sin that they are committing. No one needs to be informed that the drink traffic is one that entails upon its victims, misery, shame, degradation, and death, with the eternal ruin of their souls. Those who reap a revenue, either directly or indirectly, from this traffic, are putting into the till the money which has come through the loss of souls of men. (Te 231.2) MC VC

The churches that retain members who are connected with this liquor business, make themselves responsible for the transactions that occur through the drink traffic.... (Te 231.3) MC VC

Money Stained With the Blood of Souls—The world and the church may unite in eulogizing the man who has tempted the appetite, and answered the craving of the appetite he has helped to create; they may look with a smile upon him who has helped to debase a man who was formed in the image of God, until that image is virtually effaced; but God looks with a frown upon him, and writes his condemnation in the ledger of death.... (Te 231.4) MC VC